| Torillian said: NP Rocketpig, I can understand where you got that idea, I probably wouldn't have thought anything wrong with the argument if I hadn't wasted far too much of my life playing FFXI. Once MGS4 comes out maybe I'll play that and Splinter Cell, to see if I can notice the similarities you are. On the note of sequels being mostly what Japanese Devs do, I think that's a cultural difference, looking at some sales it seems like new series might have a harder time in Japan than other regions. That's certainly not an excuse, but it might be a factor in the decision. |
I forgot to mention that I did play FFXI a bit. Two of my friends had subscriptions to that for awhile.
I agree that a lot of it seems to be cultural. I have heard developers talk about the Japanese disdain for open-ended gaming and free-for-all worlds, which would explain their avoidance of sandbox and open-style RPGs. I was also surprised to hear a rep from Capcom talk about how the Japanese hate to die in-game and dislike hard games in general. It's quite the opposite of what I expected to hear. There are several big differences in likes and dislikes that separates the west from the east when it comes to gaming (excluding Korea, they seem to enjoy more western tastes). The control scheme of MGS & RE, which I absolutely despised pre-MGS4 & RE4, also makes sense when you factor in the Japanese taste in shooters. The controls were cumbersome, unintuitive, and felt completely outdated. It is nice to see that changing now.
It's just a shame that so many of the advancements that I appreciate in gaming over the past ten years have come out of the west while Japan seems pretty happy to keep their so many of their traditional franchises, well, traditional.
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