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Do you favor WRPGS or JRPGS generally?

Which do you favor more?

  • WRPGS

    Votes: 121 50.4%
  • JRPGS

    Votes: 119 49.6%

  • Total voters
    240
I wish i could say jrpg but I've had immeasurably more fun with wrpgs over the years. The ONLY jrpg I've completed, excluding zelda titles, for want of trying, is persona 4 golden.

Wrpg... To name just a few... Baldur's gate 2, Morrowind,arx fatalis, oblivion, dungeon siege*, skyrim, kotor, kotor 2, wow, pillars of eternity 1and 2.. and many more
Zelda isn't an RPG.
 

Ladioss

Member
I like both.

I started playing tabletop RPGs as a child in the 80s and I discovered JRPGs (with Dragon Quest) and WRPGs (with Ultima and Wizardry) at around the same time, 89-90. Both of them have their advantages and disadvantages, their sensibilities, a common root but a diverging history (with fascinating consequences), their golden age/low tide/renaissance sequence... I'm glad both JRPGs and CRPGs continue to exist today.
 
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TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I think the Witcher 3 is the first WRPG I've actually liked so...
 

Belmonte

Member
I would like to ask about variety, i think all the genres you mentioned are also present in all wrpg. Medieval Fantasy: lots. Cyberpunk: Deus Ex and Cyberpunk. Steampunk: Arcanum (underrated game btw). School Drama is a jrpg specialty lol where else you will get the waifu baits :messenger_tears_of_joy: . Post apocalyptic: Fallout is king of this imo. And you have games like Wasteland 2 and 3. Space games like Mass Effect, Vampire the Masquerade is also something new, it uses similar engine to Valve and the concept is cool. And Disco Elysium is kinda visual novel type of detective but its still rpg due to its stats check. Kingdom Come is another one which is more about religious and realism. Yakuza is JRPG specific though but its just a modern japan setting.
I dont know, maybe i didnt play all the jrpgs out there but i definitely dont see them having advantage in vareity, in fact it feels they are the ones lacking variety, especially in modern era, its mostly sequels and remakes. Final Fantasy, Persona, Dragon Quest and Pokemon are the dominating ones. Suikoden 2 is my favorite but those are the old ones. Chrono Trigger, and Xenogears/Xenosaga. How much variety is actually there?

Many of the most unique CRPG titles are niche unfortunately so there are a lot more variety in JRPGs. No one bats an eye when a JRPG is steampunk but it would be a big deal if Bioware or Bethesda announces one. Morrowind is celebrated as the most unique Elder Scrolls, as it should, but if it was an JRPG everyone would think it as business as usual.

More examples of JRPG originality:

There is a JRPG where you play as two Italian brothers who were eaten by a huge turtle and you explore his organs. Another one you play only as the shorter brother but everything is made of paper!

The most profitable JRPG of all time has an idyllic setting where everything , including economy and wars revolves around cute monsters which are captured by kids with the purpose of to be the best there is I guess.

In Valkyre Profile you play as a Valkyre recruiting dead people for the battle in the end of times.

In Megaman Battle Network you play as a kid and his self-conscious internet avatar where you hunt bugs and criminals in the net.

Eternal Sonata setting is the deathbed dream of pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin.

The World Ends with You has the Japanese Shibuya district in Tokyo as the setting but in the limbo. You use magical pins.

In Earthbound you play as a bunch of kids battling zombies, aliens, robots and even cars, on an americana style setting.

Shadow Hearts setting is a crazy version of our world in the XX century.

JRPG experiment more within the genre also. Cyberpunk is Cyberpunk 100%. JRPG on another hand mix many elements of various genres. FFVII is modern fantasy with steampunk, cyberpunk and medieval fantasy elements. FFVIII is modern fantasy, school drama, sci fi with some medieval fantasy here and there. STM: Strange Journey is an amalgamation of military, religion, The Thing movie and modern fantasy.

I wish CRPGs deviates more from the usual stuff. CRPGs would benefit even more from it than JRPGs since one of its strong point of CRPGs is the interaction with the setting/NPCs/story. It is a joy to interact with the colorful people and locations of Planescape Torment.

The JRPG genre have its own wild west franchise but CRPG don't! Such a wasted opportunity!
 
Many of the most unique CRPG titles are niche unfortunately so there are a lot more variety in JRPGs. No one bats an eye when a JRPG is steampunk but it would be a big deal if Bioware or Bethesda announces one. Morrowind is celebrated as the most unique Elder Scrolls, as it should, but if it was an JRPG everyone would think it as business as usual.

More examples of JRPG originality:

There is a JRPG where you play as two Italian brothers who were eaten by a huge turtle and you explore his organs. Another one you play only as the shorter brother but everything is made of paper!

The most profitable JRPG of all time has an idyllic setting where everything , including economy and wars revolves around cute monsters which are captured by kids with the purpose of to be the best there is I guess.

In Valkyre Profile you play as a Valkyre recruiting dead people for the battle in the end of times.

In Megaman Battle Network you play as a kid and his self-conscious internet avatar where you hunt bugs and criminals in the net.

Eternal Sonata setting is the deathbed dream of pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin.

The World Ends with You has the Japanese Shibuya district in Tokyo as the setting but in the limbo. You use magical pins.

In Earthbound you play as a bunch of kids battling zombies, aliens, robots and even cars, on an americana style setting.

Shadow Hearts setting is a crazy version of our world in the XX century.

JRPG experiment more within the genre also. Cyberpunk is Cyberpunk 100%. JRPG on another hand mix many elements of various genres. FFVII is modern fantasy with steampunk, cyberpunk and medieval fantasy elements. FFVIII is modern fantasy, school drama, sci fi with some medieval fantasy here and there. STM: Strange Journey is an amalgamation of military, religion, The Thing movie and modern fantasy.

I wish CRPGs deviates more from the usual stuff. CRPGs would benefit even more from it than JRPGs since one of its strong point of CRPGs is the interaction with the setting/NPCs/story. It is a joy to interact with the colorful people and locations of Planescape Torment.

The JRPG genre have its own wild west franchise but CRPG don't! Such a wasted opportunity!
In Mega Man BN his internet avatar is the main protags dead brother who almost died, and was saved by becoming an internet program, which is dropped in the next game.

In its place is a new bad guy who is a 12 year old kid leading a terrorist organization that's hacking into people showers trying to drown them, killing people with bombs, and hijacking airplanes. While the HQ is located in a middle of a nuclear power plant, and when you confront the leader he takes OFF his protective equipment. Btw, you don't have any on either.

Don't forget the 4th game were the main character, an 11 year old kid is kidnapped by grown men, gassed, throw in a car, locked in a random room, and you have to find the unlock code by fighting on the internet.

Only for the kidnapper to come in apologizing saying it was a qualifier for a new "netbattle" tournament and you passed.

When your stories are that dumb, setting doesn't matter. I can see why some are turned off by some Jrpg plots.
 
i prefer western games over asian games of all genres for the most part, but when it comes to rpgs, i have absolutely zero tolerance for grinding and random encounters so that pretty much removes most early JRPGs

in general though i will play both so long as they arent grindy and are only light RPG's (not really into stats management like early CRPG's)
 
WRPGS for me. There are some JRPGs that I have enjoyed, but I generally prefer more action based RPGs over turn based. However, Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal are two of my favorite RPGs in general. As a kid, I enjoyed some other JRPGs, such as FFVII, Vagrant Story, and Chrono Cross. I am considering picking up Yakuza: Like a Dragon based on the positive comments by other 'GAFers.'
 

WoJ

Member
I voted for WRPG's, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for JRPG's.

In my opinion WRPG's get the nod from me because they generally are more grounded and tend to do a better job making their worlds feel lived in due to the open ended nature of the games. But I think JRPG's do a better job of having a masterful climax that feels more epic.

As an example, I've kind of been itching for a game that has a finale that feels like something out of Infinity War or the final fight with Thanos in End Game. I haven't really found anything until it dawned on me until I realized that this is many JRPG's. They usually end with some massive epic battle against an all powerful being that brings together all of the key people who've met along the way during your quest. When I am in the mood for this type of over the type goodness I turn to JRPG's. But given the choice, I'll take a WRPG.
 

Amiga

Member
it's game to game. JRPs are high volume, so more hit's and misses. I love a well made WRPG as much as well a made JRPG. well made games in general are getting fewer.

my top list:

WRPG:
Baldur's Gate 2
Dragon Age 1st game
Mass Effect 1st game
KOTOR 1&2
Jade Empire
Fallout 3
Witcher 3
(RIP Bioware:messenger_crying:)

JRPG:
Chrono Trigger
FF6&7
DQ11
Xenogears
Persona 2+3+4+5
Shadow Hearts 2 Covenant
Suikoden
Valkyria Chronicles
Tales of Vesperia
 
Western. Mainly because I hate random encounters in JRPG. Not saying all but 80% of them have that and I never liked that artificial grind and length of a game. WRPGs are focused on story and experience. A lot of JRPGs play like an MMO. Bits and pieces of story but fight the same enemy 10 times in the same room you keep having t go through all the time and then you can say how you spent 400 hours playing it.
 

Korranator

Member
I like both but in the end but I prefer WRPGs because in general they are usually more deep, complex, and have greater replay value. Games like Icewind Dale, or Baldur's Gate.

JRPGs seem to be more pick up and play, more polished, and have better soundtracks, but once finished you will probably never play again. Games Like Octopath Traveler, FF or Dragon Quest.

There are exceptions though. It also depends on my mood too. Games like Etrian Odyssey, SMT/Persona, or Atelier, have great replay value with trying different character builds or paths, since they are generally more deep than your general run of the mill JRPG.
 
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Monokrom

Member
I like jrpgs alot more then western ones.
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Western. Mainly because I hate random encounters in JRPG. Not saying all but 80% of them have that and I never liked that artificial grind and length of a game. WRPGs are focused on story and experience. A lot of JRPGs play like an MMO. Bits and pieces of story but fight the same enemy 10 times in the same room you keep having t go through all the time and then you can say how you spent 400 hours playing it.

I do find it interesting that even on PS2 there was still an over reliance on padding jrpgs length with random encounters which is usually accompanied by an annoying universal battle them used the entire game.

On a console with DVDs mind you.
 

JusticeForAll

Gold Member
I would say most of the time it's JRPGs, but once in a while I do like playing a WRPG. The big difference though is that I almost never finish a WRPG. I think most of them these days are just too large.
I'm exactly the opposite. Just change JRPG and WRPG around and that's me.
 
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Bakkus

Member
WRPGs have been better in the last 10 years or so. JRPGs peaked on the SNES.
Traditional style JRPGs, yes. But the genre got more varied after that for better and for worse. The better side had lots of creativity to it and lots of games are up there with the best of the SNES.
 
I never really like wrpg, muhc less finsih it beside games like mass effect 1-3 and Dragon age. I generally hate open world game play... it is so generic and boring.
 

Dolomite

Member
When I was younger I preferred JRPGs, especially at the height of the FF/onimusha era, then I played morrowind...it was all history from there
 
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Griffon

Member
I'm very picky about RPGs. To the extend you could question if I like the genre (but I do like the genre).

I favor JRPGs. But in practice I pretty much only like Squaresoft JRPGs, and even there I don't like every classic. I do play modern Square games too, some of those are alright.
On the WRPG front, I like the "shooty" ones: Mass Effect, Deus Ex HR, Vampire the Masquerade, and even Cyberpunk. I don't like any of the Bethesda nor Obsidian games tho.

I feel RPGs are the hardest games to get right, they have so many points of critical failure: a RPG with bad combat is horrible, a RPG with a bad story is horrible, a RPG with a bad sense of progression is horrible. Fail any of the three and you ruin your RPG project. I think it's the hardest genre to design.
 
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packy34

Member
Turn-based combat is terrible (outside of a tactics-like setting). It's good that some JRPG studios are adapting and moving to real-time combat.
 

bit_blaster

Neo Member
I primarily enjoy JRPGs more for the gameplay and the tighter more linear experience. I enjoy WRPGs as well like Oblivion, but I never finish them due to how sand box like theyre designed.
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
Growing up I was way more slanted toward J-RPGs, as a western RPGs were often really punishing and difficult to get into. Talking Bard's Tale and Spelljammer days.

In the post-Oblivion world where Western RPGs don't require studying to pass the Bar just to play, I split my time between both and in the last 5 years Western RPGs probably get most of my time because of the big open worlds and production values. But that's relatively new.
 

Artistic

Member
I have a soft spot for JRPGS, but don't think I've played a RPG in years. Maybe ME3 or ME:Andromeda, but plays like a traditional 3rd person shooter more than anything.
 

Sygma

Member
Wrpgs for sure. Shadowrun-s-, pathfinder, divinity, elex, pillars of eternity, disco elysium, legend of grimrock, and a bunch of others. Jrpgs are all the same. Did really like p5 royal and shadowbringers
 
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