Does anyone else here like JRPGS?

[NeutralDrow]

Yeah, there are quite a few of us.

Personally, I'm quite fond of the Tales series, though I've also enjoyed Pokemon, some Final Fantasy (all the ones I've played, truth be told), Kingdom Hearts, Septerra Core, and a few older titles I'm probably forgetting.

 

[G-Dragon]

every once in a while i go through a phase where i need to play a jrpg, so yeah, i like them, but they aren't my game of choice

 

[CK76]

Love them. The genre I tend to favor more than any other.

I want Grandia 4 and Persona 5 on PS3.

 

[StriderShinryu]

There hasn't been one this generation that I've really loved, but I do definitely consider myself a fan if something of a lapsed one.

 

[HazzaH]

I like 'em. But like any kind of game there are some really awesome ones and really horrible ones. And the boxes all look so pretty it's hard to tell them apart until you've played them =(

 

[tklivory]

i havent like too many jrpg's for awhile, but on a side note i really dont labal too many things and a rpg is a rpg to me

I agree, I don't like labels either. JRPG vs WRPG. Meh.

 

[tklivory]

no...jrpgs are linear shit for people who lack independent thought, much like the entire japanese race.

Whoa, way to initiate an intelligent discourse there, big guy.

 

[daltob]

I love pokeman and anything by square they're right bellow fallout 1 on my list of rpg's

 

[DrEmo]

Well, Megaman X command mission was good (because it was megaman, mostly) and so was Rogue Galaxy.
Mother was great, too.
Other than that JRPG's are just... dull.

 

[HolidayBrick]

I'm amassing a collection of all the JRPGs for the 360 (not a long list, but money is tight). It's a mixed genre, with good and bad examples just like any other, but I think it's sometimes treated unfairly with enormous sweeping generalizations.

My favorites are Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Vesperia, Lost Odyssey, and Resonance of Fate. Also pokemon but I've always heard debate over whether or not that counts.

 

[jp11]

I'm a big JRPG fan, Final Fantasy VI and VII are still some of my favorite games

 

[Vianyte]

The World Ends with You, Tales of Vesperia and Chrono Trigger are the only JRPGs I really like. TWEWY and CT being in my top ten favourite games ever. I've also played Final Fantasy IV and XIII and some others I cannot remember. XIII could have been amazing if the gameplay just wasn't unbelievably shit.

 

[tklivory]

no...jrpgs are linear shit for people who lack independent thought, much like the entire japanese race.

Whoa, way to initiate an intelligent discourse there, big guy.

Sorry but i'm unrepentant, the japanese are excellent at taking other people ideas and improving them enormously but they lack innovation! seriously what did they ever discover or invent!

JRPGs reflect and idiotic mindset where everything needs to be signposted and players are discouraged from attempting to use inititive or independent thought and the characters are guided through the well crafted plot... sure they can have great stories but the gameplay is often more shallow than the imperial bloodline, this is why I rarely play jrpgs anymore and stick to watching anime, all the excellent storytelling without the mind numbingly bad "gameplay" random encounters and boring turn based combat. It's time to realise that the jrpg is japans equivalent of the FPS... dead and in need of burial so we can find new types of gameplay and the jrpg will only be missed in the west by munchkin morons who seem to think this kind of crap is worth playing.

All right, that's more like it. An actual argument rather than a vaguely racist, trolly one-liner.

Now, in response to your points without going too off-topic:

I would say that not all JRPGs are the same, just as not all WRPGs, FPS, action, etc are the same. (I was amazed, for example, at the critical acclaim that Uncharted 2 got, when I played it through one night and got bored because it was a purtier version of 'more of the same.') However, I would argue that it is the industry, not the nation of origin or the genre, that suffers from stagnation. Trying to blame a lack of innovation on a culture (especially when you then turn around and embrace another aspect of that same culture without a qualm) is disingenuous at best, and intellectually dishonest at worst. The US, for example, is a country in the throes of a recycling bonanza (they're remaking Private Benjamin fer crissakes). Even the 'great' games are just more of the same (like Dragon Age and God of War). And how many WW2 and sports game franchises do we actually need?

I would ask you this: how many actual JRPGs have you played and completed, and how many have you judged based on reviews and comments from other people? In case you hadn't noticed, the majority of them don't have turn-based combat these days. It may also shock you to find out the JRPGs are also not all the same. Also, your (apparent) assumption that everyone values gameplay over all other aspects of a game doesn't always work. Some people like a lot of story and cut scenes (can we say MGS4, anyone?) Some people will also not play a game with great gameplay mechanics if the story is sorely lacking.

Oh, and if you really want a discussion rather than a battle, please refrain from insulting the 'munchkin moron' brigade. Don't assume that those who have different tastes than you are dumb and should be dismissed out of hand, and we won't do the same to you.

 

[Mcradden]

I like 'em. But like any kind of game there are some really awesome ones and really horrible ones. And the boxes all look so pretty it's hard to tell them apart until you've played them =(

I agree with this. While I am a massive fan of the RPG genre there are just like other genres out there many titles that are um, not as good as the rest

I do like my JRPG just as much as my WRPG and here is a short(ish) list of some of my closest favourites

- Secret of Mana (one of the first RPG's I played and one that I have dedicated most of my time to, flawless perfection)
- Chrono Trigger (great game that has some nice touches throughout the game and keeps things moving along nicely)
- Terranigma (Very old Enix game that has a truely awesome game style, plus replayability!)
- Secret of Evermore (Very old Square game that was one of the first to utilise the man/beast combo, oh and very very funny too )
- Suikoden (It has acutal auto-combat! Something that all games of this type should have, oh and it's a fun game too!)
- Kingdom Hearts 1&2 (Wow, it's like one game that has everything you need in it, not since Secret of Mana have I poured so much time and energy into a game. The gameboy version was strange but nice and I enjoyed playing to continue the gripping story and the fact the sequels continued the story well and improved on the previous version)
- Golden Sun (Apart from the fact that 1 ended so abruptly I thought the game had crashed, it worked very well for portable only. Plus I had hours of fun chasing up all the djinns!)
- Wild Arms (I think this was a western game done like a JRPG, but whatever it was it was done *VERY* well. Although I could never get that one damned piece of armor from the ocean )

I left off Final Fantasy for a reason, it is very much a love/hate thing, some things they did well and in others not at all. I love the ability to run around and take things at my own pace and not be forced down a single path, but at the same time I find that over grind gets boring. To be honest that pretty much sums up most JRPG's

Wall over

 

[Hafnium]

Don't play them, and I don't care whether others like them or not, really. Some of them must be good, since they have so many fans, but I'm not attracted to the genre, so I can't say if they are better or worse than other rpgs/games.

 

[Blankmessenger]

The only one I liked was "The World Ends With You". Other than that guys, sorry I just don't like that genre of gaming.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

I like a lot of JRPGs, although of course there are also a lot that I don't like. I tend to think a lot the hate for JRPGs in general is a bit unfounded because the majority of games any genre will suck.

Some of my favorites are the Xenosaga series (with which I have a long standing love/hate relationship because it also has a lot of issues), Shadow Hearts, and Skies of Arcadia (which I think has the best exploration of anything I've ever played). I think a few Final Fantasy games are alright, but I tend to find them severely lacking in terms of character, story, and overall world design (it probably doesn't help that FF Tactics overshadows them all so much in terms of quality).