A common argument is whether which is better, JRPGs or WRPGs.
If you don't know what either is, a WRPG stands for Western Role Playing Game and a JRPG stands for Japanese Role Playing Game.
WRPGs are role playing games made by people who live in or are from the "West" such as Canada and the United States of America.
WRPGs include:
Oblivion, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Fable and Fallout.
Lots of people think...
that WRPGs take place around medieval times or in space and give you lots of choice.
The truth about them is...
The games do give you some choice, but the majority of things you do won't affect the game at all, like what you choose to say/do to the character you're talking to may only change how the other character responds. If the game has alternate endings, usually the good ending or the most canon ending to the story is the best one, when the rest usually involve you or one of your friends dying/sacrificing their life for you/some other character.
The story is usually...
Something along the lines of "The fate of the universe rests in your hands. You're the universe's last hope...", blood and gore, they give you the delusion of choice by letting you choose what to say to people, the only thing that gets affected is how they respond. They may say you have many different endings, but of course, the best ending is the one that involves doing the most good/moral things in the game, and these things are usually long and hard (tee hee).
JRPGs are role playing games made by people from Japan (duh).
JRPGs include:
Final Fantasy, Sands of Destruction, Pokemon, and Contact.
Lots of people think...
that all JRPGs are very linear, take place in some other planet in the future, and the main characters are all orphans and everyone has crazy hair.
But the truth is...
Many JRPGs do actually give you lots of choice. For example, Summon Night Twin Age. Depending on how you treat your teammates will affect how they help you. If your teammate is getting cornered and you don't help them. they won't help you much when you're in a pinch.
The story is usually...
You, the main character is a teenager, no older than 20, at least one of your parents are dead. You're going around wandering aimlessly in a large world where you'll stumble to where you're supposed to go on accident, spend an hour reading the cutscenes and fighting the enemies that you can't flee from. The villain is some guy wearing armor who is obsessed with "the darkness" and before you actually know he's the villain, you'll run into him many times and he'll always be talking to you about "the darkness" and how it consumes all. When you fight the final boss, he'll have, like five forms that you have to fight one after another. And there isn't that many endings, probably just a good or a bad.
As you can see, both are pretty stupid. It's just a matter of choice though.