Grinding always seems like an error in terms of gaming progression. More often than not there is a learning curve in games, but modern JRPG's seem to drop the ball and let the kids roam free in traffic, especially Demon's Souls. However, Demon's Souls seems to be more upfront about it than traditional JRPG's.

Now, I feel like I've used that term two times now and it needs explaining. In terms of JRPG's I more often than not mean turn-based or level-based games in which your progression is determined not by your level, but the progression of the story. While Demon's Souls does have a levelling system, via the souls count, it never strays from your progression as a player over story elements. 

The JRPG may be one of the oldest form of gaming that has scarcely changed in the latest generations.  Games such as Final Fantasy 12 and Lost Odyssey seem to follow similar story-based formulas which while they usually never get in the way of you levelling up, they often require grinding to make sure you are strong enough for the next battle.

With this tradition I do declare that JRPG's are to the Japanese market as shooters are to Western gamers. They had their time in the sun in the 90's and have slowly turned into money-makers by name only. The gaming world seems to find a glut of them that rise, fall and burn every year and more often than not it's the one's who stray from the formula who come out on top.

They also have a large focus on graphics and laxed storytelling. As we've seen over the past few years the biggest advancement has been visually while story's tend to stay the same...or rather the advancements of story seem to follow tropic "Save the Princess, Save the World," or make sure you "Kill the bad guy" and everything will be okay.

These games could explore greater things than just game mechanics based around who has the bigger or stronger sword. What does it mean when you want to play a thief? Who are your allies in a world that is built around war and chaos? What are the true repercussions of your actions?  

I only understood recently why I enjoyed WRPG's so much as they blend the story of classic American or European folklore with the first person perspective and immersion of creating a character. If the Japanese market wishes to contend with RPG's in the US I think they need to look at their games more thematically and player-driven than just storytelling.

New Vegas and Skyrim both proved that you can tell a compelling story and create a character of your own at the same time. While Skyrim did have more story constraints it was so expansive and immersive that the only thing that ever really took you out of the experience was a backwards dragon or two. 

While JRPG's do focus on good versus evil the world isn't exactly like that.  But this is more of a cultural heritage. The American literature landscape is more often than not a grey area with heroes and anti-heroes turning themselves into one and the same. This is reflected in Rockstar Games Red Dead Redemption and of course, the GTA series. This is very different from WRPG story telling where you have a larger morality system in games such as the original Fallout, which focused heavily on character interactions. However, Rockstar's Games also suffer from the fatal flaw of freedom vs. storytelling which I often believe cramps it's style.  Excluding the Ballad of Gay Tony storyline which finally got it right. I would also like to mention Saints Row the Third here but that's for another time.

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