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The problem is that people still don't really know how to tell a story in a game. Gameplay is often relegated to nothing but busy-work killing people that don't matter in places that don't matter until you get to the next important location and watch a cutscene. Both aspects suffer as a result. Game stories have generally got more complicated, but the method of delivery has stayed the same and as such cutscenes can start to feel intrusive on what you're actually paid your money for - to play a game. "
It's also pretty unfair to compare Star Ocean to the older games you listed, because you're comparing neat turn-based row combat to live-action running-around-like-a-twat combat systems. The latter is always more hectic and always has been, that's why I've never liked JRPGs with real-time combat (that and having to rely on shitty AI) - it's not a new invention by any stretch of the imagination. They're also the kind of JRPG where any kind of button mashing has been implemented - some people like it, some don't, but that's a definite branch in the genre, it's a split not an evolution. I don't think FFVIII's trigger mechanics has really been implemented widely or annoyingly to many other turn-based JRPGs - Lost Odyssey does come to mind, but the ring system was brilliant if you ask me. If that's a sign the genre is gurgling on its death bed then I might just slide under the covers along side and start licking the cancer off its face.
Thing is, there's so many RPGs out there and they're all very diverse. You could construct pretty much any argument you like about the state of the JRPG genre, you could easily write one about how it's alive and kicking and better than ever and pick out of different handful of games to prove your point. There's certainly a lot of things that I find very worrying about modern JRPGs - tendencies towards MMO mechanics mainly, and the death of my precious world map and all the exploration that went with it - but the genre isn't dying because FFXIII was shit. I hope you didn't give up on RoF either by the way because you're really missing out. "
