@d3nR Don't forget an adrogynous main character, incredibly long monologues, grind grind grind, and then some more grind, stats you can't control or have very little domain over it, wierd haircuts with impossible colors, and usually a great soundtrack.
And then some more grinding.
Honestly though, I love the monster designs in JRPGs. Alot more inspired than "Generic giant dragon #3451" or " Gobline #4321".
@ChristysXmas Yes but those are specific studios that were able to prevail.
It's bad when all of the big publishers which were considered Gaming's giants are failing one after another.
It would be the equivalent of EA, Activision, and Ubisoft all releasing bad games after another, even if a few of the smaller studios would release good games, you'd still look at the situation and think something went terribly wrong, would you not?
Japanese games have indeed lost their way. Without trying to sound too much like a weeaboo, i'll just say, most japanese games nowadays have fallen into three extremes:
1). The westernized: Games that try to imitate the western culture of games and as such suffer identity crisis ( Have you guys seen the Mega Man prototype game footage?! No need to even explain Final Fantasy, I believe).
2). The extremely moe: Games that focus almost purely on fanservice and jerk-off materials, embracing all the stigmas made on Japanese fictional works.
3). The rehash: Games that have no idea where to go and how to improve, so they just keep making more of the same. Examples: Pokemon, Dragon Quest, Monster Hunter.
Some may disagree with me on these points because they actually like these games, but it doesn't change the fact it's true.
Japanese games used to be the industry leaders in gaming, their games set the bar for all to follow and defined the genres. Final Fantasy gave meaning to the word RPG, DMC1 reinvented Hack 'n' Slash, Shadow of The Colossus was pure art.
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