A Western developer doing JRPGs?

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Lame question but what's the major difference between JRPG and WRPG?

[Premmy]

Originally Posted by Kyanbu The Legend

Lame question but what's the major difference between JRPG and WRPG?

JRPG: Final Fantasy
WRPG: Mass Effect

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Originally Posted by Premonitions

JRPG: Final Fantasy
WPG: Mass Effect

Thank you. Looks like most of my RPG game ideas (D-Universe) would be JRPGs by that standard.

EDIT: Wait never mind. What defines WRPG is the player being able to control the flow and direction of the story. Which would make my stuff actually WRPGs.

[bluestarultor]

JRPG vs WRPG is kind of a sliding scale. Things to look for include:

JRPG:
- linear story
- closed-world gameplay
- certain character tropes (plucky idiot hero, calculating 2nd-in command, etc.)
- tendency to "Swords and Sorcery" settings
- often a lighter tone
- colorful world filled with many races, explored by a 99% human party
- turn based / active time battle

WRPG:
- story determined by player choice
- open-world gameplay
- certain character tropes (grizzled space marine, moral choice system, etc.)
- more varied settings
- often more serious
- colorful world filled with many races, explored by party comprised of those races
- real-time battle


There can be major variations, but you can get a good indicator by the tropes that are most prominent.


Edit: In my case, I usually end up with something like:
- overall linear stories with maybe certain differences generated by player choice
- largely closed-world gameplay
- fuck tropes, I'm going to write complex and interesting characters with more depth than a teaspoon
- varied settings
- mostly lighter in tone
- colorful world filled with many races, explored by a party of those races
- active time battle

[Premmy]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

- fuck tropes, I'm going to write complex and interesting characters with more depth than a teaspoon

Tropes aren't bad, you know.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Premonitions

Tropes are'nt bad, you know.

Oh, I know. To clarify that, I recognize that literally everything's been done before, so everything is a trope. On the other hand, I find writers often fall back on them too hard instead of actually writing the characters as people. I'm very strong on characters, so while I do rely on certain things as a base, I tend to mix them in interesting ways and fully flesh out the cast.

It's the difference between "this guy is a drunken skirt-chaser" and "this guy is a drunken skirt-chaser who's also a dog and doesn't discriminate much based on species when he's that far in the bottle, leading to comic mischief; also, he talks in his sleep about random stuff to great hilarity, snipes with the main character about being referred to as an animal, and tries to stand on his hind legs to increase his size during arguments while being totally oblivious to the fact it still leaves him comically short."



Edit @ RT: I have yet to hear anyone seriously try to classify Demon's Souls as a JRPG. Most call it a "Western-style RPG" which is as good as WRPG in my book.

[Regulus Tera]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

Edit @ RT: I have yet to hear anyone seriously try to classify Demon's Souls as a JRPG. Most call it a "Western-style RPG" which is as good as WRPG in my book.

You are the first person I've heard that considers it a WRPG.

[Regulus Tera]

Originally Posted by Kyanbu The Legend

Lame question but what's the major difference between JRPG and WRPG?

Region of origin.

Demon's Souls and Etrian Odyssey are considered JRPGs, for example. The term JRPG is very loose, and encompasses everything from Pokémon to Kingdom Hearts to Fire Emblem.