Will the 360 Become a Respectable RPG Console?

[Dante Rising]

There is no doubt that the PS3 will be the premier RPG console of this generation once it gathers momentum. However, is it possible that the Xbox will finally be a respectable RPG platform? SquareEnix has already hinted about developing more content for all three consoles, and apparently MS is trying to court Atlus, so perhaps a Shin Megami Tensei for the 360 is not impossible. Below is a list of RPG content announced for the 360. Quality and release dates are often unknown, but I'm pleased to see that MS is taking RPG fans seriously. Now if they could just get a Final Fantasy, Suikoden or Tales game...

You have the titles already released:

Enchanted Arms
Oblivion
Final Fantasy XI


You have your upcoming heavy hitters:

Fable 2
Mass Effect-Part 1
Mass Effect-Part 2
Mass Effect-Part 3 (may be pushed to the...er...xbox720)
Blue Dragon

And then there are the less known titles:

Two Worlds
http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1300/Two-Worlds/p1/

Lost Odyssey
http://www.mistwalker.info/lo.html

Eternal Sonata (Trusty Bell)
http://www.trustybell.net/

Far East of Eden
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3149249

Elveon (action RPG)
http://www3.elveon.net/en/elveon.html

Infinite Undiscovery
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/733/733002p1.html

Magna Carta 2
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/654/654633p1.html

Spectral Force 3
http://www.xboxyde.com/news_2492_en.html

Operation Darkness (SRPG)
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3154011

Cry-On (action RPG)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_On

The Precursors
http://www.planetxbox360.com/index.php/articledetails/show/748

Marvel Universe Online
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/marvelmmorpg/news.html?sid=6158912&mode=all

Diario (SRPG)

[Nth Power]

I truly hope there will be some A-grade caliber RPGs for the 360 in the future.  My fingers are crossed.

[Kevin Grey]

Respectable?  Sure, that's pretty much guaranteed with what's been announced.  It will very likely be the strongest console for Western-style RPGs, just as the Xbox 1 was.  Whether we see more JRPGs after this initial batch obviously depends on how much they catch on.  Mistwalker's offerings will almost certainly do very well in North America but if stuff like Eternal Sonata, Culdecept Saga, Magna Carta 2, and Infinite Undiscovery don't do *really* well here (400k+), don't expect to see much more than Mistwalker stuff after that.

JRPGs are tough because Japan is really where they are strongest and really become profitable so that the 200-300k that a decent selling non-FF JRPG sells in America is essentially gravy since only the localization needs to be recovered.  Remove Japan from that equation (which, barring an a major turnaround from Blue Dragon, you can), and those RPGs depend on US and Europe to turn a profit and that becomes a lot harder.  That's why I wouldn't expect too much from smaller devs like Atlus (FWIW, Xbox 1 got a godawful SMT game that was never released in the US). 

What I think will happen, though, is that the Wii will become the real RPG powerhouse.  Devs like the FF teams, Level 5, and Tri-Ace who specialize in incredible visuals will likely still flock to the PS3, but the smaller dev houses like NIS, Atlus, Tales Studios, Monolith, etc will probably find the Wii a more comfortable environment since the dev time and costs will probably be much lower.  And since I think the Wii is very llikely to do phenominally well in Japan riding on the coattails of the DS, they will have a nice large install base to sell to in their core market. 

It's been hypothesized/rumored many times that we might see Dragon Quest 9 on the Wii and that is a scenario I can definitely see happening.

[Dante Rising]

What I think will happen, though, is that the Wii will become the real RPG powerhouse.

The Wii certainly couldn't do much worse than the Gamecube. Tales of Symphonia was good, Cystal Chronicles and Baten Kaitos were only slightly above average, and almost everything else was mediocre at best.

It will be interesting to see if Mistwalker can bring a ray of sunshine to the Xbox 360 in Japan. Unfortuanately, the odds are against any great push. If sales increased 10X, the monthly units moved would be around 20,000 units. Even if SquareEnix puts Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest on the 360, that won't do MS much good in Japan because both would still be on the PS3. They would gain more credibility in Japan, but it doesn't force consumers to buy a 360.

I still think MS should buy Mistwalker, or tie them up in exclusives for as long as possible. Blue Dragon 2 has been green-lighted, but Mistwalker won't announce which platform(s) it will be available on, so obviously they are looking at Sony and Nintendo. MS needs to shower Mistwalker with money and add it to the Bungie, Rare, and Lionhead stable. They need a permanent beachhead in Japan comprised of one or two quality development houses.

Microsoft can never cement the #2 console position with Japanese sales in a continual state of disarray. And becoming #1 is impossible without large sales in Japan.

[Jumangi]

The Xbox is already a very respectable system for RPG's. There are actually some gamers out there who don't care about JRPG's.

[metallicorphan]

RPGs are my favourite type of games...if square enix could just get the final fantasies multiformat...i would be very happy

but seeing all those games coming soon for the 360,i must admit is good to know


still not sure if blue dragon is gonna be my thing
it has all the right ingredients...is it true that the game is to be 3 discs long?.....sounds crazy but i heard that somewhere........if so,that makes me want it even more...i love massive RPGs

[Dante Rising]

is it true that the game is to be 3 discs long?

Yes, the game weighs in at roughly 27GB.

From IGN:

"Blue Dragon ships on three DVDs, making it bigger than any Xbox 360 title to date. According to Sakaguchi, the game required compression technology to fit onto the three disks. In uncompressed form, the game's data takes up over 30 Gigs of space!

Players can expect between 40 to 50 hours of play time for the game. Just playing through the game minus all the side quests, Sakaguchi managed to take 35 hours."

[Canuck]

The Xbox is already a very respectable system for RPG's. There are actually some gamers out there who don't care about JRPG's.

A respectable system for RPG's that you can already play on the PC with better controls and graphics.  Other than that it doesn't have much.  I didn't really recognize any of those games listed in the first post but it certainly looks like a long list!

[EddieA]

It will be very interesting to see how well Blue Dragon sells in Japan.  You've got the huge popularity of the type of game it is (if you didn't know better, the game could easily be mistaken for Dragon Quest 9) vs. the unpopularity of the XBox360.

[The Grue]

Tales of Symphonia was good, Cystal Chronicles and Baten Kaitos were only slightly above average, and almost everything else was mediocre at best.

Paper Mario says hi.

[Starshifter]

If you want respectable then there must be the release of:

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 3! Gosh darn it!

[CeeKay]

If you want respectable then there must be the release of:

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 3! Gosh darn it!

+1.

but only if it's released for the PC too.  That way some modding group can complete the game once it's rushed out the door unfinished 

[Andrew Mallon]

Tales of Symphonia was good, Cystal Chronicles and Baten Kaitos were only slightly above average, and almost everything else was mediocre at best.

Paper Mario says hi.

Yeah, I was going to post something similar. Paper Mario is one of the best RPGs, regardless of platform, released in the current/last console generation. Dante Rising, if you haven't played it you owe it to yourself to try it.

EDIT: mixed up names

[metallicorphan]

KOTOR3 would be great...but only if bioware were to do it,and they seem to be a little pre-occupied with mass effect.....number 2 by obsidion(sp?)....was pretty weak,and the ending seemed either cut to ribbons or ...just didnt give you the answers about the characters that you had just played with for 20 hrs

blue dragon i think now sounds like a must(if the price for the game isn't more because of the 3 discs)

[denoginizer]

still not sure if blue dragon is gonna be my thing
it has all the right ingredients...is it true that the game is to be 3 discs long?.....sounds crazy but i heard that somewhere........if so,that makes me want it even more...i love massive RPGs

Does 3 disks really mean massive?  Or does it mean tons of FMV cut scenes?

I think the 360 has some good western RPGs either already out (Oblivion), or on the way (Mass Effect, KOTOR 3 is a given).  I doubt it will ever have a large number of JRPGs simply because the Japanese like to pretend the 360 doesn't exist.  I just don't think there is a big North American market for JRPGs without Final Fantasy in the title.

[JLu]

If you want respectable then there must be the release of:

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 3! Gosh darn it!

You got my hunger up again for Kotor -- and sure enough in an article just 9 hours old, Lucas Soft claimed they have not abandoned it (though they neglected to say anything real beyond that)
http://palgn.com.au/article.php?title=More+KoTOR+soon%2C+says+LucasArts&id=6050&sid=763f38ab296525961713e9ff52810ab3

[jblank]

The Xbox is already a very respectable system for RPG's. There are actually some gamers out there who don't care about JRPG's.

Yeah, and I am their king. If I have to see one more overrated, bug eyed, anime, JRPG, I think I am gonna be sick. It is easily my least favorite genre, and the genre of games that I feel are vastly overrated.

Give me Oblivion or a new KOTOR over any of this other junk any day of the week.

[denoginizer]

If I have to see one more overrated, bug eyed, anime, JRPG, I think I am gonna be sick. It is easily my least favorite genre, and the genre of games that I feel are vastly overrated.

Yikes !!!!

Spoiler for Hiden:

I pretty much agree with you

[jblank]

LOL, first time for everything Denog.   

I recognize they are popular and sell a butt load of copies, but they all seem so derivative and formulaic anymore, that I can't tell the difference. To me, games like Oblivion are so much more immersive an experience, that it just trumps everything else offered in the JRPG genre. Much like RTS games on the PC, I think the whole JRPG thing on consoles needs to be scrapped and started over.

I'm in the minority though, but I'm used to it.

[warning]

Much like RTS games on the PC, I think the whole JRPG thing on consoles needs to be scrapped and started over.

For what it's worth that's pretty much what they did with Final Fantasy XII which was just released for the PS2.  It's wildly different from the Final Fantasy games that came before it.  Not so different that it's lost it's "Japanese" feel but different enough that long-time fans were up in arms about some of the changes made to the series prior to it's release.

[jblank]

Much like RTS games on the PC, I think the whole JRPG thing on consoles needs to be scrapped and started over.

For what it's worth that's pretty much what they did with Final Fantasy XII which was just released for the PS2.  It's wildly different from the Final Fantasy games that came before it.  Not so different that it's lost it's "Japanese" feel but different enough that long-time fans were up in arms about some of the changes made to the series prior to it's release.

I'd hate it, I just would. It just isn't my bag. That whole Japanese feel, just doesn't grab me. Give me a medieval RPG, or something space like, and I will be your customer, but the FF stuff, or games of that ilk, keep 'em, they just don't interest me.

[Calvin]

Respectable?  Sure, that's pretty much guaranteed with what's been announced.  It will very likely be the strongest console for Western-style RPGs, just as the Xbox 1 was.  Whether we see more JRPGs after this initial batch obviously depends on how much they catch on.  Mistwalker's offerings will almost certainly do very well in North America but if stuff like Eternal Sonata, Culdecept Saga, Magna Carta 2, and Infinite Undiscovery don't do *really* well here (400k+), don't expect to see much more than Mistwalker stuff after that.

JRPGs are tough because Japan is really where they are strongest and really become profitable so that the 200-300k that a decent selling non-FF JRPG sells in America is essentially gravy since only the localization needs to be recovered.  Remove Japan from that equation (which, barring an a major turnaround from Blue Dragon, you can), and those RPGs depend on US and Europe to turn a profit and that becomes a lot harder.  That's why I wouldn't expect too much from smaller devs like Atlus (FWIW, Xbox 1 got a godawful SMT game that was never released in the US). 

What I think will happen, though, is that the Wii will become the real RPG powerhouse.  Devs like the FF teams, Level 5, and Tri-Ace who specialize in incredible visuals will likely still flock to the PS3, but the smaller dev houses like NIS, Atlus, Tales Studios, Monolith, etc will probably find the Wii a more comfortable environment since the dev time and costs will probably be much lower.  And since I think the Wii is very llikely to do phenominally well in Japan riding on the coattails of the DS, they will have a nice large install base to sell to in their core market. 

It's been hypothesized/rumored many times that we might see Dragon Quest 9 on the Wii and that is a scenario I can definitely see happening.

You know my respect for you is boundless, but I think this is a flight of fancy. In my mind the PS3 will undoubtedly be the winner of the RPG race, with the 360 a strong second. Other than a few niche titles and the possibility of one blockbuster (DQ9?), I just cannot imagine the stable of developers already earmarked for PS3 and 360 abandoning those platforms and making Wii the RPG king this generation. Other than possibly lower production costs, they are facing a most likely a smaller user-base, a machine with vastly less power (does anyone really want to go backwards in the way RPGs look and play?), and considerably less disk space to use.

[unbreakable]

Fantasy RPG is so played out.

We need more Sci-Fi RPGs.  Someone tell WotC they want the Star Frontiers license!!  Or best of all, Gamma World.

[Gratch]

The Xbox is already a very respectable system for RPG's. There are actually some gamers out there who don't care about JRPG's.

Yeah, and I am their king. If I have to see one more overrated, bug eyed, anime, JRPG, I think I am gonna be sick. It is easily my least favorite genre, and the genre of games that I feel are vastly overrated.

Give me Oblivion or a new KOTOR over any of this other junk any day of the week.

I'm completely the opposite.  Sure, there are bad JRPG's (just like any genre), but when done right I don't think there's anything better (see Shadow Hearts:  Covenant, the SMT series, FFX or XII, etc.)  I'm holding out a slim hope that some of the 360 RPG's will be successful enough to warrant more, but without the support in Japan, I just don't see it happening.  My guess is that, just like the original XBox, the 360 will end up the bastion of action, sports, and racing titles.  That's not a bad thing, just not my personal cup o' tea and one of the reasons I've hesitated on buying one.

I really enjoyed both KotOR games - mostly because I'm a Star Wars fanboy - but Oblivion got really stale after about 20 hours.  I felt like I was fighting the same dozen or so enemies (goblin, skeleton, troll, etc) in one of the same dozen or so locales (brown cave, grey stone ruin, white stone ruin, Oblivion plane, etc.) while doing the same tired quests (take a message to X, kill monster Y, get treasure Z) over and over and over and over again.  It wasn't a bad game by any means (I played long enough to finish the main quest.  Around 35 hours, iirc), but I have no idea how people can put hundreds of hours into that game.

[KePoW]

I recognize they are popular and sell a butt load of copies, but they all seem so derivative and formulaic anymore, that I can't tell the difference. To me, games like Oblivion are so much more immersive an experience, that it just trumps everything else offered in the JRPG genre

no offense or anything, because I like Morrowind and Oblivion a lot myself (at least the PC versions), but there are a lot of people who hate the whole FPS-viewpoint and single character 'rpg'.  I mean the combat in MW/Oblivion is pretty much 95% like an action game

tons of gamers still want true party-based RPGs, whether it's jap-style or baldur's gate-style, it doesn't really matter.  Oblivion is still far different from either type, regardless of setting

[godhugh]

Is Bioshock an RPG? That's a 360/PC exclusive I believe, so that would be another + in MS's column.

[EddieA]

"I just don't think there is a big North American market for JRPGs without Final Fantasy in the title."
Japanese-style RPGs are more popular in the US than they have ever been.  The market isn't huge, but it is fairly consistent.  I think this is why Atlus releases so many games in the US.  They know it's unlikely any will sell huge numbers, but they can pretty much count on their loyal customers, and they're obviously making enough money off of them, given the large number of releases.  It used to be a toss-up if an RPG made it out of Japan, but now pretty much all but the obscure RPGs or remakes don't make it to the US.

[KePoW]

Is Bioshock an RPG? That's a 360/PC exclusive I believe, so that would be another + in MS's column.

I wouldn't call it a RPG myself at all, because I didn't consider System Shock 2 a RPG.  now if you thought SS2 was a RPG, you might think different

[Kevin Grey]

Other than possibly lower production costs, they are facing a most likely a smaller user-base, a machine with vastly less power (does anyone really want to go backwards in the way RPGs look and play?), and considerably less disk space to use.

The thing is, my argument is predicated on the idea that the Wii userbase won't be small, or at least not in the primary JRPG territory Japan.  I really do think it's going to take off like gangbusters there after the phenomenal DS success.  And for the companies that traditionally only sell 300-400k and aren't the stars of the genre but instead are more of the solid foundation that entertains in between AAA Square-Enix releases, I think they might breathe a sigh of relief not having to compete with the visual bar being set by the FFs of the world. 

RPGs in the next generation are going to be ungodly expensive.  The sheer amount of production assets necessary to maintain the existing size and complexity of this generation's RPGs with all of the upgraded visuals expected of PS3 and 360 are going to make it not very feasible for smaller JRPG companies to profit at sales of less than 500k (which is what most JRPGs sell).  And a major swing and a miss on this scale could be catastrophic for some of these companies.

I really think the Wii will provide an outlet for these companies to move to.  And there is still plenty of room on current gen visuals for these companies.  FFXII, KH2, Valkyrie Profile 2, and Rogue Galaxy are still way ahead of the visuals of most of what we've seen from other JRPGs.  Hell, FFX released 5 years ago is still one of the best looking RPGs on the PS2.  Until the smaller dev houses are matching those titles I'm not so worried about their need to jump to new hardware. 

[denoginizer]

They know it's unlikely any will sell huge numbers, but they can pretty much count on their loyal customers, and they're obviously making enough money off of them, given the large number of releases.  It used to be a toss-up if an RPG made it out of Japan, but now pretty much all but the obscure RPGs or remakes don't make it to the US.

Yes they release them here after releasing them in Japan.  But how many RPGs are going to be released in Japan on the 360?

[warning]

Fantasy RPG is so played out.

We need more Sci-Fi RPGs.  Someone tell WotC they want the Star Frontiers license!!  Or best of all, Gamma World.

I would be all over a Gamma World RPG.  Awesome!

[warning]

Much like RTS games on the PC, I think the whole JRPG thing on consoles needs to be scrapped and started over.

For what it's worth that's pretty much what they did with Final Fantasy XII which was just released for the PS2.  It's wildly different from the Final Fantasy games that came before it.  Not so different that it's lost it's "Japanese" feel but different enough that long-time fans were up in arms about some of the changes made to the series prior to it's release.

I'd hate it, I just would. It just isn't my bag. That whole Japanese feel, just doesn't grab me. Give me a medieval RPG, or something space like, and I will be your customer, but the FF stuff, or games of that ilk, keep 'em, they just don't interest me.

No problem - they're not for everyone.  I'm just responding to your comment that they need to be scrapped and start over.  It sounds like what you're saying is you'd want them to be less Japanese which I don't see happening - though FFXII is the least "Japanese" Final Fantasy game I've played.

I'm glad the market is broad enough to support games like Final Fantasy XII and Oblivion (which was also great by the way).

[Tebunker]

a machine with vastly less power (does anyone really want to go backwards in the way RPGs look and play?), and considerably less disk space to use.

Hold up one second pal, I agree that is has less power, but look at FFXII on PS2, Wii is more powerful so at the least I would expect that level of graphics or better. On top of that how would we go backwards in terms of gameplay if they were on the Wii? Lastly, the Wii DVD's hold the same amount of Data as the Xbox 360 ones, so we're all equal there.

I agree with Kevin, in that the Wii is going to blow up Japan, and therefore it will present a very interesting platform for Japanese Developers. If they can maintain any amount of this momentum through next year here in the states, the Wii will have enough of a user base that the lower development costs will make it more than attractive. Especially considering RPGs tend to take longer and cost more to develop. Not saying any of this will happen, but it's not doom and gloom like you say and it's not peaches and cream either. Way to early to tell period.

As for the 360, it has the opportunity to become an appealing RPG system, but I need to see 3 or 4 solid titles, AND I need to know that the system wil lbe given at least 5 years on the market. Look at the PS2 we have gotten the majority of the great RPGs in years 5 and 6. A system has to be guaranteed that kind of lifespan to get the 3rd generation RPG titles.

Lastly, Jblank, go look up Rogue Galaxy, a JRPG that should be right up your alley.

[Farscry]

Whether jrpg's appeal to everyone or not is irrelevant. What's particularly interesting is that the most successful console of each generation since the 8-bit generation has been the one with the most jrpg support. And often, the support was lent before the consoles were out long enough to determine the "victor".

The big upset, of course, being when the dominant party went from Nintendo in the 16-bit generation to Sony in the 32-bit generation.

If, somehow, the 360 becomes the system with the most significant jrpg support, it would see great success and likely end up the "victor". However, I don't see that happening; I expect that the primary jrpg developers will go for a system from the home team, meaning either the Wii or the PS3. Understand, in the Japanese market, the 360 is virtually a non-factor. The big duel will be between the Wii and the PS3 for the console market. So if developers leave Sony, they'll go to Nintendo.

I don't see Microsoft winning over a significant number of the major jrpg developers for at least another console generation.

None of this is hard fact, just my personal conclusions and predictions based on my long-term experience and observations of the console gaming market.

[jblank]

I recognize they are popular and sell a butt load of copies, but they all seem so derivative and formulaic anymore, that I can't tell the difference. To me, games like Oblivion are so much more immersive an experience, that it just trumps everything else offered in the JRPG genre

no offense or anything, because I like Morrowind and Oblivion a lot myself (at least the PC versions), but there are a lot of people who hate the whole FPS-viewpoint and single character 'rpg'.  I mean the combat in MW/Oblivion is pretty much 95% like an action game

tons of gamers still want true party-based RPGs, whether it's jap-style or baldur's gate-style, it doesn't really matter.  Oblivion is still far different from either type, regardless of setting

Yeah, like I said, I realize I am in the minority, and I know JRPG's have kaboodles of fans.

[KePoW]

Hold up one second pal, I agree that is has less power, but look at FFXII on PS2, Wii is more powerful so at the least I would expect that level of graphics or better

I agree that FF12 looks great, even on my HDTV.  problem is, most of the Wii games out right now don't look anywhere near as good as FF12

I have no idea why that is, because like you said a Wii should be noticeably more powerful than a PS2.  maybe square-enix just has a lot of good artists, level designers, and programmers  or something...I don't know, but pretty much every Wii game looks mediocre compared to FF12, other than Twilight Princess

[Kevin Grey]

I have no idea why that is, because like you said a Wii should be noticeably more powerful than a PS2.  maybe square-enix just has a lot of good artists, level designers, and programmers  or something...I don't know, but pretty much every Wii game looks mediocre compared to FF12, other than Twilight Princess

I think that can easily be linked to short dev times for launch window titles.  In fact, I think the first Wii dev kits were on straight up Cube hardware without any of the processor improvements so I expect the Cube was the initial target for the launch titles.  However, the Tales of Symphonia on the Cube is a gorgeous game with a rock solid framerate and almost no load times, so I expect that JRPGs could look really nice on the Wii. 

[Tebunker]

You know, If I was a Wii developer, I would've paid Capcom for whatever the hell Code Clover Studios used to make Resident Evil 4 look so great on the Cube. Flat out. That was programming almost straight to the metal. It was a very attractive game, and if a studio would put some effort into it I think that could become the base for what Wii games should look and only go up from there.

[KePoW]

I think that can easily be linked to short dev times for launch window titles.  In fact, I think the first Wii dev kits were on straight up Cube hardware without any of the processor improvements so I expect the Cube was the initial target for the launch titles

I could *almost* buy that excuse for the Wii... except for the fact that the GC itself is more powerful than the PS2 

[PeteRock]

The Xbox is already a very respectable system for RPG's. There are actually some gamers out there who don't care about JRPG's.

Yeah, and I am their king. If I have to see one more overrated, bug eyed, anime, JRPG, I think I am gonna be sick. It is easily my least favorite genre, and the genre of games that I feel are vastly overrated.

Give me Oblivion or a new KOTOR over any of this other junk any day of the week.

I actually am with jblank on this one.   :icon_eek:

I'm not a fan of the anime, Japanese style RPG genre.  Actually, I've never been a fan of any RPG.  I played KOTOR because of the Star Wars setting, and I enjoyed the story, but the gameplay got old for me pretty quickly because of the turn-based combat.  I really enjoyed Kingdom Hearts, because of the action-oriented gameplay, but also because of the settting in the Disney universe.  It was more an action-adventure game with role-playing elements than a straight up RPG.

But overall I've stayed away from RPGs.  Until Oblivion.  I've never played a game anything like it, and I consider it to be one of the best games I've ever played.  The story, the gameplay, the dialogue, the exploration, the graphics, the sound, the musical score, every aspect of this game has impressed me, and I can't stop coming back for more.  I'm over 25 hours in and I have barely scratched the surface.  For an RPG to grab me like Oblivion has, it must be something special. 

I'll take games like Oblivion over the "popular" types of RPGs any day, and for me the 360 is just as much a respectable RPG console as any other game genre.  But again, for me.  I may be in the minority, but I'm happy with my options on the 360 and look forward to Mass Effect.  Oblivion has changed my perception of RPGs forever, and for the first time in my life I'm excited for an upcoming RPG that isn't drawing me for any specific reason (Disney, Star Wars, etc) other than it's a new RPG for the 360.