When did you give up on the JRPG?

[lestatdark]

Scoobes said:

lestatdark said:

fighter said:
jrpgs didn't evolve towards a mature audience the way other genres did


in most jrpgs you're stuck with the same trivial scenarios and unidimensional caracters (evil guy is being evil cause , hey, he is evil, cute caracters that require protection when they don't need it, strong independent ones that won't protect until they're in love, etc.)


Bioware games on the other hand have the most depth to their scenarios and their references are more mature than before.

Mass Effect 2 for example is being influenced by Dune (checks and balances across the galaxy, racial issues), Ender's Game (utilitarism and alienation) and other brilliant SF novels.

Actually, WRPG's haven't evolved into more mature audiences too, because it has always been it's focus since the Ultima days in the 80s. 

If anything, WRPG's have been stagnated just as much as JRPGs in the same categories, in terms of story-telling. Gameplay wise, WRPGs have deviated much from it's original roots, that's true, but so have JRPGs as well.

The only difference is that JRPGs have been doing it longer. New gameplay mechanics have been implemented on JRPGs since the SNES days, so innovation is hard to come by on the genre today. For WRPGs is easier to innovate because it still has lots of untapped territory to explore, as WRPGs have only recently begun to expand.

 

Are you serious? Or have I read that wrong? Story-telling is the part of WRPGs that has advanced the most in recent years. The story's themselves tend to be somewhat generic but the way they tell them has embraced advances in technology and has decision-making that is incredibly impactful with serious consequences.

There is quite simply more variety and evolution in WRPGs, although I personally think this has to do with what classifies a JRPG. The requirements for a game to be a JRPG are much stricter than "It has to come from Japan". When someone does innovate it's sometimes not even classified as a JRPG anymore (e.g. Demon's Souls).

OT: I haven't completely given up on them, although I do play them a lot less than before. I just find that currently WRPGs are more worthy of my time as they tend to offer newer and more varied playstyles with story's that I find more engaging. The JRPGs I have played this gen just aren't engaging me as much as they did 5-10 yrs ago. The other problem is that I don't own a DS so I'm obviously missing out on a lot of JRPGs that I could potentially find enjoyable.

A little off topic but FFXIII has annoyed me slightly (my latest JRPG). It's tried to concentrate on story but the lack of towns means there is no respite from the constant grinding and battles... even though the battle system is probably one of the best in the series imo. The other problem is that whilst I don't mind linearity, it's so obviously linear (almost to the point of travelling in a straight line from A to B with not a lot in between) through masssive sections of the game with a major lack of side stories/quests and bonus areas other than to go back to constant grinding. Basically:

FFXIII= (Story + Grind)ⁿ

Actually it hasn't advanced all that much, especially if you take a look on how story telling was on Planescape Torment and Fallout 2. The way that the story is being told nowadays is what's different, but that doesn't mean essentialy better. 

Decision making in WRPG's isn't anything new as well, a quick run through Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale will confirm you just that. Plus, don't forget that this all stems from the original Ultima series, which it's epitome, Ultima VIII, pretty much has every basic setting that you see in modern day WRPGs.
Plus, who can forget the expansive Elder Scrolls series, which laid the foundations for a true sandbox experience on WRPGs, especially its second iteration, Daggerfall.

I don't disagree with the fact that WRPGs seem to be evolving more than JRPGs, but it's due to the facts i've laid out in my first post. The breakout of WRPGs on consoles contributed immensily to this evolution into untapped territory. But to say that JRPGs are pretty much the same is one of the most blatant missconceptions nowadays. JRPGs have already tapped into so many different mechanics and have overlapped so many distinct presentantions, that it's difficult to find a true innovation to the genre. Even Demon's Souls stems a lot from the King's Field games.