JRPG is a term that has been used in gaming circles to describe Final Fantasy and other fan-favorite RPGs from Japan for what feels like forever, but it turns out that local developers weren’t the biggest fans of the label. Speaking to Skill Up in a new interview, Naoki Yoshida (“Yoshi-P”), who’s currently busy producing Final Fantasy XVI, mentioned that he and other Japanese developers hated the term when it first popped up, with some going so far as to describe it as “discriminatory.” While the term seemingly has better connotations now, Japanese devs who saw the word JRPG thought they were being made fun of, or having their efforts compartmentalized, according to Yoshida.
From a Skill Up feature:
One thing he wants to get across is that when we create games, we don’t go into them thinking we are creating JRPGs, we are just creating RPGs. The term JRPG is used by western media rather than users and media in Japan.
“This is going to depend on who you ask but there was a time when this term first appeared 15 years ago, and for us as 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 JRPG can be something that will maybe trigger bad feelings because of what it was in the past. 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.”
“l remembers seeing something 15 years ago which was basically a definition of what a JRPG was vs a western RPG, and its kind of like FFVII, and it has this type of graphics, this length of story, and compartmentalizing what we were creating into a JRPG box, and taking offence to that because that’s not how how were going into creating. We were going in to create an RPG, but to be compartmentalized, they felt was discriminatory.”
“Travelling around the world, speaking with fans and media about their image of the franchise, they would always give the same answer: that it’s turn based, that it’s anime like, these teenagers saving the world, ‘very JRPG’. This was the image for all FF. This was turning off some players because they thought it could only be that and that was a reason to not get into it. On top of that, you have a gen of new gamers who were raised on FPS and games like GTA where input is always direct. For those players, the thought of having to wait before you act is kind of a disconnect for that young generation. So with our goal to expand the series and broaden the audience, bring back players but also welcome new players, we realized we had to evolve the series and change it up from what people expected.”
“What I want is for players to say wow — that it blew them away. Wow can be perceived in different ways. Wow because of story, wow because of lots of crazy boss battles, wow because whoever made this must have been out of their minds. What we want is for players have that sense of wow. As for its place within the franchise, hopefully, through Final Fantasy WI, we can kind of regain that sense of the Final Fantasy series is a must buy. You must check this out. Something that we don’t have now, and we can return to the idea that when a Final Fantasy comes out, it’s something that we must play.”
Discussion (12 replies)
Join Discussion →I hate to say it, but JRPG's have certain style to them that's very distinct. It is basically its own sub-genre of RPG. I don't know that the term is ever been derogatory on its own. I certainly have a negative view of them but I don't think most people do.
I like and buy jrpgs, and yes they are quite distinct in my view. Too bad they thought it was a negative connotation, I agree I don't think it ever was.
Of course, nothing is rigid when it comes to games, everything is evolving... Jrpgs is the kind of thing you say I know it when I see it. To me personally in so many ways jrpgs, are rpgs.
But again, if you expand knowledge enough games get plenty complicated when it comes to defining their genre.
I don't understand why anyone would think the term JRPG would be derogatory. I've never once thought it had any negative connotation and I don't particularly care for JRPGs as the style and direction doesn't normally appeal to me. JRPGs almost always have a distinct style that is considerably different from what would be classed as a "typical" or "normal" RPG. It's simply a sub-genre like tons of others.
I like the term, so I know what games to avoid. Not every game is for everyone. Doesn't mean the distinction itself is negative discrimination.
Someone who loves the genre can take it as high praise.
I never ever thought "JRPG" was even remotely discriminatory, it is just simply a classification of a sub-genre. Surprised that they think it is discriminatory. I've also heard the phrase "western RPG" for RPGs from our side of the pond for just as long, and again it doesn't strike me as even the slightest bit discriminatory. This fool said "we still remember the time when it was used as a negative." Yeah that was never. It is just simply a term to describe a sub-genre of RPGs. Don't know why this dude's panties are all in a bunch.
Yeah, just because you are Japanese doesn't mean all you can make is JRPG, it denotes a certain style popular in Japan, not that it is made in japan.
Somewhat related, is "Dutch treat" or "going Dutch" a pejorative or offensive to the Dutch peoples these days?
I never found something wrong with the name jrpg, just states where the game came from and to a certain extent what can be expected from the game.
Beats the Eurotrash name that got used for a bunch of dodgy european games like Elex.
I guess we can just pick common terms and decide they have become Derogatory, regardless of intent or history.
I mean I bet it has to do with the expectation of fan service associated with the term jrpg.
Services such as? Bukake?
Nope but sexualized characters and such. Google anime fan service.