THE FINAL FANTASY XIII TOPIC

post=123960

That is the worst scene I have EVER seen in a jRPG, and I've seen several SO4 scenes that are (all) atrocious.

The only answer is that Japanese people are incredible insane as a culture

Why is it impossible for you to admit that these idiots just might be incompetent? Something that draws from anime doesn't necessarily make it bad, and Japanese culture isn't all bat shit insane to us.


Correction: FFT was actually good, my mistake. FF12 might have been really good if it had done some things differently; but now I'm going off on a tangent.

post=124078
Why is it impossible for you to admit that these idiots just might be incompetent? Something that draws from anime doesn't necessarily make it bad, and Japanese culture isn't all bat shit insane to us.

You've only got to look at how many shitastic cutscenes there are in jRPGs and the fact that they are all awful for the same reasons: awkward pacing, terrible dialogue and piss-poor camera angles. They usually have no impact on the story whatsoever, to boot. I don't argue that the people making these particular cutscenes are imbeciles, but they are still imbeciles from a culture that is insane.

Most cultural extremes are pretty dumb, especially when you get into the members of that society that fall into obvious stereotypes. In most cultures, however, the nerds that make video games exist outside those cultural stereotypes. In Japan, technology and technology related fields are much more glamorous than they are in, say, the US or the UK. As a result, members of the mainstream society populate the companies making the game, and as a result the finished product is much more culturally identifiable. Many countries tend to export games with emphasis on certain elements of game design; just look at games from Eastern Europe for examples. These emphases are often quite nuanced and subtle, and as such are hard to explain. This, I believe, is a result of a sort of culturally transcendental quality that experts and academics have in their respective fields, shared around the world. Look at any leading members of any field; chances are they are citizens of the world and are active in circles that are not tied to any one nation or culture. Owing to the much more mainstream acceptance (and even celebrity status) of Japanese game designers, however, that transcendental quality is lost in a quagmire of culturally alien presentation. There is a reason jRPGs are practically cookie-cutter replicas of one another, and that reason is the same reason that poorly thought-out games made State side usually feature a gritty tough guy who curses a lot; they target a specific "everyman" demographic. The everyman demographic in Japan, however, is totally insane.

Also, this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapeLay and the prevalence of rape/rape fantasies in Japanese pornography is pretty clear indication that there is something seriously broken in the mindset of the Japanese man (and, through process of basic societal permeation, Japanese culture). There are other examples, but this is the easiest one to highlight.

I didn't say something that draws from anime is necessarily bad. I said that something that draws from the worst parts of the worst examples of something is bad. Surely you don't disagree with me, there? Anime is a rare example of a cultural phenomenon of such pervasiveness, however, so I thought it was well worth making the correlation.

All of Japanese culture isn't batshit insane to us, either. But there are many, many elements that are dramatically different. Insanity is relative, of course, but from the eyes of the average Western Joe Japanese culture is extremely alien. At the surface, maybe not, but in many, many integral ways it is about as foreign as you can get. This is owing to the fact that immediately proceeding to their Americanization (which produced the surface similarities we see) they were an incredibly insular culture for almost their entire existence. Most other cultures that shared their level of xenophobia were broken and scattered by larger, more cosmopolitan ones. Japan is a fairly unique example of a modern nation that evolved in many ways unaffected by those nations around her; how much more alien can you ask?

Protip: Everybody but frocobo are boring/artificial. Plot is, well, what do you expect from a FF plot?

Protip: Game is A->B->C linear until ~18 hours in

Protip: Don't sell resistance up equipment from missions if you want all achievements/trophies. They're required for getting certain items and you can't get them again (afaik)

Protip: Battles are more like a puzzle. Set your paradigms right and you can curbstomp bosses, or at least for most of the game.

Protip: Music owns

post=124203
Protip: Everybody but frocobo are boring/artificial. Plot is, well, what do you expect from a FF plot?

Protip: Game is A->B->C linear until ~18 hours in

Protip: Don't sell resistance up equipment from missions if you want all achievements/trophies. They're required for getting certain items and you can't get them again (afaik)

Protip: Battles are more like a puzzle. Set your paradigms right and you can curbstomp bosses, or at least for most of the game.

Protip: Music owns

tl;dr: it's a final fantasy game

better comparison forthcoming

post=124210
p. much, although it streamlines parts of the game like save points are also shops and you don't need to waste time chugging potions/spamming cure after battle to heal up. Only really an issue if you hate things that are different

welp, then count me out!

The one thing that bothers me is how inaccessible Japanese developers are to their Western fans. I, and anyone else, can log on Bioware's forums right now and ask a question about Mass Effect 2's development or something about its background or whats next in development and it'll probably get answered by someone pretty high up in the development chain (and this does happen). Games like Assassin's Creed 2 and Mass Effect 2 are the result of direct input of the fanbase, of what they did, and didn't like about the originals and what they wanted to see in future titles.

But as far as Squaresoft and a lot of other Japanese developers are concerned? I guess we can just go fuck ourselves or something. If I have a question about the Compilation of FFVII or how's FFXIV going, I'm shit out of luck. I understand there's a language barrier and all that, but come on, something can be worked around, I'm sure. Have a suggestion box for Western fans (Capcom recently did this, I think), or something. Does Japan forget the West exists, or something? It's hard to stay patient when they never extend their hand to us, ever.

Since I left for Japan in 2005, people have completely changed their attitudes towards Japanese developers.

It really intrigues me.

oops