These forums have some serious issues with JRPGs. And it's time to address them.

[Dr. Gorgenflex]

I can't think of a good JRPG though. I don't like any Final Fantasies, Chrono Trigger sucks, and I used to like Pokemon, but turned based combat gets boring fast. There are so many good Western RPGs. Fallout, Mass Effect, Borderlands and even WoW are amazing.

 

[Kasawd]

This thread is great.

It's made me rage and laugh at the same time and that has to count for something. I tend to like most games that go under the banner RPG because I'm a sucker for storylines and flamboyant characters. Of course, I'm one of those types who can't get enough of the old hits(Chrono trigger, Lufia: Rise of the Sinistrals, Breath Of Fire) but I'll continue to purchase, play and enjoy the new ones.

One thing is bothering me, though. Some people on here seem to be placing the secondary personality preference aspect of Roleplaying above the primary ROLE PLAYING aspect. If we go anywhere for a definition of something, we should first examine the past. I bring you, of course, back to the ancient version of Dungeons & Dragons, which birthed the idea of roleplaying.

If my memory serves me, there were only three classes to play, originally and were often considered as the roles for the party. The Support(Rogues), Tactical(Wizard) and Combat(Fighter). Of course, to add flavour to the traditional roles, one was allowed to guide their character through the lens of their own morality in order to keep the DM on his/her feet and the game interesting.

However, a Wizard and a Fighter may have the exact same personality but they play differing roles in the party and progress differently in the way of skills and feats, forming a unique play style for the gamer.

Also, the random generation chart isn't harmful for a game. In fact, it's a boon for the DM who wants to focus on plot more than loot or building names. Random die charts are common throughout D&D manuals for everything from character names and attributes to names of weaponry and the random NPC.

Keep in mind, we need to keeo the flow going somehow, and Diablo's system is a great way to keep things new and exciting if only through artificial means.

So, as I would view it, statistical progression is the way one should define roles. How the character functions is important to a game(Main reason I disdain FF7).

 

[magnuslion]

This Thread has some serious issues of pretentiousness. Lets ignore it.

seriously, though, why do you give a fuck. defending a genre of games on a website like this is about as effective as swatting a Balrog with a wooden dowel. you are just making yourself a target for trolls, and taking up other peoples precious time by arguing over something that cannot be proven one way or another. Jrpg's are good/bad are just opinions, and this subject cannot be quantified in any real way.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

When can you step back and accept that some people don't like JRPGs?

When those same people stop stinking up every sodding discussion with their personal feelings about how much they hate every single JRPG ever created despite never playing a single one in their lives.

 

[GrinningManiac]

I dislike RPGS in general, not just the JRPGs

Too many stats, too much abstracting of events onscreen. I'd like to either ACTUALLY stab that guy or learn how to backflip, not have loads of numbers count down, or a health bar, until they die, or I have to grind at some stupid task to learn something

Even Fallout and suchlike are guilty of this, though they cover it well

 

[S-Unleashed]

About damn time someone made this.

 

[Shycte]

JRPG's suck ass. They (the Japs) should stick to horror and tactical espionage action games.

You call that opinon or fact?

 

[ejb626]

I really don't mind JRPGs I just don't play them because I have a strong aversion to anime which is ussually the style of a JRPG.

 

[BloodyThoughts]

I liked the Mario RPG and Paper Mario.

That is all I shall say on the matter.

Basically this is my comment.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I never understood the hate for Jrpgs myself. I don't own many JRPGs,but I have played a few and the majority of them have been great.

FF 7 is a JRPG (And one of my favorite games)and is considered one of the greatest games ever released and is widely played to this day.

 

[NOT WILL]

if you like jrpgs then play `em, if not don`t play them

 

[jboking]

When can you step back and accept that some people don't like JRPGs?

When those same people stop stinking up every sodding discussion with their personal feelings about how much they hate every single JRPG ever created despite never playing a single one in their lives.

Yes, because when someone insults JRPG's with a legitimate criticism they are actually issuing you a grievous insult.

p.s. If the person has no reason to be insulting JRPG's and are anyway, then they are what we call a troll. Try not to feed them.

When can you step back and accept that some people don't like JRPGs?

Have a cookie for this

Spoiler: cookie

Thank you, it looks delicious.

 

[Caligulove]

The problem with the stories is not their quality. It's a matter of how damn convoluted the story always seems to be. There must be no editors on some of these developer teams. It just keeps going and adding more and more and more. This can be good sometimes since you feel like you've come a long way but in this case it starts off with too much already. Immersion isn't just about quantity of content. There needs to be something familiar for someone to connect with and to help with the immersion. Primarily the art style interferes the most with it in jrpgs. Not all games do this but it helps in most of my favorite games of all time.

This isn't true for all jrpgs I'm sure but I have never played one that this hasn't been an issue in.

 

[_'.()[]=@^|-]

I think the story writing in jrpgs is possibly better than western ones in fact I really think a lot of them excel in this area. a lot of western games have piss poor writing that is worse than a low budget 80's action movie. sure some do have good writing too but I find they often lack depth and originality and tend to go overboard with drama ,swearing and using large explosions to captivate peoples interest. I think more balance is required . the lead characters in jrpgs sometimes seem too immature. the best story lines for me have been ones where the focus is on more mature characters.