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Dear RPG industry,
What's your problem? Why haven't you put out enough good games worthy enough for me to write about? You seem to be having a hard time creating innovative titles that grab my attention. Why is it that the last RPG that's excited me was released almost a year ago? Just look at what your temporary inability to captivate many other RPGamers and me has done to our editorials department! Turnout for eds night has never been worse! We're posting multiple classic editorials a week to make up for the current dearth of new editorials that comment on any notable RPGs out there!
You know what the next game I'm most looking forward to is? The Final Fantasy IV remake for the Game Boy Advance! I find your current productions so inadequate that I'm only able to look forward to being able to derive a little comfort from replaying a solid title that I know will be enjoyable. You have the means and the resources to be able to create even better titles than FFIV, and yet you do not! Why? What's going on? Are you preparing games for the next generation of consoles? This is the only explanation I can come up with for your behavior, because you just don't seem to be trying hard enough.
Am I not looking in the right places? Am I only looking for RPGs from the RPG giants like SquareEnix, Namco, and the like? Maybe, but it's not like the smaller developers are doing a much better job of innovating. I've looked around. I've rented a few, kept a watch on all upcoming releases, and sincerely hoped that something striking would appear before me. But I've had no such luck.
If you really are saving up your resources to create flawless and awe-inspiring RPGs for the next generation of consoles, by all means, do so. But come on, couldn't you have tossed us hungry RPGamers of the past year a bone or two? Sure, the Xbox, Gamecube, and Playstation 2 may be well into their "lame duck" years of operation wherein it might be somewhat excusable for you to get tired of developing games for now-outdated technology. But you'll still be making money if you put out solid titles now, right? Is there no way that you can be putting out playable titles now and still be working on a fantastic next-gen project or two?
Maybe I'm being unfair; maybe since I haven't played all the RPGs you've produced over the last year, I can't really make any type of assertion concerning the lack of quality in recently released RPGs. But I have played quite a bit...and I've seen too many disappointing games. So I'm begging of you, RPG industry...surprise me. Do something I'm not going to expect. Give me a game that doesn't follow the same cut-and-dry-formula you've relied upon for so long. Or if you absolutely have to utilize certain aspects of this formula, try to tweak it in some way. Initiate change. Just do something! I've played too many RPGs lately that have had ridiculously trite stories, unconvincing characters, and tired battle mechanisms.
The RPGs of the next-gen consoles had better blow my mind, or else you may not be hearing from me for quite awhile. I need you to surprise me. So do it.
Sincerely,
Chris Snyder
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