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Almost universally, I tend to prefer Japanese game developers to Western ones. Why is that?
- Thread starter Exellus
- Start date
While there has been a few western games that have been good. The majority of the games I have always enjoyed are JPN games. I guess I am a weeb? But that's fine, I love anime as well!
ResetEra is more focused on that type of game, so you are going to get a lot of agreements. But it's completely just preference, they do stuff bad I despise sometimes and they do stuff that is fantastic that I love sometimes and same with Western titles.
I don't know if it's a legacy from the time when arcades reigned in Japan or not, but I do tend to prefer Japanese games for their gameplay, polish and their general aesthetics - especially in action games - gameplay reigns supreme.
Too often western devs seems to believe that good art is copying what other, more well-established medium do.
Exceptions and all of that, of course, especially for indies.
Also, it's crazy how Japanese developpers seems much more benevolent toward their fanbase compared to western devs.
Too often western devs seems to believe that good art is copying what other, more well-established medium do.
Exceptions and all of that, of course, especially for indies.
Also, it's crazy how Japanese developpers seems much more benevolent toward their fanbase compared to western devs.
That's just not true, I prefer Western games and I don't play shooters at all. That's like saying 90% of Japanese games are generic RPGs.
This. Gameplay is prioritized over everything else in Japanese games. A lot of Western developers seem like they wish they were working in Hollywood, whereas the Japanese developers tend to embrace the unique interactive possibilities that the medium allows rather than trying to make an interactive film.
How many Japanese games are "generic" action games in third person where you hit things with a sword? That sort of overgeneralization is unhelpful. The way some people lump all "shooter" games into a single cluster is just plain silly. The first person shooter in particular is a vast and broad genre containing a myriad of subgenres.
This whole thing feels heavily tied up in console gaming baggage. Particularly Japanese console gaming baggage. If you were a console gamer once upon a time, you predominantly played games by Japanese developers. The PC was largely dominated by international developers. Japan had relatively little presence on PC. They had a home computer scene of their own, but there wasn't a huge amount of overlap.
With the N64, and later the Xbox, we saw a shift. Game genres and schools of game design rooted in PC gaming culture began to appear and find success on consoles. You could own an Xbox, play most of its best games, and never play a single Japanese game. This was unthinkable on older consoles. The original Xbox didn't really have JRPGs. Instead it had Bioware games. It had Bethesda games. Japanese gaming fans on Playstation were being wowed by Metal Gear Solid 3, wheras Xbox fans were being wowed by Splinter Cell. The N64 was similar. Instead of genres that were popular in Japan, the N64 had several FPS titles that sold over a million copies. The PS1 only managed a single FPS game that sold over a million. It also had some successful Japanese titles published by Nintendo. That is reflective of the culture, the demographics of people who were Japanese game fans weaned on Japanese games without really straying outside that.
Much of this stuff IMHO comes back to PC gaming vs Japan-oriented console gaming. Most of the people who say stuff like, "I only play Japanese games" are almost certainly console gamers. They likely have a very limited understanding of PC gaming history. The genres they have a bias against have a strong tendency to be PC gaming genres that migrated to consoles. It's a modern version of people who bought a PS1 because they cared more about Final Fantasy than GoldenEye. Because they had no affinity for British game design.
Gaming culture can be bizarrely insular. Game developers have never had this mentality. Zelda is a Japanese version of Ultima. Quite a few classic Japanese titles were Japanese versions of home computer titles. You see people talk about Japanese developers as though they're somehow pure-minded. There's this nonsensical stigma about "western influence" somehow "tainting" Japanese games. This really, really dumb idea that Japanese games are better when Japanese developers go back to this imaginary period of total Japanese design isolationism. Resident Evil is a glaring example of this. Resident Evil exists as a series because they were making a game which was a mess, so they scrapped their work and imitated a popular French PC game instead. Yet a lot of weeb-ish Resident Evil fans nowdays are obsessed with this idea that Resident Evil was ruined at some indistinct point by imitating non-Japanese games and the series has to go back to its imaginary Japanese roots.
I love Japanese games a lot more because they are much more focused on being games and less cinematic experiences. Also,except few cases in Japanese games the way you approach enemies feels more interactive, more visceral. I feel that action Western games are way too focused on guns,bows and not enough close distance combat.
Exceptions are games like God of War, Horizon,The Last of Us, but even in those cases it always is a simplistic approach to melee compared to games like Sekiro,Bloodborne, Souls games, Devil May Cry,etc.
Exceptions are games like God of War, Horizon,The Last of Us, but even in those cases it always is a simplistic approach to melee compared to games like Sekiro,Bloodborne, Souls games, Devil May Cry,etc.
Of my top ten games, four are Japanese, five are American, and one is Polish.
I don't really see much that defines the region from which a game came. I think this distinction made more sense when then regions seemed to play off one another less.
The cliche stuff, Japanese games are more polished, and with a greater attention to detail, etc, it's bollocks. It may have been true once upon a time, but it's not now. Maybe American games were once much more freeing versus more hand holding experiences from Japan, but that's also not really the case anymore. I think Nier did a masterful job of telling a deeply personal character drama, even if set within a more fanciful setting than say TLoU, for example.
If I didn't know, there's nothing about Ico and Journey that would make me think one was from the US and the other from Japan, and I think they're the two best games ever made.
I don't really see much that defines the region from which a game came. I think this distinction made more sense when then regions seemed to play off one another less.
The cliche stuff, Japanese games are more polished, and with a greater attention to detail, etc, it's bollocks. It may have been true once upon a time, but it's not now. Maybe American games were once much more freeing versus more hand holding experiences from Japan, but that's also not really the case anymore. I think Nier did a masterful job of telling a deeply personal character drama, even if set within a more fanciful setting than say TLoU, for example.
If I didn't know, there's nothing about Ico and Journey that would make me think one was from the US and the other from Japan, and I think they're the two best games ever made.
I don't think that's even true, FarCry has broken the formula with games like Primal and Blood Dragon and EA publishes games like A Way Out, Unravel and Sea of Solitude. Sure those games don't get the same budget as Battlefield does, but neither do most Japanese games. And it would be ridiculous to assume, that Japanese games never try to answer the demand on the market and give their target demographic exactly what they want. The eccentric artist Josef Fares, also emphasized how A Way Out is his own vision, his original idea and his game even though he works for EA.
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I'm the opposite, I tend to prefer western games. I don't like the anime aesthetic and if I'm allowed to generalize find that japanese writing tends to be less mature (more aimed at teens, padded dialogue and just worse writing overall). Maybe it's a cultural thing. I do love Bloodborne and Resident Evil however, and am currently enjoying Octopath Traveler even though the writing is atrocious so far. To each their own :)
If you want an interesting story why not read a book? Video game stories are 90% garbage, although it does seem as if Sony First Party has tried to correct it this gen.
I haven't played a lot of Japanese games, so I do prefer Western games. I'm not sure I agree that Western games are more realistic then Japanese games. Maybe if all you are thinking about is Call of Duty, because even then that series does take liberties.
I haven't played a lot of Japanese games, so I do prefer Western games. I'm not sure I agree that Western games are more realistic then Japanese games. Maybe if all you are thinking about is Call of Duty, because even then that series does take liberties.
Lol no, there's plenty of great writing in video games from decades ago already. Though you are correct in a sense that most games don't really invest in storytelling that much, they don't even try to. Story is used just to contextualize what is happening in the game, but there's also a lot of games that have wanted to do more with their writing/narrative and also succeeded.
Unless it's something very mechanically interesting like Hypnospace Outlaw or Return of the Obra Dinn, I prioritize immediately fulfilling gamefeel first, and I hate loot grinds or playing expressly for attainment or a "Hollywood" story. So naturally I prefer Japanese games, and the current Western AAA trend of loot-grindy GaaS is really unappealing to me.
Also, there's the matter of aesthetics. Games like Nex Machina totally deliver a fun game but it's extremely visually boring to me despite all of the flash. I kind of have the same issue with Apex Legends, which feels less visually inspired than Titanfall 2. Both games are enjoyable in my hands but they're just super visually dull to me. On the other hand, something like Overwatch is visually engaging (despite being super tropey and uninspired) but it's slow and has a low individual skill-ceiling and so I don't find the act of playing all that enjoyable.
On the other hand, most JRPGs are really boring to me. So, that's a ranty way to say I feel as the OP does because the Japanese do typically have different priorities but it's obviously more nuanced than, "Japanese games are simply superior to Western ones."
Also, there's the matter of aesthetics. Games like Nex Machina totally deliver a fun game but it's extremely visually boring to me despite all of the flash. I kind of have the same issue with Apex Legends, which feels less visually inspired than Titanfall 2. Both games are enjoyable in my hands but they're just super visually dull to me. On the other hand, something like Overwatch is visually engaging (despite being super tropey and uninspired) but it's slow and has a low individual skill-ceiling and so I don't find the act of playing all that enjoyable.
On the other hand, most JRPGs are really boring to me. So, that's a ranty way to say I feel as the OP does because the Japanese do typically have different priorities but it's obviously more nuanced than, "Japanese games are simply superior to Western ones."
Weeaboo
A person who retains an unhealthy obsession with Japan and Japanese culture, typically ignoring or even shunning their own racial and cultural identity. Many weeaboos talk in butchered Japanese with the 8 or so words they know (i.e. kawaii, desu, ni chan). While weeaboos claim to love and support Japanese culture, counter intuitively, they tend to stereotype Japanese culture by how it appears in their favorite anime, which can be safely assumed to be offensive to the Japanese.
Interesting thread:
"Western games have too little focus on the gameplay"
*Gets corrected*
"But I only play AAA games!!!1!"
*Corrected again*
"But those are multiplayer games!!!1!"
Sometimes people want to keep their prejudices, no matter how wrong they are.
That being said, I think it depends on the genre you prefer. I doubt anyone can show me a Japanese game with better world-building and design than games from Piranha Bytes or Troika or Obsidian. Or that there're Japanese devs that actually can match the level design in games from Looking Glass, Ion Storm, Arkane or IO. On the other hand, there's no Western equivalent to the Ninja Gaiden or competitive fighting games from Arc System Works (Skullgirls maybe, but I doubt it).
"Western games have too little focus on the gameplay"
*Gets corrected*
"But I only play AAA games!!!1!"
*Corrected again*
"But those are multiplayer games!!!1!"
Sometimes people want to keep their prejudices, no matter how wrong they are.
That being said, I think it depends on the genre you prefer. I doubt anyone can show me a Japanese game with better world-building and design than games from Piranha Bytes or Troika or Obsidian. Or that there're Japanese devs that actually can match the level design in games from Looking Glass, Ion Storm, Arkane or IO. On the other hand, there's no Western equivalent to the Ninja Gaiden or competitive fighting games from Arc System Works (Skullgirls maybe, but I doubt it).
I think Western developers now have more greedy publisher involvement in shaping the gaming experience with a financially beneficial focus.
These things come and go. Japan ruled for awhile long ago, then the west stepped up and started killing it, and Japan has come back more recently IMO.
But I wouldn't say that any region is dominating. I think some console exclusives that don't have heavy publisher involvement in the west have still been fantastic. Some East Europe stuff has been excellent as well which isn't technically "western". Every region has some stellar dev houses. Not to mention smaller indie studios all over the world making some gems.
These things come and go. Japan ruled for awhile long ago, then the west stepped up and started killing it, and Japan has come back more recently IMO.
But I wouldn't say that any region is dominating. I think some console exclusives that don't have heavy publisher involvement in the west have still been fantastic. Some East Europe stuff has been excellent as well which isn't technically "western". Every region has some stellar dev houses. Not to mention smaller indie studios all over the world making some gems.
^ This x1000
Also worth stating that Western developers tend to invest way more money in their games than Japanese game developers. Sometimes you can't afford to stay "niche" because you need a certain sized audience just to get back the money you invested.
It is extremely unlikely to see teams of 500+ people working on a single game in Japan, while it is much more common in the west.
In the '80s and '90s this was the console/PC gamer divide.
The top (non-sports) console games tended to be developed in Japan, and the top PC games tended to be developed in the west.
It's arguable that adults of a certain age who grew up with consoles would be drawn to Japanese games.
The top (non-sports) console games tended to be developed in Japan, and the top PC games tended to be developed in the west.
It's arguable that adults of a certain age who grew up with consoles would be drawn to Japanese games.
This is almost 99% accurate judging by podcasts i listen to and their game preferences.
Yeah even when some JRPGs and visual novels have what you can call generic background music, that music still ends up being way more memorable and enjoyable the one found in a lot of western games, although one can always found an exception to on western RPGs .
Metroid Prime has better level design than Dark Souls and that's by a western developer, not a good post.
This gen Japanese devs are killing it and I think overall their games are more appealing to me, they also satisfy more genres I'm interested in. Indies are helping Western scene a lot.
This gen Japanese devs are killing it and I think overall their games are more appealing to me, they also satisfy more genres I'm interested in. Indies are helping Western scene a lot.
These are excellent points.
There were Western dominated consoles before the N64 and Xbox but the average person on message boards wasn't around for gaming before the NES. I think the 40+ crowd is less likely to be anti-Western and that could be part of it.
As long as your open to playing good games, regardless of where they're made, that's fine by me
Yes, like I said, there will always be exceptions, including entire genres like RTS. Certainly you must admit, though, that WarCraft, StarCraft and AoE are basically multiplayer-only games where you can also play against an AI (with a storyline as backdrop).
As far as rhythm games...most of those are either Japanese, or were heavily influenced by Japanese rhythm games, so I'm not sure what your point is.
Hard disagree, JRPGs and VNs which make for a huge portion of Japanese games absolutely don't focus on gameplay. Narrative games in the West are not as dominant as you think, it's only a section ofthe AAA scene. Western gaming is actually dominated by sports games, multiplayer shooters, battle royale games, MOBAs, traditional PC games (tycoons, strategy, Diablo-likes, simulators, etc.) and other strictly gameplay focused stuff like Minecraft, Rocket League, and a huge part of the indie scene. David Cage games are (thankfully) not your average Western game.
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