"Gritty" and "Mature" Aren't Synonyms

USgamer: "In my own free time, my personal gaming has been gradually drifting in an easterly direction as mainstream big-budget Western interactive media continues to do less and less for me. I've been delving primarily into the worlds of visual novels and the more obscure ends of the Japanese role-playing game market, and what I've discovered among those candy-colored, doe-eyed titles is something refreshing: maturity without overt, overwrought darkness or grittiness."

[Timesplitter14]

I'm getting some strong weaboo vibes from this article

[Hicken]

And I'm getting strong ignorance from your comment.

Thing is: Western games can do the same. There was a point in time where Western cartoons pulled it off effortlessly. The Spiderman and Batman and X-Men cartoons of my youth were mature without being gritty.

I was just talking with my sister today about how those shows managed to tackle mature themes without resorting to the vulgarity or explicitness of today's shows. Yeah, they were for kids, but they tackled things like discrimination and cheating in relationships and personal loss, moral dilemmas, etc. And there wasn't a need for grittiness to pull it off.

He brought up visual novels and JRPGs because they continue that, while Western games usually just go for shock factor.

[Snookies12]

Do you know what that term means? It is someone who is not Japanese that is completely infatuated with their culture. So, an article can't really give you that vibe, as it's not a person lol. It's a stupid phrase anyway though, when did liking other cultures become a bad thing?

[rezzah]

Maturity to me isn't about how dark things can be, it is about the capacity to think and see things other may forcefully/unknowingly hide from.

What is dark is truth, because lies become common and "safe" among our daily lives.

[knifefight]

I've felt this way for a long time. Just because something has boobs and F words doesn't mean it is mature.

[RememberThe357]

But it does mean it's awesome.

[rezzah]

To each their own, personally based on how it's done it can be completely immature.

[RememberThe357]

Of course it's immature. But immature doesn't mean bad. Being mature is about knowing when to take things seriously and when to not take anything seriously at all.

Explotions, tits, beer, guns, cars (basically GTA) all can be extremely entertaining. The problem comes when all you can focus on are these and you ignore everything else.

[rezzah]

Nor does immature always mean good (or that it is awesome).

When meaning is given to something perceived as immature, it can be looked upon as either "bad" or "good".

Your reply to knifefight implies that anything with boobs and F words is awesome, based on your use of words. With that comment there is no room for exceptions, to which I disagree with.

I can accept immaturity, but it depends on how it it done. There is always variations, therefore it falls to personal taste.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I get what you're saying, but mature can mean different things. It doesn't have to mean thought provoking and a centerpiece for deep discussion. If something has boobs and the f bomb all over it, it's rated mature because it's just not for kids.

[RememberThe357]

Great thought from the author. I haven't thought about this too much but it gets me thinking. I think I'd be more into these Japanese titles if it wasn't for that damn anime art style. it cool for some kind of tv shows (I grew up watching Toonami religiously) but in a lot of these games it just puts me off them. I'd love to see the true maturity that the author talks about in more gritty games. Few western games have emotional depth of any kind and few Japanese games are appealing. The Last of Us, MGS, and The Walking Dead seem to be the only games that are both gritty and mature.

If there is a "renaissance" this generation please let it be on the narrative side. Look at Killzone; one of the coolest fictions in games, and some of the worst story telling in games. I want to see western devs take "adolescent boy's power fantasy" and lace thought provoking, emotionally challenging, negative. No more depth only found in the books you pick up in Skyrim, but the depth presented to the player as just as critical a part of the game as the gameplay and graphics. Frankly it adds much more than either of those two.

[Kratoscar2008]

You should try the SMT series and not im not talking about Persona im talking of the MAIN SMT series.

[RememberThe357]

I've never even entertained the idea, but I'll go check the series out. Any specific titles or just scatter shot?

[Kratoscar2008]

For PS2 you have:

Digital Devil Saga 1&2 (Game about hinduism and reincarnation)

SMT 3 Nocturne (A game about Philosophies and Reasons)

Devil Summoner 1&2 Raidou series (An ARPG about a detective that uses demons for his investigations)

On DS:

SMT Strange Journey (A scifi themed dungeon crawler)

PSVita (Every Persona game, P2 has some serious story )

3DS

SMT 4 (Comming in 6 days)
Devil Summoner Soul Hackers (Not related to Raidou)

Those are excellent games.

[metaltales49]

are the SMT devil survivor games on the DS or the 3DS any good

[Dj7FairyTail]

@metaltales49
YES

[RememberThe357]

Wow, thanks for the list. Those short descriptions caught me. I'm definitely going to go down this list and learn more about these games; this has been bookmarked.

Again, thanks man. Bubs for the help.

[Kratoscar2008]

Its a great series howewer SMT 3, 4 and SJ have a different approach in Storytelling as they are more world driven and the characters themselves are just means to carry ideologies but they are a good way to convey them.

DDS is more story driven but dungeons are still more focused.

Raidou games have a taisho era setting (When Japan was beggining to be americanized) and are ARPGs.

Well im sure you know Persona by now.

Anyways have a good time.

Oh and you have Chaterine for PS3, its a puzzle however but very well handed mature themes like paternal resposability, infidelity and so on.