Can Dark Souls (2) be considered a JRPG?

[4RM3D]

I mean it's a RPG and it's from Japan. Sure, it's nothing like Final Fantasy and it's ilk. And I suppose we all have an understanding of what a JRPG suppose to look like, right? Nevertheless if I would go technical, or you know, just out of curiosity...

Can Dark Souls (2) be considered a JRPG? (Albeit one that's unlike any other).

 

[Trinket to Ride]

Going by literal definition I guess, but gameplay wise it's a western RPG made in Japan. [http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/chaoskiller2000/blog/jrpg-vs-wrpg-the-difference-and-why-they-are-both-/77299/]

 

[AtomChicken]

Depends, it reads more like grim, dark fantasy RPG than JRPG, though I consider Dark Souls, Demon Souls, and Dark Souls II into a certain genre first pioneered by Die by the Sword called, RAGE! Playing Game, based on the number of angry, keyboard/gamepad pounding and screaming moments induced by boss difficulty or obtuse obstacles.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Sure can may not fit peoples type of what a JRPG is but then it dosent have to JRPG has no template its just an RPG type game made in Japan but then what is an RPG dont think thats been settled (yeah Role playing game I know that part) and while we are on the subject whats a game dont think that has a definition that suits everyone either.

Personally to me Dark Souls is an action game that has RPG elements (like most games these days) but the action far outweighs the RPG bits which can be ignored for the most part if you wished hence imo its much more heavily weighted towards he action slant and thus is an action game, some games like Disgaea allow you to choose more about how you want to approach it i.e strategise your way to victory or just grind the hell out of it and curbstomp your way to the upper battles pronto. In Dark Souls you have to be aware of what you are doing at pretty much all times things dont really stop becoming a threat.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Literally, sure. Though I'm not sure many would actually consider it one if you looked beyond the pure literal definition.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

Was it made in Japan?
Is it an RPG?

Then it's a JRPG.

 

[Someone Depressing]

It's a western-style RPG that uses eastern-style horror.

As in, it uses personal character growth, customisation and roleplay - like a WRPG - but it uses the isolation, psychological fear and loneliness (ala Silent Hill, SIREN, Fatal Frame, ect) to its advantage to build a world.

As such, it's some kind of weird cultural hybrid. It's a damn good hybrid, but it doesn't quite have a name. How about...
"Dark, grim fantasy horror with dudes hitting other dudes and broken keyboards, fits of rage... and RPG elements!"

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I think the term "JRPG" is really more about a game's style and aesthetic than simply "an RPG made in Japan". If a company from outside Japan made "Final Fantasy 18" (or whatever game they're on now) and it maintained the same look and feel of previous Final Fantasy games, I'd still probably call it a "JRPG", whether it was made in Japan or not.

Same with Dark Souls, I think of it as an action RPG that just happened to be made in Japan.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

It's a hack n slash RPG, made in Japan, so yes it is.

It also has specifically Japanese interpretations of western architecture and medieval aesthetics. The number-heavy stats are also staples of jrpgs, and the monster designs are too, very otherwordly and emanate from a distinctly different culture.

 

[Rozalia1]

It depends on how you define the term in the end. It does expose quite a few people of course if their definition is all JRPGs must involve characters using 10 bottles of hairgel...each.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Well it's an RPG made in Japan, what more do you want.

 

[RandV80]

Going by literal definition I guess, but gameplay wise it's a western RPG made in Japan. [http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/chaoskiller2000/blog/jrpg-vs-wrpg-the-difference-and-why-they-are-both-/77299/]

I don't really like that definition at all, feels like it's from someone who started playing JRPG's on the PSone with FFVII. While it's often the case A JRPG doesn't have to be anime style, and it doesn't have to be some big epic quest to save the world.

Going more to the roots, these 'RPG' video games started in the 80's from a similar position with the Japanese making JRPG's for console, see the original Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Phantasy Star, while in the West developers made CRPG's for PC with games like Ultima, Wizardry, and Might & Magic. Basically from there the JRPG's evolved under a purely Japanese influence (which is where the anime/manga style comes in) while CRPG's stuck much closer to their D&D origins. If you played an RPG on console in the 80's/90's what you got was the JRPG, while on PC it was the CRPG's, and the two grew to very different.

Where the water got muddied is when Microsoft stepped into the console game with the Xbox. They brought along all sorts of Windows/PC developers into the console market and the term CRPG's became WRPG's, but regardless it became more confusing tot he masses because now you had games like Morrowind and FFX both appearing on console calling themselves RPG's without having much in common, and the former appearing far more 'RPG' like. In the latter years thanks to some big games from the likes of Bethesda and Bioware the JRPG genre really took a beating.

But back to topic, no Dark Souls is not a 'JRPG'. Unless you want to go around naming games like Resident Evil 'J-Survival Horror' and Dead Space 'W-Survival Horror'. While they are made a Japanese developers, games like Dark Souls and Dragon's Dogma are made in the WRPG fashion and have nothing to do with JRPG's.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

yes; in all honesty the "JRPG" (which is a freaking stupid term in itself) is more than just FF as Saga Frontier, FF, Dragon Quest, Etrian Odyssey, Star Ocean, Tales of, Live a Live, Treasures of the Rudra, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Valkyrie Profile, Resonance of Fate, Infinite Undiscovery, Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, Brave Fencer Musashi, Tactics Ogre, Valkyria Chronicles, Front Mission, Earthbound, Odin Sphere, and many others are so different from each other it's just mind-boggling. I am baffled as to why people keep trying to disassociate Dark Souls from JRPGs just because it takes after Berserk...which is a manga.

 

[Ryallen]

According to Yahtzee, a JRPG is a game in which, at the end, the main characters use the power of friendship to kill God.

So no. Not according to Yahtzee.

 

[pakker]

Word by word.. Yes

With the in-community naming, where JRPG means a special type of game no matter where it's made? No.

To be honest, I do not find the terms "western" or "JRPG" very good, can we just call them Real Time/Action and Turnbased/Tactical? Like we do with the strategy genre (Starcraft is the first type, Xcom is the second type). Much more accurate and no confusion. To me the terms WRPG and JRPG are ancient relics from a bygone age of games. I would say it's a JRPG with action mechanics. Defining culture by their origins is meaningless in a modern age so we should stop doing that.

As has been mentioned above, there are so many variations of "JRPGs" that the term means very little beside any RPG made in Japan, but yes when people say JRPG the first thing that springs to MY mind is turn based combat. I feel that is what most of us who are not into that type of game thinks... I could be wrong though.

To answer the question "Can Dark Souls (2) be considered a JRPG?" Yes, its an RPG from Japan. That is all those 4 letters mean...

But yea, abolish JRPG/WRPG as they mean nothing and use real words to describe what you are talking about please. Turnbased RPG focused around Japanese culture doesn't that much longer to write, and you avoid people misinterpreting what you mean by JRPG from what they think a JRPG is.

 

[sXeth]

By my own definition, not really.

JRPG's are party based, at least vaguely tactical, and tend to pride themselves on spectacle and a disregard for realism.

Dark Souls is solo, primarily in the moment action based, and eschews the spectacle and nonsensical powers almost entirely.

It much more comfortably sits in the ARPG segment, or the MetroidVania genre with RPG elements.

Yeah, it kind of highlights that JRPG is a silly term. WRPG is probably even worse, not having any specific gameplay style ascribed to it.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

According to Yahtzee, a JRPG is a game in which, at the end, the main characters use the power of friendship to kill God.

So no. Not according to Yahtzee.

But in Dark Souls 1

Spoiler: spoiler for end of Dark Souls 1

Me and my bro Solaire killed one of the closest things to "God" that exists in that world

 

[EyeReaper]

Reminds me of those people who argue if Avatar should be considered an anime or not.

Like others have said, I don't think JRPG should be considered a genre. I mean, compare things like Paper Mario, SMT, and Earthbound, or Fire Emblem. They are all Japanese, they are all RPGs. How many other similarities do they have? Well, I guess turn based combat, but plenty of games have that.

I mean, we the gaming community can hardly agree on what constitutes an RPG, let alone an even more strange subgenre. Furthermore, shouldn't it be WRPG and ERPG? I mean, I know japan's pretty big on gaming, but what if some developer team in China made a Final Fantasy game? would we still call it a JRPG? or maybe a J*RPG? Madness I say.

*not actually japanese

 

[MrDumpkins]

Just depends on your definition. I always thought WRPG and JRPG were considered different by gameplay then region they were created in. In the long run doesn't matter. It's more of an action game than RPG anyways.