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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Suspension of Disbelief(Why western fans dislike JRPG's)

 

What is the main reason Westerns dislike JRPGs?

Aesthetics 66 26.83%
 
Suspension of Disbelief 16 6.50%
 
Convoluted Stories 43 17.48%
 
Linearity 24 9.76%
 
They are simple not open minded.... 97 39.43%
 
Total:246
Ka-pi96 said:
Burek said:
My problem with JRPGs is that almost all of them are turn-based.

I find that boring and tedious, tried to play a few and always had to fight falling asleep of boredom.
It's not the only problem I have with them, but is the main one.

I also think that they all look the same, play the same and have the same story.

I gave them several chances, there is no chance I'll ever play one again.

If only that were true. Unfortunately these days almost none of them are turn-based.


Strange, every time I look on the Vita, there is always some turn based game like Neptunia, Persona, Conception, Sorcery Saga etc...

Anyway, that's not my only problem with JRPGs, most others are mentioned already. And there are enough for me not to even pay attention to those games at all.

I really did make an effort, I tried playing those games, I even tried to watch anime, I really wanted them to be appealing to me...but they just don't.



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I'd say it mostly comes down to aesthetics and settings. Characters don't help either.

I tend to see a lot of "Japanese culture doesn't translate well to west" when this topic comes up, but I would say it's the anime mixed with JPOP parts of the culture that are the problem.

I think most people in the west are more than fine with (what many consider) J-WRPGs like Souls and Dragon's Dogma, and I really hope more Japanese devs take that path.



Because no partnership with moutain dew and duritos, no badass heroe with big muscles and a gun to make big explosions 

 

An open minded gamer knows how to enjoy more than western games



Predictions for end of 2014 HW sales:

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Frankly I don´t think they have to appeal to everyone. I mean let´s assume they´d all go Bloodborne/DS/DA/ME style (I actually love Bloodborne but wouldn´t want more than 1 every 2-3 years). They´d change artstyle thus the budget would explode, the Stories would have to be very different and in the style of aforementioned games (aka similar to them) and thus not interesting enough for peole like me, the characters and worlds would look alot more "down to earth" or even worse they´d add a char creator (I hate that).

Now IF all of this were to happen then I wouldn´t buy them anymore. Yes I like the "Convoluted Stories", the "Anime" or "Emo" Aesthetics, the game systems (they way you lvl/fight) and the "linearity" (I assume you mean story progression also personally I dislike Quest-based games, they feel like bad offline MMOS).
I know that these are simply my personal feelings on this, but is it so bad if there are games that don´t appeal to 10m people?

tl;dr; They don´t have to appeal to everyone, just like Witcher doesn´t have to appeal to everyone. People have preferences and that´s good.



      
Yup...RO friggin rocked  

In many japanese games you play as a child, or almost adult.
In many games the main characters are kids and they go and safe the world.

Still nothing beats the jrpg genre for me.



''Hadouken!''

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I dont think jrpgs have convulated stories at all.
Most of them haven't.
Just a couple have complex stories like Xenogears.
And Xenogears story is absolutely brilliant, so its rather a blessing.
The FF's DQ's Breath of Fire's Lunars Suikodens and most others, all for sure dont have complex plots.



''Hadouken!''

The JRPG genre has become stale. It's always the same tropes and cliches. With WRPGs, you have a wide variety of stories, settings, etc. You have Mass Effect with space exploration, Fallout with Post-apocalyptic, Dragon Age/Elder Scrolls with medieval/fantasy, Deus Ex with Futuristic, etc. WRPGs cover a wide range of locales and worlds while, as big a fan as I am of JRPGs, stay in the same realm of teens saving the world with the power of friendship.



"Trick shot? The trick is NOT to get shot." - Lucian

JRPGs are not all the same.
Secret of Mana and Xenogears are both jrpgs.
And they are completely different.



''Hadouken!''

I actually do believe the homogenized, anime-moe look of JRPGs for the past decade has done a number on the western fanbase. Before, during the SNES/PS1/PS2 days, JRPGs had many different art styles and systems. SaGa was different from Mana, Mana was different from Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy was different from Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest was different from Chrono, Chrono was different from Lunar, Lunar was different from Grandia, Grandia was different from Wild Arms, Wild Arms was different from Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts was different from Shin Megami Tensei, Shin Megami Tensei was different from Tales, Tales was different from Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Dragoon was different from Suikoden, and so on and so forth.

There was far more variety in art back then than there is right now. Could be Japan's culture shift to JPOP and Lolicon or whatever, but it's clear there's a divide between the games released in the 90s and early-mid 2000s versus the games released in the latter 2000s and early-mid 2010s.

As a JRPG fan, I feel it too. I buy a few of the JRPGs being made today because I like the genre (like various NIS/Idea Factory/Compile Heart/Gust games), but they're definitely not what I grew up on. I find myself playing these games less nowadays than I would've done a decade ago if they were replaced by the games I named in the first paragraph.

Perhaps it could be because Square-Enix is no longer a juggernaut. Their dip in quality, domestic releases coincides with the cultural shift. When Square and Enix were at the top of their game in the 90s and early 2000s, there was a plethora of different choices to choose from in the JRPG genre because other companies were enjoying the exposure these games had. Now, all I see are Compile Heart/Gust/Idea Factory/NIS and there's a very homogenized look. I shudder when people say JRPGs have never evolved - if anything, they were at their experimental and creative height during the late 90s and early 2000s. When that went bust, well...

Tales and SMT are really the only relics left from the age being consistently released and supported, at least in the West. Dragon Quest fans are left in the cold while the mainline Final Fantasy games take time. I do miss those old JRPGs, though. A shame that companies just don't make 'em of that ilk anymore.



I just don't like them cause I find them boring. I don't like WRPG's either though.



    

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