During an interview with CVG, Assassin’s creed 3 lead director Alex Hutchinson had some rather interesting things to say about Japanese games and how they are treated by gaming journalists. Hutchinson believes that games from the land of the rising sun get a free pass while western developed games are scrutinized harshly.
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He was blasting the stories in Japanese games.... which is not fair as some Japanese games (Zelda and MGS) have great stories... but there are games like Bayonetta (which was the one he was complaining about) and Resident evil that have some really crazy stories.
It is weird, because people just dismissed Bayonettas story completely when reviewing it, but Japanese games are reviewed fairly in story as well
Reviewers cracked down on other M (metroid) because the story was god awful. They cracked down on Kingdom Hearts 3d. They cracked down on NSMB 2, since the game is more of the same, except you need to collect coins...
Personally, I do not know why some games are reviewed in the way they are... I mean war for Cybertron and Gears of war have the same idea, but gears gets better reviews.... its peoples opinions in the end... some let it slide, some don't
Now games are percieved fairly, and frankly I think Hutchinson was acting immaturely there, thinking that reviewers have subtle racism. And lets face it... the future stuff in AC really requires you strech the imagination
Also AC1 was mixed, AC2 and ACB got critical acclaim, and ACR was mixed (since it felt like a feature gimped brotherhood, and imo should have never been made), but I think AC3 will be great
However I agree with the author of this article with this statement
"Both Fallout 3 and Skyrim are by Bethesda, a company whose collective cock must be red from all the sucking done by journalists. This company releases some of the most bug and glitch filled games ever seen yet they are constantly showered with love. The bugs are seen as endearing."
I was baffled that "journalists" were praising this game for simply being big. The combat was meh, the story was also meh, and the bugs were ridiculous... and it won the most GOTY's last year.... WTF?
AGREED 100% when talking about Fallout 3 and Skyrim. I thought it was pretty ridiculous as well. LOL.
lets see if you can name some sandbox rpgs on the same level as fallout and elder scrolls. honestly ill love to play them. the closest ive gotten to is mount and blade and that game has its own problems.
I honestly felt all those things are lacking, and the game didn't do anything well, except for the scale... I don't hate the game, I just think its overrated imo.
And honestly, I would prefer a polished linear game, over a large game filled with bugs... but thats just me
This guy says "western developed games are scrutinized" that's because western reviewers and media are picky and don't have a problem kicking you when you're down.
Japanese games -if anything- are being overshadowed by western ones.
It's the other way around.
Sidenote* Skyrim really proved you can release crap And get GOTY.
"FFXIII’s supposedly linearity was also critiqued yet Call of duty games do nothing but funnel you through the game and those are the best-selling, highest rated games in the industry"
The opinion piece or whatever this is it's all over the place.
In the Universe where Japanese devs get free pass's....come on
Does this know nothing about the Multiverse Theory
"Every decison thats made in this universe is played out in another universes"
So theres a universe where Japanese developers always get a free pass...for whatever reason
YEAH SCIENCE
http://25.media.tumblr.com/...
Finally someone had the balls to say it. Though I don't see it changing soon. People are already foaming at the mouth for Fallout 4 which will surely go the way of Fallout 3 and will be described as Skyrim with guns yet will still praised almost universally by western video game "journalists."
Personally I've tried both of those games (even bought Skyrim on launch). Hated them both.
Exactly. Bethesda gets a pass, not Japanese games.
Good job on the author for actually pointing that out. I think Mr. Hutchinson is still living in the pass when JRPGs were popular.
Though don't get me wrong. I actually think the way Westerners review Japanese games IS THE RIGHT WAY TO REVIEW GAMES -- a review is meant weigh the pros and cons of a given game and award a score accordingly. It's just that big AAA Western games are not afforded the same critical eye most of the time.
As much as I love Bethesda's games, given the amount of problems with not only their bugs, but their narratives and presentation, it absolutely amazes me how often those things are overlooked when it comes time to review them.
Western Games = Gameplay - priority first, Story - dont care at all, Final Product - filled with bugs and glitches
Japanese Games = Story and Gameplay - priority first, Final Product - Excellent *except Capcom *cough DLC milking company
anyway, not all western games and j-games are like that (thats pretty much obvious) but you get the point.
Assassins creed revelations is criticised for not changing much, a lot like the last ten thousand mario games, yet they get a FREE PASS.
Zelda for instance. Excellent games, but a little light on variety these days. Darksiders 2 is a clone (Love it, playing it right now), but it has brought levels to the table, skill tress, many combos with moves, heaps of sidequests etc etc the list goes on.
But if the next Zelda game still has none of these, it will still be geting 10 out of 10 from most reviewers. Pretty unfair tbh, not saying the games are bad, just that Nintendo get a massive free pass. Must be all that nostalgia...........
Some Western games get away with a lot. Binary Domain for instance was unfairly panned in my view because so many journalists wrote it off as merely a Gears of War clone without actually examining any of it's merits.
The bandwagon jumping in the case of XIII was ridiculous and XIII-2 was an amazing game that didn't get the overall scores it deserved.
Western devs don't even come close to implementing the level of depth into their games that jrpgs have.
I wish we'd gotten the other version, Replicant, as well.
In it the reviewer talks about how, "Japanese video games have gotten a bad rap in the past few years for being stuck in clichés with little appeal beyond the island nation's shores. This is especially true for Japanese RPGs, once the international emperor of the game industry, but now reduced to an increasingly inaccessible niche." In particular, he bashes this game. His reasons, however, stem from the very thing he mentions here:
"Many JRPG developers have responded to these accusations by producing more innovative titles, and they have gotten all but the most narrow-minded and xenophobic game critics to take notice."
Read his summary at the bottom for his score to see more details why the game got the score it did. You can see my comment on the N4G link for the story. Without a doubt, Japanese role-playing games face more scrutiny over here then yearly releases of sports games and shooters. Reviewers over here clearly favor those types of games over anything (doesn't matter where it's from) that tries to be different or is something familiar.