Imageepoch is sick of people saying that JRPGs are stale and is teasing its upcoming projects as a revival for the genre.
The JRPG as a genre has taken a hit in recent years, with many of the current generation titles considered JRPGs having been received poorly by critics and consumers. Japanese developer Imageepoch evidently plans to change the negative image that JRPGs have with many gamers in what it calls the “2nd Stage.”
Imageepoch is known for decent titles such as Luminous Arc, Sands of Destruction, and Arc Rise Fantasia. These games haven’t been universally beloved, but the company still believes in the JRPG as we can see in this teaser video.
The video asks if JRPGs are still necessary and if gamers are tired of them. According to Imageepoch: “We do not think so!” The video points out that the term “JRPG” has negative connotations overseas, but Imageepoch rejects that the time of JRPGs has passed. On November 24, Imageepoch will announce 8 games it’ll be publishing in 2011 that will apparently be a revival of the JRPG.
The games will likely only be announced for Japan at this time, and will be on a broad range of systems from consoles to cellphones. The company also opened up JRPG.jp to prove how dedicated it is to the cause.
I’ve always been puzzled by the fact that modern JRPGs haven’t been able to reach the level of greatness seen in classics from the Super Nintendo and PlayStation eras. Now that technology has improved so much, shouldn’t we be seeing even better games than before? Even Final Fantasy XIII, the latest from a series that leads the way for JRPGs, was a disappointment by many accords.
This move by Imageepoch could be pure PR spin to gain publicity for its new publishing venture, but I’m looking forward to what it comes up with, and to see if the company can really bring the JRPG back to what it used to be. I mean, they are currently developing a game about spanking demon girls, so that’s a good sign.
Source: Andriasang
