What do we know about Japanese games? Almost nothing, excluding memes with Dante and other iconic personalities from video games. In this article, I will try to convey to you what the Japanese stand out from other industry figures.
Act I: Design
We, choosing the next plot game for passing, often look at how it looks: elements of her environment, characters and overall picture. The Japanese, unlike their Western brothers in arms, often create characters of too expressive, hyperbolized and colorful. The answer to the question "Why?»Lies on the surface: the craving of the Asian spirit to give away from reality and can be traced in all aspects of their life: from art, writing and theatrical productions, ending with the anime and surrealistic legends of synthoid, the time and respect for which is still surrendered.
I believe that you will not deny that the man depicted above is a chance to confuse with some work of Michelangello or another significant artist of the old times. Here lies the main difference between the Asian approach to design from the Western. Surrealism in its purest manifestation: an elongated spine with the head and a strange expression on the face.
In what western game can you meet a chirler who cuts the dead, at the same time is strange, but at the same time attractive as much as Dante Aligieri himself did not describe his beloved beautifully?
You obviously ask the question “why should I even devote time to some project from a Japanese alcoholic, which generally went to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, when I can have the same success to re-ask Skyrim or the Witcher for the hundredth time?", and I will answer you,- in 2023 there will be a remake, but most importantly, this is that the Japanese are not afraid to experiment. The Elder Scrolls formula from part to part of the part did not change in any way, occasionally adding some “hymics” to simplify the gameplay or changing the development approach, making your game more pleasant and more understandable.
Based on, I can name dozens of projects that were evolved from part to part: only the “final box” has grown to the sixteenth part to such a scale that Baldur`s Gate III simply smokes nervously on the sidelines. It was the Japanese industry, not afraid of something new, who gave us Solid Snayka, Leon Kennedy, Chun and the rest of the recognizable personalities. Their design is expressive, it is grandiose, but at the same time very simple and understandable, this is not a shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles, which turns out to be a vessel for God, and the whole adventure from the beginning was essentially dead. Sometimes Japanese can make incomprehensible creatures, and sometimes quite obvious and understood heroes, on which it is nice to watch and play for them.
Act II: Development approach
Often, when we hear about eminent developers and studios, we recall Hideo Kojimu, Todd Howard, John Romero or the conditional Sid Meyer. At the moment, I want to abstract from famous personalities and concentrate your attention to those who are most likely known to you.
I’ll start with the ATLUS studio and Katsura Khashino, the leading director of Persona 3.4.5 and Catherine. In his interview with the Archipel YouTube channel, he tells that his main idea in creating games is not what a gameplay or a conditional plot will be in them, but through which he and his team, what they disturbed, how they coped with various problems in their lives, and that they wanted to show and convey to their project. The main idea of his works is to show the consumer that the world is not divided into black and white, and that even the most avid criminal, having suffered punishment and accepting his sins, has a chance for atonement and a new, pure life.
Speaking of Persona 5, yeti-win-casino.co.uk you cannot mention its design: it is magnificent. Many journalists and players identify that they did not have to play such stylish projects to the fifth person, but we read the design branch, so we are moving on.
The main thread that binds directors is how they “train” their team to do something not something that will be sold well, or it will be warmly accepted in the West, because the first part of the same Dragon Quest was released three years after the release at home. Japanese, I am not afraid to use this phrase for the third time, are not afraid to experiment. Although the whole plot in the same JRPG usually goes to kill the next god and save the Universe from destruction, everything else in the game is permeated with copyright skill and the ability to lure the player to stay longer and learn more about this amazing world. Of course, almost constantly, side quests in Japanese games are dull grind and something that I don’t want to touch once again, but there are exceptions. In the same Deadly Premonition, side quests perfectly complement the main plot and bring to the game process of diversity.
Hidetaka Suehikhiro, Director of Deadly Premonition, D4: Dark Dreams Don`t Die, The Missing and other unknown projects.
More on the boot screen The Missing: J.AND. Macfield and the Island of Memories player notify that this game was made to show that a person is free to be what he wants initially. You are unlikely to guess what the plot of Deadly Premonition leads to, because the story is so confusing and intertwined with the author’s schizophrenic handwriting to such an extent that it is difficult to distinguish reality and fiction: this is where his projects are clinging to this. He spreads their souls in them and, unfortunately, many years of experience in alcohol. We wish him a speedy getting rid of alcohol dependence, and I remind you that alcohol is harmful to your health.
The projects of this person are very extravagant and do not have such public recognition as the conditional projects of his Tyoski, hidetak Miyazaki.
Although recently, referring to the projects of Miyazaki, believing that this is "difficulty for the sake of complexity", I cannot help but notice the contribution and works of this person. His games taught me to vacuum the locations, looking at every corner and growling in search of useful objects. This is undoubtedly good, because now I devote more time to explining and notice the little things that I did not have much more. Hidetaka popularized the Great Fantasy genre in games and brought once unknown games for the title of game of the year twice on The Game Awards.
The ENT in his games is spelled out so scrupulous that George Martin himself smokes at ice and flame with his songs. When you go to the next arena with the boss and begins to play this Orthodox choir, you penetrate with goosebumps, but at the same time you understand that you will listen to this music at least a few tens of minutes.
Act III: Musical and sound accompaniment
One of the most important aspects in video games that distinguish them from other forms of art is music and sounds. Whether it is emotional moments, a battlefield or simple elements of the environment, we always want to hear something suitable, not just that it coincides in the mood, but through which you can tell a story without pictures and dialogs. You do not think in any case, I do not belittle the dignity of the song by Provocilli or "Country Roads, Take Me Home", everything is actually simply and understandable: Japanese composers live by music, which they create. If with the past points I could comply with you, then with music? Well, here alas.
Whenever I go to the final battle with the boss from any part of Yakuza, I understand that for the next 10 minutes my ears will be in wild ecstasy, and the mood is so powerful that I seem to be able to lay Tamison T -shirt. If you suddenly doubted, then here: https: // www.YouTube.COM/Watch?V = BHH7B8SGYD8 & T = 136S. And God forbid someone to call it "Generic Sound".
And this is not only about combat topics: Japanese games completely and completely give the atmosphere with the help of sound and music. In the latest Zelda, sound is your companion, which helps you navigate, in The World Ends With You is singing about the events of the game, in Persona 5 about the already mentioned change in the worldview, in Xenoblade Chronicles music, which is generally intended for all occasions, and so much to infinity.
A special approach to music in the east, sometimes you think that this game was made to the soundtrack, and not vice versa. Of course, there are also many good representatives in the Western segment, but, unfortunately, they are not even close to the scale and scrupulous work of Japanese developers.
Unfortunately, a large amount of work does not always benefit such games, but we, not very smoothly, go to the next act.
Act IV: obvious shortcomings
Duration is subjective. If a person plunges into an adventure that goes for more than 50 hours, the question of “jerking off” the game as soon as possible, sometimes slip through his thoughts. To dig up to duration as such, I think there is no sense in much. If a person likes most aspects in the game, he will pass it without problems from beginning to end.
Tighten is a different business. Each time you play a lot of hours to the game that you like and at the end begins the throttlemotine, the idea of just watching the plot on YouTube, and to abandon the case with the end. And this is the problem of all big games. Often, I, passing the next RPG for many hours, caught myself thinking that the ending could be done earlier, and some aspects could be shortened at one and a half, or even two times less. Again, there are many hymics that were useful once, twice per game, and they took with their own quantity, not quality, which could upset.
There are sometimes so many dialogs between characters in JRPG that you can inadvertently press the rewind button and save yourself from this excessive madness. The things are the same with the characters, but the situation here is ambiguous: in the third person you have about ten saboens, and again, it takes in quantity. Some dog, boy, drug addict, think if you need it all at all? On the contrary, in most projects, the characters are well spelled out, and have their own character, mood, and, most importantly, it is pleasant to observe their dialogues, even despite the fact that sometimes they sit in the stoves.
Act V: characters
The main feature of Japanese games is her characters. This is well traced through the prism of games whose characters you can lose in battle forever. As an example, I will take a series of Fire Emblem, where when it reaches zero health, all the accumulated objects, and most importantly, the clock spent with the character, you lose it once and for all. Because of this "chip", you will think a hundred times before sending it to the front line.
Due to the average and long duration, the characters are with you for a long time and have enough time for disclosure, to remember them always warmly and pleasant.
Act VI: final
If you read it before this moment, and you did not have the opinion that the author of the article is a schiza geek, then congratulations, you are a born player in Japanese games. I hope that you liked the article and changed your attitude to the Japanese industry at least on iot. I prepared the article, Danil Avdeev, I hope that we will still see you!