Eh I think it's important to realize the distinction of JRPGs compared to the "regular" RPG or the Western CRPG like Baldurs Gate. Going back to the original t

Eh I think it's important to realize the distinction of JRPGs compared to the "regular" RPG or the Western CRPG like Baldurs Gate. Going back to the original tabletop RPG, the mechanics that would form the foundation of modern RPGs were just formalized abstractions to capture the fantasy adventure that players were roleplaying. Later on early CRPGs would continue with this due to technical limitations, but as tech improved, these limitations should have gone away. In that sense if you are still looking for the original goal of realizing a fantasy world, BOTW or Bethesda's games would be the "successors". The ImSim is also quite close, albeit they exist in more restricted sense than a fully realized world. JRPGs took a different direction in largely throwing away the original goals and instead idolizing the abstractions themselves. Turns out there is a big market and appeal for this, as author himself points out. So when it come to newcomers moving in to the RPG genre, there might be alot of confusion because theres different crowds playing for different reasons.