Poll: East vs. West: RPGs

[Pumpkin_Eater]

Exactly. Any game where a character gets stronger as you play could be treated as an RPG. Doesn't make it so.

Putting a collar on your neck doesn't make you a priest, wearing a dress doesn't turn you into a girl.

Wait it doesn't? Crap, that means I'll actually have to go to seminary and get that operation after all.

 

[bigbrian206]

Mass Effect. Western RPGs win hands down.

 

[Slift]

Eeeeeeeeh.

Both. *Ducks the flurry of bricks*

On one hand, I really like Final Fantasy Tactics. Okay, not 'like'. Love. And I did enjoy Digimon World: Dusk.

On the other, I do enjoy my Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic... Even if two was really... Really 'Huh? What's going on here? Where's the ending? I blinked and missed it.' And Mass Effect. Even if it was short and surprisingly bleh for the whole 99% other missions

Heck, i'll even go so far as saying that I enjoy Saints Row. *Ducking more bricks and flames*

In the end. It all comes down to what you say is an RPG. Is it the over done turn by turn math attack? Or is it something where you're the character, given the chance to create your features or not? Even if the story is linear, it's you...

I know i'm not the only one to smart mouth to an NPC or call them a retard when they send you on a quest that is so idiotic it risks falling into a black hole of stupidity.

Tl;DR Too deep for most, Both.

 

[Vlane]

I prefer JRPG's because most of the time the story is better and the battle system is more strategic.

I don't hate WRPG's though. I own some and I enjoy them but not as much as JRPG's.

 

[Snor]

I'm more in the southern rpg's like The trailerscrolls: the search for the nascar of power

where you venture out as hero billy joe and your anoying sidekick bubba whilst augementing your shotgun and training your bloodhound.
ok someone should really make a southern rpg just for the sake of a mad max ripoff
*yes i know stereotypes*


on topic: western, I do not like jrpg's because of the damn turnbased combat

 

[Same River New Water]

Turn-based games are my favourite genre, and some of my favourite games are either JRPGs or have JRPG-type stories: Chrono Trigger, The World Ends With You, Valkyria Chronicles, Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. But...

Also JRPGs have some of the best stories ever imagined.

I totally disagree. I know it's subjective, so rather than say "I think" in every sentence, I'll just say up-front that this is my opinion and your mileage my vary. But I think JRPG stories are usually all style and no substance, and to compound the problem the style is always roughly the same in every game.

JRPGs usually have shallow, reference-heavy, melodramatic stories. They give the illusion of depth by making the story long and convoluted, making references to everything from Star Wars to Shakespeare (to be fair there are probably Japanese references in there too that go over our heads) but without making any statements of their own. The characters are usually underdeveloped stereotypes, too - it's rare to find a JRPG character who isn't a stock character [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockCharacters]. Sure, there's a lot of that in Western RPGs too, but they usually have characters with a little more depth to them than the one-dimensional JRPG standards: "Angsty Teen Hero", "Wide-eyed Innocent Girl", "Cute Plucky Kid", "Short-tempered Girl Sidekick", "Wise Kindly Teacher".

There are exceptions, of course. Chrono Trigger is good. The World Ends With You is different, at least. But these games stand out precisely because they contrast so strongly with the essentially empty stories of most JRPGs.

An Escapist article a few months back summed up my thoughts better than I could: The Battleship Final Fantasy. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_179/5544-The-Battleship-Final-Fantasy]

Fallout is about choices and morality in an amoral world. Baldur's Gate is (loosely) about destiny, and whether the sins of the parents should be visited on the child. Planescape: Torment is explicitly about the question "What can change the nature of a man?" By contrast, none of the Final Fantasy games is really been about anything.

 

[Archaeology Hat]

Turn-based games are my favourite genre, and some of my favourite games are either JRPGs or have JRPG-type stories: Chrono Trigger, The World Ends With You, Valkyria Chronicles, Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. But...

Also JRPGs have some of the best stories ever imagined.

I totally disagree. I know it's subjective, so rather than say "I think" in every sentence, I'll just say up-front that this is my opinion and your mileage my vary. But I think JRPG stories are usually all style and no substance, and to compound the problem the style is always roughly the same in every game.

JRPGs usually have shallow, reference-heavy, melodramatic stories. They give the illusion of depth by making the story long and convoluted, making references to everything from Star Wars to Shakespeare (to be fair there are probably Japanese references in there too that go over our heads) but without making any statements of their own. The characters are usually underdeveloped stereotypes, too - it's rare to find a JRPG character who isn't a stock character [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockCharacters]. Sure, there's a lot of that in Western RPGs too, but they usually have characters with a little more depth to them than the one-dimensional JRPG standards: "Angsty Teen", "Wide-eyed Girl", "Cute Plucky Kid", "Short-tempered Girl", "Wise Teacher".

There are exceptions, of course. Chrono Trigger is good. The World Ends With You is different, at least. But these games stand out precisely because they contrast so strongly with the essentially empty stories of most JRPGs.

An Escapist article a few months back summed up my thoughts better than I could: The Battleship Final Fantasy. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_179/5544-The-Battleship-Final-Fantasy]

Fallout is about living in a chaotic world with the discretion to be moral or immoral. Baldur's Gate is (loosely) about destiny, and whether the sins of the parents should be visited on the child. Planescape: Torment is explicitly about the question "What can change the nature of a man?" By contrast, none of the Final Fantasy games is really been about anything.

Well... yeah, I agree. Couldn't put it better actually.

 

[Vlane]

Turn-based games are my favourite genre, and some of my favourite games are either JRPGs or have JRPG-type stories: Chrono Trigger, The World Ends With You, Valkyria Chronicles, Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. But...

Also JRPGs have some of the best stories ever imagined.

I totally disagree. I know it's subjective, so rather than say "I think" in every sentence, I'll just say up-front that this is my opinion and your mileage my vary. But I think JRPG stories are usually all style and no substance, and to compound the problem the style is always roughly the same in every game.

JRPGs usually have shallow, reference-heavy, melodramatic stories. They give the illusion of depth by making the story long and convoluted, making references to everything from Star Wars to Shakespeare (to be fair there are probably Japanese references in there too that go over our heads) but without making any statements of their own. The characters are usually underdeveloped stereotypes, too - it's rare to find a JRPG character who isn't a stock character [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockCharacters]. Sure, there's a lot of that in Western RPGs too, but they usually have characters with a little more depth to them than the one-dimensional JRPG standards: "Angsty Teen", "Wide-eyed Girl", "Cute Plucky Kid", "Short-tempered Girl", "Wise Teacher".

There are exceptions, of course. Chrono Trigger is good. The World Ends With You is different, at least. But these games stand out precisely because they contrast so strongly with the essentially empty stories of most JRPGs.

An Escapist article a few months back summed up my thoughts better than I could: The Battleship Final Fantasy. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_179/5544-The-Battleship-Final-Fantasy]

Fallout is about living in a chaotic world with the discretion to be moral or immoral. Baldur's Gate is (loosely) about destiny, and whether the sins of the parents should be visited on the child. Planescape: Torment is explicitly about the question "What can change the nature of a man?" By contrast, none of the Final Fantasy games is really been about anything.

Final Fantasy was never a good example for good stories. I can think of only two games in the franchise where the story was above decent. Number IV and VI.

The Final Fantasy games have probably the most cliched stories in the whole genre but like you said there are exceptions. I can think of a few other exceptions too (Nocturne and DDS 1&2 for example).

 

[Ophiuchus]

I probably like 'em roughly equally, but over the years I've played more JRPGs than the Western variety so I'll go with that.

 

[soren7550]

Gotta say western RPG's. Mass Effect for the win!!!

 

[Same River New Water]

Turn-Based-RPG's

I never understood them. Take it turns, battle of the stats.

Seriously, it's battling with Math. HOW IS THAT FUN?

In the words of Sid Meier, "a game is a series of interesting choices." The fun in turn-based games comes from making decisions and seeing the consequences. Keep in mind turn-based games include nearly all board games including chess, checkers, Monopoly and so on - it applies to them all. The fun of something like an FPS deathmatch is closer to a competitive sport or a game like tag.

 

[Same River New Water]

Final Fantasy was never a good example for good stories. I can think of only two games in the franchise where the story was above decent. Number IV and VI.

The Final Fantasy games have probably the most cliched stories in the whole genre but like you said there are exceptions. I can think of a few other exceptions too (Nocturne and DDS 1&2 for example).

Hmm, I'm probably guilty of taking FF as too representative of the whole genre; it's not all I've played but it's such a flagship series it's hard to ignore. I'll have to give Nocturne a try if I come across it - oh, and Persona is on my list of games to track down one day (if I owned a PS2...)

I'm fairly confident in my prejudices, because they also apply to media outside games, like anime, but I'll try to keep an open mind.

 

[rated pg]

Unfortunate that the OP didn't post some of the better recent Western RPGs, like KOTOR or Mass Effect or The Witcher. But still can't personally stand JRPGs and their utterly confusing stories, god awful voice acting, and the fact they usually contain very confusing and over the top needless details.

I guess Fire Emblem technically counts as a "JRPG" because its turn based, your characters level up, and there's a story, in which case there are some JRPGs I can tolerate. Mostly of the 2D variety.

 

[Random Argument Man]

I'm stuck between the two. One invented the Ogres series. The other made KOTOR and Jade Empire...

Can't decide.

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

The difference between the two:

Here's the world, make a character like "yourself", now go play. You make your own story. (see Oblivion, if you ignore the main "quest").

Here's a character that you may or may not enjoy "being"...enjoy the story that I will tell. (see Final Fantasy X).

I myself like the Western approach, but I think both can learn immensely from each other. It would be interesting to see a successful meld between the two, and that would probably be a game I enjoy.

 

[Taerdin]

The OP itself clearly stated the obvious, western rpgs are moreso on PC while eastern are found moreso on consoles.

I feel like this is a case of the most predictable poll ever, in that you're asking people ON COMPUTERS whether they like computer based mmos, or console ones more.

Xenogears and Final Fantasy Tactics where like, mature and had good stories. I wish there were more mature rpgs like that

 

[edinflames]

I wouldn't be surprised if many people here were biased because of Yahtzee. Meh, I wouldn't ask that question here But I'd have to stick with japanese RPGs, minus Final Fantasy. Tried a lot of them from the SNES times up until PS2, and only was able to enjoy FF12.

I hated JRPG's ever since certain friends of mine thought I would be entertained by watching the repetitive piffle that constitutes 90% of FF7 gameplay (and FF8, FF9, FF10 - all the same, all left me mind numbingly bored at friends' houses, begging to play a different game). Zero Punctuation has nothing to do with it for me, though I expect he had a similar experience.

Final Fantasy is the JRPG franchise I have been subjected to the most so it is the one I will attack: Crap plot, crap characters, horrible horrible repetition of unspeakably dull fights backed up with long winded cut sequences adds up to endless hours of non-fun.

Baldur's Gate alone >>> all JRPG's.

I know there'll be a good one that ploughs all other RPGs eventually but as of yet I find most Western RPGs boring and monotonous, JRPGs all the way!

That's funny, because my experience of JRPG's has been entirely composed of boredom, repetition and monotony.

 

[Grayjack]

I prefer JRPG's. Don't kill me.

 

[Charli]

I like them both? They're both apart of my evolution in the game world I'm not ousting either now. Make a third choice or I'm not voting. D: