First there’s the heart of any RPG, the story. Generally speaking western games tend towards open ended, multi-layered plots, while in JRPGs you’re always on a fast track to destiny with perhaps the rare sub-quest. The western player is able to shape the plot to a limited extend, with games like Baldur’s Gate giving you free reign to be a warmonger pillager, while for Pokemon players, you road is just a long winding path to the Pokemon League. Then there’s your main character. Personally I enjoy not being stuck as some angst filled teenager with spiky hair and a huge sword – and western RPGs allow for that degree of customization. Even in games like KOTOR, where the identity of the main character is integral to the story line, the plot was able to be just vague enough to accommodate the player’s differing choices in sex/class. Being able to adjust the size of your role playing bust also is an added plus.

Very closely related is the capacity to see shades of grey. There is great amount of moral ambiguity in western titles, where you are generally allowed to choose your own alignment and be a heartless bastard, fall in love or be the all round blond good guy. Recently the KOTOR series and Jade Empire really played on the fine line between good and evil, at times going beyond the traditional division between the “good” and the “bad.” The ultimate manifestation of this freedom to do as you please and literally create your own persona is probably MMORPGs where your reputation is entirely your own creation (an interesting reason perhaps as to why the MMORPG craze never really worked out in Japan). In start contrast are the main characters from Japanese RPGs, who are all almost invariably “good” and the bad guys “bad”. There is nearly no way to change your alignment, and even if you waltz right into someone’s house to kick open baskets and bins for epic loots, no one is going to stop you.

A Matter of Taste

There are more differences aplenty, such as the tendency for JRPGS to star androgynous looking pre teens, or for western RPGs to have a crazy amount of menus and sub menus for skills, talents and traits, but the issue of choice is probably the largest concern. Which brings us to the favorite part of any internet rant – the matter of opinion. Realistically, this choice is simply a reflection of your gaming childhood and for me, who had almost no access to a console, PC friendly western RPGs get my vote.

Pure Japanese RPGs are unnecessarily stuffed with cliché, and right now the genre seems to be stuck in a weird identity crisis between sticking to tradition, and attempts at innovation. Western RPGs on the other hand have far less problems assimilating some of the ideas from the Japanese counter parts, and these hybrid titles have gone on to be some of the best games I’ve ever played (Planescape Torment being one of them). In fact the more you play RPGs, the sooner you realize that the old division between East and West is rapidly crumbling, becoming instead “East” and “Everything Else.”