Are Western reviewers becoming biased against JRPGs?

[Riachu]

bouzane said:
JRPGs are typically repetitive, linear and lacking in any substantial decision making. There are plenty of valid complaints to be made against JRPGs. The only real problem I see with western gaming journalism is the laughable frequency at which they hand out their 10/10 ratings. Instead of bringing up all JRPGs (I would rate a few higher than average) I'd knock down games like Bioshock, Halo 3 and GTA 4.

Being repetitive is not a bad thing.  Look at Diablo, being "repetitive" is what made that game popular in the first place.  Also, you are being unfair towards the linearity and lack of meaningful decision making.  You have to realize that JRPGs are made for Japanese gamers first and formost.  They are linear because Japanese gamers prefer clear goals whereas years ago, no one cared if a game was linear or not, just as long as the game was fun.  However, a game called Grand Theft Auto III came out and narrow minded gamers and critics started to bash games just because they were linear.  I would like to add that games are repetitive by nature so nothing can be done about it.