Good article. however, I think the problem with the freedom to create a character is that stories tend to seem somewhat conforming (I don't know how to explain this). I kinda prefer the "understand the character you're given" method
secondly, I think one of the reasons jRPGs were popular in the west was that they brought something different. If they evolve to become like WRPGs, they may be left further behind because there's a reason wRPGS can't sell in JP either but we've gotten used to the Japanese style.
S-E's strategy is the best example of this. How has their western strategy helped? I think is better to just do what you do best and people will appreciate it. Create the best game you can instead of worrying about selling it to the west IMO.
A good analogy is probably how when you go on dates as a guy you're advised to "be yourself". I think what this means is you should bring out the best in you instead of trying to pose as someone else because girls would always see through it. The same rule applies to jRPG devs and their customers IMO but I could be wrong. I do know that if JP started making generic fable-like games I'd rather buy the original and save money by skipping the rest.
"Dr. Tenma, according to you, lives are equal. That's why I live today. But you must have realised it by now...the only thing people are equal in is death"---Johann Liebert (MONSTER)
"WAR is a racket. It always has been.
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives"---Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler
