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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
tiffac on 29 June 2015
ClassicGamingWizzz said:

From this :

To this :

Tales Of and Atelier series has always been more on the anime style even during the PS1 days. So they are not exactly new and Atelier has always been a niche.

But your example actually brings to a problem that was created by the Japanese gaming industry.

The JPRGs that are popular in the west outside of Final Fantasy like Suikoden, Wild Arms, Valkyrie Profile etc... actually had no console sequels last generation. They appeared on handhelds like DS and PSP but it didn't quite gave the series justice.

This created a vacuum that was filled by the niche developers because they saw there was still a market for JRPGs in west while the big companies thought it was no more.

Hence, we got flooded by niche titles and less of the global appealing ones that we had before because well... they weren't being made anymore!!!

Suikoden is still dead, Breath of Fire went mobile, Valkyrie Profile became Lightning Returns, Wild Arms... Skies of Arcadia... Legend of Dragoon... the list goes on and on and on.

Edit:

Someone already made this point before me which is even better because it touched the issue with localization too.

IAmCrimsonLegion said:


Yet, those are the games that are being localized the most. Unfortunately, they're not even making the kind of games that I mentioned in my post anymore and if they are, they're certainly not being localized in the West. The games are too big to be niche and too niche to be big. What are the majority JRPGs you see nowadays on shelves in the West? The ones you described, for the most part. Those are the games you see on the shelves.  I have absolutely no problem with these games as I play a few of 'em, but right now, they're the only game in town as far as JRPGs are concerned and for me, personally, just not as good as the pre-2007 JRPGs. The AA JRPG is dead for the most part (except Tales and SMT) and now the niche has taken their place, while the big boys like FF and Dragon Quest take half a decade to release or more (or in Dragon Quest's case, is just never localized).


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Roronaa_chan on 29 June 2015

God, Chrono Trigger truly looked awful. Glad things improved.



Alby_da_Wolf on 29 June 2015
Nuvendil said:
I think that you have made a fundamentally flawed assumption: that suspension of disbelief is achieved by "tricking" the player with elaborate explanations and realistic visuals. This is not the case. The key word in the traditional term is "Willing." Willing Suspension of Disbelief. We know fiction isn't real, that it's not real. No amount of elaborate backstory will draw us in by tricking us. Suspension of Disbelief isn't something I, as a writer, cause. It is something the reader or player volunteers as their end of a sort of contract. They agree to provide their attention and the writer agrees to provide a story worthy of that attentiveness.

Therefore, the issue many JRPGs have is that their writing is either poor or just doesn't cross cultural bounds. Bad writing, regardless of it's elaborateness, will not maintain suspension of disbelief in the reader. Because it fails to hold up the writer's end of the deal. And then the issue of cultural bounds: games heavily rooted in Japanese culture - Persona (from my understanding, not a player of it myself), Youkai Watch, etc are rooted in Japanese culture, folk or otherwise. It's got little to do with realism; unrealistic stories have drawn in western and eastern viewers/players/readers for centuries. But it has to be internally consistent and engaging. Failing to be those, the Willing Supsension of Disbelief will be broken.

Good point. Many other good points have been made in this thread, but this is the first that considers some issues.
Interesting thread.
If it hasn't been done yet, I'd add a point of mine that applies both to western and eastern productions: when a franchise is planned exclusively to sell, and anime/cartoons are designed to sell merchandising and games too, or games are designed to sell merchandising and anime/cartoons, they often become soulless. Professional writing can't replace inspiration, it can help to transform an inspired work into a usable script for movies or games and it can produce good scripts for games where the story is not important, but when the story is important, most people will be able to tell whether it's inspired or designed.
That's why I hated the first Transformers series, a few decennia ago, and I considered He-Man quite crappy too, they weren't inspired, but designed to sell merchandising, and Transformers were particularly bad. Current Transformers movies have far better FX and filming quality, but they are still designed, not inspired. Well, other Mattel stuff, like Barbie-related one, is even worse, but that's beating a dead horse.   



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Samus Aran on 29 June 2015
HoloDust said:

I thnk that JPOP/Emo really needs to go away from JRPGs if Japanese publishers expect western mainstream to pay more attention - again, without going into personal preferences and looking it strictly from "We want to sell more JRPGs in west" view, considering western audience have zero problems with something like this:

Let it stay, it's great. :)



KazumaKiryu on 29 June 2015

i know people, they dont like JRPGS but love "persona 4" and "ni no kuni" : )



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Aerys on 29 June 2015
KazumaKiryu said:
i know people, they dont like JRPGS but love "persona 4" and "ni no kuni" : )


People forget Persona is a RPG i think, because i hear most say X will be the best RPG this year, totally forgetting the master coming, Persona 5



Predictions for end of 2014 HW sales:

 PS4: 17m   XB1: 10m    WiiU: 10m   Vita: 10m

 

Samus Aran on 29 June 2015
Aerys said:
KazumaKiryu said:
i know people, they dont like JRPGS but love "persona 4" and "ni no kuni" : )


People forget Persona is a RPG i think, because i hear most say X will be the best RPG this year, totally forgetting the master coming, Persona 5

Yeah, it couldn't possibly be because they think X will be better.



Aerys on 29 June 2015
Samus Aran said:
Aerys said:


People forget Persona is a RPG i think, because i hear most say X will be the best RPG this year, totally forgetting the master coming, Persona 5

Yeah, it couldn't possibly be because they think X will be better.


Thats what i'm saying, they forget Persona and how good it is, based on most reviews, it will be the RPG ( and maybe the game) of the year.



Predictions for end of 2014 HW sales:

 PS4: 17m   XB1: 10m    WiiU: 10m   Vita: 10m

 

Samus Aran on 29 June 2015
Aerys said:
Samus Aran said:

Yeah, it couldn't possibly be because they think X will be better.


Thats what i'm saying, they forget Persona and how good it is, based on most reviews, it will be the RPG ( and maybe the game) of the year.

Xenoblade Chronicles was considered the JRPG of last generation by many hardcore fans ovf the JRPG genre...

Besides, there's also Genei Ibun Roku #FE.



Aerys on 29 June 2015
Samus Aran said:
Aerys said:


Thats what i'm saying, they forget Persona and how good it is, based on most reviews, it will be the RPG ( and maybe the game) of the year.

Xenoblade Chronicles was considered the JRPG of last generation by many hardcore fans ovf the JRPG genre...

Besides, there's also Genei Ibun Roku #FE.

And many fans of FPS genre think KZ2 is better than Halo but that doesnt change the fact Halo was the FPS of the year


What is this ?



Predictions for end of 2014 HW sales:

 PS4: 17m   XB1: 10m    WiiU: 10m   Vita: 10m