fixed

Now you're showing your former self.

@ pbroy

That's more like it.

I was about to ask him the same question//He had to escape that one!

I'd guess from Pokemon Stadium being the second highest RPG this generation... behind Lost Oddysey.

The Wii shovelware RPGs are right up there with the "big time" 360 RPGs.

With nothing to show from PS3.

Not conclusive... but it certaintly would give you more hope.

Please, pick ANY other example. Using the ungodly massive selling Pokemon against a new IP Japanese RPG on a system that is primarily west with half the userbase of the Wii is an example awful beyond words. Mothership game or not, Pokemon will sell wrapped dog fecies with its name on it. 

Whats SPM?

Super Paper Mario is a platform/RPG

Not a JRPG like Final Fantasy or the Tales series, so I wouldn't say its the highest selling RPG this generation.

Uh, have you played SPM on Wii? It's hardly a RPG at all.

Tales of Vesperia failed for the same reason Eternal Sonata failed in the West. The simplest explanation is most likely the correct explanation. Western audiences most likely dislike the design choices of these games. We have four examples that exemplify this simple point. Other Japanese role playing games seem to have an easier time moving.

We have a good example in Lost Odyssey for turn based along with Blue Dragon. Infinite Undiscovery shows that hybridization is compelling enough. It is just flat worlds, and real time combat arenas do not resonate with Western audiences. That does not mean Tales was not the height of quality. Just means that the style is not to the public taste.

It most assuredly isn't the art style. Which be the way Anime encompasses a large range of styles. From poorly drawn, to expressive faces, to true facial proportions if that is what people are getting at, and if that is so how do you account for Blue Dragon. Shu could be a stunt double for Goku in Dragonball. That didn't stop that game from selling 400,000 copies in the West.

I think it wasn't a knock on the quality as it was a disinterest in playing the game owing to the design choices. Just as surely as other design choices popular in Japan find little or no traction in the West. Especially since Western developers have really accelerated the craft of the genre. In the West we expect more freedom, and richer worlds.