If you bought a PS3 for big JRPG titles you are simply out of luck so far this gen. There is little to no emphasis on big name RPG titles on PS3. There are a few reasons for this. Many JRPG titles we saw last gen were cheaper to develop with most of the budget going into writing a strong story and decent looking characters. Now with this gen we see development costs sky rocket to the point where for many companies it is no longer profitable to make exclusive games all around, you consider how small the JRPG market is outside of Final Fantasy and you'll see what I mean and why so many developers are going to Wii or going multiplat.
All is not lost if you're looking for exclusive RPGs on PS3 though, there is still Disgaea 3, Valkyria Chronicles, White Knight Chronicles, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. There are also unannounced projects including a rumored new PS3 game from Atlus (probably my favorite Japanese developer). If that's not enough there are still the now multiplat titles FFXIII and Eternal Sonata.
Now all this was pretty much to explain where JRPGs on PS3 stand (JRPGs have a different situation on PSP). It's not bad if you actually take the time to look at it but it's nothing comparable to PS1 or PS2's line-up and that is due to the ever changing market and demographic.
What is Sony doing then? What is with the lack of RPGs in general? Why are they betraying their once, arguably, biggest market?
The answer can be seen clearly in what was shown off at E3 yesterday and Sony's recent public event and conferences. The market in which they capitalized on with PS1 and 2 has changed from a market of gamers who play JRPGs, Platformers, and quirky action adventures to the shooter crowd. Games like Killzone 2 and Resistance 2 show this off. Big name shooters are selling and games like Folklore are not. This is not to say that Sony has abandoned core gamers at all, what I liked about their show yesterday was the amount of games that would only appeal to core gamers.
We saw games like inFamous, Siren, and Valkyria Chronicles. We also saw games for everyone like Flower and LBP. Despite what negative media and forumites are saying, Sony is offering a diverse lineup for really any gamer. Their new strategy seems to be: Build up on 1st/2nd party games for PS3, bolster PSP with killer Western titles and core appealing Eastern titles, and starting a trend to make PSN or any "arcade" games more than just a quick chuckle (Siren, R&C). They also want to expand upon the PSP/PS3 functionality.
Will some fans feel betrayed? Of course, we're just going to hear about it more because we're on a gaming site. The new strategy has it's flaws but this is probably going to be the climate for all consoles come next gen. Almost every 3rd party game will be multiplat and there will be an immense amount of 1st and 2nd party exclusives on store shelves and on stores like PSN and XBLA. It's the future of the industry.
While I personally don't believe in the concept of a hardcore gamer I do believe in hardcore games and if that sounds strange to you then don't worry, I confuse myself with it as well. The reason why I'm bringing up hardcore games is due in large part to this year's E3 conferences.
Bias aside it was a pretty lackluster show so far with the "winner" being Microsoft or Sony but that's not what this is about. This is about the games that were shown at the conferences. While it is very rare that I get disappointed in one of the companies for showing off new 1st or 3rd party exclusive titles this event became that rare exception because this year we saw more casual games than anything.
I'm glad the industry is growing, I really am, but casual games really have no place at an event like E3. Stockholders aside, most of the audience and viewers of the press conferences are avid gamers who want to see a game that will take them to the next level of immersion. Showing off games like Wii Music and Lips aren't exactly going to make me impressed. Showing off more shooters (looking at you Sony) isn't going to make me impressed either although I will admit I'm now hyped for Resistance 2 and MAG.
If an industry event like E3 is turning into a place to show off your casual games for the expanding market then what does that say about the industry? Does this mean gamers like me who enjoy games like The Witcher, Persona 3, UT2k4 etc. are a dying breed? Or does it simply mean we have to evolve and change our tastes to fit this new market.
I for one do not like the new market. Console gaming is really starting to go down the tubes. I don't want to see my JRPGs casualized to try to lure in the shooter crowd. I don't want my WRPGs to have mainly shooter elements. I don't want my shooters to be short with crap storylines to lure in casual gamers who like the multiplayer.
I know I'm not the only one who feels like this because looking at the comments made about Nintendo's conference around the forums here on Gamespot I can tell a lot of users are pissed. Even Microsoft's conference was very meh. They showed they could by timed exclusivity and steal exclusives, Gears of War 2 is not hardcore, I don't care how you slice it. This is where I have to give credit to Sony. Even though they are making the PS3 very shooter heavy they showed off a lot of games that may not draw in the casual crowd such as inFamous, Siren: Blood Curse, and Patapon 2. Not to mention the plethora of other PSN titles that look fun.
The funny thing is that Sony used to be the company that catered to everyone and Microsoft was the hardcore console. Things seem to be turning around and I don't mind, if this means more games like Disgaea 3 and Valkyria Chronicles on my PS3 then I'm fine with it however, I don't want to see hardcore games backed into a corner, it's already such a small market now. In the coming years I doubt we're going to see more projects like Okami and The World Ends With You because of the ever expanding market.
I can honestly see myself being solely a PC gamer if that's what it comes to.
In a closing note I'd like you to try and support small or low budget game projects where you can. The industry is turning into Hollywood as game budgets get bigger and the companies shove new and complicated tech down developer's throats. Pick up that AA game from that studio you never heard of it, it's probably 100% worth it despite what your cool shooter friends say. Try out that new SRPG that looks like its from the PS1 days. try out that quirky platformers. It's the only way we can stop games like Wi Music from taking over our industry.
You can call me an elitist but I'm more of an idealist on this one.
At first I thought it was a hardware problem so I tweaked my fans a little bit more (card running on 100% all the time now) and installed new drivers. Nothing.
Checked my memory just to be sure, nothing.
So after 3 hours of frustration I finally figured out it had to be the updates since everything was fine before them. So here I am, uninstalling the updates one by one, what a great way to start my day.....
