One of the constant irritations of a gaming message board is the term RPG. Much of this I think is caused by the genre of games called JRPGs. The root of this may be that JRPG is a poor term for the genre. The term RPG has seemingly taken on the definition of any game where characters have customizable skills. This seems to run counter to the actual term role-playing which implies the player taking the role of someone else and having choices in the character's decisions. JRPGs, though, seem to focus much more on strategy and a more linear story than anything else. The player usually does not have any say in determining the character's decisions, only the small scale battle strategy of the battles. Sometimes, players are given A or B courses of the story, but it is not their actions that determine this. The problem with using customizable skills as an indicator is that there are many games that use customizable skills that people would definitely not consider to be RPGs. While it will most likely never be possible to give the character every option in the world, role-playing games imply that the player does have an influence over the character so that the player can in some way feel that the character is reflecting them or the role that they wish the character to fill. Most JRPGs are story based games where players unlock more of the story through strategy based battles.
The purpose of this thread is not to discuss better or worse. There are a large amount of JRPG fans and it is a well established genre. I just to believe it is misnamed. At their heart, I see JRPGs as a form of strategy game or, in more detail, story based strategy games on a small scale (small group battles).
Important Note: Just to cut off those that wish to turn this into a WRPG/JRPG battle. I think the same argument could be made that many WRPGs are mislabeled. However, the alternative term for those questionable WRPG games already exists, action games. Also, I am not saying that all games currently labeled JRPGs lack the role-playing aspect, some may. However, actual role-playing does not seem to be a criteria for the JRPG label, thus the incorrect name discussion.
Some suggestions:
Small Scale Strategy
Episodic Strategy
Party Based Strategy
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