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Forums - Sales - Star Ocean 4 - What went wrong with its sales?

Seraphic_Sixaxis on 20 March 2009
BengaBenga said:
Pristine20 said:
BengaBenga said:
I think it's clear now that 360 owbers don't play JRPGs. Sad but true.

 

so much for the console for JRPGs LMAO

 

It still is. It was one of my main reasons to pick a 360 over a PS3. It's also nothing to laugh your ass off if you like the genre, it's most definitely the worst performing genre this gen. which is never good news. I hope the stream of Wii JRPGs will do well. At least the audience seems to be a little more open to traditional Japanese games.

True, thats why i bought a 360 to, regardless, the genre doesnt do well on the 360 for ALL gamers.

At anyrate we need more JRPG lovin for both HD consoles.

 

 



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Rei on 20 March 2009
Soriku said:
Rei said:
Soriku said:
Rei said:

Would it be worth it to make SO4 a simultenous worldwide multiplatform release? I dont think so. The problem is not the platform, but the genre and the decreasing interest in it amongst the western public.

   Let's assume that 360 jRPGs arent selling. But where are the big jRPG sellers on the Wii and PS3? Oh, let me guess - "Tales of Symphonia 2 is a lame spinoff which wasnt advertised" and "VC is a niche SRPG and Sega didnt ship enough copies". Wake me up once PS3 and Wii big selling jRPGs will come out. Untill then, I assume that jRPG genre as a whole in a decline and (outside of FF-KH-DQ trio) only sells well on handhelds.

P.S I hope somebody has already prepared excuses as to why Tales of Gracia and WKC didnt sell well in the West.

 

ToS2 is a "lame spinoff" yet outsold ToV, the next main game in the Tales series. And SO4 may not even outsell it in Japan (if it does it'll only be by a few k)

And DQS still is the second best selling JRPG this gen. It sold 500k in Japan alone, and 210k more in US/EU. Big names CAN sell on the Wii. As for VC (and DotNW, but it was released in EU while DotNW isn't yet), it outsold ToV and is a SRPG. Plus, if Tales of Graces is being made by Team Destiny (as it should be) expected BIG sales in Japan, the lowest selling game by Team Destiny in Japan is 600 some k IIRC.

So...yeah.

   Why are you bringing in Japan when I was clearly talking about the West?

   And what lame excuses you have got there. Selling more than ToV is now considered a success? It's not about selling more than 360 jRPGs (I said - let's assume 360 cant sell jRPGs) it's about just selling well in the west. And neither PS3 or Wii jRPG has done that so far and outside of the trio I mentioned neither will.

 

 

Yet they have done better than the 360. Which is good. You're defending 360 JRPG sales, I'm saying JRPGs have sold better on the Wii and PS3 in comparison.

 

    I am not defending anything. I am saying that SO4 perfomance in NA has nothing to do with it being on 360, but has a lot to do with it being a traditional SO3-type jRPG. Selling more than 360 jRPGs is not a success. Valkyria Chronicles has sold terrible in the West, ToS 2 has sold terrible in the West. So will other PS3 and Wii jRPGs.

   You people put so much blame on 360 that you dont even notice it that the real reason is not the platform.



Cactus on 20 March 2009

All I want to say about Star Ocean is that it suffers from "The Last Remnant Syndrome" where certain aspects of the game are amazing, but others make you want to rip your eyeballs out. I don't want to say that I'm happy that the game didn't sell well, but I will say that it deserves to sell less than Star Ocean 2 and Star Ocean 3.

 

Riachu said:
I think it might have something to do with the art style. The characters just look too much like dolls. It doesn't help the game seems(still haven't played it yet) to have a poorly written script and terrible voice acting. Another problem is that JRPGs in general are being shunned due to their overused stories, character stereotypes, poor dialogue, art style that doesn't appeal to Western audiences, etc.

 

This is purely subjective, but I want to make it clear that Star Ocean had all of these problems, and they did likely contribute to less then stellar sales.



Seraphic_Sixaxis on 20 March 2009
Soriku said:
Rei said:
Soriku said:
Rei said:
Soriku said:
Rei said:

Would it be worth it to make SO4 a simultenous worldwide multiplatform release? I dont think so. The problem is not the platform, but the genre and the decreasing interest in it amongst the western public.

   Let's assume that 360 jRPGs arent selling. But where are the big jRPG sellers on the Wii and PS3? Oh, let me guess - "Tales of Symphonia 2 is a lame spinoff which wasnt advertised" and "VC is a niche SRPG and Sega didnt ship enough copies". Wake me up once PS3 and Wii big selling jRPGs will come out. Untill then, I assume that jRPG genre as a whole in a decline and (outside of FF-KH-DQ trio) only sells well on handhelds.

P.S I hope somebody has already prepared excuses as to why Tales of Gracia and WKC didnt sell well in the West.

 

ToS2 is a "lame spinoff" yet outsold ToV, the next main game in the Tales series. And SO4 may not even outsell it in Japan (if it does it'll only be by a few k)

And DQS still is the second best selling JRPG this gen. It sold 500k in Japan alone, and 210k more in US/EU. Big names CAN sell on the Wii. As for VC (and DotNW, but it was released in EU while DotNW isn't yet), it outsold ToV and is a SRPG. Plus, if Tales of Graces is being made by Team Destiny (as it should be) expected BIG sales in Japan, the lowest selling game by Team Destiny in Japan is 600 some k IIRC.

So...yeah.

   Why are you bringing in Japan when I was clearly talking about the West?

   And what lame excuses you have got there. Selling more than ToV is now considered a success? It's not about selling more than 360 jRPGs (I said - let's assume 360 cant sell jRPGs) it's about just selling well in the west. And neither PS3 or Wii jRPG has done that so far and outside of the trio I mentioned neither will.

 

 

Yet they have done better than the 360. Which is good. You're defending 360 JRPG sales, I'm saying JRPGs have sold better on the Wii and PS3 in comparison.

 

    I am not defending anything. I am saying that SO4 perfomance in NA has nothing to do with it being on 360, but ahs a lot to do with it being a traditional SO3-type jRPG. Selling more than 360 jRPGs is not a success. Valkyria Chronicles has sold terrible in the West, ToS 2 has sold terrible in the West. So will other PS3 and Wii jRPGs.

   You people put so much blame on 360 that you dont even notice it that the real reason is not the platform.

 

What does being a SO3-type JRPG have to do with anything? SO3 sold well on the PS2, so what's the difference now?

Selling more than 360 JRPGs means devs would look more at the Wii and PS3 before the 360 when making RPGs. Also, the Wii has the low dev cost advantage.

Well Star Ocean: Till the end of Time (3) did have ALOT more content then SO4 does, but thats because when the USA got Till the end of time it was already a high end tweaked version of the original version of japans Star Ocean 3, therefore USA's Star Ocean: Till the end of time had far more Hours of game play, 80 in total if im not mistaken and more extra playable characters aswell as 200 hours + of Replay and Extra missions value.

 

SO4 has NONE of the above.

 



Rei on 20 March 2009
Soriku said:
Rei said:
Soriku said:
Rei said:
Soriku said:
Rei said:

Would it be worth it to make SO4 a simultenous worldwide multiplatform release? I dont think so. The problem is not the platform, but the genre and the decreasing interest in it amongst the western public.

   Let's assume that 360 jRPGs arent selling. But where are the big jRPG sellers on the Wii and PS3? Oh, let me guess - "Tales of Symphonia 2 is a lame spinoff which wasnt advertised" and "VC is a niche SRPG and Sega didnt ship enough copies". Wake me up once PS3 and Wii big selling jRPGs will come out. Untill then, I assume that jRPG genre as a whole in a decline and (outside of FF-KH-DQ trio) only sells well on handhelds.

P.S I hope somebody has already prepared excuses as to why Tales of Gracia and WKC didnt sell well in the West.

 

ToS2 is a "lame spinoff" yet outsold ToV, the next main game in the Tales series. And SO4 may not even outsell it in Japan (if it does it'll only be by a few k)

And DQS still is the second best selling JRPG this gen. It sold 500k in Japan alone, and 210k more in US/EU. Big names CAN sell on the Wii. As for VC (and DotNW, but it was released in EU while DotNW isn't yet), it outsold ToV and is a SRPG. Plus, if Tales of Graces is being made by Team Destiny (as it should be) expected BIG sales in Japan, the lowest selling game by Team Destiny in Japan is 600 some k IIRC.

So...yeah.

   Why are you bringing in Japan when I was clearly talking about the West?

   And what lame excuses you have got there. Selling more than ToV is now considered a success? It's not about selling more than 360 jRPGs (I said - let's assume 360 cant sell jRPGs) it's about just selling well in the west. And neither PS3 or Wii jRPG has done that so far and outside of the trio I mentioned neither will.

 

 

Yet they have done better than the 360. Which is good. You're defending 360 JRPG sales, I'm saying JRPGs have sold better on the Wii and PS3 in comparison.

 

    I am not defending anything. I am saying that SO4 perfomance in NA has nothing to do with it being on 360, but ahs a lot to do with it being a traditional SO3-type jRPG. Selling more than 360 jRPGs is not a success. Valkyria Chronicles has sold terrible in the West, ToS 2 has sold terrible in the West. So will other PS3 and Wii jRPGs.

   You people put so much blame on 360 that you dont even notice it that the real reason is not the platform.

 

What does being a SO3-type JRPG have to do with anything? SO3 sold well on the PS2, so what's the difference now?

Selling more than 360 JRPGs means devs would look more at the Wii and PS3 before the 360 when making RPGs. Also, the Wii has the low dev cost advantage.

   "What's the differense now?" - I really have to answer this? The console generation has changed dude, trends have changed. We didnt play Wii sports and had a ton of first person shooters last gen. Yet we do now as people now prefer this kind of games. And dont be delusional - the highest selling console jRPG this gen is a 360 exclusive. And The Last Remnant, a new IP has outsold Tales of Symphonia 2 on the Wii despite the huge differense in install base in all regions.

   It is clear that neither current gen console is capable of selling jRPGs well outside of Japan. Yet you are so concentrated on 360 that you dont notice this.

  

 



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forevercloud3000 on 20 March 2009

1. Two of the recent Star Oceans were remakes of the original two. Remakes never do as well as the originals.

2. SO4 was barking up the wrong tree by being 360 exclusive.

3. Star Ocean was never that popular of a series in the first place. None of their games feels flawless, usually held down by many issues. A slim picking from the shallow series can even be considered good(SO2 and 3).



      

      

      

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Rei on 20 March 2009
Soriku said:
Rei said:
Soriku said:
Rei said:
Soriku said:
Rei said:
Soriku said:
Rei said:

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

   "What's the differense now?" - I really have to answer this? The console generation has changed dude, trends have changed. We didnt play Wii sports and has a ton of shooters last gen. Yet we do now as people now prefer this kind of games. And dont be delusional - the highest selling console jRPG this gen is a 360 exclusive. And The Last Remnant, a new IP has outsold Tales of Symphonia 2 on the Wii despite the huge differense in install base in all regions.

   It is clear that neither current gen console is capable of selling jRPGs well outside of Japan. Yet you are so concentrated on 360 that you dont notice this.

 

 

 

I stated in the OP that the highest selling JRPG was on the 360. LO has the FF creator name and big marketing which DotNW doesn't. TLR also got marketing, and it's one of those more realistic games (uses UE3 too...you know how much NA loves that) and is also not a spinoff.

If RPGs can't sell outside of Japan, what do you suggest devs do?

   "LO sold well just because .. *ILE* " - "ToS 2 didnt sell just because .. *ILE* " - "VC didnt sell just because .. *ILE* " - "TLR sold better just because .. *ILE* "

   ILE = insert lame excuse. This will keep going on and on as more PS3 and Wii jRPGs are getting released.

   And I dont need to suggest anything. Devs do understand everything themselves and take actions. Havent you noticed that jRPGs are switching more and more to handhelds and how little console jRPG titles we have 3 years after the generation started? This trend will continue as there is no sign of jRPG sales improving on consoles.

  

 



soulsamurai on 20 March 2009

I don't know, i bought it but had to return it cause me 360 crapped out on me and it was an E74 issue. That pissed me off so bad cause i bought another 360 specifically for that game just the week before release.



CURRENTLY PLAYING:  Warframe, Witcher 2

DMeisterJ on 20 March 2009

Should gave at least went multi play. Would have tripled JP sales, being a bigger IP than WKC, I believed it could have done 400k+ on the system. Oh well. Wads is running SE into the ground.



BTFeather55 on 20 March 2009

There were a number of factors however primarily these:

1.) It was a JRPG on a system whose primary audience is still heavily for shooters like Halo 3 and Gears of War in the West.  Also it was a science-fiction type of game being released at virtually the same time as a game in a more popular Western sci-fi series.

2.) The Japanese are showing that they absolutely refuse to fully get behind a system that they consider to be a Western console when they have viable Japanese alternatives even when the game on that system is an exclusive from a highly regarded Japanese developer. They are hoping SO4 will come to PS3 so they will be able to buy it.

3.)  Its review scores weren't high enough.  If it had had scores in the 9s instead of in the 8s and if its two leade in games had had good rather than terrible review scores, then they would have built up the momentum for it to have great sales in the West.



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