Japanese game designers may have some of the most outrageous ideas for games, which may be a blessing in the eyes of jaded game consumers. However, the actual realization of these ideas may not make for a worthwhile consumer product.
We have heard many complaints about Japanese designers before, one of the loudest being an alleged disconnect between them and market reality (which may have contributed to their ability to come up with outrageous ideas anyway). There had also been other complaints, like lack of interest in the computer games market beyond MMOs, "visual novels" and other genres that had become (rather awful) stereotypes. Then, there is their neglect of markets outside of Japan.
However, through my years of observing them and their products, it is difficult to deny that they have one kind of thing in abundance: ideas.
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ZANY IDEAS
The Japanese game designers can think of ideas that no one else would ever think of conceiving - largely because their ideas are quite outrageous.
One of the oldest examples is Shigeru Miyamoto's original Donkey Kong. Who else would have conceived the idea of a blue-collar worker risking his life to save a damsel in distress from an oversized gorilla chucking barrels down rickety construction projects?
(Perhaps Merian C. Cooper, if he had knowledge of electronics and access to the necessary technology during this time - but I doubt even he would have considered an Italian plumber as the protagonist.)
I have to say here that if there are any game-makers that can raise my eyebrows in amusement these days, they would be the Japanese ones.
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... BUT SLIGHTLY "INSPIRED" IDEAS
Ultimately, their ideas still have to come from somewhere. I will cite an obscure Japanese game as an example here: Gungrave. This game has a protagonist that lugs around a coffin, drawing weapons from it when necessary; this concept was quite outrageous during its time.
However, the inspirations for the character design should be quite apparent to fans of Japanese anime (especially the not-kid-friendly ones), and the concept of a protagonist that lugs around a container that is cumbersomely huge should not be so difficult to figure out either.
(Of course, I am aware that the sources of inspiration themselves may in turn be inspired by even older works of fiction. If you know of this, do tell me.)
On the other hand, perhaps to their credit, the Japanese game designers are generally candid and frank about where their ideas came from. The most prominent example is Shigeru Miyamoto (who described his pastimes as his sources of inspiration), and another younger (and more inane) example is Suda Goichi. I personally find this honesty refreshing, and that it goes a long way towards allaying suspicions of plagiarism.
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SOMETIMES BAD IMPLEMENTATION
That is not saying that all of their ideas are good though. The concepts behind them may be fresh, but the implementation can be awfully frustrating, lack polish or have little value, or all of that. The aforementioned Gungrave is one such example, having wasted its potential on unremarkable gunplay.
More recent examples include arguably shallow games that try to sell themselves on their premise and concept. Granted, the outrageousness of these games may be enough to sway some game consumers, but for the harsher ones, the value is not there.
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I should mention here that I had known of this game for a long while, and while I looked forward to it, I do not have expectations of it being good.
Then, there are also well-conceived games but which happen to have very poor considerations of the consumer's needs, such as Dark Souls: Prepare to Die, which had very lazy designs for its keyboard/mouse controls and which would certainly have alienated those who insist on playing with such controls.
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WESTERN INFLUENCE: GOOD OR BAD?
If one who prefers the older Resident Evil games looks at Capcom now, he/she is likely to say "bad".
Unfortunately, or not, the reality is that corporations like Capcom and Square Enix are now becoming more multinational than completely and ideologically Japanese, as they open up their stocks and board of directors to investors from nations other than Japan. A couple of consequences of this are that they take less risks, and will takeinternational markets into consideration when conceiving the ideas for their games.
These are not necessarily bad changes of course, but the benefits would not certainly be apparent to those who wish for more surprising innovation from them, especially Capcom.
Next, there are the changes in their business practices of course. However, to cut Japanese game-makers some slack, the changes have varying consequences on consumer friendliness, and may not have been due to Western influence. However, that these changes mostly happened after they have opened themselves up to investors outside of Japan is difficult to overlook.
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Personally, I wish that the Japanese game-makers do not stop conceiving zany ideas for their games. To me, zany ideas always make for entertaining games, though not necessarily high-value ones; to achieve this, the games need to have satisfactory polish, variety in designs and plenty of content. I believe that Japanese game-makers can achieve these too, if they are willing to learn from feedback by customers and critics.