I just remembered something that I found myself thinking a lot as I played through DQVIII. Where are all the current-gen RPGs with similar, cartoony art styles? The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are in the “Tales of” series, which I haven’t really enjoyed since Tales of Eternia. Speaking of which, the PSP port of that game is excellent – even running off of the UMD, the load times are surprisingly short, and the graphics look very crisp on the smaller screen. You’ll have to import the European version if you want to actually play it in English, though.
Anyway, back to graphics and art styles: RPGs that look like Enchanted Arms and Lost Odyssey don’t appeal to me visually. Maybe developers were just trying to take advantage of the new technology, and later on in this generation we’ll see something different. I might be totally wrong, but I’ve noticed that systems usually get larger amounts of RPGs towards the ends of their life spans, so maybe something like that will happen again. All I know is that every time a new console comes out, there are usually still RPGs being released for the previous system. Final Fantasy IX came out for the PS1 almost a month after the PS2 launched in the US. Hell, Persona 4 just came out last December for the PS2. I’ve heard that this tends to happen because development costs drop for the older systems.
I guess what I’m trying to say is: I can’t wait for the next generation of video game systems, because I want more RPGs for the systems I currently have.