I think that you have made a fundamentally flawed assumption: that suspension of disbelief is achieved by "tricking" the player with elaborate explanations and realistic visuals. This is not the case. The key word in the traditional term is "Willing." Willing Suspension of Disbelief. We know fiction isn't real, that it's not real. No amount of elaborate backstory will draw us in by tricking us. Suspension of Disbelief isn't something I, as a writer, cause. It is something the reader or player volunteers as their end of a sort of contract. They agree to provide their attention and the writer agrees to provide a story worthy of that attentiveness.

Therefore, the issue many JRPGs have is that their writing is either poor or just doesn't cross cultural bounds. Bad writing, regardless of it's elaborateness, will not maintain suspension of disbelief in the reader. Because it fails to hold up the writer's end of the deal. And then the issue of cultural bounds: games heavily rooted in Japanese culture - Persona (from my understanding, not a player of it myself), Youkai Watch, etc are rooted in Japanese culture, folk or otherwise. It's got little to do with realism; unrealistic stories have drawn in western and eastern viewers/players/readers for centuries. But it has to be internally consistent and engaging. Failing to be those, the Willing Supsension of Disbelief will be broken.

During 1990s JRPGs turned into JPOP culture. It also changed itself for cosplay culture. And not to mention subpar gameplay that havent seen much innovation.

A main reason why some of my friends detest me exponentially when said type of RPG is brought up. "Anime-RPG" games to them are an outright abomination and disgrace for not just JRPGs, but all RPGs. If I mention a game like Omega Quintet, Disgaea or even Persona, I literally get drenched in a tsunami of criticism.

Either way, be it said style, JRPG or otherwise, to me, a good game is a good game.

The anime tropes riddled in those games just... turns me off completely.
I used to watch some animes as a kid but now; eww, the high school settings, demon vs angels/man, irritating dialogues, etc...

LOL @ Gears being labeled a WRPG.  I guess Halo and COD are also WRPGs

As many have already stated, one of the big turnoffs of modern JRPGs for western gamers is their hyper-anime character / environment design and plotlines.  JRPGs also tend to recycle the same story and gameplay tropes over and over again with little variations between IPs.  Some WRPGs are guilty of this too, but I find there's usually more variety to them.  The difference between turn-based and real time combat also plays a big factor in westerners' likes and dislikes of JRPGs.

Another big turnoff is the the fact that most JRPGs are pretty strict when it comes to the "Role" aspect of Role Playing Game... i.e. you're usually stuck playing as fixed character or characters with no ability to personalize or customize them beyond the typical weapon / item upgrades found in just about every game in the genre.  Most WRPGs on the other hand allow almost limitless customisation of your character from their race, sex, appearance and personality, and allow you the freedom to customize and upgrade their stats and other gameplay characteristics based on your preferred playing style.

And last but not least, another big difference between the two genres is that WRPGs typically feature true open worlds that allow the player to progress in practically any way they see fit, whereas JRPGs typically feature a linear quest / storyline progression that consists of traveling from hub area to hub area and the occasional "dungeon" in between.

Tone down the anime likeness abit and most JRPGs will probably do better in the west by that 1 move alone.

;_ ; the sad truth... to many damn Action-rpgs, to few turn based ones.

Pretty much, JRPGs are too anime. A lot of people say the western AAA industry is doing too many sequels but really the japanese console JRPG industry is just as risk-averse and focused on what works as the west is. They just seem to have put their focus on small, cheap games made for the anime fanbase that they can survive on without selling a lot of copies and have thus increasingly worked themselves into a niche of anime tropes, fanservice and uninspired game design.

There would really need to be a good amount of money coming into the market vie investors that are willing to try some more risky projects for developers to be able to try and make something more globally appealing as I believe that, also quite comparable to modern anime, studios do not necessarily want to only make those games and may want to be more creative.

Not enough testosterone.

Huh, what?

You say this when the most popular movies in the west right now are superhero flix? O_o