Why do people hate JRPGs?

[BoogieManFL]

Lack of variety and uninteresting characters in my opinion.

And honestly most Japanese made games I've seen/played suffer from clumsy inefficient user interfaces and menus.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

Mega Snip

I grew up when the Pokemon thing started getting huge in the US, and I've never liked any Japanese media. The games, the TV shows, the card games, or the books. Ever. Also, I don't like any RPGs. W or J. Why do I want to odd jobs in a game? I do that in real life.

This whole post stinks of fanboy for the reason of you missed my points. Ya know, the other 2 paragraphs that weren't rants, but actually sensible arguments with examples and comparisons.

I can't "reference your point" because your point is opinion, not fact, or even loosely based on one. Using my opinions to back your own isn't a very credible defense, however counter-attacking my points is, but you didn't do that, did you?

Basically, you used my post to restate and reinforce YOUR generalizations of why people hate JRPGs, then, in the end, said I was right. So I think I win. Good night.

Also its ok to tell us the source of your personal hatred towards japanese media.AND rpgs. You just destroyed all your credibility right there.

What? With what? The Pokemon thing? Please, that's not the source of my hatred for it. Wow.

Once again, you pulled off amazing forum acrobatics in avoiding my point, along with several other people's points, one of them being from Japan himself. Can you just accept the fact that people don't like them for whatever various reasons? I accept the fact that people think racers are all the same left and right turns, and all shooters are brown and gray with guns, but I DON'T CARE!

 

[Schnippshly]

Usually,they've got good plots,

Well that's not true at all

good character development,

Neither is that

good music

Mmmaybe

and clever gameplay

OK that's not even close

which is basically what makes a game enjoyable.

Well, good gameplay and a plot to drive the player along is what "basically" makes a game enjoyable but yeah more or less you made a pretty good list of things that RPGs need and JRPGs lack

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I don't know why other people hate them, but the reason I don't like them is simple enough.

I don't find the common combat mechanics found in JRPGs to be any fun. Because I also tend to not like the stories, there is nothing to keep me playing.

There have been exceptions of course. I liked the mechanics of Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced even if I didn't care for (or even pay attention to) the story.

From the mechanical front, while the specifics vary to a degree, they all tend to follow the same logic. Turn based combat. Rock Paper Scissors relationships between the options. A fight against a given enemy type has a tactic that will yield the most efficient (that is, a solution that requires the fewest number of turns and requires the smallest expenditure of party resources) outcome.

The problem I have with this is simply that I don't often have much to say in the outcome of the battle. Once I've identified the most efficient way to approach a problem, I simply keep doing it. Such games then often arbitrarily halt my forward progress by ensuring I simply am not capable of passing a given encounter until my party becomes stronger. This leads to long periods of grinding where I am asked to little more than execute the same sequence of actions until an arbitrary number reaches the right point.

Basically, because I have no real capacity to sway the outcome of a battle and because I am forced to repeat a simple mechanical interaction for long periods of time, I simply do not like the game. If the story then does not appeal to me, I have no real reason to keep playing.

 

[Spinozaad]

While their are undoubtedly gems in the pile of pile of shit that's Japanese animation/gaming, I have no desire to wallow through liters of rancid, decaying shit; first to find, second to clean it and third to actually play it.

It lacks charm, I can't identify with the teenage androgynous characters (they are always teenage and androgynous, or 'old, gruff and not-badass'), I hate most of the gaming mechanism, etc. etc.

I'm talking about the Square-Enix type of JRPG here, and while I know there might be other games by other developers, I don't care. Japan can rot and die with its animation and gaming, for all I care.

 

[e.wlmo4]

For me the problem isn't JRPG's which games like Demon's Souls have proven that there is quite a bit of room to grow in the genre but the problem is SERPG's (Square Enix RPG's) that haven't changed since the original PlayStation.

 

[Schnippshly]

You know what JRPG was great? Secret of Mana. And Secret of Mana 2.

 

[Fallen-Angel Risen-Demon]

I guess people think of the stereotypes?
They also think off the unchanging combat mechanics.
To which I say:
Buffed up chest pumping space marines
and
You wouldn't ask a FPS to completely change the combat now, would you?
And most JRPGs do change the combat drasticly, I mean compare FFI to FFXIII hell compare FFXII to FFXIII. The combat is completely different, is it not?
Back to stereotypes allot of that only exists in FF. In the words of Extra Credits, when the FF series has a bad name people assume the whole genre is in decline. And well, my personal favorite game of all time is a JRPG with none of those stereotypes.
It's dark cloud 2/chronicles.

 

[Fallen-Angel Risen-Demon]

For me the problem isn't JRPG's which games like Demon's Souls have proven that there is quite a bit of room to grow in the genre but the problem is SERPG's (Square Enix RPG's) that haven't changed since the original PlayStation.

Ummm.... KH1+2. They aren't your average JRPG let alone SERPG.
And as I and Extra Credits said:
That's one company your using to describe them all.

 

[blankedboy]

I don't hate them, I just find the gameplay pretty uninteresting. The storylines can be pretty damn awesome, though, FFX taught us that.

 

[Wintermoot]

probaly because of stereotypes for example: Tokyo hipster looking emo guys saving the world the only exceptions I know of are Chrono Trigger and the mother series

 

[spacepope22]

What I like about some (not all) JRPGs are their soundtracks. i am actually playing Persona 4 while typing this, and I just can't get enough of the battle theme.

It gets me pumped up for some reason.

Listen Here
http://www.gametabs.net/files/201 Reach Out To The Truth -Inst version-.mp3

 

[Terramax]

Because, besides graphics, they haven't changed since the PSX era.

 

[Plinglebob]

Because besides graphics they haven't changed since the PSX era.

And last breakthrough in FPS's was Quake and Chess has been in stagnation for centuries so obviously they must also be bad.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

I dont like the artstyle in general.
I dont like the androgyn angsty teen character look.
I dont like unrealisticly huge weapons or unpractically silly armor that would either be impossible to move in or just gives you disadvantages in battle (one example: spikes and such, it looks cool but is just an additional lever for the enemy's blow's power).
I dont like too linear games or too much grinding or too many map encounters.
And i really hate if they use western mythology just to steal names and not caring about everything else, a few do but it gives me the shivers.


reasons enough?

 

[Terramax]

Because besides graphics they haven't changed since the PSX era.

And last breakthrough in FPS's was Quake and Chess has been in stagnation for centuries so obviously they must also be bad.

Well, there's Q3 (online arena fighting), Goldeneye (4 player multiplayer), Halo (co-op, console based FPS), Far Cry 2 (ultra-realism), CoD: MW (political), Half Life 2 (revolutionary, innovative physics (apparently, not played it myself)), Portal (small time FPS makes serious killing).

I'm sure a major fan of the FPS can probably come up with me.

And chess isn't a genre. Neither are there slightly different ruled versions of chess constantly being shoved on the shelf at £39.99 every week.

 

[prinnydood3231]

People are haters dood. Trying to figure out why haters hate is kind of a waste of time. It all boils down to a matter of opinion and what you look for in a game, because I can certainly say without a shadow of a doubt I could point out any flaw you might have for a JRPG and apply it to any other genre out there. If you hate the japanese and their culture chances are JRPGs just aren't for you and that's fine you're not the target audience dood. But for the rest of us who can appreciate the games for what they are lets continue to enjoy them without worrying about what people's valueless opinions are. As an old say goes, opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one but not everyone cares to hear them dood.

 

[Plinglebob]

Because besides graphics they haven't changed since the PSX era.

And last breakthrough in FPS's was Quake and Chess has been in stagnation for centuries so obviously they must also be bad.

Well, there's Q3 (online arena fighting), Goldeneye (4 player multiplayer), Halo (co-op, console based FPS), Far Cry 2 (ultra-realism), CoD: MW (political), Half Life 2 (revolutionary, innovative physics (apparently, not played it myself)), Portal (small time FPS makes serious killing).

But you're still pointing at something and shooting. Also, Quake had online multiplayer and Duke Nukem had co-op.

Anyway, JRPGs have gone multiplayer (Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia), Political (FFXII), futuristic (Star Ocean), Real time battles (Magna Carta 2, Tales series) so saying they haven't changed is an illusion. The only thing that hasn't changed is that each one has a cast of characters and a liniar story and this is a good thing considering one of the strong points JRPGs have over WRPGs is (in my opinion anyway) a better story.

 

[notsosavagemessiah]

I honestly have got to know. I get that they have their flaws and their own bad titles, but what game genre doesn't?

Usually,they've got good plots, good character development, good music and clever gameplay which is basically what makes a game enjoyable.

So why is it that people don't like them?

I mean this is the most sincere way. I'm not that big of a fan of FPSs and it wasn't until I saw Halo legends that I started to enjoy the series (even then, not to a huge fanboy-ish extent) and Western RPGS with the exception of Mass Effect haven't really hit that sweet spot with me.

Please tell me fellow escapists Why do the bad men hate us so much?

because really, they don't have those things.

 

[Jezzy54]

I don't like turn-based combat in general, the characters come across as abominably irritating, and I'm aware that JRPGs tend to be incredibly long. Final Fantasy X is an excellent example of this from first-hand experience. I really like Persona 4 though, and Disgaea's not too bad either.