I think Japanese games are better.

Discussion in 'Discussion' started by Trigger, Feb 14, 2018.

  1. Trigger hewwo uwu

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2006
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Corridors of Time
    1,526
    With the release of Monster Hunter World, I am yet again reminded that most of my favorite games are developed in Japan. The question as to why has been at the back of my mind for a long time, but I think it comes down to one simple concept; prioritizing gameplay over everything else. As PCs and consoles get more powerful, it seems that the goal of having fun gameplay has mysteriously eluded some Western developers.

    Take Horizon Zero Dawn for instance. I love sci-fi and fantasy, and my favorite genre of video games is Action RPG. I should have loved it, but I bounced off after a dozen or so hours due to one very specific reason. I wasn't having fun with the combat. At least, not compared to Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, or Yakuza. While Horizon Zero Dawn looks beautiful, has good voice acting, and tells a compelling story, it lacked the combat to tie it all together. By all rights, it should have been one of my favorite games of last year. I'm sad that it wasn't.

    One of the more egregious examples is the Uncharted series. While I marveled at Uncharted 2 when it released, the spell wore off after shooting the millionth bad guy with the most 'by the numbers' gameplay imaginable. It wasn't bad, not at all, but the combat played second fiddle to presentation. The pretty graphics, voice acting, and a story that wasn't terrible (sounds familiar, right?). When Uncharted 4 came out, I didn't even play it. I had zero interest. I was done with the series. It's pure spectacle. There are many other games that suffer from the same issue. Assassin's Creed, The Order: 1886, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Quantum Break.

    This isn't to say that Japanese games are always better. They get a lot wrong. Some games don't have the level of polish you may have come to expect from modern games, and it seems like some developers really don't understand how the internet works (I'm looking at you Nintendo). I'm also not a fan of the uninspired designs and tropey characters that plague a lot of JRPGs, but what I love about Japanese developers is that they aren't afraid to let a game be a game! I love having an armored cat battle monsters with me in Monster Hunter. I love swinging comically large weapons at even larger and amazingly designed bosses in FROM's games. I love running around in a cardboard box as Snake and laying down adult magazines as traps for the enemies. I love jumping on fang toothed mushrooms as a plumber. It's ridiculous and fantastical, but most importantly, fun! They don't take themselves as seriously as their Western counterparts. I'm sure there are reasons behind why that is, but I'm just so glad I live in a time where I can enjoy the products of another country so far away as much as I do.

    So, thanks Japan.
     
  2. Calxiyn Keyblade Master

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2012
    Gender:
    Cisgender Female
    884
    I think that Japan tends to put a lot more effort into their games. I don’t really have a theory on why per say but I think it’s a cultural thing of making sure that your work is something to be proud of, whereas game developers start to cheap out as soon as they know that their fans will support them even if they put out trash.

    I think that’s really the difference in the gaming culture - for some reason I feel like a portion of us in North America are more willing to support games even if the developers are shady. Lots of people, including me, we supported games like the Sims as EA took and took more money from us and even though there’s been “back lash” nothing changes. Developers knowing they can cut corners make it so worse games come out, and I don’t think Japanese game companies have that same attitude of cutting back when they get successful necessarily.
     
  3. avensis Merlin's Housekeeper

    Joined:
    Mar 31, 2019
    Gender:
    women
    2
    28
    Japanese games are infinitely better. I think I will have stopped playing the video game or I will never be interested without them. This year all the jap games made me travel, absorbed me. The US games on the other hand, it's bland, boring, repetitive, classic, nothing surprising. Everything in the technique, and nothing in the universe, the scenario, the characters etc ... a few exceptions like rdr, mafia, gta pre-v.
     
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2023