Tuesday, January 19, 2010

IGN's article regarding JRPG sparks fireback from Japanese gamers

Recent IGN's article regarding JRPG sparks fireback from a Japanese gamers. The article can be found in here (10 ways to fix JRPG). The article talks about how typical the JRPG are, and how Western RPG evolved and take different direction. With over 500 comments, one comment that is seemingly stands above the rest is from a Japanese gamers, nick named Clockier:

"What!? Fallout is the SAME THING! You fight the same enemies, collect the same items... There's no sense of exploring unknown territory or anything. No matter how much freedom the player has, that's all there is."

"Oblivion and Fallout fanatics are exponentially more annoying than any Final Fantasy fanatic."

"Hey foreigners: we find your first-person shooters boring as shit. What do you say to that?"

"When I see all the 'sniping' and corpse-desecrating 'teabagging' going on in US games, the thought of what what foreigners do when they get mad [in real life] freaks me out."

"I'm sorry, but the battle systems in foreign games are totally boring."

"Yeah, like Oblivion's. But I guess it isn't the main focus of that game."

"Japanese RPGs are created for the express purpose of letting one experience the blooming of their full powers from a total zero starting point. They're necessary for keeping public order in Japan."

"Okay, so give us some foreign RPGs that are more interesting than Japanese ones. I just don't find foreign RPGs interesting at all."

"Oblivion's okay, but foreign games lack subtlety. They lack detail, and the character design and stories are bad."

"Americans can't understand complexity so a lot of the best stuff doesn't get translated. Like Megami Tensei!"

"That bit about "The Road Less Travelled?" #7? That's a common complaint... of inexperienced gamers. Like, I felt that way when I was in grade school."

"So sorry, but I LIKE Japanese-style RPGs."

"The real problem with Japanese RPGs is that the storylines aren't written by pros, only gamers."

"Oblivion didn't fare that well here, and Japanese don't really get into real-time strategy games."

"I call 'cultural differences'!"

"Show me an American-made RPG that satisfactorily addresses all of these complaints."

"Do foreign companies even make RPGs anymore? The only games that come to mind are first-person shooter action games. If we followed this 'advice' to the letter they'd have us making Grand Theft Auto clones."
 With both of the parties has some valid points, I think we should be able to respect each other cultural differences. Personally, I was a fan of JRPG, I think it is cool to have so much content in one game, and you have the sense of achievement when playing through the game. My first JRPG is Phantasy Star II, and I played so much JRPG since (Lunar, Final Fantasy series).
Nowadays, I kinda stop playing JRPG anymore, not because its boring or anything else, it is down to "yeah, I've seen everything that JRPG has to offer." So, I'm kinda waiting on something new in this genre.

Not saying that Fallout 3 is definitely better than Final Fantasy series, but Fallout 3 gives something refreshing towards the RPG. For example: freedom of choices is something that we don't really have in JRPG, and the character and story seems to be more mature, which suits my age.  But play that same thing over a decade, that will also be boring.

On the other hand, let's take a look at White Knight Chronicles. WKC is exactly what I'm hoping JRPG series can be. First of all, it gives you the ability to play online coop with friends, tackles missions together. Missions can also be downloaded via internet, so it always gives something refreshing to do. Secondly, you can design your own town. While this is not exactly new, we seen it in Suikoden, but the level of details in WKC is impressive.

It is not that JRPG is bad, it just need something refreshing for people to play on. And that is my personal opinion.

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