JRPGS vs Western RPGs. What's your preference?

[Legion IV]

Older JRPGs are great had fun adventures with characters that looked ready to go questing or whatever. Today? I've struggled to find one where the guys look like guys and the main character ISN'T angsty

Western RPGs have been more favorable to me recently, probably because my character is of my choosing and what not but yeah.

Really, if I want to play a JRPG I have to look back to older games to get some fun.

Agarest War? Hell Even cross edges main character isn't that angsty just more annoyned and excited then angsty. Wait, Disgaea? trinity universe? Any game made by idea factory? Or made by Gust Co?

I think your just like many and only notice the really main stream JRPGS. Blazing souls? Spectral souls? Oh man my list of series with bad ass and not that angsty JRPGS keeps growing. Next time look around a little before you judge a whole genre thats much more interesting then western.

OP: JRPGS just there always doing something new and interesting, and they have to thats the thing. My buddy from japan tells me the competition to make a different a new JRPG is feirce so everyone is always different because JRPGS are just so popular there and since he visits family there so often am able to get Imports galore so i know the genre like the back of my hand.

western rpgs just feel so samish theres no real competition and most of the developers are constantly dumbing down there games to get to other crowds by making them easier and appealing to wider audiences even though there sales are amazing.

I guess thats just the diffrence my buddy always tells me and I've come to learn. Japansese JRPG developers they make the game they want they'll make it as hard as they want and they just try to polish there game to the fullest and make it good so other JRPG fans will buy there game.

Western developers despite enjoying amazing sales tend to not polish and just reach out to other audiences from other genres. Just look at Mass Effect and Elder scrolls, there reaching out and streamlining.

 

[ZehMadScientist]

As long as the game fun, I couldn't care less if it is Japanese or western. I like anime, so a lot of the "angsty" teen protagonists don't bother me that much(There are exceptions, however) than someone less acquainted with eastern games.

 

[Zeraki]

I don't restrict myself to genres. If it's a good game in my eyes, I'll play it. I don't care if it's a WRPG, JRPG, FPS, RTS, TPS, platformer, flight simulator, racing, point & click, puzzle, text based or fighter.

 

[Wereduck]

Not much experience with JRPGs but the ones I've played just felt like I was unlocking the abilities of someone else's character instead of building my own ultimate badass. For me that's the fun of an RPG so it's western all the way.

 

[Aiden Raine]

kinda funny to see everyone bitching about JRPGs as "full of angsty teens with weird clothing"... seems like they need to try playing something besides Final Fantasy.

 

[Julianking93]

I enjoy both but my preferences in general tend to be more Eastern oriented. Not really sure why.
I've always loved anime and Japanese culture in general since I was a kid so it just stuck with me since I was first exposed to it, so I'll always have a slight bias and soft spot for JRPGs.
That's not to say I don't like certain games. I pretty much despise turn-based combat which makes up the vast majority of JRPGs so it's not like I'm one of those people who thinks everything that comes out of one particular place is great no matter what.

I love western games just as much, if not better due to the combat typically being something that I enjoy more. Mix the gameplay of a western RPG with the story of a JRPG and you get possibly my favourite formula for a game

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I can enjoy both. But I tend to lean more towards JRPGs. I prefer a more linear narrative to a sandbox. As good as fallout 3 is...I just can't get into it. :s

 

[Gunjester]

Don't really have one. I'll play either as long as it's fun.

What he said.

 

[Ryotknife]

while i like both, JRPGs are the only ones that are "true" rpgs. The western games tend to be hybrids of two or more genres. Hell, nearly every game has rpg elements in it now....

 

[Snotnarok]

Snip

I have Disgaea 1-3, but I've seen many other RPGs and they just don't have anything I've seen in the older ones. I'm not being nostalgic on this because I only recently picked up Breath of Fire 4 and have been loving it (while I dislike some others in the series).

I've seen Cross Edge and it seems like Kingdom Hearts, mixing up characters from different worlds for just fanservice, not to mention with fanservice on top of that. Plus like most jrpgs this generation it's grind-tastic and has very little to do with a thought out story. And that's never been something to win me over it's just silly.

And Trinity Universe seems to focus on the same sort of thing and again not my thing. Am I saying that's bad? No but I'd like a decent story to go with my game and I've not seen any of that in any of the jRPGs I've been playing recently.

The newest JRPGs I've seen that actually have a good story along with other amusing things is Persona 3 and Nocturne, though even they're a bit grindy.

 

[Philip Collin]

JRPG's. This is simply because a jRPG offers more gameplay for your money.
Average time to finish a jRPG = 40+ hours
only a few wRPG's match this (this is a modern trend, it wasnt always like this) for example all bioware games = 20 hours abouts for a full play through.

 

[F4LL3N]

I prefer JRPGs three times out of four. Final Fantasy X and XIII are up there in my favorite games, but so is Oblivion. There's a lot of other good JRPGs that I loved so much I don't even want to remember their names, I simply want them kept in my memory.

I generally prefer the lore in JRPGs, and the story/characters are generally a lot more enjoyable. JRPGs aim for a much more emotional experience, imo.

I have never cared for Dragon Age or Mass Effect, two of the more popular RPGs.

 

[Thaius]

I love both, generally, but I'll usually take a good JRPG over a good WRPG any day. Mainly because I feel that most western RPGs focus so much on player freedom that they abandon their ability to create a compelling narrative (Bioware is the only real exception). Japanese RPGs don't allow for as much story interaction, but they tend to tell better stories overall, and still use interactivity to make the experience more powerful.

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

I love both, generally, but I'll usually take a good JRPG over a good WRPG any day. Mainly because I feel that most western RPGs focus so much on player freedom that they abandon their ability to create a compelling narrative (Bioware is the only real exception). Japanese RPGs don't allow for as much story interaction, but they tend to tell better stories overall, and still use interactivity to make the experience more powerful.

Thank you for posting this. It spares me the trouble of having to figure out how to word those thoughts for myself. Now all I have to say is, "This."

I'll take a compelling story and slightly more restricted character customization over a huge sandbox world with bland characters and a boring narrative, any day. Thus, I tend to prefer JRPGs over WRPGs... but, of course, I have my individual "loved games" and "hated games" among both genres.

 

[Dylan Blackler]

Western RPGs becouse well One word....Bethesda

 

[octafish]

I don't think I have ever played a JRPG. What is the definition? Must it be a Japanese title translated to english? I've never played one of those. I have heard Anachronox described as a JRPG for the PC and I'm thinking about picking up a copy of that via online auctions. It could be my first.

 

[The Madman]

Western rpg obviously, though I've said this before and I'll say it again: Labelling anything non-Japanese as 'Western' seems a bit stupid. There's a pretty big difference between say the Gothic series in terms of pacing and design compared to even the Elder Scrolls games though they're both in the same open world genre of rpg. Labelling by location is also silly. Demons Souls is more 'western' than many western rpg, whereas games like Septerra Core which were obviously meant to be Japan inspired don't count because they weren't made there. How stupid.

But yeah, western for what it's worth. I'm not a huge fan of anime... not a fan at all really, and even the more realistic jrpgs tend to draw extremely heavily from that which is like an instant turn off for me. No matter how many times I'm told that games liker Persona are interesting and deep, I just can't take em seriously the way they look. Besides, I like my stories to remain at least vaguely within the realms of possibility, something many of not more jrpgs don't do. Sure ye jolly ol' medieval England style land might be a bit cliche, but it works and I like it when the things that happen in fantasy have some footing in reality. Armour styles, politics, terrain, etc.