Mega Man Creator Shakes Fist At Japanese Game Industry

[Inkidu]

I honestly think it's a cultural barrier. Japan is, by in large, a nation of refiners. It speaks to their very national heritage. They put less emphasis on the creativity or originality of something and more on the ability to improve and refine what works. I'm not just making this up.

Look at their history. The whole of their martial art was about refining the system. Their poetry is minimalistic in succinct. They have been incredibly slow to adapt new ideas and modes of thinking, and sadly it has to be almost nearly and catastrophically forced on them.

A good example is the matchlock firearm. Japaan got them in the 1400s, but when Perry opened Japan after Tokugawa they still hadn't improved the weapon any. Now, the best matchlocks in the world are still made in Japan, just like the best swords (arguably).

This speaks to their video games as well. The first five Final Fantasy games were refinements of the same four warriors of light, grab the crystals storyline. I'm not generalizing, there are creative and adaptive Japanese people, but the culture puts its emphasis elsewhere and always has.

This is different than the Enlightenment Western ideals we still hold to day. We praise the creative genius and then praise the other creative genius who improvesre on the design. Westerners typically hold that creative individual up rather than the ability to refine out the process. Not to say there aren't refining Westerners. However, it does show on nearly every facet of our individual ideals what we prefer to do.

You are generalizing slightly...

FF1-5 are all completely different

You're absolutely wrong. They're a rehashing of the same fairly specific plot. Elements and names change, but look at it.

Crystals: All of them. IV had two sets, see changes.
Four people at a time: All but IV and they had five, and you could only take those five to deal with the final boss and save the world.
Crystals are elemental: Boy howdy.
There's some existential evil who's not any semblance of human or otherwise: All. Of. Them.
There's always a front man for the real evil. All, of them.

They're not cookie cutter, but they share too many common elements to be completely unique from each other.

I am not absolutely wrong

The gameplay was all completely differnet..............
The characters were completely different
The plots

Yeah they all had crystals.......but how they were intigrated into the story was completely different.....V had 5 characters too, you see not all the same

Actually, you're still not right. The gameplay was constant refinement. Sure, some of the elements changed, but the similarities are far too similar to be completely different games. They're not.

 

[Stealth]

The gameplay was completely different, whether you call it refinement or not it was not the same which is what you said.........there are zero similarities in gameplay really between V, IV or any of them

 

[Stealth]

^ 25 million people bought the wii new super mario bros.......

its what the people want

 

[Epona]

The JRPG's put on handhelds are more akin to old JRPG's. The new JRPG's on consoles stray too far from what people loved about JRPG's. I think JRPG's have changed, for the worse.

 

[Stealth]

The JRPG's put on handhelds are more akin to old JRPG's. The new JRPG's on consoles stray too far from what people loved about JRPG's. I think JRPG's have changed, for the worse.

Actually alot of the handheld ones are some of the most innovative games Ive ever seen.........

I actually find alot of the ones on consoles are fairly traditional...........


Jrpgs can hold there head up high this gen and say
yeah we did a great job"

 

[Epona]

The JRPG's put on handhelds are more akin to old JRPG's. The new JRPG's on consoles stray too far from what people loved about JRPG's. I think JRPG's have changed, for the worse.

Actually alot of the handheld ones are some of the most innovative games Ive ever seen.........

I actually find alot of the ones on consoles are fairly traditional...........


Jrpgs can hold there head up high this gen and say
yeah we did a great job"

Alot of the ones on handhelds are ports of old JRPG's.

 

[Stealth]

"Alot of the ones on handhelds are ports of old JRPG's."

I wouldnt say alot, but they are there........

 

[Uber Waddles]

Western culture is far different than eastern culture.

Japanese Audiences are big into remakes of franchises. Remakes of existing games are often just as popular, if not more popular, than their predecessor. If you look at the various Megaman, Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts remakes, they all sell incredibly well. These sell incredibly well when you couple just minor changes to the overall gameplay - this arguement could stand by itself just off of Generation 1 of Pokemon, in which Japan saw 4 remakes over the course of Pokemons life, and all 4 sold incredibly well (For those unaware, Pokemon Green and Red were released in Japan. An updated Version, Blue, was made, which mirrored how the game would be released in the West, with new sprites, fixes, etc. Yellow was a remake, followed by 2 generations later, FireRed and LeafGreen. You could make the point that Johto contained a remake of Gen 1, but that was not a selling point, so Ill mention it in passing)

A lot of games from Japan play as the exact same game, in a different setting - it works because that what the culture likes. Success through iteration is how they like things. We prefer constant evolution in a franchise, or else we claim its bland and repetitive - mostly due to over saturation of like products - we dont get many Megaman clones that feel the same way Megaman does, but we do get a lot of CoD clones that feel like CoD does.

Its this difference that splits the audiences. Western Audiences generally don't approve of iterations of the same game - they tend to drop out of the public conscious. Megaman in particular is guilty of this - the changes they make to gameplay over its tenure hasn't changed much - you don't see that many new mechanics.

Now, lets compare it to a successful iteration series in the West - Pokemon. Compared to Pokemon, each Generation sees a massive leap in technology and what the game does. Generation 1 set the groundwork for the series. Generation 2 added mechanics such as Time, Breeding for different movesets (and for more of a 1 off Pokemon), type balance, and Stat balance. Generation 3 added abilities and changed the underlying engine of the entire series to make it more dynamic and have more variables. Generation 4 once again changed the engine to allow more a more dynamic approach and put the world into a 3D environment.

The only Generation NOT to do anything in terms of major technology boost is Generation 5. Generation 5 stagnated in what Generation 4 did, and is criticized for making pretty much cosmetic changes. Even for a stagnating game, it sold incredibly well, and is making major changes to the core of the series - for the first time in the series run, we are getting direct sequels instead of remakes of the first two versions, and were treated to more graphical options to make the game feel better.

Even the remakes for Pokemon always bring in new Elements, or embrace the current engine for the series, making them feel dynamic and different in their own right. Thats how successful iterations should work.

We havent turned our backs on Eastern developers, we just have different demands. Having you change the level design isn't enough for us to warrant a $60 investment. Mario Galaxy was fun - adding a Cloud and Rock suit wasn't enough to make me want to drop the extra money for the investment. If you were to improve your game, rather then just slinging out the same basic game year after year, you might win us over. Or if you do continue to sling out the same game, do it better.

 

[Stealth]

@Uber Waddles

While I respect your opinion its ridiculous and flawed............

You dont think the west likes re releases? GOTY editions say hello.........4 versions of oblivion have been released all exactly the same and people eat it up, just like japan
Mega man hardly ever has "remakes" nor kingdom hearts I cant think of one ever

Then you try to make the ridiculous claim pokemon changes..........guess what, it doesnt really, and thats why people love it. You can count on it.

Generation 5 is the most critically acclaimed..........and considered better than gen 4 in every single aspect, most importantly type combinations........nothing about the game stagnated at all...........

Mario galaxy is considered THE BEST GAME IN THE GEN. Just because you didnt buy it didnt mean millions of others didnt

"If you were to improve your game, rather then just slinging out the same basic game year after year, you might win us over. Or if you do continue to sling out the same game, do it better."

Isnt that what all devs do? The west japan everyone...........despite this japan is still the creative center of gaming.


So to sum up.........everything you said is extremely flawed to the west not liking re releases, to pokemon changing, to getting the same basic game...........

There is a reason why when you look at the top 10 games in the US each month its 4 sports titles, 4 casual titles, 2 core titles

To japans 8 core titles, to 2 casual

 

[Enslave_All_Elves]

How many times in Japanese history have they shut themselves off from the world and from any opinion but their own only to have the world kick them square in the ass afterwards?

They need to realize that their greatest successes often came after adopting and improving other people's stuff. If Japan doesn't change the way they make games, they'll keep making shitty games. The samurai will be killed by the musket once again.

shore up your game mechanics, change your art style, modernize...

Japan didn't make the first planes, but they made damn good ones. Japan didn't invent the blades that were the basis for the katana, but they took them and said, "Hmmmm I can make this the best goddamn sword ever." Japan didn't invent the car, but they've done a damn good job with them (much to my chagrine). Japan didn't invent RPGs but people love the ones they make.

Sooo.... dear Japan: You're proud. You prefer what is Japanese just because it is Japanese. I get that because I'm the same way. However you're not alone on that island anymore. You have to beat everyone else. Otherwise what is the basis of your pride other than arrogance? I know you think you make better games than anyone else. Sales prove otherwise. So go use those ninja skills and prove the world wrong. I'd rather have competing ideas and industries making cool new stuff as opposed to just watching the competition die.

 

[Stealth]

^ stop generalizing and making things up you sound hateful

 

[McMarbles]

Japan won't buy Western games? Japan is wrong!

Westerners won't buy Japan's games? Japan needs to change!

 

[Stealth]

^ That made me lol