Gerrard
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2007
- Messages
- 11,927
No it isn't.You should look at the reasons for why Japan hates these games. Like FF15 is disliked by them because it's too hard.
No it isn't.You should look at the reasons for why Japan hates these games. Like FF15 is disliked by them because it's too hard.
No it isn't.You should look at the reasons for why Japan hates these games. Like FF15 is disliked by them because it's too hard.
No it isn't what?No it isn't.You should look at the reasons for why Japan hates these games. Like FF15 is disliked by them because it's too hard.
always remember that "the average japanese gamer" is actually worse than the average western gamer. The jap casuals buy the absolute dregs of bottom-tier media and do it in droves, hence gachi shit and mobile gaming, and the constant deluge of waifu-games with no redeeming qualities.
And not a single one of the "Most helpful" reviews on FFXV says "it's too hard".No it isn't.You should look at the reasons for why Japan hates these games. Like FF15 is disliked by them because it's too hard.
Am too tired right now to translate those Amazon reviews but I bet those people stated what they didn't like about their games.
One thing I do agree with is that niche-jap shit > niche-western shit.
For example there is no way something like Elminage: gothic would ever be made in the west nowadays. It's too pure.
EDIT: This doesn't mean that jap gamers like their own niche-jap shit, though, as all of these products invariably fail and their studios go out of business and/or they transition into making gormless gacha-mobile dogshit.
I will build upon what Vaarna_Aarne said, as he is largely accurate.
Your typical Japanese "salaryman" can basically never be fired, unless he (and they are are by and large "he"s only), I dunno, just doesn't show up for work for several weeks straight. The people getting fired for not smiling are part time or contract workers. Japanese employment laws are ridiculously strict in this area; once you've hired someone as a "regular" employee, it really does take something completely bonkers to fire them. (On the other hand, even if it does come to court, in the worst case scenario as an employer, all you will need to do it backpay lost wages; there is not really a concept of punitive damages in Japanese law).
On the other hand, if you are a regular employee and are (even today) enjoying "lifetime employment," you are expected to be working 50-60 hours per week. Good companies will pay you for the 10-20 hours of overtime, shitty companies will make you punch out and then go back to your desk.
With that in mind, the largest gaming demographic in Japan is overworked office guys playing games on their phones when commuting back and forth to work, likely in a state of either extreme sleep deprivation or hungover from mandatory drinking parties with coworkers. This is why the Japanese game market is dominated by free to play mobile games with in game currency; they don't want to think, they just want something to do that makes them feel like they are accomplishing something without actually doing anything, since their jobs consist of doing nothing and accomplishing nothing for years and years until they are in their mid to late 40s and finally making a decent wage.
Inclined stuff like Elminage Gothic or even Stranger of Sword City is a niche of a niche.
As for Dark Souls, etc., I had to introduce that series even to my one Japanese friend who is a "gamer" (i.e. grew up playing games and still does). He liked it a lot, and then next time we met he suggested I give Fallout 4 a try.
The fact of the matter is, Western games were seen as absolute shit in Japan for the last, I dunno, 20-30 years. But in a very real sense, Western games are seen as "cool" among actual Japanese gamers now, and you might be suprised at how many people here know about Fallout (i.e. Fallout 3+) or Witcher series.
Anyway, I'm a bit drunk, so I'm now rambling a bit, so I apologize if my post is all over the place!
That's another thing to consider really, the number of Japanese games with AAA level budget is pretty limited compared to the West. Like, if you think about it, the only ones offhand that get that level of resources are Final Fantasy (in no small part due to inertia from the heyday of the series, I suppose), and Hideo Kojima, and even in case of Kojima his budgets are big by Japanese standards (and of such size because he is a unique talent in games industry history but also because since 1998 his games have been guaranteed worldwide critical and commercial hits). By contrast in the West, you have annual or near-annual franchises like Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty with even more massive budgets per entry, along with studios like Rockstar who from a game dev perspective have effectively unlimited time and money.Having said that, I don't even know if you can compare these games to Western AAA. I don't think the budget for a game like Nioh, Nier, or Dark Souls is anywhere close to a Far Cry or Assassin's Creed. I mean, we can definitely compare them in terms of quality. If Japan has an AAA, it's gotta be stuff like Final Fantasy 15, which is just as awful as the worst of Western AAA imo.
I think that is also getting truer and truer for Japan; keep in mind, Japanese gamers only really got exposure to Western games with the PS3/Xbox 360 generation, and until that point they considered all Western games as shit (this excludes PC gaming completely).
EDIT: Damn, you guys remember when Half-Life 2 was making the rounds in media because of its "enormous 40 million dollar budget"? I think these days western AAA devs spend that amount on the advertising alone.