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My point is, why won't the JRPG similarly grow up? I loved FF6 as a kid, but that was back when I had oceans of time and the weird, single-minded focus that made walking back and forth in order to fight some more imps to increase a quasi-meaningless number somewhat palatable. These aren't substantive gameplay experiences that you're wasting your time on, they're filler. You aren't finding something new, revealing more about your characters, or increasing your own skill as a player, so why should you be doing it? Purposely wasting a player's time is just bad game design.
I played FFX back in 2003. Or rather, I should say that I endured the gameplay sequences - endlessly substituting in characters, fighting the same enemies over and over, and just hitting x mindlessly - in order to reach the next plot point. Now if that's the model for your industry, then it sounds to me like your industry is screwed."
@Jason, you're making a very bold statement when you say that Japanese people love grinding. How do you come to that?
I used to do occasional web design work, and I'd find myself adding random floating, glowing things and reflections and all this pretty, but extraneous crap. Then, a friend of mine that's a real designer told me a pretty simple rule he follows - every element of your design has to have a point. Why not the same sort of rule for movies, music, and games?"