The SE exec probably wasn't the one had any call, or at least enough pull in these kinds of decisions.
And I realized years ago that E3 really wasn't the time to look forward to exciting new JRPGs unless it was something like Final Fantasy anyway.
No, but it was the time to look forward to localization announcements and previews. Even last year, there was more of that ilk even if a good chunk of it was on handheld. While a bunch of stuff wasn't actually playable (Disgaea 4, ClaDunX2, the three SMT games), I counted maybe five JRPGs there total, six if you count DQ Monsters Joker.