western games vs japanese games

I prefer Japanese games more because they don't usually try too hard to be realistic, which fails more often than not. They don't generally take themselves seriously either, and I like that.

I grew up on games like SMB, Tekken, Final Fantasy, Metroid and Dragon Quest so naturally I lean towards console Japanese franchises.

On the other side I do enjoy WRPGs and some shooters a good bit too.

I feel that Japanese games have more interesting ideas and aesthetic qualities.

So basicly this is just Games vs. Games ?

Gonna give the edge to Western titles thanks to the flourishing independent market that manages to take the best qualities of Japanese games.

yeah, mostly which do you think is design better in general.

western games easily. Japanese games tend too be to cheesy. hard to take the characters seriously half the time. and i mostly play games for story and that's where me and japan disconnect for the most part.

I have played a lot more western games than japaense games, so of course my opinion is going to be totally basis but I much more enjoy western games. But Japanese games tend to have more creative, crazier, less straightforward ideas which is a great change of pace compare to the "safety" that western devs usually take. (Still like western games more though)

I prefer Western .

Western

Western!

As a Westerner obviously I'm biased, though I love Japanese games. For example, I like the structure and progression of JRPGs but really don't care much for the overly effeminate character designs and cheesiness found throughout their stories. In that sense I prefer the West which usually offers a more realistic take.

If I had to choose between one or the other? Man that's hard. Begrudgingly, the West.

Honestly I can't decide, they're pretty much dead even for me these days. From the NES era to the PS2 era it would have been simple, Japanese games by a landslide. However having owned a 360 and now an Xbox One Western games have quickly become a huge portion of my gaming diet.

Western games, as an adult i like to play games with characters that look like adults and not look like childish girls with short skirts and big eyes.

I could say "Japanese games because I like to play games with characters that don't look like steroid-abusing meatheads," but that would be stupid and ignorant, like your comment. Obviously the games with bad anime art styles are just one type of Japanese game.

That's like saying Western games are filled with gym bunnies and bald space marines for mindless and casual bro gamers who live in basements.

Ehmm not really unless you want to claim that western games doesn't go for realism over fantasy.

What a stupid argument and you clearly need to open your eyes to what western games is.

I'm not arguing that Western characters are all meatheads, you ding-dong.

I'm saying that it's stupid to make generalizations about either Western or Japanese games as they are both diverse. That meathead comment was an example of a stupid generalization on par with the one you made about Japanese games. I even said "but that would be stupid and ignorant, like your comment." Can you not read?

Good lord.

hard choice but i prefer western games

I like games from all over the world. It's ridiculous to pick one over the other when they all bring something good to the table.

It's fine to have a preference and it's also fine to argue that one region makes better stuff overall, but I agree that a well rounded person can appreciate both.

western games have been on top for years now.. japanese has been in decline since the PS2 days

Japanese games, and mainly due to having better stories in their games. 9 hours 9 persons 9 doors, silent hill, Nier, and chrono trigger, just to name a few. I do enjoy some western stories like bioshock, but japanese game stories tend to be more interesting and unique for me. Maybe if I play planescape torment i'll change my mind. Of course, I still play games for gameplay as well, but both western and japanese games feel equally fun.

I like both about the same or more. I feel gameplay wise Western games are more fun while the Japanese excel in story and fantasy. It would be a nice to see a combination of these elements.

uh huh. You do realize there quiet a few moments in game like Tomb Raider, Gears, Halo, and the Mass Effect series that came off really cheesy and sometimes so bad I couldn't help but to laugh at these games because at time they were trying so hard to be serious In tone.

I don't have a preference based on which region my games come from. LucasArts was just as much a part of my childhood as SEGA and Nintendo were, for example.

Never been a big fan of Japanese games... except certain Nintendo games.

ill take a few cring worthy western scenes than a japanese game full of them. chalk it up to bad writing or awkward translations but japanese games tend to lack in the believable character department for me. the west does dialogue, character mo-cap, and character design better for the most part IMO. the past couple years i've been able to tell whether a game is japanese just by watching its trailer.

Japanese, since western games are terminally boring and uninteresting 99% of the time. I don't understand the appeal of western games at all or why they're so popular. They have the clunkiest, most boring fucking gameplay. Overwrought, humorless stories that aren't even entertaining in a campy sense. And such boring aesthetics. I can't think of a single genre that Japanese developers don't have better games in.

I prefer western games. The bright colors and anime crap that Japan likes to use in a lot of their games turns me off.

I generally prefer western games for RPGs although I do like JRPGs and my favorite RPG this generation was a JRPG. I like Japanese games for everything else. If I was into shooters, maybe there'd be more western games that I like but I'm not. The only one I could get into was Resident Evil 5 and that was because of arcadey Mercs mode and that game was made in Japan. JP wins character action games hands down. The west has never and will probably never put out anything that competes with Ninja Gaiden on Xbox or Bayonetta on a gameplay level. The best you can get is God of War which has good graphics but is extremely mediocre gameplay and the new DMC which was also pretty meh. There are no good western made fighting games.

Fighters, RPGs, Character Action, and whatever genre stuff like Beyond, Walking Dead, and Heavy Rain fall into are the genres I like. JP wins the Fighter and Action genre by a landslide for me. The West has a slight lead in RPGs (primarily due to BioWare), and the West wins the interactive movie thing by a landslide as I don't believe Japan is even competing in that one.

I do have a soft side for Japanese games simply because I find them entertaining and colorful as opposed to the often bland art style of Western games (with a few exceptions I'm surer some of you will bludgeon me with). Now, I love both Western and Japanese games equally as they both serve different purposes for me. I can't really pick one or the other in terms of "which is better" because they're all designed very differently from one another. In the end, they're games, simple as that. If I find it entertaining, does it really matter where it came from?

Between this and your anti-Nintendo rants, you seem to be very insecure about looking mature - which suggest to me that you're still a teenager, or an immature adult.

Now, I agree with you that I don't particularly like the bizarre anime schoolgirl obsessions held by come games out there...but I do think you need to grow up a bit and stop caring whether or not a game looks like it is made for children. Great games are great games, regardless of their art style (and that even goes for the weird schoolgirl stuff).

21 to 9 thought it be a little closer but it explain why Japanese games don't sell well here in the states and why Nintendo didn't want to bring great games like fatal frame 4 and xenoblade over.

western games vs japanese games

That's not exactly a fair comparison, pitting several entire continents against a single island nation.

Japanese games have a localization barrier, as do Western games in Japan. There are a lot of things in Japanese language/culture that just don't translate so well into Western languages/cultures, and vice versa. In fact, it's not uncommon for Japanese gamers/critics to criticize Western games for being awkward, cheesy, or cringe-worthy. Japanese gamers often associate Western games with cheesy Hollywood cliches, just as how we often associate Japanese games with cheesy anime cliches.

But as far as storytelling and writing quality goes, the best-written Western games don't hold a candle to the best-written Japanese games. Japanese VN games, like Clannad and Steins Gate, for example, are light-years ahead of Western games in the writing/storytelling department.

There's nothing "realistic" about casting the same brown-haired, rugged, muscular, white male actor in the lead role for almost every modern Western AAA game. It's ironic how America loves to celebrate diversity yet their games have homogeneous protagonists, while on the other hand Japan is a homogeneous nation yet their games have diverse protagonists. Western games could learn a thing or two from Japanese games about how not to make the protagonist look like the same actor being cast over and over again.

I've just had more enjoyment with western games. Years ago, Sga Master system, Genesis it was Japanese. But the Japanese titles just don't grab me much anymore, and I really don't get into JRPGs. MGS is one I still like, Dark/Demon Souls.

Yeah but I can say I have had those moments in any type of game. Even one as revered as TLOU. In the beginning Tess and Joel are looking for the guy whom has their guns. They kill how many people to get to him? Some of them had guns. Why not just pick them up? If they are such a valued commodity wouldn't you grab them as you go? I cracked up at that shit.

That's one of the key differences I've noticed between Western and Japanese storytelling. Western writers often tend to take themselves way too seriously, while Japanese writers often inject humour even into the most serious of stories. MGS, for example, deals with a lot of serious themes and controversial issues most Western games wouldn't dare touch, yet it balances it out with the occasional dose of humour and self-mockery that might seem out-of-place in such a serious story. That's where the "disconnect" comes in, since Western audiences are generally more used to having comedy and tragedy as separate genres, whereas Japanese audiences are generally more used to combining comedy and tragedy together.

Japanese for me. I grew up with the NES and SNES, so it's just what I was raised on (as a gamer)!!

I do agree with the generalization that western games take themselves too seriously and are less fantastical and whimsical than Japanese games. I certainly like and play western games, but I do get tired of post apocalyptic worlds. And the somber moods of a lot of the games.

This is STUPID! are you telling me that games are exclusive to western&Japanese styles? this is same type of bullsh!t which comes up in AnimeVsCartoon arguments.

Hell how can you just say that all western developers have the same styles?? or how can you say that all Japanese developers have the same styles?

thats why it sucks that after the 7th gen, japan isn't as prominent a competitor in the AAA space as it used to be in previous gens. They're way of doing things can still be influential, but it seems that with narratives and cutscenes,while some of us got it right, many companies in the west just mimcked their practice without understanding how best to apply them to inform the gameplay. Japan were the ones to largely kick off narrative driven single player adventures, and understand epic and drama =/= super serious.

after western dominance its no suprise the industry has gone largely back in the direction of F2P, social games, and self-indulgent to the exclusion of other ideas. Japan could often have masculine led adventures with deep personalities and share the stage with other characters in the same narrative. and they consider how difficulty, variety, balance and avatar strength affects the whole experience. Thats how they can be bombastic and still do it right. Our best in western gaming history are outliers whose FPS design, environmental storytelling, sandbox design, procedural generation etc were things that others in AAA latched onto superficially without understanding the little details and foundations that made such predecessors work.

But largely this is an industry thats evolved faster than tech in the film industry. The most powerful people in the biz aren't designers or moguls but investors, and no one knows largely what they're doing or where things are headed. Despite steams screw ups, you don't often have Gabe Newells at the helm that have risen through the ranks and make decisions, thinking as a gamer. Though such a hypothetical might lead to more leaders who can't count to 3. heh heh.

I like Western games.

Western all the way

Um westerners like MGS.....niche but it has a strong following here compared to most Japanese games.

I like Japanese games but they just don't have the same amount of resources to make blockbusters. Moreover, most of the Japanese games I've played focus too much on the single player. I have yet to find a decent Japanese online multiplayer game other than fighters.

Japanese has alot of JRPG And visual novel games, But some japanese games is interesting because of the story, Likable Character.still western kick ass for Action Game.

mgs was a strong following here in states most likely because we're bigger then japan. though I say they can make blockbusters games it just we're not really interested since its not western. though your right I cant think of any good online multiplayer game beside the soul series and monster hunter (not my genre of game) that japan had made

I can only think of a few western studios that release games as polished as japanese developers. Other than Blizzard I'm drawing a blank.

I don't like EA Activision Ubisoft Bethesda or R* so I'm gonna have to go with Japanese games.

I prefer Nintendo Konami Capcom From Soft.