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J*PG

03/13/2023 10:29 PM

it's strange that a genre of games is defined by its country of origin rather than its gameplay mechanics.

Is it, though? Compare Comics to Manga, and Manga to even Manhwa/Manhua. They're all basically the same thing (some with different "mechanics" lol) but have come to be known under different, regional terms in English. Even if in their native tongue those terms just mean the same exact thing.

Granted, these are entire mediums and not simply a genre, but they follow the same logic of impressing an idea upon English speaking natives or the western world or what have you, and codifying what that idea means.

It might be simply due to the prevalence of the video game industry in Japan and North America specifically that we've come to have terms like JRPG or WRPG, and perhaps if there were as big of an industry coming out of, idk, Africa, maybe we'd have ARPGs or AFPSs or something as well, you know?

J*PG

03/13/2023 05:24 PM

To steal an argument I heard elsewhere, Dark Souls and Elden Ring are, technically, JRPGs. They are RPGs made in Japan. But they are not part of the JRPG genre because they are different games who do different things (ie action rpgs, which are different from JRPGs despite the country of origin).

I mean that's it, that's a better way of saying what I was trying to get across re: WRPG or SRPG or what have you. They've become labels representing mechanical choices, even if the term originally meant "where the game was made" (which I don't even know if it ever did, like Shinan mentioned, I've never seen it used as a negative because it's related to Japan.) I don't really think people consider it like that nowadays.

The article doesn't mention it, but Yoshida said more on the topic as well:

"It wasn't a compliment to a lot of developers in Japan. We understand that recently, JRPG has better connotations and it's being used as a positive but we still remember the time when it was used as a negative,"

Source: LINK

I'd definitely like to hear other Japanese devs opinions on it before I made a sweeping decision. It seems like he was talking about solely the past based on all the quotes of the interview, not that it was a current problem, but something that reminded older devs of how it felt back in the day.

Consider as well the meaning of "CRPG" - Computer Role Playing Game. But we don't use it to refer to every RPG on a computer, even if that's what the name sounds like. Those who use it are usually referring to adaptations of DnD campaigns and other tabletop systems.

E:

author=Shinan
And even back then I think the people using it disparagingly were in the minority. I just don't have a sense that it has ever been a negatively charged word outside of... you know... people like me.

Literally the only person I can think of who might have used it as an insult would be like... Adam Sessler from XPlay? But that dude was a dickhead anyways. 99% of the people I've seen that used it in a negative fashion were doing so cause they didn't like the mechanics, not cause they hated Japanese people lmao

J*PG

03/13/2023 04:07 PM

No. The whole article just reads like someone wanting to stir a pot for the sake of it. There's almost no substance to this guy's "argument" beyond Yoshida saying it was seen as offensive in the past and "this one time Phil Fish was a racist".

Also there's definitely such a thing as a WRPG. I can't be the only person who's used that label and seen it be used to refer to games like the TES/Fallout series or things like Dragon Age, The Witcher, Kingdoms of Amalur etc. It's about as loosely defined as JRPG but it definitely exists, in the same way any random genre labelling "exists".

Just like there are SRPGS... Some people use the term CRPG. It's just an organizational label like any other genre in videogames or movies or what have you. It'd be like saying we should retire the term "OVA" just cause it's used near exclusively to refer to Japanese animation.

Seems like much ado about nothing to me.

2023 Gaming Diary

03/12/2023 05:30 PM

I started playing Stardew Valley again after watching some "did you know" YT videos about it, so now that's consuming all my gaming time along with Bloons TD6 and the other infrequent always-plays.

Seems like this year I've been focusing more on reading a lot of manga I missed/needed to catch up on and still have a desire to get back to reading novels and such. Haven't had a big drive to start brand new games as much as I did last year.

I'm Leaving

03/11/2023 10:37 PM

You gotta do what's best for yourself after all. Hope the road treats you well.

RMN's Sexy Demographics Touch Encounters

03/09/2023 04:41 PM

Are vampires weird? Need to know, thanks.
Probably my first and only AI generated AI, but we'll see
Are vampires ethical? Need to know, thanks.

Whatchu Workin' On? Tell us!

03/08/2023 11:41 PM

I guess it's just to your taste. I don't consider having some banding on a sprite to be a huge downside if it helps the overall look. Some artists might consider it to be an outright sin. Then again, some pixel artists also think black outlines are a sin too, lol.

You could also try breaking it up with some black + darker shades of the nearby colours or w/e.