Dragon Quest V, and a rant about the state of the handheld RPG market

So I just finished playing through DRAGON QUEST V: HAND OF THE HEAVENLY BRIDE on the DS. As far as insight goes, I have little to say. It’s DRAGON QUEST. It’s the quintessence of Traditional JRPG.

Okay, okay, it does have some different features to it. DQV‘s big novelty is the “generation” setup. You start as a young child, adventuring alongside your father. Then you get older, and you get married, and you have some kids, and then your whole family takes on a world-threatening evil power. And since the art’s done by Akira Toriyama, you may as well name yourself Goku and your son Gohan. There’s even a golden orb you have to find at one point to bring the dragon back to his proper place. Come on!

But that’s not really what I want to talk about. What I do want to talk about is the dilemma of RPGs, particularly on handheld devices, at this current juncture.

If I were to poll all the savvy gamers out there, “what DS or PSP RPG is selling well on the market today?” How many people would respond with an RPG that is a port, or remake, of some classic RPG from the SNES or PlayStation era? And how many people would firmly stand their ground and defend an IP that’s been introduced to these handheld platforms?

If I had to guess, the top RPGs for these platforms would be CHRONO TRIGGER (DS) and FINAL FANTASY TACTICS (PSP). Both Square Enix, both ports of classic franchises. Now add to the mix FINAL FANTASY III and IV, DRAGON QUEST IV and V, STAR OCEAN 1 and 2, and you got a top-selling Square Enix party. But even Square Enix’s own IPs can’t top their ports. I don’t have the raw numbers, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU and FINAL FANTASY TACTICS A2 have no chance against the onslaught of the ports.

Now, it seems that the first PERSONA is coming to the PSP, after all the success we’ve seen for PERSONA 3 and 4 for PlayStation 2. Will it outsell each and every RPG-ish IP for the PSP? You bet your sweet ass it will.

And even the smaller companies are doing it. NIS America put DISGAEA on the PSP and the DS, and they put RHAPSODY on the DS. Capcom took the graphic adventures GYAKUTEN SAIBAN 1-3 (“PHOENIX WRIGHT” in North America) from the GBA to the DS. Okay, those aren’t RPGs proper, but you get the idea.

I’m not necessarily complaining. After all, I certainly don’t mind revisiting my favorite games (or in the case of DRAGON QUEST V, playing it for the first time, since this is the first time someone in North America bothered to localize it). But every attempt at trying to create something memorable and worthwhile, from scratch, on a handheld just seems to fall flat. The DS games are fun and quirky, thanks to the impetus to make full use of the touch screen and microphone. And the PSP RPGs attempt to wow us on the visual front, but at that point it’s like “why bother? I’ll just play my 360/PS3.”

I’d just…really, really like to see a fresh and new RPG that succeeds on either of the two major handheld platforms today. In other genres, especially platform action-adventures, there has been no end to interesting new titles, particularly on the DS. But when someone attempts originality on the DS (CONTACT, THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU), it comes with mixed reactions and minimal exposure. I don’t know what it will take to see that change.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to use my DS and PSP to play all my favorite RPGs of yester-year, and I’ll cross my fingers that FINAL FANTASY XIII is more than mere eye candy. Beautiful, coma-inducing eye candy! Mmm…