[Taylah Illies]

I enjoy the occasional JRPG, if the reviews I read about it make it seem worth it. I agree that most JRPGs don't do enough to set themselves apart from the rest of the JRPGs out there, and the ones that do try usually use some sort of gimmick already used by a previous JRPG that was trying to set itself apart as well. Still, I don't hate JRPGs, I like them, but they aren't the kinds of games I would play if I wasn't in the mood for one.

[Elle H]

Forgot about the Celes suicide scene eh?

She thought she was the last [censored] human on the entire planet, it's not like she tried to commit suicide because people "don't get her" or some [censored] !
How does that have anything to do with emo?

I mean imagine, not only are all your loved ones dead, every person you ever knew, no, EVERY single person on the entire planet is dead, except for you. Even if that wouldn't make you commit suicide, it atleast would put you in a helluva bad mood

[Julia Schwalbe]

I was only about 8 or 9 when I played it lol. It was very complicated at the time. I didn't know how to Junction my abilities or manage magic in general. I found the menu system very confusing. My aunt who helped me said I should try to create magic from triple triad cards and items but i just found it hard to grasp. I still have FFVIII on disc and backed up on PSX. I got up to the president assassination on the train in Timber way back in 2000. But If ill try it again i suppose the beginning would be the most logical thing to do.

[Roberta Obrien]

What was confusing about FFVIII? You junction your abilities, and then it plays out like any other ATB game. I always hear that lame "drawing magic suxxx!!" complaint, but guess what? Just make your GF create magic from items that monsters drop. I beat that game at least 4 times and not once did I have to stay in a battle and keep drawing magic from an enemy.

So you exchange one big waste of time with another not-that-big (depending on your luck) and even more abstract (if not ridiculous) one and are fine with it? ^_^
I still think the matter junction in FF7 was the best original thing Square came up with. Other stuff after that just was dull, pretty much copied or badly designed.

She thought she was the last [censored] human on the entire planet, it's not like she tried to commit suicide because people "don't get her" or some [censored] !
How does that have anything to do with emo?

Exactly. Real emo stuff (nobody gets me cause I'm so different!!1!) is very rare in Japanese games anyway. Just because there is a great demand for sensitive characters in the Japanese audience and Japanese story-writing tends to dramatise much more, it doesn't make everyone emo.

[ONLY ME!!!!]

So you exchange one big waste of time with another not-that-big one (depending on your luck) and are fine with it? ^_^
I still think the matter junction in FF7 was the best original thing Square came up with. Other stuff after that just was dull, pretty much copied or badly designed.

Who said I grinded for those items? Monsters drop way too much anyways, plus you can use store bought items like Tents to make tons of spells too.

I prefer the junction system to the materia system, FFVIII is my favorite FF game. (but not my favorite JRPG)

[joseluis perez]

I don't play many JRPGs- partly because I don't own a console, and partly since they just... don't really appeal to me, as a whole.

Drakengard, though, was out-freaking-standing. It honestly surprised me- I went into it thinking, "oh lovely, another generic adventure game; the only redeeming part is the dragon".
By the end, I was asking myself, "my god, why aren't there more games like this?" : D

Now, granted, the controls were clunky, the scenery (at least in the first game) was a bit 'meh', and the flight controls for dragonback reminded me of a mean and noodly drunk... but in my opinion, it more than made up for it with the storyline and the characters.
I mean, c'mon. That had to be one of the most brutal deconstructions of "adventure fantasy" I have ever seen, and it. Was. Awesome.



...[censored]in' babies, man.
[censored]in' babies. :c

[Tai Scott]

Exactly. Real emo stuff (nobody gets me cause I'm so different!!1!) is very rare in Japanese games anyway. Just because there is a great demand for sensitive characters in the Japanese audience and Japanese story-writing tends to dramatise much more, it doesn't make everyone emo.

I wouldn't call it emo, but you do tend to see far too many main characters in JRPGs that either:

A. Have amnesia and stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.
B. Had amnesia but got their memories back and stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.
C. Have no problems with memory but still stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.

At least from what I've seen. :shrug:

[Steve Bates]

I wouldn't call it emo, but you do tend to see far too many main characters in JRPGs that either:

A. Have amnesia and stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.
B. Had amnesia but got their memories back and stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.
C. Have no problems with memory but still stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.

At least from what I've seen. :shrug:

Sounds to me like you're basing all your opinion off of FF VII and FF VIII
I'm no JRPG expert, but except for those two I haven't really played a JRPG that fits that bill.

[celebrity]

I think JRPGs lack the grittiness of western style games, they are full of fanciful characters in colorful outfits whose attacks are a series of flourishes and jumps, aimed at a monster who is part fungus and part rabbit.

I'm sure there are exceptions, and once when I watched my cousin play FF I thought the expansiveness and level of content was great, but generally I don't like how they tend to have an unrealistic art style which borders on the cartoonish, making them effectively a computerized anime.

[naana]

I wouldn't call it emo, but you do tend to see far too many main characters in JRPGs that either:

A. Have amnesia and stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.
B. Had amnesia but got their memories back and stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.
C. Have no problems with memory but still stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.

At least from what I've seen. :shrug:

and were it my decision, i'd have that little moment shttered into hundreds of pieces as Helghast invade the scene and shoot everyone in sight.

then you should play Golden Sun: The Lost Age....soon.

[Emilie Joseph]

Who said I grinded for those items? Monsters drop way too much anyways, plus you can use store bought items like Tents to make tons of spells too.

I prefer the junction system to the materia system, FFVIII is my favorite FF game. (but not my favorite JRPG)

As I said, it largely depends on luck if you avoid drawing. Especially if you want to buff up since you have to because you, well, fought enemies and thus made your enemies level with you. Any game that does that should be shot on sight.
Speaking of stuff that makes no sense, I also prefer the materia system to drawing because it's firmly explained and founded in the game world, whereas drawing stuff, creating cards out of enemies and locking spells to your stats is always just an 'as is' thing. Completely abstract.
...
Heck, why do so many threads go from a general JRPG topic to debating which FF is better? We should get back to the topic. ^_^

Drakengard, though, was out-freaking-standing. It honestly surprised me- I went into it thinking, "oh lovely, another generic adventure game; the only redeeming part is the dragon".
By the end, I was asking myself, "my god, why aren't there more games like this?" : D

Drakengard is really not typical JRPG stuff. But yes, it is a really grand dark fantasy adventure. And has scenes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CspBaOJ_xt4...
Come to think of it, the developers of Drakengard did stay true to their plans on mixing Western and Japanese RPG traditions with the kind-of-sequel Nier. I enjoyed that one very much - it doesn't fit any of the typical CRPG or JRPG standards. Really liked it.

[SamanthaLove]

So, I've noticed in more then a few threads over the last month or so that I've been coming here(wish I had discovered this place sooner, I used to just hang around the Morrowind Forums, and it got really boring after a while), that a lot of people here truly dislike JRPGS. Honestly, I had never even really heard the term before here, but I've thus far been able to deduce it stands for Japanese Role Playing games. I've also deduced it is mostly games that originated in japan(yep, I'm smart, right? right? Please? lol), and have been brought to the U.S.

So my question is, is why do you all dislike them so much. What is it about them that you don't like? Also, what games ARE JRPGS, lol, as I have rarely payed attention to where a game came from. If it was good, I played it, if it svcked, I ignored it. So far, one of the main complaints I've seen, is the ridiculous looks of the characters. Can't say I really understand that much. Not every character in a game can look the same as every character in other games, or things would start to decline/stagnate rather fast.

Spoiler

Because everyone likes JRPGs, but the people here want to be "cool" and non-conformist!

:P

But yeah I like them. Most of them are too long for me to get into these days, but that's not any different from any Western made game that I just don't have the time to get into :shrug:

[Adam Porter]

That scene is enough to put someone in a psychiatrists office with dolls. Ive never played FFX myself but I have seen others play it. I think FFVIII was the worst. Not only was the combat confusing as I said in my post earlier, but the story was atrocious too. Damn Squall and Zell. The only character I liked was selphie. Worst thing was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiToL55zwRI When I watched spoony reviewing it, I was laughing so much. I went through the same pain as him. I would give it a second go if I could find a good internet article to explain things to me.

Drawing magic is so easy. With high spirit..you can draw 9 of anything... The junction system is broken(in the traditional way that we use the term) and thus you can make yourself retardedly powerful through clever junctions.

Once you learn lvl down and lvl up...you're a god. With the ability to make any battle as hard or easy as you see fit..

Junction and Triple Triad - it is what FF8 has going for it.

lol this has turned into a FF debate.

Of the less terrible JRPGs, there is Thousand Arms, and the PE series. They aren't actually terrible. and the Suikoden series.

However these games mark the end of an era we know well.

[Steeeph]

Sounds to me like you're basing all your opinion off of FF VII and FF VIII
I'm no JRPG expert, but except for those two I haven't really played a JRPG that fits that bill.

Nope. Lost Odyssey fits the bill perfectly.

[Red Bevinz]

Drawing magic is so easy. With high spirit..you can draw 9 of anything... The junction system is broken(in the traditional way that we use the term) and thus you can make yourself retardedly powerful through clever junctions.

Once you learn lvl down and lvl up...you're a god. With the ability to make any battle as hard or easy as you see fit..

Junction and Triple Triad - it is what FF8 has going for it.

Triple Triad. Best card game in a video game. (except when you spread the "random" rule throughout all regions... :gun:)

Nope. Lost Odyssey fits the bill perfectly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistwalker And it's not that great anyways, IMO.

[Dan Stevens]

honestly it sounds a lot like people are thinking here "I've played one JRPG I didn't like, so they must all be bad"

[Mike Plumley]

Because this is a forum for the company behind The Elder Scrolls series, a western RPG. People who like western RPGs are drawn here. Not saying you can only like one or the other, but people here are usually biased towards western RPGs.

[TRIsha FEnnesse]

I wouldn't call it emo, but you do tend to see far too many main characters in JRPGs that either:

A. Have amnesia and stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.
B. Had amnesia but got their memories back and stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.
C. Have no problems with memory but still stare off into space, sighing often, as one of the happy-go-lucky female characters swoon over them.

At least from what I've seen. :shrug:

I've seen a number of plots like that too.

Grandia II is the huge anti-thesis to those.

SO4 didn't start off like that(it felt more like Grandia II) until he went emo.

It's stuff like that which REALLY kills the game for me. I want characters that can stand on their own 2 feet and not be babysat by the female supporting characters.

[ladyflames]

honestly it sounds a lot like people are thinking here "I've played one JRPG I didn't like, so they must all be bad"

No, it's just that Japanese entertainment doesn't appeal to me.

[Genocidal Cry]

No, it's just that Japanese entertainment doesn't appeal to me.

Did you not grow up with Super Mario Bros? :whistling:

[Carys]

Nope. Lost Odyssey fits the bill perfectly.

No it doesn't

There's no swooning happy go lucky women

[*Chloe*]

Did you not grow up with Super Mario Bros? :whistling:

Everybody knows sonic is where it's at.

[Ysabelle]

No it doesn't

There's no swooning happy go lucky women

What? What do you call Seth? She may not be swooning but she plays the same role, i.e. always being overly happy or excited while the main character is always moaning and being sad.

[Kortniie Dumont]

No it doesn't

There's no swooning happy go lucky women

Not to mention the game was beautifully written, so any of it's other faults can be forgiven. Plus, after living a thousand years and losing countless loved ones, I'd sigh and stare off into the distance a lot too.

[Kristian Perez]

What? What do you call Seth? She may not be swooning but she plays the same role, i.e. always being overly happy or excited while the main character is always moaning and being sad.

You do realise the person who designed it worked on Final Fantasy for years, right? In fact, it's the actual creator.
Obviously it's going to have the same archetypes that plague final fantasy. The same ones that make up the stereotypical JRPG features, which really just proves my point. Final Fantasy is not the be all and end all of jrpgs.