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[Dragoon En Regalia]

Something I would like to note, is that in Japan the term TRPG refers to non-video game RPGs like D&D. It quite literally refers to Tabletop RPGs.

They call them "Tabletalk RPGs", based on how the Comptiq serialization of Record of Lodoss War defined it. It's a gimmicky term but I suppose it helped emphasize the conversational storytelling encouraged when using role-playing systems to build a story on the fly, which most Japanese weren't familiar with in that sense.

Re: JRPGs, I find it a useless term for genre indication. And now I think it's less useful in a historical sense than calling games like Dragon Quest stat-heavy (graphic) adventures, which I derive from how Yuji Horii conceived of DQ as a pared-down version of his J-PC adventures. Games like Fire Emblem could likewise be called stat-heavy wargame adventures (or just wargames). I don't think role-playing can be inherent to a game, rather applied to games by the players themselves—games (and role-playing systems) provide a framework with capacity for role-playing as an activity.

 

[fedexpeon]

No.
If I know it is a JRPG then my interest increases to 90% rate of buying it.
It is the only genre that I usually Day 1 since it is the reason why I started console gaming.

 

[nubbe]

JRPGs are fine

JPOPRPG is the devil

 

[RedSwirl]

It seems like I go through these points in every JRPG thread, but I've come to terms with the fact that JRPGs (and Japanese games in general) just follow a different core design philosophy than games developed in most other places in the world. Japanese and western developers are just trying to make two different things.

What frustrates a lot of western gamers about JRPGs is how they don't seem to have uniformly advanced with the times in terms of technology and user interfaces, like how a lot still use random turn-based battles. Though, JRPGs on consoles more or less don't commonly do this anymore. I don't think Japanese developers see the need to "keep up with the joneses" in that respect.

From very early on, most western (or "Computer") RPGs and really a lot of western games in general endeavored to create the most comprehensive fantasy world and combat simulations possible with the technology. A lot of the early ones are literally D&D simulators. Bethesda is the one big western RPG company still trying to do this today with games like Skyrim and Fallout that try to simulate all kinds of factors like character AI and physics. This causes those developers to borrow from each other in some kind of common goal to try to create the "ultimate" or "best" RPG for everything.

Every JRPG on the other hand seems to exist almost completely on its own terms, simply doing what the developer thought was right for that particular game. Every Final Fantasy has a drastically re-designed battle system. Dragon Quest maintains a fairly basic and simple framework. Monster Hunter has its own weird but balanced system that it sticks to. It's as if each Japanese developer is trying to craft its own unique board game.

I feel like a lot of western developers have drifted a bit in that direction since moving to consoles, perhaps because console hardware and the limited amount of buttons has forced them to do this.

Honestly, I don't care when it comes to gameplay and battle systems. Each type of game can be fun in its own way. I'd prefer it if JRPGs didn't alternate between real time exploration and turn-based combat because I think the contrast makes turn-based combat feel stilted and boring, but that's about it from a gameplay perspective. Maybe I'd also like it if JRPGs learned to merge the buy and sell menu screens at shops.

What does push me back a bit from a ton of JRPGs today are their art and stories, but I understand the reasons behind that. Japanese developers gotta sell to that otaku market to survive, but it makes their games basically unsalable to anyone outside that niche. Japanese games that actually try to target adults are rare, but the few that exist tend to be well-received abroad.

 

[texhnolyze]

It's totally a positive term for me.
I'd play average JRPGs over average WRPG any day.

 

[Etnos]

They used to be big marquee titles. They have seen a considerable decline in the market, not so sure if the same can be said about their quality thought, Haven't play one in ages.

 

[fates]

Not really, but admittedly some of them get... weird sometimes D:

 

[CrazyDiamond]

I recently played through Nocturne and I enjoyed my time with that way more than any Western RPG to come out in the last couple years. I also spent a ludicrous amount of time playing Pokemon. I haven't played a Final Fantasy but I found the art direction and music of Kingdom Hearts strangely endearing and its flashy as fuck combat cathartic. Of course my growing fondness for the genre could be because I'm honestly sick of 'OMG ze open-world u guise' WRPGs as well as standard western fantasy cliches.

Honestly yeah JRPGs do often fall in line with the stereotype of being anime as fuck but sometimes I prefer that culturally alien weirdness over 'elves and dwarves and orcs, oh my!' So for now JRPGs are rating pretty positive for me right now especially as I'm slowly going through the Megami Tensei franchise.

 

[genjiZERO]

They are factually wrong. JRPG is a neutral term just as WRPG is. Both are RPGs and there needs to be a clear way of distinguishing them.

 

[otaku-asia]

As someone who grew up playing JRPGs, JRPG is the definition of an RPG. Western RPGs like Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, The Witcher, etc. feel more like action adventures or even FPS.

 

[texhnolyze]

What does that make Might and Magic X? Dragonfall? Original Sin? Pillars of Eternity? Underrail?

Computer games?

 

[jaundicejuice]

Game tapes.

 

[Five]

JRPG has a bit of a negative connotation to me, but I think that's because I don't like turn-based games or MMOs, and my admittedly naive idea of a JRPG usually means one of those.

I was really weird in my friend group growing up for not liking Pokemon games.

 

[Nightbird]

To me JRPG's are RPG's made in Japan. It's the most simple definition.
Yes, Dark Souls also counts for me. Just like it looks like it could have been developed in the West, doesn't mean it's not Japanese.
Just like Child of Light looks like it could have been from Japan, but is actually from Canada, thus being a WRPG.

 

[Megidolaon]

The only negative connotation I have is the weird juvenile sex obsession in many of the games. I feel like the modern anime culture is like this as well and affects the games subsequently. Basically, they just feel perverted at times and it's not cute to me or charming whatsoever. I can't watch many anime nowadays because of this and I loved anime.

Many games feel like they were designed with horny, repressed and honestly...creepy 13 year old boys in mind, or adults with the mentality of one and it can be really annoying to have those "proclivities" on display so much. The females characters are particularly subjected to this fetishization.

If you're not into this "fetish" it can really have a strong negative impact. Like if your favorite genre randomly decided to have foot fetish pandering in it in almost every game. You can try to overlook it, but it just gets on your damn nerves after a while.

To use an example, even one of my favorite games ever, Persona 4 Golden does this to an extent, which was, by far my biggest complaint about the game. I feel like it spent way too much time trying to get the girls in "situations" in not very tasteful ways. Like bathing suits, pageants, sneaking into their room, peeping, trying to see their measurements. And the worst part, it always felt like the game was doing it for "my benefit" like there was some implicit assumption that as a player, I want to see Rise "exposed" or Chie and Yukiko uncomfortably getting in bathing suits "services" me or countless other little examples. The game is great, and its not lewd really, but it just annoyed the heck outta me after a while that it felt like the game assumed I'm a pervert and it felt condescending in a subtle way.

It's sad because I like literally everything else about the game aside from the "sexual harassment" fetish it had. Something that I never felt in P3, or at least nowhere near on the same level.

 

[SMattera]

The best analogy I can make is from the beer world where many different types of beers are named after geographic areas. Examples include Belgian-style Ales, English Pale Ales, Russian Imperial Stouts, etc. These beers types earned their names usually because that's where they originated (though not always), but you can make a Belgian-style beer in your backyard if you want, and not every beer brewed in Belgium is necessarily Belgian-style.

 

[RedSwirl]

The best analogy I can make is from the beer world where many different types of beers are named after geographic areas. Examples include Belgian-style Ales, English Pale Ales, Russian Imperial Stouts, etc. These beers types earned their names usually because that's where they originated (though not always), but you can make a Belgian-style beer in your backyard if you want, and not every beer brewed in Belgium is necessarily Belgian-style.

Some Japanese developers have made food comparisons. I think Capcom said some of its attempts to blatantly appeal to the west resulted in "Japanese hamburgers." So it's kind of like comparing hamburgers to sushi or something like that.

The thing is, these kinds of cultural distinctions seem to be few in video games. With other media like film or comics you have very distinct tastes and styles that seem to be regionally tied. American comics are different from manga which are slightly different from Manwha which are different from Franco/Belgian comics and so-on. With games it's generally Japan vs "the west." You've got a few other distinct regional styles like Eastern European games but there are really only a handful.