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[Mung]

Whilst the domestic market remains weak, it seems as though Japanese devs have been killing it recently, and the line up early this year looks insane - Ni-Oh, RE7, Persona 5, Zelda, Yakuza 0, NieR Automata to name a few.

What do you guys think? It seems that after a long struggle with the move to HD, Japanese devs have finally found their mojo.

 

[Nuu]

Imo quality Japanese gaming never really left. They just focused mostly on handhelds rather than home consoles for the past ten years or so.

 

[Kyoufu]

It was always in form.

 

[Nights Owl]

Imo qualiry Japanese gaming never really left. They just focused mostly on handhelds rather than home consoles for the past ten years or so.

This. TBQH I have never preferred western made games to eastern.

 

[TheDinoman]

At the very least, the reception for Ni-Oh and and RE7 are encouraging. It's good to see Team Ninja and Capcom get their shit together for those games.

 

[Pagusas]

Still to early to tell until these games are out. Given that Square Enix is still in the trash can, any "back to form" would be bitter sweet without them.

 

[Jonneh3003]

Echoing what everyone else has said, Japanese developers have always been great. For instance Nintendo still offer some of the best games you can find.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I only play Japanese games right now. It just happens that GR2 and Yakuza 0 came out and that I still want to play RE7 and devote a lot of time to Nioh and NieR while waiting for bargain deals on Tales and KH. TLG and FFXV were the last games I played before these.

They didn't really leave, their main focus was handheld. Now they're back on consoles.

 

[Rezae]

I think there is general fatigue with a lot of Western IPs at the moment, and Japanese titles are getting more recognition again.

 

[Trago]

Japanese games are always good. They're just back on consoles, and finding new life on the PC platform.

Now, Japanese games being a dominating sales force like the past is another thing entirely.

 

[ponpo]

Thanks to Chunithm and Kancolle arcade, yes.

 

[Prithee Be Careful]

Gravity Rush 2, TLG and FFXV also really well recieved. Japanese devs are literally killing at the moment.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Still to early to tell until these games are out. Given that Square Enix is still in the trash can, any "back to form" would be bitter sweet without them.

They just made a critically and commerically acclaimed FF three months ago.

Spoiler

And here we go...

 

[Spieler Eins]

Yeah, good to see them finally back in full force on home consoles.

 

[mollipen]

As I tweeted recently:

NA Q1 2017
Fate/Extella, Wild Guns: Reloaded, Project Diva Future Tone, Gravity Rush 2, Resident Evil VII, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8, Nioh, Tales of Berseria, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5, Nier: Automata, DragonQuest VII 3DS, Yakuza 0, Digimon World: Next Order, Atelier Shallie Plus, Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns, Anima: Gate of Memories, Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, Touhou Genso Wanderer, God Wars: Future Past, Naruto Shippuden: Road to Boruto, Danganronpa 1-2 Reload, Atelier Firis, Summon Night 6 + more!

So sad Japanese gaming is dead.

 

[DriftingSpirit]

Still to early to tell until these games are out. Given that Square Enix is still in the trash can, any "back to form" would be bitter sweet without them.

Quite a few already released last month.

Damn, time flies. It is already February lol.

 

[GinoFelino]

They've always been great, but they've had an exceptionally good start of the year already and there's so much more to come.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

Many incredible Japanese games at the moment. If anything, the West is lagging behind. Japan's focus on good controls and oftentimes 60fps is amazing.

 

[HStallion]

It started even earlier than this year. FF XV and TLG being both so well received after such long waits in December was pretty amazing to see. The fact that its only continued into the new year and doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon is things really taking off again... though my wallet is fucking moaning right now and my backlog is gigantic once again.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Don't call it a comeback

 

[Nuu]

I will also add that Western gaming isn't in decline either. It's just migrated (returned?) to the PC and just digital download systems in general in a shift toward independent titles.

Being honest console gaming in general hasn't been "where it's at" in at least since 2010. Console gaming have declined not so much the developers.

 

[zelas]

OP i do believe japanese gaming has taken a back seat but I dont think a bunch of games being pushed to this quarter alone is really a sign that anything is changing. I mean just look at the rest of the calendar and see how limited in scope the remaining japanese games are.

Imo quality Japanese gaming never really left. They just focused mostly on handhelds rather than home consoles for the past ten years or so.

There are character actions games like DMC on handhelds? What about Souls-esque rpgs? Racing, sports, fps, tactical espionage action?

For certain types of gamers there are a lot of the same types of games in the same series but the genre variety and quantity we used to see up to about 2010 has fallen off drastically. In many cases there is absolutely nothing in certain genres from japanese or western devs.

 

[bobbychalkers]

A few notable publishers/devs stumbled a bit going into the HD generation but the overall quality never left.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

OP i do believe japanese gaming has taken a back seat but I dont think a bunch of games being pushed to this quarter alone is really a sign that anything is changing. I mean just look at the rest of the calendar and see how limited in scope the remaining japanese games are.


There are character actions games like DMC on handhelds? What about Souls-esque rpgs? Racing, sports, fps, tactical espionage action?

For certain types of gamers there are a lot of the same types of games in the same series but the genre variety and quantity we used to see up to about 2010 has fallen off drastically. In many cases there is absolutely nothing in certain genres from japanese or western devs.

There's still a shit ton of Japanese games slated for the rest of the year. "Scope shouldnt matter" everything doesn't need to be AAA

 

[Kingpin Rogers]

It was never out of form. All through this gen and the last almost all the games I played/play are Japanese developed. Kings of gaming.

 

[big_z]

It's back in form in the sense they moved past that "we need to copy the west"/market research game design phase. As a result the games are better, stand out more and do better in worldwide sales.

But the console market itself is still on life support in Japan.

 

[ironcreed]

Yeah, great games never really stopped coming out of Japan. There is just a larger influx of them right now. Which good to see.

 

[Freeman76]

It never lost form, we are just seeing more of their amazing releases again.

 

[Benzychenz]

Japanese gaming is lit af rn fam

 

[mortal]

The old guard of the 90's through early 2000's have fallen off.

It seems some smaller, lesser known developers have been putting in work over the last few years.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

It is now that the Home Country => Rest of World pipeline is up and going again strong (and we've not had that nasty anti-J-Game headwind in years) it is certainly a good showing after a rough patch there.

I mean, it wasn't Japanuary for nothing!

 

[Izuna]

You forgot Scaleb-- oh

But sure, yeah why not. NiOh and Nier are freaking brilliant.

 

[PSFan]

Imo quality Japanese gaming never really left. They just focused mostly on handhelds rather than home consoles for the past ten years or so.

Nah, they put plenty of great stuff out on PS3 and PS4. Lots of good niche JRPGs I love.

And its funny but I've never thought of Nintendo as "japanese gaming" because all their big IPs like Mario, Zelda and Pokemon are worldwide known entities.

Japanese gaming to me is stuff like Tales of, DQ, and Hyperdimension Neptunia.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

I disagree that this isn't something special. Look at the latest release of of high profile japanese games compared to output of the last 2-3 years:

- FFXV and The Last Guardian is released and ends up not being disasterous, despite having disasterous Duke-Nukem-Forever-Decade-Long-Hell-Cycles.

- Team Ninja makes their first truly good game in more than a decade.

- Best Yakuza is released, and has more good will and attention than all previous entries combined.

- FFXIV continues its strides

- Resident Evil 4 is return to form for a series that has lost its way for more than a decade. Not only was it return to form, it went to new places.

- Tales of Berseria is miles better than the any tales game for more than a decade.

- Gravity Rush 2

- Niet Automa creates incredible hype and interest. Seems really promising.




This level of output in the last few months is highly unusual. I feel there has been more slam dunks in these past months, than for quite a few years prior! I also feel as publishing efforts go, they are also getting better. You feel it- Square-Enix's investment efforts into Hitman and Tomb Raider are beginning to pay off. SEGA being behind Warhammer Total War- These are incredible games to be publishing. We're seeing japanese companies really knowing how to bet on western third parties.
We've seen this in the past from first party- Sony and Nintendo have had close collaborations in the past, but this is a new trend. As Japanese home console markets have been dying they've been clumsy at figuring out how and why to appeal to invest in western gaming audiences, but it seems to have paid off.


I look at some of the most highly anticipated titles; A new Zelda that looks more inspired than the last two Wii/Wii U efforts, Ni No Kuni, Death Stranding. It's.. It's impressive. It's a lot more impressive looking than much of the technical output prior. Still, if you remove SE and Kojima, you don't got a lot of good going on. Capcom is a major disappointment. Platinum Games has had some real stinkers. They still cannot really channel Monster Hunter Online or Dragons Dogma Online into franchises that compete with Korean and Chinese equivelents. Chinese online gaming is about to envelop and overtake the asian online market.

 

[The Dear Leader]

Not quite, but they are making strides the last few years. Still no where near the quality or breadth of the rest of the gaming world.

 

[gfxtwin]

Many studios are still struggling or gone completely compared to last gen and before (Platinum, Konami, Capcom, etc). What will happen to Metal Gear, Castlevania, Silent Hill, etc?

 

[HStallion]

Many studios are still struggling or gone completely compared to last gen and before (Platinum, Konami, Capcom, etc).

Konami is better off gone from the console/PC gaming space and Capcom just knocked it out of the park with RE7. If they can give us an awesome DMC5 and REmake 2 I'll say they're back even if SFV was a miss.

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

You just gotta know which developers and IPs to focus on to find quality Japanese gaming (PlatinumGames with Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101, and others, Team ICO with The Last Guardian, Team SIREN with the Gravity Rush games, etc.)

 

[Nuu]

OP i do believe japanese gaming has taken a back seat but I dont think a bunch of games being pushed to this quarter alone is really a sign that anything is changing. I mean just look at the rest of the calendar and see how limited in scope the remaining japanese games are.


There are character actions games like DMC on handhelds? What about Souls-esque rpgs? Racing, sports, fps, tactical espionage action?

For certain types of gamers there are a lot of the same types of games in the same series but the genre variety and quantity we used to see up to about 2010 has fallen off drastically. In many cases there is absolutely nothing in certain genres from japanese or western devs.

The fact that half of the genres you listed literally boil down to two, three, or even on franchise is telling. What the fuck is "tactical espionage action"? Were there any Metal Gear games besides Metal Gear? Let alone good ones? Japanese have never been known for sports or FPS but those aren't exactly rare today. Also "character action" is the dumbest shit I have ever heard of categorizong a genre as literally any game can be a "character action game".

Finally "scope" is what got the industry into such a mess. So many games are shoe hornong things like giant map sizes,non linearity, cratf systems, etc. when the core game either doesn't need it, or is outright harmed by it. Resident Evil VII is much smaller in scope than V or VI, yet it's a much better and influential game. It's why Nintendo os always relevant. Say what you want about them, but they don't chase trends and don't add features and fluff to their games if it interferes woth anything (outside of the occasional wacky controls bullshit, which much of the time can be turned off.)

Nah, they put plenty of great stuff out on PS3 and PS4. Lots of good niche JRPGs I love.

And its funny but I've never thought of Nintendo as "japanese gaming" because all their big IPs like Mario, Zelda and Pokemon are worldwide known entities.

Japanese gaming to me is stuff like Tales of, DQ, and Hyperdimension Neptunia.

That's kind of my problem with console Japanese games. Far too niche (and lack of polish) or a bunch of me too wanna be Western titles (which are inferior to the genuine article) .

 

[orochi91]

Japanese gaming is lit af rn fam

+1

 

[gfxtwin]

Konami is better off gone from the console/PC gaming space and Capcom just knocked it out of the park with RE7. If they can give us an awesome DMC5 and REmake 2 I'll say they're back even if SFV was a miss.

Mainly just wondering what will happen to current Konami franchises and the previous classics... Also RE7 didn't sell as well as capcom hoped at all, not sure how that will effect the series. IMO they also need to do something with Onimusha, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, etc.

 

[HStallion]

The fact that half of the genres you listed literally boil down to two, three, or even on franchise is telling. What the fuck is "tactical espionage action"? Were there any Metal Gear games besides Metal Gear? Let alone good ones? Japanese have never been known for sports or FPS but those aren't exactly rare today. Also "character action" is the dumbest shit I have ever heard of categorizong a genre as literally any game can be a "character action game".

Who gives a shit what a game genre is called? You seem to be nit picking the most pointless things and nit picking names of genres like that is the end all and be all.

Mainly just wondering what will happen to current Konami franchises and the previous classics... Also RE7 didn't sell as well as capcom hoped at all, not sure how that will effect the series...

RE7 is the best showing for VR by and far and I believe they have over 100,000 PSVR players. Its also got great reviews and word of mouth, I think RE7 is the return to form the series needed and bodes well for long term sales and eventual sequels.

 

[Corpekata]

It's a huge improvement right now when it comes to non-budget and handheld stuff.

 

[EdwardTeach]

...

This level of output in the last few months is highly unusual. I feel there has been more slam dunks in these past months, than for quite a few years prior! I also feel as publishing efforts go, they are also getting better. You feel it- Square-Enix's investment efforts into Hitman and Tomb Raider are beginning to pay off. SEGA being behind Warhammer Total War- These are incredible games to be publishing. We're seeing japanese companies really knowing how to bet on western third parties.

...

The decision making on total war, football manager and much else is all run from Sega Europe in London, and has little connection with Japan

 

[Dragun619]

It's lit.

 

[13ruce]

Yes there certainly is an increase in good japanese games compared to last gen imo.
Wich is great because i love japanese games.

 

[Vol5]

Great to see them simply doing what they do best and taking risks with their big titles.

I'm all in for Nioh next week, then Resi 7, then perhaps Gravity Rush 2 and TLG. Amazing.

 

[Lion Heart]

I believe so, and it makes gaming so much more interesting. Last gen was a struggle, so while they are killing it now, it should get only better here on out. Love it!

 

[jjonez18]

Japanese games are always good. They're just back on consoles, and finding new life on the PC platform.

Kinda one in the same. Having consoles/PC be viable allows developers to occupy/reoccupy that space. "Build it and they will come" type thing. Don't build it or don't foster a market and those games may not be there (at least not on those platforms or in console form. Like people are saying say mobile is king there).

If quality was constant, the quantity was what took a hit.

 

[Kodiak]

I personally disagree that Japanese games never left. They used to be the flagship games of the PS1 / N64 / PS2 era, but the developers never adapted properly to the first round of HD consoles. They really struggled with building engines for 360 / PS3, and basically ignored PC altogether.

And the whole "they moved to handheld" thing is true to a certain extent, but I think it's fair to say that it wasn't a golden age like the SNES or PS1 era.

So yeah, with engines like Unreal 4 seeing a lot of adoption in Japan, they have a solid entry point for making PS4 / PC titles. We are definitely seeing a comeback of truly exciting Japanese games rather than, "decent handheld game with PS2-era graphics"