My fondest video gaming memories as a child are of crowding around the television, SNES controller in hand grinding away as i played FF2 (As we now know it, 4). Japanese Role Playing Games (JRPG), as of recent times have had a decline in quality. Final Fantasy 13 was disappointing to majority of the FF fan base, Star Ocean IV was applauded for exhilarating gameplay but mediocre story and Eternal Sonata, praised for its fantastic soundtrack but tedious and repetitive combat.
With the English release of Final Fantasy 13-2 on the horizon, with mostly positive reviews from Japan heavyweight reviewers such as Famitsu; Can we expect a return to a golden age of JRPG's?
The Playstation 3 will see Tales of Graces f released at the end of 2012, a game part of the critically acclaimed 'Tales of' series, which whilst only having a cult following in the West, has a rather big following in Japan. The Wii has recently seen the release of Xenoblade Chronicles, acquiring near perfect review scores across the board. The Xbox has possibly had the greater reign of JRPG titles across the board, Tales of Vesperia, Lost Odyssey, Magna Carta 2 and many more titles.
Will JRPG's ever return to the glory days of classics such as Chrono Trigger or the earlier Final Fantasys? Or perhaps is the genre a dying breed, new releases being futile in trying to revive an era that has long since passed, of which its demographic has long since abandoned any interest of taking impractically sized swords in hand to save the world.