How is a JRPG an RPG? The J man has to know.

[Millennium]

jesus kung fu magic said:

Millennium said:

JRPGs use the same close sense of perspective that other kinds of RPGs -tabletop, WRPG, and otherwise- do. Almost every game involves the user controlling an onscreen character of some kind, but RPGs of all stripes pay particular attention to putting the gamer into the onscreen character's shoes: in particular, trying to make the player feel what the character feels.

The major twist that JRPGs put on this particular theme is that the character isn't created by the player. This doesn't make it any less a matter of role-playing than, for example, a tabletop RPG using pregenerated characters. Some game designers, such as Sakaguchi and especially Nomura, have done some interesting experiments. with manipulating the player's emotions using this technique; witness Kingdom Hearts for a strong example.

So I turn your question back on you: how does this make it not role-playing?

But according to your logic any action/ adventure game with a good story can be an rpg .To feel the emotions of the character is because of a good story and how its told not because its a JRPG. The J man doesnt consider JRPG as role playing because you dont play the role you want and your role in the game is always dictated by the game. It goes much more than the character being created its choosing your own path that makes it role playing. Although the J man likes his JRPGS , he feels that he is riding on rails when going through the quests , that he has no control over what the character says or does.Its like the game is telling the J man " do what we want or shut up" and the J man wont stand for that. Thats why the J man does not consider jrpgs role playing games

The thing is, just having a good story doesn't make an RPG. The Metal Gear Solid franchise, for example, is famous for having good stories, yet no one calls it an RPG series, in part because it's difficult to feel for the characters. Similarly, there are plenty of RPGs, even among those considered classics, with paper-thin stories. Consider the first Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games for examples of that: you'd have a hard time arguing that these are not RPGs, yet the stories are as deep as the paper the manuals are printed on. They're glorified sandboxes, essentially, with no story other than what the player writes.