Welcome back. Ready for another round (finally)? Cool. Let’s start with a test of will.
Before I say anything
else on some old JRPGs, I want to make one thing in particular clear:
personally, I don’t JRPGs are doing so poorly this generation. That’s not to say that the genre as a whole
has been without problems today or yesterday (it hasn’t), or that they’ve been
immune to the changes of the industry (they haven’t). If you’ll let me be a little bold -- or let
me repeat something I’ve said in passing before -- I think we have the
current-gen misadventures of Final
Fantasy to blame for JRPGs falling out of favor. Whether or not the franchise has been good
for years is and always will be up for debate, but there’s denying that it’s
the biggest name and face of the genre.
If it falters, everyone else falters -- it’s the engraved assumption
that if “the best in the genre” can’t put out a good product, none of them
can. Granted other titles have made their failures apparent as well, but when you consider which company’s name is
on the label of those boxes…well, pattern recognition is unavoidable.
But make no mistake, we
have gotten, are getting, and will keep getting good JRPGs. A little while ago, Ni no Kuni came out -- and while I haven’t gotten around to playing
it in depth just yet, from what I gather it’s a solid (if not great) game
that’s not just a rise to glory for the genre, but maybe one of the best JRPGs
in years. This, of course, is the same
slot that Xenoblade Chronicles occupied
not too long ago. And before that, there
was still Lost Odyssey. And let’s not forget the release of a handful
of Atlus/Shin Megami Tensei titles,
each one deserving of its own sort of praise.
Speaking of which, I’d
say it’s about time to give one of those games its due. So let’s get in deep with some good
JRPGs…with the Fair Lady Hendricks -- and later in the post, the TRUE face of
beauty -- guiding us.
How do you like your
carrots? Dangled on a stick, or past a
ring of fire?