For context, just 100k is historically a good showing for a JRPG, especially one with this production size. Atelier Ryza hitting 500k back in 2020 was a big surprise. This is well on its way to that mark.

I think there's an argument to be made that JRPGs haven't been this mainstream since 1997, and even then it was just Final Fantasy in the west. The genre is much more diverse today. Amazing times.

[–] Tbird83ii@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Sure, let's just say Final Fantasy was the only popular JRPG around 1997 and we can forget about Pokemon, Earthbound/Mother, Super Mario RPG, Zelda, Dragon Quest...

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Is Zelda a JRPG? I thought one of the defining aspects of the genre was turn- and statistics-based combat. Any Zelda game I'm aware of has real-time combat where hit/miss is based on hit boxes instead of stats.

[–] Ashtear@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I didn't say popular, I said mainstream. Zelda isn't often claimed by the genre, and Pokémon was literally the only other multi-million seller in the genre in the west.

Earthbound is the very definition of a cult classic, and Dragon Quest wasn't even getting localized at that time.

[–] wim@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't know about them never being this mainstream this century.

Golden Sun sold over a million globally in the early 2000s, and the Fire Emblem series had their best selling games in the millions in the 2010s.

Granted, these are rookie numbers compared to the juggernaut that is Final Fantasy, but still respectable.

[–] Ashtear@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Sure, Fire Emblem had its breakout in the west with Awakening, but there were real discussions being had about the viability of the genre back in 2013. It was at the tail end of a really bad time (arguably the nadir) for JRPGs on consoles.

Persona 5, NieR: Automata, Dragon Quest XI, and Three Houses all being multi-million sellers is what sparked off the current, unprecedented era for the genre.