A feature in Australia’s Gameplayer looks at the state of the Role-Playing Game for 2008. The article includes interviews with many of the genre’s top players and highlights the most promising RPGs of 2008, including Last Remnant, Fallout 3, and Fable 2.

“I would like to insist about the difference between the RPGs of the East, the J-RPGs, and those of the West, such as Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,” says Takeahiro Kaminagayoshi, director of Mistwalker’s Lost Odyssey. “In J-RPGs, especially under Sakaguchi-san, emotion is a fundamental part of the game, as well as certain narratives, which are also extremely important to the storyline.”

Todd Howard, executive producer of the proudly Western Fallout 3 at Bethesda, puts it more simply. “We stay away from all the big cut-scene/story-telling stuff, to be honest,” he says. “We’re more fans of the ‘make your own story’ idea.” . . .

But different as they are, both types of RPG are recognizably the same species. They’re big, involved, complicated worlds that support big, complicated storylines — and they are extremely expensive to create. Really, really mind-bogglingly expensive and that’s not just expense in terms of money, but in terms of time, resources and, occasionally, sanity.

The article goes on to discuss differing treatment of story in Western and Japanese RPGs, namely that Japanese games have stories defined by the game makers while Western RPGs allow the player to create his own story. And games from both sides of the world inevitably focus on a hero achieving great heights from humble origins.

Not much to comment on here. Whether you’re into linear games or open worlds, this year promises to be a excellent one for RPG fans, especially on the Xbox 360.