I haven't played either but a wrpg fan would counter Xenogears with Planescape Torment.

Honestly I don't think story is all that important to a video game. Some of my favorite video games have little story. Books, movies, etc. do a better job of telling thought-provoking stories anyway. I'd much rather play a stereotypical crime story-style game like Hotel Dusk or a whacky story like the Phoenix Wright games than play a game with a pretentious story line (trying to act like they are the next great classical writer when they are just nerdy game programmers) that tries to be bigger than it really is. Games first and foremost are supposed to be fun.

Ok good, I thought you might have been in the mindset that there are no western classics, and that would have been an issue

i agree with his argument

in terms of video games japan needs to have a more open mind.
Japanese from my understanding are pretty open from music, movies, and fashion but why not video games.

to be fair american might be open to japanese games but nothing else
seems like they disregard any japanese music (not talking about the hip hop crap they have...like we have lol but great japanese artists that have changed the industry) movies and clothing...even how a person looks.
When i tell a person i listen to japanese music (again not anime or that hip hop crap...lol) they give me a funny look and think i know nothing about music.
but if i say i listen to a Swedish or a Norway band i get no funny looks, i dont understand.
japan is capable of creating great music.....
rant over... lol

oh and i'm talking about the general public as i bet most of us here are open to japanese culture.

imo to compare japan to the west, japan may have the classics with the west slowing making its way to match the japanese quality of games but now it seems that western games have surpassed japanese games (im sadden by this fact ) and i think the japanese need to realize this and give the west a chance.
hopefully japanese devs get there asses to work!

Fun is in the eye of the beholder. 

Stories can give meaning and feeling to what you are doing in the game.  A story doesn't have to be really thought provoking to be great either, it could just have a lot of well executed events happening in a well paced manner.

you guys are funny. now tell me aren't you guys who are constantly fighting right now that western >>>>>>>> japanese and the exact same thing as the japanese?

you are saying how they are being closed minded and so and such, yet your doing the same.

face it square guy (who is saying this only for MONEY, due to a game of his) and all people posting here. And to all game reviwers out there as well, games are made for MANY different poeple. People all have their own tastes. You may love shooter games and think they are the best thing ever, but there are also people out there that think they are the worst thing in the world.

also doesn't anyone ever learn that someone telling you that your being dumb and you should buy this game turn people off of buying that game or whatever it is instead.

This wesetern vs Eastern debate is meaningless. Both sides have great games.

Its as if some people have rejected western games or Japanese games because they think it makes them cool, or a member of the elite or some shit.

Rediculous.

Furthermore fighting about narrative in games is worthless because the main streangth of the medium in interractivity not narrative. Go read a book or watch a movie if you want a well executed narrative, games very rarely reach that level of narrative effectiveness.

No the games that are remembered are the packmans, pokemons, marios and half-lifes of the world. They focus on gameplay first. Theres a reason half-life isn't burdened by overly long pretentious cinematics and thats because it tells the narrative during the gameplay. Something many games could learn from.

Yeah! Damn those japanese with their ninjas,martial arts, anime, mangas, and their sexually akward shows!!! I will never buy a japanese game again!!!

well he is true, Japanses gamers should give western games a chance(just look a the 360), I was surprised to see uncharted 2 sell well there.

Whats a manga? Lol stupid weaboo.

::blasts some hip hop::

They have all right to feel this way, only Westen games i can think of that are good is TimeShift, SW: TFU - Ultimate Sith Edition, inFamous, and LBP which i think is actually british.

In Order IMO...

Japan Games >>> British Games >>> Korean Games >>> French/German Games >>> American Games.... Just putting that out there....

So i agree with the japanese people, they make the best games true, infact im pissed there isn't a NA/British company out there not learning for there style yet.

I always have liked Japanese games the best. The Western games I have liked have generally had some Japanese-ish aspects. Uncharted 2 had good plot / character development / good character designs and LBP had the 2D platformer and design aspect that I really enjoyed.

Western gamers do discriminate on style more than origin. No matter how awesome an Anime-style game is, it's probably not going to do great sales-wise. But J-games like MGS, RE, and FF will do just fine in these parts of the world.

Oblivion or Gears of War... Sorry I don't see the appeal. But I'm sure many do.

A big complaint I've heard from many Japanese gamers are the character designs of American games. They are many times intentionally made to be ugly - but I think that's what sells the best here.