Topic: Xenoblade is coming to U.S. as a gamestop exclusive

I'm watching you, fairy

Also, Mario Kart is not an RPG

Yep. Morrowind, another classic which is even to this day a game that has it's community which builds and expands it's universe. Fact is that it all began with the PC text adventures. The Zorks, Ultima's and even the King's Quest games by Sierra were inspiring people all over the world. And no, I will not deny that the Japanese perfected the RPG genre, especially during the early to late nineties if that is your case, because that's also a fact... and yes, they perfected it once again with Xenoblade Chronicles...

That would be amazing if it was.

How to fix Final Fantasy:
Don't listen to these nuts.

Dumbest article I've read in ages, oh that's right there was a topic wasn't there, congrats on getting Xenoblade I loved it.

No one takes Joystiq seriously. They're like Kotaku, full of jokes and sarcastic remarks.

First I've heard of this. I haven't played Ultima but I've seen a bit of it and I can't understand your reasoning here.

I'd recommend people to watch The History Of Zelda video (contains personal interviews, including one with Miyamoto), which was translated into English by Zentendo...

Full Video

Wait a minute! If Nintendo plans to sell them exclusively through GameStop and their site, what's gonna happen to the Amazon pre-orders?

I'm kinda wondering about that myself, but more on how OpRa is reacting as a whole to this more than the Amazon pre-orders. Now that I'm thinking about it, not selling it on Amazon was probably a deliberate move on Nintendo's behalf just to show that they did this from their own volition and not because of OpRa.

Also, am I the only one here who remembers something about NoA's decision to release it in NA being based on its success in Europe? I could've sworn Nintendo said that that was the criteria they were basing a NA Xenoblade release on.

Ah! I see now. Thank you.

So does that now mean that you people in the US will shut up about how you "continually get the shaft" in terms of videogame releases?

@Birdman13 Reggie did say that at one point.

http://www.1up.com/news/nintendo-watching-xenoblade-the-last-...

Not to mention the "no current plans" line still rings true seeing as it's being released NEXT year.

No problem! If you're interested, you can download the video in high-quality at archive.org.

As for Xenoblade Chronicles, I think that Nintendo Of America is going to have to broaden it's distribution for that game, because two outlets aren't (seemingly and even logically) enough due to it's huge demand.

I've very happy for you US people — it's a great great game, not without its flaws but definitely a must have current-generation game.

Dear people talking about RPGs.

Dungeons and Dragons. The pen and paper game. Came first and has remained popular ever since. JRPGs aren't even RPGs in the technical sense, because they're nothing like D & D.

You would think that people would do their research before claiming such things as FFVII led to the popularity of RPGs and that JRPGs would do their history before acting like experts, but then this is a Internet forum.

I would disagree regarding JRPGs not being RPGs, the JRPG is form of RPG. The Japanese combined the dull-looking, yet innovative RPGs with their technical, artistic skills to create the JRPG as we now know it.

Tabletop role-playing games have been translated into a variety of electronic formats. As early as 1974, the same year as the release of Dungeons & Dragons, unlicensed versions of it were developed on mainframe university systems under titles such as dnd and Dungeon. These early computer RPGs influenced all of electronic gaming, as well as spawning the role-playing video game genre. Some authors divide digital role-playing games into two intertwined groups: single player games using RPG-style mechanics, and multiplayer games incorporating social interaction.

Role-playing video games use much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics as early pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Generally, the player controls a small number of game characters, usually called a party, and achieves victory by completing a series of quests and reaching the conclusion of a central storyline.

Single player role-playing video games form a loosely defined genre of computer and console games with origins in role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, on which they base much of their terminology, settings and game mechanics. This translation changes the experience of the game, providing a visual representation of the world but emphasizing statistical character development over collaborative, interactive storytelling.

Wikipedia entry on Role-playing games

I already said it...

The explosion of Final Fantasy VII's sales and the ascendance of the PlayStation represented the dawning of a new era of RPGs. Backed by a clever multi-million dollar marketing campaign, Final Fantasy VII brought the first taste of CRPGs to a much wider audience and played a key role in the success of the PlayStation gaming console. Following the success of Final Fantasy VII, console RPGs, previously a niche genre outside of Japan, skyrocketed in popularity across the world.

I can know it, because practically nobody at school had a copy of Final Fantasy III (import), Secret Of Mana, Chrono Trigger (import), Illusion Of Time / Gaia or Breath Of Fire...and I always told they were missing out, but they wouldn't listen, and were not interested. They thought I was a nerd anyway, hahahahahaha! Who's the nerd now?

Why do people wonder why Zelda II for instance was such a mediocre success? Because the action-orientated console gaming 'mass' in the West didn't like the idea of spending a lot of time of gaining experience points in videogames until the 'polished' Final Fantasy VII was introduced by Sony's mega-marketing campaign (Sony / Tristar was Square's publisher and distributer at that time). And yes, I guess Zelda II may even be regarded as a side scrolling action RPG, just like the classic Faxanadu.

I'm off, immersing myself into the world of Xenoblade, take care you people.

For me JRPG's are what defined RPGS. Its just something about D&D that turns me off. I have friends who play different types of role playing games but it seemed alittle lame t. I did play a text based RP in middle school based on the show heroes.

It might just have been the people playing though. They'd play at the library and during lunch and well I don't like to do super nerdy stuff in front of others

I don't know where you got that 'definition' of RPGs from, but it's wrong. Wrong in the sense that Gary Gygax, the man who invented the RPG (and the man who the original JRPG developers dumbed down massive to squeeze on to early games consoles) never meant for any of that to be the focus of RPGs. His entire game philosophy was in another direction entirely.

Fun fact - real RPGs are actually skirmish-level Wargames. Dungeons and Dragons ws actually adapted from a tabletop Wargames system called Chainmail. Its focus, back in those early days, was a freedom of player choice and individual people working together to sort through the mathematics and mechanics of a game system to deal with overwhelming odds.

As such, the original pen and paper RPGs were social experiences as a crucial tenant of their existence as a separate genre. Wargames were competitive, RPGs were cooperative. This is a problem that video games have struggled with all the way through to the invention of the MMO. Western and Japanese RPGs alike have been, at varying degrees, close approximations of RPGs, but almost never 'actual' examples of the genre.

As a result, JRPGs are often very good games (my PS3 collection has around 20 of them), but they are not RPGs. They're a wholly different genre, and I think it does a disservice to both JRPGs and proper RPGs to try and shoehorn them into the same genre.