Games

“For us as Japanese developers, the first time we heard it, it was like a discriminatory term, as though we were being made fun of for creating these games, and so for some developers, the term can be something that will maybe trigger bad feelings because of what it was in the past,” he said.

Really? Is there more information about this?

My understanding has always been that JRPG is a specific sub-genre of RPG with a very Japanese-style drawing and story construction, with less emphasis on customization and more emphasis on power ramping. So they'll usually have anime-style drawing, anime-style story, and a steady power-ramp throughout the game (just like many anime series). Western RPGs, however, seek more realism in art, and more flexibility in how the player constructs their character. There are pros and cons to both options, such as:

• JRPG - pros: more involved storytelling, which results in a more "curated" experience; cons: less replayability
• western RPG - pros: more customization and thus replayability; cons: less interesting storytelling

I loved JRPGs when I was a kid because I didn't understand the complexity of western RPGs, and I really liked having an OP character at the end. As a teen, I loved western RPGs because I had a ton of time and replaying games was a lot of fun. These days, I dislike RPGs in general, but still play JRPGs from time to time for the crazy storytelling. At no point did I ever consider one inherently "better" than the other, they were always just different genres.

J-Action

How about just lean more into ARPGs? The Japanese basically created that genre, and I still think of Japanese studios when I hear that genre to this day. Perhaps they could prefix with a J to note that this is a Japanese-style ARPG, meaning less emphasis on loot and leveling and more emphasis on action and story. Western ARPGs tend to focus on loot and leveling, which is why I avoid them.

In short, when I see a genre prefixed with J, I know it's going to have a crazy, interesting story, a smooth leveling system that I don't need to mess with (if it exists at all), and if there's a ranking system, it'll include an S-tier. That's really cool. If it doesn't have a J prefix, then I'm not really sure what I'll get.