HolyBaikal
Banned
My apologies if this topic already exists, and recently enough to be bumped, even. I figure it would, but I don't see it(not that easy to search for). I'm a bit surprised such an obvious subject doesn't already have dozens of threads.
But here is my attempt. My apologies and please lock if there's a thread to bump.
First of all, there's a lot of different opinions and opinion pieces on the subject I can start the thread out with. On one extreme, there are people who think that that jRPGs do not exist. Sometimes very adamantly so as if a defense of the genre. And that all RPGs should just be called that. Or at least that the terms are a bit flawed. On the other hand, you have people who are adamant that jRPGs and wRPGs are two totally, completely different genres of video game. Although as well maybe the idea that the terminology is flawed.
Certainly there are people in both camps, people who more strongly believe they are both "just RPGs" or the same genre, or that they are two very different genres. And both make, in my opinion, a lot of good points about the subject. Admittedly, the video examples I gave aren't perfect examples of two different ways of thinking, and jfreedan and Extra Credits probably agree far more than they disagree(they key points in particular are identical, I don't know why I used them as a contrast at all, bad idea). Perhaps they weren't the best for the point, but the two different camps do exist.
And of course, the only reason we have this conversation and why it is so popular, is because jRPGs were culturally dominant during the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation era of video games. Often considered peaking in popularity during the PlayStation 2 era. However, right after their most successful era, the Western RPG came into mainstream popularity for the first and took the console sales better than jRPGs. And thus for the first time, the average person associated the word "RPG" with more than just one kind of RPG, the jRPG.
This shift from wRPGs being unknown while jRPGs were a fairly mainstream genre of the PlayStation 2 days, to days where wRPGs were more popular than jRPGs in the XBOX 360 era(it was the first new generation console to show that shift). Was a very major market shift and sparked many discussions and a minor culture war in the role playing game. Despite the fact this reason has brought it to our attention, it has always been a discussion worth having. It is merely a more common discussion now.
So we'd might as well have it. There are certainly anomolies, but there are certainly differences in tendencies between role playing games coming out of the West, and role playing games coming out of the east. Having branched out from each other nearly as much as Western and Eastern animation in my opinion, despite both coming from a Western origin. Since a lot of people generalize what makes a jRPG or wRPG, like turn based combat or so forth, I think we need to qualify, what exactly makes a jRPG?
All right, let's have at it.
But here is my attempt. My apologies and please lock if there's a thread to bump.
First of all, there's a lot of different opinions and opinion pieces on the subject I can start the thread out with. On one extreme, there are people who think that that jRPGs do not exist. Sometimes very adamantly so as if a defense of the genre. And that all RPGs should just be called that. Or at least that the terms are a bit flawed. On the other hand, you have people who are adamant that jRPGs and wRPGs are two totally, completely different genres of video game. Although as well maybe the idea that the terminology is flawed.
Certainly there are people in both camps, people who more strongly believe they are both "just RPGs" or the same genre, or that they are two very different genres. And both make, in my opinion, a lot of good points about the subject. Admittedly, the video examples I gave aren't perfect examples of two different ways of thinking, and jfreedan and Extra Credits probably agree far more than they disagree(they key points in particular are identical, I don't know why I used them as a contrast at all, bad idea). Perhaps they weren't the best for the point, but the two different camps do exist.
And of course, the only reason we have this conversation and why it is so popular, is because jRPGs were culturally dominant during the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation era of video games. Often considered peaking in popularity during the PlayStation 2 era. However, right after their most successful era, the Western RPG came into mainstream popularity for the first and took the console sales better than jRPGs. And thus for the first time, the average person associated the word "RPG" with more than just one kind of RPG, the jRPG.
This shift from wRPGs being unknown while jRPGs were a fairly mainstream genre of the PlayStation 2 days, to days where wRPGs were more popular than jRPGs in the XBOX 360 era(it was the first new generation console to show that shift). Was a very major market shift and sparked many discussions and a minor culture war in the role playing game. Despite the fact this reason has brought it to our attention, it has always been a discussion worth having. It is merely a more common discussion now.
So we'd might as well have it. There are certainly anomolies, but there are certainly differences in tendencies between role playing games coming out of the West, and role playing games coming out of the east. Having branched out from each other nearly as much as Western and Eastern animation in my opinion, despite both coming from a Western origin. Since a lot of people generalize what makes a jRPG or wRPG, like turn based combat or so forth, I think we need to qualify, what exactly makes a jRPG?
All right, let's have at it.
