. . . .hanging around Gamespot’s forums. 70% of the residents there make me want to beat my head against a wall and go “Who. . .freaking. . .cares?” Who cares whether you think X Box is the biggest flop of 2004 or whether PS2 is the "gay"station or Gamecube is the "kiddie"cube? Who cares about your false idea that JRPGs are better than WRPGs or whether Link is really a male or whether Fable is/will be superior to Wind Waker? Just play the stupid games and have fun. Is that such a difficult concept? All consoles have strengths and weaknesses. There are brilliant games on all platforms and bad games on all platforms. No need to turn this into a clique war. No. I DON’T think JRPGs are better than WRPGs. In fact, as much as I love Tales of Symphonia, it seems to me that JRPGs will continue to tread the same ground, no thanks to Final Fantasy, while games like Knights of the Old Republic will make new molds for RPGs to follow. I AM looking forward to Fable but I’m sick of it being hyped up to look like a groundbreaking masterpiece. In my opinion, Wind Waker was a brilliant game and will probably come out looking superior to Fable. The characters of Wind Waker endeared me to them and I felt the cel shading was a brilliant move.
Okay. I feel better now that I have that off my chest. It’s not just Gamespot. It seems like this place is the only place where I can keep my sanity. Probably because most people here don’t always talk about games or treat games like lemmings treat a cliff. Now go and play some games and have fun you young whippersnappers. XD
Oo huhu, he says he doesn’t wanna hear how Fable is gonna be better than Zelda and then goes on to have people hear of how Zelda is gonna be better than Fable, doesn’t wanna hear how JRPGs are better than WRPGs and then goes on to have people hear how JRPGs are gonna be the lesser cos they are all gonna be the same, huhu oO’
There’s unique JRPGs and there’s unique WRPGs and there’s cliched JRPGs and there’s cliched WRPGs, I fail to see the need to comment on which is better or on which will just be the same old stuff. I find D&D RPGs to be the same old stuff. Yet I like playing them anyway if they are well made. The same goes for various cliched JRPGs (Skies of Arcadia anyone?). And since both genres offer unique things once in a while as well, I’m happy.
And KOTOR wasn’t that special innovation wise either, it was again a pretty standard D&D styled RPG except perhaps less open ended. But less open ended games are hardly something “new” are they
It was just done well and so was worth playing regardless of not being a brand new or innovative concept. And a lot of other RPGs, J or W are like that as well
I’m looking forward to more western-made RPGs now than ever before. Very few Japanese RPGs have caught my attention recently, but perhaps this is mainly because my view on RPGs coming from Japan has been skewed in recent years.
I dont have to worry about Dragon Age, Fallout 3, Knights of the Old Republic 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines not being translated into English. My how times have changed.
The problem with Japanese RPGs is that thanks to the popularity of games such as Final Fantasy [insert number here], other RPGs have to fit the same mold if they hope to enjoy the same level of success. Thank God PC RPGs generally cater for an older demographic.
