I guess it is dying, since none of the games mentioned here are not the genre I am a fan of.
Elder scrolls, NWN etc are of no interest to me. The story is nearly non existent, and the combat is not nearly fun enough to play only for that. So that leaves only the character creation/build up, which can be quite enjoyable, with out the other 2, its not enough. I guess these would be the true RPG however.
FF style rpgs, such as the tales series, suikoden series, star ocean series, etc. are the ones I really enjoy. I guess JRPG is what I should call them.
MMO's are a genre of their own, I wouldnt even mention them with RPG's. And they are fun, I enjoyed wow entirely to much. And I played aion for some time. But they require to much time. The only way I play them is if i can bot past the grind and then enjoy the end game with friends. (which aion finally put a stop to.)
ARPG are also of their own genre, I woudlnt call diablo or any of their clones a RPG. They are solely ARPG.
Lastly, SRPG's, I love these, but they are also dying off. Disgaea is the only decent one to come out since Suikoden tactics. The problem with this genre is the everyone wants to add something new to a formula that was fine the way it is. You dont try to add an orange to an apple pie to make it fresh and new. You just stick with apples and enjoy it for what it is.
Alot of the combat changes they add only end up being tedious and unwanted. Stick to the system in FFtactics and no one would complain other then reviewers. Anything with special tiles that give bonus's is a bad idea. Other then height. Geo panels, which seems to be common place now is really fucking annoying.
EDIT another rant, while im going...
JRPGS are suffering the same fate as srpgs. FF was doing great, they kept the core formula that made the series fun and made minor changes and added small things as they went. Until 12, which almost any fan can agree was the worst of any of the series. They changed to much, got rid of the tried and true ATB and butchered the game with the new system. The story was ok, but nothing spectacular which is another staple of FF games. The story should be on of the major driving forces in a rpg. Like someone said earlier, they rush through the SO games just to see the ending. Any good RPG should have you tied up in the story to the point you have to see how it ends.
Enough ranting i guess, sorry this got so long. I doubt anyone made it this far, but I needed to cry my fanboy tears alittle
