What's the difference between an ARPG,CRPG, and JRPG?

Theocritus

So many terms it gets confusing. Also any others in front of the RPG I don't know about?

moshra

American Rapid Propelled Grenade, Canadian Rapid Propelled Grenade, and Japanese Rapid Propelled Grenade.

moshra

In all seriousness, those acronyms are dated.  Everything is called an MMORPG nowadays.  Examples:

Diablo 3 - MMORPG
Torchlight - MMORPG
Destiny - MMORGP
Anthem - MMORPG
The Division 2 - MMORPG

Scorchien

  They are very different and none are MMOs ...

  Here is a list of ARPGS .. Action games that are solo or small group coop up to 4 (usually) , as the name suggest ,, ACTION ...That really dont end but move you to end agme maps of gear hunting ..

https://store.steampowered.com/recommended/morelike/app/424370/

   Here is a list of CRPGs , they are many times party based (not always) but miuch more lore and story driven and have a very definite ending ...

https://store.steampowered.com/recommended/morelike/app/321800/

  Here is a list of JRPGs .. as the name suggest the main difference is there Japanese ..

https://store.steampowered.com/recommended/morelike/app/742120/

TheDarkrayne

It's like a scale to me. Here's how I define them:

aRPG: Focus on action and/or loot
RPG: Balanced
cRPG: Focus on tactics, party composition, story and/or choices

aRPG: Diablo, Dark Souls
RPG: Witcher 3, Skyrim, Dragon Age 2 & 3, Mass Effects
cRPG: Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age 1, KOTOR, Divinity: Original Sin

jRPG just mean it's Eastern, they have different styles too. You can have a jRPG that is a aRPG, like Dark Souls. We also say jRPG even if was made in Korea or China. It should be eRPG (Eastern), really.

In the East, they call our games wRPGs (Western Role Playing Games).

moshra

DMKano said:

Such a weird thread 

Its rocket propelled not rapid.

Everything is a MMO not a MMORPG which is s lot more specific type of MMO.

ARPG has two main meanings - diablo style loot centric mass mob killing type of game (imo this is the preferred definition) or more general action RPG like dark souls or any action based role playing game (imo crap definition)

CRPG  - to me these are mud based PC games like - baldur's gate 

JRPG - to me this is Final Fantasy 1, 4 style games

you're right, my bad.  Not sure where I got rapid from...

FlyByKnight

Action Role Playing Game

Computer Role Playing Game

Japanese Role Playing Game

All the terms can be mixed and matched, and are only there for semantic debates on forums.

One day a European developer is going to make a western story/art influenced Open World MMORPG with action combat that was developed by an Asian Studio that has old school crafting, gathering, class building systems with 0 hand holding that harkens back to retro PC days.

You will all get nosebleeds and head explosions trying to sort out what to call it.

Theocritus

ACJRPG?

AlBQuirky

FlyByKnight said:

Action Role Playing Game

Computer Role Playing Game

Japanese Role Playing Game

All the terms can be mixed and matched, and are only there for semantic debates on forums.

One day a European developer is going to make a western story/art influenced Open World MMORPG with action combat that was developed by an Asian Studio that has old school crafting, gathering, class building systems with 0 hand holding that harkens back to retro PC days.

You will all get nosebleeds and head explosions trying to sort out what to call it.

They can be, and certainly are mixed and matched, but they certainly do not mean the same thing. This is why many languages don't "grow", they instead get muddled.

Diablo (an ARPG) plays nothing like Shadowrun (an RPG) or Legend of Zelda (a JRPG). Three very different terms that players use willy nilly, adding to their decline in their purpose for existing, much like most language "(d)evolution." This thread is a result of everyone having their own meanings for terms, instead of the intended definitions.

Remember, "the masses" are basically stupid sheep that follow. Set a good example and things clear up quickly, or get argued to death

sunandshadow

Some other terms include wrpg and RPsim

WRPG - Western RPG.  Traditionally they have more randomization or generation in dungeon and wilderness areas of the game, including both monsters and loot.  They don't usually have as much story as JRPGs, though they do have some, including NPCs in NPC towns.  This category spawned open world games like the Elder Scrolls series and the Roguelike genre.  WRPG isn't usually used as a term anymore.

Roguelike or Rogue-alike - These are permadeath games where there is no outer world, only a dungeon of many floors, and typically those floors use random generation.  Although they don't contain the word RPG in the name, they are usually RPGs.  They are an ancestor of the survival genre as well as being a current genre of their own.

RPsim - These are hybrids where the player doesn't primarily kill stuff but instead grows crops, crafts, raises animals, and often there is a courtship or befriending process for NPCs which the player has to actually work at, kind of like factions in some MMORPGs.  Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley are some of the big names, but there are many more.  These are an ancestor of the Sandbox/Sandpark genre as well as being their own active current genre.

Amathe

The letters A, C and J.

Woot I win at riddles.

FlyByKnight

AlBQuirky said:

FlyByKnight said:

Action Role Playing Game

Computer Role Playing Game

Japanese Role Playing Game

All the terms can be mixed and matched, and are only there for semantic debates on forums.

One day a European developer is going to make a western story/art influenced Open World MMORPG with action combat that was developed by an Asian Studio that has old school crafting, gathering, class building systems with 0 hand holding that harkens back to retro PC days.

You will all get nosebleeds and head explosions trying to sort out what to call it.

They can be, and certainly are mixed and matched, but they certainly do not mean the same thing. This is why many languages don't "grow", they instead get muddled.

Diablo (an ARPG) plays nothing like Shadowrun (an RPG) or Legend of Zelda (a JRPG). Three very different terms that players use willy nilly, adding to their decline in their purpose for existing, much like most language "(d)evolution." This thread is a result of everyone having their own meanings for terms, instead of the intended definitions.

Remember, "the masses" are basically stupid sheep that follow. Set a good example and things clear up quickly, or get argued to death

What do you call a RPG based on pirates and naval battles?

ARRPG

Slapshot1188

What's the difference between an ARPG,CRPG, and JRPG

Obviously the first letter...

MMOExposed

Some of theseTorval said:

AlBQuirky said:

FlyByKnight said:

Action Role Playing Game

Computer Role Playing Game

Japanese Role Playing Game

All the terms can be mixed and matched, and are only there for semantic debates on forums.

One day a European developer is going to make a western story/art influenced Open World MMORPG with action combat that was developed by an Asian Studio that has old school crafting, gathering, class building systems with 0 hand holding that harkens back to retro PC days.

You will all get nosebleeds and head explosions trying to sort out what to call it.

They can be, and certainly are mixed and matched, but they certainly do not mean the same thing. This is why many languages don't "grow", they instead get muddled.

Diablo (an ARPG) plays nothing like Shadowrun (an RPG) or Legend of Zelda (a JRPG). Three very different terms that players use willy nilly, adding to their decline in their purpose for existing, much like most language "(d)evolution." This thread is a result of everyone having their own meanings for terms, instead of the intended definitions.

Remember, "the masses" are basically stupid sheep that follow. Set a good example and things clear up quickly, or get argued to death

Zelda was an action JRPG. JRPGs can be action or turn based too. The term came from Japanese RPG. That's all it meant and they were doing RPGs a lot before the west caught up.

Diablo 3, Dragon's Dogma:DA, and Victor Vran area all Action RPGs which can and are abbreviated ARPG. That doesn't invalidate that when people are talking about "isometric" ARPGs they mean Diablo/TitanQuest style action role-playing games. People call ARPGs isometric when that's rarely ever true. They are in fact some other sort of axonometric projection called "isometric" because it's easier than going into a geometry lesson about perspectives use in gaming. A lot of newer "isometric" games are fully 3D rendered and provide a fake projected view as an art style choice.

That's why context matters in any discussion and definitions aren't exclusive or absolute. And languages evolve if they're alive. What ARPG brings to mind now is a lot different than it was 15 years ago and that was true 15 years ago when talking about the same thing in relation to original Action JRPGs.

Zelda is not a JRPG. It has no real RPG elements. It's an Adventure game. 

JRPG pretty much centers around a stereotypical Japanese manga style storytelling and flashy gameplay.

ARPG are RPG that have some kind of action oriented gameplay as opposed to traditional Turn Based RPGs which Tactical RPGs also fall into the category of Turn Based since you take turns moving and doing actions. 

Computer RPGs are just another way of saying a RPG that's more larger scale than traditional RPGs that may be more narrow in design, like some JRPGs are. Remember Computers stereotypically are more powerful tech than consoles, so have always been associated with doing gameplay that consoles cant do, even though the lines here been blurred,  the team still means the same. Like I said, this term just means RPGs larger and more expansive in terms of explorations and gameplay than traditional narrow path RPGs.

Sabrac

Theocritus said:

ACJRPG?

Going full RPG there.



Going a bit off topic, but it's just me or since the success of Dark Souls, seems like many JRPG studios have been trying to focus on a more Action oriented combat instead of their traddional tactical turn base combat?

Theocritus

So a game like Dark Souls could be both an ARPG and a JRPG then?

AlBQuirky

Torval said:

AlBQuirky said:

FlyByKnight said:

Action Role Playing Game

Computer Role Playing Game

Japanese Role Playing Game

All the terms can be mixed and matched, and are only there for semantic debates on forums.

One day a European developer is going to make a western story/art influenced Open World MMORPG with action combat that was developed by an Asian Studio that has old school crafting, gathering, class building systems with 0 hand holding that harkens back to retro PC days.

You will all get nosebleeds and head explosions trying to sort out what to call it.

They can be, and certainly are mixed and matched, but they certainly do not mean the same thing. This is why many languages don't "grow", they instead get muddled.

Diablo (an ARPG) plays nothing like Shadowrun (an RPG) or Legend of Zelda (a JRPG). Three very different terms that players use willy nilly, adding to their decline in their purpose for existing, much like most language "(d)evolution." This thread is a result of everyone having their own meanings for terms, instead of the intended definitions.

Remember, "the masses" are basically stupid sheep that follow. Set a good example and things clear up quickly, or get argued to death

Zelda was an action JRPG. JRPGs can be action or turn based too. The term came from Japanese RPG. That's all it meant and they were doing RPGs a lot before the west caught up.

Diablo 3, Dragon's Dogma:DA, and Victor Vran area all Action RPGs which can and are abbreviated ARPG. That doesn't invalidate that when people are talking about "isometric" ARPGs they mean Diablo/TitanQuest style action role-playing games. People call ARPGs isometric when that's rarely ever true. They are in fact some other sort of axonometric projection called "isometric" because it's easier than going into a geometry lesson about perspectives use in gaming. A lot of newer "isometric" games are fully 3D rendered and provide a fake projected view as an art style choice.

That's why context matters in any discussion and definitions aren't exclusive or absolute. And languages evolve if they're alive. What ARPG brings to mind now is a lot different than it was 15 years ago and that was true 15 years ago when talking about the same thing in relation to original Action JRPGs.

That's some great points and distinctions.

Kyleran

Torval said: ju

AlBQuirky said:

FlyByKnight said:

Action Role Playing Game

Computer Role Playing Game

Japanese Role Playing Game

All the terms can be mixed and matched, and are only there for semantic debates on forums.

One day a European developer is going to make a western story/art influenced Open World MMORPG with action combat that was developed by an Asian Studio that has old school crafting, gathering, class building systems with 0 hand holding that harkens back to retro PC days.

You will all get nosebleeds and head explosions trying to sort out what to call it.

They can be, and certainly are mixed and matched, but they certainly do not mean the same thing. This is why many languages don't "grow", they instead get muddled.

Diablo (an ARPG) plays nothing like Shadowrun (an RPG) or Legend of Zelda (a JRPG). Three very different terms that players use willy nilly, adding to their decline in their purpose for existing, much like most language "(d)evolution." This thread is a result of everyone having their own meanings for terms, instead of the intended definitions.

Remember, "the masses" are basically stupid sheep that follow. Set a good example and things clear up quickly, or get argued to death

Zelda was an action JRPG. JRPGs can be action or turn based too. The term came from Japanese RPG. That's all it meant and they were doing RPGs a lot before the west caught up.


That's why context matters in any discussion and definitions aren't exclusive or absolute. And languages evolve if they're alive. What ARPG brings to mind now is a lot different than it was 15 years ago and that was true 15 years ago when talking about the same thing in relation to original Action JRPGs.

I recall playing western made RPGs since the 80s, so not sure where you came up with the idea western devs had to catch up to JRPGs, which I view as a mostly unnecessary moniker beyond CRPG.

Also, over 20 years ago Diablo 1 launched, largely defining the ARPG which its sequel D2 firmly cemented.

As Kano said, any game which plays like them, such as POE which very much does is an ARPG, if they don't then they are some other style of game. (I.e. Zelda)

Language may evolve when there is good reason, but albums are still made out of vinyl and in the case of ARPG no evolution is necessary.

Kyleran

Theocritus said:

So many terms it gets confusing. Also any others in front of the RPG I don't know about?

MMORPG, but few know what that means anymore. 

Kyleran

FlyByKnight said:

AlBQuirky said:

FlyByKnight said:

Action Role Playing Game

Computer Role Playing Game

Japanese Role Playing Game

All the terms can be mixed and matched, and are only there for semantic debates on forums.

One day a European developer is going to make a western story/art influenced Open World MMORPG with action combat that was developed by an Asian Studio that has old school crafting, gathering, class building systems with 0 hand holding that harkens back to retro PC days.

You will all get nosebleeds and head explosions trying to sort out what to call it.

They can be, and certainly are mixed and matched, but they certainly do not mean the same thing. This is why many languages don't "grow", they instead get muddled.

Diablo (an ARPG) plays nothing like Shadowrun (an RPG) or Legend of Zelda (a JRPG). Three very different terms that players use willy nilly, adding to their decline in their purpose for existing, much like most language "(d)evolution." This thread is a result of everyone having their own meanings for terms, instead of the intended definitions.

Remember, "the masses" are basically stupid sheep that follow. Set a good example and things clear up quickly, or get argued to death

What do you call a RPG based on pirates and naval battles?

ARRPG

If on a computer,  a CRPG, on a console, TRPG (toaster), table top and board RPGs are self explanatory. 

Only use I've ever had for JRPG is as an identifier for a RPG I won't like, otherwise CRPG or one of the others as appropriate.

Adamantine

Err ... CRPG means "computer role playing game".

Thus ANY role playing game thats played on the computer, as opposed to played on a table with pen and paper and other people including a DM, is a CRPG.

Including of course MMORPG and JRPG.

Scot

The first initial.

Scot

Adamantine said:

Err ... CRPG means "computer role playing game".

Thus ANY role playing game thats played on the computer, as opposed to played on a table with pen and paper and other people including a DM, is a CRPG.

Including of course MMORPG and JRPG.

Shows how outdated the nomenclature is and how tightly we hold on to old words, phrases and titles even when they have lost their meaning...as I type on a site called MMORPG.com