It's a JRPG, but it being a Gacha negates a lot of the progression satisfaction I get from a JRPG. What I'm saying is, it doesn't matter what genre it is because it being a Gacha dictates a lot of its mechanics and systems.
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Do you consider Genshin Impact a JRPG?
- Thread starter Majadamus
- Start date
Common traits to JRPGs:
Cel-shaded/anime art vs realistic art
Game-y music (vs orchestral/incidental music in Western RPGs)
Set characters with distinct personalities (vs making your own character & self-inserts)
Content is generally aimed at teens or all-ages (vs. Western RPGs being edgy and "adult" and inevitably getting M-ratings)
Gameplay is focused on combat & becoming more powerful (Western RPGs often have more non-combat gameplay like dialogue trees & stealth segments)
Story tends to be more linear
Progression tends to be more drastic (WRPGs love tiny incremental stat bonuses)
Not every game fits neatly into the JRPG label and some games take elements from both, but JRPGs have more in common than just anime art style.
Based on what I've seen if people consider Genshin Impact a JRPG then it's further proof that all "JRPG" really means is just "shounen anime game."
Even that descriptor is kinda nebulous though because of the variety of "anime" styles in game. Look at the difference between this, something like Tales, or something like Final Fantasy XVI. Or hell, even Yakuza: Like A Dragon.
Even that descriptor is kinda nebulous though because of the variety of "anime" styles in game. Look at the difference between this, something like Tales, or something like Final Fantasy XVI. Or hell, even Yakuza: Like A Dragon.
I personally think that's too dogmatic.
I find it absolutely hilarious that the other day there was an article about how Cyberpunk is just blindly mashing Eastern culture together and this site was nodding along in agreement, and yet now we have a non-trivial number of people straight up defending calling a Chinese product a Japanese Role Playing Game.
If make an RPG in mexico is it a mRPG? is it different from an mRPG made in madagascar?I simply can't fathom what anybody would get from the information that it's a RPG made in Japan. Like that doesn't mean ANYTHING.
Look at Witcher 3, it's PRPG.
And yes, I'd classify Genshin Impact would classify as action jrpg.
This sounds as ridiculous as saying "Of course it can't be Japanese food if it's made in the United States." Being Japanese is not a requirement to make Japanese food.
I've been playing JRPGs extensively for about 3 decades. I've been making games as an indie developer for about a decade. As a teen, I imported games like Soul Hackers and Grandia on the Saturn because I felt like we weren't getting enough JRPGs in English. I do not feel I am any less qualified to make a JRPG just because I'm not Japanese.
JRPG is a style not a genre or a place of origin.
Genshin Impact is a Japanese styled RPG.
This are definitely common but I think you can describe a JRPG much more accruately the following way:
A JRPG is an RPG that is focused on the mechanical side of the RPG genre with minimal efforts towards allowing true role-playing. The games have linear stories with defined characters. You may get to make your own character but ultimately that character is just an avatar instead of real character you inhabit.
That's all there really is to it. It's why Dark Souls is an RPG. The story is linear and outside of optional endings you can't effect it in a way meaningful way. What makes Dark Souls and other JRPGs, RPGs, is their mechanical ruleset is drawn from Dungeons and Dragons.
Art style is irrelevant.
While JRPG was originally used to describe the difference between Japanese RPGs and Computer RPGs, language evolves and more often than not, JRPG now implicitly means Japanese-styled RPG. It is how genre works. To describe, in broad strokes, what the label means. It is how CRPGs broadened to the WRPG once those games started to appear off of the Computer.
Games that are considered JRPGs are based on the precedent set by the likes of Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Megami Tensei. I don't think you would call something like Cosmic Star Heroine a WRPG, as it's heavily inspired by JRPG games.
Like all genre labels, it is still fluid and does not have to fit in the box 100%. There are aspects of WRPGs in Genshin Impact as well (such as the open world and dialogue choices). Ultimately, JRPG would describe it best due to the shonen-anime art style, the focus on the characters and story, having a linear gameplay progression structure, and having almost 0 focus on the roleplaying aspect that WRPGs are known for.
Games that are considered JRPGs are based on the precedent set by the likes of Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Megami Tensei. I don't think you would call something like Cosmic Star Heroine a WRPG, as it's heavily inspired by JRPG games.
Like all genre labels, it is still fluid and does not have to fit in the box 100%. There are aspects of WRPGs in Genshin Impact as well (such as the open world and dialogue choices). Ultimately, JRPG would describe it best due to the shonen-anime art style, the focus on the characters and story, having a linear gameplay progression structure, and having almost 0 focus on the roleplaying aspect that WRPGs are known for.
I agree with much of this, but go quite a bit further to separate key RPG sub-genres that happen to be made in Japan. Some of the notable RPG sub-genres that are often developed in Japan:
- "Traditional JRPGs" - Party based, plot/narrative focused
- "Monster Catching" - Pokemon, etc, have their own gameplay and structural formalisms, and people play them for very different reasons than they play Souls games or Final Fantasy
- Souls-like: Clearly distinct enough to be grouped together rather than trying to dump them in with totally differnet WRPGs are the super-vague "Action RPGs".
- DRPGs: Most DRPG franchises these days come from a handful of Japanese developers, and often have very little of the usual appeal of Traditional JRPGs.
- SRPGs/TRPGs
I said no because I just consider it a gacha game. But stylistically, yes. I agree with others that JRPG is more a genre than anything at this point. It used to just be an RPG and the J was only added to distinguish it from the budding western developed titles who play so differently.
Good point. As I said before I prefer to call them Japanese-Style and Western-style because ultimately these games can vary tremendously and need more genre labels to accurately describe. What really changes between JRPGs and WRPGs is the approach to making an RPG. Western developers are trying to bring console/computer RPGs closer to the table top orignals. Japanese developers are instead building off from the foundation laid by Dragon Quest instead, going into different directions.
I think there is a difference between following an established recipe to make a teriyaki chicken and making your own creation inspired by something else. If you came up with your own dish in the style of another country's cuisine (e.g. New York pizza) that would be considered to be of its county of origin where it was created (US).
If you made a movie in the UK that copied the style of Italian neorealism I don't think it would be considered Italian cinema.
I tend to make a difference from "Action RPG" (like YS) and "Jrpg with an action combat system" (like Tales Of).
In the case of Genshin Impact, it's an action rpg and, as such, not a jrpg. That being said, JRPG is a genre with a set of pretty clear characteristics that discerns it from a wprg and it doesn't have anything to do with the country of origin. Whenever this matter comes up, I always use the Cosmic Star Heroine example, which is a jrpg made by western (mexican, maybe? I don't remember precisely) people (or Dark Souls, which is more similar to a wrpg than a jrpg, but it's made from a japanese studio).
In the case of Genshin Impact, it's an action rpg and, as such, not a jrpg. That being said, JRPG is a genre with a set of pretty clear characteristics that discerns it from a wprg and it doesn't have anything to do with the country of origin. Whenever this matter comes up, I always use the Cosmic Star Heroine example, which is a jrpg made by western (mexican, maybe? I don't remember precisely) people (or Dark Souls, which is more similar to a wrpg than a jrpg, but it's made from a japanese studio).
I really don't think you could reasonably consider Tales of Berseria, Kingdom Hearts 3, Octopath Traveler, Final Fantasy XV and Persona 5 the same genre.
Funny that you specifically mention Italian cinema. The Western film genre is a distinctly US genre. Western movies made in Italy became so prevalent that there's actually a subgenre name for it - the Spaghetti Western. And Spaghetti Westerns are still considered to be Westerns.
JRPG is pretty much an awful genre descriptor in the first place, but I really can't see how Genshin Impact fits into even the loosest definition of JRPG.
It is Chinese in origin. Its gameplay is heavily derived from Breath of the Wild and more closely resembles Skyrim than it does Dragon Quest. Most of its RPG mechanics are 100% standard mobile gacha RPG stuff, which at this point is a clear RPG sub-genre in its own right with little-to-no reliance on the tropes of classic Japanese RPGs.
It is an exploration-focused open world action-adventure gacha game made in China. It is not a Japanese RPG.
It is Chinese in origin. Its gameplay is heavily derived from Breath of the Wild and more closely resembles Skyrim than it does Dragon Quest. Most of its RPG mechanics are 100% standard mobile gacha RPG stuff, which at this point is a clear RPG sub-genre in its own right with little-to-no reliance on the tropes of classic Japanese RPGs.
It is an exploration-focused open world action-adventure gacha game made in China. It is not a Japanese RPG.
Korea, japan and china similar. Maybe we should come up with some type of eastern label. That's what wikipedia has anyways
en.m.wikipedia.org
History of Eastern role-playing video games - Wikipedia
Trying to split things up by country is just a really bad way to try to define genres. A genre system that doesn't combine Dark Souls with The Surge in the same bucket because they were made in other parts of the world is totally worthless.Korea, japan and china similar. Maybe we should come up with some type of eastern label. That's what wikipedia has anyways
History of Eastern role-playing video games - Wikipedia
Yes, you're proving my point exactly. Those spaghetti westerns (also known as Italian westerns) made in Italy were given a new name to distinguish that their country of origin was not the US.
And I believe they are considered Italian cinema not American even though they are so clearly inspired by a US style of films.
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No, because it's good.
/s, but only partially. It also doesn't share much with JRPGs beyond the surface level.
All of the different RPG classifiers are stupid and usually change for each person. So for each person it may or may not be.
To me the term JRPG applies to games with certain stylistic and mechanical systems in them. It has nothing to do with the country of origin to me anymore.
But for others a JRPG is just any RPG made in Japan......
To me the term JRPG applies to games with certain stylistic and mechanical systems in them. It has nothing to do with the country of origin to me anymore.
But for others a JRPG is just any RPG made in Japan......
I've always used the term JRPG as "japanese-style role-playing game" ...so it definitely qualifies for me...not about country of origin...about the style of the game...
The country of origin is part of the descriptor. JRPG means Japanese role-playing game, not Japanese-style or Japanese-inspired. It's like saying Taco Bell is Mexican food when it's clearly not, it's just Mexican-inspired.
