S&S News: Final Fantasy producer can’t tell the difference between European and American games
Speaking with NowGamer, Kitase said, “Recently I get a lot of questions that treat the term “J-RPG” in both positive and negative lights. Whether the term is used for better or worse, I feel that the fact that it recognises these games as being distinctly “Japanese” can only be a good thing. I often hear the term “Western style” being used as a comparison or counterpoint to “Japanese style” but am fascinated by this comparison and would really like to ask if there is a distinct “British style” or “European style” or not?
“For example, in the world of cinema there is the Hollywood film and then as a comparison there is say British or French cinema that clearly have different personalities and unique characteristics to them. If we look at music then British rock and American rock are also quite different.
“It is the same for sports… for example in say, motorsport the flavour of Indy car rallies is very different to F1 circuit racing. So basically for all other fields of culture, art and sport etc., even if they use that “Western” term to lump everything together, it is still understood that the character of North American works and European ones are distinct. Even Japanese people get that when we look at it.”
However, when it comes to games Kitase feels that there’s not enough to define games coming from different industries. He suggested that European studios try too hard to ape American styles and sensibilities. Kitase continued, “I personally think that for the games industry to spread and prosper as a form of art or culture then it needs to place value on diversity across different local regions. In that spirit I want to continue bringing out the unique flavour in our Japanese style of games.
“I would really like to hear from Europeans the name of the one game title that they feel really represents European games and is strongly rooted in their culture and am intrigued as to what that game would be. Please, I really want to know! vIncidentally, the game that I personally felt was the most “European” in character out of all those I have played was Alone in the Dark, released by Infogram 20 years ago.”
Very well said. I know there is a lot of debate about this topic among gamers. I hear a lot about how Western game companies now make way better games than the Japanese, or the other argument is usually that the Japanese will always be the best at making video games. I think a lot of it is personal preference. To me, I feel as though the Western and Japanese companies make really different games with individual styles and attributes. Is it really fair to say one region makes better games then the other? Is there really a set of guidelines to judge? I think orange juice is amazing, but should I say it's better than cranberry juice? It's my personal opinion.
ReplyDeleteI know there are a few European companies which get lumped up with the Americans, which isn't exactly fair either. The Europeans have their own unique style and way of creating games which makes their games unique and intriguing as well. I know a lot of people complained when Vatra Games worked on Silent Hill Downpour, but I personally liked SH Downpour. It was really different from the rest of the SH games, but I found it to be really enjoyable.
Thoughts on this topic?
You I actually feel that games are becoming too similar to one another. Just look at Japanese games, they have become less unique over the past few years. i.e. Final Fantasy
ReplyDeleteUgh. I know. I REALLY agree with you. FF has gone soo far down hill. I never thought I'd say that, since FF has always been my favorite series, but the series died after X.
ReplyDelete