Active Topical Banter - JRPG Ouroboros

Scott Wachter

Looking at the 2016 release calendar we find ourselves faced with an unprecedented market saturation. We share our concerns about that fact.

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Talking Points:
-Too many releases - like a plague of puppies.
-Backlogging as a symptom of industry health.
-Selling to same 20 000 guys?
-Collector's impulse stronger in jrpg fans?
-Everyone gets theirs.
-Reviewer woes
-Disc or iso...

Next: the corpus of a game

Budai

I think dragon quest 7 and 8 face a very real case of this happening.

Joshua Carpenter

I'm sure there are going to be a bunch of games that pass me by this year because there is just too much coming out to play, heck I've already passed on XCOM2 because of Fire Emblem and being buried under December releases. Nights of Azure is a good example: I'm a big fan of Atelier and I'm interested in the new Gust game. If it had come out last summer, I'm sure I would have picked it up. Now, I'm not sure I want to drop $60 on a new IP when there are so many things in the backlog and yet to come out.

I guess I could be buying everything, but I found that I get annoyed with myself when I buy a game at full price, it sits on the shelf for 9 months, and then I see it for $15 and I'm pissed at myself for not having better discipline.

This looks like a great year for the JRPG consumer; I just hope that the releases are spaced out a bit and that the releases sell well so there are plenty of JRPGs in the years to come.

Shaymin

As a three-and-a-half system user, I'm already overwhelmed by JRPGs just on 3DS and we're not even out of Q1 yet. I'm still getting them all but putting them on very short leashes - FF Explorers is already out the door, for instance. Throwing in (potentially) two Dragon Quests, a new Pokémon duo that I'll at least have to play for coverage elsewhere means I'm going to be treasuring months where nothing comes out just so I can play catchup. (That will consist of (checks calendar) May and maybe September.)

Plus I still have two... I guess three... Trails games to (re)play on Vita and stray things on Wii U and PS3. I'm not even looking at a PS4 this year as a result.

Budai

Of dq7 and 8 which do you think will sell more?

Scott Wachter

whichever comes out first

Ocelot

I'm having to limit myself severely this year because of the Canadian dollar. If I'm not reviewing it, I'm not buying it at $80, sorry publishers. Be nice if some of them could give us a break in their digital shops, but of course then Gamestop would pitch a fit. ::sigh::

Victar

Does Canada get the same digital sales on Steam, the 3DS eshop, the Playstation Store, etc. that America does?

The recent Nintendo Direct announced a weird idol-centric Wii U JRPG, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, so I guess the JRPG Ouroboros just grew another head. At this rate it may turn into the JRPG Ouroboros Orochi.

Paper Mario Color Splash could also count. It may or may not be an RPG, but I'm saving to buy a Wii U for this game, and I doubt I'm the only RPG player moved to make the purchase.

Regarding collector's editions: I've seen plenty of expensive collector's editions for non-RPGs, notably fighting games including the Street Fighter, Soul Calibur, Tekken and Mortal Kombat series. Publishers used to bundle an "arcade quality" joystick with the fighting game. I'm not sure how common that is anymore, but I've also seen statues and comics with fighting game special editions.

I've also seen plenty of special editions for shooters and action games, especially if they're tied to a popular intellectual properties like Marvel or DC comic book characters.

Then there's the Kickstarters for pretty much any video game, which almost always have collector-centric "reward tiers".

I think the collector's impulse is strong in video gamers in general, not just JRPG players.

Thank you for your concern on the podcast. :) Maybe it's time to focus on the games in my backlog that are good. And maybe it's time to get rid of games like Inu-Yasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel. I'll think about it.

Shaymin

Victar wrote: »

Does Canada get the same digital sales on Steam, the 3DS eshop, the Playstation Store, etc. that America does?

Generally it's the same proportion, but we start from a higher base price. Persona Q is $19.99 US, but $27.69 in Canada for instance. Or for a more recent example, Stella Glow is $49.99 US, but $67.39 in Canada at regular price.

PSN occasionally lists games at par with US pricing and then has to go back and fix it, so if you catch something there you're OK.

Winter9

I'm very happy we're getting DQ VII and VIII though. It's like with books though; so many games, so little time.. I can't find the place to send mail?

With regard to "The Price is Wrong, Mac" in particular: I can see why people are bothered by SE salesprice. Me however didn't discover rpg's until I was grown up so I'm really happy to get them all, ecspecially on ios. Love my ipod. I will pay. The VI sprites I don't like so I play GBA instead, don't like IV either, the rest is fine to me :)

TheAnimeMan

My issue is we have a large number of medical bills this year with my wife being pregnant so I have to be SUPER picky on what is day 1 buy and what I'll have to get later at a lower price point if I can. Over the last few there are a number of games that this has happened with.

Macstorm

Winter9 wrote: »

I'm very happy we're getting DQ VII and VIII though. It's like with books though; so many games, so little time.. I can't find the place to send mail?

You may leave questions and comments here or in the comments of the next episode for us to read in an upcoming one.

Winter9

You guys seem to love the Vita. I haven't any experience with it, but although we own all Playstations except the last one I seldom find myself gaming on the tv because my boyfriend doens't really like handheld gaming and then we can't play together. For me the games I want to play are for example Grandia, FFX HD, Suikoden.. Do they hold up well on Vita? FF I guess since it is a Vita game as I understand. Do you guys think it is too late to jump on the train?

Phillip Willis

Great show guys. I didn't realize just how many RPGs 2016 holds in store for us!

Winter9 wrote: »

You guys seem to love the Vita. I haven't any experience with it, but although we own all Playstations except the last one I seldom find myself gaming on the tv because my boyfriend doens't really like handheld gaming and then we can't play together. For me the games I want to play are for example Grandia, FFX HD, Suikoden.. Do they hold up well on Vita? FF I guess since it is a Vita game as I understand. Do you guys think it is too late to jump on the train?

It is never too late to jump on the Vita train. I know Mac will agree :)

The games you mention hold up super well on the Vita. In fact, I dare say, they are better, for three reasons. First, for me, older games just don't look super awesome stretched across a 32" HD plasma TV. It makes my eyes bleed. However, on the Vita's beautiful smaller 5" (or so) screen, it's a perfect fit. The PS1 Final Fantasies, which I played on the PSP (and I believe are vita compatible) come to mind. Second, these older RPGs feel like they were made for portable play. The turn based ones, in particular, make for good play on the plane or on the couch.

Finally, suspend feature ROCKS. In many of the older RPGs, one could only save at certain points. This often forced me to stay up 20-60 minutes past my bed time, lest I lose good progress. One of the Vita's prominent features, suspend mode, solves this issue. At any point, you can press a button, and the Vita will enter suspend mode, waiting patiently for your return. This has been a portable console feature on the DS, PSP and 3DS. However, the batter management excels here. I have lost progress on the DS/3DS since the battery only lasts a few days in suspend mode. But, on the PSP/Vita, it lasts a lot longer. I've only lost a game once, and only after I left the PSP for months.

Winter9

Actually as soon as I bought Shin Megami Tensei: Persona and loved it (still playing, early on), I decided I need a Vita eventually. Between Persona Golden and FFX bundle (FFX was my first rpg since I didn't grow up with them) that in itself is worth it for me. I'm not really in hurry since I'm not nearly close to out of games for PSP, but it's nice to know! PSP games (DLC) are not compatible? Doesn't matter, just curious. Thank you :)

Winter9

Apropo Vita.. Do you guys prefer the old one or the slim version?