Bethesda (Makers of such hits as Oblivion and Fallout 3) Says That WRPG's Are More Realistic Than JR

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Are people actually arguing about this? Yes, Western-style RPG's are more realistic than the grand majority of Japanese-style RPG's. Of course, thy never said ANYTHING about Western-style RPG's actually being realistic in their own right. The statement was a comparison between genres. However, people seem to be taking this as "WRPG's are the pinnacle of realism and JRPG's are the most unrealistic things ever and should be condemned for it," when indeed it's more along the lines of "Out of these two subgenres, WRPG's are more realistic than JRPG's," and should not be taken as one being better the other being worse. But I ask you this: Does it actually matter how 'realistic' an RPG is?

Answer: NO! Of course it doesn't! Does it affect your own enjoyment of a particular game? Probably not. It's all down to your own preference for a certain kind of gameplay and your response to the world that has been created and the story that unfolds in front of you, not how close to reality a game comes.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

http://thesilentchief.com/2010/08/05/bethesda-western-rpg-more-realistic-than-jrpgs/

RHave you ever heard of Persona?!

It's about kids who shoot themselves in the head to summon demons. Your point?

 

[WanderingFool]

Are we really arguing about the amount of realism in Western and Japanese RPGs?

Must be a slow day...

 

[Sparrow]

I can definitely see what he's saying. WRPGs such as Fallout 3, Mass Effect and Dragon Age feature elements that can often be defined as "magic", but in a far... more believeable way? To say "more realistic way" might be a little stupid.

Point being, stuff like Final Fantasy focuses on stuff like arm-mounted cannons, seemingly unexplained magical sources and five year olds with the ability to fuck up a dragon's day. Most "magical" ability in Mass Effect and Fallout are due to scientific (albeit, loose and made-up) reasons, such as Biotic powers and the ability to blame everything on radiation. Even with WRPGs like Dragon Age which feature magic in a true, non-scientific sense don't feature things like backflipping children and the ability for a character to straight up punch a dragon in a face to end a battle.

Long story short; WRPGs and JRPGs feature just as many fantastical elements as each other, but JRPGs go about it all in a much more wacky and unbelievable fashion.

 

[Fledge]

There's a difference between realism in games and likelihood of their plots occuring.

 

[ToxicOranges]

Erm, OP, I dont know about you, but I've seen more burly men in plate armour in my life than skimpy teens wearing fetish gear wielding swords the size of a small hatchback and hair that you could easily impale a whole fucking nursery of children on.

I mean for comparison- what's more realistic here:

Spoiler: Typical J-RPG Character

OR

Spoiler: Typical Western RPG Character

Malnourished teen in ridiculous clothing with sword the size of a beached whale, or normal looking fantasy esque character?

C'mon OP. What are you talking about?!

EDIT: Sorry for small picture on the Oblivion guard!

 

[Hagi]

Realism may not be the best term to use.

Internally consistent is probably a better term to use.

WRPGs are, in my experience, much more internally consistent. A fantasy world with certain laws and features is build and then a story is crafted within that world, keeping consistent with those laws and features.

So if a WRPG world has earth-like gravity then characters will at all times be subject to that gravity. If there's any exceptions (levitation) then there'll be some lore explanation as to why. A spell or enchantment may be used, possibly divine intervention as well. Other characters treat this ability as something special (boots of springheel jack are for example an extremely rare and powerful magical item but all they do is allow big jumps and no injury when falling from great heights.)

JRPGs are, in my experience, much less internally consistent. A story is build first and then a world is made around that story. That world often lacks consistent laws and 'impossible' things frequently happen without any explanation.

So if a JRPG world has earth-like gravity then characters will, whenever it's cool to do so, completely ignore that gravity and make 20ft jumps and land without injury from impossible heights. No explanations will be given and nobody acts like it's weird that a character who's only been able to jump 2ft max the entire time is suddenly able to pull off a 20ft jump without any effort whatsoever.

The difference being that in both flaming dogs can fall from the sky but in a WRPG there'll be a piece of lore explaining why flaming dogs are falling from the sky and how that's related to the rest of the game where as in a JRPG there'll just be flaming dogs falling from the sky.

At least that's been my experience with the genres.

 

[MCrewdson001]

Western rpg's can be a little wacky but jrpg's take the cake

 

[z121231211]

Do they explain the massive hair? And insane acrobatics? And general shittiness of the games?

They don't need to, we are just idiots for not liking it, it is our fault! :|

I don't know which group of JRPG enthusiasts broke into your house and beat the shit out of you for not liking JRPGs, but please stop accusing an entire fanbase of attacking you for your views.

And in the heated debate of "JRPGs suck, it's true, this guy says so" and "JRPGs are shit, that's a fact" I'm sure some of the JRPG fans might go a little overboard trying to convince people that, no, it's actually not all underage protagonists with stupid hair out to save the world and I'm not a horrible undereducated immature person for having enjoyed some of the games that are like that.

Either way, don't generalize a group of people like that. And fanboys will be fanboys, ignore them because a well-minded person would not even try to convince you that your opinion is wrong.

 

[bjj hero]

Cloud was a trained SOLIDER Infantry member. He was apart of Shinra's private military.

The training must be terrible to come out of the side such a skinny waif. He hardly looks special forces material.

I also saw you trying to explain how he could use the sword, futuristic materials, if he was really strong, etc. It seemed a stretch to me. Even if you can make it "wieldable" it is completely impracticle and he would be much better served and be far more deadly with either a reasonable sized blade or better yet a firearm. How would he fight in a house? He couldn't swing the thing. It is not 1500's Europe in FFVII, future tech means "realistic" would see him with an asssault rifle of SMG. The sword is just plain stupid, even more stupid than the hair and the malnourished, child protagonist. It kills anything you could relate to realism.

I think you are missing the point. I could create a game world where the protagonist dual wields cucumbers and come up with any ridiculous back story to explain it, similar to the "magic Cloud" post you gave answering me. It does not make it particularly realistic and thats what the guy from Bethesda is on about. It does not relate to the real world, unlike WRPGs that to some extent seem more grounded in real world physics. Does this mean that FFVII is a bad game? No, but it supports what the guy in the interview was saying.

Cloud was infused with the magical strength element of the day; Mako. He got Mako poisoning before FFVII but after Zack died he was back to normal (except mentally) and was suddenly ultra powerful.

While loooking like a skinny child with silly hair...

Even if cloud is "magic" it should still have weight and inertia. They should have rushed him in an alley. He would not have room to swing and would easily be brought down.

My biggest barrier to JRPGs is the way children cannot be beaten in combat. I imagine children are easily dispatched by trained soldier, wild animal etc in combat.

You would be surprised give a trained child a weapon and he's just as deadly if not more than you.

Unlikely. Unless we are talking firearms if you give us both a weapon I have at least a decade more training (this benefits muscle memory, reactions and tactics), a longer reach and more power.

There is a reason that competative and combat sports have junior catagories. A 14 year old will get badly hurt in MMA against an adult who even half knows what he is doing. If you look at the people at the top of their respected arts, boxing, MMA, K-1, they will be in their late 20s/early 30s. At 19 you are too green to win anything major. You do not have the experience but at least you are fully developed, unlike the teens in JRPGs.

If we want to get more realistic then I would like a JRPG (or any for that matter) where you are a child soldier, similar to what happens in mogadishu etc. Your whole family killed then you are brutalised, plyed with drugs and mistreated to the point where you will go into a village of civilians and kill everyone. Be forced to gang rape the women. Be too scared not too when your "unit" is ordered to bite your 11 year old brother to death because he was crying instead of gang raping the women as ordered. Although unpleasant it would raise awareness of real issues and be a gritty change of pace.

Instead I get to be a 14year old with stupid hair who can beat the best swordsman on the planet in 1 on 1 combat. Doesn't smack of realism to me.

 

[Dexiro]

First of all thanks OP for reminding us of which games Bethesda made, we wouldn't have known otherwise ;D

Western games probably are more realistic. Neither are that grounded in realism at all, but I've probably seen more realism in a game like Oblivion than I have in anything Japanese. Not that realism accounts for anything.

 

[masticina]

Games are about a fantasy, really if we play shooters we do it because that way we can get rid of negative thoughts and energy. Not to mention that you actually get a nice score is nice to

Playing a WRPG is like going on vacation to a new place. It isn't heaven obviously because you need drama in your game. But you have choices.

JRPG's well.. it is really a dream you are playing in. Because everything is possible.. and sadly it is all done to. Sometimes you just yes the dream you enter is nice but to be fair it is odd. Take Moogles.. seriously moogles.. they float they are fluffy they are cute. Seriously! Obviously product placement. Still doesn't stops I want a moogle, just saying.

WRPG's try to stick with western mythological things. Dragons for instance not an uncommon theme.

So yes WRPG is for the western audience definitely more normal.

 

[Skratt]

Aren't they both fantasy? Hence the FANTASY ROLE PLAYING GAME genre?

 

[Saltyk]

I'm sure this has already been said. But allow me to reiterate it.
I do not play games for realism. Ever.

Call of Duty is not realistic.
Final Fantasy is not realistic.
Mass Effect is not realistic.
Left 4 Dead is not realistic.
God of War is not realistic.
Uncharted is not realistic.
Halo is not realistic.

See a theme? That's how I like it. Sometimes I wanna take an over-sized sword and fight a dragon. Or bring down a God. Or travel the galaxy. Or fight in a cybernetic battle armor. Why? Because I get all the realism I can take in reality. And that shit is boring.

 

[Curlythelock]

Obviously large portions of rpgs are not realistic eg, dragons, magic etc.
However I think what Bethesda is saying is that WRPG game worlds and characters are far more realistic than those in JRPGs, and I for one agree with them.

 

[Xanthious]

Well unless the world suddenly filled up with angst ridden androgynous teenagers with pointy hair I am inclined to agree with him. Most JRPGs seem to reek of absurdity. Of course this isn't to say that WRPGs are grounded in reality but when you compare them to JRPGs they look like a fucking documentary.

 

[Dragunai]

I'm gonna be the obvious guy and say - Role Play Game:

A concept where you play the role of something you are not and can realistically never be.
Such as a Night elf priest, human commando with biotic powers or a 12yr old schoolgirl with a demon possessed sword wearing an outfit that would barely be legal on a 21yr old before it violated at least 5 public decency laws, going around smashing mechs that are 50ft high with your lovable smart ass cat sidekick.

(last one isn't a reference to anything but a generalized sweeping statement of Jrpg / anime / anything to come out of Japan as an entertainment media)

Therefore.

Bethseda is just taking a needless shot at a different cultures approach to gaming.
I love Japanese companies and their look at gaming.

Whats the point in the whole spectrum of RPG gaming being cookie cutter?
We already suffer that travesty in FPS games with them all trying to either be Halo, BF or COD.

The one thing about RPGs J/W is that they are usually so out there and wonderfully far fetched that they allow for escapism in its purest form.

I love WoW because I can't be a shaman in real life with elemental magic, I love Mass Effect 2 because I can't bone hot aussie chicks in real life (lawl) and I have now played roughly 11 hours of FF13 and the 10 minutes of actual game play have been really well imagined with a combat system I haven't seen since FF10-2 and never in the western world.

So...
*sniff*
...Yeah