Poll: Japanese Games and Convoluted Plots... What Gives?

[WillSimplyBe]

I actually love over-the-top storylines. Ones that are so outrageous it's a wonder if the people that wrote it weren't high (i think) Like the movie coming out, Legion. God attacks Earth with Angels, first off God could Nuke us if he wanted. Second A HUMONGOUS WAVE OF ANGELS is seen in one scene. How the hell do people fight that?? WITH GUNS??? I love it.

first off, my thoughts exactly on Legion, but I didn't like it... i saw the trailer and facepalmed.

okay, next

Its no secret that many if not most Japanese games are in one way or another influenced by Japanese Anime, which as we all probably know is notorious for confusing, complex and down right ludicrous plots. Sometimes it works... but often times (at least for a Western audience) it just leaves us asking "wtf"? Well seeing as how Japanese games, most notably JRPGs and Fighters, lend their roots tremendously to anime stories, themes and cliches, naturally the games would suffer a similar fate. This is extremely evident in Fighting game stories (if you can call them that) and some JRPGs where most of the time the basic premise is very simple but it is presented in a manner that is meant to confuse the player. My question is why? I understand this happens in western games as well, but as far as I can tell it is not as frequent or severe.

Take Blazblue for instance... I actually did like the story... once I understood it... which took about as much research as figuring out wtf happened in the film Mulholland DR.

So what do you guys think? Why do think this happens so frequently with Japanese games? Do like ultra-complex plots that take a lot of deductive prowess?

Not all anime is notoriously confusing in plot, Black Lagoon is one such example of a great anime without an ultra-convoluted plotline. (I actually had to think for a bit, lol, most i were going to say DID have some rather convoluted something-or-other)

I really do enjoy a lot of Japanese games, and find their kind of stories interesting in the same way Devil May Cry or Bayoneta would be, totally overblown and insane.

Its nice sometimes compared to the comparatively UNfantastical storylines of some other games.

Also, Fappy, where did you avatar come from?

 

[AC Medina]

Whenever you think "Why didn't I understand X?" you should seriously consider whether the problem is with the I and not with the X

 

[Axeli]

Meh. I don't mind having to put some effort into understanding a story. Simple ones are nice sometimes, but complexity is rarely a problem either. You just need to pay some darn attention.

Then again, it's possible that watching and trying understand NGE's mind screw plot may have caused some anomalies to my mind since I didn't find Xenogears too difficult to follow.

There are few bad ones out there, yes, but they rather fail to explain the plot in the game (see Guide Dang It and apply to plot, if there's no story counterpart for the trope). For one, in FFVII, try to figure out that Jenova was a shapeshifter who had mind-reading/controlling powers and that she took Sephiroth's form (while bing mind-controlled by Sephiroth) and that she's actually the Sephiroth you keep encountering before Northern Crater, and that Jenova's body's awakening is what causes Cloud to decide to follow her/him around due to Jenova's mind-control taking hold of him at that point (i.e. when you are in a cell inside Shinra Building).
All this was explained in a darn official story guide. (Otherwise the plot wasn't bad though.)

Against the common misconception, JRPGs usually do not suffer from overexposition, but the lack of expostion...

 

[Fappy]

I actually love over-the-top storylines. Ones that are so outrageous it's a wonder if the people that wrote it weren't high (i think) Like the movie coming out, Legion. God attacks Earth with Angels, first off God could Nuke us if he wanted. Second A HUMONGOUS WAVE OF ANGELS is seen in one scene. How the hell do people fight that?? WITH GUNS??? I love it.

first off, my thoughts exactly on Legion, but I didn't like it... i saw the trailer and facepalmed.

okay, next

Its no secret that many if not most Japanese games are in one way or another influenced by Japanese Anime, which as we all probably know is notorious for confusing, complex and down right ludicrous plots. Sometimes it works... but often times (at least for a Western audience) it just leaves us asking "wtf"? Well seeing as how Japanese games, most notably JRPGs and Fighters, lend their roots tremendously to anime stories, themes and cliches, naturally the games would suffer a similar fate. This is extremely evident in Fighting game stories (if you can call them that) and some JRPGs where most of the time the basic premise is very simple but it is presented in a manner that is meant to confuse the player. My question is why? I understand this happens in western games as well, but as far as I can tell it is not as frequent or severe.

Take Blazblue for instance... I actually did like the story... once I understood it... which took about as much research as figuring out wtf happened in the film Mulholland DR.

So what do you guys think? Why do think this happens so frequently with Japanese games? Do like ultra-complex plots that take a lot of deductive prowess?

Not all anime is notoriously confusing in plot, Black Lagoon is one such example of a great anime without an ultra-convoluted plotline. (I actually had to think for a bit, lol, most i were going to say DID have some rather convoluted something-or-other)

I really do enjoy a lot of Japanese games, and find their kind of stories interesting in the same way Devil May Cry or Bayoneta would be, totally overblown and insane.

Its nice sometimes compared to the comparatively UNfantastical storylines of some other games.

Also, Fappy, where did you avatar come from?

Its Jubei, the most powerful being on the planet (lol), from Blazblue.

 

[atol]

Some people like stories that make sense. Some people like stories that make you think, "Ok, what the hell is going on?" Most of Japan's products adhere to the latter group.