Why do people pick on JRPGs?

[Thaius]

There's a lot of ethnocentrism going on. JRPGs feature characters with Japanese mannerisms, tell complex stories with Japanese drama (which tends to be a bit more melodramatic), and focus more on storytelling and character development than on player freedom. Apparently people want simple stories where the player can do anything they want (see: Oblivion), and anything else isn't just "not their type of game," it's an inherently bad genre. Which is crap. But what can you say, people are stupid.

And for the record, most of the things JRPG haters think about JRPGs is absolutely false. They base it on one or two pictures or cutscenes they've seen. Few male protagonists look like girls. Not every main character is emo (though Japanese characters to tend to actually talk about their problems more than Western ones, so I guess I can see how someone would think that if they have no understanding of how the Japanese culture tells stories). Turn-based combat is nowhere near as simple as many people seem to think. But ignorance knows no bounds, I suppose.

 

[ReaperzXIII]

Play Star Ocean The Last Hope and you will understand. Urgh the voice acting, the angstyness, the retarded emotion, I would rather stick to my one-liner badass gritty marines that have two settings: Kill and Getting Orders To Kill.

Also a lot of them are about the power of friendship. Something a lot of people have grown to hate, due to the overcliche lines of "If we work together we can do anything".

I like JRPGs, it was my favourite genre on the GBA but then I got a 360 and got into shooters, also a lot of the RPG elements can be annoying I like constantly developing my character and his strength being relative to how good I am at killing things. But then there is the plethora of samey fetch side-quests, armour upgrades every two seconds, long cutscenes that are cliche.

I don't really want to watch 5 minute cutscenes when I already watch anime, I go play games to immerse myself in the action.

 

[Towowo2]

There's a lot of ethnocentrism going on. JRPGs feature characters with Japanese mannerisms, tell complex stories with Japanese drama (which tends to be a bit more melodramatic), and focus more on storytelling and character development than on player freedom. Apparently people want simple stories where the player can do anything they want (see: Oblivion), and anything else isn't just "not their type of game," it's an inherently bad genre. Which is crap. But what can you say, people are stupid.

And for the record, most of the things JRPG haters think about JRPGs is absolutely false. They base it on one or two pictures or cutscenes they've seen. Few male protagonists look like girls. Not every main character is emo (though Japanese characters to tend to actually talk about their problems more than Western ones, so I guess I can see how someone would think that if they have no understanding of how the Japanese culture tells stories). Turn-based combat is nowhere near as simple as many people seem to think. But ignorance knows no bounds, I suppose.

Pretty much this. But I can't help but think some of that of the dislike them because of a certain someone dislikes them.

 

[HT_Black]

I can't speak for everyone, but I can give you my experience:

A.) The only JRPG I ever played was Lost Oddyssey.
B.) Lost Oddyssey was an abortion in the guise of a game.
C.) It was apparently good for a JRPG.

Thus, I came to the conclusion that JRPGS are a genre that should have died long ago.

 

[quiet_samurai]

Because they are the nerdy misunderstood kid in the land of gaming, and JRPGer are only understood by other JRPGers.

 

[veloper]

There are 2 kinds of RPG from Japan:
1 SRPGs are japanese tactical('strategic') games and can have pretty solid TB gameplay

2 what we call JRPGs are grindfests interspersed with terrible dialogue and VO.

The terrible stories and silly extravagant characters can be forgiven in SRPGs, because gameplay is king. Not so for JRPGs where the rediculous stories is all they have going for them.

 

[Fallen-Angel Risen-Demon]

Cause they haven't been good since 1997

KH1, KH2, FFX, Renasonce of fate I could go on for ages.
Also you read my initial post? I doubt it.

 

[Applejack]

Because of the ps1 and ps2 era most of the RPG games were JRPG and a lot of people are tired of that. I used to love them but now it's too easy to pick them apart and most JRPG characters and story are very cliché. Having played about 20 of them I doubt I would ever see anything new other than revamped combat.

 

[crystalsnow]

Because the whole cast are always transvestites?

 

[Aiden_the-Joker1]

Most people complain that they aren't rpgs because you can't create your own character or even change the story line slightly. The feel events are driven by the characters action not their own and this annoys people because they think the rpg part of the title means non linear game and they get disappointed also they usually have turn based combat which most people find boring and repetitive.

 

[Breaker deGodot]

For me, it's because they don't know when to stop. No, Persona 4, I don't have 90+ hours to play you, regardless of how awesome you may or may not be. This usually makes me skip sidequests, which as of late, have become much more important to the overall experience. Not that Western RPG's don't do this as well (*cough* Dragon Age *cough*), but that's what I think.

 

[SimuLord]

JRPG only gets one word of its description correct. J, as in Japanese. They're not role-playing, they're statbuilding (and there's a huge difference) and with so much of the interaction taken out of the hands of the player they hardly even qualify as games.

Someone on this very site (I forget who, but please feel free to take credit if you're reading) said "Final Fantasy XIII is just a DVD movie with an overly-complex scene-selection menu."

 

[Death-of-Penguins]

Sometimes claims can be founded, occasionally, if the battle system is particularly bad, but then, the people with enough sense to only point it out in those circumstances tend to be able to criticise most games.

People can pick holes in any element of them if they try hard enough.

"It's too linear!" "Well, this one has a world map for you to play on." "It's too vague on where I have to go next!" "...Well, this one has NPCs who tell you, and a bit in the menu to tell you." "Well their dialogue is too stupid and annoying and babying." "Oh, I give up."

The characters look different, shock horror. "They're unrealistic!" "Yeah, and guys with biceps the size of a watermelon and a neck like a leg of ham are so realistic."


I think it's more so that they have something to complain about in general. Since it's popular to rag on JRPGs, they jump on the bandwagon. I suppose it's a little like taking the mickey out of Coldplay.
There's nothing wrong with them because you don't like them, and there's definitely nothing wrong if you're parroting someone else's opinion.

 

[The Procrastinated End]

Don't know about others but I never really liked the turn based strategy (sometimes it works other times it doesn't), and how you pretty much don't affect the game at all.

 

[Cheesepower5]

It's simple, they're losers.

I'll explain. The protagonists are often young, slim and attractive, and are liked by girls. This is the exact opposite of the gamers complaining. These gamers are old, were never popular when they're young, still aren't landing any girls, are out of shape and ugly. They want games where the people look like them, like in Quake 3 Arena or Kane & Lynch.

Anecdotaly, I've never met anyone in person who is reasonably good looking and has an attractive girlfriend complain about a JRPG in the way people on the internet do.

I know this will draw a lot of rage, but it's true.

Now some entries in the genre really do have some serious drawbacks, particularly with translations but that's when you'll hear specific complaints rather than general dislike of RPGs.

I'll have you know I'm an unnatractive loser and love jRPG's. Don't pack us all together.

 

[JuryNelson]

It's not the games themselves that everybody makes fun of, it's the window dressing.

At their core, yeah, they're excessively linear, but they're also very involved, ultimately satisfying in terms of raw gameplay. the materia system from ffvii, the exquisite combo/cancel system in Grandia II, these are super interesting, borderline unassailably fun things in games.

But they ALSO have aggressively over-designed characters, heavy-handed messages about humanity and friendship, and maybe a pop song or two. They come from a different sensibility to western gamers and it's one part culture-shock two parts reverse culture-shock (translations are routinely poorly done, and localization teams often can't help but alter a game's content to the point of losing the meaning)

And I don't know if there's something in Japan's entertainment laws that says every piece of creative work must include at least 1 (one) cutesy mascot character, but those things are VERY offputting to this American, at least. It must have taken effect after 1992, because Final Fantasy IV didn't have that bizarre, eerily customizable pansexual support character until the remake.

 

[migo]

I'll have you know I'm an unnatractive loser and love jRPG's. Don't pack us all together.

That was a squares are rectangles but rectangles aren't squares situation. I was only talking about people who didn't like them.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

I don't hate JRPGs, I hate the games.

FF13 had a horrible combat system and Snow is the most unlikeable character I've ever seen in any medium. I would enjoy an RPG where I was Prince Kan'in ordering the Rape of Nanking more than one with Snow. It's not his appearance either. That guy is just psychotic. Hope and Vanille never bothered me.

FF12 had a lot of promise, but I didn't like how restricted it felt. The combat was still bad, but they were making progress. Vaan was not a good main character. Balthier was far superior.

I liked everything about Xenosaga except KOSMOS.

There's not a thing about ChronoTrigger/Cross, Legend of Legaia, FF6-10, and Legend of Dragoon that I didn't like. Notice something though? The latest JRPG I've liked came out on the PS2.

The problem is that Turn Based Combat is just a relic for me. I've been playing JRPGs since FF6. It feels old and out of place now. Kingdom Hearts had a brilliant combat system. Real time combat is far more engaging. It's my fault if my character is killed instead of some dodge percentage. I can dodge roll out of the way. I can use the field to my advantage in dynamic ways. I can hit the enemy, and I don't have to wait for them to hit back. I can do it again.

That's why I don't complain about CoD or Bayonetta. The combat is fun. It's not hidden behind menus. If FF13 had combat like Kingdom Hearts, I would love it to death, even with Snow. And seeing how control has been slowly taken away from me to the point that I can really only influence what my NPC allies will do, it only makes sense. Streetfighter I will tear into though. That game sucked so hard.

Also, it doesn't help the image of JRPGs if you guys are going to make straw men and stereotype the people you're trying to understand. I've seen in this thread it being attributed to xenophobia and physical attributes and being losers. That's not very classy.