Nearly every Final Fantasy game since the SNES days (possibly before but I never played I-III for any decent length of time), Grandia 1 & 2, Xenoblade Chronicles and StarOcean 3 (never played 4 and I only vaguely remember 1 & 2). I mean, just take FFVIII for instance. You collect a range of items in the game, but for large portions I didn't even bother having the item command in battle as I could get by based on Junctioned magic. Actually, at the end of most Final Fantasy games I had a whole host of useless items I never needed to use because I either had an equivalent spell or a more powerful/useful ability already available. The items I actually used (healing potions, elixirs, ethers, heroes etc.) were the very items I would be short of or at the very least tactically rationing. Not to mention that most weapons and armour are useless after a short period anyway.

I make the same argument for the likes of Mass Effect 1, Neverwinter Nights or Dragon Age. The problem isn't something that's exclusive to one sub-genre of RPGs. There's also the argument of how the RPGs organise items. Few manage to get an intuitive system together. They usually just boil down to edited/sorted lists or in the worst case scenario, something resembling an Excel spreadsheet.

Now, I could say the likes of the Deus Ex series or Mass Effect 2 & 3 are examples of WRPGs getting inventory systems right, but that wouldn't be very representative.

Funny you mention FInal Fantasy 8 cause every item has some kind of purpose, like giving str+20% to your GF, teaching Quistis limit breaks.  There's nothing in that game that's sole purpose is to be sold for money (Cause you can't).  All the Final Fantasies bar 12 use items as some kind of enhancement to something.  And I agree, Mass Effect 2& 3 get it right, but then again they removed most of it (Which I agree with).

This is a pretty silly conversation. There is no "JRPG" or "WRPG" genres, W - refers to western and J - refers to Japan; these are geographical locations, not something that should be included in the name of a genre; it is irrational to label a genre as "JRPG" or "WRPG".

In addition, there was no term as "JRPG" until after the release of Knights of the old Republic, and it was mostly invented by fans of that game as a negative label to disparage more popular titles like Final Fantasy. The term "WRPG" was just a backlash to this.

What you should be talking about are console RPGs which use lighter more console friendly mechanics vs PC RPGs which use the more complex keyboard and mouse friendly mechanics; in addition PC style RPGs usually focus on a more sandbox style world while Console style RPGs focus on storylines and character development due to the differences - these definitions have been around since the 80's; and are much more accurate, because both Western and Japanese game developers make console and of style RPGs. In Japan, the genre of console RPG is broken down further into turn-based RPGs, Strategy RPG, and Action RPGs, Roguelike RPGs, and Tactical RPGs; and even those are broken down a little further or have hybrid forms - I.e. while Chrono Trigger, Lunar, and Skies of Arcadia are turn based RPGs, they also bring in light strategy elements to varying degrees.

The thing about Mass Effect 2 and 3 is tha they more prominently feature action/adventure elements than RPG elements, and the main reason people enjoy them are due to the action-adventure elements.

Funny you mention FInal Fantasy 8 cause every item has some kind of purpose, like giving str+20% to your GF, teaching Quistis limit breaks.  There's nothing in that game that's sole purpose is to be sold for money (Cause you can't).  All the Final Fantasies bar 12 use items as some kind of enhancement to something.  And I agree, Mass Effect 2& 3 get it right, but then again they removed most of it (Which I agree with).

There were plenty of items that were effectively redundant. Half of Irvine's amunition was useless, the attack/magic stones were just an alternative to drawn spells (and were doubly redundant because spells were useless once Junctioned.... why bother with magic when your STR is at 255?!), and most of the construction items used to upgrade weapons just built up and collected virtual dust with the exception of the few you actually needed, lol.

Now take Final Fantasy VII as another example of redundant items in the series. What was the point of the attack items like "Fire Veil" when Fire3 was easily attainable by the time I got my first "Fire Veil" anyway? The only time I used those items was if I did Yuffie's side quest because your materia gets taken away. By the end I had quite a collection of attack items I didn't ever need to use. And what about most of the nuts? The only useful ones were Carob and Zeio nuts! The rest were just filler. Or the absolutely useless "Easter egg" items like the 1/35 soldiers or the tissues! These were doubly annoying because they took up space in the long inventory list, yet were absolutely useless!

There were plenty of items that were effectively redundant. Half of Irvine's amunition was useless, the attack/magic stones were just an alternative to drawn spells (and were doubly redundant because spells were useless once Junctioned.... why bother with magic when your STR is at 255?!), and most of the construction items used to upgrade weapons just built up and collected virtual dust with the exception of the few you actually needed, lol.

Now take Final Fantasy VII as another example of redundant items in the series. What was the point of the attack items like "Fire Veil" when Fire3 was easily attainable by the time I got my first "Fire Veil" anyway? The only time I used those items was if I did Yuffie's side quest because your materia gets taken away. By the end I had quite a collection of attack items I didn't ever need to use. And what about most of the nuts? The only useful ones were Carob and Zeio nuts! The rest were just filler. Or the absolutely useless "Easter egg" items like the 1/35 soldiers or the tissues! These were doubly annoying because they took up space in the long inventory list, yet were absolutely useless!

There were plenty of items that were effectively redundant. Half of Irvine's amunition was useless, the attack/magic stones were just an alternative to drawn spells (and were doubly redundant because spells were useless once Junctioned.... why bother with magic when your STR is at 255?!), and most of the construction items used to upgrade weapons just built up and collected virtual dust with the exception of the few you actually needed, lol.

What I was trying to get at is "JRPGs" don't fill your inventory with junk and useless armour.