As I’ve mentioned on this board, JRPGs are my favorite genre of console game. I own an original DS for its vast library of such games, not to mention all the GBA games I’ve played with it.
But it’s a new era now, and there’s a new Professor Layton game out for the 3DS, so I’m seriously considering getting one. Other than Tales of the Abyss, which I’ve seen on shelves, how is the system for JRPGs, either now or projected in the future?
Well, Tales of the Abyss is one of the best JRPGs ever in my opinion, so if you don’t already have it for the PS2, it’s worth having for the 3DS. Otherwise, so far, the pickings are pretty slim (A couple of Harvest Moon titles), but there’s some good stuff scheduled for 2013, in particular
Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan - Oldschool explorey grindy type
Fire Emblem: Awakening - Strategy RPG
Monster Hunter 3 - May or may not really count depending on how you view this series.
Pokemon Whatever - If you like these, there are bound to be several.
Rune Factory 4
No less than three Shin Megami Tensei games, plus one Devil Summoner title.
Note that some of the above don’t have North American release dates yet.
TheatRhythm: Final Fantasy is not a real JRPG, (it’s a music rhythm game) but is so infused with Final Fantasy goodness that I think it should count. Plus there are levels, experience, stats, items, and spells. Some of the songs are designed as actual battles. As you hit the notes, the characters in your party do damage to monsters or even summon Ifrit, Shiva, etc.
While it is not a JRPG, it is made for people that love JRPGs (one specific kind - Final Fantasy series).
Is this a symptom of the system’s relative newness, or is it anything deeper, do you think?
I don’t see any sign that JRPGs are dying or anything, nor that the 3DS somehow makes them hard to make, if that’s what you mean. The 3DS is just now becoming the preferred mobile Nintendo platform. Releasing the game on DS and being playable by both 3DS and DS users just was a better strategy, since JRPGs don’t really take advantage of the groundbreaking features of the 3DS. Without the 3D or augmented reality components, the 3DS is really just a suped-up version of the DS.
Mostly this, combined with the fact that a lot of developers have made their most recent JRPGs for the Vita. When that system gets done completely tanking, they’ll probably move along with 3DS development again.