The Madman said:
Since you're in the mood for stereotyping shall I point out how apparently *all* jrpg's are stories about sexually ambiguous teenage boys with oversized cutlery facing off against the most generic forces of evil ever conceived?
Bleh. Even though I'm not a fan of jrpg's I know that's idiotic what I just typed. Still, turnabout is fair game. If you're intent of spreading that stupid stereotype about wrpg's having terrible stories, which is blatantly untrue, then I'll happily point out how many belt-buckles jrpg characters wear and how the main characters look like 12 year old girls with impossibly frizzy hair!
Ayup!
I hate to sound like I’m defending JRPGs, because their by no means my favourite genre, but all this sexually ambiguous rubbish people keep spouting is kind of wearing thin. It just shows people to be a little ignorant an immature. Sure, JRPG characters, by and large, aren’t the very pinnacle of manliness but I’ve never confused a male character for a female one. Ever. …Ever.
In many cases I’d take the overly convoluted JRPG plot over the wafer thin plot of a WRPG. A good example would be Fallout 3, a game I feel gets far too much praise for its piss poor story. I enjoyed the game, but its characters were just so bland and uninteresting it was really hard for me to immerse myself in the world around me. In fact, other than the ability to level up, and sheer scale of gameplay, I find it hard to even consider it an RPG at all. That’s just my two cents. But yeah you’re right, stereotyping is bad.
But to answer the question at hand I’d say I’m still torn between the two. I would say Mass Effect was easily one of my favourite games for the 360 so far, but on the other hand I had a lot of fun with Lost Odyssey and I’m in love with Valkyria Chronicles at the moment.
Right now I guess I’d go for the WRPG, if only because it seems to me that they’re still in their infancy, but they’re showing a lot of promise. Plus I have the feeling that my excitement for Mass Effect 2 is saying my vote as it is.