micktiegs_8: The really good JRPGs tend to be on the consoles which is a downer. I can't remember the last time I had something like Star Ocean 2 on a PC, but then again I think the days of masterpiece JRPGs has been and gone already :(

still got my UMD by the way... now if only I had a system to play it on.

Licurg: Been having lots of fun with Tentacle Rape Sim recently .

KiNgBrAdLeY7: Exclusively Good Old Games. Yes, concerning Japanese ones, too.

Warriors Orochi Z PC
Castlevania Symphony of the Night (sega saturn emulation)
Various Visual Novels.

Of course, by japanese games, i mean in japanese language WITHOUT translation... Not even subtitles. Well, maybe some fighting Touhou game with an unofficial english translation patch, but other than that, english prohibited (i mean, nonexistent).

Sazanamistyle: Oh boy. You've opened the floodgates. Prepare for the stupid negative joke posts about how somebody's an expert on an entire country's output of games because they've only played the minority that have been translated. This will especially be rich in terms of RPGs, where the generalizations are laughably untrue. But hey, ignorance about other countries is an eternal human constant, so what can I say?

If you want the best of Japanese games you can play in English, these days you're going to need a handheld, whether that's a tablet or phone, or the Vita/3DS or even the holder PSP/DS. Right now, for instance, there are all sorts of small Japanese games being sold digitally on the Vita and 3DS shops that absolutely compare to the rich originality of PC indie gaming.

Unfortunately, because as you state, there's a certain brain-dead follow the leader mentality going on in console gaming and a lot of console gamers seem to be caught up in that, not as many of the standouts get translated. For instance, there's still no confirmation of translation for the Yokai Watch games, which are utterly fantabulous RPGs about a kid who solves everyday problems in his town caused by mischief-making spirits. It's original, creative and innovative in all the ways a generation-defining masterpiece should be, but it has very little perception outside Japan. (That's 3DS, by the way.)

Since you're on GOG, though, you probably won't scoff too much at picking up a DS or PSP for old games, and there are more fantastic RPGs on those platforms than you could probably play in a lifetime. Also, because it seems like you might have an interest in old games, the 3DS' virtual console is great for that, but more than that M2 along with Sega has made the Sega 3D Classics one of the best reasons to own the 3DS. There are currently 11 games in the series and they are all faithfully recreated from old console and arcade classics, with awesome 3D quirks that replicate the TVs and arcade cabinets of those days. Wish you could have the experience of playing on old tube TVs with their curved monitors and scanlines again? There's an option for that. Wish you could emulate the experience of swerving left or right on an arcade cabinet complete with the squeaks of the hinges in the cabinet emulated? There's an option for that. Sonic, Bare Knuckle, Space Harrier, Outrun, Shinobi. It's utterly glorious and probably one of the greatest tributes to retro gaming the history of forever. Depending on how well a packaged version does in Japan this year, the collection may also continue to other games in the future too!

In short, portables and in particular the 3DS provide many of the peaks of Japanese-designed games these days, but you may have to have the Japanese version to get all the games you want and know a little Japanese to be able to play them.

Elmofongo: Speaking of Japanese games. Why is everyone saying console gaming in Japan is declining because of Mobile gaming and is saying that Final Fantasy XV (and only XV) will either save it or doom it?

Out of all japanese games why FFXV? Completely ignoring everything else?

My sources:

http://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-15-end-console-gaming-japan/

snowkatt: probably because final fantasy is huge in japan second only to dragon quest

its also an example of everything thats wrong

inflated budget

inflated developmetn cycle

over empahsis on "cinematic presentation"

probably utterly linear

and square enix has been remarkably tone deaf with the whole ff 13 disaster ( pushing out 3 games ina series that was almost universially reviled )

if ff 15 goes bust it migth cause a mini crash and maybe budgets and games will dwindle and try less to be "cinematic" course this is just conjecture

and i am probably wrong i dont like final fantasy or jrpg's in general anyway

too much grinding too many random encounters and i dont care for the melodramatic stories either

or the fact that the protagonist ususally a sullen 15 year old spikey haired arechtype who angsts a lot

i do miss the quirky games that come out of japan though
i never cared for online multiplayer or fps games

....mayeb ill dig my saturn out instead

snowkatt: i hate random encounters
its infuriating that i cant take 2 steps with out being hit by 3 enemies

and i hate grinding too its dull boring monotonous and just a means to aritificially pad the length of a game

snowkatt: ^ newsflash
spare me you pandering biased rants will you ?

unless final fantasy 7 8 and 9 grandia 1 and 2 and far too many others do not all of a sudden have grinding mechanics any more
cause that materia sure will master it self and filling your junctions and levelling up your guardian forces also happens in an instant


the atelier series sure looks grindy to me
and so does trinity universe
and hyper dimension neptunia
and the ys games ..all of them

le gaspu migth there actually still be grinding ?! tis a revelation !
but i am sure you wil have an excuse for that dont you ?

because from the look of it all you want to do is rant rant rant and "correct "misconceptions but not willing to enter a dialouge or entertain viewpoints that do not line up with yours ( with out becoming pandering and condsending anyway )

and i am not interested in that nonsense so i wil bow out of this "conversation

tatty bye

j0ekerr: I'm currently playing Fate/Stay Night. And you can't get much more weeabo than a visual novel.

I've cleared Saber and Rin and I'm progressing through the Heaven's Feel route right now.

Sakura's a slut.

Also, I played Tsukihime on my phone. The experience convinced me that tablets are the best platform to enjoy visual novels on.

sturryz: Vita huh? you gotta pick up Persona 4 golden, no debate about that.

Shmacky-McNuts: I used to play PC games first. Then thought that because all my friends were swept away by the JRPG game frenzy. I thought I could get interested in that stuff. To be fair, there are a few titles like Suikoden 1 & 2. But for the most part, I just cannot bring myself down from how immersive games are like STALKER: CAll of Pripyat with the Misery Mod. After you play Fallout series and the like, you look at a JRPG and how childish those games usually are...ya just can't go back.

AnimalMother117: I personally want a Vita TV because I find the actual Vita uncomfortable, but I read that Hyperdimension Neptunia is incompatible with the US version. This leads to me not getting a Vita TV as that was the main incentive.

RyanDodd: Nintendo 2ds, Psp (which I hacked to play emulators and fan translated PSP iso's of never released in the West Japanese games.) I also have a Ps Vita a PS3 and high end Pc of course. I'm gifting my 2DS to my sister for Christmas because I find the games to cutesy and child-like for my taste. I prefer the Vita.

I'm all too aware of the anti-'weeb' attitude since I run an anime, manga, and Japanese games reporting site. The hurr durr 'I've seen enough anime to know where this is going' jokes along with general retardation to anything that isn't call of booty modern welfare 7 and cheeseburgers is what you can expect from any the majority of console gamers. Hopefully not here, but I've got at least 25 more comments to read..



RyanDodd: Because hipster 'journalists' say JRPG's and Japanese games in general are dead once every 3 months because you know otherwise they might have to do some real reporting where they do scary things like maybe speak to said developers first hand.
They almost never do that.
RyanDodd: JRPGs do tend to have a lot of emo kids and boring as shit grinding it's true.
But then FPS's are full of terrible features these days and I still play a handful.
RyanDodd: I look up a games features to see if it has random ecounters, if it does I won't buy it.
A lot of games don't have it, and use a system where you can see the enemies and then choose to engage in combat by going near them or getting a critical first strike etc.

flubbucket: If you're still looking for a JRPG styled game you might take a look at Anachronox.

It's available here on GoG on sale now and is quite fun.

RyanDodd: [
RyanDodd: Get a grip for the Vita it makes it comfortable. You can get one for literally 89p on amazon and it makes it look and feel like a controller.

Sazanamistyle: Those same hipster journalist keeps scaring me about the death of handheld gaming because of mobile gaming.

And the same guys that posted the whole gamers are dead articles :p

RyanDodd: The death of handheld gaming because of mobile gaming in Japan is alledged. I've yet to see a single mobile game popular enough to prove this conclusively though. Also a dragon quest MMO is being made on the 3DS which in Japan is the equivalent of the latest COD in terms of hardcore fans, only more so because they will probably shell out hundreds on in game items.

The Ps Vita sold badly but Japanese game developers don't seem to care it gets more JRPG's than the PS4 does.
Don't even get me started on GamerGate I've spent dozens of hours reading watching and even making articles about it.
I didn't read mainstream game reporting outlets prior to this debacle and have continued to avoid them.

RyanDodd: JRPGs do tend to have a lot of emo kids and boring as shit grinding it's true.
But then FPS's are full of terrible features these days and I still play a handful.
RyanDodd: I look up a games features to see if it has random ecounters, if it does I won't buy it.
A lot of games don't have it, and use a system where you can see the enemies and then choose to engage in combat by going near them or getting a critical first strike etc.