Originally Posted by
Wolf Kanno
Stylistically, King's Field (Souls and Bloodbourne's predecessor series) has far more in common with old school WRPG PC titles like Dungeon Master, Lands of Lore, and Ultima Underworld than it does with the Action-RPGs commonly associated with Japan's market. I think that is where many people get the impression. The only JRPG series it has anything in common with that I'm aware or (barring some obscure game I'm obviously ignorant of that someone like ShinGundam would know) is actually old school MegaTen which was light on plot, heavy on dungeon explorations and both series have an obsession with dark and foreboding world's where things like "happiness" and "hope" are lies parents tell their children at night so they don't give completely into despair.
So yeah, gameplay and style-wise, From Software's RPG franchise really traces it's roots back to old Western PC RPGs than Japanese ones. The fact the series lacks the narrative and gameplay functions of your typical JRPG doesn't help it to shake off that distinction. Frankly, I don't understand why people even bother with the semantics of it all. It's a fun series, so does it matter if we should define it by it's root's or it's heritage?