Uh-oh, is the rest of the world making JRPGs better than Japan?
Developed by French studio Sandfall Interactive, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sets the player in a Belle Epoque-inspired world devastated by an enigmatic apocalypse that annually culls survivors of progressively younger ages. As the game begins, the lone bastion city of Lumiere gathers to bid farewell to all 33-year-old residents as well as Expedition 33, the latest in a long line of doomed task forces charged with traveling to a distant continent where, it's believed, lies a solution to the deepening crisis.
You'd be right for thinking none of that sounds particularly Japanese, but make no mistake: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a JRPG, a genre that has outstripped the geographical limitations its name might suggest, but it's quite possibly the best JRPG of the decade to date.
So what even is a JRPG? In the 1980s and '90s, a cut-and-dry definition of 'role-playing games made in Japan' sufficed, but the gameplay mechanics established in this era — turn-based combat, an overworld punctuated by smaller dungeons and recruitable party members often differentiated by specializations like physical damage, magic-wielding or healing powers, etc. — came to define the genre as a whole.
Aesthetics and narrative style also developed their own JRPG niches. The former increasingly took on anime-influenced character designs and voice acting idiosyncrasies, and the latter came to embrace predefined stories (as opposed to ones that change based on player choice) of ragtag groups of ostensibly ordinary adventurers drawn into world-altering struggles with kings, demons, gods and more.
The tricky thing is that none of these elements are unique to JRPGs as a genre, and if one or more of them are missing, that doesn't necessarily disqualify a game from the label. More often than not, what separates a Western-style RPG like Baldur's Gate 3 from a JRPG like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — both developed by non-Japanese studios — is an 'I know it when I see it' litmus test, as ambiguous in some cases as it is foolproof in others.
In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's case, I see a JRPG when I look at this game, which raises a more pressing question than a debate over what is or isn't a JRPG: Why aren't Japanese developers cranking out the type of games that once made the genre the source of some of gaming's best efforts?
While developers outside of Japan are making games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, some of the pillars of the country's domestic JRPG scene are focused on remakes and remasters. |
SANDFALL INTERACTIVE
By critical metrics, the last truly great Japanese-developed JRPG was 2016's Persona 5 (with honorable mention to 2019's Kingdom Hearts III). Last year's Metaphor: ReFantazio was an admirable stab at a new story and setting from former Persona devs, but otherwise, the domestic JRPG scene has since become dominated by remasters and remakes. Industry giant Square Enix is preoccupied not only with sticking the landing on the third and final installment of its multipart remake of 1997's Final Fantasy VII, but it's also working on a remake of the original Dragon Quest (1986) and Dragon Quest II (1988) — following up a similar reworking of Dragon Quest III (1988) released earlier this year.
This is hardly a problem specific to Square Enix. Over at Nintendo, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition released in March, remaking the 2015 game of the same name (setting aside the discussion of whether a 10-year-old game needs a remake at all).
It's not that these remasters and re-releases make for objectively bad games, but they do little to move JRPGs as a genre forward. The plucky studios of Japan's past have since become or been subsumed into giant corporations, whose inexorable profit motive rewards commoditization of nostalgia over creative and financial risks aimed at the future.
Meanwhile, developers outside Japan continue to experiment with the genre. In 2022, German developer Matthias Linda released Chained Echoes to critical acclaim, and in 2023, Sea of Stars, developed by Montreal-based Sabotage Studio, drew similarly high praise. These games were small in graphical scale, but they were original efforts that drew inspiration from JRPGs' earlier eras instead of repurposing and repacking them.
Now, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has set a new high-water mark in modern JRPGs. The next mainline Dragon Quest game is still at least a year or two away from launch, and the Final Fantasy franchise has no releases planned for 2025. So if Japan is to answer the call set down by France's triumph, it just might have to be a daring unknown, a tried-and-true genre trope, that puts Japan-made JRPGs back on the map.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
19-07-2025
- Japan Times
Indie game studios battle for piece of Switch 2 success
Players line up inside Nintendo's booth at a Japanese game fair to try upcoming Switch 2 titles, but, for once, the company's chirpy red-capped mascot Mario is nowhere to be seen. The three games on display are all made by smaller-scale, independent developers seeking to impress users of the device that became the world's fastest-selling console after its launch last month. But with Nintendo game sales long dominated by in-house franchises — from "Super Mario" to "Donkey Kong" to "Animal Crossing" — it can be hard for outsiders to break through. "The Switch 2 has certainly gotten off to a strong start," said Krysta Yang of the Nintendo-focused Kit & Krysta Podcast. But so far, "for third-party game creators, the success of Switch 2 didn't necessarily translate into strong sales." Many Switch 2 owners bought the gadget to play Nintendo exclusives, such as "Mario Kart World," and the high price of the console and its games mean consumers have been less keen to splash out on a range of titles, Yang said. Also, many non-Nintendo games currently sold on the Switch 2, such as "Cyberpunk 2077," were already available on rival platforms such as Sony's PlayStation 5. "Nintendo is incentivized to keep their third-party developer relationships strong as they understand to sustain a console lifecycle they will need (their) support," Yang said, but warned "there certainly are challenges" ahead for the developers. The Nintendo booth at the BitSummit indie gaming expo in the city of Kyoto on Friday. | AFP-JIJI That did not put off scores of hopefuls from traveling to Kyoto, Nintendo's home city, to tout their games — many still works-in-progress — at three-day indie game expo BitSummit, which kicked off Friday. At booths showing off new software from retro-style puzzles to immersive horror epics, several gamemakers said they were in talks with Nintendo about launching their work on the new console. The Switch 2 is more powerful than its hugely popular predecessor, and that "opens up the space for what can be made," said Ryan Juckett of the U.S. studio Hypersect. Nintendo's own games "can be quite expensive, so there's a gap for cheaper, easier-access games that people can play on the fly," said Kent Burgess from New Zealand, part of the team behind the game "Bashful Adoration." Other concepts were more eclectic — from sword-fighting with barbecued sausages to a game where the main character is a shy giraffe whose head explodes if he talks to a stranger. In the United States, "some people, when they try the game, are like, 'oh we don't quite get it because we are so extrovert,'" said Lin Huang, the artist behind "A Week in the Life of Asocial Giraffe." Gaming industry consultant Serkan Toto said Nintendo once had "an almost legendary reputation of being hard to negotiate with" for outside gamemakers. "But that changed with the Switch 1," which launched in 2017 after the company's previous console, the Wii U, was "a total flop" — opening the way for more third-party games, including indie titles, Toto said. And the landscape could change further as new technologies gain pace. No indie gamemakers reporters spoke to at BitSummit said they used artificial intelligence heavily at work, although some said generative AI helped speed up coding tasks. Few were worried about the potential for job losses in the industry, for now. "There is not going to be a world in which an AI game will be better than a hand-built game, because there is going to be that love and soul that developers put into it," said Lauren Kenner, senior brand manager for Noodle Cat Games.
Japan Times
18-07-2025
- Japan Times
The self as a muse: Leonard Foujita's world in paintings and photos
There's reality and then there's the packaging of reality, a fact proven repeatedly by the life and work of Tsuguharu 'Leonard' Foujita (1886-1968). The Japanese-turned-French artist spent his career traveling the globe, creating works that would endear him to the School of Paris at one extreme and brand him a warmonger at the other. He produced paintings — most famously of white women and tabby cats — while cycling through wives, national allegiances and artistic styles as tax collectors and geopolitical events nipped at his heels. Amid the upheaval, Foujita tirelessly pursued the art of self-invention and reinvention. How did he manage to brand his captivating self image? The exhibition 'Foujita: Painting and Photography' reveals that he had one of modernity's most useful tools at his disposal: the camera. In what's being billed as the first exploration of the artist as a photographer, the show — a decade in the making — presents hundreds of Foujita's paintings and photographs on loan from more than 40 museums and collections.
Yomiuri Shimbun
13-07-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Osaka Gourmet EXPO 2025 Ongoing at Osaka Castle Park; 30 Pop-up Food Stalls Offer Unique Tastes
Osaka is often referred to as the city of 'kuidaore' (to collapse from overeating). What that means is that while people in Kyoto spend their money on kimono, people in Osaka spend their money on food. Osaka, in other words, has a culture of eating untill you drop. As I was born and raised in a family of gourmet food lovers in Hyogo Prefecture, which neighbors Osaka, I was asked to report on the Osaka Gourmet Expo 2025, a food event taking place alongside the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo. 'Alright, let's do this. It's time for a kuidaore foodie report!' I thought to myself, feeling fully motivated, and headed to the venue: Osaka Castle Park's Taiyo-no-Hiroba (Sun Square). The entrance to Osaka Gourmet Expo 2025A seating area inside a huge tentVisitors chat in the seating are also seats it comes to Osaka's specialties, you can't ignore okonomiyaki, takoyaki and horumon-yaki. All of these hot dishes are cooked on a griddle, and the two days that I spent at the venue were incredibly hot. As the name 'Sun Square' suggests, the sun was beating down relentlessly. Even though it was only June, the temperature was approaching 35 C, and it wouldn't have been surprising if someone had dropped even before they'd started to eat. Despite the heat, the view of the 30 food stalls lined up with Osaka Castle in the background was truly impressive. Okonomiyaki with a fluffy textureBonne Qualite's menuBonne Qualite staff cooks okonomiyaki. The first stall I visited was Bonne Qualite, where I ordered pork okonomiyaki. It's the first food stall opened by the French restaurant Lumiere in Osaka. The restaurant's famous chef designed the stall's menu. The dining area for the event is located inside two large, air-conditioned tents in the center of the venue, where you can order from a seat of your choice using a smartphone. Once your order is ready, you receive a notification via email and can pick up your food from the stall in front of the tents. The piping hot pork okonomiyaki was fluffy and extremely delicious. According to the employee who made it, the use of aburakasu, a specialty of Osaka, is what makes it unique. Aburakasu is generally made by frying beef intestines in oil until crispy. It's commonly used as a topping for udon noodles in Osaka. The aburakasu enhances the pork's aroma. Dried shrimp is added to the okonomiyaki to further enrich its flavor, while pickled radish and ginger provide a refreshing balance. I also enjoyed the crispy texture of the dish. Ayaka Isobe serves takoyaki is hot and fluffy on the I ordered takoyaki with sauce at Konamonya Hachi. The first thing I noticed was that the takoyaki balls were very big. The outside was crispy, and the inside was creamy, offering the perfect traditional texture. The flavor of the eight takoyaki balls, made with a secret, bonito-based dashi broth, along with bonito flakes, spring onion and green nori, exploded in my mouth. This eatery chain, which uses custom-made copper plates with excellent heat conductivity, originated in Nara and has grown to have over 40 shops nationwide. The stall manager, Ayaka Isobe, 35, saw the sweat pouring from my face and kindly offered me a bulging stomach, I headed to Osaka Minami Horumon Center. This eatery has its origins in the street stalls of Nishinari, Osaka City, the birthplace of horumon-yaki (barbecued offal). I ordered mixed horumon and harami (belly meat). The rich, secret sauce, passed down through generations, blends perfectly with the Wagyu beef offal, making it incredibly delicious. I couldn't resist and purchased a draft beer at the Suntory booth inside the dining tent. After sweating a lot from the three consecutive hot dishes, the beer was exactly what I needed. Delicious sweetsMatcha is currently enjoying a huge boom among foreign visitors to Japan. At a shop called Lazy Ice, I found and ordered a parfait featuring matcha ice cream and matcha-flavored Japanese confections, which was sweet and delicious and instantly cooled me down. 'We added warabi mochi (bracken-starch dumpling) and shiratama (mochi balls) to evoke a Japanese image. We make it low in calories,' Lazy Ice President Tetsuya Yamamoto, 56, told me. The store name is said to reflect their wish for people to feel lazy and happy while eating something sweet. Finally, at Mou×Mou Milky Paradise, I tried the soft-serve ice cream made with milk from Kyushu's Aso area. It had a rich flavor but was refreshingly light. The ice cream is handmade at the venue. Ramen with black pork cartilageAs a ramen reporter, I was intrigued by Kurobuta Nankotsu King, with its catchphrase, 'It's not tonkotsu; it's nankotsu!' (Nankotsu refers to cartilage.) I ordered the nankotsu mazesoba, a soupless ramen topped with cooked black pork nankotsu instead of the usual chashu meat. It was my first time trying it, but contrary to the image, the nankotsu had a melt-in-your-mouth texture with a sweet, umami flavor, which made it exceptionally delicious. 'Black pork nankotsu is a very rare cut that is not generally available,' said Mitsunori Hasuta, 60, an employee at a meat processing and wholesale company, which opened the pop-up ramen shop for the event. 'This ramen can only be eaten here.' His tanned, rugged body exuded energy as he spoke, perhaps because of all the black pork nankotsu he eats. Mitsunori Hasuta at the Kurobuta Nankotsu KingSoft and delicious black pork nankotsuMix well before eating 'Only 300 grams of black pork nankotsu can be obtained from a single pig,' Hasuta explained, adding that compared to regular white pork nankotsu, the meat has a rich, deep flavor but is light and easy to eat. The company has a factory in Akune, Kagoshima Prefecture, where they process the nankotsu and send it to the event venue in vacuum-sealed packages. Mazesoba is a dish in which you mix the noodles and toppings together before eating. I mixed the thick noodles and a small amount of sauce made from black pork broth with spices and ground sesame seeds, green onions, garlic chips, chinese chives and egg yolk. It was spicy and delicious.*** Osaka Gourmet Expo 2025 Hosted by the city of Osaka and supported by Suntory as an event alongside the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, Osaka Gourmet Expo 2025 is taking place at Osaka Castle Park's Taiyo-no-Hiroba through Oct. 13. Around 30 food and beverage booths are open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Admission is free. In the evenings, there are live music performances and other shows on a stage inside the seating area.■Ramen of Japan e-book now on sale An e-book featuring 30 ramen shops from across Japan that were introduced in my popular column, Ramen of Japan, in The Japan News is now on sale. Use it as your ramen guide in Japan. To purchase a copy, scan the QR code below. ▼Click the icons below to purchase 'Ramen of Japan' for just ¥ 楽天Kobo> Apple Books> honto>
