Sorry Rocketpig but I completely disagree on the originality of Western devs... let's look at the RPG genre for example.
You sited Mass Effect, KOTOR, and Oblivion.
KOTOR was great, but it's a 5 year old game. Mass Effect is derivative of KOTOR, Oblivion is completely derivative of Morrowind (but with worse gameplay). A real Western advancement in the RPG genre hasn't been made in years... especially when we look at settings. Medieval world of demons and magic (directly ripped off of Lord of The Rings 90% of the time) or Sci-fi world (directly ripped off of Star Wars 100% of the time). The slight exception to this rule would be the Fallout franchise, but let's face it: Bethesda is currently working on raping that franchise beyond recognition. \
If you look at the Final Fantasy Franchise alone they have gone from medieval to steampunk to sci-fi to whatever the hell FFX was. Star Ocean did Sci-Fi far before Western RPG devs (and far better IMO). JRPGs can also be based in mythology, even ancient Western mythology (Odin Sphere, Valkyrie Profile) and plots range from characters guided by Guardian Spirits (Baten Kaitos), to playing as a sexy super-human android (Xensoaga). Themes range from enslaving superpowered animals to do your bidding (Pokemon), to time travel (Chrono Trigger).
The genres simply don't compare in diversity of themes and styles. That said, Western devs certainly have their strong suits... but it's not in RPGs.
