This, 100000x this.I miss the days when most JRPGs weren't filled to the brim with otaku pandering fanservice
Yeah. It's part of the reason why it's become more mainstream rather than a niche series. It would have been dead otherwise.
I say this because by and large this thread feels like a lot of people being like "i don't like sexually objectified women and there weren't any back when i played these games" which i don't think is true at all.
They just feel like they were designed by actual people and not by the committee trying to pander to a specific audience because they can't take any risks. Not saying that all modern JRPGs are like that, but a sizable chunk of them is tailor-made for otaku crowd without trying to catch a broader audience.I don't really know what that means though. "Heart." That could mean anything, it could mean nothing. Maybe you like the classic aesthetic and design which is fine. Of course there are differences. I just never felt like modern JRPGs are lacking in comparison.
Those looks great even today from those shots. Did you take that using real consoles with crt or shaders and emulator?I'm not a fan of the use of generic fonts that lack any style and the size of the font is so small I find difficult to read playing on a smaller screen.
I still got the old games and consoles.
Ding ding ding we have a winner.I miss the days when most JRPGs weren't filled to the brim with otaku pandering fanservice
Yeah I think this is just a matter of what JRPGs you play because I feel there's plenty to choose from. I'm sure there's lots of bad JRPGs from the 90s that we just don't talk about anymore because, well, they were bad. It always makes the past gens look better when you only remember the absolute classics.They just feel like they were designed by actual people and not by the committee trying to pander to a specific audience because they can't take any risks. Not saying that all modern JRPGs are like that, but a sizable chunk of them is tailor-made for otaku crowd without trying to catch a broader audience.
Those looks great even today from those shots. Did you take that using real consoles with crt or shaders and emulator?
Came to say this.I miss the days when most JRPGs weren't filled to the brim with otaku pandering fanservice
Of course there's lots of bad JRPGs from the 90s and 00s, but there's a reason why this period also has most of the acclaimed games in the genre. And even besides the classic stuff, do we have modern equivalents of Parasite Eve or Shadow Hearts? I can't think of any.Yeah I think this is just a matter of what JRPGs you play because I feel there's plenty to choose from. I'm sure there's lots of bad JRPGs from the 90s that we just don't talk about anymore because, well, they were bad. It always makes the past gens look better when you only remember the absolute classics.
The speed of delivery and diversity of game worlds.
I'd take FFVII -> VIII -> IX quality and scope games on that timeline over five to ten years development cycles.
Not really. I haven't played any great jrpg indie games.To people who miss classic JRPGs, do you feel like indies help to fill the void?
I think the tech limitations and allowed for art and environments that have the impression of much more. Your mind filled in gaps and works of art were formed from the experience.
Towns and dungeons weren't ACTUALLY massive mazes. They just felt that way from the art, layout, and limited perspective. Midgar in remake somehow feels much smaller than Midgar in the original despite being much much larger in actual scale and exploitable area.
I actually prefer most the ps1 quality graphics for rpgs for this reason.
It really does seem like money left on the table. And a way to let a whole bunch of talent quickly develop at a smaller scale.Yeah it is a shame that Square aren't willing to have both the long development 3-D entries and another branch of entries in the classic style but with 4k backgrounds and modern character models. Instead we get Tokyo RPG factory...
I was talking specifically in regards to Fire Emblem (I didn't even post the most egregious examples), but even if what you're saying is true, mobile games didn't exist back then. There are gacha games now that have characters specifically designed to sell.I say this because by and large this thread feels like a lot of people being like "i don't like sexually objectified women and there weren't any back when i played these games" which i don't think is true at all.
To people who miss classic JRPGs, do you feel like indies help to fill the void?
I dunno, there's still lots of "retro-inspired" JRPGs being released often, the games may not have the best budgets (that go to the modern JRPGs) but some of them are pretty good. And tbh the Xenoblade series has a better adventure feeling than any SNES/PSX JRPG, even the amazing Chrono Trigger feels pretty linear and limited today, and as you said Nihon Falcom games have a good mix of QoL features but a classic JRPG structure.
If something now we have lots of options, including retro games of course, and I prefer the variety we have today compared to the "trends" we had a few years before (generic fantasy setting, industrial-magical world setting...), as much as JRPG fans complain about Persona-inspired games, the reality is that most JRPGs don't use the highschool setting or the calendar system.
Let's wait and see what they finally do. I mean, as much as I like the Kiseki combat systems, they need to shake up the formula big time, Cold Steel has lasted 5 games (Hajimari plays and feels like a Cold Steel game for better or worse) and they have only added more and more elements instead of re-thinking the base of the combat systems.Turn-based combat. The news that the Trails series is moving away from it hit me hard, since it's a factor in why those are my favorite JRPGs.
Yeah. It's part of the reason why it's become more mainstream rather than a niche series. It would have been dead otherwise.
I miss the days when most JRPGs weren't filled to the brim with otaku pandering fanservice
Yep, TMS#FE has more classic SMT elements (combat system for example) than Persona elements. No calendar system, no social links, no free day exploration... even the dungeons are traditional JRPG dungeons (Persona 3-4 had the random dungeons, and TMS precedes P5).Even Tokyo Mirage Sessions which features high schoolers doesn't really even focus too much on it, from what I've played of it at least.
I think the tech limitations and allowed for art and environments that have the impression of much more. Your mind filled in gaps and works of art were formed from the experience.
Towns and dungeons weren't ACTUALLY massive mazes. They just felt that way from the art, layout, and limited perspective. Midgar in remake somehow feels much smaller than Midgar in the original despite being much much larger in actual scale and exploitable area.
I actually prefer most the ps1 quality graphics for rpgs for this reason.
Pretty much agreed with this, as someone who actually loves the high school/calendar system it's basically nowhere else besides Persona, Tokyo Xanadu, and a single Trails entry. Even Tokyo Mirage Sessions which features high schoolers doesn't really even focus too much on it, from what I've played of it at least.
While it's easy to fixate on the big name players moving away from what you love (though I'd argue Square Enix still covers the '90s-00s bases with Dragon Quest, FFXIV, and Bravely) there's still plenty out there that scratches the same itch.
I will admit the sexualization is way too common though, altho it's something I feel would have been around earlier had there not been the technical limitations and censorship of the era.
The dungeon crawling in SMT4 and 4A (the 3ds smt games) isn't first person, so whatever man.
Also really weird to single out "character writing" as Nocturne's strong point.
Don't think you played them if you described them that way. It's of course easy to paint the genre as shit if you DQ the good games with pithy complaints. Like the mangled translations of PSX/2 games had "entertaining" character writing way above smt4/a