What? Why on Earth should they do that?
People should develop games that are good, not develop games to pander to specific people.
People should develop games that are good, not develop games to pander to specific people.
Poll: Do you believe that Japanese developers should cater more towards the west?
- Thread starter Goldjit
- Start date
As long as they are not making anything that looks like anime of FF then they can do whatever they want for al I care!
I don't see why not.
Frankly, they've deliberately abandoned an entire region of the world, simply because they don't like FPS games...and let us be honest here, that is the main problem. In the west, FPS games have become the standard, with Gears-style third person games being a close second. Japanese developers, dominated by Nintendo as they have been for several console generations now, refuse to produce anything that doesn't:
A--have some gimmicky bullshit that got old SECONDS after the Wii dropped.
B--have some inane mascot bullshit that got old in 1996.
C--is a JRPG.
They literally produce NOTHING now but mascot games (effectively a dead genre elsewhere in the world), gimmick games of the sort that Wii owners love, and RPGs that have almost no role-play and even less GAME to them. The reality of it is that if anything the Japanese market has become so tremendously stagnant that it can almost no longer co-exist with other markets, basically having sealed itself off, frozen in time around 1995-6 and trying to scream "Hey guys! Remember when Nintendo was still cool! Cloud Strife is still gnarly, yo! Right? RIGHT!!?!??" over the sound of modern gaming passing them by.
That, and no one will ever admit this, is the reason that the X-Box never made it in Japan. Not because it wasn't good or that there were no good games, but because the games on it were of a modern generation and, to a desensitized Japanese market, were therefore completely inaccessible. For this exact same reason, any attempt by Japanese companies to make Westernized games, i.e. Quantum Theory or Madworld, sucked hard and tanked harder--they weren't genuine, they weren't competent, and they were archaic by modern gaming standards.
Japanese developers need more practice producing something that not star a mascot, does not have gimmicks, and does not feature turn-based combat. Not for me. No, I've got everything I need here between Gears 3, Resistance 3 and MW3 (the Big Three I calls 'em!) coming out soon. No they need to do so because otherwise, a few more years down the road, their games will be almost impossible to market outside of Japan. Even the die hard Japanophile gamers who buy anything with an androgynous boy holding a Buster Sword in it will eventually lose faith in a gaming marketplace so saturated with backwards-thinking nonsense.
Edit: by the way I didn't vote because the poll lacks my option--
Yes, because otherwise the Japanese game market will become even MORE stagnant.
It's not about them catering completely to us or the other way around, it is about two entire generations of gamers passing Japan by. They need to move forward. The massive crash and burn of those last FF games shows this, better than I could I would guess.
Frankly, they've deliberately abandoned an entire region of the world, simply because they don't like FPS games...and let us be honest here, that is the main problem. In the west, FPS games have become the standard, with Gears-style third person games being a close second. Japanese developers, dominated by Nintendo as they have been for several console generations now, refuse to produce anything that doesn't:
A--have some gimmicky bullshit that got old SECONDS after the Wii dropped.
B--have some inane mascot bullshit that got old in 1996.
C--is a JRPG.
They literally produce NOTHING now but mascot games (effectively a dead genre elsewhere in the world), gimmick games of the sort that Wii owners love, and RPGs that have almost no role-play and even less GAME to them. The reality of it is that if anything the Japanese market has become so tremendously stagnant that it can almost no longer co-exist with other markets, basically having sealed itself off, frozen in time around 1995-6 and trying to scream "Hey guys! Remember when Nintendo was still cool! Cloud Strife is still gnarly, yo! Right? RIGHT!!?!??" over the sound of modern gaming passing them by.
That, and no one will ever admit this, is the reason that the X-Box never made it in Japan. Not because it wasn't good or that there were no good games, but because the games on it were of a modern generation and, to a desensitized Japanese market, were therefore completely inaccessible. For this exact same reason, any attempt by Japanese companies to make Westernized games, i.e. Quantum Theory or Madworld, sucked hard and tanked harder--they weren't genuine, they weren't competent, and they were archaic by modern gaming standards.
Japanese developers need more practice producing something that not star a mascot, does not have gimmicks, and does not feature turn-based combat. Not for me. No, I've got everything I need here between Gears 3, Resistance 3 and MW3 (the Big Three I calls 'em!) coming out soon. No they need to do so because otherwise, a few more years down the road, their games will be almost impossible to market outside of Japan. Even the die hard Japanophile gamers who buy anything with an androgynous boy holding a Buster Sword in it will eventually lose faith in a gaming marketplace so saturated with backwards-thinking nonsense.
Edit: by the way I didn't vote because the poll lacks my option--
Yes, because otherwise the Japanese game market will become even MORE stagnant.
It's not about them catering completely to us or the other way around, it is about two entire generations of gamers passing Japan by. They need to move forward. The massive crash and burn of those last FF games shows this, better than I could I would guess.
if the Japanese where to make games more like the west then the world of gaming as we know it will fade into dust and die, i live in scotland and i know for a fact that games from the east are so much better than the west
You start off criticizing them for not making FPS games because they don't like them but then go on a rant (as far as I could read before my BS meter exploded) about how you hate JRPG's. Not very objective are you? You get plenty of FPS games from western developers, why do you insist that Japanese developers do the same? Do you think that everyone is like you?KrabbiPatty said:
Nicely said, though the Japanese game industry is actually in a lot of trouble. Capcom in particular is a good example. It's been circling the drain for a while, with a lot of its top talent leaving the company (Keiji Inafune foremost of all of them--the CREATOR OF MEGA MAN, who I'd think you'd try to keep a hold of at all fucking costs) and nobody new stepping up to take their place. Between Devil May Cry 4, Lost Planet 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Resident Evil 5, their games this console generation have mostly been disappointments and steps backward rather than forward.Thunderhorse31 said:
The business-end of game development has been choking a lot of these companies to death. Capcom is barely relevant to anyone or anything any more and keeps pissing away fan goodwill with titles lacking in features and content. Square's been having huge problems, too, such that they're undergoing radical re-structuring. Nintendo posted a loss last year and is at monumentally rock-bottom stock value (lower than when they were with the Gamecube)... in general the situation for Japanese publishers hasn't been very good, and that's something you can blame on poor game catalogs.
It's not that they need to change their development philosophy to be more like ours, it's that they're suffering from the same problems that the industry's having over here--too much business, not enough creativity--it's just having a much greater stranglehold on their creative processes than it is on our side of the globe.
I think it depends more on the creators involved? If the japanese developer is like Square and just likes JRPG stuff, then they shouldn't try to fit themselves into western-style likings. But if they happen to actually like making western-style games and are good at it then I don't see why nationality ought to matter.
Japanese gamers are entirely different from their western counterparts for example: Arcades went pretty much extinct in the 90,s whilst they flourished in Japan(this is also why Touhou Project only gets Japanese release). Also one of the reasons the Xbox sold/sales terribly in Japan is because they don,t like shooters.
No I'm criticizing them for not making FPS games because in the current market environment, everyone EXCEPT Japan, they have become the standard. That is why we HAVE role playing first person games now: the Deus Ex and Elder Scrolls series. And guess what...they're considered some of the best of their genre! Hell Squeenix are the ones making Deus Ex, so obviously they can do it if they choose.Crono1973 said:
If they wanted they could make an infinite number of RPGs and first person games, or if that's too much, hows about third person ones. Mass Effect for example is considered almost a gold standard in RPG design and yet it is NOT a JRPG.
JRPGs are basically impossible to sell outside of Japan because they're so far behind the curve. Or do you deny that the last few FF games have done horribly? In fact, that online FF game was so fucked up it actually set back Squeenix to the point they had to shuffle their releases INCLUDING DEUS EX.
I can tell from how defensive you are you're one of those self-same Japanophiles who just doesn't see anything valuable at all in Western games. Which is ironic because I'm sure you'll accuse me of the opposite. Well you're wrong. In fact for years some of my favorite series originated in Japan. But the more they began to focus on archaic designs and backwards thinking the more they lost footing in the west. I didn't abandon Japanese games they abandoned me, if all they can make now is Mario and JRPGs I'd rather just buy some of those awesome Bioware RPGs (pick one, any one, but I prefer Mass Effect) and go with that.
I don't like Japanese games all that much, but they should focus first on thier own market. If the opposite question was asked, Should Western developers make thier games more Japanese to appeal to them, this thread would probably be under a hailstorm of negative responses.
Hey I'll give you guys the name of some awesome RPGs.
Dragon Age
Mass Effect
Deus Ex (the original, the second one tasted of suck)
Morrow Wind
Fallout 3 (WITH Broken Steel...because the original ending ate cocks in hell)
Mass Effect 2
I've played all of them. I enjoyed all of them. Know what all of them lack? Turn based combat, silly cod philosophic plot-lines and androgynous boys. Gee you'd almost think those aspects were unnecessary to make good RPGs, what do you think Square-Enix?
Dragon Age
Mass Effect
Deus Ex (the original, the second one tasted of suck)
Morrow Wind
Fallout 3 (WITH Broken Steel...because the original ending ate cocks in hell)
Mass Effect 2
I've played all of them. I enjoyed all of them. Know what all of them lack? Turn based combat, silly cod philosophic plot-lines and androgynous boys. Gee you'd almost think those aspects were unnecessary to make good RPGs, what do you think Square-Enix?
The last few FF games have sucked BECAUSE they have been trying to westernize the games. FF XII carried more influence from MMO's than from past Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy XIII was certainly made for the trigger happy crowd, you control one character (something taken from XII) because the game moves so fast you couldn't effectively control them all.KrabbiPatty said:
What they need to do is look back to pre-FFX games. Bring back the world map for example, look to the DS where JRPG's of the past are king. JRPG's DO SELL, they just sell better on handhelds and on the virtual console because THOSE WERE BETTER GAMES.
Your impression of me hating western games in incorrect. I loved Mass Effect, Morrowind and Oblivion but I also like my JRPG's because I have been playing them for almost 20 years. I know they are capable of greatness and their greatest downfall is trying to appeal to a western audience who can't get enough of online FPS games. I don't want to see BioWare make a JRPG and I don't want to SE trying to make WRPG's. They each add variation to the market.
The only thing I ask from Japanese developers is to stop using the same ol same ol anime style graphics.
The Japanese cater excellently to the west. It's almost as if they see us as higher beings. I love the Japanese, they are truly an awesome and humble people. If Japan got into a theoretical war with Britain, I'd join Japan. Because I believe they are the arrowhead to human development.
- Feb 13, 2009
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No. Just no.
I personally like the differences between Western and Japanese developers, especially their different approaches to the horror genre.
Like Yahtzee I like the Japanese style because of the psycological angle as well as the suspense and build you get knowing that when something does eventually jump out at you, you're ultimately screwed because you have limited resources available to defend yourself.
I personally like the differences between Western and Japanese developers, especially their different approaches to the horror genre.
Like Yahtzee I like the Japanese style because of the psycological angle as well as the suspense and build you get knowing that when something does eventually jump out at you, you're ultimately screwed because you have limited resources available to defend yourself.