Am I the only one who doesn't like Asian games?

[UnderCoverGuest]

So much wrong with this post.

[Stuff that's wrong with that post].

You're right. Having one say that they don't respect certain aspects of other peoples' culture is completely racist. [In-context sarcasm]

[Blah blah blah, said the under cover guest].

The issue is stereotyping what people of that culture are or are not capable of doing [...]

[...] As far as devil may cry, I never implied that you should love it. Just that if you think it's intended to be serious you're off your rocker.

Quote from Dagens':

That being said I've never played a Nintendo game that's part of their core franchises that I haven't enjoyed greatly.

This applies context to his post--that the content in his post was of his own opinion, that he was not attempting to state Japan is incapable of producing anything other than anime-based games, or JRPGs, etcetera. It clearly states he enjoys certain aspects of virtual entertainment mediums released from Japan.

For my own part, I have similar sentiment. If you're referring to the original poster, then my replies to you have been invalid, but as you quoted that Dagens' fellow along with my quoted response of his post, I assumed you were referring directly to one of us.

If that is the case, then be aware there are things I enjoy that are manufactured, produced, thought up etcetera in Japan, and that any sentiments I personally have for or against a given product are opinion. Having opinions does not make one racist; we're all human after all.

I did however take a moment to look up your recent posts, and found that a majority of them within the past two weeks have dealt mainly with issues along the lines of religion and politics; and that racism is a topic brought up frequently. At this point I debated whether or not to post this here or send it in a PM, but in the end I'm replying here.

Again, not knowing whether I'm on or off topic--if you were responding directly to me: we are not on level ground.
It is quite clear that you take time to analyze replies or posts to the threads that you are involved in, formulate a reply, and submit it. I do not. My posts are limited to ten or fifteen minutes in-between other things, when I watch a Zero Punctuation or put the kettle on for tea. I rarely take time to analyze other peoples posts, and usually just submit my opinion without worry of consequence for three reasons:

1) This is the internet.
2) These forums are called "The Escapist".
3) It's just personal opinion.

With that in mind, I'm usually quite confident that my posts will carry no significance at all. But I did feel like going into this one for some reason, so here's my personal conclusion so that I'm not in this for too long:

Dagens' was just expressing his opinion, as was I. We submitted our opinions in text forum. This is very limiting, because you can only see the text output, and not the emotional input. From the angle you are coming at, you are attempting to insinuate a degree of racism into our opinions--this is very easy, first off because it is a topic covering opinion on international culture, and secondly because you yourself have a background in dealing with this subject on these forums.

From an unbiased perspective, I would realize that you have your opinions on these matters, and I have mine. Dagens' also has his, but since I don't know him, I'm going to stop assuming the content of his own post for the very reasons I so hypocritically put forward. Whether our opinions are racist is a matter of perspective. I personally don't think disliking certain aspects of other peoples' cultures is racist at all, nor do I think doing so results in, or is indicative of, a close-minded view towards those cultures. Anime is commonly associated with Asia, in particular Japan, and it is fair to assume there are people out there who dislike Anime, but still respect Japan. That would be the group I fall under. There are also those who think Devil May Cry should be taken seriously. Therefore it is fair to assume there are people out there who are 'Anime nerds'. By the way, you wouldn't consider them to be 'off their rocker' for taking Anime so seriously, would you?

Sorry, that was bias on my part. Anywho, I said something about a conclusion, so here it is: we all have our opinions. Some may sound racist, others may not, but on forums like these, who is to judge? You, nor I have any way of knowing what the person at the other end of the keyboard was thinking when they typed it. Maybe they were in a hurry and decided simply to put their opinion, or maybe they were wearing their pointy white hood and giggling to themselves--we don't know. Can we assume? Sure we can! I assumed Dagens' was just voicing his opinion and not intentionally attempting to criticize Japan. But again, I did point out that one sentence where he states quite clearly, he does like certain products from that nation--so he can't be completely racist, can he now.

Here's a quote from you yourself, talking about Oliver Twist:
"God, why does EVERYTHING have to be happy or have a happy ending? A lot of things work better with a downer or mixed ending."

Let's let this close with a mixed ending. Whether it sounds racist or not, whether it was intentionally disrespectful of another culture, or simply read that way, we don't know. So let's not presume that any of us are truly racist...not until we meet in person, at any rate.

(No worries, I guarantee I won't reply now, way too early in the morning.)

(Whoooa, was just closing the browser when I saw that last sentence o'mine and needed to add something: we do know whether or not my post was racist or not: it wasn't. I just don't like Anime--I don't like the over-popularity that it has developed, particularly here in the US. But I am completely biased due to personal experiences--at the same time, I very much respect the historical and traditional values of Japan and its neighboring countries, from both a personal and political perspective. And then there are trends in and of America that I dislike--so if you must consider me or my views racist, at least give me the benefit of being equally racist between all factions within our world, because there are things I dislike about pretty much every social environment on our small, flat planet. And there are things I like about all our countries as well. So I'm not racist--at least, not in the way that I hate or discriminate against absolutely 100% of a given social group).

 

[Puddleknock]

I find it interesting that the country where a game is made is so important to some people.

It is not something I even tend to think about when buying a game, I don't ask myself where its from, but merely would I enjoy playing it? Limiting yourself by dismissing games from a particlar country or region would mean there is a smaller amount of games to choose from. Of course if anyone wanted to do this then its their choice, no one can force anyone to play "Asian" games (even though I do dislike the term asian games).

 

[Dr.Panties]

*sigh* Am I the only one that thinks I'm the only one? *sigh*
*sigh* So lonely, and misunderstood, and non-conformist...*sigh*

 

[kane.malakos]

I like how the OP has apparently just bailed on this thread, and it's only people arguing amongst themselves now. I'm tempted to call troll...

 

[Hamish Durie]

Im geussing that you don't like games that specificly look, sound and act like games of asian asthetic not actual games made in asia

 

[Hamish Durie]

Dam you capatcha!

 

[Herr Schatz]

your not alone, i am here!

I will never play a j game ever in my life.

This is because i am a normal person. a (shock horror) casual gamer. i do many other things with my life other than go to work and go on the computer and play games. i have had a 360 from 2008 til now and only have 11000g.

maybe you are the same

Well I've had my Xbox since 2006, and my Gamerscore is only 13000g, and yet I'd play anything that looked interesting to me, regardless of what country it was made in.

I like the way you said that like it was proof that you were in fact a casual gamer. Do you print out your gamerscore and keep it in your wallet just in case you want to prove you're not 'hardcore'?

'Oh yeah, I have played Halo Reach, but don't worry...'

*Flips open wallet*

'I played it at a friends house, I didn't even play it on my 3 year old Xbox, cause I only play that casually. Oh, you say my gamerscore is surprisingly low for somebody with such an old console? Well, yeah. I'm only a casual gamer really. I'd never invest any serious time or effort in a game cause I have things outside that need my attention more'

 

[similar.squirrel]

Obviously not. What kind of question is that, though?

 

[Rawne1980]

I like how the OP has apparently just bailed on this thread, and it's only people arguing amongst themselves now. I'm tempted to call troll...

You know, i'm going to have to agree.

Seems to have got some of these folks into a bit of an argument and sat back to giggle.

 

[Dr.Panties]

Am I the only one with my specific genetic sequence?

 

[LilithSlave]

Not sure if troll or just the most ignorant bastard to walk the face of the Earth.

A little bit racist to specify "Asian" games.

Well, I'm glad to know that even if there are many people who would jump and pummel me for liking a portion of games massively scaled in favor of Eastern titles, there are people out there who would still criticize someone for preferring Western titles. Makes me feel a little bit better about the times I've been called a weeaboo.

Well you're certainly not the only one OP, though we don't have much in common. I'm just the opposite. I wouldn't say I don't like Western games, but my tastes seem to be awfully skewed to having an Eastern flavor. The gaming industry, on the other hand, has changed, and it's very easy to get away with hating Japanese video games today, or viewing them in a negative light. Because of Nintendo basically saving the entire game industry, and having been a part of it's classics since the Golden Age with Japanese titles like Space Invaders, Pac Man, and Donkey Kong, in older days Japan was ALWAYS viewed in high esteem for video games. It's hardly even possible to be a retro gamer if you don't love Asian video games. But the industry has changed, and Japan has been losing esteem in the gaming world rapidly. I wish I could say it weren't, but your perspective is becoming the norm.

What I can't stand is how many times I've come across people say things like "Japs can't make good video games" and get away with it, while if someone does so much as admit to liking Disgaea they get dogpiled and called all sorts of names. Not here maybe, but depending on where you go, that's not much of an exaggeration.

To explain, it's not like I actually don't like Western gaming. Though I'll admit I've been ticked off by some people who hate Asian games where I wanted to say I did. I love the Donkey Kong Country series immensely, I'd say that Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is quite possibly my most favourite platformer of all time. And while people associate this of course with Nintendo, it was done by Rareware, or now just known as "Rare". A British company that has admittedly fallen from grace(something which I lament immensely). Rareware was at one point, one of the greatest companies in all of video gaming. I also love Neversoft and the Tony Hawk titles, especially the older ones. And let me not forget to mention that I'd much rather play the upcoming Tomb Raider game, than any Bayonetta title. Because they've actually not tried to make her a ridiculous sex symbol in this new title. Unlike what Bayonetta is, a crass sex symbol. Lara Croft looks right now how she should have looked from the beginning. Better late than never, I suppose. I want to play as a character who looks like a badass. Not a badass stripper, just a badass.

I can't count Alice: Madness Returns among the "non-Asian games I like" sadly. Because it is an Asian game, made in China.

And for all the Western titles I could mention I like. I prefer scrolling shooters to First Person Shooters. In fact I don't like First Person Shooters at all. I slightly prefer jRPGs to wRPGs. I like anime graphics, I Asian styled "realistic" CG, I like androgyny, and I worship cuteness. I like platformers, and I just overall love first person perspectives of all varieties, and abhor first person perspective. And I do think it's appropriate to call this "Asian" and not just "Japanese", because the style has been made popular in all of East Asia. Almost all games made of Korea, and there are more than just MMORPGs, are heavily influenced by Japanese styled of gameplay and aesthetic.

About my only divergence from enjoying an "Eastern" styled gameplay, is with online RPGs. Easterners don't seem to actually like roleplaing, in online roleplaying games. And to me that's awful. And I personally, aside from MMORPGs having cutesy anime characters or Asian styled CG sometimes or the like, or just having graphics in general, I generally hold MUSHes in higher esteem than MMORPGs.

I mean, what can you expect from me? My favourite pieces of Western animation right now are My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The Amazing World of Gumball, Adventure Time, and the Thundercats. Especially My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I think it's pretty safe to say that cuteness is a major part of my life.

I guess it's just not my taste, everything just seems...too "cute".

Ah, you see. I, myself, have a huge biases in favor of cute things in every walk of life. I prefer cute games, cute animation, cute comics, cute decorations, cute clothes, cute music... wait. Music might be one of those minor places I don't have such a heavy favor of cute. I do enjoy super saccharine Touhou remixes quite often. And I've been listening to My Little Pony music almost nonstop these past few months. But in terms of music, I also greatly like extreme, aggressive music, solemn, ambient music, and bombastic, militant music. Largely because I like a good deal of variety to go with my cute. Those cutesy "jRPGs" have epic adventures, too. Indeed, many of the games I play do. So my music taste reflects the variety of emotions I get in life. I just don't like... manly grit. I like to empower the things I love, I like to empower cute and androgynous characters. You can have all the adult, mature, and empowering things you need in something incredibly feminine, cutesy, and androgynous.

Suit yourself, I suppose. I should have probably just shut up, though. Since everyone here just about is defending Asian games. Which caught me by surprise. While I'm just being like the inverse of the OP and am going to make people less sympathetic towards doing such.

Just as a citating that "Asian styled game" does not equal only Japan, on country in East Asia. Some Asian styled games from Asia, but not Japan, include South Korean titles like Astonishia Story, no different from any "jRPG" from Japan, and if you like jRPGs, would be up your corner. And certainly no wRPG title. Admittedly, Korea's biggest place currently in the gaming industry is online titles. But they are branching out and are a growing force within the gaming industry. It's predicted by many people that as Korea's Manwha, Video game, and even anime industry are growing, it will someday rival Japan's place in the world, just as it is currently starting to do with cars and electronics.

 

[psychodynamica]

lost planet, DMC, resident evil, dino-crisis, Metal gear solid. That is a small list of games that if there was to be a new one announced i would look forward too. Deciding that you don't look forward to asian games means you are refusing to enjoy some really very good games.

Also, There is a new DMC(i am dubious about this), And resident evil has alot of work to do.

 

[Vault101]

I admit that I havnt played many japanise games but I can say I havnt really been much of a fan

 

[AdumbroDeus]

So much wrong with this post.

[Stuff that's wrong with that post].

You're right. Having one say that they don't respect certain aspects of other peoples' culture is completely racist. [In-context sarcasm]

[Blah blah blah, said the under cover guest].

The issue is stereotyping what people of that culture are or are not capable of doing [...]

[...] As far as devil may cry, I never implied that you should love it. Just that if you think it's intended to be serious you're off your rocker.

Quote from Dagens':

That being said I've never played a Nintendo game that's part of their core franchises that I haven't enjoyed greatly.

This applies context to his post--that the content in his post was of his own opinion, that he was not attempting to state Japan is incapable of producing anything other than anime-based games, or JRPGs, etcetera. It clearly states he enjoys certain aspects of virtual entertainment mediums released from Japan.

For my own part, I have similar sentiment. If you're referring to the original poster, then my replies to you have been invalid, but as you quoted that Dagens' fellow along with my quoted response of his post, I assumed you were referring directly to one of us.

If that is the case, then be aware there are things I enjoy that are manufactured, produced, thought up etcetera in Japan, and that any sentiments I personally have for or against a given product are opinion. Having opinions does not make one racist; we're all human after all.

I did however take a moment to look up your recent posts, and found that a majority of them within the past two weeks have dealt mainly with issues along the lines of religion and politics; and that racism is a topic brought up frequently. At this point I debated whether or not to post this here or send it in a PM, but in the end I'm replying here.

Again, not knowing whether I'm on or off topic--if you were responding directly to me: we are not on level ground.
It is quite clear that you take time to analyze replies or posts to the threads that you are involved in, formulate a reply, and submit it. I do not. My posts are limited to ten or fifteen minutes in-between other things, when I watch a Zero Punctuation or put the kettle on for tea. I rarely take time to analyze other peoples posts, and usually just submit my opinion without worry of consequence for three reasons:

1) This is the internet.
2) These forums are called "The Escapist".
3) It's just personal opinion.

With that in mind, I'm usually quite confident that my posts will carry no significance at all. But I did feel like going into this one for some reason, so here's my personal conclusion so that I'm not in this for too long:

Dagens' was just expressing his opinion, as was I. We submitted our opinions in text forum. This is very limiting, because you can only see the text output, and not the emotional input. From the angle you are coming at, you are attempting to insinuate a degree of racism into our opinions--this is very easy, first off because it is a topic covering opinion on international culture, and secondly because you yourself have a background in dealing with this subject on these forums.

From an unbiased perspective, I would realize that you have your opinions on these matters, and I have mine. Dagens' also has his, but since I don't know him, I'm going to stop assuming the content of his own post for the very reasons I so hypocritically put forward. Whether our opinions are racist is a matter of perspective. I personally don't think disliking certain aspects of other peoples' cultures is racist at all, nor do I think doing so results in, or is indicative of, a close-minded view towards those cultures. Anime is commonly associated with Asia, in particular Japan, and it is fair to assume there are people out there who dislike Anime, but still respect Japan. That would be the group I fall under. There are also those who think Devil May Cry should be taken seriously. Therefore it is fair to assume there are people out there who are 'Anime nerds'. By the way, you wouldn't consider them to be 'off their rocker' for taking Anime so seriously, would you?

Sorry, that was bias on my part. Anywho, I said something about a conclusion, so here it is: we all have our opinions. Some may sound racist, others may not, but on forums like these, who is to judge? You, nor I have any way of knowing what the person at the other end of the keyboard was thinking when they typed it. Maybe they were in a hurry and decided simply to put their opinion, or maybe they were wearing their pointy white hood and giggling to themselves--we don't know. Can we assume? Sure we can! I assumed Dagens' was just voicing his opinion and not intentionally attempting to criticize Japan. But again, I did point out that one sentence where he states quite clearly, he does like certain products from that nation--so he can't be completely racist, can he now.

Here's a quote from you yourself, talking about Oliver Twist:
"God, why does EVERYTHING have to be happy or have a happy ending? A lot of things work better with a downer or mixed ending."

Let's let this close with a mixed ending. Whether it sounds racist or not, whether it was intentionally disrespectful of another culture, or simply read that way, we don't know. So let's not presume that any of us are truly racist...not until we meet in person, at any rate.

(No worries, I guarantee I won't reply now, way too early in the morning.)

(Whoooa, was just closing the browser when I saw that last sentence o'mine and needed to add something: we do know whether or not my post was racist or not: it wasn't. I just don't like Anime--I don't like the over-popularity that it has developed, particularly here in the US. But I am completely biased due to personal experiences--at the same time, I very much respect the historical and traditional values of Japan and its neighboring countries, from both a personal and political perspective. And then there are trends in and of America that I dislike--so if you must consider me or my views racist, at least give me the benefit of being equally racist between all factions within our world, because there are things I dislike about pretty much every social environment on our small, flat planet. And there are things I like about all our countries as well. So I'm not racist--at least, not in the way that I hate or discriminate against absolutely 100% of a given social group).

Look, I'm not saying that a racist attitude in this one case makes you or anyone else a horrible person or anything, and I recognize that this post probably wasn't examined for it's implications.

At the same time, his post (and your post by unconditionally agreeing with him) carries an attitude about what japanese people are capable of. Again that's the real difference, there's nothing wrong even disliking japanese culture as a general rule (or any other culture for that matter, well except America's, otherwise I'd have to challenge you to pistols at dawn) but once you start putting people into little boxes it becomes a real issue.


I'm not trying to hate on either of you, merely pointing out the implications of that view, and hopefully giving you a little introspection.


Also, there's nothing racist about disliking anime, it's a genre with it's own conventions and disliking it for it's conventions is no less innocuous then disliking any other genre. I would disagree with disliking anime, but it's annoying that it gets so much attention even for it's crap (pretty much anything shonen) when so many other interesting foreign movies and TV shows get no attention whatsoever. But that's a whole nother rant.

 

[UnderCoverGuest]

[A looooooooootta text. How has it gone this far!]

Look, I'm not saying that a racist attitude in this one case makes you or anyone else a horrible person or anything

This may be a low blow according to internet forum goers, but you're saying you feel I do have a racist attitude? Maybe this little banter has gone on a few paragraphs too far without any sufficient breaks.

At the same time, his post (and your post by unconditionally agreeing with him) carries an attitude about what japanese people are capable of.

It's called opinion. In my case, opinion based on experience. Most mediums of popular Japanese entertainment (from Pokemon to Final Fantasy, from Silent Hill to Devil May Cry, from Anime to Manga) I simply don't have interest in. Yet at the same time, it's like a bad action movie: The movie may be filled with shitty dialog and terrible acting, but the action scenes may be good. In this case, I find games where those, to keep the analogy up, 'action sequences' are only a small focus of the entire product unbearably dull. Final Fantasy nags at me with it's androgonous feminine, scrawny weakling-yet-still-able-to-swing-a-broadsword-the-size-of-New-Zealand heroes rather unappealing.

Silly, goofy, light-hearted Japanese game = good. Serious, anime non-sense = baaaaad.

I found a greater percentage of Paper Mario rather amusing. I found a very small fraction of Resident Evil to be mildly entertaining. Alright, I'm running out of time now, so let me jump forward, skipping a lot of information and analysis, but getting to the point very rapidly:

Again that's the real difference, there's nothing wrong even disliking japanese culture as a general rule (or any other culture for that matter, well except America's, otherwise I'd have to challenge you to pistols at dawn)

We both have our quirky moments in which we put something silly in our posts. Perhaps my fault was not taking this conversation seriously from the beginning--buuut I really don't get what you're saying there.

[...] but once you start putting people into little boxes it becomes a real issue. I'm not trying to hate on either of you, merely pointing out the implications of that view, and hopefully giving you a little introspection.

First I would like to apologize for replying to you in this dissecting quote fashion. It irritates the hell out of me watching folks nitpick like this, and it irritates me being short on time and having to reply in this manner. Anywho, "giving me a little introspection"? The entire point of my reply posts has been to tell you that somewhere as laughably consequence free as an internet forum doesn't require the kind of stiff-neck political anti-racist sentiment you're accusing us of! We're talking about bloody video games here, not the bombing of Nagasaki or Hiroshima! (Which by the way were very serious and took place in Japan--NOOOW I'M GOING SOMEWHERE TERRIBLE AND WILL STOP).

That was an example of something that one would have a very hard time claiming not to be racist about. But we're talking about video games. In particular, a specific category of games. "Funny light-hearted games" and "serious games meant to be taken seriously".

If someone asks you at a restaurant, "do you want ketchup with that?" You do not launch into a multi-paragraph expose into the details of your soul chronically the emotional reason as to why you want ketchup or not. You simply respond with 'yes' or 'no'. When you go to a polling booth during an election, you do not write a three page summary of why you're voting with a specific candidate. You simply check a box, and go on your merry way.

The consequences of replying on an internet forum like this are nearly zero (baring government investigation). My international business abroad has taught me very keenly to respect cultures from around the world--I do not need or want someone on an internet forum tossing around the phrase "hopefully giving you," and "introspection" in the same sentence, because it speaks of an internet crusader. I'm just a guy who felt like replying to a small, three-page-at-present topic, and found an opinion I agreed with generally. The consequences of that action were that someone may come along and dissect my simple, generalized response, and turn it into a racially motivated accusation that a given nation may have been unable to produce mediums of entertainment with a specific origin or purpose--which it isn't. There is a specific handful of individuals who take things a little too seriously on these here forums may have read my reply, and that other fellow's initial post, as ignorant, distasteful, racially-based profiling of culture--for my part if this small, pointless moment in human history though, I wasn't being racist. If my post came off as racist, that's just your point of view. I'm 100% certain that there are folks here who read my reply to that other fellow's post and didn't see anything racist at all. I'm sure there were others like yourself who may have shaken their heads and sighed at yet another seemingly ignorant soul.

But it's kind of hard to tell whether that person at the other end of the keyboard is who they come out to be through the text they transmit. You can't be certain I'm racist or not (unless you believe me when I tell you "I'm not racist and didn't mean to sound like one to someone such as yourself" {I just didn't go through the effort of ensuring I wouldn't come off as racist to others such as yourself because I didn't want to waste time which is incidentally what I'm doing now}), and I can't be certain you don't have a masters or Ph.D in Sociology and Psychology...but it's a risk I'm willing to take when I say you probably don't, and this entire exchange of virtual black dots on a white liquid crystal display has been on a relevant, yet non-consequential issue.

...didn't I say I was going to end this post some time? Anywho, here it goes: don't assume that replies you find here are indicative of 100% of an individual's personality, nor that by posting their opinions here, tainted by some degree of perceived racism, they are causing strife and conflict within the modern world today. These forums are called The Escapist. If anything that happened on these forums had any significance in the modern world, by affecting social relations with other nations, to determining the success or failure of peace in the Middle East or whatever, then I'm sure this place would be on CNN a lot more often. As it is, this is an isolated internet forum where we're nothing more than virtual statistics chatting merrily about an issue that is 9.9995 x 10^-4% insignificant in the grand scheme of human progression.

 

[AdumbroDeus]

[A looooooooootta text. How has it gone this far!]

Look, I'm not saying that a racist attitude in this one case makes you or anyone else a horrible person or anything

This may be a low blow according to internet forum goers, but you're saying you feel I do have a racist attitude? Maybe this little banter has gone on a few paragraphs too far without any sufficient breaks.

At the same time, his post (and your post by unconditionally agreeing with him) carries an attitude about what japanese people are capable of.

It's called opinion. In my case, opinion based on experience. Most mediums of popular Japanese entertainment (from Pokemon to Final Fantasy, from Silent Hill to Devil May Cry, from Anime to Manga) I simply don't have interest in. Yet at the same time, it's like a bad action movie: The movie may be filled with shitty dialog and terrible acting, but the action scenes may be good. In this case, I find games where those, to keep the analogy up, 'action sequences' are only a small focus of the entire product unbearably dull. Final Fantasy nags at me with it's androgonous feminine, scrawny weakling-yet-still-able-to-swing-a-broadsword-the-size-of-New-Zealand heroes rather unappealing.

Silly, goofy, light-hearted Japanese game = good. Serious, anime non-sense = baaaaad.

I found a greater percentage of Paper Mario rather amusing. I found a very small fraction of Resident Evil to be mildly entertaining. Alright, I'm running out of time now, so let me jump forward, skipping a lot of information and analysis, but getting to the point very rapidly:

Again that's the real difference, there's nothing wrong even disliking japanese culture as a general rule (or any other culture for that matter, well except America's, otherwise I'd have to challenge you to pistols at dawn)

We both have our quirky moments in which we put something silly in our posts. Perhaps my fault was not taking this conversation seriously from the beginning--buuut I really don't get what you're saying there.

[...] but once you start putting people into little boxes it becomes a real issue. I'm not trying to hate on either of you, merely pointing out the implications of that view, and hopefully giving you a little introspection.

First I would like to apologize for replying to you in this dissecting quote fashion. It irritates the hell out of me watching folks nitpick like this, and it irritates me being short on time and having to reply in this manner. Anywho, "giving me a little introspection"? The entire point of my reply posts has been to tell you that somewhere as laughably consequence free as an internet forum doesn't require the kind of stiff-neck political anti-racist sentiment you're accusing us of! We're talking about bloody video games here, not the bombing of Nagasaki or Hiroshima! (Which by the way were very serious and took place in Japan--NOOOW I'M GOING SOMEWHERE TERRIBLE AND WILL STOP).

That was an example of something that one would have a very hard time claiming not to be racist about. But we're talking about video games. In particular, a specific category of games. "Funny light-hearted games" and "serious games meant to be taken seriously".

If someone asks you at a restaurant, "do you want ketchup with that?" You do not launch into a multi-paragraph expose into the details of your soul chronically the emotional reason as to why you want ketchup or not. You simply respond with 'yes' or 'no'. When you go to a polling booth during an election, you do not write a three page summary of why you're voting with a specific candidate. You simply check a box, and go on your merry way.

The consequences of replying on an internet forum like this are nearly zero (baring government investigation). My international business abroad has taught me very keenly to respect cultures from around the world--I do not need or want someone on an internet forum tossing around the phrase "hopefully giving you," and "introspection" in the same sentence, because it speaks of an internet crusader. I'm just a guy who felt like replying to a small, three-page-at-present topic, and found an opinion I agreed with generally. The consequences of that action were that someone may come along and dissect my simple, generalized response, and turn it into a racially motivated accusation that a given nation may have been unable to produce mediums of entertainment with a specific origin or purpose--which it isn't. There is a specific handful of individuals who take things a little too seriously on these here forums may have read my reply, and that other fellow's initial post, as ignorant, distasteful, racially-based profiling of culture--for my part if this small, pointless moment in human history though, I wasn't being racist. If my post came off as racist, that's just your point of view. I'm 100% certain that there are folks here who read my reply to that other fellow's post and didn't see anything racist at all. I'm sure there were others like yourself who may have shaken their heads and sighed at yet another seemingly ignorant soul.

But it's kind of hard to tell whether that person at the other end of the keyboard is who they come out to be through the text they transmit. You can't be certain I'm racist or not (unless you believe me when I tell you "I'm not racist and didn't mean to sound like one to someone such as yourself" {I just didn't go through the effort of ensuring I wouldn't come off as racist to others such as yourself because I didn't want to waste time which is incidentally what I'm doing now}), and I can't be certain you don't have a masters or Ph.D in Sociology and Psychology...but it's a risk I'm willing to take when I say you probably don't, and this entire exchange of virtual black dots on a white liquid crystal display has been on a relevant, yet non-consequential issue.

...didn't I say I was going to end this post some time? Anywho, here it goes: don't assume that replies you find here are indicative of 100% of an individual's personality, nor that by posting their opinions here, tainted by some degree of perceived racism, they are causing strife and conflict within the modern world today. These forums are called The Escapist. If anything that happened on these forums had any significance in the modern world, by affecting social relations with other nations, to determining the success or failure of peace in the Middle East or whatever, then I'm sure this place would be on CNN a lot more often. As it is, this is an isolated internet forum where we're nothing more than virtual statistics chatting merrily about an issue that is 9.9995 x 10^-4% insignificant in the grand scheme of human progression.

I'm not accusing you of being a racist, I am saying you have one racist attitude. There is a very significant difference. Almost everyone has at least a few racist attitudes ingrained in them by culture and experience (myself included, both in the past and probably current ones that I haven't realized yet). While it's something I'll call somebody out on, I don't view it as even an insult unless there are a large number of pronounced attitudes (which legitimately makes somebody a racist).


Now, fair point in the stilted dialogue, works in translation in general have a tendency towards bad dialogue. That said FF and DMC are not the only japanese works out there by far. There is nothing wrong with disliking DMC or FF or the vast majority of japanese games. I'm taking issue with lack of capacity, not disliking any particular game or even disliking every game that ever came out from japan without exception (assuming that it's an informed dislike as opposed to just because they're japanese).


Yes, this is an escape and the same time this doesn't prevent us from engaging in interesting and challenging discourse, just because something is an escape doesn't mean it needs to be empty.

We both have our quirky moments in which we put something silly in our posts. Perhaps my fault was not taking this conversation seriously from the beginning--buuut I really don't get what you're saying there.

Hey, you don't need to take EVERYTHING seriously, very few discussions are hurt by spots of humor.

Point is, every culture has baggage, this is a practical distinction that has consequences on the media produced within a country. Differences like how they view cultural unity and how they weapons or even the language itself has a practical effect on games produced within the country when analyzed. That said, every game produced in a given country will be influenced to a greater or lesser extent, though for some the impetuous is to be counter-cultural or the influence is insignificant.