If we talk about gender JRPG or from Japanese paperNames like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest represent the golden age of these types of games, but they have been forced to evolve over the years.
We thus arrive at what is known as a modern JRPG, still inhabited by Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but giving greater prominence to emerging franchises in the 21st century such as Persona.
With permission from the excellent Persona 5 Royal (and the magnificent Persona 3 Reload), the most advanced Japanese RPG is Metaphor: ReFantazio, so it makes sense that its creator would be the one who the next step.
Katsura Hashino, director of Persona 5 and MetaphorHe recently gave a talk (shared on the 4Gamer portal) about the evolution of JRPG games in recent decades, revealing his desire to do something even more advanced.
According to Hashino, your next game will be a JRPG 3.0. which will address a new vision of the genre, and will be almost unrecognizable if compared to the classics of the 80s and 90s.
”These games will be larger in scale and will change the structure and presentation of the genre on a fundamental level.”.
The future of JRPGs: this will be the new thing from Katsura Hashino
At the South Korean G-Star 2025 conference, the director of Persona 5 and Metaphor: ReFantazio addressed the main aspects of the evolution of the JRPG genre, which will go hand in hand with his next game.
The talk is titled “When Experience Becomes Memory: Projecting Lasting Impressions Through Art and Structure”, and served as small hint of what Hashino’s new project will be like.
The veteran director indicates that The first stage of JRPGs corresponds to the classicslike Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, which represents a fundamental part of video games’ past.
The second step is the current one, with a series of modern RPGs ”whose current style is perceived as higher quality due to its greater responsiveness to the player”.
Although he’s not sure what stage 3.0 will look like. from the game, Hashino wants Metaphor’s successor to be the first next-gen Japanese RPG title. Will he make it?
Who knows, but we shouldn’t forget that the third part of Final Fantasy VII Remake, Dragon Quest XII and Persona 6 are on the horizon, and could take the first step that Katsura Hashino is looking for.