And we can go down the JRPG route by saying THIS is why they are awesome: Their linear story and leveling up allow for the argument that any linearly driven plot game with stat-building is an RPG.  Thanks to JRPGs, we can argue that "God of War" is also an RPG.  Thus JRPGs enable any game short of Tetris to be considered an RPG.  Of course, of Tetris had a linear plot and enable you to gain new powers, it would be an RPG to.  Thank you JRPGs for broadening the RPG genre so much!

Beyond this, one has to say that all videogame RPGs are mere shadow emulations of pen and paper RPG systems, and offer a shadow of freedom to ROLE PLAY, and the system act as a restrictive RPG.

it may be the same experience over and over, but thats why i love 'em. :P
and btw, the story's different every game, as is the Battle System. (if just slightly, but it is.)

he means that you have no choice but to follow the storyline, but thats the same in Bioware Games. (except ME2, where you're hero can die or live. but lets keep things simple, this means simply that there is an alternative ending, and there were 3 endings in X-2). you can say: 'okay, i'll help the elves and kill the wolves!' or you say 'i'll help the wolves and kill the elves!' .. but in the end you still have to stop the Blight in Dragon Age, and no matter what you did back in the forest, the only change is the kind of army you have later. (Elves or Wolves).

and btw, there were alternative options to finish things even in Gothic 1, released 8 (?) Years Ago. So.. is it really evolution to give gamers 5 instead of 3 talking options, where option 4 and 5 are the same as 1 and 2?

No.

If you want to be like that, than almost every game is an RPG.  In almost every game, you play as a character in the game, in other words, you play a role.  Just like almost every game can be an adventure/puzzle/action game.  

The problem is that you can choose the absolute best JRPG story, and ti will fall short of ANY mediocre book, never mind the great ones. Games have never been about linear stories since they are ALWAYS shitty compared to stories on other media. Gameplay and a changing storyline or extremely deep immersion are the aces of video games as a medium, both things which JRPGs lack heavily.

@Vlad: What constitutes a good story is completely subjective.

I thought the story of Chrono Trigger was amazing. Also thought the story of Super Metroid and Shadow of The Colossus were extremely immersive and moving.

All of those had relatively simple narrative. SotC nd Super Metroid had almost no dialogue or text at all. Chrono Trigger is one giant cliche fest. And also, they were all completely linear (save for CT, but then again... not so much). Yet they all managed to move me somehow.

Although I know how those games made me feel when I played them, I also know what I feel doesn't come from the game, but from me. I'm the one who thinks those things. It's an opinion.

You don't get to say what you like is somehow superior to what I like. It's not.

JRPG are repeating themselves and need to innovate. I used to love the genre, they were amazing as a teenager with a PS1. I could buy one for under £20 and the games would last me AGES, which for someone with little to no money, was awesome.

Nowadays they're the exact same thing, and it even feels like alot of them draw more from the cliches then before as if that's kind of what is expected. I think the developers in the east are kind of realising this now, but getting anyone to back a JRPG which defies convention is a difficult task - I think Resonance of Fate looks like it's trying to break the cliché mold somewhat though (Surprise Surprise that Square Enix avoided it).

I do really enjoy WRPG's too but they're all feeling pretty similiar nowadays too. I've probably not played enough of the genre to be it's most reputable critic but what they boast as multiple web dialogue tends to be a question of "Are you a ****head?". When I first played WRPG's (After growing up on the JRPG) they were incredibly fresh and new and innovative, nowadays I don't get that feeling from any WRPG, it again feels like a been here done that.

Starcraft and Half-life are plenty relevant if you're going to say in your post that consoles were overtaking the PC.  I thought you were making a general statement across the board but maybe I misread that though.

And being the only game in town doesn't mean they were dominant of anything.  It's like running a race by yourself.  You may be the winner but there's nothing really to win and if it takes you 2 hours to do the 100 meter dash then you're still awful despite being the winner.  That's why Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior were so amazing.  They were simply better than everything that came before. 

In my opinion, the PC obviously had the edge before consoles had RPGs.  Once those arrived, they blew away pretty much all the PC RPGs through the NES and SNES eras.  The Playstation era is when Bioware/Black Isle were on the scene and pretty much destroyed console RPGs in terms of quality.  S-E putting their games on the PC only helped.  The PS2 was a turning point back in favor of consoles and Black Isle getting killed only cemented that.

Also, Morrowind is not a Bioware game.  I know that was a typo, but that's a really insulting typo to Bioware.  Also, KotOR and JE started the trend of Bioware RPGs on Microsoft systems because Microsoft oftered them $$$ and Vivendi had taken over by then.

No don't get me wrong. As far as games go the ones you listed were amazing. However as far as stories across all media, they pale in comparison to a good book. If you think otherwise maybe you just need to read more and better books....

In a certain sense, videogames offer more of a role-playing experience than pen and paper RPGs.  Videogames force people to play through the eyes of someone else and become then.  However, using D&D as the benchmark of what an RPG is (pen and paper), JRPGs tend to be very linear in how you play them, and have set characters in a party you order around.  It is sort of hand-holding storytelling meets a simulation of paper RPGs, right down to players commanding a party.

What we know as "western RPGs" is mostly stuff by Bethesda and Bioware.  So, what you are likely running across is similar styles when you go from one Bethesda game to another, or one Bioware to another.  I am speaking in terms of console WRPGs.  Beyond that, they tend to treat Tolkin as gospel, and reference them a lot.