athenian200
Circumspect
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2010
I've been going over the games I enjoy most recently, and found that nearly all of them are Japanese in origin. It's not that there are no Western video game publishers, but that I just don't find myself playing their games.
Here are my favorite publishers:
Square-Enix - Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Trigger, Lufia, SaGa, Secret of Mana
Namco - Pac-Man, Tales of Symphonia
Nintendo - Legend of Zelda, Mario
Sega - Phantasy Star, Sonic Adventure
I mean, I have managed to find Western video games, even RPGs, like the Elder Scrolls series, Dungeon Siege, and The Sims that are pretty good... but somehow, they're never quite as good as Japanese games. The best American publishers seem to be Electronic Arts and Betheseda, but even they don't measure up.
This has actually become more concentrated recently, because my favorite games for the Wii are Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and Okami, which actually have a Japanese cultural influence. Granted, the Wii is somewhat lacking in good titles (without accounting for GCN compatibility and VC titles) and I really do most of my gaming on the DSi, but still...
So, this leads me to an interesting question... why is it that the Japanese should be so much better at making video games? Is there something about their culture that causes them to take them more seriously? Is it just that the type of games I tend to like (RPGs, Action-Adventure) happen to be their specialty? Am I just not finding the right Western publishers because I'm looking in the wrong places?
My impression thus far seems to be that American publishers are good with Simulation, Strategy, and FPS games, while Japanese publishers are good with RPG, Action-Adventure, and Platform games.
What is it?
Here are my favorite publishers:
Square-Enix - Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Trigger, Lufia, SaGa, Secret of Mana
Namco - Pac-Man, Tales of Symphonia
Nintendo - Legend of Zelda, Mario
Sega - Phantasy Star, Sonic Adventure
I mean, I have managed to find Western video games, even RPGs, like the Elder Scrolls series, Dungeon Siege, and The Sims that are pretty good... but somehow, they're never quite as good as Japanese games. The best American publishers seem to be Electronic Arts and Betheseda, but even they don't measure up.
This has actually become more concentrated recently, because my favorite games for the Wii are Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and Okami, which actually have a Japanese cultural influence. Granted, the Wii is somewhat lacking in good titles (without accounting for GCN compatibility and VC titles) and I really do most of my gaming on the DSi, but still...
So, this leads me to an interesting question... why is it that the Japanese should be so much better at making video games? Is there something about their culture that causes them to take them more seriously? Is it just that the type of games I tend to like (RPGs, Action-Adventure) happen to be their specialty? Am I just not finding the right Western publishers because I'm looking in the wrong places?
My impression thus far seems to be that American publishers are good with Simulation, Strategy, and FPS games, while Japanese publishers are good with RPG, Action-Adventure, and Platform games.
What is it?
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