Why do people hate JRPGs?

[Testsubject909]

Isn't Demon's Souls a JRPG? If so, then it's vastly different to what most of what you guys are saying.
Also FF12 didn't have that generic kid with purple spiky hair and what not, and it wasn't truly turn based. FF13 was a disappointment for me though.

Yeah... Demon's Souls is considered a JRPG of sorts, though it'd be far fairer to call it an action game. Though it doesn't exactly fit the bill of more recent action games and it has various RPG elements within it.

So, it's an Action RPG, or more specifically an Action JRPG, similar to Tales or Star Ocean, though unlike either and more similar to Dark Cloud in the aspect that you're constantly in the action as opposed to being faced with random encounters.

 

[teebeeohh]

bland
generic
like 3rd person fps

and the fact that when characters die in cutscenes the generic revive item has a hiccup and doesn't work

 

[DazBurger]

They often have lots of grinding and tend to be slow-paced... Also... Very silly...

 

[Koroviev]

They're hit and miss for me. On the one hand I enjoy the Persona and Disgaea series, but I can't find much of anything to like about Final Fantasy, and what I've seen of Valkyria Chronicles looks just plain laughable.

 

[C95J]

I hate the gameplay mostly, but pretty much every aspect of the genre does not appeal to me.

 

[crazyguy668]

because they suck ass!!!

seriously though, its the same turn based style, the same badly drawn teenager with purple hair, and the same giant grind every time. why would i play that when i can play an awesome western RPG?

hell,id rather play mw2 for 10 hours than any jrpg for 4 hours

As of late JRPGs have taken a vast amount of alternatives from turn-based combat. Plus I seem to recall a few western RPGS still have the same amount of grind element too. It's something that can't really be taken out of a role playing game, no matter how much we despise it

OT however I agree with the subject and would like to see some concrete reasoning behind so many people hating it. I still get laughs and jokes made when I 'fess up to playing some of the lesser known ones "Aw another stoopid anime game!" and such. Not in a while since I've shut 'em up in regards how a good JRPG can be much deeper than a lot of mainstream titles, regardless of where they originate from

i dont mean just a little grind, i dont mind that. i mean the insane repetitive grind of JRPGS

you want concrete reasoning? it's a shitty art style, in nearly all of them a ginormous repetitive grind, in most of them the same crappy turn based gameplay, and if i want to play an RPG, why not play a western one, its everything done better. even a shitty one like two worlds beats nearly all jrpgs hands down.

There is exceptions to every rule, there are some jrpgs without any of those cept the same art style, but why take a risk and see if its true how it has a reasonable amount of grind and good combat, when i can get, for the same price, a western RPG which commonly are already better and not have some crap art?

 

[Testsubject909]

Oh and, sorry for the rather lenghty post, despite the fact that I cut myself short, having been worried it'd be far too long (and it already is despite the cut).

There's a lot of variety in JRPG, despite the cliches people give that "they're all the same".

Similar to FPS if you will. "They're all the same, just some Call of Duty X number or clone or some Halo-wannabe".

Well, that's denying a lenghty history of FPS games out there, and one of them defies this statement and should be a highly recognizeable name to any well educated gamer. "Deus Ex". Additionally, System Shock/Bioshock is also an FPS and one that has moved the genre forward nicely in it's complexities.

Sticking to tired cliches are easy. Knowing better takes the effort of learning and no longer being joyously ignorant and secure in your mistakes.

 

[Testsubject909]

i dont mean just a little grind, i dont mind that. i mean the insane repetitive grind of JRPGS

you want concrete reasoning? it's a shitty art style, in nearly all of them a ginormous repetitive grind, in most of them the same crappy turn based gameplay, and if i want to play an RPG, why not play a western one, its everything done better. even a shitty one like two worlds beats nearly all jrpgs hands down.

There is exceptions to every rule, there are some jrpgs without any of those cept the same art style, but why take a risk and see if its true how it has a reasonable amount of grind and good combat, when i can get, for the same price, a western RPG which commonly are already better and not have some crap art?

You need to try Shadow Hearts, the first one. Then maybe the second. Playing them out of order can ruin things and the first would better go against the various conventions you've listed as what you dislike. Though it is turn-based, it is, what I personally feel to be, the best implementation of a turn-based system.

[edit] And now, closing the thread to focus. Goodnight everybody.

 

[gphjr14]

Turn based combat (I find it boring)
Generic characters based of decades old anime clichés
Never as exciting as cutscenes and trailers (see first reason)

 

[kickyourass]

Well I personally like them (Or at least the ones I've played), but my guess is that the majority of JRPG characters are either
A) Whiney to the the point that it almost creates some kind of singularity
B) So serious that not even the infinite power of God could make them emote
C) Overhyper children
or D) some combination of the above.

But maybe that's just the games that I have played.

 

[thenamelessloser]

i dont mean just a little grind, i dont mind that. i mean the insane repetitive grind of JRPGS

you want concrete reasoning? it's a shitty art style, in nearly all of them a ginormous repetitive grind, in most of them the same crappy turn based gameplay, and if i want to play an RPG, why not play a western one, its everything done better. even a shitty one like two worlds beats nearly all jrpgs hands down.

There is exceptions to every rule, there are some jrpgs without any of those cept the same art style, but why take a risk and see if its true how it has a reasonable amount of grind and good combat, when i can get, for the same price, a western RPG which commonly are already better and not have some crap art?

You need to try Shadow Hearts, the first one. Then maybe the second. Playing them out of order can ruin things and the first would better go against the various conventions you've listed as what you dislike. Though it is turn-based, it is, what I personally feel to be, the best implementation of a turn-based system.

[edit] And now, closing the thread to focus. Goodnight everybody.

I found the combat in those games to get pretty dull eventually. Making the combats having a bit of timing actually ends up making it more boring, because it is trying to make me pay attention to every single random battles. Also, the combat I remember being not that fast paced. Good stories and interesting places to explore in those games though.

 

[Firia]

I don't hate JRPGs. I in fact, quite LOVE some. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6 and 7, just to name a few on a long list of greats. I do however hate many of the modern era JRPGs. They're so full of tropes, and bad design choices that really bother the crap out of me.

Take Level 5's "White Knight Chronicals." I had been waiting for that game since the ps3 came out. I was stoked. It was a jrpg that wasn't from Square-Enix, so I was hopeful that it wasn't going to be the same Final Fantasy we've been spoon fed since FF10. Right from the get-go after plugging the game in, I knew I was going to be disappointed. You make a character-- a silent protagonist. But then, you take control of the "main character" that's a talker. The game is all about that character (the talker), and his connection with the White Knight (magic mecha, really). Early in the game, the "main character" and your created character (not the main) have many one sided conversations, where the main character yammers on, and the replies are assumed and contextual, but totally out of your control.

It was a new direction, but a good designer would have seen how disconnected the player would feel in even early development. They didn't see that, and went forward with everything. This was a fresh jrpg for japan. It was "fresh," and still reeked of their tropes and tired play styles.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

You don't like FPS. Apply the reasons you don't like them to JRPGs.

Normal reasons including: character archetypes, plot conventions, gameplay tropes, etc. You don't like shooting things, I don't like turn-based combat. It's really rather simple.

Pretty much this.

But as a counter question, why ask anybody why they hate on a specific genre? You're only gonna get answers like this. Because they don't like it. That's why.

 

[LittleChone]

Some people just can't trust elements outside their own environment.
Also, I think Final Fantasy may have something to do with it...

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

IN defense of the stereotype, most people when you say JRPG or Final Fantasy, the first thing that comes to mind is Cloud Strife.

Cloud actually only enforces two of these steryotypes.

During the time of FF VII Cloud is actualy 21 and 23 (FF7 and AC respectively) CLoud was the first AND ONLY one to carry an oversized sword, so is that really a steryotype there?

Too much Drama? You would too if you almost killed someone you really cared fore (before watching her die before your eyes)

The view of JRPGs (besides turn based combat) is pretty damn watered down

My creative writing teacher used to have a saying. Don't defend a story with the story.

Also, you're seriously limiting what people don't like about JRPGs. Sure, there have been far more Cloud Strifes out there than were necessary, but, as far as I've seen, it seems to go way beyond just the Final Fantasy series.

You shouldn't really be trying to breakdown or simplify people's opinions like that. The human mind is far too complex for anyone to attempt to add up the millions of variables and factors that go into a person's perspective. It's just easier to accept the disagreement people have with what you personally like versus what they like.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

I'm afraid many of them suffer from cliché dialogue, flimsy and formulaic narrative, scientific and historical inaccuracies, illogical plot development, and

That, and usually don't do much to stand out. I'm gonna point no further than FF XIII on this.

lack of character depth.

Yeah, I'd say so. But there are exceptions to every rule, but then again, after Kingdom Hearts II came out, I didn't touch JRPG's until .hack G.U came out, and even that follows alot of cliches.
But, then again, I must be a JRPG fanboy, and my opinion must not matter, considering I ordered Persona 3 and 4 in the mail.

 

[stutheninja]

a rather large problem i have with most JRPGs is that i really hate turn based combat when it is the format of " you attack wait for enemy to attack, you attack...", it just is really boring to me. if more JRPGs would drop that system and go to a more KOTOR like system where it is more free flowing then i might want to give JRPGs a second try.

another fairly large problem is the storylines of these games. i know that they do have some good stories, but when you front them as teenage angst filled ABC-Family style dramas it really makes me not want to know what happens later on in the story.

 

[RedDeadFred]

IMO
It's not that they are all bad. It's just that I've played lots of Western RPG's (Mass Effect 1 and 2, Fallout 3, Oblivion, and Fable 2 are my favorites) and then I go and pick up Final Fantasy 13 and it just seems like utter shit compared to the games I just listed. Some JRPG's are are good but the only great one I've found in a long time is Demon's Souls.
And that one feels pretty Western.

Edit: I also HATE grinding.

 

[Mr.Petey]

because they suck ass!!!

seriously though, its the same turn based style, the same badly drawn teenager with purple hair, and the same giant grind every time. why would i play that when i can play an awesome western RPG?

hell,id rather play mw2 for 10 hours than any jrpg for 4 hours

As of late JRPGs have taken a vast amount of alternatives from turn-based combat. Plus I seem to recall a few western RPGS still have the same amount of grind element too. It's something that can't really be taken out of a role playing game, no matter how much we despise it

OT however I agree with the subject and would like to see some concrete reasoning behind so many people hating it. I still get laughs and jokes made when I 'fess up to playing some of the lesser known ones "Aw another stoopid anime game!" and such. Not in a while since I've shut 'em up in regards how a good JRPG can be much deeper than a lot of mainstream titles, regardless of where they originate from

i dont mean just a little grind, i dont mind that. i mean the insane repetitive grind of JRPGS

you want concrete reasoning? it's a shitty art style, in nearly all of them a ginormous repetitive grind, in most of them the same crappy turn based gameplay, and if i want to play an RPG, why not play a western one, its everything done better. even a shitty one like two worlds beats nearly all jrpgs hands down.

There is exceptions to every rule, there are some jrpgs without any of those cept the same art style, but why take a risk and see if its true how it has a reasonable amount of grind and good combat, when i can get, for the same price, a western RPG which commonly are already better and not have some crap art?

Yes I asked for some solid reasoning so here goes.
Ok then, I don't really see a "shitty art" style as you so eloquently put it in some of my titles I own, such as:
Rogue Galaxy
Dark Chronicle
Star Ocean 1 2 and 3
Jeanne D'arc

These games all have variations of appearance and a unique style that makes them their own (apart from the first two that are cell shaded but are still in a class of their own)
What I'd see as "shitty" would be poorly drawn, not enough attention to detail in places where it would somewhat warrant it, badly drawn or out of place.
Even White Knight Chronicles and Final Fantasy XIII has a similar style on to some western RPGs in terms of the landscape and towns and they all look rich in colour and vibrant.

I think you're painting with too wide a brush here as yes Final Fantasy I through to VI did look very similar back in the NES/SNES days but it's come a long way since as I've mentioned earlier

 

[ThatFanBoyGuy]

I don't hate JRPGs, but I don't like JRPG fanboys who immediately declare every single JRPG as perfect genius just based on the fact it's a JRPG. Some are good, some are bad. Some have strong points and some have weak points. It's ridiculous to say a JRPG is perfect simply because it's a JRPG