I don't think that's true, WRPG's have elitists who bash JRPG's all the time.  In fact some of them were in this very thread. 

@Valk,

Well I suggest giving one of the newer FF's a shot, perhaps you are one who would be more inclined to like those.

if you've played ffIV and ffVI and ff tactics you've played three of the best games ever. i don't think any western rpg comes close to matching any of those games. the only rpg even close to as good as ffVI in my opinion is chrono trigger, and it just so happens that those two are generally considered the two best rpgs ever.

i think of jrpg's as normal rpgs. they were around way before western rpgs. i mean when did western rpgs start coming out in any number? last gen wasn't it? i love jrpgs but western rpgs are good too. i'd like it if some rpgs started incorporating elements of both. i think kotor is the best western rpg and that game is amazing. but some highly tauted western rpg's just pale in comparison to good jrpgs. the original fable was good but there are literally dozens of jrpgs better. and i don't really see how oblivion is interesting at all. it'd be cool if jrpgs implemented some more character customization elements like wrpgs and more branching options (like dialogue choices and the whole good/evil dichotomy in some games). i definitely don't like the wrpgs system of short main quests with a bunch of side quests. rpgs are supposed to be long epic games, not a main quest that you can beat in 20 hours and then just a bunch of other things to do that players hopefully use to fill up time. not saying side quests are bad but they should be what their name implies, on the side, extra, not something that unless you do all of them you're not gonna have a very long adventure.

JRPG simply means "Japanese Role-Playing Game", and WRPG is "Western Role-Playing Game", they're both RPGs, the difference is that they come from different regions...

Of course, coming from different regions means coming from different cultures, that's why WRPGs are different to JRPGs...

About SRPGs: The reason we make a distinction between Disgaea, Valkyria Chronicles or Jeanne D' Arc with other JRPGs is because they have tactical elements, modifying the experience a lot, that's why we say "SRPG" meaning "Strategic Role-Playing Game", and this genre is very niche, translating in low sales... But they are also JRPGs or WRPGs depending of the region...

JRPG or the first RPG was one of the best genre ever but sadly like others genre is getting old only japan like those RPG now, and developers are not investing to much money on them and thats make the game crappy, even Square Enix is lokking to a much westenr king of games because they now that the genre is dying thanks in half of the popular grow of the WRPG, WRPG was a popular genre in the world of PC gamming but now that consoles are powerfull enought to make those games the genre have a explosion and is a popular genre just like shoters are now. clasics gnre like the JRPG and the hack and slash or action adveture games are dying next to genre to dye are plataformers.

      Western rpgs that would have things in common with JRPG games were coming out in the eighties:  SSI's Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Champions of Krynn, Dark Sun:  Shattered Lands and the earlier Ultima games (notably IV-VI) came out from the early eighties to the late nineties.  Also, I think certain of the Western adventure games from the same era had an influence on JRPGs.  Series like King's Quest from Sierra where the characters played such an integral role in the game.  Everytime I look at FFVII it reminds me of a King's Quest game.  The last and greatest expression of this form of Western JRPG was probably Bioware's Baldur's Gate games in the late nineties.

     The popularity of mmos in my opinion led to the downfall of this much better genre of rpg in the early years of this decade much as the rise of shooters unfortunately led to the downfall of adventure games early in the last decade.  Thankfully, Bioware did continue making these types of games on the original xbox with KOTOR and have continued to the present time.

     The other school of Western rpgs which I feel draws from the first-person corridor crawling games also began in the seveties through eighties with Richard Garriot's Akalabeth, Wizardry, Dungeon Master, and Might and Magic.  And apparently they also started to make a come back in the last gen as you said with Morrowind on the original xbox and PC and they have somehow gained quite a following as seen in more recent games like Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Two Worlds.

     If JRPGs were to disappear overnight, I guess I would have to be very thankful to Bioware, Fable, and The Witcher for continuing on the more storytelling form of the Western RPG, because even though Computer Gaming World did include several of the first-person corridor crawlers in their Hall of Fame back in the day (I think Wizardry and Dungeon Master both made it), I personally always found these games to be unplayable and as a result I haven't tried to play any of them in their modern incarnations. 

      Also certain Western fantasy based rts games are more like jrpgs than are the second group of western rpgs I outline above.  Games like Warcraft III and maybe The Heroes of Might and Magic games are quite a bit like Jrpgs imo.

in all honesty, rpgs in general just haven't really appealed to me. i don't note mind rpg like elements in game like bioshock or call of duty but i just don't have the patience for rpgs. but jrpg's are like final fantasy and rpgs are more like fallout, at least thats what i'm told.

Isn't this true for any 2 groups?

Besides the obvious fact that one comes from Japan and one doesn't, I'd say the difference is cultural.
From my experience, most JRPGs like to focus more on the characters. WRPGs don't care too much for character as they want you to feel like the character is you. So a lot of costumization takes place. The thing is, they both care about the story, and that's always a good thing in my book.
People say that they are two genres because of... xenophobia? I don't know.
What I notice arround these forums is that most people that prefer WRPGs seem to not like JRPGs so much, while people who prefer JRPGs tend to be more tolerable of WRPGs. But I may be wrong about that.

With all due respect, JRPG's have the worst stories ever created and the absolute worst characterization of any genre on earth. I cant think of any JRPG with a "good" story, although some are entertaining but none had a good or even compelling story or dialog. FF series is a running joke especially FFVII which I did play twice because I liked the game but not for the crap story. I see JRPG's as being the same boat as pop music. Everyone seemed to love them back in middle and high school but once they played a few they got old really quick and people had to move on.

For the record, Morrowind has one of the best stories in RPG history but it is not spoon-fed to you. You actually have to uncover the story by investigating and exploring. Other modern (dont want to call them western) types include Kotor which pretty much blows away any JRPG in history in almost every way, Baldurs Gate which you mention is also leagues ahead of JRPG's, the Fallout series, Vampire the Masqurade, Fable, Planescape, Witcher, Gothic, etc. All those games are better than any JRPG I have ever played and I have well over 50 JRPG's sitting in my storage shelf.

That's the biggest BS I ever heard.  I am not trying to offend you so if I did, I apoligize.  Sonic and a ton of other games have way worse stories and characterizations.