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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Suspension of Disbelief(Why western fans dislike JRPG's)

 

What is the main reason Westerns dislike JRPGs?

Aesthetics 66 26.83%
 
Suspension of Disbelief 16 6.50%
 
Convoluted Stories 43 17.48%
 
Linearity 24 9.76%
 
They are simple not open minded.... 97 39.43%
 
Total:246

Hello everyone,

'Suspension of Disbelief" is one of the main reasons why most Americans find JRPG's stories convoluted or unappealing. If you want to become immerse into a game you would like it to have plausibility. Let's take the example of 'Kingdom Hearts." Why does Sora has spiky hair or how can there are doppelgängers for every character? At some point one loses the sense of suspension of disbelief. It comes down to an issue of relevancy vs style(the stylistic features are not relevant to the overall game but are just an expression of Japanese culture). On the other hand, I can see why Japanese people would not find a game like Gears of Wars appealing. I think that if you have a weak sense of agency you would want something more exciting as you view GOW not as an immersive experience but rather as a video game. Therefore, why would I play a game if I could experience real-life? I guess that is why games would be seen as an escapist hobby in the eyes of the media because you are actually trying to immerse yourself into the experience.

Finally, I think it comes to the concept of "justification". Let's take "The World Ends With You" as an example, notice how the pins have no justification. How can pins give the characters powers? Or what are the creatures such as 'noise'? If you play any WRPG such as Mass Effect  they always give their aliens a background story and a real world grounding. At the same time, doing this would make the story boring for someone who does not want a real-world grounding-but rather wants an exciting experience. I think they are different angles towards approaching storytelling. Japanese stories are concern with how do we use the tools(power/weapons/creatures) we have in the story while Western stories want to explain the nature and origin of the tools themselves.



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Not really suspension of disbelief, I think it's the different ways of storytelling. Japanese games have quite a... "distinct" way of telling their stories, with some strange pauses between sentences, and some unrealistic dialogue. Kingdom Hearts for example is packed with cringe-worthy lines. Aesthetics might scare some players away, depending on the game (Tales of, for example)

Also, did you call Gears of War a WRPG? lol



No, it's because Japanese culture is extremely alien to western culture, and some people find that unfamiliarity unappealing.

Also, most JRPGs today fall under the new "Anime-RPG" subcategory, which is frankly generally of a lower quality to classic JRPGs.

So it has nothing to do with suspension of disbelief. Nothing to do with justification. Just the age old tale of cultural barriers, lest we forget how niche western games are in Japan.



artur-fernand said:
Not really suspension of disbelief, I think it's the different ways of storytelling. Japanese games have quite a... "distinct" way of telling their stories, with some strange pauses between sentences, and some unrealistic dialogue. Kingdom Hearts for example is packed with cringe-worthy lines. Aesthetics might scare some players away, depending on the game (Tales of, for example)

Also, did you call Gears of War a WRPG? lol


"Japanese games have quite a... 'distinct' way of telling their stories, ..."

No, they have a distinct way of localizing them. Most game localizations just suck, especially Square Enix, to be honest. They are really, really bad at localizing. And there's a charm to that that a lot of JRPG fans like, but it's definitely not because it's high quality.

And when I say localization, I'm specifically talking about quality of the translations, not the voice acting, which has become pretty good now. That's why Pokemon is so successful. Those guys nail localization. Same with Earthbound, Xenoblade, and honestly all Nintendo games. They are wizards at localization. (which is why the Mother 3 fan localization felt so sub-par to me)



spemanig said:
artur-fernand said:
Not really suspension of disbelief, I think it's the different ways of storytelling. Japanese games have quite a... "distinct" way of telling their stories, with some strange pauses between sentences, and some unrealistic dialogue. Kingdom Hearts for example is packed with cringe-worthy lines. Aesthetics might scare some players away, depending on the game (Tales of, for example)

Also, did you call Gears of War a WRPG? lol


"Japanese games have quite a... 'distinct' way of telling their stories, ..."

No, they have a distinct way of localizing them. Most game localizations just suck, especially Square Enix, to be honest. They are really, really bad at localizing. And there's a charm to that that a lot of JRPG fans like, but it's definitely not because it's high quality.

And when I say localization, I'm specifically talking about quality of the translations, not the voice acting, which has become pretty good now. That's why Pokemon is so successful. Those guys nail localization. Same with Earthbound, Xenoblade, and honestly all Nintendo games. They are wizards at localization. (which is why the Mother 3 fan localization felt so sub-par to me)

I agree, in parts. I'm not necessarily talking about the script itself (though it is a factor, and that's why I mentioned KH), but rather the... "tone" of the dialogues, I can't explain. But I get the same vibe by watching anime or undub games - those weird pauses mid-sentences I talked about, and the unrealistic dialogue (which means it's not JUST the localization's fault).

And just adding to my point, japanese stories use a lot of tropes that western games really don't like. Such as the "power of friendship", followed by some speech about how "while I have my friend, I won't lose" or something. Most western players would probably cringe at stuff like this.



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spemanig said:
No, it's because Japanese culture is extremely alien to western culture, and some people find that unfamiliarity unappealing.

Also, most JRPGs today fall under the new "Anime-RPG" subcategory, which is frankly generally of a lower quality to classic JRPGs.

So it has nothing to do with suspension of disbelief. Nothing to do with justification. Just the age old tale of cultural barriers, lest we forget how niche western games are in Japan.


This is the number one reason, most of my friends would never play a JRPG, and the main reason the quality of JRPG has gone drastically. 



 

artur-fernand said:
spemanig said:


"Japanese games have quite a... 'distinct' way of telling their stories, ..."

No, they have a distinct way of localizing them. Most game localizations just suck, especially Square Enix, to be honest. They are really, really bad at localizing. And there's a charm to that that a lot of JRPG fans like, but it's definitely not because it's high quality.

And when I say localization, I'm specifically talking about quality of the translations, not the voice acting, which has become pretty good now. That's why Pokemon is so successful. Those guys nail localization. Same with Earthbound, Xenoblade, and honestly all Nintendo games. They are wizards at localization. (which is why the Mother 3 fan localization felt so sub-par to me)

I agree, in parts. I'm not necessarily talking about the script itself (though it is a factor, and that's why I mentioned KH), but rather the... "tone" of the dialogues, I can't explain. But I get the same vibe by watching anime or undub games - those weird pauses mid-sentences I talked about, and the unrealistic dialogue (which means it's not JUST the localization's fault).

And just adding to my point, japanese stories use a lot of tropes that western games really don't like. Such as the "power of friendship", followed by some speech about how "while I have my friend, I won't lose" or something. Most western players would probably cringe at stuff like this.

You can drop the facade. It's all about light versus darkness, baby!!!



#1 Amb-ass-ador

Dude, if one series can breath new life to JRPGs' popularity, that's Kingdom Hearts, just imagine how many 8 year olds will annoy their moms until they buy it once the Frozen world is revealed. The game could sell like 5 million copies on Frozen hype alone.



I'm now filled with determination.

My problem with JRPGs is that almost all of them are turn-based.
I find that boring and tedious, tried to play a few and always had to fight falling asleep of boredom.
It's not the only problem I have with them, but is the main one.

I also think that they all look the same, play the same and have the same story.

I gave them several chances, there is no chance I'll ever play one again.



Burek said:
My problem with JRPGs is that almost all of them are turn-based.
I find that boring and tedious, tried to play a few and always had to fight falling asleep of boredom.
It's not the only problem I have with them, but is the main one.

I also think that they all look the same, play the same and have the same story.

I gave them several chances, there is no chance I'll ever play one again.


I'm in the same boat. I've tried really hard to get into them, especially on the Vita since there are so many on it and I'd have a trove of games to play, but I can't keep awake sometimes.