| rocketpig said: I think the gameplay diversity comes more from the bulk of what is considered "JRPG" while WRPG is a pretty narrowly targeted genre. If you include games with elements of role-playing in them, the list balloons. In your opinion, what defines "JRPG"? Because some of the games you're listing are so completely different from one another that I'm not seeing anything that links them other than the genre they're lumped into. Is it story? If so, why aren't we including other story-heavy games like BioShock or Dues Ex that include some role-playing? While you're including card-based games, why aren't we talking about Puzzle Quest? If we're including action games, what about quasi-platformers with exploration like Ratchet & Clank or San Andreas (which actually had quite a few RPG elements in it)? There are loads of RTS & sim games with RPG elements, too. It just seems that in the west, "RPG" is more uniformly defined and many games are just thrown into another genre because they cross over quite a bit. I think this argument is really boiling down to semantics over a term. The term JRPG seems to include many other games that simply don't qualify as RPG in the western world. |
An RPG should have character statistics and a method of customizable stat increase or skill points (leveling of some sort with distributable points). When you broaden the genre you can get into games where you just acquire new abilities as you progress or games that have items that level up rather than actual characters that do.
Now, Puzzle Quest and Deus Ex (I hate how everyone keeps spelling it Dues, it's not even pronounced deuce it's pronounced Day-Us) absolutely are RPGs. Bioshock is in the category of the "extended RPGs" or games with RPG elements but without that basic character stat increase infrastructure. Ratchet & Clank is just a game with a bunch of guns you can buy. Not sure why you keep bringing it up.
A JRPG is an RPG developed in Japanj obviously, but there are other things that are applied to it that separate it from the WRPG such as a strong plot focus and linear design.
BTW, I disagree that the WRPG as you define it is at all related to the Pen & Paper RPGs. More related to a children's choose your own adventure book. There are multiple endings, but they are all pre-written. An MMORPG is far closer to the Pen & Paper form. The Pen & Paper RPG is a multiplayer experience by nature.
