History Main / WesternRpg

If applied to the narrow creator region definition of Eastern [=RPGs=], then Western [=RPGs=] are all [=RPGs=] made outside of East Asia, usually in the Americas (USA, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, etc.), Australia, New Zealand, and Europe instead. When used to contrast the [[UsefulNotes/MechanicsDynamicsAesthetics aesthetical]] definition of Eastern [=RPGs=], Western [=RPGs=] are defined as a Role-Playing Game following a style popularized by Western computer developers.

* Background UsefulNotes/{{dice}} rolls are often visible, and stats are directly shown as they interact with the rules. In recent years, however, many of the more action-oriented Western [=RPGs=] have been moving away from this.

The jump to full 3D and MultiPlatform brought with it new sensibilities, however. Some Western-developed games (''VideoGame/SepterraCore'', ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Summoner}}'', ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'', etc.) deliberately went for the console RPG feel. Other developers embraced real-time combat and [[UsefulNotes/GeneralGamingGamepads Game Pad]] controls and started streamlining traditional RPG mechanics and pitching their games as "{{Action RPG}}s"--a term that has never been particularly well-defined in the West, but one that now posed the critical question: just when does an "ARPG" stop being an RPG and become an ActionGame? At the same time, RPGElements started to bleed into other genres (shooters, strategy games, {{MOBA}}s, sandboxes, etc.), and by TheNewTens, Western RPG was suffering from a severe identity crisis that could be summed up in one sentence as "It's an RPG if the publisher says it is."

The history of Western [=RPGs=] is a long one, and is intimately tied to the history of the RPG genre as a whole. For more information on the genre's history, see [[MediaNotes/WesternRPG its Media Notes]]. The WRPG genre is also closely linked to several other genres outside of [=RPGs=] by their shared origins; RPG codifier and WRPG pioneer ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' also gave birth to the ImmersiveSim[[note]]with the ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'' SpinOff[[/note]] and the {{MMORPG}} genres[[note]]''VideoGame/UltimaOnline'' had not invented the genre, but it was its first commercial success[[/note]].

The history of Western [=RPGs=] is a long one, and is intimately tied to the history of the RPG genre as a whole. For more information on the genre's history, see [[MediaNotes/WesternRPG its Media Notes]]. The WRPG genre is also closely linked to several other genres outside of [=RPGs=] by their shared origins; RPG codifier and WRPG pioneer ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' also gave birth to the ImmersiveSim [[note]]with the ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'' SpinOff[[/note]] and the {{MMORPG}} genres[[note]]''VideoGame/UltimaOnline'' had not invented the genre, but it was its first commercial success[[/note]].

The emergence of the narrative RPG became a new GenreTurningPoint for the WRPG genre. As the [[MediaNotes/TheSixthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames sixth generation]] approached, Western [=RPGs=] went on an offensive and plant boots on the console ground with ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'' (a sandbox RPG) and ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' (a narrative RPG).