For historical, cultural, and hardware related reasons, console role-playing games have evolved a very different set of features that mark them distinct from other electronic RPGs. Because the vast majority of CRPGs originate in Eastern Asia, particularly Japan, CRPGs are often referred to as Japanese role-playing game (JRPG[2]), although there are non-Japanese console role-playing games in existence.
A computer role-playing game (also referred to as CRPG) may be marked as a "console-style RPG" by the gaming community if its gameplay and design philosophy is similar to that of most console role-playing games. Examples of such games that actively pursued an Eastern style of RPGs include Anachronox and Septerra Core.
The categorization between console and computer role-playing games is sometimes ambiguous for cross-platform games such as the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, or for games that are ported from one format to another, such as Eye of the Beholder or Final Fantasy VII....
In CRPGs, overall character power is often represented by a number called a "level". Typically, characters raise their level by gaining experience through combat or by performing other actions. When the experience reaches a certain number they gain a level, enabling them to attain greater attributes, abilities, and spells. In the process of gaining these levels characters may gain more useful types of equipment, such as weapons and armor....
A CRPG often provides several different layers of travel in the form of localized maps in buildings, towns, or dungeons. At the widest levels, an overlying world map is often used for traveling between countries, continents, or planets. At the beginning of the game, obstacles on the world map such as mountains, rivers, and deserts may prohibit the player from visiting an area until the player has obtained appropriate skills or vehicles.
A CRPG plot is crafted in an intricate fashion into a highly dramatic, strictly-directed and linear construct, relying on the viewer to experience most of its twists and turns at predetermined specific times and certain ways. In this sense, a CRPG's execution is quite akin to that of a movie or a novel, using scripted sequences.
Few games in the genre offer branching plots, though some titles such as Final Fantasy VII and Tales of Symphonia do feature alternate storylines depending on the player's conversational choices to characters in his party. Other games such as Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross were notable for offering a multitude of decidedly different endings.
Console RPG plots tend to resemble anime or manga adventures, often colorful and bright with light-hearted, self-identifiable characters. The storyline in these games usually involves an epic battle between the forces of good and evil, with the player's characters fighting on the good side to avert an apocalypse.
most RPG gameplay is built around quest structures. The player is typically required to go through a series of challenges shared from pen-and-paper RPGs, such as clearing a dungeon of monsters, defeating an evil boss, or rescuing a princess. To do these tasks, one might be required to talk to an NPC to receive the quest. Other missions may include engaging in dialogue, item fetch quests, or locational puzzles, such as opening a locked door by means of a key or hidden lever.