This is a great point. I lived in Japan for about 7 years, and it's interesting the things that are successful in Western countries, yet not there. The prime example is Lord of the Rings. The Japanese, for whatever reason, culturally, spiritually and even purely in an entertainment fashion, do not give a crap about LotR. It's possibly the most epic film series made in my lifetime (I was born after the Star Wars series started) .... and they watch it for 30 mins and give up. It just does not interest them in the slightest.thedoclc said:Interactivity
This one is simple. Much of a typical JRPG experience is spent watching (or reading!) exposition which the player takes in passively. Much of a typical WRPG - even one as dependent on conversation as Torment - is spent making decisions and interacting with the game world. Many players do not want to just watch the game talk to itself.
Something culturally does not connect - think of Frodo - he's comfortable, happy, has prospects in Hobbiton, comes from a wealthy family, and has lots of friends. He's the cool guy at school you all hated because he was popular and utterly without issues. The Japanese enjoy stability, and relish 'same old same old'. Frodo leaving this life of security and running off to fight Sauron is simply illogical to them. Sure, eventually Sauron is gonna come and enslave all the Hobbits too.
But the Japanese will think "Frodo is an insignificant runt - if anyone is gonna save us, it'll be the men of Gondor" and leave it at that. Westerners enjoy the underdog-to-saviour story arc, Japanese don't unless the underdog actually has some super bullshit uber power (despite strength of character, which is Frodo's ONLY strength - and he still needs Sam to carry him half the frickin' way to Mordor). But this super bullshit uber power means he ISN'T an underdog, he's just an underachiever. However, if the story pumped up Frodo's outcast nature, and gave him some super bullshit hadoken fireball power, or let Sting do some kind of laser attack that melts orcs' faces off, and gave him the strength to rape nazgul in single combat as long as he does his pre-attack "hhhwwwoooooooaaaaaAAAARRRRR!!!" power charge, it would have been a phenomenal hit.
Hmm .. come to think of it, the Japanese don't like underdogs, they like *underachievers* - a character who, if he bothers, will kick arse all the way to Mordor. A runty little hobbit with barely a sword to his name is called Link - the classic J-underachiever who, once given purpose, can butcher *LEGIONS* of professional soldiers despite being only about 13 years old. You wouldn't see Frodo doing that.