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JRPG vs WRPG - Who is the current king?

Who is the current RPG king?

  • JRPG

    Votes: 191 55.0%
  • WRPG

    Votes: 156 45.0%

  • Total voters
    347

Moogle11

Banned
That eliminates plenty of the best WRPGs too, so you're left with plenty great games on both sides even with that criteria. So kind of silly to pretend anime and turn based is all there is on one side.

Wasn‘t saying that was all JRPGs were. Just that overall I enjoy more WRPGs as a decent chunk of JRPGs aren’t my thing. Definitely plenty of WRPGs I don‘t like either since I don’t like turn-based stuff like CRPGs like Pillars of Eternity or Divinity Original Sin at all.

The only type RPGs I enjoy anymore are things like Mass Effect, Skyrim, Fallout 3 and later, Witcher 3, Cyberpunk etc. real time combat and more focus on dialogue and story than combat. Honestly not really a fan of RPGs gameplay wise in general, it’s just where the best stories in gaming are and stories are a, if not the, main draw of gaming for me

That’s not a knock on other those of RPGs, Japanese or otherwise. I just have limited tastes and stick to them these days.
 
I liked Nocturne actually, even if i did not finish it. I loved the Digital devil saga games too, they were a wild ride. Just that SMT IV did not click for me. Now if it's a matter of taste changing with time or the quality of the games, i'm not sure.

But you know, it's not like because there's a maximum number of "RPG" that has to split between JRPG/WRPG as a battle each generation, there's plenty of choices for everyone for every tastes. Mine's been fluctuating more towards WRPGs with the recent CRPG renaissance on PC since Pillars of Eternity.
Well although I loved SMT IV I still think it's a bit worse than those from the PS2 era, but imo it's still a great game, specially the OST and world building.

Oh and now that you mention CRPGs... Is there any with good gameplay? I enjoyed Dragon Age:O and Kotor, but for example Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment ended up boring me because of the gameplay. Maybe those games are not for me. :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 

Mozzarella

Member
I'm not about to properly dissect the games so this post may get messy and have some repetition.

I had expected I would also have easily given Cyberpunk the win when it comes to main story but no, Delivery really is everything, and Cyberpunk's delivery often feels as stilted and lifeless as it's world, the weak pacing, animation and cinematography also took me out of it from early on. It feels stapled together during key moments. To throw out some very random examples from early game to avoid big spoilers. -The way they transition to the intro montage at the start feels sudden and disconnected from the scene, The scenes in that montage don't flow well and the music doesn't work, it felt like it was meant to be a key element in selling me on V and Jacky becoming friends and really becoming part of Night CIty, so it was a really miss that it didn't acheive that. -The scene where Johnny first encounters Adam Smasher and it cuts doesn't feels like you are faster forwarding it feels like something went wrong and you skipped the scene. The chase scenes also feel extremely scripted and unexciting. They often don't even let you pretend like you are really a part of them. They tried to have a cool scene of the guy with first guy with mantis bladed jumping to your hood and you shooting him of but you never really feel like any of it matters, it always just feels like inconsequential filler. At least the Bike sequences in FF7 felt like real gameplay. The moment to moment dialogue does feel natural I'll give it that, but what the actual content of the conversations often doesn't feel like it actually matters, doesn't feel interesting or entertaining. The jokes don't land. I just feel like I'm trying to get info on my next objective while dealing with the characters attempts at being funny or being longwinded in an attempt to establish their character. I will hold off on going more in-depth on why the characters seems bad to me for brevity and just incase it gets too subjective. Overall FF7 story just mostly felt more well put together and I definitely enjoyed seeing the characters onscreen far more. I was hungry to hear every line the characters had to say in VII where in 2077 I felt like I was just selecting dialogue hoping that I find something that actually gets me to care about the people or plot more.

I should note I played 7 totally in Japanese (voice and subs) and thought the voicework and acting was mostly fantastic. Since it was such a smaller scale game I'd say it ends up being more consistently good than what's in 2077. Bearing in mind it does get a bit more exaggerated. For every line in FF7 that felt rough to me there are 10 example of something feeling off in cyberpunk.

I will say Cyberpunk easily wins when it comes to the writing on the side quests but I find that doing side quests in FF7 does still end up being more fun than 2077. The delamain side quest for example, It truly hooked me with the intro and I was surprised and excited. but In the end it's driving to some location and going towards a car to get a piece of fun dialogue. It is technically more of an "adventure" than much of the stuff in FF7 but it simply doesn't feel good to do and honestly the writing is better than FF7 but it still isn't anything spectacular to me the more story focused ones just have me in a constant state of mild curiosity and wanting to see it to the end. To be clear, I find the driving, combat, stealth and hacking of CP2077 to all feel mediocre. If you were to take the shooting or stealth of 2077 and create a game where that was the main focus then it would be a 4/10 to me vs FF7's combat which ended up being one of my favorite combat system in years. So yeah Cyberpunk may have better set up for it's sidequests and they feels more like real adventures. but I do have way more fun simply doing a quest to clear out colosseum in FF7 due to it's top tier battle system. I don't see myself getting tired of fighting even once part 2 or 3 come out so I don't really think 2077 wins just because it has more variety in gameplay. There is literally a quest in FF7 that is about you clearing out a rat in some backyard. But the rat boss actually ends up being a fun fight so it ends up being a very enjoyable quest.

Of course Cyberpunk has the win when it comes to the amount of content. But I just don't find the content to be very good. For me the best thing about Cyberpunk was by far the absolutely fantastic visuals of the environment, the city is stunning. I am totally jealous that I can't ride around a Midgard that looks as good as night city. But in the end the minor lines you get while walking around the Hubs of FF7, having guys hit on cloud as he walks past in a dress or hearing the whole town talking about the bombing in the background pulled me in, felt very immersive to me, they are clearly just fake npcs with a generous amount of dialogue based on where you are in the story, But having something simple that actually works as intended was way better than than the constant jank of Night city. A thousand people walking around who all fall apart if you blow on their AI too hard but the game give you every tool it can to break the flimsy illusion.
I'm starting to see your point of view on this now, you have raised legit issues, like the prologue in Cyberpunk being rushed, I do agree with that. By delivery i assume you are talking about execution of the story. I dont agree with it all though, the pacing is inconsistent true especially at the prologue the lifepaths were cut to shorten the story (assumption) but after that part i think it got better, starting with act 1. I have not yet finished Cyberpunk so i think its better for me to not discuss the main story in detailed way as this may spoil it for me, perhaps i will discuss this later when i finish the game. But so far based on what i played (im in act 2) the story stakes seem much higher to me, you actually know what you are fighting for and what you are trying to do, as with open world games the sense of urgency is not there because you can go mess around with side quests and gigs all the time you want but i think that was to be expected. What i mean by higher stakes is that the story in act 1 starts with a chill premise as a merc working for fixers and then takes a lot of twists and turns to reach places that are much more complex. In remake its somehow similar as Cloud starts as a merc only to be sucked into the fight against Shinra, but its done in a more superficial way, Cyberpunk isnt much better in that regard though but i still think its more serious and more complicated. I also dont understand what you mean by Cinematography, i dont think this is a word i would use to describe a video game.
As far as pacing goes, with all its flaws Cyberpunk pacing imo is better than FF7 Remake, the game suffers from many pacing problems, they wanted to remake the OG game and tried to expand on 1/5 of it by adding a lot of padded chapters, a lot of unnecessary side quests that adds little depth and feels shallow and waste of time, the pacing issues even extend to main chapters like chapter 17 where they split them for no good reason that extend the playthorugh of the chapter by a lot making it a boring slog. There is more examples i can give to show the inconsistent pacing of the game, mind you its also linear so its even worse, even the good part of the extended game is Avalanche development still looks generic. I liked that they gave Jesse more time to develop but thinking back at her role in the game its just barely impactful. Moving on to Animation, i think you mean the first person, actually i would say the facial animation in Cyberpunk are good, what was the problem with it? Did you see how they made the animation fit for each language? thats massive imo.
i also disagree FF7 Remake story is not well put together at all, there are a lot of unexplained issues like those Fate and Whisper beings, newly added content, the change at the ending i did not like at all, the parts with Don, If you played the OG then yes you may get to like this remake more as you are familiar with it or maybe hate it for what they changed but when we talk about these two stand alone games FF7 Remake does bad job at explaining its story, its convoluted in a similar way to Kingdom Hearts. Also to add Cloud the crew start out similar to many characters in CP, barely introduced and rushed in a way that its hard to care about them, just like you said and i agree with that, but the problem is that also applies to FF. People may seem to forgive it because they are familiar with those characters whereas CP characters are new. Side Quest it seems we agree, i want to point out that i also enjoyed Delamain quest, the purpose of that quest is to meet all his personalities and then at the end you get to make a moral choice about A.I and identity, an interesting subject, that alone is better than anything in FF side quests, not to mention the other quest that makes the side characters more human and more fleshed out, like Panam quest or River quest and his investigation, it was really good and few games do side quests as good as they did here.

Voice acting i like both, i played FF7 in Japanese at first but then swtiched to English, I just wanted to hear the talking and focus on the visuals, becuase i thought they were cool.
Yea Open world in CP is full of issues currently, i hope it will be fixed, with its issues right now i totally understand someone saying FF7 is better but when those issues are fixed its gonna different. I dont know what will happen to CDPR now but i believe their DLCs are really good so Cyberpunk may even get better, i'll wait and see. and ofcoruse im still not finished with the game it may end in a bad note and disappoints me so i will not officially declare a verdict until then.
One last thing is for the gameplay, i know CP does not excel in any of them but having the options to tackle different situations in different ways is good advantage imo, i like the variety of options to tackle missions and how different builds can effect it, i would say though its not as deep as i wanted it to be, it now like New Vegas where you feel the big change in gameplay based on build, in CP the rpg elements are light. It comes similar to Skyrim in that regard. I liked FF7 combat, the party characters are cool and progression is there, but i dont think it was very interesting, in the end every encounter ended up me fighting a group of enemies with my skills that i get regardless of how i play, just by progressing i got those skills. Mateira system offered some variety at least. Not saying its bad because i had fun with it and music kicks ass. Just that its not that excellence in combat, my party A.I also was awful i had to constantly change to do what is logical and best to do, but i guess that was part of the fun because i had to play the game not the game play itself for me. Haha.

I think you make your case much better now, when you said its 4/10 without all the issues i thought you are just being blind fan but now i see you are giving good points, in the end we are all biased for genres we like, i like CDPR games so its natural for me to enjoy this one i also love FF7 OG 1997 and i liked Remake but few things annoyed me. Im interested to see where this Remake will go from now.

Expectations has alot to do with Cyberpunk 2077 core issues, I really wanted to like Cyberpunk 2077 but, Cyberpunk tried to be a little bit of everything, and by doing so I felt it lost its identity, like it doesn't know what it wanted to be, does it want to be Deus Ex or GTA? In the end it falls flat at both imo, the world was convoluted buggy mess, the npcs felt lifeless, it was too ambitious for it's own good, the hype was overblown, the expectations were shattered when the game didn't deliver in the same way it was presented, it's FFXV all over again. At least the narrative in FF7R was an immersive story driven game, roller-coaster ride from start to finish, linear games tend to succeed in this. I had to role my eyes at every gay/lesbian sex scene to appease the woke crowds, shit like this really breaks the immersion for me, and those were intentional not glitches, I really thought we had more choices with interaction with npcs and the world around them, but it all feels very limited and scripted. GTA did it better as far as open world freedom, and Deus Ex did the cyberpunk and rpg better. So I guess my point is FF7R knew exactly what game it wanted to be and executed it flawlessly, while Cyberpunk was a bit too ambitious and didn't know what it trying to be, thus a "disaster" imo. However I do hope they address these issues with patches, but even then I doubt the can fix everything I wanted, so it will never be a perfect game, at least for me. If all goes according to plan FF7R part 2 could be open world, hopefully they learned their mistake with FFXV and deliver something that could possibly even humble Night City, just the prospect of getting more is something to look forward, this ride is not over yet!
Indeed the hype made by CDPR is to blame because they did not ive up to it, and the hype by the fans also was not reasonable at all, they expect GOTY game in all its fronts and all its aspects, that just doesnt happen at all, never happened, never will. The game was overhyped to heavens so that is part of the backlash, many things were changed or cut and lied about like customization and lifepaths and gameplay and open world features. I stll think beyond the bugs and performance issues there is a very good game to be played here, and i was talking about that, ofcoruse with bugs and performance issues included one would score this game as bad. Im playing on my high end PC and my issues are minimal. I have glitches but i can live up with that. Im used to eurojank games so i can appreciate their good parts.

I just disagree with FF7 Remake knew what exactly it wants to be and i explained that above, it has a lot of forced padding to make up for content, the side quests came out of nowhere to give the player a sense of playing in an open world and to give a sense of freedom, as i said the game has a lot of issues too.
I have no problem with games not being masterful at an aspect, for me CP does not need to be best at RPG or best at open world, it can be decent in both and i will like that, having a mix like that comes off at a cost and i expected that, i still like it. This is like a type of glasses you do at your 40s, you dont see well to far and you dont see well to near, so you make one glasses that serves both far and near but its not the best at near or the best at far, its just good at both, i dont know what word to use in this but im sure there is a word to describe it. I'm giving the game a fair chance and my expectations were reasonable, i cant lie im having fun with it, perhaps it just my type of a game, i enjoyed Skyrim too. So i dont know. But i honestly think there is a very good game beneath the issues.


Sorry for the long post.
 
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Nickolaidas

Banned
Japanese RPGs seem to have really re-emerged in recent years after somewhat flailing in the past gen. On PS360 we really saw the likes of Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls dominate popular culture, scores and sales

Recent years it seems like the WRPG heavyweights are struggling and JRPGs have made a comeback

So who is on top these days? Some highlights (and lowlights) from the past gen

JRPGs
  • Persona 5
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake
  • Dragon Quest XI
  • Bloodborne
  • Demons Souls Remake
  • Nioh 1 and 2
  • Octopath Traveller
  • Xenoblade 2
  • FFXIV Expansions
  • NieR Automata
  • Monster Hunter World
  • 13 Sentinels
  • Fire Emblem Three Houses
  • Dark Souls 3
  • Kingdom Hearts 3
  • Yakuza Like a Dragon
  • Final Fantasy XV
  • Paper Mario the Origami King
  • Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel series
WRPGs

  • Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2
  • Witcher 3
  • Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2
  • Disco Elysium
  • Undertale
  • Stardew Valley
  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Golf Story
  • Fallout 4
  • Horizon Zero Dawn
  • Kingdom Come Deliverance
  • The Outer Worlds
  • Dragon Age Inquisition
  • Fallout 76
  • Mass Effect Andromeda
  • Anthem
  • South Park RPGs
Disclaimer: May have forgotten some games. Have included it if the developer considers it an RPG
Please put Baldur's Gate 3 at the top of the WRPG list.
 
Hard to say. Depends on your definition of RPGS.
It's nearly impossible to find a common definition of RPGs today. Not only that, almost every AAA game incorporates what some consider RPG elements.

Is it the deep character customization that makes the game an RPG?
Lots of recent games have incorporated perks - Assassin's Creed, Doom Eternal.
Souls has one of the deepest character customizations.

Is it a game that tells a branching story based on player options?
Well, FFXIII isn't an RPG then.

Is it a slower combat system that isn't too reliant on good reflexes and execution?
Why does combat mechanics matter in judging whether a game is "role playing"?
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Diablo 3 fuck modern jrpgs they lost it.

well i guess DQ11S is great.
But guess what its based on old JRPGS so duh 🤣
 

Sentenza

Member
I find wrpgs to be very boring. It's either open world garbage or iso which I've yet to find one I enjoy.
That just makes you incompetent, it's not a downside of the "genre".

Japan has better gameplay/mechanics/systems in general in games. It's why they've always been #1 for me. Western games tend to fcous on the narrative/setting first and then build the mechanics after.
Both claims are complete bollocks.
 
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SinDelta

Member
Hmm, depends on what you are picking. Something like this looks unbalanced.

Are Souls games RPGs? Some say yes, others no? They certainly have RPG elements I think. There are the last 3 Assassin Creed games which use more RPG influence then their predecessors.

Honestly I think it comes down to personal preference. Listing the more prominent titles I've seen or heard of for better or worse.

Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross
Skies of Arcadia
Tales of Abyss/Symphonia/Vesperia/Baseria
Persona 1/2/FES/Golden/Royal
Xenoblade DE/X/2
Dragon Quest V/VIII/XI S
Final Fantasy 4/5/6/7/8/9/10 Remaster/12 The Zodiac Age
Final Fantasy 14 Shadowbringers
Final Fantasy 13 Trilogy
Final Fantasy 15
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Secret Mana/Trials of Mana
Dragons Dogma
Trails of the Sky Trilogy
Trails of Coldsteel
Golden Sun 1/2/3
Ys Origins/1-8

Witcher 1/2/3
Bulders Gate 1/2
Divinity Original Sin 1/2
Pillers of Eternity 1/2
Disco Elysium
Kotor 1/2
Jade Empire
Dragon Age 1/2/3
Mass Effect 1/2/3/4
Fallout 1/2/3/New Vegas/4/76
Greedfall
Grand Theft Auto 1-5
Red Dead Redemption 1/2
Cyberpunk 2077
 
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Lethal01

Member
- FF7 Remake story is not well put together at all, there are a lot of unexplained issues like those Fate and Whisper beings, newly added content, the change at the ending i did not like at all, the parts with Don, If its convoluted in a similar way to Kingdom Hearts.

-the pacing is inconsistent true especially at the prologue the lifepaths were cut to shorten the story (assumption) but after that part i think it got better, starting with act 1.

-story stakes seem much higher to me, you actually know what you are fighting for and what you are trying to do, as with open world games Cyberpunk isnt much better in that regard though but i still think its more serious and more complicated.

-I also dont understand what you mean by Cinematography, i dont think this is a word i would use to describe a video game.


I really don't think having some mystery mean FF7 isn't well put together. I really never found there was every anything confusing about the whispers, the only thing that makes me go, "what's going on". is the ending, but that's the point. Whispers and fate are very clearly explained. It all seemed extremely straightforward to me, I say this as someone who didn't play the original until after I finished the remake.
Also this may be more subjective but the how high the stakes actually are doesn't really matter to me, I care about the stakes when I care about the characters so I was more invested in Cloud just trying to get paid while trying to be nice to Tifa than I am In V trying to stay alive or save Jackie.

Cinematography is about how things are shot, framed and cut. The cinematography in cyberpunk usually either seems bland or janky to me.

-Also to add Cloud the crew start out similar to many characters in CP, barely introduced and rushed in a way that its hard to care about them, just like you said and i agree with that, but the problem is that also applies to FF. People may seem to forgive it because they are familiar with those characters whereas CP characters are new.

-the game suffers from many pacing problems, they wanted to remake the OG game and tried to expand on 1/5 of it by adding a lot of padded chapters,

-a lot of unnecessary side quests that adds little depth and feels shallow and waste of time, the pacing issues even extend to main chapters like chapter 17 where they split them for no good reason that extend the playthrough of the chapter by a lot making it a boring slog. There is more examples i can give to show the inconsistent pacing of the game, mind you its also linear so its even worse, even the good part of the extended game is Avalanche development still looks generic. I liked that they gave Jesse more time to develop but thinking back at her role in the game its just barely impactful. Moving on to Animation, i think you mean the first person, actually i would say the facial animation in Cyberpunk are good, what was the problem with it? Did you see how they made the animation fit for each language? thats massive imo.

-in the end every encounter ended up me fighting a group of enemies with my skills that i get regardless of how i play, just by progressing i got those skills. party A.I also was awful i had to constantly change to do what is logical and best to do, .

I can really only agree about the pacing issues in FF7 for 2/3 out of 18 chapters and some moments in between. Some of them were mostly gameplay. But the gameplay was good so I never felt like I was going through unnecessary padding even if all that happens in the plot is flipping some switches. Also all the squeezing sucks but Cyberpunk literally made just standing and waiting part of a mission so whatever.

You say that FF7 has the same issue with rushed intros for characters as cyberpunk but I disagree. The first mission of FF7 did a great job of making me enjoy all the characters that I met. I don't care about Jessie because she's key to saving the city, I care because seeing her interact with Cloud was fun. 2077 feels rushed and boring while VII felt short and impactful.

I agree that what they did with the lip sync is a fantastic technical achievement but I don't think it's up to the level of something as handcrafted as FF7. But I wasn't really talking about the facial animation, I'm talk about the little things, V punching a mirror or getting his head smashed into a wall feel weightless and fake. So does the guy swing his blade arms at you doing a chase scene. The facial animation is the one thing about the animation that really impresses me to put it another way.

Gameplay once again, it may be more linear but I think the actual combat system feels fantastic when done well and constantly switching between characters was actually one of my favorite parts.
 
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Jokerevo

Banned
Stardew Valley would be a masterpiece if it wasn't so easy. I can only function if there's impending doom in games, if you give me a lazy chill game I will get bored fast. But if Stardew valley had rent and monthly costs etc and you could go bankrupt if you had a bad summer harvest...sign me the F up..
 
Dark sounds doesnt even honestly feel like a JRPG compared to basically every other game on that list. So with that said JRPG's are fucking trash for the most part. Turn base feels dated AF and games like Monster hunter have the same grind loops of a mobile game. Problem with WJRPG's is there's just not enough. Fallout, the witcher, cyberpunk, star citizen, sea of thieves shit on japan.
 
Recent output - JRPGs. Then again, Soul games are qualified as JRPG's when they're by all intents and purposes an RPG based on western fiction. With that said Persona series has kept its stride, Final Fantasy is back on good feet, and a slew of other smaller Japanese franchises are making their mark.

Western RPG's have taken a dive. Mostly cause Bethesda/BioWare have stunk it up this gen as they were drivers here. Nice to see Guerilla get into the mix tho...
 
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Isa

Gold Member
Jrpgs by far for me. I started with those and OG D&D. I've loved both through the decades. Obviously having a preference at various times, PS2/Xbox gen went to western rpgs due to the freedom of character creation and exploration, but the mid to end PS3/Vita gen I went back to Jrpg's since their output has really picked up quality over the years. I can play so many different styles of Jrpg that are pure quality across the board in regards to art style, polish and gameplay. And most have better stories. I actually had to put down Cyberpunk not for the bugs but for the story, I don't like FPS games much anymore, they try to act like its more immersive but I feel like I'm watching a 3D movie with people shoving objects in my face yelling threeeeeeee deeeeee.

Some story moments that were supposed to be impactful and huge actually took me out of the experience, it felt like I was watching a Call of Duty scripted scene. I prefer 3rd person for this reason, hell give me a cheap visual novel over that shit. A couple of side quests in Yakuza Like a Dragon got me choked up and moved more than a single moment of Cyberpunk. It really is a shame though, western rpgs have really taken a huge hit in quality these past several years. Story, bugs and continued reduction of rpg mechanics just add to the problem. And among my chief grievances is that western games are so bloated with current politics and such that the injection of social issues just kill any desire for me to play them, whereas with all the shit in the world and my life I can play a Jrpg and get lost in some escapist fantasy that doesn't beat me over the head with stupid bs. Also, better looking characters and art helps a great deal. Aside from indies, most western games look the same and age poorly.

I do like both though and there is room for such. Its an interesting ebb and flow seeing each rise and fall over the years. I'm just glad I can still expect quality games from at least one side. Baldur's Gate 3 does look good despite falling off the radar after the initial hype. Aside from that? I can't anticipate anything from Bioware until I see it being praised by actual gamers.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
There is no "JRPG" term or genre. Same goes for "WRPG". "JRPG" is a stupid term that stupid western "journalists" came up in the '90s.

There are RPGs made by Japanese developers and there are RPGs made by Western developers.

So you mean to say there are JRPGs and WRPGs. Cool. Glad we are on the same page.
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
I generally prefer WRPGs. But then again I consider JRPG a genre, but not WRPG. I consider Dark Souls an action RPG, but not a JRPG.

Never really liked the term JRPG anyway and the whole thing gets convoluted.
 

sublimit

Banned
So you mean to say there are JRPGs and WRPGs. Cool. Glad we are on the same page.
tenor.gif
 

Lone Denjin

Member
While my personal preference to JRPGs may be self evident considering my avatar. I do enjoy western RPGs as well almost just as much.
There are many themes in both sides that i like and some i hate in both. For instance i hate the drawn out love herem crap in JRPGs(This is mostly done to please otaku) and i hate that most western RPGs are trying to lecture you on RL issues you are playing games to try to escape from.
The stereotype that JRPGs are teenagers killing god and Western RPGs are HP Lovecraft lore rewritten. They are both fundamentally different in styles and settings but share a lot of common ground. 1/ story 2/ setting /3 characters 4/ gameplay. Visual style you could argue that is important. But even JRPGs vary in style a lot Persona 5 looks nothing like Dragon Quest. Same with western RPGs Skyrim looks nothing like Warcraft.
You can battle individual RPGs together. but i feel you can never get an overall winner of JRPG vs WRPG.
 

Bkdk

Member
This year is similar, cyberpunk ended up not pushing the open world rpg genre forward at any way so my experience for it is similar to ff7 remake and Yakuzaike a dragon. Usually I play JRPG for its character design and Western ones for open world style rpg or open world crpg.
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
I find WRPGs to have more mature themes and more complex characters than JRPGs. It’s also embarrassing how many JRPG characters are still teenagers.
WRPGs for me.
 

Lethal01

Member
I find WRPGs to have more mature themes and more complex characters than JRPGs. It’s also embarrassing how many JRPG characters are still teenagers.
WRPGs for me.

It's almost as embarassing as how totally lacking AAA western game are of none adult protagonists.
 
i dont like JRPGs...but i chose them. JRPGs are a little more defined. Where WRPGS are loosey goosey. Everything is a damn RPG at this point.

also, for the sheer amount of anime looking avatars ive had to see in my life. JRPGs will probably always be king.

u dont see ppl with greedfall avatars
 
It's almost as embarassing as how totally lacking AAA western game are of none adult protagonists.

Not to mention most wrpg have done the whole knights, wizards, ogres and elves setting to death. While strictly comparing to three jrpg protagonists (FF7, FF9 and FF10) , we got a Super Soldier, a Space Monkey, and a Pacific Islander who's really good at Blitzball :messenger_grinning_smiling:
 

NahaNago

Member
Not to mention most wrpg have done the whole knights, wizards, ogres and elves setting to death. While strictly comparing to three jrpg protagonists (FF7, FF9 and FF10) , we got a Super Soldier, a Space Monkey, and a Pacific Islander who's really good at Blitzball :messenger_grinning_smiling:


Completely agree on the knights, elves , and wizard. Using them are okay but make it absolutely interesting/unique when you do so. I used to love anything with fantasy knights when I was younger but now it becomes an immediate pass because it's been done so many times. Personally I would like to see more of an exploration of other nation's version of medieval like fantasy. African, Asian, and South America fantasy but I wonder if it would sell as well as knights and elves.
 

Sentenza

Member
Top down D&D-likes are a snooze fest. Baldur's Gate, Divinity, or whatever, zzzzz.
Knights of the Old Republic however is great. The heritage is acknowledged, yet nudged to the background.

One simple guideline has served me well. A game's quality is inversely proportional to its resemblance to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Just if anyone needed any more evidence that these degenerate weebs are a bunch of tossers without redeeming qualities.
 

Thabass

Member
JRPG is being carried by some of the best stories in gaming right now:

FFXIV Shadowbringers
Persona 5 Royal / Strikers (Yes, after completing Strikers, it's more RPG than mosou to me)
NeiR Automata

These three games right here are holding JRPGs up and it's not even remotely close.
 

Metnut

Member
Like others said, JRPGs really came back strong second half of this generation. Persona 5, FF7R and DQ11 were great games. If we had stuff like Bloodborne, Demon’s Souls, etc., it gets even stronger.

Western RPGs are in a rough spot right now with BioWare and Bethesda releasing a whole bunch of busts. It’s been a lonnnng time since Mass Effect 3 (which a lot of people didn’t even like) and Skyrim released. If one of those studios can finally get their shit together, maybe western RPGs can make a comeback.

Personally, I think the Kingdom Come: Deliverance sequel and Baldur’s Gate 3 are the best hopes for WRPGs. I have no faith in BioWare and Bethesda after their recent flops.
 

futurama78

Banned
Well we got Witcher vs FF7 remake. Cyberpunk is disappointing. I hear FF7 remake is too maybe? But still good? so like well they just got to improve. Witcher seems under budget in a way and FF7 seems restricted in a way so like the future is your design 🤗

Cyberpunk seems like moody quests that stray from the announce or early trailer.
 
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johntown

Banned
If we are talking about today what is considered a modern JRPG then I have to vote WRPG. I loved the JRPG's of the 90's and early 2000's but after that IMO there really have not been too many that I like or really enjoy. I still enjoy a few modern ones but nowhere near the amount of WRPG's that I enjoy.

I don't think we can count souls games in this either as they don't fit the definition of either. Souls are an RPG but in a class of their own and not what you think of when you think of a traditional WRPG vs JRPG.

I like more sci fi and mature story lines and there are not many JRPG's today that do that.
 

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
Peak JRPG for me was the saturn/ps1 era. Witcher/Cyberpunk/Skyrim style games are all I can stand RPG wise now. Funny I still love anime but cant stand Japanese games...
 

sackings

Member
Cant really compare the "traditional jrpg" with turn base mechanics to WRPGs because the equivalent doesnt exist in the west. So you have to include everything considered an RPG. The West hasnt released a better RPG than Dark Souls and that was 10 years ago. And nah, TW3 isnt better than Dark Souls.
 

Mato

Member
I don't think I could choose, nor do I feel inclined to do so. When you put Souls-like games on the same subgroup as something like 13 Sentinels, there is no point in this discussion.
 

Durask

Member
I don't play WRPG so for me it is always JRPG.

Tried Witcher 1 played for 4 hours got bored.
Tried Witcher 2 played for 2 hours got bored.
Never tried Witcher 3 and don't plan to.

Character designs in WRPGs are (at least to me) ugly and I don't like looking at them.
 
I LOVE the Fallout franchise (my house is full of Fallout shit) and enjoyed Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls, The Witcher and Mass Effect. I would gladly trade all those in order to play through Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger for the first time again. Given the choice between every WRPG I've ever played and even just one of the best JRPGs I think it would be a tough call. I'm glad to have both, but I prefer JRPGs despite the retarded number of hours I poured into Fallout and Elder Scrolls.

JRPGs stick in my memory better than any WRPGs. The characters exude personality, the setting are imaginative and then there's the music.

The music alone is a huge part of it. I can hum just about any track from any JRPG I've ever played regardless of how long ago it was from memory. I was whistling the title screen theme from Secret of Mana at work and people recognized it. Listening to the old music with modern orchestrated recordings is always eye opening giving you a real appreciation for these composers and what they are capable of outside the limits of the technology.








When you get to the newer stuff naturally everything shifted to sampled instruments and live recorded sessions.











I could post a thousand examples of music I'll never forget, but for the life of me outside Fallout's main theme and the Elder Scrolls main theme I can't hum a note from memory.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Nier Automata, Demon Souls remake, Final Fantasy VII, Trails of Cold Steel 3, Sakura Wars, Bloodborne

I have to go with JRPGs though I loved The Witcher 3
 
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killatopak

Gold Member
Recent wrpgs have shit the bed.

jrpgs on the other hand have risen from their slump and mounting a comeback.

I guess it’s an ebb and flow.
 
They try to do different things so it’s a weird comparison but in terms of enjoyment no JRPG I’ve played has matched Disco Elysium for me.
 
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