JRPG's : I don't get it !!

[Velocirapture07]

Recently I was at a friends house and he was playing one of the final fantasies (not one of the old ones mind you, one of the one's with emo-boy main characters). I'd been exposed to games like this before but never really understood there appeal. The characters seem to be overly dramatic, and the plot rather contrived...., and don't get me started on how unrealistic the characters actions are. Now don't get me wrong here, but I think this could possibly have something to do with how I think of Japan, which is to say I think they are straight up strange. Nothing against them, but their culture is totally different from mine here in America. However this doesn't explain why some people are drawn to these games and I'm repelled. Perhaps it is the sad fact that I'm a gaming fanboy....or maybe more to the truth so accustomed to western RPG's (I love Fable, Elder Scrolls, KOTOR). Whatever the reason I felt I'd put this up to see what kind of honest replies I could get from others who (I know for certain there are people on escapist who like JRPG's) are fans of the Japanese Role playing genre.

 

[Aries_Split]

Hang on, Fable?

And you find the Japanese strange?

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

Hi I reckon your going to get a fair few people saying that this has been done before but hey...

I can't really explain why I like JRPGs, I don't like them above WRPGs but about the same; I guess I just get hooked in the thrill of leveling up. Although to throw in a counterpoint JRPGs tend to be less item based then WRPGs which probably says something about our culture too.

 

[Fightgarr]

Some people have different tastes than you. People are different. Some people like big, manly, fast-paced games, some people like lots of dialogue and choice, some people like slow-paced gameplay and a linear storyline.

As for your point on the characters being unrealistic, that's the point. The characters aren't supposed to be your average joe, because if you haven't realized, JRPGs tend to be on an epic scale and thus require a fairly epic cast of characters (odd appearances aside). This isn't to say that there aren't some very cliched and terrible characters in JRPGS, but you have to be tolerant of the style of a JRPG. I'd say that I prefer those characters to say, the steroid-pumping guys in Gear of War.

 

[OuroborosChoked]

You know, I really wish people would stop saying JRPG when they really mean Final Fantasy. Have you ever played Dark Cloud 2? Koudelka? Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow? How about Skies of Arcadia? Disgaea? Hell, even Xenogears? The only things those games have in common are that they are RPGs, from Japan, and depending on your tastes, poorly voice acted. None of them look, play, or feel like Final Fantasy, yet they're all JRPGs.

And side note: before anyone says that JRPGs are always saddled with grind, allow me to rebut by saying ALL RPGs are saddled with grind. It's just called "power-leveling" in the West.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go "power-level" in Fallout 3.

 

[Ace of Spades]

The only JRPG I can say that I really enjoyed was Skies of Arcadia Legends for the Gamecube. I still like it even today.

 

[Ultimateslayer]

I was a fan of JRPGs the last couple of years, but after a while it really becomes awfully repetitiv.
Last week I started Eternal Sonata, which is praised as being one of the only good JRPGs the 360 offers and yesterday I got Condemned 2 and its just so much more fun to play.
While Eternal Sonata is the same shit as every Final fantasy game (except for the cool combatsystem)Condemned is a stunning experience that sucks you in and doesnt let you go for hours.
So I guess,to me JRPGs really lost their appeal.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I like all types of RPG's and I only discriminate on an individual basis but the reason why I like JRPG's...

Style and Character

They tend to have both in spades compared to most WRPG's which offer few characters, little by way of visual style and they tend to suffer from very repetative enemy designs.

I play JRPG's because I like the style, especially in Scene, Enemy and Boss design. They're pretty, where as WRPG's are usually just "realistic".

 

[swift tongued]

Hi I reckon your going to get a fair few people saying that this has been done before but hey...

I can't really explain why I like JRPGs, I don't like them above WRPGs but about the same; I guess I just get hooked in the thrill of leveling up. Although to throw in a counterpoint JRPGs tend to be less item based then WRPGs which probably says something about our culture too.

That's pretty clever. I think that japanese RPGs are very numerous so it can hard to pick out the good ones, but they just feel so epic when you find them. Big swords, demons, colorful and ridable emus, I mean there's just a lot in there. Also it's fun to take the character you identify with and really invest in them. My brother's friend did that with Aris though... You can guess how that turned out.

 

[PumpItUp]

You know, I really wish people would stop saying JRPG when they really mean Final Fantasy. Have you ever played Dark Cloud 2? Koudelka? Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow? How about Skies of Arcadia? Disgaea? Hell, even Xenogears? The only things those games have in common are that they are RPGs, from Japan, and depending on your tastes, poorly voice acted. None of them look, play, or feel like Final Fantasy, yet they're all JRPGs.

And side note: before anyone says that JRPGs are always saddled with grind, allow me to rebut by saying ALL RPGs are saddled with grind. It's just called "power-leveling" in the West.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go "power-level" in Fallout 3.

Ouroboros got it right. JRPG seems to be the term guilty by association with Final Fantasy. If you mean Final Fantasy, say "Final Fantasy", especially if you've never played any others.

Also, JRPGs as a genre are more appealing to the Japanese than Westerners (made in Japan, duh). The Japanese lifestyle is highly regimented with mundane up the ass so an epic, colorful quest to save the world will appeal to those people, and the strange, eccentric characters only accentuate that. The Japanese live in a society where much of their future is determined by those ahead of them (parents, teachers, professors, employers, etc.) so they've been socialized to accept linearity, both in games and in life.

Yahtzee once said in his God of War review that we need over-the-top, ridiculous games to make up for the boredom of real life, so if you cut-and-paste that argument here, it makes sense.

As a final note, the Japanese obsession with strange hair is rather weird but consider this video here. http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=5krfVziv7RY Remind you of anyone?

 

[Yuriatayde]

I think the nail's been struck. Western is more realistic-ish and JRPGs tend to be more fantastic. Personally, my preference fluxuates. Sometimes I indulge in "every character has a nuke in their pocket" (Disgaea) and sometimes I feel more like "I'm powerful because my sword is REALLY BIG" (Mount & Blade)

I tend to feel a hell of a lot less freedom in JRPGs though, even when they're trying to give you freedom to do whatever it just feels so limited. You know there's a place you're "supposed" to go, you know, the only place that has monsters that are just right for your level, or, what level you should be after finishing the last one... just, tell me where to go, I'm sick of flying around in circles! Please game, tell me where you want me to go!!

 

[DrunkenKitty]

Nothing against them, but their culture is totally different from mine here in America.

Do you mean "totally different" in the sense that they have culture and we don't?

I don't think the appeal of of JRPGs can be explained. The cool factor of a spikey-haired high school kid cutting demons in half with a 7 foot sword is self-evident. If you don't see it now, I doubt anything we have to say will change your outlook.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I had a huge well worded comparisson on JRPG's and WRPG's ready to post yesterday but my browser crashed and I lost it all. Now I don't have enough concern to contribute to the arguement anymore.

 

[Rodger]

When most people say "JRPG's" for some reason, to me, it always seems like they're talking about the games made by Square/SquareEnix/Whatever They Call Themselves These Days. Most of the complaints just don't seem to apply to other JRPG's. The idea that JRPG's cover a very, very broad spectrum would probably cause some people's heads to explode. And thats probably a reason why I personally end up drawn to many of them. They're quirky. Different. While every Final Fantasy from here on out is probably going to star some pretty boy to appeal to fangirls, for every final fantasy there's countless JRPG's that don't have a male main character or even wield swords. For every JRPG with purple/green/blue/etc hair colors, there's games where the only hair color is black, gray, or maybe the odd blonde. For every mopey, emo, kid hero, there's a heroic knight-like figure who's courageous and determined to continue on even if hell itself were to stand in their way. For every Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, there's a Shin Megami Tensei (not that I've played that series, but it exists). I could go on.

 

[Snypar]

Some people have different tastes than you. People are different. Some people like big, manly, fast-paced games, some people like lots of dialogue and choice, some people like slow-paced gameplay and a linear storyline.

sorry wat?? linear storyline.. for those that didnt catch that storyLINE... lines are linear in nature! if it didnt have linearity it would be an arc or squiggle! "blah de blah de blah and the storysquiggle doublebacked on itself and really caught me by surprise!!" that would make for an interesting game wouldnt it?!

wat is the zelda series? WRPG or JRPG?? is both fantastic yet realistic... i mean its based in a world filled with humans, horses, cows, chickens, dogs, feudal castles and you you carry a plethora of items just like in a WRPG, yet, it still has the little kid with funky hair followed around by a fairy and all of the supersized semi demonic beasts from the nether-realm and also the big-ass-bastard swords!

 

[Fightgarr]

Some people have different tastes than you. People are different. Some people like big, manly, fast-paced games, some people like lots of dialogue and choice, some people like slow-paced gameplay and a linear storyline.

sorry wat?? linear storyline.. for those that didnt catch that storyLINE... lines are linear in nature! if it didnt have linearity it would be an arc or squiggle! "blah de blah de blah and the storysquiggle doublebacked on itself and really caught me by surprise!!" that would make for an interesting game wouldnt it?!

wat is the zelda series? WRPG or JRPG?? is both fantastic yet realistic... i mean its based in a world filled with humans, horses, cows, chickens, dogs, feudal castles and you you carry a plethora of items just like in a WRPG, yet, it still has the little kid with funky hair followed around by a fairy and all of the supersized semi demonic beasts from the nether-realm and also the big-ass-bastard swords!

Your point is what? That Zelda is a combination of both? Wow, you sure proved me wrong there. I mentioned Zelda constantly in my above post. I think you missed the point there... and also failed to make a point.

 

[Velocirapture07]

When most people say "JRPG's" for some reason, to me, it always seems like they're talking about the games made by Square/SquareEnix/Whatever They Call Themselves These Days. Most of the complaints just don't seem to apply to other JRPG's. The idea that JRPG's cover a very, very broad spectrum would probably cause some people's heads to explode. And thats probably a reason why I personally end up drawn to many of them. They're quirky. Different. While every Final Fantasy from here on out is probably going to star some pretty boy to appeal to fangirls, for every final fantasy there's countless JRPG's that don't have a male main character or even wield swords. For every JRPG with purple/green/blue/etc hair colors, there's games where the only hair color is black, gray, or maybe the odd blonde. For every mopey, emo, kid hero, there's a heroic knight-like figure who's courageous and determined to continue on even if hell itself were to stand in their way. For every Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, there's a Shin Megami Tensei (not that I've played that series, but it exists). I could go on.

In response to a couple of people I have played/seen other JRPG's other than Final Fantasy (And yes I clearly see your point of JRPG's being considered "final fantasy stuff"). I have played some other Square enix games including I believe one called Grandia (wasn't that bad), and I have played Kingdom Hearts (don't crucify me if you don't consider that an "J" RPG, cause i dunno for sure

 

[-Seraph-]

I like all types of RPG's and I only discriminate on an individual basis but the reason why I like JRPG's...

Style and Character

They tend to have both in spades compared to most WRPG's which offer few characters, little by way of visual style and they tend to suffer from very repetative enemy designs.

I play JRPG's because I like the style, especially in Scene, Enemy and Boss design. They're pretty, where as WRPG's are usually just "realistic".

QFT

 

[Rodger]

When most people say "JRPG's" for some reason, to me, it always seems like they're talking about the games made by Square/SquareEnix/Whatever They Call Themselves These Days. Most of the complaints just don't seem to apply to other JRPG's. The idea that JRPG's cover a very, very broad spectrum would probably cause some people's heads to explode. And thats probably a reason why I personally end up drawn to many of them. They're quirky. Different. While every Final Fantasy from here on out is probably going to star some pretty boy to appeal to fangirls, for every final fantasy there's countless JRPG's that don't have a male main character or even wield swords. For every JRPG with purple/green/blue/etc hair colors, there's games where the only hair color is black, gray, or maybe the odd blonde. For every mopey, emo, kid hero, there's a heroic knight-like figure who's courageous and determined to continue on even if hell itself were to stand in their way. For every Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, there's a Shin Megami Tensei (not that I've played that series, but it exists). I could go on.

In response to a couple of people I have played/seen other JRPG's other than Final Fantasy (And yes I clearly see your point of JRPG's being considered "final fantasy stuff"). I have played some other Square enix games including I believe one called Grandia (wasn't that bad), and I have played Kingdom Hearts (don't crucify me if you don't consider that an "J" RPG, cause i dunno for sure

Grandia was made by GameArts actually, Enix (and then SquareEnix) just produced the series. And JRPG is really any RPG from Japan, which Kingdom Hearts is. Which just makes the Disney/Final Fantasy crossover even more bizarre. Not a huge fan of the series, though, personally. I'm not particularly fond of Action RPG's, less so when I can't switch control between characters.