Current Events > why does Japan make better video games than the west?

(+) Yeah! (+)

nt

I believe there's more passion behind Japanese developed games, and less psychopaths running the developers/publishers.
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Because you like Japanese games more
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i would disagree with this statement
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> less psychopaths
> Japan

Riiiight.
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It's a matter of taste really. Japanese games seem to focus on:

- Gameplay over story
- Less 'realistic' art styles, settings, stories, etc.
- Catchier music over atmospheric music
- Taking themselves less seriously

Obviously these aren't absolute, but are much more common I think.

DarthWendy posted...

> less psychopaths
> Japan

Riiiight.

In video games compared to America? Definitely.
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eston posted...

Because you like Japanese games more

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luigi13579 posted...

It's a matter of taste really. Japanese games seem to focus on:

- Gameplay over story
- Less 'realistic' art styles, settings, stories, etc.
- Catchier music over atmospheric music
- Taking themselves less seriously

Obviously these aren't absolute, but are much more common I think.

They also seem to like beautiful environments that are pretty much just a background painting, whereas western games seem to be a lot more interactive.
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The souls games are better than anything the west ever made, yet all Final Fantasy games released after FFX are worse than anything the west ever made.. I think.
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ehhh what comparisons are we making here, exactly?

I mean Fallout New Vegas, Witcher 3, Borderlands?
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Western games seem to want to build a world, story and characters first and then just jam in whatever gameplay makes sense. Take Horizon for example, it's clearly build around the narrative, I doubt anyone started out designing that game with mundane 3rd person action in mind (again). No, they wanted a female character in a post-apocalyptic world with robot dinosaurs, that was the point of the game. Zelda on the other hand is clearly built around the gameplay with minimal story jammed in at the end to keep it together.

Those are just the more recent examples I thought of.
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Link HT posted...

Western games seem to want to build a world, story and characters first and then just jam in whatever gameplay makes sense. Take Horizon for example, it's clearly build around the narrative, I doubt anyone started out designing that game with mundane 3rd person action in mind (again). No, they wanted a female character in a post-apocalyptic world with robot dinosaurs, that was the point of the game. Zelda on the other hand is clearly built around the gameplay with minimal story jammed in at the end to keep it together.

Those are just the more recent examples I thought of.

There's lessons to be learned from both I think.

Remember Kingdoms of Amalur? Fantastic gameplay that was ruined by the most dull lore and storytelling I've ever seen.

When I think of standout Japanese games, it was always the storytelling or general world that kept it together.
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Cuz

Big

Anime

Tiddies
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NeonOctopus posted...

Cuz

Big

Anime

Tiddies

Nah, "fanservice" is alienating JRPGs from normal people.
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I'll grant you that my tastes in games are different than most, but I disagree with the premise here. My favorite games of the last few years (Hitman, Xcom 2, Stardew Valley, Steep, GTA V) are all Western-made.
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pinky0926 posted...

They also seem to like beautiful environments that are pretty much just a background painting, whereas western games seem to be a lot more interactive.

Yeah, like Vanillaware games. Unless you count indies.

I think pre-rendered backgrounds should make a proper comeback. I like fully interactive 3D games as much as the next guy, but games like that have a place too.

luigi13579 posted...

pinky0926 posted...

They also seem to like beautiful environments that are pretty much just a background painting, whereas western games seem to be a lot more interactive.

Yeah, like Vanillaware games. Unless you count indies.

I think pre-rendered backgrounds should make a proper comeback. I like fully interactive 3D games as much as the next guy, but games like that have a place too.

Yeah, absolutely. Time and a place kind of deal. There are things you can do visually with a pre-rendered background that you simply can't with an interactive one.
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XCom and Divinity Original Sin, with their direct sequels, are better than anything out of Japan.

Then add to that the Witcher, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, GTA, COD...

I mean besides Dark Souls and a few gems every once in a while, Japan got nothing on those.
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pinky0926 posted...

Link HT posted...

Western games seem to want to build a world, story and characters first and then just jam in whatever gameplay makes sense. Take Horizon for example, it's clearly build around the narrative, I doubt anyone started out designing that game with mundane 3rd person action in mind (again). No, they wanted a female character in a post-apocalyptic world with robot dinosaurs, that was the point of the game. Zelda on the other hand is clearly built around the gameplay with minimal story jammed in at the end to keep it together.

Those are just the more recent examples I thought of.

There's lessons to be learned from both I think.

Remember Kingdoms of Amalur? Fantastic gameplay that was ruined by the most dull lore and storytelling I've ever seen.

When I think of standout Japanese games, it was always the storytelling or general world that kept it together.

absolutely and personal preference also plays a huge role. Saying japanese games don't focus on story is also unfair on my part, I think it's true for Nintendo but there are plenty of developers that focus on story, like Atlus.
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luigi13579 posted...

pinky0926 posted...

They also seem to like beautiful environments that are pretty much just a background painting, whereas western games seem to be a lot more interactive.

Yeah, like Vanillaware games. Unless you count indies.

I think pre-rendered backgrounds should make a proper comeback. I like fully interactive 3D games as much as the next guy, but games like that have a place too.

Japan seems to have a thing against procedural generation. I mean their games seem to have been some of the last to include realistic physics.
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Antifar posted...

I'll grant you that my tastes in games are different than most, but I disagree with the premise here. My favorite games of the last few years (Hitman, Xcom 2, Stardew Valley) are all Western-made.

Hitman is criminally underappreciated tbqh. I think the episodic model must have put people off.

GTA is the worst series of all time

luigi13579 posted...

Antifar posted...

I'll grant you that my tastes in games are different than most, but I disagree with the premise here. My favorite games of the last few years (Hitman, Xcom 2, Stardew Valley) are all Western-made.

Hitman is criminally underappreciated tbqh. I think the episodic model must have put people off.

It's a fantastic game, it just requires a lot of patience and kinda gets repetitive fast.
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Flasbangs posted...

It's a fantastic game, it just requires a lot of patience and kinda gets repetitive fast.

it's also pretty buggy.
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Ok one thing we can all agree on -

Japanese games actually do a good job of QA testing and releasing something that actually mostly works when you buy it.
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pinky0926 posted...

Ok one thing we can all agree on -

Japanese games actually do a good job of QA testing and releasing something that actually mostly works when you buy it.

Definitely. I do think western devs try to push the boat out a bit more in terms of graphics and other technical aspects though, e.g. with massive scale open world games. Often they bite off more than they can chew. Japanese devs seem a bit more realistic in their expectations and when they do push the boat out (e.g. Final Fantasy XV), invariably it takes ages to develop.

Take Capcom for example. Despite having a reputation of releasing lazy ports again and again, look at RE4 and Dead Rising 1. These games have both a vast array of post game stuff that put western games to shame. Plus they are both extremely polished, and for RE4, despite having beaten the shit out of it, I keep discovering tiny secrets I absolutely didn't notice before. That's dedication.
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wallflower550 posted...

look at RE4 and Dead Rising 1. These games have both a vast array of post game stuff that put western games to shame.

-_- come on
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pinky0926 posted...

eston posted...

Because you like Japanese games more

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They don't, you're just a fucking weaboo.
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Japanese games are mainly made individually, they're more akin to artistic expressions. Nowadays western games are done using engines (e,g. unreal engine, blue rose engine, etc) so they have less creativity and passion

DarthWendy posted...

> less psychopaths
> Japan

Riiiight.

Statistically this is objectively true.
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They understand what makes it fun.
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I'll say that Japanese games are certainly more likely to try weird things and the populace is more likely to accept weird things. Which I think gives Japan an advantage up on variety of both gameplay and artistic styles. And I'll also agree that their QC processes as a whole beat out Western developers.

That said, their games aren't inherently better.
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I personally do prefer Japanese games, because they tend to be more creative, both aesthetically and gameplay-wise. Most big-name Western devs and publishers tend to go for gritty, realistic settings with as much guns and violence as they can pack in.

luigi13579 posted...

pinky0926 posted...

Ok one thing we can all agree on -

Japanese games actually do a good job of QA testing and releasing something that actually mostly works when you buy it.

Definitely. I do think western devs try to push the boat out a bit more in terms of graphics and other technical aspects though, e.g. with massive scale open world games. Often they bite off more than they can chew. Japanese devs seem a bit more realistic in their expectations and when they do push the boat out (e.g. Final Fantasy XV), invariably it takes ages to develop.

Though I think Japan's soul-crushing work culture also plays a factor in how polished Japanese games for compared to Western ones.
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l Dudeboy l posted...

I believe there's more passion behind Japanese developed games, and less psychopaths running the developers/publishers.

America focuses on how to make money, not games
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SamuelHayden posted...

Japanese games are mainly made individually, they're more akin to artistic expressions. Nowadays western games are done using engines (e,g. unreal engine, blue rose engine, etc) so they have less creativity and passion

Creating a new engine for every game / few games is not necessarily a good thing. There are advantages to it, but I think it's more of a bad thing overall.

The advantages are that the engine can be more easily tailored to each game and that the games don't come out looking so samey (e.g. there was a time when you could pretty much tell an Unreal Engine 3 game from looking at it).

However, the major disadvantage is that you have to spend a lot of time and resources creating the engine (which is a mammoth undertaking at the best of times and can even take longer than the game itself). That of course leaves less time and resources to actually develop the game and pushes back the release date, often significantly.