So all the WRPG vs. JRPG threads got me thinking… what is the difference?

I think the main difference between WRPGs and JRPGs is the way the stories are told.

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.

For an example, take Fallout 3. The story arc is fairly simple. First you need to find your father. Once you find him, he tells you how to save humanity. When you play the game, you explore a world where you are confronted with choices. I.e. Should I kill everyone in this town? These choices impact the rest of the game play experience.

As a JRPG, the game would start off with a character getting a vision of a man and water etc. Eventually you would learn a cool name for a power source, but you wouldn’t know the significance of it yet. As you played the game you would eventually meet the man in your vision. At that point you would discover that it was your father.

 What do you think?

Also, I haven’t played many JRPGs so I could be way off.

Listen up, guys.  If you really want to compare (linear) "storytelling" between Western and Japanese games, don't compare JRPGs to WRPGs.  Instead, compare JRPG to Western ADVENTURE games: The Longest Journey. Dreamfall. Syberia. Grim Fandango. etc.  In the West, Adventure is the "storytelling" genre in gaming.  In Japan, it's RPG.

I'd say the stories and storytelling in the Western Adventure Game genre are far, far superior than JRPG.

Just a few points I want to make:

What American gamers generally want from our games is GAMEPLAY.  We don't want inflexible linear storytelling with little or no gameplay in some gcinema-pretending-to-be-game.  We can get our "story" fix from films and movies, which are really the superior formats for telling linear stories anyway.  We really don't need to play a game to get a good linear story. When I want a good story and beautiful cinematics, I go to a movie theater or rent a DVD.   Seriously, games can't compare to movies in terms of cinematic storytelling. 

That's the reason why American gamers have generally move away from JRPGs -- because we have movies. Nowadays American developers no longer makes adventure games -- simply because American gamers don't like them and don't play them, but Europeans still make them.

Why do Europeans still make storytelling adventure games?  Europeans, like Japanese, no longer have a prosperous movie and film industry.  Hollywood basically killed off the movie industry in Europe and Japan -- because Americans ARE much, much better at making movies and telling cinematic stories.  Here in America, the best and the brightest artists and storytellers go into moviemaking.  In Europe and Japan, which really do not have a movie industry to speak of, the best and the brightest artists and storytellers either (a) are lured away to Hollywood, or (b) go into making games.... and those guys who go into making games really aren't as good as the best and brightest in the movie industry, i.e., James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan, JJ Abram -- these are the storytelling masters in Hollywood.  No one from Japan can serious compare.

We have James Cameron and Peter Jackson and the best storytellers here in Hollywood.  We really don't need to play games to get a good story.   Japanese, on the other hand, who no longer has a movie industry, have to get their story fix from playing games.

Seriously, if you want to compare who -- the West or Japanese -- have the best storytelling, don't compare WRGP and JRPG.   Let's compare James Cameron's Avatar, Peter Jackson's Lords of the Rings, or Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight -against- Final Fantasy, Naruto, Slamdunk, Dragonball.  The West's BEST against Japanese' BEST.  Let's be honest here: Who do you think comes out atop?  Puh-lease.

Japanese best storytellers are making Final Fantasy and some JRPGs.  The West's best storytellers are not making phucking games.  They are making EPIC MOVIES.

P.S. Do you know the guy who made God of War was a Hollywood reject?  He couldn't cut it in Hollywood... so he went to make games.  He's the top of the world in the game industry.  In Hollywood, he's a nobody and failure.

I'd agree with you except on the attempt to compare and rate.  I just don't buy into the idea you can take one cultures preferred devices - whether for music, literature or games - and compare then to another and say 'and this one is better'.   I can't help noticing that, almost always, the person who feels 'this method is better' is from that culture.

I would image from a Japanese point of view Mass Effect would seem wrong and inferior if looked at the same way.

I like your basic point (probably because it chimes with mine, that the approach in JRPG is cultural and based around conveying a theme using culturally preferred devices) but you just can't compare stuff like that.  Also, credit where credit is due please - it's J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, adapted for the screen by Peter Jackson.  And I think Batman was written a while before Nolan produced his own interpretation of the work!

In terms of storytelling,

The West's BEST > Japanese Best

The West's best in storytelling = James Cameron's Avatar, Peter Jackson's Lords of the Rings, Chris Nolan's Dark Knight, EPIC Hollywood movies

Japanese' best in storytelling = anime and JRPG. (Puh-lease)

Hollywood EPIC movies > anime and JRPG.

Let say if you're a guy and you have a gift in telling stories, do you want to make movies or make games?  You have a penis.  Do you want to go into an industry in which you'll be surrounded by beautiful ladies and become internationally famous like the "King of the World," or do you want to work with other geeks?  Seriously.  That's why the best storytellers and artists in the West go into making movies instead of making games.  If the best in Japanese had a choice, they would go into making movies as well (but they did not because Japan's movie industry is dead, killed off by Hollywood.)

May sounds offensive to all your Japanophiles, but that's just how it is.