No company, because the genre is becoming obsolete.

As long as Sakaguchi is around FF level games will exist. The problem is without Square the marketing sucks.

I can't say atlus the only series that they have made that I find really great is persona 3 and 4. Besides that im not super impressed. I would say mistwalker monolith soft or namco bandai.

What I meant was that the genre itself is beginning to show its age more and more as time passes. The JRPG core of plot twists and simplified Ultima and Wizardry gameplay was new and innovative some time ago, but now with western RPG games evolving and diversifying, and JRPG stagnating in many areas, they are becoming more and more niche.

That's my general impression anyway.

Most major JRPGs have moved long past Ultima and Wizardry (even Dragon Quest isn't the same). Now they're more content with copying recent Western games, especially Elder Scrolls and World of Warcraft.

This is why games like Versus are so anticipated. If it succeeds Square will figure out how to make a Japanese centric RPG that is focused on action and fluidity that can stand amongst western action/rpg types. They have the right idea putting the Kingdom Hearts team on the job.

Mistwalker is the obvious choice. Monolith Soft has potential, but one great game doesn't put them on the level of Squaresoft in their prime. Maybe Intelligent Systems, the makers of the Fire Emblem and Paper Mario series.

Apart from them... Atlus is definitely right up there. Just... the Persona series. Yeah.

The question is a matter or potential, not whether they're at the same level yet. Monolith also has Xenosaga and Baiten Kaitos under its belt, but they're still far too small even with two development teams. Intelligent Systems is not likely to move beyond Paper Mario and Fire Emblem. Mistwalker apparently can't even develop a game on their own. Atlus has difficulty finding mainstream success worldwide.

So I say the winner is Level-5.

Atlus or Level 5

none of them are even close. Mistwalker? they're making damn iOS games, Monolith, is ok, but they made one good JRPG in the past few years? They are too green to be on Square's level IMHO. Atlus is cool, but they are too niche. Namco actually had a chance if they werent stupid with their treatment of Tales series, had they not drag their feet on localizing Tales games the series could have been more popular