When is a game too ''Japanese'' for you?

[FalloutJack]

Well, if I can't understand what's being said, it's a little too Japanese for me.


In all fairness, though, let's go with aspects of Japanese culture that don't even make an appearance in anime, and definitely no goddamn tentacles, thank you. If I want those, I go to Lovecraft, where they're for tearing people limb from limb like they should be.

 

[GrumbleGrump]

Turn based combat shackled to a RNG. I'm sorry, but I seriously cannot see how gameplay more suited to a debate ends up in your exciting adventure game. How about we - and follow me on this one - have just one button that makes our character attack?

- Bad interfaces. For some reason, Japanese developers just fucking love their menus. slow, clumsy, clunky console menus as far as the eye can see. I still remember when some Nintendo bigwig was wetting himself with pride over having invented a radial menu for SKyward Sword. A game that released in bloody 2011.

This right here when coupled with the above mentioned debate style combat.

 

[SweetShark]

All Visual Novel games with the Concept of you trying to f*ck:

- A Fish.
- A Pingeon.
- A Dinosaur.
- A Skeleton.
- A Egyptian God.
- A Humanoid Ship.
- A Hunanoid Tank.
- A Car.
- No, wait, the Car thing was invented by furries dragons. Forget about it.
- A Hum Meat.

I AM NOT JOKING. THERE ARE LEGIT GAMES LIKE THESE AND I LOVE THEMohmygodirelievedmysecretstotheworldpleasebegentlytome.

 

[Kina]

I don't mind Japanese-esque games, but when it gets too "moe" - I'm out.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

When they prioritize gratuitous amounts of fan service over having fun, engaging game play and a competent game presentation.

Case in point, Mugen Souls.

I REALLY tried my damnedest to like this game.

NIS published this game and I am a big fan of NIS (they have a lot of great titles with compelling game play mechanics, great stories, and interesting characters), but I really dislike Compile Heart. I really thought that this would be the game that would make me enjoy Compile Heart with a sprinkling of NIS.

It wasn't.

They really do focus A LOT on Chou-Chou, a petite and child-like character who is constantly in compromising situations with other female characters of various proportions. There's actually a mini-game that lets you get a peek at these situations in the game. You can also dress your characters and have them run around in their underwear or swimsuits...uh huh...

In terms of game play, traversing the world is almost nauseating, as the frame rate frequently dips into the single digits realm. Nothing, graphics worthy, happens in the first area (an open grass field) that justifies this drop in frame rate. The battle system is alright; it's very reminiscent of what you would find in a Compile Heart title. I wasn't crazy about it, but I believed that this was the title that would allow it to grow on me.

Also, a lot the special attacks focus on the girl's bits whenever they execute them during battle...double uh huh...

Bottom line, if this was more NIS than Compile Heart, I would have enjoyed it more, and to a point where I would have actually bought the title.

 

[Musou Tensei]

When they prioritize gratuitous amounts of fan service over having fun, engaging game play and a competent game presentation.

Case in point, Mugen Souls.

I REALLY tried my damnedest to like this game.

NIS published this game and I am a big fan of NIS (they have a lot of great titles with compelling game play mechanics, great stories, and interesting characters), but I really dislike Compile Heart. I really thought that this would be the game that would make me enjoy Compile Heart with a sprinkling of NIS.

You are incorrect, NIS had nothing to do with the development of this game, it's made and even published by Compile Heart in japan (according to Wiki in collaboration with a company called GCREST, dunno them). The western censor I mean localizer and publisher is NISA, not NIS, that's a difference, like Nintendo of Japan and NoA, very different branches of the same company.
NISA butchered this one pretty badly, possibly the worst they ever did.

 

[Jute88]

A game can be too Japanese for these reasons:
1)Nothing is explained properly.
2)Too much hand holding, making me believe that the developers don't trust us to use our brains to grasp even the simplest of things

1)I'll give you an example from Tales of Symphonia: Bad guys destroy a town. You have a chance to rebuild it by donating to the villagers. However, you need to donate exact amounts of money or the town won't be repaired. Like, first donate 10, then 7, then 23, after that, 45, then 7 etc. in correct order. The problem with this is, that I had no idea of this, because the game didn't explain me that this is how you build a town. I just assumed that if you keep donating, it will eventually be rebuilt. But no, you have to be psychic to know about how much villagers need money at what points.

Another example story wise: Half-elves are hated in the game's world. So a couple of half-elves tell everyone that they're elves, so that the community they live in would accept them. So, apparently elves and half-elves look more or less the same. But, why exactly are half-elves so hated? Is it because they're not humans? I don't remember elves suffering from this kind of persecution. Maybe I've just forgotten some lore point that explains all this, but I don't remember the game ever explaining WHAT an elf or a half-elf even is? What are their similarities? Their differences? Can half-elves breed? Are there quarte-elves? How are they different?

2)Example from Golden Sun: If you haven't played it, the game has long dialogue scenes that revolve around very simple things. And did I mention that they're long? And boring? I don't mind long scenes telling a story, if they way they tell it is interesting, just put some effort into it. Overall I like the game, it just has a problem of telling the story properly.

 

[CritialGaming]

Tentacle rape.

That's about it.

 

[pookie101]

frankly i avoid japanese made games as a rule even games where i was enjoying myself like metal gear solid 5's open world ended up annoying the crap out of me.. nonsensical story and adding and interesting character who has a second job as a stripper

 

[Kingjackl]

I like my Japanese games, even the anime ones, but I hate whenever they fall back on those shitty cliched jokes about women not being able to cook. Persona 4 is the worst example, because it has so many scenes centred around that idea that completely fall flat in an otherwise pretty funny game. There have been a few others that have done it as well; usually the context is "woman cooks for man she likes in order to impress him, fucks up in a *hilariously* improbable manner, man gets exasperated, joke is made at her expense". It's retrograde 50s-esque sexist crap and it drives me up the wall.

I guess you could say I hate waifu pandering in general, but the reason I chose that instead is because Western games can be guilty of that kind of pandering too. This is one uniquely Japanese aspect of that which really annoys me, especially because so many use it.