Why JRPGs have not expanded in recent years

"The Golden age of JRPGs is over."

This is a common statement made by those who long for the bygone days where fantastic JRPG after fantastic JRPG were released. The most common platforms that people say were "the golden age" are the SNES and the PSX. Games like Wild Arms, FF IV - IX, and Chrono Trigger were some of the marquee games of that era. Not to say that JRPGs today are bad, but the time when they dominated much of videogames is over.

I'm going to cut to the chase: the reason JRPGs are less prominent today is that they cannot take advantage of new hardware as well as other genres can. Old SNES JRPGs functioned fine as they were, with the limitations of 16 bit power not hindering the games very much. This is a completely different case with other genres such as FPS, Racing, and Western RPGs. There is a huge jump in quality from Wolfenstein to Killzone, just as there is a huge jump in quality from Mario Kart to Forza Motorsport. The first and third- person RPGs from Bioware and Bethesda could not have had a true equivalent on the SNES.

Basically, the only improvements JRPGs have made so far are just graphical and audible. Other genres can actually enhance gameplay with new hardware.

Where will they go from here? Will we ever see the return of a time where JRPGs are popular again? Let me know in the comments section below.

My posts are availible on both MyIGN and 1UP.

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