Just imagine a game that's like your typical WRPG, except for a couple mechanics that you normally see in JRPGs:

* Stealing: Stealing is a combat-only activity. Some enemies have an item that can be stolen, and certain characters have the ability to try to steal said item during combat. (In a class-based system, it would be the Rogue or Thief that gets this ability; in a more free-form system the Pickpocket skill would serve this role.) If an enemy is killed and the player does not steal the item first, the enemy does not drop it; either you steal while the enemy is still alive or you don't get the item. (Note that often the stealable item will be something common like a healing potion or an alchemy ingredient.)

* Summoning: Summons are just big spells; they do not actually create an entity in the game. When a summon is cast, the game will show a (possibly fancy) animation, with everything else paused, When the animation finishes, the summon's effect, which could be something like massive elemental damage to all on-screen enemies, occurs. While weaker summons might be learned like other abilities, for the really powerful summons the player must find the creature and defeat them in battle to gain the right to summon them. (These summon fights can be treated as side quests, with the summon spell as a reward.)

So, what are your thoughts on a game like this?

(We can also imagine a JRPG with WRPG-style stealing and summons. In fact, I have seen some of this: Star Ocean 2 lets you steal from townspeople (and the super form of the final boss can only be fought if you do this), while Dragon quest 6 and 7 have summons that work more like they do in WRPGs, summoning a companion to help you in battle.)

My thoughts on this idea are: Umm, okay. I think some WRPGs actually do these. Can I name them? No. Maybe it doesn't count because it's modeled after JRPGs, but The Stick of Truth does both these things. Doesn't Planescape: Torment do the summoning thing? I haven't played for more than an hour, but I think I read somewhere it does that.

Since we're doing switcharoos, what about JRPGs that have dynamic combat and interactive systems that can cause all sorts of chaos? Place traps, do monster infighting or friendly fire, use the environment to your advantage, retreat or sneak around encounters, etc.

If I imagine something like this in a CRPG the issue is that positioning usually matters much more than it would in a JRPG. So to position a rogue next to an enemy to steal would be putting them in a great deal of danger. So this item would have to be worth a lot more than the typical JRPG stolen item drop to make it worth while.

I would suggest that a successful steal should apply a status effect on the enemy like distracted/berserk/etc.

The interesting question is how much can you do this in a (non-strategy) JRPG while still having it be a JRPG.

I note that Lufia 2, a nice JRPG/puzzle hybrid, has visible enemies (that only move when you do, unlike more common implementations of the idea), and gives you an arrow that you can use to stun enemies. You face the enemy, shoot the arrow, and the enemy can't move or initiate combat for a certain number of moves. Quite handy (and IMO far preferable to having the enemies move in real time, turning the game into an action when you want to dodge (or chase down) enemies), and the third game (Lufia: The Legend Returns) also has this mechanic, even though it lost the puzzle aspect.

Japanese-style SRPGs often have some or all of the features you mention. Some classes have the abilities to place traps, there's status ailments that can make monsters fighting each other, friendly fire is often a thing (careful where you place that Firaga (though you could just summon Ifrit instead, which IIRC in Final Fantasy Tactics doesn't have friendly fire), or you might burn your allies, or maybe burning your allies might be the sensible thing to do). Well, SRPGs don't usually let you run from encounters entirely (well, Shining Force does, but you still have to eventually win the battle in order to progress), or winning by sneaking around (though something like Fire Emblem's "Seize Throne" mission might qualify, as all you need to do is move a certain unit to a specific square and issue the command).

There's also the likes of Shiren the Wanderer, but I consider that game to be a traditional roguelike rather than a JRPG. In particular, it has more in common with Nethack than with Final Fantasy.

You can do this in a free shard of Ultima Online....well, the mechanic of it. Not sure if you still want anime art.

I think the largest free shard is Demise. But I stopped visiting them years ago.

Honestly, at what point does it go from being a distinct genre to a point of semantics? There are plenty of JRPGs that do their own thing, so I don't see why that would take away from their "JRPG-ness".