He added: “So when it comes to the term ‘JRPG’, this is something that ties into this – these are RPG games that, in a sense, only Japanese creators can make with their unique sensitivity when it comes to creating these experiences. “I think it’s certainly something that should be celebrated moving forward, and someone should actually aim to make a ‘king of JRPGs’ game to express that. As Japanese game creators, we’re very proud of the actual term JRPG.”

We asked Kamiya if he’d be offended if people started using the term ‘J-Action’ to describe games like Bayonetta. “On the contrary, I’d be very proud if you used that term,” he replied. “It’s more focused than the broad genre of action, and it highlights the unique elements that only Japanese developers can make. So yeah, if you wanted to do that, go for it, we’d be proud more than anything else.”

Adding J- prefix to Japanese pop culture is not a new thing, we already have endearing terms like

  • Jpop (Japanese pop music)
  • Jrock (Japanese rock)
  • JAV (Japanese Audio Visual collective)
  • Jdorama (Japanese TV drama)
  • Jmetal (Japanese metal music)

I would definitely welcome Kamiya calling his games J-Action.

  • AndrasKrigare@beehaw.org
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    11 months ago

    I think it’s generally agreed that pretty much all our genre naming conventions are bad and alternatives exist. https://youtu.be/uepAJ-rqJKA has a pretty good description of an alternative, where you describe games by their core reason for play as opposed to mechanics or camera perspective

  • stackPeek@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

    JAV (Japanese Audio Visual collective)

    emm… I think JAV means completely different. I thought it was japanese adult video?

  • rnd@beehaw.org
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    11 months ago

    I heard that in the late 2000s the western gaming press had a very strong dislike for JRPGs, which led to Japanese developers treating the term as derogatory. And while I still think that ideally we’d have better terminology that would try to capture the differences between the games rather than their place of origin (the most famous distinction being that “western RPGs” usually let you create your character and treat them as a blank slate in the story, whereas “JRPGs” usually put you in control of a predefined character with their own motivations and actions in the storyline), I think it’s nice that nowadays there are developers who are actually proud of the term “JRPG”.

    • Pigeon@beehaw.org
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      11 months ago

      I think it doesn’t truly mean “Japanese RPG’s”, even today. There are lots of Japanese games that don’t get called JRPG’s even though they are RPG’s or have those elements (there is ambiguitiy in what an RPG is too, admittedly), like Resident Evil games and Dark Souls games and Zelda games and Pokemon. Dark Souls especially, since they have the character building and stats as well as the roleplaying.

      People don’t call Elden Ring a JRPG because JRPG is supposed to mean one thing but really it carries a lot connotations about mechanics, graphics, and the derogatory connotations about quality.

      And Pokemon! Pokemon is very clearly a JRPG in the mechnical and graphics sense, but it doesn’t typically get called a JRPG. I think this is because of the negative connotations of JRPG, personally.

      And on the other hand we have things like Chained Echoes, which is in all mechanical and graphical ways is a textbook JRPG, except it’s not made in Japan at all, but rather inspired by Japanese games.

      I agree this is complicated, but I found Jimquisition’s video on the topic really persuasive. I recommend that one even for people normally don’t jive with Jimquisition’s style.

      Within any group, there will always be some who don’t find a term offensive even while others do, but I think probably the best outcome in this case is for the general populace to move away from the term, while leaving space for Japanese video game devs to reclaim it and use it themselves if they wish to.

      Maybe it will truly lose the negative connotations with time, but I don’t think we’re there yet, when people are only just starting to sometimes acknowledge it ever had those connotations in the first place.

      Granted, most genre words are vague and confusing as hell - JRPG isn’t special in that sense - but most don’t have the racist history/implications or negative connotations. And when I try to think of another genre label that is used as an insult, the first that comes to mind is Visual Novel, which is another one that is heavily associated with Japan.

  • KoboldCoterie@pawb.social
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    11 months ago

    It’s weird to claim that only Japanese creators can make JRPGs. That’s not true at all, it just implies a specific style of gameplay, not the country of origin.

    • TotesIllegit@pathfinder.social
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      11 months ago

      This reminds me of the internet discussions around Avatar: The Last Airbender years back and whether it counted as anime or not.

    • Ilflish@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      I disagree with both article and your point. The J is unhelpful when we can just label them turned-based action. This is just an issue of grandfathering a genre which means very little, is incredibly decisive and even unhelpful. It’s easy to imagine someone who like Final Fantasy may like a game like LISA. But harder to suggest someone who like ~~Final Fantasy ~~ Dragon Quest will like Kingdom Hearts, Demon Gaze or Disgaea. Just split JRPGs into mechanical genres. Turn-Based Action, Action RPG, Turn/Tile-based Strategy.

      This issue extends to more genres (Generally RPG and Action) but I think it’s probably the easiest one to start moving away from

      • ampersandrew@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        There are plenty of turn based western RPGs that aren’t JRPGs, like the brand new Baldur’s Gate 3. If a game is a JRPG, I’m expecting an ensemble cast who each have their own special abilities and weapon type, and they each level up in more or less exactly one way, which I can’t control. Instead, I customize them through equipment, if at all. Dialogue may have choices, but it’s usually between choice A and choice B.

        In a western RPG, I may have a party of characters or only control one, and when I level up, I get points to spend in whichever attributes I think I’ll get the most value out of for the build I’m going for. These skills may result in skill checks that open up different avenues for solving problems in the game than if I had invested in other skills, and these skill checks may come up in dialogue.

        Of course, J or not, the reality of the world is not so binary, and many games have some but not all of these traits or make them more difficult to define, but the J does tell me something.