Jump to content
passwords have all been force reset. please recover password to reset ×
MFGamers

Gaming Shout Thread


Sly Reflex
 Share

Recommended Posts

Considering Xbox filled the vacuum left by Sega. Their output really wasn't aimed at the same audience. Hence why they likely continue to struggle gaining a foothold in Japan. A successor to the Dreamcast, helmed by the two companies. Could have been a game changer though. What with how ahead of it's time the Dreamcast was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aside from playing SF 2, I had a quick dabble with the various games on offer via the Mega Drive Switch app. It reminded me how much I appreciated Sega during the 16-Bit era. I think, aside from them, the last console that had a 'try everything and let's see what sticks' approach was probably the PSOne (or N64). A level of variety that I do miss.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

The way games have been categorised over time is stupid, I mean we still unironically use the term 'metroidvania'.  It's just shorthand but language does affect our perception of things (shout out to Arrival) 

 

It does mean that there is an othering with JRPGs.  Yoshi P just thinks he makes RPGs and cultural trends are going to dictate how that is done but no other genre has this kind of distinction baked into how we talk about them to this extent.  I don't have an answer to how they should be talked about because it happens communally but it's worth considering the whole thing.

 

Oof to that video, tho.  It was so common.  The 'those crazy Japanese are at it' was so much a thing, and not even always in a derogatory way, and I'm guilty of it too.  It did hold the potential of games back as certain subjects and gameplay types were seen as 'weird' when they didn't need to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I take his point, the "genre" has moved on that even when used in the best possible sense 'JRPG' probably does simplify most of the games it's used for. At the same time, there are certain tropes that repeat a lot so it's not a bad shorthand all the time

 

I don't know, maybe because I'd never mean it with any sort of disrespect, I do think Japanese games have a certain character to them, I don't really see it as being mean spirited

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Japanese games of most genres typically differentiate themselves from Western equivalents. Killer7 or Freak Out (PS2) being chief examples that come to mind of games/concepts that just don't exist elsewhere.

 

That said, I don't find myself using the term "RPG" in itself, as a descriptive. I think it both too broad and not descriptive enough.

JRPG, SRPG, ARPG, OWRPG etc The prefix I find is how you know what kind you're getting. So to that end, I just identify 'JRPG' as a genre term. Nothing beyond that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the vast majority of cases these days I don't think it's really used in a negative sense, or at least it's taken to imply turn based RPG. It's gotten very redundant nowadays tho, and pretty much obsolete tbh. Elden Ring is a japanese RPG.

 

tbh I think a lot of the term's use comes from the period where a lot of PC RPGs started to get console releases for the first time, whenever that was (maybe XBOX Morrowind). Cause up to that point I know for me I just assumed 'RPG' meant a turn based game like Pokemon or FFVII. Then there was a flood of releases doing things that earlier gens of console RPG couldn't even imagine, cause they didn't have the RAM or whatever. So these subgenres became more widely used I think, and 'console RPG/JRPG' got quickly identified as dated rubbish, and tbh to a degree that impression was vindicated at first by how Japan studios struggled in the early HD era. We had to wait so long for FFXIII, Versus XIII got cancelled, in fact I think there was a lot of 'JRPG' around that time that failed to launch, Mistwalker had one or two I think

 

The Phil Fish moment definitely was a point at which it started to feel really overt though. Like it's one thing to have a strong preference but another entirely when industry figures start saying another country's output fucking suck. You can find some quotes like that from bioware people as well 

 

It's cool to see all these Game of Thrones and Witcher stylings in Final Fantasy, no reason why a Japanese game can't feel very 'western' in style, and also not feel like a game for adolescents. That said, I miss the older ones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That said, the first few FF's and Dragon Quest games had that high fantasy setting in the 80's. The representative graphics just weren't "there" yet. Although DQ has stuck to the setting ala Witcher and GoT, from start to finish. FF didn't IE FF1 ends with a paradoxical time travel plot.

 

Then again, take the SRPG for example. I wouldn't separate Disgaea from Front Mission or Final Fantasy Tactics. Although the adventures of Laharl et al are a lot more anime influenced than their contemporaries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It may not be othering in a negative way but it's othering none the less anyway.  Like the Yakuza games are RPGs but they don't get the JRPG label (others exist, FromSoft games, I'd argue Pokémon doesn't have the JRPG baggage).  It's like a JRPG is a certain type of game that gets put over there by broader audiences to be dismissed unless you're a fan of the games.  

 

I don't think it happens as much now but that point in the early HD era it happened a lot despite Japanese RPGs getting kinda wild and different and those that did break out just sort of not largely thought of as JRPGs unless you really force yourself to think about it and go "yeah, I guess it is technically a JRPG".  It's like the term is game jail and you don't want to end up in there.  I think that's the kind of dynamic Yoshi P is talking about.

 

It's a nebulas thing but I think it's a noticeable behaviour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shining Force 1

Who didn't see this coming?

I've had another rough week or so, health-wise. So I decided on something not too taxing IE both retro and something I don't really need to pay much attention to.  Now, I'm not going to make a thread about this. I'm not going to mention it again in fact, until I complete it. Because in somewhat of a surprise to me, it just isn't very good. Mechanically even less intuitive (as you'd expect with the first game in any series). The character designs are a bit bland and so far - two chapters in - the overall plot is so generic I'm actually a little frustrated by it. I first played the GBA remake of this years ago. Clearly a lot of QoL improvements were made, that I didn't appreciate at the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

not that I want to encourage more remakes, but it's occurred to me Bioshock would really benefit from ray tracing. There's loads of glass for reflections, there's lots of set pieces involving lights, plus the light the Big Daddy's emit from their helmets could be really creepy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...