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[djtiesto]

Western games tend to be really ugly. A lot of them try too hard to be realistic, but it ends falling into the uncanny valley or something like it.

The layer of abstraction and stylization that many Japanese games utilize has the counterintuitive result of making the world qnd characters more believable and easier to immerse yourself in.

Also, I'm a sucker for serious, grounded topics being presented in extraordinary and fantastic ways. Like tackling depression and the tribulations of interpersonal relations in a cartoon about giant robots killing giant monsters.

Also, how many noteworthy Western game composers are there? I thought about making a thread for this, but it seems appropriate here. The JP games industry has a number of legendary composers, but I can't think of any Western equivalents.

There are a lot of excellent western composers - Tim Follin, Spencer Nilsen, Chris Hulsebeck, David Whittaker, Jake Kaufmann, Jeremy Soule to name a few - the thing is a lot of them were mostly active in the retro European computer scene, which doesn't get discussed nearly as much as retro consoles do. Best music in western games is of course found in indies, too.

Yeah, don't kid yourself. For most of these people it's boobs. See the amount of bitching about "censorship" that happens when a character is even slightly covered up.

Yup, there's about 9 pages on other reasons than boobs why people prefer Japanese games. And since when are western games off the hook for that? The most popular female character out of the west is Lara Croft for chrissakes!

 

[Humdinger]

My answer to the OP would be

1. They seem more imaginative, creative, and original than Western games, which (at least in the AAA space) seem increasingly homogenized.

2. They often have a lighter tone to them, vs. the brooding seriousness you get in Western games.

3. There isn't the same emphasis on graphic, bloody violence (with some exceptions, of course).

#1 is the main reason for me. There is a freshness and originality to them. When I play a lot of Western games, I have the feeling I've played them before.

 

[RedSwirl]

Also, how many noteworthy Western game composers are there? I thought about making a thread for this, but it seems appropriate here. The JP games industry has a number of legendary composers, but I can't think of any Western equivalents.

Quite a few. They just don't get as much recognition. It's the same with western game designers in general really. They don't like to take individual credit as much because of the collaborative nature of game development. Many of the top western composers were also probably not as active in the console scene.

That's the thing in general: Most of the best western games ever made probably aren't console games.

 

[Spieler Eins]

Who else can make good bossfights and soundtracks that aren't just copying movie scores?

 

[martino]

IMO project management
Checklisting vs experimentation

 

[antibolo]

Because I'm a fucking weeb

 

[Pizza]

Here's my Grand Unification Theory of Japanese Games: High concept waifus with deep mechanical systems.

Ye

I think for me they feel more "gamey" than a lot of bigger western stuff

I think the indie scene is a free for all, isn't freedom planet a sonic-style game made by a western dev? And mania? Shout at me if I'm wrong please but yeah

Generally in western big pop culture lately we do crazy shit with two feet stubbornly in gritty reality. Even in the marvel movies that people praise as comic books af the spandex and pulp silliness is completely drained

Sci fi is like alien/halo/starship troopers/Star Wars usually and fantasy is some remix of gritty Tolkien

I feel like bigger Japanese studios are sometimes more willing to go in crazier directions both thematically, artistically, and gameplay-wise. Obviously that's not always true

I think if you lined up the cast of PlayStation all stars and Smash bros side by side you'd see a lot of the differences aesthetically alone just between popular Nintendo and Sony properties.

Cinematic narrative vs unfiltered gameyness

 

[Dice]

Being a weeaboo

You said what I was going to say.

 

[Stereogatari]

I feel that the top Japanese developers have a good understanding on creating well thought out level design and enemy encounters based around the limitations of the main character.

This sums it up very nicely.