I'm so glad that Gui left the Undertale announcement at "This means Gamemaker Studio runs on Switch" and didn't get evangelical about that game's bottomless charm or smart writing or how it's birthed a fanbase that even I, ClexYoshi, who have experienced some awful fanbases wants to even get near, or such.
Like, don't get me wrong. I'm happy for Toby Fox. he may very well have his little magnum opus on the same hardware that could in theory one day host the very game he made a romhack of that got him into doing game development. Hell, it's even funny that Nintendo would do business with a guy that would show such a flagrant disregard for their game as to promote *GASP!* Piracy!!!
But I could not play Undertale. I sat there when I tried to play and was like, "this really isn't a JRPG, is it?" and "I see what you're trying to do, game." and I feel like it's supposed to take you on an emotional ride and be the most dreaded word that could turn me off from ANY game if you described it as such...
... an EXPERIENCE.
How ironic that they call a "RPG" that when it promotes a style of gameplay wherein you gain no EXP.
and yeah, to that effect, I kinda don't like Earthbound either. Mother 3 is all right, though. that game is a slightly less bad JRPG with a strong story attached. I kinda like that it has the balls to have this really happy and silly art attached to a game that's so depressing. which is kinda what I feel about the genre of Mother-inspired JRPGs in general. Bad Dragon Quest-likes that happen to have a QUuUuUuirky sense of humor and some sort of pretentious story that happens to be attached to something only one step above the visual novel/dating sim!
Yes, I realize I've used this as my chance to soapbox about types of games I tend not to like. There's a place in the world for these gameplay-lite sorts of ordeals. I'm not even saying your opinion is invalid for liking these... but I like games with mechanical crunch and a fun factor. my favorite JRPGs tend to be ones that you can break through manipulation of systems...! it's why Final Fantasy 5 with it's bad Saturday Morning Cartoon story line is one of my favorites in that series! the Job System is waaaaaay more compelling than the characters they attach it to! I LOATHE the Bravely default protags, but that game is so fun it pushed me past my annoyance with Ringabel mentioning his intoxicating musk and how it attracts women and Edea's response of "MRGRGR...!" fully voice acted!