My interest in jrpgs peaked with the PS1. I didn't manage to beat one of them on the PS2. I dropped them all partway through due to boredom. And after beating Tales of Vesperia, I took a 3+ month break from the genre because I was sick of jrpgs. I really asked myself why I kept buying these games. It seemed like the passion for the genre was almost totally gone (even Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon, which I liked, were two games that really wore on me and became tedious after awhile)
Though recently I thought that I would get back to playing them by going with baby steps instead of just going all-out hardcore like I did early this spring/summer with the 360 jrpg marathon. So I decided on playing a short jrpg that isn't so demanding of my time. So I looked around the internet for short jrpgs. I saw that Rhapsody (PS) was apparently 10 hours long so I thought, "ok let's try this". I play the game and I find out that the cast is freaking hilarious and I'm in disbelief that this obscure jrpg that wasn't exactly a hit with jrpg fans (though it does have a cult-following) provided a fun experience (the gameplay is lacking but the wacky cast and script totally left a great first impression and made me want to continue playing. I think I'm like a third of the way through the game now)
I think that's what these modern jrpgs are missing. A charming memorable cast of characters that leave you with a warm feeling. A story that doesn't take itself so seriously. These modern jrpgs focus so much on cutscenes and a long epic adventure (filled with a lot of filler boring battles outside of boss battles and filler boring quests) with ambitious nerdy game programmers writing these epic stories thinking they are some sort of literary great. They forget about what made jrpgs so charming. It's like they think FF7 should be the standard for what a jrpg should be and I completely disagree. I want to go back and play more of these quirky jrpgs instead of the same old same old formulaic stuff. I remember Vic Ireland once saying that a memorable cast of characters pretty much makes or breaks a jrpg and I think I have to agree with him. FF13 characters seem like soap opera actors. It's not my cup of tea. I loved FF7 at the time because it was a new experience at the time. But it has not aged well at all in my eyes compared to the more old-school jrpgs.
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