A former Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate dev says that there's "nothing" that suggests JRPGs have to be made in Japan - and he's got Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to help prove his point.
David Gaider, who remains one of the most celebrated western RPG developers of all time, with credits across Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, and Dragon Age, is almost uniquely qualified to help determine what makes an RPG. But speaking to GamesRadar+, we ask him what makes something a JRPG.
In response, he explains that the suggestion that the recently released Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - which was made in France but has many of the trappings of a Japanese RPG - is evidence that "there's nothing about JRPGs that requires them to be made in Japan. The name is a misnomer - it's not a Japanese RPG, it's a Japanese-style RPG. And so that can be made anywhere."
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Gaider admits that "there are a number of devs in Japan that sort of bristle at the idea. But I think part of that is bristling at the idea that any RPG they make is automatically put in that category. They can and probably want to make all sorts of RPGs." In essence, if a Japanese studio made an isometric, dice-based RPG, would that be considered a JRPG? Probably not.
"I think JRPG as a category consists of a number of elements that are very common," Gaider explains. One of those is turn-based combat, although he does point out that Final Fantasy has "broken away" from that format in recent iterations, meaning that's now less of a JRPG stalwart than it once was. You also have your "teenage protagonists," and a plot that Gaider warily refers to as "convoluted - very detailed, lots of angst."
That's certainly true of Clair Obscur. While its cast isn't entirely teenage, it's certainly got that angsty story and turn-based combat. And given that the studio's senior figures have made their love for Final Fantasy very clear, it seems fair to say that the inspiration is there too.
Overall, the JRPG has "a certain style, which I think everybody understands is quite different from the 'regular' RPG, the CRPG, the Western-style RPG, whatever you want to say. That was why there was a need to create this new category anyway, because JRPGS had this consistent style that was consistently different from the other RPGs that were all being made."
Ok, all the games on our list of the best JPRGs were made in Japan - but they didn't have to be to be eligible.
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