East+vs.+West+-+Role+Playing+Games+(Leric)

 Overview
Role Playing Games are among the oldest genres in the video gaming industry. It is a genre that emphasize on strategy, compelling narrative, character development both story-wise and ability-wise, and waiting to attack. Since its inception, RPGs have evolve dramatically more than any other genres in term of adopting new features and genre-wide standards. Particularly over the past decade, the RPGs not only evolved but diverged in term of style and gameplay. Within the genre, many subgenres exist, such as strategy RPG, action RPG, turn-based RPG, etc...These classifications can also be arbitrary. Two of the most popular labels, WRPG (Western Role-Playing Games) and JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Games) seems to classify a game on the basis origin and developer. But in fact, what these two label does is highlight the inherent differences between Eastern and Western styles of gaming. So what exactly are JRPGs and WRPGs?

Japanese Role Playing-Games are those created by Eastern software developers, as the name suggests. Prominent JRPG developers and publishers include Square Enix, Level 5, and Atlus, Nintendo. JRPGs carries a few characteristics in terms of style and content. For the most part, it largely features a turn-based combat system, minimally changed in the past decade or so. JRPGs are very statistic intensive. The emphasis on stats can be said to justify the de-emphasis on character animations. For the most part, JRPGs presents a linear experience, consisting of town visits, dungeon explorations, and boss fights. Lastly, JRPGs often feature an adolescent protagonist in a monomyth. Popular JRPGs include the Persona, Final Fantasy, Pokemon, and Dragon Quest franchise.

Western Role-Playing Games on the other hand, are more action oriented. Many WRPGs feature a first person view, inside and outside combat. WRPGs are less statistic intensive, as a result. A common feature in WRPGs is the morality system, usually tied in with the narrative. The system allows player to shape the overall narrative by presenting choices and different paths, some of which divergent. In contrast to JRPGs, WRPGs often consist of an open world, resulting in a more non-linear and exploration-oriented gameplay experience. Lastly, WPRGs usually feature an unnamed protagonist, overall more mature and diverse. Today, much of the WRPG prestige is attributable to two outstanding developers, Bioware and Bethesda Softworks. Popular WRPGs include the Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Fable franchise.

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