LogFAQs > #975255418

Ricemills posted...

Computer RPG = CRPG, Console RPG CRPG?
But they both are Cs?

idk what to tell you other than that people didnt say crpgs for console.

crpg referred to a very specific type of rpg that is more interested in simulation of the elements of a pen and paper rpg (which was another reason for the crpg name, to differentiate them when you're talking about tabletop). consoles at the time were full of much more streamlined stuff like final fantasy that broke down the experience to just turn based combat with stats. those eventually started getting called jrpgs because they were almost exclusively coming out of japan.

Is that a perfect identifier? Not really. Japan likes dungeon crawlers too, they were obsessed with Wizardry and japanese devs developed their own entries after the original sir-tech games for example. But it was just kind of a hard and fast rule.

After the fifth generation of consoles it became increasingly common for there to be crossover onto consoles, and pen and paper simulation started to become less in vogue in general. You saw a lot less "crpg" and a lot more "wrpg". And now the term jrpg is getting pushback, but honestly at this point the line is so blurred and both styles have fed off of each other so thoroughly that most of the time there's barely even a reason to argue about labels anymore.