Do many Westerners really dislike Japanese games for such shallow reasons as "anime"?

[Skratt]

Yes the visual style is important. If you aren't interested in Anime movies or TV, why the hell would you play a game done in that same style?

It may seem shallow, but the way I look at it, there are only so many hours in the day so I'm going to be extremely selective in the media I consume.

The last Anime style art video game I played was Shogo and I loved the hell out of it. The fact it was big stompy anime robots wasn't really that important to me.

 

[Lunar Templar]

snip

i personally find Japanese games lacking a 'soul' anymore, they feel very cookie cutter a kind to the FPSs we have over here, it has nothing to do with art style for me (but i like anime so why would it) the story's are repetitive and stupid, characters are archetypes we've seen a million times with little to no deviation. its all very ... safe.

though, the games actually based on an anime tend to suck as well, even the 'epic duals' end up feeling lifeless compared to their anime counter parts. usually due to the PAINFULLY slow game play not keeping up with the pace of the show

unless we're going to start talking about Atlus they're games still own all kinds of face

I think that a lot of people aren't quite getting this thread, by the way.

not the first time people have missed the point 'round these here parts

 

[stinkyrobot]

I think this is probably the case, however many people I know like games from Japan better for the same shallow reasons.

 

[stinkyrobot]

I think the reason I dont like JRPG's is because the stories seem to mainly be about teenager characters. But that's a weak excuse as I don't know a huge amount of them. I liked them back when I was a teenager myself.

I guess I'm just the wrong target audience. I enjoy darker grittier universes and stories of mighty warriors putting their strength to the test. I love playing rpg games as barbarians and will play as an Orc whenever given a chance. I love reading Conan stories. Generally that awesome testosterone filled male power fantasies that I enjoy are far from what JRPGs, anime and manga offer.

If you like dark, manly, conan-esque things and are at all interested in seeing an anime or manga like this I recommend berserk.

 

[kinapuffar]

Anime is awesome. It's 50 times as funny as the funniest western TV shows. How I Met Your Mother, Psych, Family Guy, The Simpsons etc. are downright boring compared to a lot of the anime shows I've seen. We're not even going to talk about South Park.

Why aren't we talking about South Park? An excellent written show with unique animations and current topics.

Also: No. Most anime comedy does not work outside of the culture unless you are watching it in japanese and understand it. Puns and jokes don't translate well, the other stuff is just ... strange at best and annoying at worst.

Sure some puns and such don't translate well, but puns and wordplay were never funny to begin with. The slapstick and situational humour comes across just fine, because cultures in developed countries are pretty similar these days.

Can anyone look at this and not understand the humour in it?

 

[afroebob]

If you refuse to play a game because of manga aesthetics, you're being as shallow about video games as it is possible to be, and Japanese developers do not need to cater to you.

Hmmm... how introspective, saying that a certain artistic style should have one and only one opinion shared by an entire population rather than having an individual judge the style based on their own personal tastes. Their is no style so good it should be universally enjoyed, especially not one as narrow as manga and face it manga was always meant to play towards a specific crowd. We don't want to be in your fan club, we don't want anything to do with your fan club so when your fan club has a different opinion from my fan club instead of being an immature prick about it you could just realize that different people have different tastes. I didn't read this thread because to be honest I've read it before. Not word for word but thing is though there are so many people like you running around the internet its almost like God just got lazy and got the most pretentious asshole in the world and used them as a template for making a couple hundred million little shits just like him. Grow up, different people have different tastes deal with it. Their is nothing shallow about having your own opinions on a style, but their is something pretentious about trying to say everyone else is shallow for having one.

 

[Zouriz]

I think the reason I dont like JRPG's is because the stories seem to mainly be about teenager characters. But that's a weak excuse as I don't know a huge amount of them. I liked them back when I was a teenager myself.

I guess I'm just the wrong target audience. I enjoy darker grittier universes and stories of mighty warriors putting their strength to the test. I love playing rpg games as barbarians and will play as an Orc whenever given a chance. I love reading Conan stories. Generally that awesome testosterone filled male power fantasies that I enjoy are far from what JRPGs, anime and manga offer.

If you like dark, manly, conan-esque things and are at all interested in seeing an anime or manga like this I recommend berserk.

I would also recommend Fist of the North Star and Vagabond.

 

[Eddie the head]

Sure some puns and such don't translate well, but puns and wordplay were never funny to begin with. The slapstick and situational humour comes across just fine, because cultures in developed countries are pretty similar these days.

Can anyone look at this and not understand the humour in it?

Short answer yes. Long answer yeah why the hell was that funny? I am not saying humor can't transcend cultures at all, I think katamari damacy has it's moments as well as MGS, but I think that was a bad example.

 

[kingthrall]

Shallow Reasons such as anime, clearly somebody is hurt because I don't and others like a style of art. I dont like abstract art but I like realism art, does this make it wrong in the same way as I dont like anime?

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

I think the reason I dont like JRPG's is because the stories seem to mainly be about teenager characters. But that's a weak excuse as I don't know a huge amount of them. I liked them back when I was a teenager myself.

I guess I'm just the wrong target audience. I enjoy darker grittier universes and stories of mighty warriors putting their strength to the test. I love playing rpg games as barbarians and will play as an Orc whenever given a chance. I love reading Conan stories. Generally that awesome testosterone filled male power fantasies that I enjoy are far from what JRPGs, anime and manga offer.

If you like dark, manly, conan-esque things and are at all interested in seeing an anime or manga like this I recommend berserk.

I would also recommend Fist of the North Star and Vagabond.

I guess I have some animes to lookup now. Yay.

 

[That_Sneaky_Camper]

This [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLKcsZN_qCnpR-um-VJkyhAA] little video might be of some help in settling this debate. It is OK to not like things, everyone has their own tastes and opinions, but if you are going to argue in favor of your side back it up with a logical argument. Saying, "The other guy and what he likes sucks, I hate it!" is not a sufficiently logical argument.

Anyway I like Anime, I have been watching it since I was a kid, so I don't mind having an Anime visual aesthetic in a video game. However to be fair towards those that don't like Anime visually I can understand how that can be bothersome for them because visuals do matter in a game, graphics are there to set a certain atmosphere and theme and if that doesn't come off as pleasing than the game may be a challenge to enjoy.

Captcha: Hobby-Horse. Wut.

 

[mr.mystery]

God forbid people have aesthetic preferences. How unheard of.

Probably one of my favorite comments on this site.

 

[DalekJaas]

Didn't read OP, was too long. But as soon as something looks remotely Japanese I steer clear of it.

And I am a firm believer of the theory that if you have any Japanese game remade by a competent Western developer it will be substantially better.

 

[kinapuffar]

Sure some puns and such don't translate well, but puns and wordplay were never funny to begin with. The slapstick and situational humour comes across just fine, because cultures in developed countries are pretty similar these days.

Can anyone look at this and not understand the humour in it?

And the funny thing is? I am actually just annoyed after watching those clips, the voiceacting sucks soooo haaaard. I hear some nonsense that could be them discussing sandwiches and then some guy throws candy at them... Yeah. I stopped paying real attention when I saw that this is subbed.

And no, I really don't get it. What's so funny about asking some guy why he is alive?

Your sense of humour sucks! It's hilarious.
The funny thing is that it's so preposterous. "Why do you try so hard to live?" What kind of question is that? It's like when Stephen Colbert was interviewing a congresswoman from Ohio and said: "22 astronauts are from Ohio. What is it about your state that makes people want to flee the Earth?".

Didn't read OP, was too long. But as soon as something looks remotely Japanese I steer clear of it.

And I am a firm believer of the theory that if you have any Japanese game remade by a competent Western developer it will be substantially better.

So what you're saying is that you're a racist?

If you refuse to play a game because of manga aesthetics, you're being as shallow about video games as it is possible to be, and Japanese developers do not need to cater to you.

Hmmm... how introspective, saying that a certain artistic style should have one and only one opinion shared by an entire population rather than having an individual judge the style based on their own personal tastes. Their is no style so good it should be universally enjoyed, especially not one as narrow as manga and face it manga was always meant to play towards a specific crowd. We don't want to be in your fan club, we don't want anything to do with your fan club so when your fan club has a different opinion from my fan club instead of being an immature prick about it you could just realize that different people have different tastes. I didn't read this thread because to be honest I've read it before. Not word for word but thing is though there are so many people like you running around the internet its almost like God just got lazy and got the most pretentious asshole in the world and used them as a template for making a couple hundred million little shits just like him. Grow up, different people have different tastes deal with it. Their is nothing shallow about having your own opinions on a style, but their is something pretentious about trying to say everyone else is shallow for having one.

Yes there is something shallow about it. It's like saying you're not going to watch a movie, because it's in colour, or because it takes place in the 50's, so everyone's wearing 50's clothing.
Judging a GAME based on how it LOOKS, and not how it PLAYS, is shallow.

 

[Indecipherable]

So what you're saying is that you're a racist?

So his preference for Western Developers over Japanese Developers makes him racist?

What if you had a preference for cars made in Germany over cars made in Italy? Are you now racist against Italians, or are you allowed to have a preference in style?

Do please go on.

Judging a GAME based on how it LOOKS, and not how it PLAYS, is shallow.

Imagine playing Skyrim but instead of character models everyone is a giant walking talking ejaculating penis. As far as the eye can see. I could suggest far more offensive things but I think mods might crack down on me. The point is - it's just looks, right? It couldn't possibly affect your enjoyment of the game.

Before you argue that this changes the way the game feels... so does the anime style.

 

[kinapuffar]

So what you're saying is that you're a racist?

So his preference for Western Developers over Japanese Developers makes him racist?

What if you had a preference for cars made in Germany over cars made in Italy? Are you now racist against Italians, or are you allowed to have a preference in style?

Do please go on.

No, his refusal to look at anything made by Japanese Developers, and assuming that Westerners can take anything Japanese and make it better than they can, is racist.
Preferring western games is not the same as claiming any Japanese game, remade by a western developer will be substantially better than the original.
Saying something like that, is saying that Japanese developers are worse at developing games by the virtue of them being Japanese. And diminishing someone for their ethnicity is racist.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I enjoy playing jrpgs, but the characters are very cliche and can get annoying. Squeaky annoying girls, whiny kids and floppy big hair in multiple colours. An characters that continually moan about the same thing throughout the entire game like Hope in FF13 moaning about not being strong and tough eventhough he has kicked the crap out of his 1000th monster.

I wish they would make a few changes, but then thats their style. Its how they do things and the games are still enjoyable.