I've never played JRP games. Either the enemies are
huge ass colossal monsters, the combat is
turn-based or the screen is
filled with numbers. Now I started playing Dragon Age Inquisition (I swear I'm gonna finish it, someday) at the start of the year. Starting it right after finishing Witcher 3 was mistake. The character models look bland, the horse is more like a steroid-fed donkey and there's no dodge/parry like I'm used to (although there was a perk/skill I unlocked later that was exclusive to my Rogue build, lucky me). But from that game I got that I can handle colossal enemies, screen filled with numbers (or HP bar in DAI's case) and hate isometric camera and turn-based combat. Will I be right at home with most JRP games then?
The game I'm currently looking at is Tales of Berseria. I hear it's a revenge story at heart. I dig it. If I like it I may become a JRPG fan as well.
There's two things you're conflating.
* Styling is "anime". With non-realistic cartoonish physics... typically about heroes wielding unrealistically big weapons and smacking things with them. Gun Kata, Gun Swords, Mecha-robots, etc. etc. Its just styling. If its not "cool" for you, don't sweat it, its not for everyone. What is and isn't "cool" is very subjective. IMO, its best to be "introduced" to this style with shows like Full Metal Alchemist or Kenshin: these shows have a somewhat realistic slant to combat, and "introduce" the concept of the big-weapons and magic laser-battles.
In effect: a lot of anime requires you to watch
other anime first, before you "get" what's going on. Its a culture. There's an order to getting introduced to the culture, otherwise you'll just not really understand what's going on. Some people are able to just jump into the deep-end... but in my experience, its better to start off with a "starter anime" like Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
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* The mechanics: Turn-based JRPG combat basically comes down to four choices. 1. Damage. 2. Buffs. 3. Debuffs. 4. Healing. Damage is often split into multiple categories (usually a classical element: Fire, Water, etc. etc.), or maybe Physical vs Magic. A lot of JRPGs are about memorizing your enemies stats, and choosing the most appropriate damage option. Some games provide an in-game "attack" that allows you to see the enemy's stats (which allows you to slowly learn the characteristics of enemies).
2. Buffs give up your turn, but allow you to deal more damage (or take less damage) in future turns.
3. Debuffs give up your turn, but cause the
opponent to deal less damage (or take more damage) for future turns.
4. Healing gives up your turn, but allows you to live longer, maybe even resurrect your allies.
Learning to balance your turns between buffing, debuffing, healing, and damage is what the game is about. The AI in JRPGs is very simple: various monsters always follow the same pattern. The "hard" part is that there are many, many, MANY different monsters in the game, which means you'll have to spend a lot of time learning the various AI patterns of many different creatures and characters. The name of the game is discovery: once you figure out how various AIs work, you learn the proper buffing / debuffing / damage order to progress through the game.
There's a 5th option: Leveling up. The level up system is the crutch that allows any player to eventually win the game if they put enough effort in. A stronger player can win JRPGs with fewer levels, by simply making better tactical choices. But if at any time you feel like the game is "too hard", the JRPG key to widespread acceptance is... its self balancing. Different players approach the game at different skill levels: maybe you're a newbie at JRPG tactics and need to level grind to level 50 before you can beat the game. Or maybe you're an expert and can beat the game only at level 10.
As such, JRPGs self-balance across different players and different skill levels. If you're finding yourself relying upon "level up" too much, the game can become boring. I always suggest players try to learn the underlying tactics... maybe not enough to become an expert, but enough to at least accept the buff / debuff / damage tradeoffs.
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Pokemon is a great introductory JRPG by the way, with all of these mechanics built into the game. Most children beat Pokemon by just leveling up until they're stronger than all other characters in the game. But an expert player instead uses "X Attack" or "Screech" or "Swords Dance", granting buffs and trying to set up a "sweep condition". Pokemon even has a "Battle Tower" at the endgame, fully optional, where players can learn the tradeoffs associated with buffs vs debuffs vs damage.
Yeah, Pokemon slants for children. But more importantly, its an introductory JRPG. If you've never played JRPGs before, you probably should start with the easy games, rather than jumping into the harder ones.
