Ever since I was a kid. When I was very young I probably would have said because they tell better more (I wouldn’t have used this word, but it’s what I would have mean) focused stories than western RPGs.

Now I think I can be honest and say that a lot of it is nostalgia. I still have trouble replaying some of the ones I grew up on, I’ve gotten to a point where I need to be making choices in games that don’t have realtime elements at least so “select attack until the boss, then Fire 2 until out of MP, heal as needed” is kinda boring. A lot of games have been experimenting with this lately though (Octopath Traveler, Sea of Stars, Star Renegades [technically a roguelike]) which is nice to see.

Strategy jrpgs where you move around little dudes on a map hold up better I think.