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Are JRPGs really "niche"?
Was just reading this: http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/3/4560250/blood-sweat-and-kanji-the-hurdles-and-rewards-of-localizing-niche
Are JRPGs really that niche in the United States? I know they're not really mainstream, but what happened? I mean, most gamers know what Final Fantasy is, and most have probably had some kind of contact with Final Fantasy VII. Granted, gaming itself is perceived as a niche hobby, but still...
Comments
Don't people like the Persona series a lot
By your standards? Possibly, because people really like shooty games over there.
By the rest of the world? Probably not.
The article is right; most people have heard of Final Fantasy or [Possibly nowadays but not really] Persona, but not stuff like Galapagos (Fairy Fencer F) or The Legend of Heroes Eiyuu Densetsu or maybe even Atelier. All of these games have a considerable amount of promotion in Japan but the best bet for most of these titles is NIS localization (And in Escher and Logy's case probably Tecmo KOEI digital release).
I don't know though, I could possibly just be picking at the most niche of niche games and not know it since I'm a big JRPG fan <_<
Well obviously most people will not have heard of Treasures of the Rudra or Energy Breaker. But Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario RPG/Paper Mario are pretty darn well-known. And Megami Tensei/SMT/Digital Devil Saga/Persona is probably too (though people might not know that's all one series), and the Tales series. And there are a number of other one-off things such as The World Ends With You.
Edit: @DYRE has reminded me of perhaps the single biggest JRPG series ever, Pokémon.
Most of these games I only know about because of TVTropes articles.
Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Mario RPGs, Blizzard's games, and BioWare's games are extremely popular and I would consider them non-niche. I would consider most other RPG series niche, with some more niche than others (Rudra and Energy Breaker are definitely obscure and not niche). N1 games, Atlus games, and bigger series like Tales Of and Dragon Quest *were* niche, but are now less niche. I guess?
Whatever. It doesn't really matter. I play popular AAA RPGs (bought Mass Effect 3 at a midnight release thing) and I also play ultra-obscure what-the-fuck-is-that? RPGs (any Anachronox players here? Please say yes). Niche status and popularity aren't important.
I've had Anachronox on my to-play list for a while. It's the RPG designed by Tom Hall of id software, right?
For some reason I mentally bin that with Septerra Core, a western-designed PC JRPG. Which I do have and I have started to play.
Anachronox is an AWESOME PC RPG from 10-15 years ago and don't you forget it. GOG put it out digitally last year. And yes, it was designed by Tom Hall during a stint at Eidos, and I first saw it in an advertisement that came with my old PC copy of Final Fantasy VII. In that same ad were spreads for Thief: The Dark Project, a Tomb Raider sequel that I don't remember, and Daikatana (really).
So yeah, a lot of JRPGs are niche, but Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Mass Effect, and Diablo most certainly aren't.
Pretty sure Mass Effect, Diablo, and Blizzard's and BioWare's offerings aren't considered JRPGs/eastern RPGs, but rather, western RPGs, in the vein of Baldur's Gate, Elder Scrolls, and such.
Right, right, I was just talking about RPGs in general. I guess Pokemon and Final Fantasy are the only JRPGs I'd consider non-niche. Because RPGs in general are basically some of the most popular games in the world.
Pokemon is considered a JRPG?
It's Japanese and an RPG. A somewhat unconventional one, but yeah.
It's a bit atypical of an eastern-style RPG (i.e. "JRPG"), but it is one nevertheless. There's one storyline, and you don't get to customize your player-character's personality. The few times you make choices rarely have far-reaching consequences -- the only notable time is your choice of starter mon. That said, you do get a much higher amount of customization of your battle strategy than the typical eastern RPG does.
Also, the top-down grid-based format is more of an eastern-style RPG thing these days.
With how many shameless copies followed it, I wouldn't even call it unconventional.
Oh my, it seems that the JRPG scene has made quite a comeback, as older gamers with just a PC have come crawling out of the woodwork to buy PC implementations of Ys, Legend of Heroes, Tales Of, Valkyria, and other series' games.