The J man likes his jrpgs but doesnt see the role playing in them. The J man sees games like mass effect and fable as true rpgs because you can actually shape your character.All you do in JRPGs is just follow the story and level up thats it its like a action adventure in the J mans opinion

WRPGS are more Action-Adventure than Jrpgs. MOST turn based Jrpgs are about strategy and are slow paced, unlike an Action Adventure. As for being RPGs I wouldn't call either Jrpgs or Wrpgs fitting for the definition of Role Playing. There are very few games that even come close to that definition. I'm fine with that though. It doesn't make it any less of a game.

a jrpg is a rpg because you are playing a role

If that were the case, then Super Mario Bros. is an RPG as well.

Besides, in most JRPGs, you're not "playing" a role, so much as watching it.

You do that is every game so that is going to make the OP very confused.  I think JRPGs can be called RPGs for their stats.

ok.... a jrpg is a rpg because the focus of the game is to play the role. opposed to something like mario or zelda where the focus is about rescuing the princesses. or something like portal where the focus is solving puzzles. etc

How is J Man a man? I want to know.

You're sort of right, in a way. There's three aspects to "role-playing game:" The role, the playing, and the game.

The "role" refers to the stats that you talk about. Instead of skill, things like combat, lockpicking, conversation, and so on are dependant not on player twitch skill, but on statistics. These statistics describe the "role" that the player takes on: instead of fighting at the player's skill level, the player fights at the character's skill level.

The "playing" refers to the fact that the character must be played by the player. Though the player is constrained somewhat in his actions by the aforementioned role, the player must also maintain a certain degree of control over the character. He controls his actions, his conversations, his decisions, and so on, within the confines of that role.

The "game" is what connects the two, translating the actions of the player into the actions of the role. For example, in a game of D&D, when you want to attack a monster, you play by declaring your character's intentions. The game then takes over by forcing the player to make an attack roll to see whether his character hits or misses. Finally, the "role" - the character - carries out those actions based upon the result of the roll.

In other words, a role-playing game, in its most basic form, can be summed up as:

Player intentions ---> game mechanics (character stats tested against something else, often a random die roll) ---> character action

...whereas a twitch-based game goes:

Player intentions ---> test of player skill ---> character action.

Most JRPGs are not true RPGs because they offer few, if any, game mechanics to translate player intentions into character action - and the few that they offer are usually found in combat.

JRPG's are japanese developed games that are mainly about following a certain story line as one or more characters. The gameplay is more focused on a strategic layout, although often action. There are often Certain battle limitations for keeping the game more strategic and lesson action based, such as a magic usage bar etc., Alot of the game is played with the use of many menu's. .... this is the best definition I can think of....

 So how does it make it role playing