Does anyone else here like JRPGS?

[SonicWaffle]

Now here's a thread topic that makes the rounds. Once again, yes I do, and so do a lot of other people.

As if we couldn't guess from your avatar

OP: I very much prefer WRPG games. Bethesda & BioWare are as gods to me. Having said that, Lost Odyssey fucking rocked (still going to rent it someday and finish disc 4), and so did the early Final Fantasy games. However, they've become increasingly more complicated and annoying over the years, to the point where what little I've seen of FFXIII has made my head hurt. Paradigm-shifting and weird combat and...blah.

I think the haters have a lot of good points about JRPGs, but you can tear pretty big chunks out of FPS or RTS games the same way. Any FPS fan should be ashamed for claiming that JRPGs are generic when their own favourite brand tends to re-use more crap that a recycling plant...

 

[Twilight_guy]

Oh, oh, me me, pick me, me!

I like JRPGs. I find myself growing a bit tired of the standard turn based battles but I still like JRPGs. On average I tend to like them more then WRPGs.

 

[cyrad]

That's a difficult question for me to answer.

That's like asking me if I like FPS games when I hate Halo and dislike CounterStrike when TF2 and Half-Life 2 are my favorite games.

I like GOOD JRPGs. I like JRPGs that aren't trying to be like the over-rated Final Fantasy VII.

 

[Sakurazaki1023]

Now here's a thread topic that makes the rounds. Once again, yes I do, and so do a lot of other people.

As if we couldn't guess from your avatar

OP: I very much prefer WRPG games. Bethesda & BioWare are as gods to me. Having said that, Lost Odyssey fucking rocked (still going to rent it someday and finish disc 4), and so did the early Final Fantasy games. However, they've become increasingly more complicated and annoying over the years, to the point where what little I've seen of FFXIII has made my head hurt. Paradigm-shifting and weird combat and...blah.

I think the haters have a lot of good points about JRPGs, but you can tear pretty big chunks out of FPS or RTS games the same way. Any FPS fan should be ashamed for claiming that JRPGs are generic when their own favourite brand tends to re-use more crap that a recycling plant...

No kidding, I've given up playing any Fantasy WRPGs because I find the one click combat to be even more boring then even the worst turn based one. They also tend to use the "Tolkien" setting way to much...

Although Fallout 3 and Mass Effect have interested me...

 

[Therumancer]

I'm getting a bit tired of this sites hatred for jrpgs. Are there any jrpg fan here including Final fantasy?

I'm an RPG fan in general. While I prefer WRPGs in a general sense, I also enjoy JRPGs. I'm a sucker for stats, equipment, customization, and complex turn based combat mechanics (or pseudo turn based combat with real time passing but everything pausible and clearly broken into phases).

Understand though that RPGs are a niche market, more people are gaming today than ever before, and a lot of those people are kids who are relatively new to the hobby. This makes twitchy fingered action games more popular, and a bigger market. Your going to see more shooter fanboys than RPG fanboys, and fanboys being what they are, your going to see a lot of hate directed at anything they don't much care for. After all to a twitchy fingered kid, all the time and money spent on an RPG game, was effort the company could have put into making another four to twelve hour shooter for their own personal gaming preferance.

I'd also point out that there ARE a lot of things on this site based around RPG fandom. While Yahtzee hates RPGs, it's noteworthy that there is a whole article series based around RPGs, as well as some of the cartoons they have run ranging from "Game Dogs" to "Dolareus and Associates" , and of course the now defunct "Unforgotten Realms". These series hitting both tropes from PnP and electronic RPGs.

Also don't underestimate how many of the RPG crowd are playing MMORPGs full time nowadays and thus don't spill over into message boards that are not associated with their game of choice very often. A lot of those people also do not buy a lot of games because they spend alltheir time doing MMORPGs, and that has also been a factor marketwise.... along with the simple fact that most people thinking of making an RPG realize there is potentially more money in making an online one (even if it's a far cry from WoW) than a single player one.

Ah well, enough rambling. Such are my thoughts.

 

[Tales of Golden Sun]

Well, last time I checked, The Tales of series and Golden Sun series were still JRPGs, so yes, I do like JRPGs. I like them a whole lot actually. Chrono Trigger Final Fantasy V & VI, Earthbound, Terranigma, Disgaea, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, Baten Kaitos. LOVE EM!

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

I never played much Japanese ones, but if pokemon is a JRPG then at least that one I like, I cleared one of the many games last summer in like 6 days, loved it. but wasnt my ds, my nephew's ds, he asked me to try to clear the game wich I did.

 

[Enigmers]

I love the shit out of Final Fantasy 7, 9, 12, Tactics, and Tactics A2, and Tales of Vesperia.

 

[SonicWaffle]

No kidding, I've given up playing any Fantasy WRPGs because I find the one click combat to be even more boring then even the worst turn based one. They also tend to use the "Tolkien" setting way to much...

Although Fallout 3 and Mass Effect have interested me...

Western-style RPGs which (off the top of my head) I have played on my 360 within the last year;

- Fallout 3
- Mass Effect
- KoTOR
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Oblivion
- Mass Effect 2
- Penny Arcade: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness episodes 1 & 2

Now, of that list, games which use one-click combat;

- Dragon Age: Origins. Kinda. Unless you use magic or talents. I guess you could play the game only using one-click combat, but be prepared to die a lot.

WRPGs have plenty of reasons to rag on them; the recurring Tolkien theme doesn't really count as the man pretty much defines Western fantasy nowadays, but I get your point. It does get repetitive. However, one-click combat is not really a major problem of the genre.

 

[Totenkopf]

If you consider FF and KH I & II as jrpgs then yes.

 

[stiborge]

I love some JRPG's. Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, Dragon Quest 8. I never actually played Chrono Trigger or Earthbound (I was a bit young when they come out but I would love to go back and check them out.) Infact, i'm just now taking a break from playing Final Fantasy XIII to come and check up on some Yahtzee/Developers Showdown. I do get a bit tired of grinding though.

 

[Darth Pope]

I just like RPG's in general. Final Fantasy and Baulders Gate for the win.

On a separate note, am the only one who doesn't care if a game is linear? Games that go down a straight path tend to have tighter narratives I've found. (Bioware being the exception.)

 

[Fensfield]

Me!

Mostly for the fact I've never seen games with more character development than my favourite JRPGs. Suikoden series, Grandia.. their Western counterparts always seem more focussed on being epic than being deep, be it in story or characters. Bar perhaps Final Fantasy, characters and story have a tendency to come first (though I realise that's perhaps why some people hate them). For Western stuff, I usually find FPS games have the depth thing down instead

That said, though, Bioware's games have shown a nice trend toward trying to develop truly enjoyable story and characters, so I'm not saying it's all one side..

Do Visual Novels come into this, I wonder? 'Guess not, likely..

 

[Wizco]

I am quite the Dragon Quest fan.

Most JRPGs I just stay away from. But every now and then, the occasional Baten Kaitos Origins, Golden Sun, or Dragon Quest V will come along to brighten my day.

I like all my games to be lighthearted. No angsty heavy blah blah Final Fantasy crudskies. I like the JRPGs that make you feel like the story was written for the player, instead of the other way around. Case in point, my favorite Final Fantasies are III and IV.

If you prefer your JRPGs with some humor in them, try Shadow Hearts: Covenant. It has so much humor in it that the only way to take it seriously is as a parody of JRPGs. The combat system is original and the plot is so hilariously overdone it's like nothing you have ever seen(one of your party members is a gay vampire professional wrestler who talks like a he got rejected from a super hero audition and another member is Anastasia Romanov... yes, that one).

Essentially it's what you would get if you took a history book, combined it with a JRPG plot and added in the Lovecraft mythos (Lovecraft is even a minor character in the third installment of the series) and a massive amount of references and homages to classic horror and literature.

Except for being so totally historically incorrect it became a joke in itself (or is that what Lovecraft Mythos means, don't really know the term - call me stupid if you want)

Spoiler

I personally laughed the most at that huge ring-tower and with the homosexual Lawrence of Arabia being into your fortune telling lass.
The two doll designers were also wicked awesome.

I played this game so often...
Ahh, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, where would I be without you?

 

[Sakurazaki1023]

No kidding, I've given up playing any Fantasy WRPGs because I find the one click combat to be even more boring then even the worst turn based one. They also tend to use the "Tolkien" setting way to much...

Although Fallout 3 and Mass Effect have interested me...

Western-style RPGs which (off the top of my head) I have played on my 360 within the last year;

- Fallout 3
- Mass Effect
- KoTOR
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Oblivion
- Mass Effect 2
- Penny Arcade: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness episodes 1 & 2

Now, of that list, games which use one-click combat;

- Dragon Age: Origins. Kinda. Unless you use magic or talents. I guess you could play the game only using one-click combat, but be prepared to die a lot.

WRPGs have plenty of reasons to rag on them; the recurring Tolkien theme doesn't really count as the man pretty much defines Western fantasy nowadays, but I get your point. It does get repetitive. However, one-click combat is not really a major problem of the genre.

Fallout and Mass Effect are the obvious exceptions, but from what I played of Oblivion (~5 Hours), the first person hacking was a minor improvement at best. It still didn't help that most of that time was spent wandering around a sewer killing rats and watching my 360 glitch (happened twice). I've got nothing against them, I just don't enjoy them...

 

[Burst6]

Yep. My favorite is Tales of Vesperia

 

[robinkom]

I'm a J-RPG fan of the 8-bit/16-bit era. I found that there was a lot more mystery and wonderment to them when America didn't get so many or know so much about the real versions of ones that were hit the with the localization stick. It doesn't matter to me that they were not faithful to the source material. Localized, they WERE the source material.

The classic Phantasy Star franchise is my favorite above all others (The original on the SEGA Master System and the 3 sequels on the SEGA Genesis). It's definitely a series known amongst fans (or "Phans") for having 2 distinctly different continuities depending whether you're playing the Japanese or English versions. Makes for a fun debate with fellow fans as well. Plus, in it's day, it was a pioneer of the fantasy/sci-fi hybrid style. Often imitated, never duplicated.

As far as Final Fantasy goes... it's I, IV, VI, and VIII for me (especially VI). No, I don't like FFVII. Don't spew any fan-tard vomit on me, please. I don't want to hear it.

Chrono Trigger and Shining Force I & II are some other favorites of mine.

Modern J-RPG's are hard to stomach. It's the same games from the early-90s... just more of them. They never change.

Resonance of Fate is a nice breath of fresh air though away from the cliche high-fantasy settings.