Pretty crap article. The guy claims to be a huge fan and expert of RPGs from Japan, but doesn't appear to have any knowledge of the DS where the vast majority of RPGs from Japan were released.

In addition, the DS has the highest RPG sales of any console in history.

Nostalgia makes better sales.

I heard that Chrono Trigger was going to be realesed on PSN.

Then again all PlayStation platforms have been my primary source for RPGS/JRPGS.

Folklore is an amazing RPG probably if not one of the most UNDERRATED PS3 RPG games.

Disgaea 3 also another Underrated game its amazing

In the end most likely all PS3 RPG/JRPG fans will be happy once Final Fantasy Versus XIII comes out Square has fucked up some past projects but I feel like this one is going to be a real killer.

You're giving the Wii credit for quite a few games that never made it to the West, and since the title specifically talks about JRPGs making a come back in the West I really don't see how the Wii is anywhere close to the PS3.

DS I agree with.

Imo the reason why jrpgs have fallen is because the rpgs from the west do so much better than what Japan has done early this generation. I used to be a big fan of jrpgs but I got bored with the turned based battles, no character creation (always same emo spiked hair punk kid), endless fmvs, etc. Already last gen games like Morrowind, Jade Empire, KOTOR and even Fable got the attention they deserved... this gen rpgs from the west trump anything Japan has to offer.

I think they have to make their games better and less anime centered if they want jrpgs to be popular here again. Character creation is a very good start.

Mainstream jRPGs will continue to decline - what has increased in recent years is a dedicated niche fanbase which can sustain multi small titles that make it to the west.

I don't understand one thing, if the publishers are going through the trouble of localising JRPGs in the west on the PS3, why don't they do it multiplatform?

Its not like 360 can't handle these games, it should be easy to port over. Yes the games don't sell as much on 360 as PS3, but I can see a lot of these games sell atleast 1/3 the amount on 360.

A lot of those localization companies don't do porting or coding, they can only bring over games that already exist on the platform they exist.  Examples of this are Xseed and NISA, both of which are only set up to localize existing games and not to port a game from one console to another.

I guess the reason would be that's how they're set up and it's working fine for them so they stick with what they know they can do.

There were plenty of great JRPGs this past generation, just that they were all on DS or PSP. So far most JRPGs haven't done too well making the jump to HD consoles... FFXIII turned out to be a huge letdown despite its awesome graphics for example. There were a few exceptions like Valkyria Chronicles on PS3, but nothing like the past 2 generations where all the premiere JRPGs were on PS1 and 2. And routinely led the tops of the sales charts too.

And many premiere JRPG franchises have been almost exclusively on portables this gen like Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, Monster Hunter, and obviously Pokemon, and none of that (with the exception of some Monster Hunter titles) looks like its gonna change anytime soon.

Plus, let's face it... traditional JRPGs just seem so archaic next to the newer WRPGs like Fallout and Elder Scrolls.

One thing I dislike about current RPGs is when they attempt to put action elements into them; action elements are more of a pollutant to the genre, and are almost always irritating and annoying; they tend to make the game feel less like an RPG and more like another genre. I just hope they haven't screwed up Dragon Quest X, because that was one series I hoped would remain solid. I want to hear more information; I don't mind online features, but I have no interest in playing RPGs with other people. I really despise the idea of being forced to be played online, because what happens in 10 years when I want to replay the game, but no server exists?