Killing baddy after baddy can be fun for some, but for the majority of gamers we need a reason to continue our assault through endless dungeons either in the form of quests or a linear story. As gaming consoles became more advanced, they started telling more intricate stories. Instead of the basic "The princess has been captured!" or "You must find 4 crystals…" we now get full fledged stories with multiple characters. The characters of today's games bring with them dynamic and unique personalities and are largely involved with the unraveling of major plot twists. We have come so far as to even include multiple branches of story with separate, unique endings depending on how the gamer plays through the storyline. We certainly have come a long way from Pacman.

Find those crystals young ones!

What interests me most is how the story is told and from what perspective.I am especially interested inhow the west and east differ in their story telling approach. In this article I try to break down each and understand what the differences are. At the end we may start to understand more about the mentality and cultural influences that drive each side's storytelling. This should be interesting.

The West

This pretty much sums up western game storylines. Well, maybe not, but it is what I think of when western RPGs come to mind. Epic stories with huge monsters, massive lands, powerful weapons, and, of course, a lot of killing are recurring themes.

Typical western hero. Buff, check. Blood, check. Sword, check!

The west loves a good story of courage in face of insurmountable odds. The more baddies there are or the bigger the baddy is, the more epic the battles and the more glory the victor reaps after the onslaught. This has been a central plot point in western epics as far back as the middle ages, and even in the Bible. Little David stood his ground against the hulking Giant and bested the mighty beast in battle. This is what has been taught to most western people during childhood. The Alamo, Battle of Thermopylae (300), and William Wallace against Britain are all legendary feats of heroism heralded by western people as a symbol of courage and honor. Even great literary writings contain this same message as seen in the works: Robin Hood, Lord of the Rings, and Homer's Epic Poems (mainly Achilles and Heracles.)

Looking at these works shouts what the west loves, a courageous leader that comes forth and does legendary deeds. Instead of focusing on the character, the focus is on the person's actions and exploits. This type of storytelling is what most western games adhere to. The main character (usually created based on the player's ideals of what a hero would be) begins his adventure with an agenda in mind. This may be kill a dragon, free their people, or destroy an incoming army, among other goals. The player guides the character through decisions and battles. The player practically creates the character in the game and events guide those decisions. This is crucial. The games are usually open to individual interpretation and can change depending on how the player chooses to play the game.The focus is, again, usually on the deeds instead of the "state of mind." The character grows as a hero, but we don't get a true glimpse into the actual character's personality, as their personality is the player's. It is a player made game. There is nothing to take away from the game in the end, or to be learned from it since the player injected themselves into the game.

I shall kill you with my mighty sword foul beast!

This can be seen in Oblivion, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Kotor, and practically any WRPG. As for shooting, platforming, and other western games, these are a bit simpler. They practically adhere to the "hero" archetype and stay there, without player interaction in the creation of the hero or movement of the story. We see this in Kratos, Duke Nukem, Marcus Fenix, Master Chief, and Lara Croft.

Achilles. BA of the old world. Censored for the youngins.

As we can see, western culture does influence how their games are made. The great deeds and tales that are taught to us as children guide our interests as adults.

The Hero is made from his/her courageous actions and exploits.

The East

I have to say, this side of the story was very interesting to write. As I am a western imbued person, learning the eastern culture and digesting their stories was fun and enlightening. Hopefully I get the essence of their thought process correct. Feel free to add to this section with a comment. Also, when I say "east" I focus mostly on Japan, as other Asian countries do not contribute much to the video gaming world.

Genji scroll. First novel ever written.

Traditional eastern story telling relates closely with cause and effect, the mentality of a decision, and the impact events have on a person's psyche. The first Japanese novel written was called "The Tale of Genji." The story follows the life of an emperor's son as he is cast away from royalty and is forced to live a rather normal life. How the son copes with the hardships is the focus of the novel. The story of Mulan (although Chinese in origin) recounts a girl's adventure through the military and the obstacles she must overcome because of her gender. She is faced with many decisions throughout her adventure and her character grows from becoming a male for a period of time. She is praised for her honor and dedication to her family. The Samurai where fierce warriors, they were respected not because of their actions in the fields of battle, but because of their loyalty to a code of honor. They set examples in restraint and followed their masters into war without fear. Their mentality was revered, not their actions. Eastern stories are focused on finding the character's identity, their purpose, or their state of mind.

One of the most interesting dynamics between two characters in any videogame.

Jump into videogames. See Cloud. We start FF7 not knowing a damn thing about Cloud. He is mysterious and reclusive. The central story in the game relates not to what great battles Cloud engages in, but the unraveling of Cloud's background and persona. Why does his hatred for Sephiroth run so deep? How can he redeem himself for past events? These are the major points of the story and the game altogether. Metal Gear Solid. Solid Snake can hold his own, but the story is more involved with the psychological effects of warfare on people, enemies being totally relative, and, mostly, the futility of war. Even the new FF13 concerns itself more with the development of the character's emotions and purpose than slaying huge beasts. Hope tries to deal with his anger while asking himself, "what's the point of it all?" We do not know anything about the protagonist, Lightening, at the start. She slowly develops throughout the game and the player learns more.

War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. WhoA!

Japanese story telling in videogames usually starts with a mysterious character which the player learns more about as the game progresses. The purpose of the story is to unlock the secrets of the main character and enlighten the player to the driving force behind the actions. For this reason a player can take away from the game a new understanding of different perspectives. They get a glimpse of different motivations and how past events can drive future actions. Emotions built from experiences drive decisions.

The mentality behind the action makes the hero.

Commentary

Of course there are exceptions to the rules. There have been great games from western developers that focus on the emotional aspects. There are also eastern games that revel in blood and gore. However, I find the "traditional" way of storytelling for each culture to be independent of each other and follow these trends.

I have long been a bigger fan of western games until I found myself asking more questions and becoming more interested in the characters in eastern games. There seems to be more depth in an eastern game. I am exposed to new ideas, points of view, and more emotional themes in eastern games. When a connection is made, not with a character you injected yourself into, but a character that is unique and different from yourself it seems there is more attachment there. We learn not from familiar people, but from people far different from ourselves. Sometimes what they do and what they think can change us. This can only occur if they are not created by us.

I would have liked to write more about Japanese writings, but there are limitations in length for these editorials.

Your Turn

What differences do you see in the two storytelling types?

Which do you lean toward?

User Additions:

Ilikepandas: "Japanese games, likely influenced by an emphasis placed on collectivism in the culture, tend to focus more on a group of heroes who instead react to their environment and are slowly molded by events in the story."

Interesting addition for sure. Japan and China do have a strong sense of collectivism. Perhaps this is why we see the characters crying out for identity or individualization? Interesting take.

the_requiem:"Western games/stories are about putting the player in shoes of a superhero [sort of] who achieves victory against impossible odds, performs seemingly impossible feats. The thrill comes from player feeling that they are the ones doing these feats.Japanese games/stories are about character's individual/emotional journey. The players are made to feel/experience what the character feels/experiences. The thrill comes from that emotional journey, living a character."

Excellent summation of what I was going for. Western games put the player into the main character, the player is the protangonist. Eastern games have the player controlling a unique character whose has its own personality and story. Eastern games take a more traditional storytelling approach while western games inject the player into the story.

Crom_destroyer: "The writer says that the focus in western games is on the actions, rather than states of mind. This is partially true. However, it is also irrelevant precisely because it's truth is only partial. What I mean is that focus on actions and lack of personality only go so far as the "main character", and they don't extend to other characters. If these characteristics affected all characters in western games, then the writer would have a point, but they don't."

You are correct in emotions being emitted by other characters in the game. However, the entire game is wrapped around the main character and how they perceive events. The main character in most western games chooses how they interact with the other characters and those choices are decided by the player, think of the old "turn to page 99 for this decision or turn to page 45 for this one" kind of books. The eastern games have a locked point of view with what the author/dev intended for the game. This forces the player to look through a certain lens and perhaps learn something more about others and what drives their decisions. Nice point and hopefully newer western games will start to include weightier side characters if the main character is to retain the player's decisions.