Have a look at the most controversial JRPGs in history so far. Edit: Yes, this video is BEFORE FF7R came out. Support the channel HERE: / ericklandon Buy my latest book HERE: www.amazon.com/dp/B0951GDWYT
3:25 My understanding about the Tales of Zesteria controversy is that there were rumors that the producer mistreated Alisha's voice actress, because she was going touring with the other actor to promote the game in the beginning of development, but she was sideline prior to launch. So, the rumor is that Alisha was going to be the main female character, but the voice actress had a fallout with the producer, so her character was shafted.
Yep. Hideo Baba. I heard that the controversy was such a mess that he had to step down. He actually left Namco Bandai only for him to go to Square-Enix... and then he left that too. So yeah, that was a major creator killer right there.
@@MegamanNG SO! that's the reason why Berseria is totally different than Zestiria. SPOILERS! Even if Berseria end up to be a prequel to patch up a lot of the plot holes on Zestiria.
@@jessefisher1809 Yeah I actually heard the same thing, Baba was obsessed with Rose's seiyuu so mid-development he shifted the story to Rose instead of Alisha. At least they tried to fix it a little on the anime, but it was too late for the game, it clearly shows that something was wrong with that game's development, the story's pacing was weird as hell, like some story elements or parts of the game were removed, the fixed 30 fps when the saga is famous for fixed 60 fps combat on almost every game, some technical problems...it was a mess.
Lets be honest: Capcom slapped the name Breath of Fire 6 on a random mobile game, did a few cosmetics here and there, just to try and sell it. Now if they want to revamp the BoF series they will have to go back to what made BoF 1 - 4 good, then market the game as a "return to its roots". I'm so hopeful...
@@hendribadaya8814 Not really. At least the first four games had kind of a vague timeline, with the thing with Ryu and Nina being similar to Link and Zelda from the Zelda series.
Fun fact! Did you know that at the beginning of mystic quest you can buy the glove off of the ninja for 9 mill ...your supposed to not have it and move on but I spent almost a month grinding the first level to get it and it will give it to you but won't let u use it until your suppose too...wtf! Why even bother they had to know at least one idiot such as myself would try...still pisses me off thinking about it now lol
The one game that never became a controversy, and I'm shocked it didnt, is Persona 3. Shooting yourself in the head while literally crying out for the powers of Satan... and no cared... Its almost shocking at the US didn't blow up on that one. Honestly, I think the Alicia situation worked out for the best. Sorey and Alicia as the only two human characters in the party wouldn't have worked. Their personalities and sense of justice were too similar and it couldn't have carried the entire game in my opinion.
Problem is that Rose character is pure trash. So much that the anime basically change several plot points to make her more appelling and make justice for Alisha, wich really worked better. But Zestiria is still a very bad Tales of game.
Gotta say I feel that your explanations for Criminal Girls and Hyperdimmension Neptunia games are more your own opinions that the former Like People do really love Neptunia because of the designs and mostly because of how absurd and fun it is to play ( including the inside jokes and everything )
I mean it's part of Nippon Ichi's charm, the over the top characters, the bombastic designs, and the outrageous stories are what makes their games special.
Alisha fiasco is not that simple. Weapons for her in late game and Rose's VA point towards Baba's meddling with the plot and character for his own reasons.
Just to add A developer that handle FF VII remake for the first time is CyberConnect2. They still developing FF VII remake for just 5% and SE already show the game trailer. Later, FF VII remake project by CyberConnect2 being cancelled by SE and throw all their work to the thrash. The one who handle FF VII remake now is Tetsuya Nomura. Not only him who said that FF VII remake trailer is way too early but also Nobu Uematsu (legendary composer) said "if you show trailer with GAMEPLAY on the trailer, make sure the game already 80% done".
If you want fanservice, get Senran Kagura games and Valkyrie Bhikkuni. Also, it's Japan. There's always a loli in there somewhere. Me, I'm not against any fanservice games since it doesn't bother me and I enjoy those kind of things from time to time. I'm just flabbergasted that we shrug off violence but cry over sex.
Don't care for sex and violence, since everything nowadays IS sex and violence. But 10 year old looking cartoons heavily sexualized? That's just unacceptable. But that's just my opinion.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 also got a lot of controversy for being much more "anime" than the previous games (especially Xenoblade Chronicles 1). It got heavily criticized for its character designs, especially Dahlia, for being "misogynistic" and "unrealistic". Imo, the controversy was pretty stupid.
@@MrSpectralfire FF15 sold more than 10 times as Xenoblade 2, but everyone knows its controversial. Mass Effect 3 sold more than twice Mass Effect 2, yet 3 is the controversial game and 2 isn't. Case in point, too many factors go into sales to correlate controversy (or lack thereof) with sales.
Hi Erick and man do i love hearing your reviews and opinions on the jrpg genre of games! 😆 I agree wholeheartedly that it sucks when it comes to alot of the coolest games keep getting stuck in Japan and don't make it over to any other country so we can at least try them and give our own thoughts on them. Keep up the amazong work Erick and i can't wait for the next video you have in store! 😄
The side quests, combat, and a certain dungeon in particular is exactly why I haven’t even tried completing the game…I love rpg games and FF in particular but this game fell super flat like a soda that sat out in the sun for a week straight kind of flat for me.
@@joestallin1842 idk maybe if I played it noe I would have a different oppinion on it, but it was the second ever game I played on the PS4 and I was stuned by thr visuals, so maybe that's why I looked over some of it's flaws
Mugen Souls and Mugen Souls Z...NIS America said that if they hadn't censored the games, they would have received an AO (Adults Only) rating, that, of course, remains to be proven. The fact that NIS America stated that they didn't agreed with the content didn't help, the publisher of those games didn't like the content, and also, the fact that both Mugen Souls games have a T rating in America (USK 12 in the case of Germany) makes the argument ''the games uncensored would have gotten an AO rating'' even more hard to believe.
I am a fan of the Dragon Quest series, and I was really bothered by the fact that Dragon Quest X was never coming outside of Japan. Especially with how nice the 3DS version's trailer looked.
Hey Erick - have you played Culdcept on 3DS before? It's not exactly a JRPG but rather a magic/monopoly deck-building game. I think it's up your alley!
I know I’m late to the party, but when Dragon’s Crown came out for the PS3, I absolutely loved the art style of it. At the time it had a very unique art style, exaggerated or not. I also loved Odin Sphere when that came out too.
I remember the controversy over the boobs. I thought it was ridiculous. But I played the game last year and it is surprisiny/shockingly ummm... Not sexual but mmmm more titillating then I imagined it'd be. That's not a reason to hate it. But it is funny. I don't remember if the controversy was before it came out. But afterwards, I imagine anyone that complained about the witch would blow a gasket at some of that art.
@@DSan-kl2yc Dragon's Crown? I played that game quite excessively when it came out. Spent a lot of time on all characters, Fighter, Dwarf, Amazon, Elf, Wizard and Sorceress - all made it into toc. I can say from experience that my primary concern is beating the game, getting S ratings and better gear than how my toon looks. All the characters are anatomically wrong and it never bothered me, the accusations of sexual or whatever never came in my mind once. Especially when I'm in a middle of a hectic battle and there's no shortages of those
You should make an opening with the image that says "only in Japan" 😂 My wife really liked Criminal Girls but made me buy it at the counter for her because of the reputation. 😂😭 she ordered the sequel online.
They're good games. What I did was ignore the little girls to exclude them from my party and I managed. But the game forces you to do the motivation for the girls you'll use in your party, so I couldn't get away from that (not that I care, some of them are really hot, hahaha), but hey, at least I didn't have to "motivate" the ten-year old looking kids since I never used them. On a side note... your WIFE, a WOMAN, really liked the games? Interesting. I'd love to hear her thoughts on the motivation side. I mean, if I had to motivate males in those games, the way the girls need to be motivated, I... er... yeah. I probably wouldn't even play the games xD
@@ErickLandonRPG I just asked her. She says she liked the games a lot and she found the motivation system silly. She didn't think of it as real. She compared it to the fact that we're vegetarian in real life but in games we have no problem making our characters eat meat. If it was real she'd be unhappy but it's not, so it's just a silly game system.
@@MrSpectralfire I realize this is very late, but I wish there are more people like your wife in the world, who can acknowledge that it's silly, but also recognize that in the end, it's still just fiction.
@@ErickLandonRPG if you are having a problem doing lewd things with fictional little girls, you are not very confident of your real-life sexuality and morals... I would look into that... a human should always be able to distinctively tell apart fiction ond real life.
I disagree with the controversy with Criminal Girl's, the fan service was exactly why I played it, my problem would be post game when I realized the censorship they put in those times (muting the sound as a big one)
I LOL at the over sensitive lunatics. There are tons of smaller women who get shit all the time cause they look young. Your the perv for seeing short smaller cup size women as "kids". It's like the people who see DnD Orcs as oppressed black people.
I am buying these games ASAP because of this video, thank you so much! Sometimes imaginary little illustrated girls just like to show off their beauty and be appreciated, you know?
I actually liked these. The motivation stuff was silly but interestingly fun. And there's a blurb at boot up that says all characters are at least 18yo. They had to add that to get by the censors in JP.
I can relate a bit with the tales of story since I watched the MGS V trailers and felt deceived because I had too many expectations that the game couldn't meet and felt betrayed by what the story offered, the longer the game takes to release the more you hope for and worse the experience will be if you spoil yourself with the trailers
I agree! Funny thing is that I've learned to avoid all trailers and any hype involved with a game I'm looking forward to. This has saved me so much. MGS5 was something that I LOVED even with the incomplete ending. I ignored the media and had no expectations. It's great.
I would absolutely love if Dragon Quest X got a global release. But you overstate the popularity of the series worldwide. As popular as Dragon Quest XI was it still didn't move near the same units as Final Fantasy does. MMOs costs hundreds of thousands if not millions to keep running year after year. I don't think Square Enix wants to shoulder that cost on something that has a high chance of failure.
it's interesting watching number one post FFVII Remake launch, where it did not disappoint and from what I understand no one has a problem with the several parts release anymore
An updated list could include: - Valkyrie Elysium - Star Ocean: The Divine Force - Xenoblade 2 - Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse - Tales of Symphonia (the Remaster) - Soul Hackers 2
When it comes to Hyper dimension Neptunia it actually has gotten less fanservice, not saying there was none, however is more strategicly places rather than just there for being there. If you want a fanservice game then I would recomend serene kagua.
The issue with tales of Zestiria wasn't the bait and switch of the Alisha, it was how it was done. You spent time with the character, only for there to be a major conflict which you got thrown out of and have no idea what happened to her. Then all of a sudden you get chummy with the new girl. It was absolutely ridiculous storytelling. If they had made Alisha just a character for the opening "arc", and then you parted with some certainty of her story, then fine. I mean, Y's 7 kinda did it with Aisha....sorta. When she had to take over for her father and then sigrin (if I'm getting her name right) took over for a while. All in all, it was written properly, but this was done crappy. Maybe they tried to build suspense, but even still you'd expect that the main character felt something.....man just went along like everything was fine and making friends with the new girl.
I kid you not, but hyper dimension neptunia is actually good. I won’t say the gameplay and the story was good, especially the first game, but all the meta joke and reference is quite entertaining. It’s one of the those game that is actually make fun of itself and gaming.
This comment is why there's real controversy. Neptunia fans continually promote their shitty waifu games full of grinding, inane plots, painful "humor" and honestly just a lot of nothing. Great big balls of no-design pudding nonsense- not to mention bugs and other kusoge mainstays. It's a waste of decent character designs and what is actually a fun high-concept. The real issue is that there's plenty of other semi-erotic or comedy RPGs that don't entirely sacrifice gameplay or storyline. Keep your guilty pleasures to yourself and stop getting them to remake the same game seven times.
I'm surprised Tokyo Mirage Sessions isn't on this list. I remember myself and many others being super excited to see SMT x Fire Emblem after the teaser trailer, then we heard nothing until two years later with that really colourful and happy trailer featuring J-pop... the complete opposite of what anybody wanted. Sad part is the game, judged on its own merits is actually really good but the trailers tried to sell it as Persona for Wii U rather than what it actually was... A really solid dungeon crawler with one of the best battle systems in recent memory.
@@ErickLandonRPG You should give it a try if you haven't, it's actually pretty good Solid 8/10 IMO and this is coming from someone who didn't really like the cheesey tone of P4 and P5
True I have that game but never played it now that I think about it! Let's say Wii U in general is very underrated. It is like Vita.. it is quite mysterious why the same titles are considered rubbish on vita or wii U and masterpieces on Switch. Bah!
ah... also Dragon's Crown... in particular because of the sorcerer and the transgender amazon... I just don't get it that game is so beautiful and the art is just amazing and super interesting.
I’ve played Valkyrie Anatomia once after I saw the collaboration with the tales series, it looks like a money making game because they collaborate the game with various games, still on my phone right now the thumbnail icon keeps changing
Lol the way you say bondage at 13:17 gets me every time. I must add that I watch your “top 10 or ranking list style” videos multiple times. I’m a big fan of your content Erick
With all the cool spiritual successors we've seen lately on the horizon, that's where I'm placing (most) of my hopes for anything related to Breath of Fire. Legendary franchise and an important part of my childhood. With Chrono Trigger, Suikoden, Wild Arms, and Shadow Hearts (am I missing any?) spiritual successors on the horizon, I think Breath of Fire is the one void that needs to be filled!
I still don't know why Valkyrie Profile hasn't been used as a crossover game. It's premise makes the most sense of any gacha currently in existence. Any game that has ever been released by Square Enix can have their characters included in a VP crossover as the heroic recruits.
Criminal Girls was actually criminally unrated, IMO, too overshadowed by the controversial motivation mode. While the motivation mode was unnecessary and I could have done without it, at least it was only a small portion of the game. Personally, I wish they'd not censored it, simply because I think censorship is inherently wrong. The fan service is what it is. The battle system was addictive, as you say, but the dungeons and underlying story of guilt and redemption were actually quite good as well, especially later in the game when you start exploring each of the girls' "crimes". Sadly, in my haste, when I was playing it I overwrote the wrong save game, so ultimately only ever did the one ending.
People gonna hate me for this buuuuut... I like Mystic Quest. Hear me out. Yes it is a simplistic game. But it does have several features that I do wish was in other FF games. For example. Some dungeons need the use of certain weapons to progress. You use your sword to push buttons, an ax to chop trees, bombs to open doors, a claw to climb walls, and another claw to hook shot across some gaps. Also some enemies have weapon weaknesses instead of elemental weaknesses. Something pretty different from mainstream FF games. If the game was fleshed out more for regular players, a sequel would be a good game. Also the game alone is good for relaxing while I turn off my brain.
I wasn't offended with mystic quest, I played it when I was just 11 or 12 I believe I actually enjoyed it and never felt offended but then again I Was 12 lol I guess I never bothered about the difficulty I kept playing it for the fact it was a game and it got me more into rpg's for turn based. When you play it and your older I can see why but I think it was designed for younger audiences.
Yeah, mystic quest had great music, fun map traversal, and lots of QoL features. Was life spell cheese overpowered, yes, but some fights like Medusa and dark king weren't face rolls either.
@@Kletian999 The music ahh thats the key thing I remember about the game, shame they don't make cool music like that these days. It's almost a palm roll when I play Xenoblade chronicles 3 and think mystic quest battle music tracks were way way way cooler lmao.
Hyperdimensional Neptunia MkII on ps3 is a great jrpg, love the characters love the battle system, in general its just really funny and fun Not sure if the new version of it is any good or not because it takes out Nisa and Gust who were super fun characters
There’s a lot of improvements in other areas so I think it’s worth a go, and it gets dirt cheap during sales. Nisa was one of my faves though, along with nepgear and uni, so I get the disappointment
I played it and I enjoyed it, I do not understand the critisism, it's an excellent game, maybe not the best in the series but that's understandable, there are many things that the game does not do well but in my case I like it.
@@Geahentrix You like it that is fine people are allowed to like awful stuff unironically but the game was awful or just very subpar if want to generous.
@@Geahentrix I completely agree. I do enjoy that game a lot, they tried something different and many dislike it, they try something equally new with the next game and many love it. I hope arise does extremely well and makes the series even more well known
I havent played or really looked at FF7 Remake much, as I never played the original, but the remake was both a critical and commercial success, wasnt it? I mean, I know this video 4 years old, so Im not arguing with Erick as back then I can see where he was coming from
I remember religious groups pitching a fit over Nocturne when it first came out, to the point where you could barely find a single copy in some stores while other stores banned it completely.
I miss the overly religious mob, at least everybody knew they were mostly old people that didn't really get things, nowadays we have SJW and mainstream media doing exactly the same thing and censoring everything they find "mysoginistic", or that offends them, including but not limited to beautiful girls, men acting like man, completely exagerated characters that are obviously made to be hated or to show exactly how NOT to behave IRL. And the worst part is, these are mostly young people that have time to patrol the internet and never fuck off, and it's a trend in society... I wish we could go back to when old ladies would tell me I'd go to hell for playing yu-gi-oh and that was it, no twitter rant or devs bending to their will.
I think that the worst thing about zestiria contervasty was the fans blame Rose and made her voice actor apologize for something that wasn't her fault. That is super gross.
I had no idea about this till now, but im not suprised. Gross people do gross things and there are tons of gross people out there and they scream loud enough to drown out the majority of people who aren't gross.
Some say Exist Archive is the Valkyrie Profile 3 we wanted. I love it. But a lot of people have never heard of Resonance of Fate for ps3. In my opinion that would be VP3 and Exist Archive would be 4.
My biggest issue with FFXVI is the Cup Noodle bullcrap. i could have dealt with the ads slapped all over the place in in any in game city or settlement but the moment they made it a main component of a quest was a line that should not have been crossed. The coleman camping gear bugged me a tiny bit but i could over look it. Also did not help my first look at the game was 4 guys pushing an inoperable car which is far from what i think of when someone says final fantasy.
I always loved Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, and I never thought it was part of the main series. I liked Final Fantasy XV for what it was, although it 3as a little disappointing they didn't finish it completely. Apparently, Final Fantasy VII Remake is awesome, although it's disappointing it's 3 separate games that we'll have to wait to play
I kid you not if would have paid over full price if all the did was redo the graphics. Not a remaster, but make it look like 7R, play exactly like the original, and change literally nothing else
I loved Mystic Quest. One of the first rpg's I ever played. I have good memories with it. The max level in the game I think was 54 or 64. I just remember grinding mobs in the last dungeon of the game till I had the ---- for xp to next level. Then accidentally using cure on the Dark King when I was panicking because Pheobe was petrified and I was low on hp with a handful of status ailments, ending with what seemed like a 1 hit KO since cure did so much damage to the boss. Then spending forever in the forests to chop all the tree's for no better reason then I just could. My brother and I taking turns reloading the game to see who could get through the giant tree dungeon the fastest. The randomized rewards from the battlefields that do not reward gear or spells when they are cleared. Glad to see the game covered somewhere. I never knew it received negative reception. My dad talked to me about it excitedly when he used to game.
if you play Nep games they are really funny and the characters are meant to be over 18 its just how the Japanese write characters they like Kawai its just their culture tbh if you play the game yourl have a right laugh with it some goes for any kawai style game tbh
What's even weirder about the Tales controversy is that in the game right after this one (Tales of Berseria ( which took place in the same universe as Zestiria)) we got a female protagonist.
I generally don’t agree with the complaints against nomura. He didn’t even know he was the director of 7 until it was announced. And he’s right that square tends to announce games too early nowadays.
so mystic quest was the first jrpg i played on emulator when i was 10, and i loved i lt and made me love the genre. so i dont like the gameplay now, but i love the game.
I think your controversy for Neptunia is way off. It wasn't really controversial for sexual themes, it was controversial because it had a extremely bad first game, and and shitty localization and somehow got popular enough to eventually branch into whole media seires
Mystic Quest was pretty much my gateway drug to JRPGs and I've been around since. So kudos to Square for thinking ahead, ignoring the pointless outrage of mindless fanboys for "ruining 'their' game". Fuck 'em. I didn't even realise it was a spinoff of one of my favourite JRPG series until much later. And Mystic Quest started it all.
I actually got into JRPGs from Mystic Quest! I always found it to be a good introduction into JRPGs. It's simple and introduces a lot of basic but rather enjoyable gameplay mechanics without getting too complex. Also that fucking battle music is banger
I think the decision on DQX was probably better than most realize. MMOs require a lot of money to run, the market is flooded with many options, and just looking at the footage it's not apparent to me that it's differentiated enough to get enough people outside Japan to setup servers close enough to get good performance.
Es un video antiguo y tal, pero nmms... No se si veo hipocresía o que pero críticas a la gente que se quejo con justas razones por el Tales pero te pones a chillar con criminal girls cuando es un maldito dibujo.... creo que el que es puritano es otro... En fin, espero no encontrarme mas estupideces de estas en tus otros videos ya que por ahora me esta encantando tu contenido PD: Enserio consideras a la saga Neptunia Sexualizada? Literalmente es de los juegos ecchi que menos sexualizacion hay en general, es más un "cute girls doing cute thing"
Final Fantasy VII Remake might be a launch title for PS5. People who praised FF15 (the fans of action rpg’s that are new to the ff series) wants the game to be action rpg but long time Final Fantasy fans wants the game to be turn based.
I doubt it will be a launch title more like a title thats released a few years into its life but we will see. Also as a long time fan (FF7 is my favourite game of all time) I wouldnt be to fussed if its not turn based just as long as its good but seeing Squares attempts at a more action focused approach I really dont think they have the chops to make something decent in that vein. If they are going that route I would like them to get it designed by people who understand action games (Team Ninja, Platinum games etc) so that we at least stand a chance of it being good. Personally I feel the battle system was its weakest part but the pre battle system i.e setting up materia was amazing and something I hope they can expand on. Im more concerned with them keeping the original story, world and characters intact and not indulging in the compilation nonsense. ATB system though im fine to have it replaced with something as long as its better.
I’m 30 years old and a life long hard core final fantasy fan. I want FF7 remake to be an action RPG. Sorry.... I also enjoyed my time with FFXV. It’s no where near the best of the series, but I enjoyed it.
You are an idiot. Just because some likes FF15 doesn’t mean they are fake fan. Like it or not it’s subjective after all, and people are allowed to enjoy it. I know I’m too late here, but idgaf, I needed to comment on this trashy comment.
The Dragon Quest X section felt overly dramatic. Yes, the series is super popular and profitable in JAPAN! For a long, long time it was deemed a failure here in the West. Even with its rise in popularity more recently it still falls short of series like Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts here. So their decision not to spend the money on translating, publishing, marketing, and running servers for what is ultimately a gamble makes sense. Just as making mobile games and only releasing them in Japan does. Mobile is big in Japan and represents good money whereas it's not in the West. So it makes sense to both develop for phones and not port it outside the country.
Yeah it doesn't matter whether you hate or love ffxv, we all agree that after taking 10 years of development, you'd surely want to have the full game and did not lock the complete story behind dlc. To make it worse they do it again with FF VIIR.
I think most of the controversy for neptunia is how hard the game journos hated on the game AND its potential fans. Especially that one lady whose psn reviewer profile revealed she didn't even play it for like 2 hours. Fail. I mean its understandable to not like the game. But don't be a judgemental add about it and insult everyone else (talking about the journos, not you).
I agree with you, I just question the sexualization of little girls, that's all. If they want to make a fan service game, then do it, I clearly made a perfect comparison with porn on the video. But little teens? Seriously? Don't know about the journos, though, I don't pay attention to what they say, hahaha. They're guys, like me, who simply have an opinion on stuff. Too bad some people give their opinions too much credit.
@@ErickLandonRPG sexualizing anime teens is actually a grey area for me. Thing is anime girls look too different from real girls to really "translate". I mean you would never say some anime girl looks like some real girl or vice versa. Even if you cosplay, the skin/face behind the clothing is just too different. Anime girls look almost like a different species like space elves or something (not saying they have pointy ears or whatever just that they don't look like real humans). There is also the fact that its not wrong to have teen fanservice for teen audiences. Neptunia is rated teen not m after all wasnt it? I understand the distaste for it though. It just doesn't bother me. I find animr teens tend to have more developed curvier bodies than real teen girls anyway, so are they really child models? I honestly cant tell.
@@dhargmoravia i guess so .. i didnt feel that he is happy about Suikoden remaster in fact he was angry thinking they are out there to destroy Eiyuden .. buy both games for godskaes and be happy LOL
How Xenogears is not on a list like this. Controversial don't mean bad though, but the themes on the game the second disc and the team behind the game and translation problems to name a few. I think it deserves a spot here
Have you even played Zestiria? It doesn't just have to do with the DLC cutting content, the camera is glitched in that game (which is a big deal actually), that why I played literally every Tales game before picking that one up on sale.
