I'm not talking about the tsunami in Japan hurting their game industry, though that tragedy cannot be understated in its horrible impact in much more than games. No, this is a trend I noticed long before that in what I bought and how I perceived Japan and the Eastern bloc of game developing. I'm not bashing anything, I'm just trying to state some pretty normal-guy observations.
I used to love Japan when I was younger, I watched anime, read manga, and Japanese video game could do no wrong. I was a real teenage weeaboo. However, about my first semester of college things really started to shift. It had kind of started before. Final Fantasy XII was my first real disappointment in the series, but I thought they would do better next time. A lot of my fascination with Japan just kind of withered and died.
Life goes on and I still think a Japanese game might come along that I like, and there were some. Brawl, a lot of Wii games. Then my Wii got stolen and I had nothing but an Xbox 360. Well, they make Japanese games for that. So two new Square Enix games had just come out more or less. Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery. Oh boy, was I ever more disappointed by a game in my life? Most likely not. I was genuinely disappointed in the game.
Then I started to notice a lot of trends, stereotypes, and tropes that were just kind of copied and pasted to the majority of Japanese entertainment. Not just spiky hair, but plot structure, a definite lack in what I thought was uniqueness and originality, and yes it's easy to point out the unoriginality of Western stuff, but Japan didn't come up with a plot of mystery and intrigue grounded in historical fact. Ubisoft did though, didn't they? I'm not saying all Japanese and Eastern stuff is bad, but as a mindset I think they, the Japanese especially, are refiners by nature. There's the occasional creative soul and he's lauded and praised, but mostly they're happy in the same-old, same-old because it makes it better. That's all well and good.
Maybe it's because the West is so culturally varied (in more overt ways) too that it just makes the East seem like old hat. All I know is I look at the way Square-Enix seems in dire financial straits, the way they've bought up Eidos, and then have to promise five new IPs I can't help but feel right on some level. I mean the last game I bought that was strictly Japanese was Resident Evil 5. I bought Dead Rising 2 and still love it, but it's done by Flying Castle now which is Canadian.
I know my souring taste for Eastern-market games is probably causing me to miss out on some real gems, but when I walk into my local Gamestop and see the newest thing from the East versus the newest from the West, I gravitate more towards the West. It wasn't always so. I just wonder what everyone else thinks on the Eastern-Western thing.
I used to love Japan when I was younger, I watched anime, read manga, and Japanese video game could do no wrong. I was a real teenage weeaboo. However, about my first semester of college things really started to shift. It had kind of started before. Final Fantasy XII was my first real disappointment in the series, but I thought they would do better next time. A lot of my fascination with Japan just kind of withered and died.
Life goes on and I still think a Japanese game might come along that I like, and there were some. Brawl, a lot of Wii games. Then my Wii got stolen and I had nothing but an Xbox 360. Well, they make Japanese games for that. So two new Square Enix games had just come out more or less. Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery. Oh boy, was I ever more disappointed by a game in my life? Most likely not. I was genuinely disappointed in the game.
Then I started to notice a lot of trends, stereotypes, and tropes that were just kind of copied and pasted to the majority of Japanese entertainment. Not just spiky hair, but plot structure, a definite lack in what I thought was uniqueness and originality, and yes it's easy to point out the unoriginality of Western stuff, but Japan didn't come up with a plot of mystery and intrigue grounded in historical fact. Ubisoft did though, didn't they? I'm not saying all Japanese and Eastern stuff is bad, but as a mindset I think they, the Japanese especially, are refiners by nature. There's the occasional creative soul and he's lauded and praised, but mostly they're happy in the same-old, same-old because it makes it better. That's all well and good.
Maybe it's because the West is so culturally varied (in more overt ways) too that it just makes the East seem like old hat. All I know is I look at the way Square-Enix seems in dire financial straits, the way they've bought up Eidos, and then have to promise five new IPs I can't help but feel right on some level. I mean the last game I bought that was strictly Japanese was Resident Evil 5. I bought Dead Rising 2 and still love it, but it's done by Flying Castle now which is Canadian.
I know my souring taste for Eastern-market games is probably causing me to miss out on some real gems, but when I walk into my local Gamestop and see the newest thing from the East versus the newest from the West, I gravitate more towards the West. It wasn't always so. I just wonder what everyone else thinks on the Eastern-Western thing.
