I think there is one thing everyone is forgetting to take into account and that's the power of imagination as a storytelling tool in the genre. In the NES/SNES and to a lesser extent the PS1 days, the graphics and tech were sub-par and people could use their imagination to fill in gaps in graphical power and artwork.It can personalise the story experience in ways not possible now.

Take voice acting for example. I used to imagine all the voices in my JRPGs and have an idea in my head of how everyone should sound. Now, any cliched voice acting winds me up. The character sprites would give me a basis upon which I could imagine the main character looking. With technology and graphics as advanced as it is now, cliches and cultural differences are a lot more noticeable. Imagine if FF7 had voice acting; Yuffie would probably be very annoying.

Obviously, other genres haven't escaped this problem, but I think it's a lot more telling in JRPGs which have traditionally relied on good storytelling.

This.

JRPGs also suffer from having cute characters with high pitched voices.  Japanese seem to be better at making cute sounding character voices than the West.  Also, a lot of the voice acting in JRPGs is quite terrible.  It probably doesn't help that the dialogue in them tends to be poorly written or translated.  Bad dialog can really destroy voice acting from being any good.  Look at the Star Wars prequel trilogy.  The actor playing Anakin Skywalker is criticized for being wooden.  That's because of the dialog he is given.  It's a known fact that George Lucas is terrible at writing dialogue(especially romance).  In fact, many of the actors from the original Star Wars trilogy actually told Lucas how bad his dialog was.  A lot of the dialog heard in the original trilogy was improvised  by the actors.

The topic is abotu Twesterm's central thesis, not the general decline of JRPGs, which you yourself have not qualified via sales - if you try to sit down and make comparisons, don't forget that the body of JRPGs are not mainline games.

Also don't forget Pokemon.

Interesting point.

Also wanted to share this:

http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/fallout-new-vegas/news/japanese-fallout-new-vegas-ad-ridicules-jrpgs/a-20100806111430173020/g-2009050816317271026

love how everyone disagreeing has no examples but only 'you're wrong'

I for one agree in principle.

Ok, just took a look at the numbers in a number of different ways and I have to concede that if you go with a literal definition of jRPG, ie. role playing game made in Japan, they are roughly flat taking into account that some titles have still a few more million to sell (Pokémon HG/SS primarily). Whether that's by total combined sales or total million sellers each gen, it's pretty much the same.

However, if you take the more common use of "jRPG" which is not strictly literal, ie. exclude Pokémon and possibly Monster Hunter, then the total sales is much less due mostly to the diminishment of Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and lesser series.

i am a fairly big jrpg fan and i have noticed a decline in popularity but never have taken much thought to it.  your statements make very good sense.  it would be nice if there could be a way the gameplay for jrpgs could be better without becoming an action game, but i cant really see how it is possible.  hopefully the experts will find a way.

People call those Strategy RPGs.  Go play Disgaea, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Tactics Ogre, that's pretty much what you're looking for.

JRPGs are not as popular as in the late 1990's, but I think that they are in no way 'in decline' from last generation.  The majority of what I would call the 'big JRPG series' are either seeing increased sales this generation or will by the time they are discontinued.

Those already outsold

Mainline Pokemon RPGs

Pokémon Diamond / Pearl Version (DS) Nintendo

6.60

6.00

4.96

17.56

Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire (GBA) Nintendo

5.74

5.38

4.26

15.38

Mario & Luigi

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS) Nintendo

1.68

0.78

0.34

2.80

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA) Nintendo

1.46

0.47

0.19

2.12

Paper Mario

Super Paper Mario (Wii) Nintendo

1.48

0.59

0.86

2.93

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door(GC) Nintendo

1.32

0.46

0.27

2.05

Dragon Quest Monsters

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS) Square Enix

0.23

1.49

0.00

1.72

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 (DS) Unknown

0.00

1.21

0.00

1.21

Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart(GBA) Unknown

0.00

0.64

0.00

0.64

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time / Darkness (DS) Nintendo

1.85

1.54

1.27

4.66

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (GBA) Nintendo

0.73

0.76

0.57

2.06

Ones that will in the future:

Dragon Quest

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (PS2) Square Enix

0.62

3.68

0.69

4.99

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (DS) Nintendo

0.21

4.33

0.31

4.85

Pokemon Remakes

Pokémon FireRed / LeafGreen (GBA) Nintendo

4.45

3.15

2.89

10.49

Pokémon Heart Gold / Soul Silver Version(DS) Nintendo

2.72

3.88

2.25

8.85

I didn't put Fire Emblem down due to missing numbers, therefore not really a fair test

Don't get me wrong, I think JRPGs are in decline from their pokemon RBY Final fantasy VII fuelled height, but I believe that JRPGs not called Final Fantasy or Tales are generally on an increase in popularity from last generation

yo, mike! Gimme some.