I do not see why people want the genre to fail. Its silly. The RPG debate between J and W makes no sense. We need Variety. We need them to be different and STAY different. If you do not like one, fine, but there is no reason that one of the two should go.

Just say J ended up dying completely. A good deal of these companies (the exact dev teams) they work on RPGs, so it would be logical they would start making W RPGs. So now we flood the shit out of W RPGs (when flooding occurs we get shovelware and to much "sameness"). Then people start wanting W RPGs to "innovate" and maybe they go back to J type....

Variety is good and there is NO reason to narrow it, when in fact we need it to grow.

Don't be dissing Bioware. Simple? Take a look into the codex sometime. The Mass Effect universe is huge, and the story has multiple branchs. You can be both good and bad, something that needs to be put into every RPG on the market. Everything you do in the first game story choice wise had a effect on the second game. Obviously listing all those things would be spoiler but you should know that.

I like being able to make choices and change the outcome of the ENTIRE GAME. Mass Effect is NOT incredibly simple. Please do not insult Bioware's masterpieces.

the only smart thing anyone has said on the post all day! me included! thanks Ssenkahdavic

Nope--as long as there are dedicated people like the Japanese buying 2 million copies, they'll keep making them.  Thank goodness--because I'm one of the few Americans that would probably never have a reason to buy another console since I hate shooters and find WRPGs a complete borefest due to crappy stories that don't progress because of "open worlds."  JRPGs have a knack for actually making you CARE about the characters--which I love.  At the end of most WRPGs I could care less if any of the characters die because I don't really know or understand them.

Mass effect isn't open worlded and in WRPG you decide the pacing

So do BioWare RPGs

I agree to a degree.  I didn't care for Mass Effect (haven't played Mass Effect 2 yet), but I did like Dragon Age a lot (And I also was a hardcore Baldur's Gate fan back in the day).  I still don't think it has the emotional capacity of a great story driven jrpg like FF.  Heck, I hate to admit it, but Final Fantasy has actually brought me to tears before!  Actually more than once.  Even Lost Odyssey had a strong, emotion tugging story to it.  I just don't think I'd find much joy in gaming anymore if JRPGs disappeared.

When I talk about WRPG borefest, I'm referring more to games like Oblivion--where the story was just a moot point.  I actually finished the game and really don't remember anything about the story because it was simply about exploring and trying to make your character stronger.

Have you played Kotor1 and Jade Empire then?

It's not that WRPGs are getting more popular, it's that they finally figured out how to do it on a console. WRPGs have been big on PC for years, they're just now beginning to come to consoles. The next few years will tell, but I will ALWAYS vote for WRPGs, as I don't see how they could not be obviously the best genre (at least if you're a huge nerd like myself, JRPGs cater to more of an otaku crowd).

I've played Jade Empire.  It was alright.  I don't HATE WRPGs, they're just second rate to me.  I'll still take a WRPG over a shooter anytime, any day.  But I just grew up playing JRPGs--they're what made me a gamer.  A lot of the younger generations didn't have that opportunity so they've fallen in love with action and button mashing rather than a tear-evoking, cut-scene filled story.