See what i would say is different from those games vs other JRPGs... is that they allow you to collect as many or as little characters as you want, offering huge variety, and that unlike most other games that do this, each character is fairly different from the others.

Sales are not and never will be an indication of quality. I also mentioned that outside of FF, nothing gets advertises and many are stuck in vicious loop.

And in regards to reviews, I rarely bother reading them anymore. It seems Japanese games are automatically looked with distaste and deducted points for that. They are generally hypocritically criticized for their "flaws" and graded for what the reviewer wants rather than the merits of the game.

The first thing you have to realize is that 80% of all anime really is generic and forgettable. However, that's true of television and films in the west, as well. Brilliance and originality is rare in any medium but it definitely exists in anime.

People will often watch a random anime here or there and think they understand the entirety of what it has to offer. If someone from another country flipped channels on cable for an hour or so, do you think that they would be in a position to declare that all western media is horrible?

There are definitely common factors with the style but there can also be important differences.

Kind of the same thing is true with JRPGs.  A lot of them are relatively generic in one way or another, though the art style being uninspired doesn't mean the story or the gameplay cannot be fantastic.  Final Fantasy VI is just sprites, after all, yet it's one of the best games I've ever played, period.  Suikoden artwork is nothing all that special, yet the games are excellent.

The impression I get is that, with both anime and JRPGs, people are content to sample the ordinary and render their judgement from that.  That's fine with me, to be honest, as I'm not the one missing out.

ahhh that makes sense.  JRPG gaming is pretty big on handhelds too

In-game over the full course of the series?  Yes, I'm serious.

Final Fantasy has always had pretty bad dialogue (though there's something strange that I love about it sort of like Escape from New York or Star Wars)... 9, and 12 were exceptions and had pretty good dialogue imo.  Obviously since Lost Odyssey was written by sakaguchi (aside from the dreams which are well written) are going to sound the same as 1-5.

Persona (atlas games in general) and ghibli (haven't played nino kuni) have some of the best dialogue in the industry.

I'm sorry man, I wasnt trying to say anime is bad or that JRPG games are bad.  i tried to make it obvious that I just personally dont like them.  Did i say something wrong in the thread because most people's comments are somewhat like this?  I just wanted to hear peoples opinions on why JRPG gaming is on the decline and if it had anything to do with the way I personally look at JRPG games.  Sorry if you or anybody else interpretted it any differently.  Everybody likes different type of games and shows.

I think the reason that there is a decline or the perception anyway  is .

1 -  apart from the big hitters like Final fantasy dragon quest pokemon most jrpg's don't sell as much as people think , historically selling 500k upwards means it's a hit and sales wise above average for the genre .

2 - people who play and love them tend to be very vocal and it adds to the perception that if you make a good jrpg it will be successful because there are millions of lovers just waiting for good jrpg's .

3- jrpg's are there they have just migrated away from consoles part of this is due to the Japanese market and the rise of handhelds , part is to do with the costs of making them on console today taking into account historical sale figures ,  another reason is when people talk about the scarcity of jrpg's on console they really mean more big name titles.

JRPG aren't on decline anymore, they are returning