Razorin Faust said:
Well, I will only speak for me there.
I really dislike JRPG for many reason, the main being that most of the time it's the teenages character with drama, plot that is pretty much the same from game to game.
Long griding is a big turn off for me, along with long boring cutscene.
But, im not a RPG guy, even if I enjoyed the Witcher and Mass Effect .
I'd like to say first of all that... that's a rather uneducated statement, but considering what you ended your note on, it's sort of obvious so I won't blame you for it.
Let's see... Teenage characters, drama and plot similar from one game to another... Mkay, let's apply this on the broad spectrum of JRPGs.
But first, let's list some of the JRPGs that exists:
- Final Fantasy series (Again, very long)
- Dragon Quest series (It's a bit lenghty)
- Tales series (This is going to be long)
- SaGa series (includes SaGa Frontiers, so yeah, long)
- Breath of Fire series (only five games)
- Suikoden series (Yeah, long in itself but Gaidens are not counted for they're adventure games)
- Grandia series (Limited, so that's not too much trouble)
- Valkyrie Profile series (I'm not sure if we should count it's SRPG in it...)
- Wild Arms series (Not too long again, even with the PSP branch)
- Shadow Hearts series (Short, sadly)
- Dark Cloud series (Action JRPG)
- Metal Max series (Metal Saga's the only one we've got, it's on PS2)
- Parasite Eve (The first one, second one became a Resident Evil-styled survival horror, first was an action RPG)
- Earthbound/Mother (We've only got one, damn you Japan...)
- Persona series (Megami Ibunroku)
- Shin Megami Tensei series (SMT)
- Digital Devil Saga duo
- Soul Hacker (This would include Raidou Kuzunoha vs series I believe)
- Koudelka (Prequel to Shadow Hearts, though not exactly part of...)
- Super Mario RPG (Paper RPGs and bowser's inside story included)
- Dokapon series (There's more then just the Dokapon Kingdom and Journey)
- Shining series
- Atelier series (Mana Khemia included)
- Mana series
- Chrono series (I haven't forgotten Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross, no sirree)
- Star Ocean series
- Xenosaga series/Xenogear
- [Edit] Lunar series (can't believe I forgot that old classic...)
- [Edit 2] Yakuza series (Technically an RPG hybrid with a brawler and sandbox game)
- [Edit 2] Demon's Souls (Though I personally believe it to be far more an action game then a JRPG, though most people classify it as one)
I'm reluctant on End of Eternity/Resonance of Fate...
I'm also relunctant on Steambot Chronicles... which I'm going to guess is more action then RPG, but arguably so would Dark Cloud, it gets a bit messy...
Eh... that should be enough, I don't want to start scratching my brain for every single series that exists, as well as every singular shot RPGs out there.
Nor do I want to make a huge analysis of every single JRPG series to disprove what you've got to say. SO, I'll just immediately focus on a few:
---
Your Troubles:
- Teenages character with drama
- Plot that is pretty much the same from game to game.
- Endless Cutscenes
=== SPOILER WARNING ===
Final Fantasy series:
- Final Fantasy 1: Nearly zero cutscenes, old classic, plot is a bit convoluted and lenghty involving a time paradox and zero teenage drama
- Final Fantasy 4: Main character is an adult military leader who loses all faith in his own kingdom after a mission that ends up in a violent massacre, his path is that of redemption and eventual discovery of his self and the uprooting of a general evil looming over the world. Cutscenes minimal and short, though there is drama, it should be universal no matter the age.
- Final Fantasy 6: No clear main characters, varied personal stories overarching plot is that of overthrowing a corrupt empire which in turn becomes that of simple survival in a broken world as the villain won halfway through the game and completely defaced and turned the world into a vast wasteland to his desires. Cutscenes minimal, drama is varied (Amnesia when it wasn't a cliche, dying/dead father if you mess things up, massacred family in a genocide, shattered brotherhood over worries of their kingdom's stability, missing rival and possible lover haunting poker faced gambler, grandfather and grandchild with deceased/disappeared father/mother.)
- FFX Suits your troubles: Main Character is a whining protagonist whose sole purpose in the story is a witness and constantly complaining about his daddy issues all the way to the end despite the fact that the lead female is pivotal to the story and his mentor has a far more deeply entertwined relationship with both the events unfolding and the protagonist's father. Lenghty cutscenes with bad voice acting and faulted due to the main character, drama up the...
- Dragon Quest: For the most part... You're the hero, the world's in shit, go save it.
- Breath of Fire 1-4: You're the last survivor of a mythical race of beings known as Dragons. The last two listed here deals with the nature of your powers and also the possibility of becoming a god and ruling the world if you so choose. Romance is minimal in each iteration so drama tends to be on a low side for the most part or played on a low key.
- Parasite Eve: You're a cop infected by an unknown organism that's mutating your body as you try to survive the madness that has overtaken New York and is destroying it and it's people in this biological plague.
- Romancing SaGa/SaGa Frontier: You've got the choice of a variety of different main characters, each with their own stories, their own paths and their own plots with a variety of level of drama and exposition pending upon which character. I'd almost say it's the perfect choice for a newcommer to JRPGs who wants the most bang for his buck, but it's not the easiest to handle battle system despite it's blatant simplicity.
- Shadow Hearts: You play a badass asshole who, unlike many other main characters, doesn't deal with that sort of shit. And your enemy has the most delicious of names... Bacon.
- Shadow Hearts Covenant: If you liked Shadow Hearts 1, you'll get orgasms from the opening alone... Now, where Shadow Hearts 1 was a dark world with oddly light hearted somber dark humor interwoven through it... Shadow Hearts 2 is a more light and warm world that's interlaced with a somber situation and general feel as the canon for this game is the first game's bad ending where he loses his love. (For all you FF7 fans who might not get it. Imagine that in FF7... Aeris doesn't die, she just simply doesn't. You make it through the entire game, and in the end of the game, she dies from utilising her powers as an Ancient to safeguard the world and her many friends. Now, imagine you play the sequel to that game, immediately with a broken Cloud.) Though, thankfully due to the fact that the main character is a Badass, he's not lamenting over it like a sissy boy. He's just living his life peacefully and guarding a singular town to keep his mind occupied until shit hits the fan and the obsession over godlike powers to control life and death haunts both the main character, supporting cast who will face grave tragedy and greedy desireful antagonists. Hmm... Though, besides the characters and the plot, there is still the problem of the cutscenes ever-present, like in Action games such as DMC or GOW...
(Note: I really like Shadow Hearts... does it show?)
- Star Ocean 2: Though it's arguable that Star Ocean 3 has the best battle system, yes, better then Star Ocean 4 for you fans out there, neither Star Ocean 3 or 4 would suit to counter your dislikes for JRPGs. Star Ocean 2 might though, albeit, the main character does have daddy issues, they're not brought up as much as the fact that he's been sent to an alien planet on which he has no idea how the fuck to get off of. Though plot tends to take some obvious turns every now and again and the cutscenes that do exists or the moments of exposition are... lenghty.
- Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross: These are probably some of the best JRPG can provide for newcomers and for old fans alike. I won't dwelve in those though, since you could ask just about anyone whose played RPGs and they could easily answer you with great glee.
- Super Mario RPG: Oh boy... Um... It's Super Mario in an RPG. And it's far more awesome then you might think.
- Earthbound: Okay, okay, you don't like teens and their problems... How about a little kid whom I'm not even sure is past the age of 10, saving the world using Yo-Yo's and baseball bats, beating up machines, aliens, cops, hippies, cultists of the color blue, a living pile of puke and many other incredibly wacky and psychedelic enemies on a quest to gather up music from mystical sites to face an unknown evil... Sounds good to you?
- Secret of Mana (Snes version): Since there's minimal exposition and maximal amount of action, the plot remains similar to most situations in gaming. Things are going down to shit, you're here to fix it. Though, it starts as a whimsical adventure and travel and slowly gathers in gravity as time passes. You're somewhat similar to Link in Zelda or King Arthur, having drawn a mystical sword from a stone and gained through it a fate and destiny far greater then your own being. Cutscenes minimal, drama present but saved for short bursts midway through the game.
- Metal Max: It's... it's... I feel like saying it's the Excel Saga or FLCL of JRPG games... If that doesn't tell you anything... um... It's the Kids in the hall or the Monty Python of games... I mean, you eventually get a dog, like a golden retriever, with a tank's canon or a bazooka surgically implemented on it's rear end/back. And nobody's asking any questions.
- Suikoden: The first game is mainly an affair of politics and warfare. It's far more similar to those grandiose epics of warfare such as Lord of the Ring or Romance of the Three Kingdom. Personal events intertwine in the grand scheme of things, but the overarching plot and central affair is the fate of your country and the revolution that needs follow. Suikoden 2 introduces younger characters who are both soldiers and in such provide more drama, though I wouldn't exactly consider it teen drama. Imagine if you will, you're the leader of one army, and your best friend whom you were eventually separated from, grows further distant and eventually becomes the leader of the opposition. I believe, if memory serves well, that you even get to choose whether to kill him (and like in Highlander, claim the prize... *coughs*), or to make peace and coexist.
- Digital Devil Saga: Here known as Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga. You play a band of young adults in a disturbingly bizarre steampunk-esque world where no personal sorrows or joy, no emotion exists, no hunger or famine and only an everlasting war is known until you gain the powers of demons and with it, emotions, memories of lives prior suiting the ever looming themes of Hinduism and resurrection, and an unspeakable hunger... in a wasteland without the slightest of green and where the only other living beings are other humans, now also able to tap into the powers of a demon. Cutscenes are still a problem though.
- Shin Megami Tensei 1-3: Touching the theme of resurrection again. This time, with you as it's messiah of sorts, as the world is faced with ultimate death and with your choice over it's new path. SMT 3 explicity shoves this in your face as the world literally collapses into itself and becomes a cocoon, an egg of sorts where a supernatural sun exists in it's center, awaiting you or any other surviving human in this desolate wasteland to reach it and define how the new world, how the new Earth will be. Essentially, giving you the task of being the godlike creator of this new world while you face differing ideals of a perfect world, each vaild in their own rights, and each suiting different philosophies to which you can either adhere or refuse.
- Raidou Kuzunoha: You play a detective... And basically the story is simply that of a supernatural investigation. Think of this as a sort of Japanese equivalent of the TV show Supernatural, except that you typically don't end up fighting an uber badguy such as Lucifer. (That's reserved as a secret/optional boss fight for the SMT series)
I'd go on but... damn, it'd take me all night and I've got work to do.
