One of the defining differences between Japanese and western RPGs is their approach to the player character. In western RPGs, the protagonist is typically created by the player and serves as a blank slate. Even when that's not the case, such as in the case of JC Denton, the protagonists' attitude is still deliberately kept neutral to allow them to fulfil the function of a blank slate.
By contrast, in Japanese RPGs the protagonist is a pre-defined character. In theory this should allow for a protagonist with a more distinctive identity, yet that's almost never the case. Almost every Japanese RPG opts for making the protagonist a young boy who's just starting out in his career and has little to no life experience, making them effectively a blank slate. Paradoxically enough, it's western RPGs that more often tend to have protagonists with some life experience under their belt.
You've cherry picked examples from both sides to reach this conclusion. Unless I see some data stating that most JRPG heroes are village boys I'm not willing to accept it as fact. Yes there are a lot and more of the popular JRPGs use that cliche but there are thousands of less popular JRPGs you're ignoring to reach this conclusion. The reverse is likely true of WRPGs too.
Taking recent examples, like Fallout 4, the player is not a blank slate. If male he's a veteran soldier, if female she's a lawyer. Dialogue can be influenced by the player but the hero has one distinct personality and history, all dialogue is snarky and sarcastic. It's much closer to what you describe a JRPG as being.
Examples of various kinds can be found regardless of geography.
Jason Thompson
That Fallout 4 example would make more sense if the male and female protagonists actually behaved different as far as options allowed to the player within reason. That both of them fully understand how to operate power armor despite only one of them logically having the experience is a solid example. Flavor text is not an equivalent to character design.
Cameron Carter
Even if it's not character design there's no way for you the player to create your own design for him/her. The Fallout 4 protagonist is how it is and cannot be changed.
Camden Cooper
Fucking finally, I'm so sick of seeing retards post this cherry picked image and other retards fellating it
Bentley Scott
>Fucking finally, I'm so sick of seeing retards post this cherry picked image and other retards fellating it Cherrypicking of what? 99.9% of jrpg protagonists is either a child, teenager or a young adult who just barely left their teens.
I don't see how you can be in denial about this.
Caleb Brown
>I don't see how you can be in denial about this. Because you haven't posted a single fact to back that up. It's up to you to support your claim before we disprove it.
Jaxson Bennett
>99.9% of jrpg protagonists is either a child, teenager or a young adult who just barely left their teens. And nothing of that has anything to do with that pic. So, your point?
Nicholas King
I know this is your usual cherrypicking thread (just in favor of the west rather than Japan), but I fucking hate how every single JRPG protagonist is the exact same yet people clamor about how deep they are and how they love [series] because of the characters. The same also applies to western RPGs, but you don't generally see people praising western RPGs for their characters.
Connor Wood
>And nothing of that has anything to do with that pic. But it does. To quote the OP:
>Almost every Japanese RPG opts for making the protagonist a young boy who's just starting out in his career and has little to no life experience, making them effectively a blank slate.
What's the point of using a pre-defined character if you can't leverage that in any meaningful way?
Andrew Brown
Come up with a good rpg protagonist >a cyborg who thought everyone else was a cyborg and spent his ehole life in fear now realizing how powerful he is, asking himself questions on responsibility, morality and dealing with his feelings of helplessness
Jayden Anderson
JRPGs are usually not RPGs so this thread is useless. Even most of the WRPGs today are not RPGs. Even in the pic in OP, the latest WRPG was released about 15 years ago.
Ayden Rogers
Anyone who acts like RPG means "Role-playing game" instead of "Adventure with character progression and numbers" is being wilfully ignorant. When "RPG-elements" were added to other games it meant stats and levelling, not choice and decisions.
Dylan Garcia
you might hate jrpgs, you might hate wrpgs, but there is one thing that we can all agree on JC is the best protagonist of them all
Isaiah Evans
>all the wrpgs are from 100 years ago LMAO WESTFAGS ON SUICIDE WATCH
Aiden Hernandez
Just to counter the shit examples in that image: Kaim Argonar, Yuri Lowell, Vyse, Ashley Riot, Ramza Beoulve, Ryudo, and Stocke don't fit that mold. Just to name a few.
>being a young boy just starting out you career makes you one with "no life experience" >having no life experience, makes you "a blank slate" >a blank slate character has no purpose if you can't "leverage it" yourself Wow, how can a single post be so wrong on so many levels
Thomas Ramirez
Anyone who acts like RPG doesn't mean tabletop pnp modified to fit into video games is ignorant.
Gavin Price
>Ramza 16 years old
>Ryudo 17 years old
>Vyse 17 years old
>Stocke 19 years old
>Yuri 21 years old
>Ashley can't find any info on age
>Kaim an immortal...who conveniently looks like a youthful anime boy
OMG OP BTFO!
Seriously, good job on undermining your own argument. The OP pointed out that almost every jrpg protagonist is very young. Arguably all your examples fit that, or at least the vast majority does. And this was supposed to be a counter-argument?
The OP pointed out that all the protagonists are young silent men from villages with no expression, my dear hilarious frog poster. Sure if you ignore about 90% of the OPs image, you'd be right. But to those with actual eyes and literacy, this isn't the case. I'm sorry for your lots.
>The OP pointed out that all the protagonists are young silent men from villages with no expression The actual text of the OP makes no mention of silent protagonists, it only talks about the age of the protagonists and their station in life. So what are you arguing against?
>Just to counter the shit examples in that image >in that image >image Once again you are proving reading to not be your strong suit. Even in the OPs actual text they make more mention of the characters qualities than just age. And examples like Ashley Riot, Yuri Lowell, Stocke, Ryudo, and Kaim do not fit "just starting out in his career and has little to no life experience"
>What's the point of using a pre-defined character if you can't leverage that in any meaningful way? There are some JRPGs that do this, but you're posting bait so why bother arguing? You're clearly willing to tie personality to age much more than any writer for the sake of replies. If you weren't, you wouldn't have constructed such a shaky argument. Saying that you have a problem with most JRPG protags being children, teens, etc. but not having a problem when the vast majority of classical and modern fiction do exactly the same thing is pretty hypocritical, so take your (You) and fuck off. You have no intent to discuss anything in good faith.
This is a good protag and I would like to see them in a game.
Connor Morris
>Saying that you have a problem with most JRPG protags being children, teens, etc. but not having a problem when the vast majority of classical and modern fiction do exactly the same thing is pretty hypocritical, so take your (You) and fuck off. You have no intent to discuss anything in good faith.
I'm well aware that throughout history, major military leaders have often been just as young, but I don't think I need to explain what the difference was between the upbringing and demeanor of those historical figures compared to jrpg protagonists.
Matthew Torres
>Your post Nigger >Holy shit Nigger >Do you have problems Nigger >What the fuck are you doing Nigger >How do you function Nigger >This sheer autism Nigger >Your fucking post Nigger OMG FROGPOSTER BTFO!
Anthony Murphy
Where did I make mention of historical fact? Learn to fucking read.
James Russell
wrpg protagonists are shit because even though the character is supposed to be a blank slate I can never make him act like I want. dialogue options always just end up being meta options to choose which quest rewards I want.
anyone who thinks a single player tabletop game are worth emulating is retarded
Thomas Martinez
>post story-role and none of the personality of the western protagonists >ignore story-roles of jrpg protagonists
Zachary Jackson
>expressionless mute
James Kelly
>Western RPGs >Describe their exact story role and function >Nippon RPGs >Make a quick description of the character from the first 3 minutes of playing Gas baitniggers
Noah Murphy
>Gas baitniggers How is that bait? For example, we don't even know a single thing about Crono, the main character of the most critically acclaimer rpg of all time. What does he do for a living? Does he still go to school? Where did he learn swordplay? That's how barebones his character is.
The other jrpg protagonists in that image fare a bit better in terms of backstory, but still not anything I would describe as competent writing.
Charles Cox
>How is that bait? For example, we don't even know a single thing about the Fledgling, the main character of one of the most praised cult RPGs of all time. What did they do for a living? How well educated were they? Where did they learn to fight? That's how barebones the character is. Here's your (You)
Daniel Rogers
>small town boy gets caught up in a conflict that takes him through time and proves that people from humble beginnings can change the world by sacrificing his own life, being reborn, and eventually saving the planet from a time-devouring alien life form Can you guess why the retarded bait image didn't say that and instead says what it does?
You can inform his personality based on what he does at the Millennium Fair, which can change how NPCs react during his trial. That's in the first 20 minutes. Baiting or not, congratulations on being a drooling retard. Be sure to tell your tard wrangler that you wrote a thing on the internet.
Julian Nguyen
>Ramza not "starting out in his career" not "little to no life experience" not "blank slate"
>Ryudo not "starting out in his career" not "little to no life experience" not "blank slate"
>Vyse not "starting out in his career" not "little to no life experience" not "blank slate"
>Stocke not "starting out in his career" not "little to no life experience" not "blank slate"
>Yuri not "starting out in his career" not "little to no life experience" not "blank slate"
>Ashley not "starting out in his career" not "little to no life experience" not "blank slate"
>Kaim not "starting out in his career" not "little to no life experience" not "blank slate"
>"B-b-b-but hey they still fit this single particular criterion!! This means I'm still right....RIGHT???" Wow user, you sure showed him!
>Can you guess why the retarded bait image didn't say that and instead says what it does? You're describing the premise of literally a billion jrpgs. How does that elevate Chrono's character in any way?
Connor Lewis
>Ashley is just starting out in his career and has little to no life experience It would help if you played the fucking game, you autistic nigger.
Sebastian Cooper
I'm not saying it does. I'm saying the OP's image is inconsistent and dishonest bait. For the record I think the western games are much better than the JRPGs on the list.
Nathan Turner
What is the last one in the WRPG section? Planescape Torment?
Zachary Kelly
Yep
Jaxon Morales
Yes.
Alexander Russell
>using fallout as an example of an RPG where most dialogue choices don’t even give you any real options
Evan Hill
Fallout 4 sucks and I am not defending it but I never understood why people act like being in the army at some point defines your entire character. It doesn't, knowing about one job you've had at one point in your life tells you almost nothing about anyone. You don't know why he joined the military, what he did there, how he felt about it, etc. I really don't think one kind of minor fact about your characters life stops anyone from roleplaying.
It's all the other stuff that stops you from roleplaying in fallout 4.
Bentley Scott
Yeah but no one likes Fallout 4 and no one is praising it as a good RPG, and for some of the exact reasons you cited.
