East RPGs vs West RPGs

[Astinos]

Not into the whole spikey hair and huge eyes thing.
West for me.

[Pedro]

East has some very good games, even better than most popular West ones, but MMO wise, I'll stick with West for playability, I like the looks of East but most of them end up being grind fests.

[Emerald]

I choose not to get involved in that thread because I have argued with people there over RPG's before.

But the problem is, what makes Western RPGs and Eastern RPGs different? I mean they all do the same thing, in different ways. The biggest difference I can see is the method of story telling and the illusion of choice.

Yes, I said "Illusion." Because no matter how hard you try, a game cannot effectively emulate the idea of choice. Choices are more than just good or bad, which is what many RPGs give us. So it is an illusion, because I can still only act within the system, making me be the good guy or the bad guy is the same thing and giving me the option of choosing along the preset course doesn't really rock my world.

Another issue, is the idea of Role Playing. I role play in D&D and most recently in vampire: The Masquerade. THAT is role playing, other RPGs just don't really let me role play compared to those.

I love RPGs and I am somewhat disappointed with this generations lack of them, but there are a few coming up that have me hyped.

So to answer the poll, neither. I like them both too much to choose a favorite, and If I had too choose one it would be eastern, not because they are better but because a vast majority of my favorite RPGs are eastern ones.

[Berzerker]

West RPG's are way better.

[Pierce]

Voted West.

Eastern rpgs tend to involve much more mindless grinding (see: FFXI)

I mean, I'll grind when I need to but I never enjoy a game based around it.

[SilentDemon]

Baldur's gate .

Both genres are good in their own light. Now if we could combine the play style of west, art direction of east/west, and the better story lines between the two, that would be a good game.

[Kazo]

i voted eastern rpgs, im addicted to the pokemon rpgs i love the compeitve battleing aspect of the game that just exploded with the release of diamond and pearl.

[Zinmasterb]

I'm partial to wolf quest.

West it is.

[Stacks]

Eastern RPGS FTL! I hate games like Blue Dragon where you run into a monster and it takes you into an instanced battle ugh so boring! Western rpgs like KOTOR, Fable, and Oblivion are sooo much better.