According to "metacritic", the top5 HD games for each sub genre are

JRPGs
1) valkyria chronicles - 86
2) Final Fantasy XIII - 83
3) Eternal Sonata – 80
4) Tales of Vesperia – 79
5) Lost Odyssey – 78

WRPGs
1) Mass Effect 2 - 96
2) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – 94
3) Fallout 3 – 93
4) Mass Effect 1 - 91
5) Fable 2 – 89

So which one do you prefer?
For me, it will be definitely WRPG's. I've played all 5 of those Wrpgs and they all deserve those high scores.

WRPGS without a doubt. JRPGS were hitting a stride with the instant, free-flowing gameplay of Secret of Mana, but have since reverted into the whole "Attack, Magic, Item" system popularized by Final Fantasy.

Plus, I like masculine looking male protagonists. JRPGs have males like Cloud and Sephiroth who look like females in complete drag.

Most definately jrpg's and they deserved higher scores. How tales of vesperia and lost odyssey got such average scores is crazy. I hardly ever like the stories in wrpg's most of the times they suck.

JRPGs are my thing.

Though I haven't tried too many WRPGs (of those listed, I couldn't play through the Fallout 3 demo, Fable 2 is probably my most regretted full-price buy this gen; shooter stuff keeps me from Mass Effect).

Usually I also like Japanese character design better, for both girls and guys. Same for stories.

JRPGs going back to Final Fantasy 2 and earlier have always been story driven to the extent where they constrict non-linear, free form gameplay as most recently seen in Final Fantasy 13.

WRPGs such as the Fallout series, Elder Scroll series, Fable series, Borderlands, and on have the story as a backdrop to the mostly non-linear gameplay. There are exceptions such as WRPGs developed by Bioware ala Mass Effect.

What I love most about a game such as Fallout 3 is that character levels are not everything. If I want to go kill some Super Mutants after exiting the vault, I can take a very long and perilous journey to the crashed UFO, pick up the Alien Blaster, and melt faces. Conversely, I remember plugging hours into getting those extra 2 to 5 levels in Final Fantasy 2 because the boss at the end of the cave was unbeatable unless I grinded those extra few levels.

Jrpg's all the way, they have always been better imo and after dragon age origins I have give up on Wrpgs altogether, but looking at those lists I am Biased, the Wrpg list is markedly close to being an accurate (my) bottom 5 games of all time and FF13 is my favourite game ever, eternal sonata is up there too, the rest fall somehere in the middle. It would have been nice to see atelier rorona on there and ar tonelico but I'm guessing they weren't released in the west. they are a lot better imo than the other Jrpgs listed. This is just my opinion and I don't expect anyone to agree with it but I just wanted to put my support in the Jrpg hat. I do like some western rpg's, Baldurs Gate 2 and Arcanum were great.

WRPGs. I really liked oblivion. Of the 5 JRPGs listed, I only own Vesperia, and despite beating symphonia 3 times and abyss twice, I couldn't bring myself to beat it.

This gen has been pretty good for both on an individual basis; I enjoyed Valkyria Chronicles (though it's more of an SRPG rather than JRPG), and Lost Odyssey is an excellent Final Fantasy.

That said, I've been playing the Mass Effect games for the past couple of weeks. Those two alone kick the JRPGs I've played this gen right in the shins, and that includes the handheld games.

it looks like they are biased to wrpg's

i put alot of hours into oblivion,but i couldn't get into fall out at all

but i prefer Valkyria chronicles,Dragon age,Demons Souls and WKC,all which i am playing at the moment

i haven't played any of the others yet,

WRPGs. My ranking would be:

1. Fallout 3
2. Mass Effect 2
3. Final Fantasy XIII
4. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
5. Valkyria Chronicles
6. Mass Effect
7. Blue Dragon
8. Lost Odyssey
9. Borderlands
10.Fable 2

It's getting close between JRPGs and WRPGs, but the gap will widen after this year (Two Worlds 2, Gothic 4, Fallout New Vergas, Fable 3)