Is Mass Effect an jRPG?

Lord Beautiful

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Worr Monger said:
The question "Is Mass Effect an jRPG?" just makes me want to cry...
It makes me want to become an hero.

By virtue of the fact that it wasn't made in Japan, it is not <color=red>a JRPG.
 

godofallu

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Jun 8, 2010
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Let's run through a checklist to find out!

1 Is it made in Japan?
2 Does it use Asian styled artwork?
3 Is the combat turn based?
 

starwarsgeek

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Nov 30, 2009
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J-RPG and W-RPG.
These are not genres. They are stereotypes for two different ideas behind the RPG (Blanks slate vs. Pre-defined character). There are japanese RPGs that offer a blank slate and high customability (Pokemon), and W-RPGs with pre-defined characters (Anachronox). Western RPGs can be turn-based (Knights of the Old Republic) and J-RPGs can have action combat (Demon's Souls, Kingdom Hearts). And there are games like Knights of the Old Republic that simply fall in the middle, with fast-paced combat a character that is both defined and customizable.

The only rule that is completely consistent has nothing to do with story, characterization, or gameplay. One is made in "Western" countries, the other in Japan. That's it.
 

Phoenixmgs_v1legacy

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Sep 1, 2010
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Mass Effect 2 isn't a JRPG because Mass Effect 2 is an actual RPG, it has role-playing in it. JRPGs don't feature any actual role-playing, and they really aren't RPGs.
 

Defense

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Oct 20, 2010
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poppabaggins said:
Defense said:
It's a crappy linear waifu simulator-slash-generic space marine third person shooter, but it's not a JRPG.


poppabaggins said:
Mass Effect actually lets you develop a personality for your character via dialog choices. JRPGs lock you in to what the designers want you to do. There really aren't any RPG elements in JRPGs, so the term is definitely a misnomer.

And, for the record: stats do not equal role playing
I bet you're the kind of person who thinks every JRPG is like Final Fantasy.

And for the record: You don't know what you're talking about.
Wow! Someone's a presumptuous asshole fanboy! I've played Final Fantasies 1,6,7,8,10; Tales of: Eternia, Symphonia; Shin Megami Tensei 1; Xenogears; Xenosaga 1; SMT Persona 2: Original Sin, and Persona 3. Some of these games are good, but none provide a proper role playing experience
Haha, you played Persona 3. I feel sorry for you.

Of those games, only the SMT let you make choices that influence the game. But the thing about SMT1 is that if you choose anything other than the "neutral" path, you miss out on some of the best parts of those games (it was released on SNES, though so I can't really fault it).
Mass Effect does the same thing though, that game just requires a full Paragon/Renegade meter.
And the Persona games do offer more choice, but all of the characters are based off of tropes, and they rely more on what you know about that type of character as opposed to the characters themselves to do the actual development. And the Persona gameplay is so drab and repetitive, I could barely bring myself to continue playing it (solely because I was promised that the story "gets better". SPOILER: the story does not get better at all).
Congratulations, you posted something irrelevant.


Based on your use of the term "waifu" and your adamant defense of a stale genre that not even Atlus can save, I can tell that you're more than a little bit of a weeaboo. This colors your reason-free argument a shade of the most unconvincing and embarrassing color possible.
It's called a joke, and you're just spouting stupid bullshit like I assume you always. Oh well, I guess I'm a presumptuous asshole.

HURR STALE GENRE XDDD
Take your head out of your ass and realize that other genres are just as bad, if not worse. You're just spouting bullshit because you don't know any better.

RPGs are about playing a role in a game (enlightening, isn't it? It's almost like an acronym <--sarcasm). JRPGs are about thrusting the role into your face like an unwanted crotch. Sometimes the crotch is kept at a distance (e.g. SMT), but I prefer to play my games without a threat of rape, thank you very much.
No, believe it or not, you're wrong. RPGs were based off of Dungeons and Dragons, and I'm sure you know what that is. Computer RPGs were called what they were called because their mechanics came from D&D and they were focused on exploration. Console RPGs were called what they were because they were more user friendly and were more like interactive novels. It has nothing to do with your "lol role playing" crap.

By the way, where do you get the assumption that Mass Effect is an RPG? You're still Shepherd, a commander playing the savior of the galaxy, regardless of whether you're good or bad. Your paragade meter hardly matters in the game. By your logic, Catherine is more of an RPG because you have the same "morality meter", but you can actually decide Vincent's fate.
 

Archangel768

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I don't think I'd say it's actually a JRPG but, what is apparent to me is that the Mass Effect series and Knights of the Old Republic are the only WRPG I've played that I enjoyed. I'm a huge JRPG fan and when I think about the WRPGs that I enjoy then I realise that the ones I do like are the most similar to JRPGs.

I didn't like Fallout 3 or Oblivion. Basically, minimal focus on plot, create your own character and wander throughout a huge world and make your place in it.

Now when I think about KOTOR and ME1&2 they have a huge focus on plot and they use fairly linear level designs. Both of these traits are found in most JRPGs. The story for the most part doesn't really seem like it changes much depending on the decisions you make. The ending certainly can't be much different than the endings that Shadow Hearts 1, Shadow Hearts 2, Final Fantasy X-2 give. The endings are the only real thing that really changes the 'plot'.

So I'd say that ME and KOTOR series are the closest to being JRPGs out of all the WRPGs I can think of, I don't think I'd call them JRPGs though.
 

poppabaggins

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Defense said:
I also feel sorry for myself for playing Persona 3. But you also failed to mention any good JRPGS. You must consider some of them good since you mentioned that they're not all Final Fantasy games.

Mass Effect lets you make plenty of choices in the game, not just the final choice. Hence the reason you can import your character from the previous game. That's a lot more choice than with my favorite JRPG trope --
A:"Will you take me with you?"
B:"No"
A:"Too bad"

Also, your concept of a joke is just...not funny. And seeing how overly defensive you get, I'm thinking that it was actually serious. Unless, of course, you're account is just a novelty account based entirely off the concept of defending yourself.

The Persona bit was highlighting what's wrong with what's considered one of the best JRPGs, which is relevant because you were already defending JRPGs.

And for the stale genre bit? Mass Effect pretty much revolutionized modern western RPGs, and Mass Effect 2 improved upon that. Then consider the Final Fantasy series which gets worse with each new release and reuses the same characters (both appearance and personality), even though each game is supposed to be different.

For the RPG definition: you provide the evidence to support my statement. Dungeons and Dragons IS about role playing. Some people even take it to the extreme and LARP. The point of it is that you create a character who isn't you and make decisions based off of your character's personality rather than your own. THAT is role playing. Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Fallout 1 and 2 (all computer RPGs) offered you many choices where you could define your character. Mass Effect (Console RPG) lets you decide what your Shepard would do in many situations. I've already explained the lack of choice and definition of character in JRPGs. And, yes; Catherine is much more of an RPG than any JRPG I've ever played.
 

hippolyte

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Aug 9, 2011
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No it isn't. Throwing out the fact that it's made by a Western developer, the fact is the many WRPG aspects of the game greatly outweigh any superficial (in my opinion) JRPG aspects it may have. Like the poster above me said, WRPGs are more close to what actual RPGs are defined as than JRPGS.
 

burningdragoon

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Jul 27, 2009
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I consider the J in front of the RPG to reflect the art style more than anything else, so I would say no.