I don't think it's a problem. Japanese games are japanese games, that's why I enjoy them. I don't want JRPG to turn into something that's exactly the same as a every other WRPG. I don't want any non-rpg to turn into ever western shooter.

Like the jpn keep doing what they do. Gaming suffers if every studio on the planet is making the exact same type of game. If these companies can stay afloat by making games that cater to the jpn audience and people who like those games, they're doing something right imo. Variety isn't anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be.

If FF doesn't sell more then Mass Effect in the US... then what?

Theres one game koie has done right and its Celtic Tales: Balor of the Evil Eye.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/celtic-tales-balor-of-the-evil-eye

Too bad they don't make games like that anymore. Btw, aren't those dynasty warrior games pretty much clones? I have played several of them and they feel and look just like they were same game.

Yeah I buy the Dynasty Warriors games as a guilty pleasure every year or two, but It's no different then the crap EA does with Madden . DW6 actually improved the graphics for once but that's about it.

Just make some good games and you will get sales outside of JP. :P

You guys can't just say: "Make good games". The Japanese have different gaming tastes. What's good to them could be crap to us.

I can't stress the importance of Japanese companies to look at Western gaming tastes and incorporating those ideas in their games.

Koei needs to stop relying on Dynasty Warriors, far too many of those games come out each year

Many Japanese developers have always been making games for the Japanese market, with this in mind it's hard to give them a worldwide appeal the game requires to be a huge seller worldwide. This problem arises because the first line of customers are the Japanese and they do not have too much experience about the western market.

When you guys say "make better games" you need to first think about what makes a game "better". All gamers have different tastes and each regions have some gaming genres that dominate the most. In The west, Action and Sports dominate, while on the East, story driven games with deep character development are more popular.

Developers then have two choices:

1) Make Japanese and Western games separately: This gives the advantage to developers because they can focus what different audiences like best and design their games accordingly. This can result in great sellers in each region but at the same time increases the risk, because the game HAS to be a success or the losses can be devastating for the company. This method requires more costs because of the increase in number of games for each region

2) Make universally appealing games: This on the other hand, reduces the costs of game development to a single project that is aimed to deliver a good experience to everyone. The only change required is localization. The problem with this route is that the game has elements that are appealing to a wider spectrum so a VERY careful game design is needed to not make the game mediocre in all regions.

If we are talking about sales outside of Japan, then you don't need to think that much. So in this case:

make better games = make them less japanese. Cut the anime-crap and ridiculous storylines. Make them less annoying. Quite simple. :O

I'll agree with this. If some of the Japanese Devs can step away from the cliched storylines, same old bland character personality you see in every other RPG, bland storylines and start advertising some of their games in the west (of course there are some exceptions), then they might start gaining some money in other markets. And also stop being so damn stingy and release your games here other than in your motherland (I'm looking at you Square Enix!)