10 things Japanese people hate about JRPGs

[Starmongoose]

They day I can't take Grandma's 19 gil worth of life savings without consequence is a day I never want to see.

[Yoda]

They day I can't take Grandma's 19 gil zenny worth of life savings without consequence is a day I never want to see.

[Eusis]

They day I can't take Grandma's 19 gil zenny macca worth of life savings without consequence is a day I never want to see.

[Dice]

They day I can't take Grandma's 19 gil zenny macca worth of life savings without consequence is a day I never want to see.

My favorite currency.  How I miss thee.

[Kevadu]

Ugh, I remember thinking this article was asinine when I saw it on Crunchyroll...why are we talking about it here?

Which is not to say that there aren't problems with JRPGs but it's not a good list.

[Aeolus]

They day I can't take Grandma's 19 gil zenny macca meseta worth of life savings without consequence is a day I never want to see.

Also why the fuck are we citing Crunchyroll? We might as well cite 2ch and skim Pivix while we're at it (let's not do these).

[Dice]

They day I can't take Grandma's 19 gil zenny macca meseta worth of life savings without consequence is a day I never want to see.

I always had a soft spot for the Kingdom Hearts "munny".  It's just darling.

[ZeronHitaro]

Assuming #5 wasn't some form of translation error:

It would not surprise me if game studio executives sometimes force content to change if/when a well paid actress/singer/ect. looks at a game and says 'You know what would be cute...?" Considering JRPGs seem almost exclusively marketed to the moe-blob market these days and that particular breed of fan goes nutso over anything involving their favorite singers/actresses (need I remind everyone of the Gaki no Tsukai clip with the Morning Musume group?); it would not be a stretch to say certain companies would do anything to keep these people happy and under contract.

Think about how in certain Western productions you have the stereotypical 'diva' actor/actress who refuses to do their part unless someone changes X about the scene into Y. Which at that people the producers are forced to either choose artistic integrity by ignoring/losing said individual or acquiescing to their whims because the project will sell significantly less without the 'star power' behind it. This might not happen as much in Hollywood anymore but I can say with 100% authenticity that in stage productions, especially Broadway, this is not an uncommon occurrence. You can spend hundreds of man hours and thousands of dollars building a stage set and if Madame Lead Actress hates it; guess what you're rebuilding for the next few weeks?

[Aeolus]

Assuming #5 wasn't some form of translation error:

It would not surprise me if game studio executives sometimes force content to change if/when a well paid actress/singer/ect. looks at a game and says 'You know what would be cute...?" Considering JRPGs seem almost exclusively marketed to the moe-blob market these days and that particular breed of fan goes nutso over anything involving their favorite singers/actresses (need I remind everyone of the Gaki no Tsukai clip with the Morning Musume group?); it would not be a stretch to say certain companies would do anything to keep these people happy and under contract.

Think about how in certain Western productions you have the stereotypical 'diva' actor/actress who refuses to do their part unless someone changes X about the scene into Y. Which at that people the producers are forced to either choose artistic integrity by ignoring/losing said individual or acquiescing to their whims because the project will sell significantly less without the 'star power' behind it. This might not happen as much in Hollywood anymore but I can say with 100% authenticity that in stage productions, especially Broadway, this is not an uncommon occurrence. You can spend hundreds of man hours and thousands of dollars building a stage set and if Madame Lead Actress hates it; guess what you're rebuilding for the next few weeks?

To be fair, one of FFXIII-2's best DLC costume designs for Serah came from a pop idol.

That said, while half of this list is equivalent to the belief that Japanese Otaku can't stand non digital/plastic women due to their needs/odors, the other half is basically the exact same list that most RPGs (nevermind JRPGs) fall under. It is good to see that some beefs that I have with videogames these days are fairly universal.

[Logick]

1. The characters are all good-looking guys and beautiful girls.

I think the obvious thing to say here is, "are they supposed to be ugly then?".  But hey.  Apparently all doctors on television are 10's.

I think they mean pretty boys and cute girls.  You can make a good looking hero who is "manly" and a beautiful girl who is a woman.  I guess they want that. (think characters from Berserk)

[Eusis]

It's not as if it's one or the other, you could make a relatively average looking guy or girl, maybe they just have a big nose or something.

[Hathen]

As I mentioned before, she took pretty much all the "complaints" off the top of the list (didn't even bothering looking through to see if there were any really common ones), and it's obvious a lot of these are just small annoyances people are listing off randomly. So she goes to a anonymous board, picks a bunch of posts from the top, puts them in a numbered list so it looks more official, and doesn't even translate a bunch of them properly. BTW that's probably referring to:

イケメンと美女ばかり

Roughly meaning, "Everyone's a twink or beauty queen". So the original post was clearly meant to be somewhat dismissive and sardonic in tone, despite it being a real gripe.

I'm still confused, is this published as a blog post, or an actual article? If it's seriously the latter it really blows my mind that someone might be getting paid to do such sloppy work.

[Kevadu]

It's seriously the latter.  Consider your mind blown.

[Dice]

It's not as if it's one or the other, you could make a relatively average looking guy or girl, maybe they just have a big nose or something.

Always thought Lois Griffin from Family Guy had a lot of character for hers. :D