I like turn-based battle systems, they mostly have great/original art design, they're really freaking long, they develop their characters, they tell an epic story, you get to kill things with a giant sword,....
I guess for me its the same for anime aswell.. well Its the story and sencless bloody gore action that takes place :| everything is else is a meh ... cept for FFX . cuz auron is just awesome <.<
The story. While western RPGs are all about freedom at the cost of a compelling narrative, JRPGs are all about presenting a great story at the cost of player freedom. The player has a lot of freedom in how they control their party in battle, but not really in the story. Because let's face it, the more control a player has over the story, the less control the developers have over it. That's why western RPGs tend to have a lot of player freedom, but a weak narrative (anything by Bioware as pretty much the only exception).
Take Final Fantasy XIII, for instance. Not the best of the series in terms of story, but it had some absolutely amazing and complex character drama. For instance,
Near the beginning, Hope's mother dies trying to help in a resistance under Snow's leadership. Hope, a boy no older than 16, blames Snow for this, and wants nothing more than revenge, but has no idea what to say, how to say it, or what he will do to Snow when he gets the chance. As a result, he is too shy and unsure to actually say anything to Snow whenever he gets the chance. Meanwhile, Snow's fiance (Lightning's sister) has been turned into crystal upon the completion of her focus (it makes sense, but I won't go into those details right now). This is a huge loss for both Snow and Lightning, obviously, but they react in different ways; Snow with his optimistic determination to somehow change her back, and Lightning (who never liked Snow in the first place and didn't approve of his engagement to her sister) with her pessimism and grief-fueled anger. She blames Snow for this, and resents him for ever having met her sister.
There comes a point where the party splits up, and Lightning and Hope are alone. During their journey, Hope confides in Lightning about his hatred for Snow, and Lightning, still upset, teaches him to be more courageous and hard-hearted, even giving him a knife (which has special meaning to her) in order to let him take his revenge next time he sees Snow. But before their journey is through, Lightning realizes how vain she has been in all this, and tells Hope that she was wrong. This only confuses Hope more, obviously: the person who had helped him learn how to take his revenge was now saying he shouldn't do it. This all leads to a confrontation between Hope and Snow where Hope is actually about to kill Snow while he is hanging off a ledge, but upon realizing Snow is the son of the woman who had died, Snow realizes this was who she was talking about when her dying wish was to "Take care of him." An explosion stuns Hope and knocks him off the edge, and Snow, honoring Hope's mother's dying wish, jumps, wraps Hope in his arms, and takes the impact of the fall.
And that's not even the end of it. For that matter, it's only half of the main characters, and probably only 15-20 hours into a 40-50 hour epic. XIII's grand narrative was a bit lacking, but it's character development and conflict was amazing.
Point is, good JRPGs have amazingly complex plots that twist and turn constantly, topped off with well-developed characters that each have their own personalities, hopes, dreams, struggles, and flaws. This also makes for very important lessons within them; The World Ends with You, for instance, has more positive messages packed into it than any game I've ever played.
That's why I love JRPGs. The gameplay and everything else is great too, but the story is why I love them so much.
For the record, you seem to have fallen prey to a popular but very incorrect stereotype. Japanese culture in general tends to like stories about younger characters, but not all are. Heck, there was not a single teenager in the main cast of Final Fantasy VII.
But the main misconception is that of being whiny. Basically, what is actually characters trying to deal with tough events and problems in their lives (which is great for a story) gets the misconception of being whiny because the Japanese like to have their characters talk about their thoughts and problems.
Fact is, they all have reason to be whiny. Hope in Final Fantasy XIII watched his mother die; I think that's more than enough reason for him to have some emotional issues. Neku in The World Ends with You had convinced himself that friends were simply a burden, and you couldn't count on anyone; it makes sense that he would have the issues he has when thrown into a situation where he absolutely must depend on others (that is not whininess, that is fantastic storytelling: put a character in an area that requires him to defy a flaw he/she has). Even Tidus from Final Fantasy X, a character many people downright hate, had more than enough reason to be the way he was: he spent his whole life with a father who refused to affirm him in any way.
This is not whininess, this is good character development. It's only ever mistaken as such because the Japanese like to have their characters talk about their problems, their hopes, their thoughts and emotions.
I hate JRPGS.. sometimes with a passion. Oh I've tried to like them. I own a few on the PS2 and PSX but I just can not get in to them. Here's some of the things I hate
1. The Dialogue - PLEASE get someone to re-write the dialogue. Although it probably makes sense in Japanese, in english there must be something lost in translation. Characters spend so much time just going "huh?" and saying seemingly random stuff that is out of place with the current context that I feel like I'm watching a scene directed by David Lynch (but without the style)
2. The "Random encounters". This is a pet hate. Please, no more random encounters. Is it really that hard to draw a few bad guys on the path to make my "random" encounter seem a little less random?
3. The Combat - yes... in real life people stand around and take turns beating each other up. Here is my turn *wham*. ug... they need to take a leaf out of Biowares book. The combat is turn based but LOOKS real time (NWN, KotoR etc etc).
4. The characters - I find it really hard to relate to the angsty characters, who are all typically teenagers with spiky hair.. ug
now a hate on final fantasy itself.. the Arch-demon of JRPGs... and somebody help me here if you can 'cos I just do not get it. Is there an overall universe that FF is based in? Although a few of the games link together, the Art styles for each one are very different. Yet for each final fantasy I play there seems to be a new Universe with new characters and new rules, which gets annoying as you don't have a rich background you have with say NWN, KotoR, Fallout, or many other "western" RPGs who base their games in either previously established universes or new ones they have created themselves. However each subsequent game more or less sticks to this universe.
This said, there are some JRPGs I haven't minded too much. Strangely enough I didn't mind Lost Odyssey.
The stories, the characters, the music, and, sometimes, the art design. Some bosses are just incredible as well, and even the gameplay can be exciting, although it's not what the genre is known for. Still though, when I think epic stories in video gaming, I think of the Lost Odysseys, the Final Fantasys, and a lot of other JRPGs. When I think of great music, I think of "One Winged Angel" or the Opera scene from FFVI.
Final Fantasy XIII is a good example, The graphics are VERY good, I enjoyed the gameplay(especially the paradigm system), and most of the characters were likeable with the exception of Snow. Although the story isn't really linked together until halfway through, the datalog a least explains what's happening, and the story felt very deep to me. And I replay the final boss over and over simply because I LOVED the music. And I understand why some people didn't like it, but I thoroughly enjoyed every second.
I thought we agreed they would be referred to as Turn-Based Adventure Games from now on.
OT: It's all about presentation with T-BAGs. Amazing art design, and when I say "amazing" I mean, of course, that it's amazing how much time and effort they put into drawing just one character considering how many pounds of clothing they have to draw.
The only one I ever played was FF 7. I played all the way up to the final dungeon.... and then I stopped. I couldn't play it anymore, I was NOT having FUN. Do I wish I had just powered on though to say I beat it? At times, yes. But a lot of the elements of JRPGs bug me, for example character design, setting, and plot. Should I try more since I've only played 1? Yes, obviously. However it's difficult for me when I can't stand the most important parts of the game.
OT: It's all about presentation with T-BAGs. Amazing art design, and when I say "amazing" I mean, of course, that it's amazing how much time and effort they put into drawing just one character considering how many pounds of clothing they have to draw.
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