Carbonox_Ratchet
14-04-09, 11:47
Side note: I felt that this board was lacking meaningful and thought-provoking topics pertaining to the industry as a whole, so I will begin to throw down some ideas over the days and weeks to come. Daily/weekly etc. depending on the attraction.
Before I start the initial thread question, I will talk about Japanese RPG's which relate to what I will ask shortly.
Britain and America are two huge examples of gaming nations without a firm favorite genre. The majority of British tend to like racers or football sims whereas the Americans like their First-Person Shooters but neither have a firm favourite like the Japanese and their RPG's. The latest Pokemon, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games are guaranteed to sell millions of copies in a day.
Although Dragon Quest and other early RPG's were just easternised versions of US-made RPG's such as Ultima, Japanese developers quickly evolved the concept into something uniquely their own. Characterisation and the storylines became more emphasised and dialogue sequences became much longer.
Japanese RPG's still prefer to use random battles as their main action point instead of real-time. The genre is niche here as the combat is vastly different between Japanese and American RPG's. The combat is largely turn-based and relatively lacking in any skill or real need for strategy.
However, the Japanese don't seem to see this as a problem and still buy the latest RPG's in their droves. It's the same reason First-Person Shooters always have some sort of warehouse level or why there is a sugar mountain worth of street racers on shop shelves. If western audiences including European and American gamers haven't taken to Japanese RPG's, then it's very likely that they maybe never will.
However, what is encouraging is that RPG's on the whole are changing whereas racers and First-Person Shooters are not.
Developers have to realise that they need to attract the west if they are to continue and do well in the future, especially with the increasing costs of developing them.
Now here is where I come to the main part of the thread.
Ideally what we'd really like to see is a genuine cross pollination of ideas between Western and Japanese games. Imagine a Japanese RPG with graphic adventure style dialogue and proper puzzles. Or, imagine if Japanese developers attempted a first person RPG like Oblivion or real-time strategy elements like World of Warcraft into the combat.
Basically, RPG's aside, what if Japanese developers were to take ideas from Western developers and vice-versa to create more elements and ideas to their games? The Japanese seem to have hit the nail on the head with Horror games and RPG's whereas the Western developers have done so with Adventure and First-Person shooters. What if each were to implement eachother's styles?
There are already examples of cross-pollination emerging from the woodwork with the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resident Evil 5, yet is it time to see more or do you feel that the regional differences exude a sort of charm in the respective games?
Which games or genres would you like to see cross over between Japanese developers/styles and American developers/styles?
Before I start the initial thread question, I will talk about Japanese RPG's which relate to what I will ask shortly.
Britain and America are two huge examples of gaming nations without a firm favorite genre. The majority of British tend to like racers or football sims whereas the Americans like their First-Person Shooters but neither have a firm favourite like the Japanese and their RPG's. The latest Pokemon, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games are guaranteed to sell millions of copies in a day.
Although Dragon Quest and other early RPG's were just easternised versions of US-made RPG's such as Ultima, Japanese developers quickly evolved the concept into something uniquely their own. Characterisation and the storylines became more emphasised and dialogue sequences became much longer.
Japanese RPG's still prefer to use random battles as their main action point instead of real-time. The genre is niche here as the combat is vastly different between Japanese and American RPG's. The combat is largely turn-based and relatively lacking in any skill or real need for strategy.
However, the Japanese don't seem to see this as a problem and still buy the latest RPG's in their droves. It's the same reason First-Person Shooters always have some sort of warehouse level or why there is a sugar mountain worth of street racers on shop shelves. If western audiences including European and American gamers haven't taken to Japanese RPG's, then it's very likely that they maybe never will.
However, what is encouraging is that RPG's on the whole are changing whereas racers and First-Person Shooters are not.
Developers have to realise that they need to attract the west if they are to continue and do well in the future, especially with the increasing costs of developing them.
Now here is where I come to the main part of the thread.
Ideally what we'd really like to see is a genuine cross pollination of ideas between Western and Japanese games. Imagine a Japanese RPG with graphic adventure style dialogue and proper puzzles. Or, imagine if Japanese developers attempted a first person RPG like Oblivion or real-time strategy elements like World of Warcraft into the combat.
Basically, RPG's aside, what if Japanese developers were to take ideas from Western developers and vice-versa to create more elements and ideas to their games? The Japanese seem to have hit the nail on the head with Horror games and RPG's whereas the Western developers have done so with Adventure and First-Person shooters. What if each were to implement eachother's styles?
There are already examples of cross-pollination emerging from the woodwork with the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resident Evil 5, yet is it time to see more or do you feel that the regional differences exude a sort of charm in the respective games?
Which games or genres would you like to see cross over between Japanese developers/styles and American developers/styles?