If you think that you should try the Icewind Dale series of games. Bloody difficult!

Oblivion kinda forces you to make up your own story though, because the one already "existing" is so poorly told. Hmm, I'm probably making some enemies now, but I really don't like Bethesda RPGs... usually they're just... huge worlds filled with some random stuff (be it caves, monsters, towns or whatever, most of them haven't got any charm anyways, nicely supported by the huge amount of glitches), while the main story shifts into the background after 2 hours of playing or so... That's not freedom, that's boredom :D Haven't played Fallout 3 though... but generally, when it comes to WRPGs, Bioware >>> Bethesda.

On Topic:

"WRPGs are up front. In most cases the story arc is revealed at the beginning. The player acts as the protagonist completing mini-stories within the main story arc. The player is forced to make choices along the way.

JRPGs don’t tell you the overall story arc. As the player progresses through the game they learn story elements that reveal the elements of the story. In some cases, the protagonist you play knows more than the player. The player is drawn into the story by the mystery surrounding the story arc. As the player continues through the game, various story elements are revealed."

I don't really agree with that... take Star Wars: KotoR as an example, with this description, it would be a JRPG ;)

It's true that JRPGs tend to be more linear, but that's not always the case... but then again, I also can't really decide on another general distinction between the two... at least not gameplay-wise.

Are there any JRPG's that offer the kind of broad choices that frequent WRPGs?

I haven't played Star Wars: KotoR, so I can't really comment.

But I never implied that JRPGs were more linear then WRPGs. WRPGs can be linear too... but the way the story is told is different. These are just  some broad generalizations anyway.

Shenmue, maybe... though the story as a whole was also very linear. And it's debatable if you can call it an RPG ;) However, there are quite a few WRPGs that are rather linear (in some way), so that was the reason why I said it's not always true that JRPGs are (much) more linear.

@silicon: Yup, sorry, I wasn't really referring to you in the last sentence... just because the general flow of the discussion goes in that direction ;) Though after thinking a bit more about it, the relations between the characters/NPCs is probably really what differs the most... actually like jayderyu pointed out before. You could say that the characters in WRPGs are often a bit more shallow, but also more flexible than in JRPGs (though especially Bioware makes a excellent job at managing both at the same time indeed)

Romancing Saga reminds me of Dragon Age and/or Oblivion a lot. After the first hour or so it's really up to you on what you want to do. The battle system is more entertaining in Romancing Saga IMO.

TANGENT!

The battle systems in a lot of JRPGs are very stale, but there are a few great battle systems (Xenogears, Kindom Hearts, Xenosaga, Wild Arms 3+4). I have yet to find a WRPG with a fun fighting engine (Oblivion being the worst I've ever played).

And where does Demon's Souls fall in terms of WRPG or JRPG. It's very non-linear and very light on story, but it's a Japanese game. Does it depend on how it plays or where it was made? Sholiiite!

I actually thought DA:O had a really fun fighting engine! (but that's just personal preference I guess) DA:O was so fun for me it's hard to get into any other game atm. =P  I didn't get into Oblivion either though.

Demon's Souls I think is a progression... they took the best of what was available and did it right imo.

If you want an WRPG with a good battle system go play something like icewind dale thats based on the Dungeons and Dragons system. Or for something more action based and real time Diablo 2.

The reality is that two are very different beasts. JRPGs are in general more linear and lite on the actual roleplaying whereas WRPGs generally are more influenced by their pen and paper ancestors and thus focus on providing a blank slate character which the player melds to their liking and more choices.

Thats not always true though. Planescape torment has the nameless one as its main character whose very well fleshed out whilst allowing a huge amount of choices for the player. More roleplaying and the streangth of character development isn't always a tradeoff.

Anachronox on the other hand is a pc WRPG influenced by JRPG's and have a turn based system and is more linear.

Theres plenty of variety if you're willing to look for it.

Damn I was meaning to mention Dragon Age as the most enjoyable fighting WRPG fighing engine to date (The sound effects are so satisfying), but in terms of action oriented RPGs it's extremely inferior to the Star Ocean series since that's basically how the Dragon Age system operates. You can hit X like crazy and assign specials to buttons while the A.I. controls the rest of the party or micro-manage each party member action by action. The "Tales of..." series over all of course.

Over-the-top melodramatic soap operas with cheesy vomit-inducing dialogues and cookie-cutter unrealistic characters.

Guess which one -- WRPG or JRPG -- is it?