Japanese or Western Story Telling: Which one you prefer?

I love me a JRPG just inject it into my veins

I do love skyrim an fallout man damn bro i do love that stuff and morrowind yeah

im gonna with JRPG tho I just like music and the experience gains getting the ultimate weapons im a niche gamer bro im niche as hell

i love getting all those lil nooks an crannies im an oldschool nintendo gamer im a gamer man im just a gamer

Whichever hasn't stuck at The Sorrows of Young Werther when it comes to depiction of emotions and has less of shallow, cliche, predictable melodrama.

I have played plenty of Japanese RPG and others genre, and beside games like Persona or Nier, they often present an awful story, dialogue and even character development.

Western games definitely have better story-telling.

I enjoy both story telling equally

I chose option 3: depends.

Japan has some great story telling with games like Shenmue and ICO. Western studios like Naughty Dog and Bioware also do a great job. There are good developers and bad story tellers all over the world. You can't just lump them together.

Western, speficially Eastern European. Metro 2033, Cryostasis: sign me up.

Western.

Western, but Japanese storytelling, especially JRPGs, tend to be very cliche-filled.

The best interactive storytelling I have ever seen are from Japanese visual novel (VN) games, by far. I haven't seen any Western game stories that come close to the high quality of storytelling found in a good Japanese VN game. Japanese VNs are miles ahead in terms of writing, storytelling and choices.

But I can see why Western storytelling would be the popular choice here. Most Western gamers don't know what a VN is, and the only familiarity most have with Japanese storytelling is through JRPGs (and other gameplay-oriented genres), which are average at most by Japanese standards. That's like comparing the West's best storytelling against Japan's average stuff (i.e. JRPGs). But compared to Japan's best (i.e. VNs), the West's best ends up looking pretty average in comparison.

Western by far.

Japanese only because they do really wierd themes.

Where as western themes don't really go "koo-koo" i'm sick of dungeons and elfs and just avery thing i see around me.

I'm sick of European mountains and woods and vikings and knights.

Western by a decent margin.

Eastern European is the best: Metro 2033, The Witcher, Stalker. But Japanese come close too: Souls franchise, FF6/7/9, Xenogear. Modern Japanese storytelling sucks balls though: FF13

I grew pretty tired of Western storytelling, specifically everything that Bioware produces nowadays.

I like both.

I don't know.. I can appreciate Japan for their wackiness, and the West for .. uhm.. Yeah, listening to a song. That just took over. It's a case by case thing.

Right?

****.

I prefer western. From the JRPGs and action games I play, I feel like the player doesnt connect with the stories as much. As I play FF I enjoy the story like watching a play. As I play The Last of Us I enjoy the story as if I was there and I'm so invested in how the characters are affected by it. Its two different styles, both enjoyable but I prefer western story telling.

japanese story telling is fucking garbage so the west wins by default

Japanese for me, i love how their characters are usually regular average people kinda guys.

Also for some reason i love their video game music, i love me some Kirby jams.

15-20 years ago? Japanese

Now? Western

Only like exceptional stories both western or Japanese. The exceptions, and they happen both in the west and in Japan, so I guess I have no real preference.

Why should I pick? I find good stories in both.....

Most japanese stuff come out as cringe worthy. Too much melodrama. Western also has it sometime but not as much. Both sides have some fantastic stuff though, like Silent Hill 2 or TLoU

Most VNs aren't games, so it's a lot less difficult to craft a story when there is very little interactivity.

Japan's storytelling on games where you actually play and not like those visual novels heavily rely on theatrics. Stupid and weird poses, unnatural conversations, etc. What's more is that they are also very heavy on fantasy. I just can't empathize with the characters. Of course there will be exceptions. Since their indie scene (excluding VNs) is quite invisible from the internet, it's hard to find the goods.

Western (apart from Bethesda, good God they can make literally anything sound fucking dull).

JRPG's are really good at fooling you into thinking an epic tale is about to unfold, only for you to have literally zero clue what they are on about an hour or two into the game. I still love them though, don't know why, honestly.

Playing VN is quite similar to reading a book where you can choose a path. I remember a Goosebumps book wherein a lot of the pages you have to make choices and turn to the specified page based on the choice you made. With VN, you add 2d backgrounds, anime shit, and voice over and it's pretty much the same. At least D4(Dark Dreams Don't Die) by Swery has you doing other things.

Right, It is basically a more interactive and visually appealing book. The interactions you make with a VN either don't matter at all or make the reader go down a completely different story path. I find that VNs that add more complex branches (meaningful interactivity) muddle the story in different ways.

It shouldn't really matter where the storytelling comes from, a good narrative is a good narrative. The best of the best from both sides are virtually just as good, and it really only comes down to personal preference. I've mainly played japanese story driven games, but I'm sure once I get around to it, games like Planescape: Torment, Sanitarium, and Grim Fandango will seem just as high quality as Silent hill 2, NIER, and 999.

What differentiates Visual Novels from books, movies, and most video games, are the choices & consequences. While many WRPGs often brag about C&C, the choices in WRPGs are usually very shallow (even in The Witcher games to some extent, let alone BioWare games). On the other hand, when you make choices in a VN, they actually have a major impact on how the story unfolds (leading down completely different stories) and how the characters develop (drastically altering character personalities/relationships), something which WRPGs claim to do yet keep failing at (The Witcher probably comes closest, but is still well below VN standards). And on top of that, the storytelling and writing quality in VNs is also far superior. Western game storytelling doesn't hold a candle to Japanese VN storytelling (e.g. the likes of YU-NO, Clannad, Fate/Stay Night, Muv-Luv Alternative, Steins Gate, Ever 17, 999, Zero Escape, etc.).

Could you please recommend me a good VN title (preferably a sci fi) with a good logical story? I wanna try one and see if I like the genre.

My problem with Japanese storytelling is they seem illogical. E,g, attributing honor to silly stuff, some girl by mistake spills tea on someone important and hence she should commit suicide for breaking honor, etc..

Does that sound a logical plot to you?

When western fans praise shit like Mass Effect and The Witcher for good stories you know they have no ability to appreciate deep or complex story lines.

Most of the same people hate MGS2 and love MGS3 because kojima made the story line more straight forward for simple minded people who follow a story without having their hand held.

Not all Japanese stories are great, but I have not played any western games with greater stories than the best from Japanese.

You'd like Japanese more if you have the ability to think and break things down to gain understanding

You'd like Western more if you need things spelled out for you like a child and have no deeper comprehension ability.

Japanese stories are super contrived.

Japanese story telling died with SquareSoft.

I've already named a few in my last post: YU-NO, Clannad, Fate/Stay Night, Muv-Luv Alternative, Steins Gate, Ever 17, 999, Zero Escape, etc. Out of those, YU-NO, Muv-Luv Alternative, Steins Gate, Ever 17, 999 and Zero Escape are all sci-fi stories. And these sci-fi stories make far more logical (and scientific) sense than Western games. However, VNs have a lot of reading, so they might not be for everyone.

By the way, which stories are you referring to with that honour stuff? What game (or anime) has that kind of scene? Whatever it is, I don't see anything particularly illogical about that situation, since that kind of thing has been common in class-based societies throughout history (both in historical Western societies and modern Eastern societies). It depends on the context.

Enjoy good stories in general. The problem is JRPGs with good stories are becoming rarer and rarer. Which is somewhat puzzling, since the Japanese seem to have no issue in terms of story when it comes to other forms of their creations, namely anime, manga and VN.

+1 for Steins;Gate

Sure, but there is a lot more going on in a WRPG then a visual novel. I think VNs are cool, but I don't consider most of them to be comparable to games. You can argue that most books and movies have better storytelling then most video games, and you would be stating the obvious. VNs are just a completely different form of media. I don't see the point in comparing them to video games, they're trying to tell stories, not make interactive experiences.

Comparing VNs to RPGs... Hmm... We might as well compare racing games to platformers. If you want to criticize modern WRPGs take a look at modern JRPGs too. Criticizing Western stuff to promote the greatness of Japan as usual.

JRPGs usually share the same cliches, grumpy teenagers, absurd super-power boogaloo storyline and awful writing that anime does. And anime has come to be much too pandering and convoluted.

Western story telling.

Each has their strengths.

Some Western games try to write up their stories to match the level of devotion and craft given to their production values. However, one thing I hate about Western games is people take story too seriously like it has to try to win an Oscar or it becomes deemed not worthy.

Whereas Japanese games can be utterly nonsensical, basic, and serve as nothing more than a jump off point to get right into the game. That of course can also be a weakness when the gameplay can't pick up the slack.

There's a place for both approaches really.

Thanks man. I'm gonna check them out.

Also, there are plenty of examples for illogical and incoherent plots. For instance, I've just finished watching an anime on Netflix called K. It had some guys called kings having super powers that if they fight each other, the geography and topology of Japan could shift and change. And a girl that is a cat and a human but she doesn't know it and cause people to hallucinate. People fighting each other to the death even though they know the original reason of their fighting no longer exists.., etc..

I mean it's just bonkers, but at the same time, the individual scenes (not the absurd overall story arc of the series) are so well done that I couldn't quit watching.

However, at the end I couldn't give it more than 3 stars as its overall incoherent story didn't make any sense and never got explained till the end. No moral of the story, no value beside wasting time watching it.

Even trying to articulate a thought about it comes out incoherent.. lol

P.S. The best anime I watched that was really good is Death Note (although the end was a cop out)

To answer this question I'd have to know what you consider to be "Japanese" and "Western" storytelling. Both sides of the planet are capable of a vast variety of storytelling techniques.

Depends on the game and story, both are good, but in general I think I like Japanese better

VNs are interactive storytelling experiences, to be exact. Sure, they don't have to worry about action gameplay mechanics like RPGs do, but by removing those mechanics, VNs can push the limits of interactive storytelling and choices & consequences much further than what other video games are capable of. But even if we excluded most pure VNs, there are a lot of hybrid VN-adventure games (combining VN interactive storytelling with traditional point & click adventure gameplay mechanics), such as YU-NO, 999, and Zero Escape, for example, and even these are still far superior to Western game storytelling.

I prefer by far Japanease story telling than Western's. The problem I see with Western storytelling is the fact that it is way to often very empty. In shooter and action games it is mostly : go there, oh no embush we need to take another route ... so instead of going from point A to B ... you have to go through C to Z to finally go to B. In "open world" the story is shallow because you could have done every side mission or going through only the story mission so they can't do something epic.

At least in Japanease RPG you have a first story but then another you discovers that there is another story unfolding that is just more epic and then something else happen and it end up ridiculous.

There is also the difference that in Western is mostly single player where you are the hero wereas Japanease games have more often than not many heros in the game.

Do you really fully understand what goes on in a Japanese game. I mean, in western games, you watch the trailer and you get the gist of it. In Japanese games, you play and finish the game, and you have no clue what the story was all about.

I remember playing a game called Enchanted Arms, excellent graphics and environment, but had no clue what the story was all about even till half way through the game before I stopped playing.

I mean, do you know what on earth is the story behind super paper mario? super mario galaxy?

You need to play more games....

In most WRPGs, you are always role-playing as a specific character. You have a lot more choices in how you interact with people and the environment. When I play a game like Pillars of Eternity or Dragon Age, 95% of the dialogue is chosen by me. That, combined with me moving around,interacting with the environment, making decisions in combat, picking my stats, etc. makes it a far more interactive experience then any VN could ever achieve.

VNs are interactive in very limited ways...just like a choose your own adventure book. You are NEVER role-playing as a character in VN. The great majority of choices and dialogue are pre-destined by the main character. Only in very rare instances do you actually make choices in a VN. Yes, those choices can be meaningful (most are not), but 99% of the time, you are simply reading a story. Even the best visual novel (Muv-Luv Alternative) has no choices or decisions at all.

Let's also not forget that WRPGs are typically crafted in fully 3D environments that are interactable. VNs are created with 2D portraits over bare backgrounds and progress in a linear story fashion. The comparison is simply crazy, they're both completely different forms of media.

I didn't play Yu-No or Zero Escape, but 999 is definitely not what I would call a prime example of superior storytelling. I would definitely pick many other Western games over 999. Compared to most other VNs, it is weaksauce. Not to mention, it barely qualifies as a game itself. I and many others would argue that they gamey elements only weaken the experience overall.

The finest examples of video game story telling that I've come across have been in NIER, Shadow of the Colossus (for it's minimalism) and Odin Sphere.

All Japanese games.

I don't care about story in games. I've played the shit out of MGS4 Bayonetta Dark Souls and I couldn't tell you what the story was about in any of them.

I hate western game stories they try to be like movies. If I want a good story I'll read a book or watch a movie. Games are all about the game play.