games

jrpgs are japanese. crpgs are western.

I mean... annoyingly a Japanese developer can make a W/CRPG and a western developer can make a JRPG because the genres are defined by gameplay styles, core engagements, and tropes not actually the region they come from.

Extra Credits did a whole three part video series about this back in like 2010 thats worth watching. Video game genre names are BAAAAAAAAAAAADDDD.

Video game genres are kind of vibes based lol. Theres videos out there defining JRPGs (search Extra Credits JRPG vs WRPG or the video I just posted in my post history in /c/videos) but theres like three things that define them.

1. The core engagements of narrative. (Extra Credits argues that abnegation through grinding is also a core engagement of JRPGs, but Ive never felt that. However, grinding for gold and exp is often a part of them, though some are designed such that you never have to grind).
2. A whole slew of mechanical trappings that you only need some of to define the game. Turn based combat is one, linear stat development (some games like FFXII and FFX play with the linearity of it a bit), a (minimally) explorable overworld thats a separate screen from towns and dungeons and where you can have encounters and save the game freely, sidequests outside the core linear narrative, battles taking place on a separate screen from the overworld or dungeon, OFTEN random battles but some avoid that, replaceable equipment often with a linear progression (but sometimes there's choices and tradeoffs). Noteably there's games like the Tales of series and Star Ocean series that have actiony combat instead of turn based that most people still define as JRPGs, but some people define as action RPGS instead. A now verbotten youtuber made a "top 10 JRPGs not from SquareEnix" video where he disqualified Action RPGs first and showed Tales of Symphonia footage, and this blew my mind lol. But for me they are JRPGs, partially because of point three
3. Plot, worldbuilding, artstyle, and character tropes and style that are similar to anime particularly shonen but also have their own things. This part isnt strictly necessary. a game that has the first two elements but a totally non-Anime artstyle and setting is still a JRPG (regardless of where it was developed). But vibes wise it helps define games that may not have ALL the JRPG mechanics in them as still being JRPGs. Like I said, this is why Tales of and Star Ocean fit for me.

Like I said. Video game genres are vibes based (Call of Duty has an experiance and leveling system but its an FPS not an RPG, conversely Fallout and Mass Effect have first person shooting, but they're both considered WRPGs). This can be very annoying as an autistic person who likes clear rules! But it really does come down to vibes. Or as Extra Credits argues in that video series I mentioned, "core engagements".