Honest Conversation: Is Japan the best at making games?

[NZA]

japan dominates the creative aspect of gaming and the west dominates the technical side

 

[Scustin Bieburr]

There's more of a culture of craftsmanship in Asia. People don't want to put their name on trash and they take it personally when a project flops.

Over here it's just a tax write off. Most of the people running game studios don't care anymore about quality. It's all about sales. If a game was successful, they just try to copy it instead of innovating. It's how you end up with so many souls clones, hero shooters, and action games that just make the people who play them want to go back to the game that it's aping.

Western games used to have that mindset of quality over quantity but these days they couldn't care less if the game is any good so long as people bought it and they could milk it with micro transactions. In spite of this culture you can end up with great pieces of art like red dead redemption 2 and god of war reboot.

 

[winb83]

I don't think that's a case against them though for a couple reasons. I'm pretty sure a lot of devs use Unreal engines due to multi-platform releases being more the standard for most games and that's a standardized engine, for better or worse, for making simultaneously released, multi-platform games. The times when that's not the case, for them, just like for others, I see that it's not always an Unreal engine use case. And the results aren't worse for the most part either. And even the times that aren't optimal, there's other factors at play, such as the typical time constraints and limits of tech.

At the end of the day, most of your favorite games and favorite gaming franchises are Japanese made, assuredly. Super heavy emphasis on your for gamers worldwide and especially for your ass specifically.

I prefer their storytelling in games. Most of the Japanese games I play have a heavy story focus.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

I definitely enjoy western games storytelling and characters more on average

Mass effect trilogy
God of war
TLOU 1 & 2
Red Dead Redemption 2
Baldur’s Gate 3
Witcher 3
Bioshock
Cyberpunk 2077
Deus Ex
Walking Dead
Portal 1 & 2

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

I definitely enjoy western games storytelling and characters more on average

Mass effect trilogy
God of war
TLOU 1 & 2
Red Dead Redemption 2
Baldur’s Gate 3
Witcher 3
Bioshock
Cyberpunk 2077
Deus Ex
Walking Dead
Portal 1 & 2

I think western games have better storytelling mechanics or more often weave techniques in to have the story not only be hand fisted to you solely thru text or cutscenes. However, I like Asian designed characters more often than not more than western, with just a few exceptions.

Strictly gameplay mechanics, Japan wins like 9/10. Especially if it's of any sort of action focused. Look how they dominate fighting games alone. MK has always pailed in comparison than all of its contemporaries. All it ever had over them was characters and storytelling. A lot of it has to do with character animations. Most of the west almost always look stiff with animations. Probably why they often resorted to first person games cuz doing them actions while actually seeing the character, they be looking goofy as fukk.

I will say that God of War reboots action and animation is top tier.

 

[Instant Classic]

Depends on what you're looking for in games. I think Japanese games are better at working with a smaller budget, but they've had some major fumbles with larger budgets. Also, I think it matters which genres. You can argue they're the best at platformers, but there are some western games that play just as good or better than some Japanese platformers. For example games like Rayman, Psychonauts, Crash, and certain games on the indie side of things hit similar highs as something like Mario.

If you look at fighting game genres I will say they're kings, but I think if western devs put an effort they can put in work. Killer Instinct revival for example actually held its own against fighting games of last gen, but felt the unfortunate fate on being on the wrong platform.

Then, in certain genres like racing you can argue GT is ahead, but there are games that come close or provide something it doesn't on western side of things.

RPG side of things is very subjective. I will say gameplay mechanic wise JRPGs usually gives you a dopamine that gets you hooked. Meanwhile story wise I don't think JRPGs provide the same level of storytelling to get you immersed in the world. Gameplay wise there are western games that are inspired by JRPGs and able to reinvent the wheel. Looking at something like child of light they created one of the best battle mechanics ever and can see clear inspiration from JRPGs. Then you have something like Chained Echoes that is clearly inspired by Chrono Trigger, but was able to create a battle system to hook you in. Overall, actual gameplay is usually better in JRPGs compared to westenr RPGs, but I don't think it comes close in storytelling

Rambling, but I think there are certain things they can excel at in gameplay standpoint. It's why they excel at action, fighting, platformers, RPGs, and a few other genres. Meanwhile, I don't think you can get a Japanese developer to create a shooter on the level of western devs. I think what interferes with western developers are shareholders and efficiency. Plus they have different objectives and prioritze presentation over gameplay, which is starting to cause issues with recent games.

 

[IIVI]

Yes.

They've pioneered, innovated and standardized so many of the best mechanics:
Platforming
Stealth
Active Time Battle systems
Open World
Focus Targeting
Survival games
Rhythm/Dancing games
Real-time Cinematics
Motion Control
Fighting games/combo systems
Free-Roaming/Control camera
etc.

 

[Gritsngravy]

I need more examples of Japanese games for yall to claim they the best developers

I can’t believe folks really like final fantasy like that, like it has to be like a joke or something

 

[Gritsngravy]

And what the fukk is the metaphor game

 

[Return of the Jedi]

I think this forum has it ass backwards. Outside of a few heavy hitters like Square and Nintendo, Japanese game developers have fallen off hard. Capcom, Konami, Bandai, are all shells of their former selves. Japan’s killed it this year but it’s an outlier. Western game developers passed Japan like 16-17 years ago and never looked back. Sony’s best in-house development companies are also all western.

 

[Return of the Jedi]

I'd say historically yes. But if we're talking about big studios.

The west had a good run in the mid-2000's to 2010's when the shooter and sandboxes were the wave. But then good ole western style capitalism reared it's ugly head and the innovation ground to a halt.

Japan, on the other hand, seems to give devs more latitude to make the kind of game they want to make. Think about the risks a company like Capcom took on games like RE4, Monster Hunter and Okami. But these games are lauded because they are games that break molds or make new ones. Elden Ring is just a decade of FromSoft taking every Souls game and building on it with more mechanics and ideas. But Miyazaki was given that latitude. The west doesn't do that.

However, I think the US/Europe are FAR superior at making great indie games. Mostly because those smaller studios aren't beholden to goofy ass shareholders.

Bro, the video game industry is one of the examples of a market where capitalism has succeeded in bringing improved quality AND lower cost for consumers at the same time.

 

[Return of the Jedi]

Japan = best creative storytellers

lol bro have you played the Kingdom Hearts series? The FF7 remakes? Any Capcom game? Metal Gear Solid? The stories are convoluted messes that clearly never had an outline to guide them. TLOU, Halo, Mass Effect, the Fallout games, the Arkham series, God of War, Baldurs Gate, Witcher 3, Cyberpunk all have better stories than any story we have seen from a Japanese game in at least 10 years.

 

[gurf]

lol bro have you played the Kingdom Hearts series? The FF7 remakes? Any Capcom game? Metal Gear Solid? The stories are convoluted messes that clearly never had an outline to guide them. TLOU, Halo, Mass Effect, the Fallout games, the Arkham series, God of War, Baldurs Gate, Witcher 3, Cyberpunk all have better stories than any story we have seen from a Japanese game in at least 10 years.

If you're talking about the last 10 years, sure.

Historically, no bro.

 

[Return of the Jedi]

If you're talking about the last 10 years, sure.

Historically, no bro.

I'm talking the last ~15 years.

 

[gurf]

I'm talking the last ~15 years.

Congrats.

My point still stands.