No, sadly it just doesn't pay that well. But the West will buy stuff like FFXIII, just to rant about how rotten this series is nowadays, how much better it was before, to getoffourlawn...

My top 3:

FFIX
Grandia III
Persona 3

My other favorites include (in no particular order):

FFVII
FFVIII
FFXIII
Lost Odyssey
Legend of Mana
Legend of Dragoon
Persona 4
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Vesperia

@ red

Unfortunately I don't think it has anything to do with the quality of the game. FFXIII had a great story, it was very challenging, great characters (except for Snowe ), and a great battle system. I don't like all Final Fantasy games but I thought FFXIII was one of the better Final Fantasy's.

I am a little bit worried about FFXIII Versus only in the sense of the real time combat. I like JRPG's precisely because of the turnbased combat. I feel like I have to be a lot more strategic rather than just reacting to the battle.

FFVIII has more realistic human proportions than the other games in the series, IMO. Example:
http://youtu.be/OlfH3r780So

I'm looking forward to that. Turn-based combat is fun and all, but I much preferred the combat in, say, Kingdom Hearts. But then again, I'm a big fan of third person action games like Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry as well, so seeing a game like that with RPG elements makes me nerdgasm.

I've got a question about JRPGs. I never saw the term "JRPG" before coming to these forums and I'm honestly still not entirely sure as to what its meaning is. I would assume it seems self-explanatory in that it just means "Japanese RPG"... meaning it refers to any and all RPGs made in Japan. I don't understand why Japan's RPGs alone are singled out into their own group and we certainly don't call Bethesda's games ARPGs (American RPGs, although I would call them the other "ARPG" - action RPGs), Polish RPGs PRPGs, or German RPGs GRPGs, but rather collectively call them all WRPGs and I wonder how the gaming community will react when an Eastern country other than Japan decides to release an RPG... or maybe they already have. Anyway, regardless of my disagreement of RPGs needing to be classified based on where they are from, it seems gamers who already do that don't want to do that. For example, Demon's Souls is a Japanese RPG. It was made in Japan by Japanese citizens working in a Japanese company and was originally made in the Japanese language, yet I've seen people deny that it is a JRPG (Japanese RPG). I get the gist of why they don't place Demon's Souls under the same category as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest games because of the different art styles, but I don't agree with it nor do I understand why, then, they would use the term "JRPG" but then refuse to accept that Japanese RPGs don't fall under the category of... Japanese RPGs.

Why create a genre with the name "Japanese RPGs", then deny the acceptance of Japanese RPGs into that category? Yes, I see that by JRPG, people were referring to the specifically-stylized RPGs of Japan, but why use such a binding term as "Japanese RPG/JRPG" for those games when not all Japanese RPGs would fit under such a category? Are they not still Japanese RPGs? Does the origin (not the intent of those who use it) of the term stem from a lack of foresight, a failure to realize not all Japanese RPGs do what is claimed, a lack of creativity, an ethnocentric way of trying to strike against the culture of Japan by forcing Japanese games one doesn't like under the category that basically means "all RPGs from Japan" (I've seen the irrational hatred for/pretentious assumptions of JRPGs and, in some cases, Japanese culture, in general, on western websites; perhaps it's partially tied to the numbers of PC/western console, such as the Xbox, gamers who don't have platforms that play Japanese RPGs and just need a reason to hate what they can't have and further their own personal ego or comfort themselves on their choice of platform), or something else? This has been gnawing at my mind for a while, now, and I'm curious to know what others think.

Anyway, my favorite Japanese RPGs are:

Final Fantasy XIII
Dragon Quest VIII
The Pokemon games I've played
Kingdom Hearts II
Demon's Souls

Because Eastern countries other than Japan don't make RPGs, they make "free" MMOs that consist only of grinding; generally called "Korean MMOs".

JRPG doesn't necessarily refer to the origin of the game, rather the origin of the gameplay style.

Onimusha Dawn of Dreams. The soundtrack is [censored] amazing.

What about when Eastern companies do make RPGs? What about the Japanese RPGs that don't follow the criteria of what people assume are required for a game to be a Japanese RPG (Demon's Souls, King's Field, the upcoming Dark Souls)? Are they Japanese RPGs or not? Why use the term "JRPG", which means Japanese games must be of that gameplay style to be considered Japanese games (which makes no sense), for the gameplay style?

Because that's where it originated. Back when most people only knew of console RPGs, then there was no separate designation. But when computer technology advanced and a different style of RPG emerged, they needed some way to differentiate the two.

Couldn't they have used a different term that wasn't as culturally binding?

Can you think of anything? The people who coined the term were probably just ordinary gamers, not a panel of professional genre-namers.

After one question, I'll certainly try to make up something. What did you mean in your earlier post by differentiating between console RPGs and whatever else they are to be separated from?

The term is older than a lot of the RPG variations floating around these days, from back when the original "archetype" games were first creating genres. Some of the first, most popular, most defining games to be called RPG's were very different from each other, and it so happened that they were separated by where they came from. The Ultima and Wizardry games from the US, and Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest from Japan. Western RPG's would tend to focus on exploration and customization, while those from Japan had a more linear take revolving around telling a story with set characters. They've since split/been copied into many different games, but the different styles are still apparent; a JRPG will often have an overhead view, cutscenes, specific characters, and a detailed story to follow. Western RPG's would often be first-person, have large, complicated dungeons, and blank-slate characters, reflecting the pen-and-paper style games they were generally inspired by. It's not the perfect word, especially now that the genres are both splitting and blurring, but it's the word many gamers had come to associate with that specific type of RPG, and people don't give up their habitual words easily.

As far as culturally binding, the United States and Japan are by far the biggest game-makers, and back then, they were just about the only game-makers. Simply calling them "Japanese" style RPG's was an easy label.

Early 8-bit and 16-bit consoles were ruled by Japanese companies, and they only had JRPGs. Computers of the NES era did have some WRPGs, but the graphics were very primitive and computers were expensive and mainly used for work purposes.

When computer gaming gained some steam, I imagine there was quite a bit of confusion because of how different the computer and console RPGs were. They were both technically RPGs, but the console RPGs relied more on narrative, characters, and linear progression; while computer RPGs were more about building a character or team and going on adventures, a digital Dungeons and Dragons.

If what you're saying is true, then why not differentiate them by just calling them console RPGs and computer RPGs, respectively?

That would be even less descriptive than JRPG's at this point, with consoles and computers being more powerful and widespread, and games very frequently being released on multiple platforms.

CRPG and.... CRPG. Get it?

No, it's console RPG and computer RPG. :stare:





Why must everything have an acronym? Kids these days always trying to shorten and everything and be in a hurry...

Yeah I know what you mean.

Well I gotta go play my Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game now, ciao. :teehee:

Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts.

How has no one mentioned the Shadow Hearts series!? ( excluding the last one)

An RPG, with the a DARK story line and possible the best side quests ever!!

Someone has :whisper:




Also meant to put it in my post but forgot somehow. I preferred the first game to Covenant and I don't like how they

Favorite JRPGs I've played in no particular order:

Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy 12
Pokemon(all)
Star Ocean 4: Last Hope
Dark Cloud 2
Kingdom Hearts(1, 2, BBS)
Suikoden
Suikoden 2
White Knight Chronicles
Saiyuki: Journey West

I did, too. Really dig that one. But I hearsay the first one has outrageously bad voice acting in the English version, is that true? Might put a lot of people off, since this series has such a strong connection between sequels, unlike most other Japanese ones.

Classic. Simply classic.