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Discussion Why Japan Matters pt 1

OTBWY

OTBWY

Mirai Ninja
Designer
Pronouns
He/Him
Cause I said so.

Edit: So I have thought about it and come to the conclusion that there is a need out there to talk about why Japan matters to you. What impact have Japanese video games had on you and what is Japanese video gaming culture?

I feel that Japan is a country that has contributed about the most to our favourite hobby, it matters to me because almost all my favourite games are from Japanese studios and creative minds from Japan.
 
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something something mobile something something global success instead
 
As someone who wasn't involved in any of the sales discussion, Japan "matters" mostly in the sense that them not mattering is partially responsible for why I've felt more and more alienated by the industry as a whole in the last decade as my taste in games seems to align more closely with the Japanese public than the western public. But it is true that they drive less of the console industry now than they did 20 years ago.
 
GamerJM said:
As someone who wasn't involved in any of the sales discussion, Japan "matters" mostly in the sense that them not mattering is partially responsible for why I've felt more and more alienated by the industry as a whole in the last decade as my taste in games seems to align more closely with the Japanese public than the western public. But it is true that they drive less of the console industry now than they did 20 years ago.
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I kinda started this as a test/joke thread in the context of MC threads, but you've given a really interesting reply. I think I can see that, my interests have always been more aligned with the Japanese audience though. I just don't really enjoy the big God of War cinematic games as much as many others do. I really tried. I just really like RPGs (especially old Japanese ones!).
 
I don't think west tastes are that diferente from Japan in certain aspects.

AAA cinematic games sell better here, but Family Friendly games, multiplayer games sell equally well e for long time.

Each contry have it's own flavor, but you can see a certain pattern on "main stream consumer"
 
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Phantom Thief said:
Tales of Arise sucks
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Xavi said:
Is it a goddamn slog?
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I was so high on the game and then it ended up being way shorter than I thought and I dropped it at the start of the final dungeon. I wasn’t vibing with how they were handling the story climax and (seemingly) wrapping it up quickly. This was last Sunday. I’ve had zero impetus to go back to it and wrap it up.
 
Xavi said:
Is it a goddamn slog?
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I suggest going into the game as if you are playing a Tales game otherwise you'll be disappointed. It should be a fun time unless you are expecting more from it in terms of it being beyond a Tales game. It has nice Qol and an increased budget, but still a Tales game at heart.
 
Xavi said:
Is it a goddamn slog?
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Scrawnton said:
I was so high on the game and then it ended up being way shorter than I thought and I dropped it at the start of the final dungeon. I wasn’t vibing with how they were handling the story climax and (seemingly) wrapping it up quickly. This was last Sunday. I’ve had zero impetus to go back to it and wrap it up.
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AquaWateria said:
I suggest going into the game as if you are playing a Tales game otherwise you'll be disappointed. It should be a fun time unless you are expecting more from it in terms of it being beyond a Tales game. It has nice Qol and an increased budget, but still a Tales game at heart.
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I'm joking, I meant to be avatar quoted lol

I love it so far, 30 hours in
 
Phantom Thief said:
I'm joking, I meant to be avatar quoted lol

I love it so far, 30 hours in
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Lmaoooo, I got confused considering your avatar lol. I'm glad you are loving it.

I only mentioned this since I've seen quite a few people negative over the game at Era lol.
 
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We need more hanko in life. Of course it's easier when you can write your name in 2 characters.

Really, when it comes to Nintendo, more understanding of Japan may sometimes help understand some decisions that seem weird to us Westerners.
 
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Generally I mostly like Japanese games the most because I like mid tier games more so than big triple A productions. For me mid tier games are more focused and innovative. Japanese devs are masters at that so I gravitate toward those games most of the time. Nintendo is still the biggest mid tier developer out there and also a industry powerhouse. Ofcourse I do enjoy big games from time to time as well but except for Nintendo games and a few others from Japan I don't like them as much.
 
I think that Japan absolutely matters but we are suffering a bit due to a lack of volume and legacy studios no longer existing. Developers like Sunsoft, Taito, Konami and Toaplan are either not as prolific and creative as they were in the 80s, or in the case of the latter don’t exist.

I think the move to consolidate a lot of studios like Taito into bigger organizations caused a lot of people to maybe miss the arcade experience, which while still more popular in Japan than it ever will be again worldwide, caused those kinds of games to no longer be made. And those are the games I wish we had more of.
 
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Japan's where all my favourite games come from with the exception of some western-dev'd indies and a couple chinese and taiwanese games.
 
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GamerJM said:
As someone who wasn't involved in any of the sales discussion, Japan "matters" mostly in the sense that them not mattering is partially responsible for why I've felt more and more alienated by the industry as a whole in the last decade as my taste in games seems to align more closely with the Japanese public than the western public. But it is true that they drive less of the console industry now than they did 20 years ago.
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I really feel this. JP devs make most of my favorite games and I'm not really into the direction of Western games. I'm honestly really scared about the waning focus on Japan for some publishers/devs, as I don't think the industry will be healthy without a strong market in Japan.
 
I dislike a lot the the phrase "japan doesn't matter" or "japan abandoned x thing" because feel everything behind the game industry is about money and not cultural reasons too. I mean, surely Capcom enjoy than certains IPs like Resident Evil and Devil May Cry sell a lot despite their sales at Japan, but when you see how much effort was put in Monster Hunter Rise it's clear they want appeal this market too.

Also I feel people who say phrases like that really only want popular games at their favorite console, otherwise they will ignore the rest of the games not matter their quality.

I think the best thing is when japanese publishers and dev appeal both the japanese and western market, this past six years have been great when they stopped to chase weird trends to mostly appeal the western market.
 
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SunnyDays said:
The best news today
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694208140140347413.gif
 
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Japan made this industry the entertainment juggernaut it is today, plain and simple. Without Nintendo, Sega, Hudson and (initially) Sony, the industry would have likely been consigned to PC and taken a hell of a lot longer to develop into what is is today.

With that in mind, Japan matters. It's more than just a sales region.

And, not to put too fine a point on it, but when you look at how much less these Japanese companies tend to engage in the most disgusting exploitative crap both transactionally and in the workforce, is probably all that stands between consumers and another crash due to pushing the boundaries of decency within the industry.
 
Terrell said:
Japan made this industry the entertainment juggernaut it is today, plain and simple. Without Nintendo, Sega, Hudson and (initially) Sony, the industry would have likely been consigned to PC and taken a hell of a lot longer to develop into what is is today.

With that in mind, Japan matters. It's more than just a sales region.

And, not to put too fine a point on it, but when you look at how much less these Japanese companies tend to engage in the most disgusting exploitative crap both transactionally and in the workforce, is probably all that stands between consumers and another crash due to pushing the boundaries of decency within the industry.
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Exactly, it is not just about sales, it is about how they approach game design and how we benefit from that creativity.
 
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It's a real shame that many Japanese gamers have come to think that it doesn't matter if a Japanese game doesn't sell well in Japan as long as it sells well in the rest of the world.
 
oracion said:
It's a real shame that many Japanese gamers have come to think that it doesn't matter if a Japanese game doesn't sell well in Japan as long as it sells well in the rest of the world.
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Interesting. Can you think of a reason why that is? What is the cause of this?
 
OTBWY said:
Interesting. Can you think of a reason why that is? What is the cause of this?
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Most gamers who think this way are Sony fanboys.
Nintendo games continue to sell well, but Sony games and third-party games don't sell more and more.
Now that Sony abandoned the Japanese game development (and market) nearly complete, I think it's a mindset to justify its existence as a fanboy.
They should realize that this kind of thinking is kicking themselves.
 
Japan has and will always matter as long as is a big market and it still is. The Switch is going to outsell the PS4 and Japan is a huge factor in that.
 
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I expect there to be a pretty stark generational divide in the coming years between veterans and junior developers that grew up with vastly different games. It's been a while since one console maker has completely dominated the industry but there's also other segments like mobile that didn't exist in the past. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, though.
 
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One thing I particularly appreciate about japanese games is the emphasis on highly melodic soundtracks, as opposed to the more subdued ones you usually find in western productions.
 
oracion said:
Most gamers who think this way are Sony fanboys.
Nintendo games continue to sell well, but Sony games and third-party games don't sell more and more.
Now that Sony abandoned the Japanese game development (and market) nearly complete, I think it's a mindset to justify its existence as a fanboy.
They should realize that this kind of thinking is kicking themselves.
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I am wondering, is the PC market growing in Japan you think? Is there a need for high graphics and high performance. I imagine that Sony's systems no longer appeal but the appeal for beautiful games must still be there. Also pretty recently Capcom has come out and said that it will focus on the PC market.
 
Mkhashouf said:
They made Cave Story which helped boost the indie gaming scene as we know it today
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And I have about every version of Cave Story ever released! I even have the Clockwork GameShell "built in" version. Love that game to death.
 
OTBWY said:
I am wondering, is the PC market growing in Japan you think? Is there a need for high graphics and high performance. I imagine that Sony's systems no longer appeal but the appeal for beautiful games must still be there. Also pretty recently Capcom has come out and said that it will focus on the PC market.
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This is just my personal opinion because I can't provide accurate data, but I don't think the PC market is growing very much.
However, since the launch of Apex Legends, Japanese interest in PC is definitely higher than before.
But many Japanese people want to play the same game that everyone else is playing, not a beautiful game.
They are not attracted to being able to play beautiful games.
 
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Maronic03 said:
Cave story is basically the first indie game that became popular no ?
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Touhou is older, but due to the nature of its distribution (sold at Comiket) its early sales are very very very low so hard to say when it really took off.
 
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