I have played Japanese Role Playing Games (JRPG) for a very long time, and they have always held a place in my collection of video games. When talking in passing conversation, a JRPG doesn't sound like any fun at all; you have a party of 3 to 5 people while, in battle, you choose what you do from a list of commands and everybody takes a turn. Yeah, hurrah, sounds like lots of fun there. But in reality, the JRPG is closest to a pen-and-paper (or table-top) RPG.
Generally, you have turned based combat. This means, just like in elementary school, everyone during the battle gets to take a turn (though there are stipulations). Different classes have different abilities, mages can cast magic while the thief classes are the only ones who can steal from monsters (wow, who would have thought)! So balancing you classes with the options you have is key to being able to beating bosses, clearing dungeons, and earning loot!
"WAIT!" you might say, "A JRPG is killing, clearing and looting? AWESOME!" But little Timmy, you must remember that the real key to a JRPG is its story. A good JRPG has a well thought out story that flows, like a good fantasy novel. They also generally have very decent music and artwork that all wraps a game in to a neat little package ripe for the consuming.
So for the tl;dr, they play like table-top RPGs, the godfathers of all video games, and the story is usually much better then what you DM comes up with. Tack on some pretty decent graphics and a good music score and all you are left with is an enjoyable experience.
It's all about story when it comes to a JRPG, if the story lacks it will just seem like a grind-fest with no real point. Granted you also need a good music score to go along with it...while the story has your attention, you follow up with a great music piece to fit the situation to make you sense the feeling and emotions going on. So for me you need both a great music score and story to make it great.
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