Mat and I took part in yet another lengthy email exchange today, discussing a Japanese gaming industry that has struggled to make a global impact in recent years, while undergoing something of an identity crisis. What follows are our collaborative thoughts on the matter…
It started out with me taking a swipe at Metal Gear Solid. A franchise lead by designer Hideo Kojima and well received by critics the world over, it is arguably at the forefront of Japan’s creativity and accomplishment. What bothered us however, was not that Hideo Kojima should have been Japan’s answer to Michael Bay, instead of a game designer, but the fact that the core mechanics of Metal Gear Solid, its subsequent sequels and the vast majority of franchises coming out of Japan continue to stagnate; a series of predictable, awful sequels or stand alone titles.
Another “home” franchise from the Land of the Rising Sun has faced similar difficulties. Resident Evil 4 breathed new life into a franchise that was in desperate need of a kick-start, and in doing so Capcom propelled itself financially and critically into audiences both sides of the Pacific.
However, for 
all its triumphs Capcom have undermined their own recent efforts by allowing Resident Evil 5 to become nothing more than a remapped sequel. Alarmingly it has taken the work of EA Redwood Shores to show Capcom that tension can still be created, while giving the player free movement with Dead Space. Particularly with the inability to move whilst aiming or firing a weapon, Resident Evil 5 was ridiculed by a western audience which has come to expect such nuances to no longer be an issue.
From Mat’s point of view, these are issues which are neither taken lightly or are particularly pleasing to report. Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil 2 sit proudly at the summit of his personal gaming history; the highlights of a golden Playstation era that introduced him to gaming and set the personal standards for everything that was to follow. Even now, they are experiences which hold a firm place in his heart.
As individual experiences, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resident Evil 5 are games that Mat has enjoyed. Appearing relatively early on in the Playstation 3’s life cycle, MGS4 was a standard setter in terms of story telling and visual quality, still holding up well even against more modern franchises. Resident Evil 5 may have been something of a bastardization against the series’ traditions (seriously Capcom, how do we go from shambling corpses to motorcycle chase sequences within the space of 5 games?), but it was still a solid enough experience.
The problem however, particularly for MGS4, is in Konami’s own failure to move on. In many ways, they have simply failed to adapt to recent triumphs that western developers have achieved. Since playing other 3rd person action games such as Uncharted 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum, or even Splinter Cell (in its later inceptions) the controls to MGS4 feel clunky and restrictive, and its core gameplay rendered almost unplayable by comparison. What is even more startling is when a series veteran and self certified Kojima fan boy like Mat agrees.
As a counter argument to change, Final Fantasy XIII has been received harshly in many western territories as a result of attempting to lose much of its JRPG core, in an attempt to appease western audiences, despite – unfortunately – retaining the same angry, blonde haired teenagers fighting another evil corporation. Critically this appears to have backfired. Some of the harshest reviews of FFXIII are those that bemoan the lack of towns, a world map and the lapping up of potions and Phoenix Downs; JRPG hallmarks that Square have abandoned to become a more linear, streamlined and – in their own eyes – western experience.
It’s a difficult balance. Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 2 have achieved huge success and fiercely loyal followings as western RPGs, and it would perhaps seem unfair to criticize Square Enix for trying to breathe new life into a series spanning some 23 years. However, JRPGs and the Japanese gaming industry at large retains its own charms and following in the west. Many seek solace with eastern developed games for the very same game play nuances that Square Enix have stripped from Final Fantasy XIII, which could explain some of the negative reaction to its attempts to breed change.
Yakuza 3 is being brought to our American and European shores by SEGA, almost entirely on the back of a long running and vocal fan campaign by western gamers, despite the recent demo offering up
some of the most dated visuals and game play mechanics you’ll find available in 2010. Making no concessions for a foreign consumer base, even down to its original Japanese voice acting, Yakuza 3 will find itself on western store shelves as a result of consumer demand alone, and will undoubtedly still carve out a sales niche despite launching in one of the most frenzied first quarter sales period’s in recent memory.
With this in mind, perhaps Square’s decision to stray so far from its JRPG roots represents a misunderstanding of what foreign audiences crave from eastern developers. Perhaps critical reception to Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resident Evil 5 from abroad have bestowed a deeper sense of paranoia or doubt amongst a Japanese gaming industry that desperately needs to find it’s voice on the global stage. Perhaps Japan needs Yakuza 3 to succeed abroad to restore confidence, or for Final Fantasy XIII to prove that it can adapt to different regional mechanics in the future. Maybe Japan simply needs Gran Turismo 5 to prosper and show that eastern developers don’t need to follow a western or eastern path, in either direction, to succeed on both sides of the Pacific.
Either way, the comparative commercial and critical success of Yakuza 3 and Final Fantasy XIII could go a long way in shaping how Japan influences the global industry in the future.
Good one! This is a solid summation of the differences in perception between what western and eastern gamers want and look for. I’m actually working on a similar idea, about linearity versus nonlinearity. Of course, mine will have thousands more words and be considerably less readable.
Sometimes it seems to me that The West is very large. Americans, Canadians, the English/Irish/Scottish, Australians, Germans, French, all the way into Eastern Europe, have generally the same tastes in terms of narrative draws, sense of humor, what we find annoying, and so forth. And while “The East” is really no smaller, it’s so dominated by Japan right now that it sometimes seems that way. There is a cultural void between the two styles of play that can prove difficult to transcend. And attempts to mix the two or find a balance almost never please everyone.
Great article brother. It made me think of this which I found a few weeks ago. It’s an interesting read.
I don’t think I have ever played a single JRPG, unless the very first Legend Of Zeld counts. Such games have never really appealed to me.
Just now, in the last 4 months, I have been getting back into Western-style RPGs, knocking out Fallout 3, Dragon’s Age, and Mass Effect and just starting Mass Effect 2. Before those games, the last Western RPG I played was probably Planescape: Torment, which I never even finished.
I did play a bit of Resident Evil 5 for a few hours. It was kind of fun because of the co-op play (which is one of my favorite things ever), but the controls did feel very archaic and clumsy.
@ Steerpike, I look forward to reading it. When me and Mat set out to write this piece, it was originally going to be a few paragraphs, posing a question for others to discuss on comments. It quickly spiralled out of control and inevitably turned out as a smaller editorial piece.
For the most part it always appears to me than Japan simply does not like change. They like what they like, and will forever lap up anything offered by Capcom, Square or Konami as long as it remains almost identical to previous games.
@ Ajax, There really aren’t many JRPGs I would even think about playing. I’m currently trudging through the latest Zelda on Wii, but besides that I haven’t touched any for a long time. They are far too predictable for my liking.
Thank you Gregg, but this article, as the opening paragraph says, was a collaborative piece by me and Mat 🙂
Sorry, the ‘Posted by Lewis B’ bit threw me there. So, great article brother. And Mat. 😉
You hit the nail on the head there, Lewis. Japan does not like change. I really enjoyed that article Gregg linked to – one of the great lines was that when Japan tries to make a game with a “western” flavor, what they really accomplish is a game that matches their perceptions of the west… perceptions which are almost as skewed as ours of the east.
One interesting thing is that Japan-ophilia seems greater in the US and Europe than US-and-Europe-ophilia seem in Japan. You see more katana-owning anime fans here than you see… whatever it is our culture has over there.
whatever it is our culture has over there.
Blue jeans, rock and roll and sexy American cowboy!
Demon’s Souls is something of an enigma though. It looks western sans the clunky functional equipment and modest design of typical cRPGs but there’s a distinctive Japanese whiff about it. And I hope I never have to repeat that last bit ever again.
whatever it is our culture has over there.
Inebriated, sexy, British, chain smoking, piss head, baby!
Does the west even have an identity like Japan?
The only style identity I recognise is lack of aesthetics. Think Halo and Gears of War. Chunky, meat-head American designs seem synonymous with western video games.
While eastern titles are very airy fairy in design, sometimes overly sleek, camp and full of angst.
Really, I can’t think of the last truly original game to come out of Japan. Everything seems so Final Fantasy or Devil May Cry in style or substance. It’s all very boring.
@ Gregg, Oh how I laughed at your Japanese whiff 🙂
And what’s wrong with “airy fairy, overly sleek campy angst” design? That’s what I adore about Japanese games in general. True, some of them are very strange(Chulip comes immediately to mind. And the ending for Eternal Sonata was a seriously WTF moment), but it’s that quirkiness that makes them fun to play… or try to figure out what it all means. 😀
So here is an interesting problem.
I can remember in the 90’s, Japanese games were where it was at if you were a console fan. Games developed on American soil were often met with upturned noses if gamers could find a similar offering coming out of Japan. Game consoles and the games themselves all had a definite Japanese bias. The Japanese weren’t even the ones pushing it, that was coming from customers in the USA!
The issue I see is the lack of change and treating games as a way to push more cutscenes and less interaction. Style is king, substance is not so important. We’ve come a long way since the 90’s in terms of hardware, but Japanese offerings tend to use the new hardware as a way of pushing more impressive cutscenes. I’ve often complained that I wish the Final Fantasy series would just give up the pretense of being games and start releasing CGI movies. In some ways I got my wish and received the semi-coherent but oddly entertaining Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. However, even that was tons of style, very little substance.
There is no comparison between Fallout 3 and any Final Fantasy game. If they streamlined FFXIII further, then they’ve missed the point. Japanese games are regarded as rigid, inflexible, and follow a very predictable plot sequence. Evil corporations, characters far too young to be believably involved in the conflicts they are in, over-the-top angst, a predictable betrayal, and overly convoluted stories. Actually, that last part is the worst problem. They can’t simply tell a story without numerous, but useless, twists and turns that still lead to a neat and tidy resolution. Yet throughout this, the player has very little control, very little input. It’s as though Japanese game designers barely begrudge us playing their games. The interactions are a gap between cutscenes.
Even Mass Effect 2, which has stripped away so much, still gives the player a lot of freedom. So much that I resent when I am forced to move forward with the plot. Fallout 3? Almost total freedom and the player is allowed to impact the world in a number of ways.
Final Fantasy XIII is the first game I’ve been interested in since VII. I’m not expecting much though and I’m working on my own blog post about why I’m diving back in. However, JRPG’s are largely dead to me. Mostly because they all feel the same. An entire genre should not look, feel, and play the same. They desperately need to evolve, and into something other than prettier CGI cutscenes.
@Jason O: I couldn’t have put it better myself. I was going to add something, but to be honest you’ve pretty much nailed my thoughts there.
@ Toger
Absolutely nothing is wrong with liking Japanese games or game design. Part of what Lewis and myself tried to capture above is that there is a fascination with Japan and eastern cultures (something which works both ways, too) that means more traditional eastern game design can still make a splash in mainstream, western gaming. Like was addressed above, Yakuza 3 is being brought to the US and Europe on the strength of fan support alone. I’ve played it and thought it was nigh on unplayable.. littered with game design flaws that I thought had died out mid way through the PS2’s life cycle. But, they’re in Yakuza 3. And some people will fall over themselves for that sort of game design.
That’s what myself and Lewis mean regarding Final Fantasy and it’s seemingly attempted quest to become a more western experience. Many of the things FFXIII is being criticised for stripping are things that fans of Japanese gaming loved the most. In no way am I personally a particular fan of Japanese culture or gaming (or at least no more or less than any other culture), yet there are still concessions made to Final Fantasy XIII which are leading me to question whether they’re good ideas or not..