[Jessica Phoenix]

I only dislike the general direction RPGs in, JRPG or otherwise, are going into.

[Sarah Knight]

I really don't understand people who shun an entire genre on the basis of one or two games. Some titles certainly have their flaws, but to homogenise entire genres with a banol "if you've played one, you've played them all" explanation seems, to me, just horribly biased. Still worse are those who expect every genre to offer everything for everybody - in many cases you need to be Japanese (or at the very least Asian-minded) to appreciate the cultural references in most JRPGs, which to outsiders just seem vacant. The same could be said of western games and culture, if the roles were reversed. To each their own, and everyone has the right to dislike what they want, but some choose to make their disdain evident even when it's uncalled for.

[Alister Scott]

But they do. They all look the same: moody emo teenagers with ridiculously spiked up hair and stupidly big swords.

The whole genre is just a tired cliche, and more than that, it's a stupid childish one.

That is totally untrue, you can't judge the whole genre by one game or series. It's just as cliche as every other genre; and like western RPGs, JRPGs can be diverse and can't be judged on a single impression.

[Zualett]

I don't like them because:

- I don't like the manga/anime art style
- I don't like androgynous males and females
- I find it hard to identify/like any of the characters. The males are puerile lack-wits, and the females put up with all sorts of abuse and crap/are always portrayed as weak/are portrayed as insecure [female dogs] that just need to be "tamed" by an (effeminate) male.
- I find the "Super lighting tiger white flash combo claw tornado!" thing ridiculous
- I dislike turn-based gameplay
- character depth is lacking, most behave very immaturely and childishly
- villains are unrealistic
- the wardrobes look "as if they ran through a fetish shop and Hot Topic"
- the oversized weapons and ridiculous armor (seriously, pauldrons that sit on your shoulders like that? Real armor wasn't like that, you twits! A 10 foot long sword? Are you serious?!)
- the overuse and importance of royalty (why isn't there a republic or a democracy?)
- Why are there orphans everywhere? What happens to these kids' parents?
- the ENDLESS cutscenes and idiotic dialog "W-w-whaaat?!" "No! How can this be?"


So, that's why I don't like them.

EDIT: And the bad hair styles. And the bizarre hair, eye, and skin colors.

[Josh Trembly]

Way too linear for me, I want to play my own character, not some spiky haired git with a sword that rivals only his own hair in size.

:rofl:

++

[Amie Mccubbing]

Im not sure about anyone else, but I hate Japanese weapons, they are always so stupid like the buster sword, and the unnecessary amount of katanas some of them have, but I do like some of the weapons they use to parry, those are pretty interesting

[Liii BLATES]

I can smell the smoke from the flames already. :flamethrower:

I don't hate JRPG's but I don't enjoy them either. When I was younger I was big into Final Fantasy IV along with a few dragon quest games. From what I remember the stories kinda svcked, and the turn based action really put me off. I didn't mind the character design because to me, it was rather unique for its time. But it seems like that look is now overused .

[Breanna Van Dijk]

I don't dislike them... they just have a tendency to disappoint me and never seem to change. My favorites are Golden Sun and Chrono Trigger.

[Kay O'Hara]

- I find the "Super lighting tiger white flash combo claw tornado!" thing ridiculous

Hahaha sorry but that reminded me of No More Heroes with the ridiculous special modes where he'll yell out some insane dessert like "Blue Berry Cheese Brownie!" or "Cranberry Chocolate Sundae!".


Anyways, there's only a couple I really like

FF IV-VI, IX
Lufia I-II
Terranigma (More of an action/JRPG, filled with awesomeness)
Tales series
Chrono Cross

[MARLON JOHNSON]

They have an necessary amount of filler in them. Namely the grind, and a fixed path of character advancement. It really just bogs down what I like best about them, aka their stories. I don't like playing for hours fighting the same enemy over and over for minor XP gains. Granted this happens in most RPG's, but its particularly bad in JRPG's where you have to fight them as the only way to advance. That and they tend to be easy past a certain point where its one hit kill and all your doing it for is the XP. I have only ever managed to play through FFX and almost beat Chrono Trigger, but the grind was just to immense for my tastes to finish.

Edit
Oh, and most JRPG's don't effectively use their natural tendencies to look slightly anime-like, and so they lose even more points for usually looking like pretty crappy anime. Although a few games can use this style effectively and actually gain points it is truly rare for me to like it. In general I find the anime style for JRPG's to be worn out and tiring.

[sharon]

Hahaha sorry but that reminded me of No More Heroes with the ridiculous special modes where he'll yell out some insane dessert like "Blue Berry Cheese Brownie!" or "Cranberry Chocolate Sundae!".

You also have:
-Cherry
-Strawberry on the shortcake
-Anarchy in the Galaxy (my personal favorite)

[Susan Elizabeth]

I haven't played a good JRPG since the PSX. The screenshots alone from these newer JRPGs are enough to put a bad taste in my mouth. They're all filled to the brim with fluff, surpassing ridiculous. It just seems JRPGs looked a lot better when they had fewer pixels to work with. Now they got all these pixels and they don't know what to do with them so they fill them with whatever, no matter how stupid it looks.

I think these Japanese developers have this mindset that different = better. I have no problem with thinking outside the box but when everything outside the box is filled with clown shoes and blitz balls then what's the point?

[Cartoon]

I love JRPG's... Some of my favorit games are games like: FFIX, FFVI, DQVIII, ToV, Eternal Sonata, Etc.
I just picked up DQIX and am enjoying it as well. :twirl:

[Sarah Bishop]

Since the PSX era, JRPGs are mostly focused on single plotlines, story-heavy and have set characters. All in all, they offer the same content to each player in the same way. Each TES title is focused on an open world, neglects story most of the time and offers lots of choices to make when creating the character and playing the game itself.
Is it a big deal if on these forums people tend to not prefer the former?

[...] clown shoes and blitz balls [...]

Said the guy with the manic clown avatar. ^_^

[CxvIII]

The only reason I dislike JRPGs in general is because they always seem to have an emo stereotype. Hope from FFXIII is the first to spring to mind. :facepalm:

They also tend to have very large sections of exploration for every little area you go to, no matter how insignificant the area is to any form of story.

Also 30min cut scenes you can't skip... Eternal Sonata comes to mind for that one.

That isn't to say I don't play or like JRPGs, I do. It's just I don't usually play them for these reasons.

[Causon-Chambers]

Also 30min cut scenes you can't skip... Eternal Sonata comes to mind for that one.

Eternal Sonata is a really fine example of everything a JRPG can do that people dislike. Kind of unique that way.

[Wayne W]

The only reason I dislike JRPGs in general is because they always seem to have an emo stereotype. Hope from FFXIII is the first to spring to mind. :facepalm:

Thank god for FFV and IX.

[suzan]

I really think most people's complaints come from Final Fantasy, as it's the only jrpg they've ever played. Which is silly to me, as it's like saying ''I don't like X in MW2, so that means that I must not like FPS''. Try one of the SMT games, though maybe not Persona, and you'll find a very different beast, with a generally more challenging gameplay, where tactics are rewarded vs grind, with a pretty decent story. It still has the anime art style but it's not as bad as belts and zippers of recent FF infamy.

[Mike Plumley]

Thank god for FFV and IX.

There wasn't anything truly emo about FF7 either. Cloud's overall personality was more on the general side of things. Now in Crisis Core, that guy had issues. FFX however had a freaking crybaby.

I don't quite remember anything in FF6 particularly emo either.

For FF, things start going down hill with FFX.

Of the JRPGs though, Infinite Undiscovery pissed me off the most.

I think, Morrowind and Oblivion are the only WRPGs I have ever played. 98% of my library is from JP developers.

I'll go further say that I don't like to seperate them by region. An RPG is an RPG, and once again, I don't like the direction they are going into. The age of emo, the age of no exploration, and the age of limitation.

[Nicole Coucopoulos]

Eternal Sonata is a really fine example of everything a JRPG can do that people dislike. Kind of unique that way.

Eternal Sonata is a game that either you love or hate. It is actually one of my all time favorites and, imo, a beautiful game. But if you don't love it you will definitely hate it. There is no medium with that type of game.

[Jessie Rae Brouillette]

There wasn't anything truly emo about FF7 either. Cloud's overall personality was more on the general side of things. Now in Crisis Core, that guy had issues. FFX however had a freaking crybaby.

I don't quite remember anything in FF6 particularly emo either.

For FF, things start going down hill with FFX.

Of the JRPGs though, Infinite Undiscovery pissed me off the most.

I think, Morrowind and Oblivion are the only WRPGs I have ever played. 98% of my library is from JP developers.

I'll go further say that I don't like to seperate them by region. An RPG is an RPG, and once again, I don't like the direction they are going into. The age of emo, the age of no exploration, and the age of limitation.

I don't know if you meant gameplay wise but I do know that FFXII was supposed to have balthier and basch as the main characters. Then they just tossed in vaan and penelo to appeal to the teen crowd and changed it up to make them the central characters.

[Lisha Boo]

I'm not picky.

If it has a decent story and game play, I'm usually easy to please. I just had, though admittedly frustrating at times, a blast with FF XII recently.

[Bethany Watkin]

There wasn't anything truly emo about FF7 either. Cloud's overall personality was more on the general side of things. Now in Crisis Core, that guy had issues. FFX however had a freaking crybaby.

I don't quite remember anything in FF6 particularly emo either.

For FF, things start going down hill with FFX.

Cloud's personality was kind of non-existant for a portion of the game. I suppose I'd place him as being more schitzophrenic than emo.

Forgot about the Celes suicide scene eh? Terra somewhat fills the role though.

Agree with that last one(Though I didn't like VIII either). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5FTJxfV3pc is NEVER acceptable. NEVER.

[Andrew Lang]

Cloud's personality was kind of non-existant for a portion of the game. I suppose I'd place him as being more schitzophrenic than emo.

Forgot about the Celes suicide scene eh? Terra somewhat fills the role though.

Agree with that last one(Though I didn't like VIII either). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5FTJxfV3pc is NEVER acceptable. NEVER.

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.

[John N]

I really think most people's complaints come from Final Fantasy, as it's the only jrpg they've ever played. Which is silly to me, as it's like saying ''I don't like X in MW2, so that means that I must not like FPS''. Try one of the SMT games, though maybe not Persona, and you'll find a very different beast, with a generally more challenging gameplay, where tactics are rewarded vs grind, with a pretty decent story. It still has the anime art style but it's not as bad as belts and zippers of recent FF infamy.

This. I'm seeing some very vast generalizations in this thread. (and unfortunately in most threads like it) Final Fantasy is not the only JRPG on the planet....

Repeat after me: http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/9749/elsy002.png http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/3871/dc1042.jpg http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/8784/bof3.jpg http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/1980/sf2art31.jpg http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/9831/bof4ryu1.jpg; http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/5601/resonanceoffate20091110.jpg http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/3948/talesofvesperiad1.jpg http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7431/persona3fes0112801024.jpg http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/3797/arcadiai.jpg http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/8156/xenofeifongwong1.jpg.

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.

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.