Support NeoGAF

[Schmendrick]

East no question.
Western AAA had have to get over the ideological bullshit and rethink their development budgets before they'll be able to move forward again.

 

[Guilty_AI]

As much as like plenty eastern games, i feel the AA/indie western scene brings more genre variety to the table, as well as more interesting design usually.

Well, by "western" i mean anything made west of China minus Australia.

To add to this, i really think eastern developers need to be a bit more open to different genres or implement more creative ways to design their games. Nintendo and Kojima are pretty much the only ones who do this, perhaps a really small handfull of indie teams who add a little bit of creative design.

You never see stuff like BG3 or System Shock coming from the east, first person games are a rarity, despite there being so much action turn based you rarely see them trying their hands at tactical turn based (can only think of one or two from recent times), RTS are pretty much non-existent, etc.

Meanwhile i see plenty of indie and AA teams from the west gladly incorporating design elements and genres from eastern games, often improving on them in a variety of ways with amazing results.

In short, i feel eastern devs really should try their hands at different types of games. Especially since in the few times that they do, the results tend to be amazing.

 

[WitchHunter]

From has almost perfect track record, but with Elden Ring, while it looks gorgeous, they neutered the combat, thanks to the open world idiocy and the zero balancing.

SSM also has a good track record, but they do this flip flop thing, that is one good game, one mediocre game.

There are indie devs, who are almost perfect, but rather not name them.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

East has higher highs, but lows are so bad it's unbearable.

West is more safe but consistent.

Not sure which one wins.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Let's talk about great Eastern titles while ignoring the giant ass-blasting owl-bears(s) in the room.

Baldur's Gate 3, CP77: Phantom Liberty, SM2, etc...

 

[Lethal01]

Baldur's Gate 3

Great game, Japan has just been putting out far more great ones lately

 

[Krappadizzle]

Great game, Japan has just been putting out far more great ones lately

Name one that is on the scale, scope, and quality.

I'll say, I love the games in the op. Tears of the Kingdom is probably my 3rd favorite game of all time. But you guys are ridiculous in ignoring shit to fit a narrative that makes you feel some kind of way about a direction on a compass rose.

 

[Goalus]

There are some Japanese games that I like or even love, but overall the western games are better - even now, in the shackles of Woko Haram.

 

[Lethal01]

Name one that is on the scale, scope, and quality.

I'll say, I love the games in the op. Tears of the Kingdom is probably my 3rd favorite game of all time. But you guys are ridiculous in ignoring shit to fit a narrative that makes you feel some kind of way about a direction on a compass rose.

People are talking about who it making the better ones, and what I care about is quality, feels like the scale a lot of western games is hurting their quality making them worse to me than even Japans AA output

 

[Guilty_AI]

Name one that is on the scale, scope, and quality.

I'll say, I love the games in the op. Tears of the Kingdom is probably my 3rd favorite game of all time. But you guys are ridiculous in ignoring shit to fit a narrative that makes you feel some kind of way about a direction on a compass rose.

I feel the same. Its true a good portion of the AAA industry in the west became joke, but there's also been shittons of great quality games released from here in the half past decade or so alone.

And as great as some Asian games are, they often stick to their guns too much. We just don't see stuff like System Shock, Ctrl Alt Ego, BG3, Pathfinder, Factorio, Deep Rock Galactic, etc; coming out from there, even though we can see plenty of JRPGs, VNs, anime-inspired and nintendo-inspired games from the west.

 

[Krappadizzle]

People are talking about who it making the better ones, and what I care about is quality, feels like the scale a lot of western games is hurting their quality.

It's a sentiment I can agree with.

I feel the same. Its true a good portion of the AAA industry in the west became joke, but there's also been shittons of great quality games released from here in the half past decade or so alone.

And as great as some Asian games are, they often stick to their guns too much. We just don't see stuff like System Shock, Ctrl Alt Ego, BG3, Pathfinder, Factorio, Deep Rock Galactic, etc; coming out from there, even though we can see plenty of JRPGs, VNs, anime-inspired and nintendo-inspired games from the west.

Yup, for every Tears of the Kingdom or Elden Ring or Yakuza, we get trashy ass CAG or RPG's that are doing the exact same things they did 20+ years ago in the PS2.

 

[lughnasadh123]

Personally I like elements from both where each have their strengths. Overall though I'd give the nod to Western devs.

 

[Lethal01]

we can see plenty of JRPGs, VNs, anime-inspired and nintendo-inspired games from the west.

I agree with this, but I just don't think that the wests attempts at copying these games are as good and I prefer the styles of games japan often makes and would probably see it as a downgrade if there were more Japanese games copying western games.

So they arent as compelling to me, if somebody lived first person shooter I could understand their perspective, but also fuck 1st person shooters

 

[SmokedMeat]

What shitty examples of western games.

Instead of Baldur's Gate 3, Dead Island 2, Turbo Overkill, or Pacific Drive the examples are AAA junk like Assassin's Creed, Starfield, and Horizon.

Japan pumps out a lot of great shit, but it's also just as redundant as anyone else.
So while I can admit that Japan has arguably put out bigger quantities of solid games, there's nothing out of Japan that's as compelling as Pacific Drive or Baldur's Gate 3 for me.

 

[Oof85]

What shitty examples of western games.

Instead of Baldur's Gate 3, Dead Island 2, Turbo Overkill, or Pacific Drive the examples are AAA junk like Assassin's Creed, Starfield, and Horizon.

Japan pumps out a lot of great shit, but it's also just as redundant as anyone else.
So while I can admit that Japan has arguably put out bigger quantities of solid games, there's nothing out of Japan that's as compelling as Pacific Drive or Baldur's Gate 3 for me.

And the bolded is why I have traditionally always rocked with the east over the west.

I just cannot do fp pov.

And so many of the best in the west has that pov locked so that's a huge swathe of games that I can't enjoy.

Wish I could but it just doesn't work for me

 

[Guilty_AI]

I agree with this, but I just don't think that the wests attempts at copying these games are as good and I prefer the styles of games japan often makes and would probably see it as a downgrade if there were more Japanese games copying western games.

Despite what you think, 2 of the top 5 Visual novels in VN database are not from japan (Katawa Shoujo & Doki Doki Literature Club). Similarly on Steam, many of the best user-rated VNs are also non-eastern (VA-11 Hall A, Bag of Milk series, DDLC again, etc). So there's clearly a lot of love and respect for said attempts.

Aside from VNs, you'll also see games like Crosscode, Neon White, Stardew Valley, Long Live the Queen, Momodora, A hat in time, Undertale, etc. All greatly reviewed and respected games that drawn inspiration from classic JP games or aesthetics. Crosscode in particular is considered by many one of the best JRPG ever made despite not even being japanese.

 

[Yoboman]

West:

East:

Go figure.

West

East

 

[Saber]

West is an abobination of gaming. Rather then presenting a compelling stuff and entertaiment to their audince, they rather focus on delivering messages and being politically correct, to the point of damaging storic events and things people care about. All for the sake of a few person that don't give a fuck about about games.

East is based. It gives exactly what the player wants. No bullshit, no moral crap and no life lessons.

 

[Caio]

East easily. Not even close.

 

[drotahorror]

Western media is currently in a Dark Age. Eastern media is currently in a Golden Age. I'm not even a weeb, it's just the stone cold truth.

So that would explain helldivers

 

[Guilty_AI]

And the bolded is why I have traditionally always rocked with the east over the west.

I just cannot do fp pov.

And so many of the best in the west has that pov locked so that's a huge swathe of games that I can't enjoy.

Wish I could but it just doesn't work for me

I feel this problem happens mostly among people who are used to playing FP on consoles. FP games on consoles usually have abominable FOV, come with excessive motion blur at 30 fps and horrible control lag, not to mention the use of analogue sticks which is a compromise when compared with Mouse&Keyboard.

When i tried DOOM 2016 on the ps4 i came out with a headache within just 15 minutes of game. Tried again years later on a decent PC and loved it.

 

[Flabagast]

you should divide West in Europe and America.

Its really the American devs who have lost the plot, in Europe you have still pretty good things (BG3 recently)

 

[Guilty_AI]

you should divide West in Europe and America.

Its really the American devs who have lost the plot, in Europe you have still pretty good things (BG3 recently)

This is mostly true too. There's still great stuff coming from america, but its true a great portion of the bangers are European

 

[Dr.brain64]

I only play single player:
90% west
10% japanese

 

[devutos]

West


East

Those two Western games are both European though. Same for CD Projekt's games which are known to feature good looking women. American developers on the other hand have lost it

 

[WoJ]

Eastern dev games are by far the best it's not even remotely close.

Western Devs during the 360 era were ontop but slowly they were infiltrated and infected with political correctness and woke ideology and that bullshit should not be a thing in gaming.

This is the only correct answer. As someone who got tired of eastern games during the PS360 era only to discover Western games and realize I prefer them, I currently prefer Eastern games by a large margin.

Aside from them political correctness and woke bullshit Western games seem more interested in chasing GAAS trends and releasing crap that doesn't deserve the light of day.

 

[Wildebeest]

1. Eurojank (ex Ubisoft)
2. Canadian (ex Ubisoft)
3. Creepy Japanese games
4. Ameritrash

 

[Verchod]

They're both as bad. All sequels and remakes.

 

[nbkicker]

Eastern is the best, better story's then the west, who constantly trying to put a load of lbgt or diversity etc into the game when its not needed

 

[Doom85]

Those two Western games are both European though. Same for CD Projekt's games which are known to feature good looking women. American developers on the other hand have lost it

Rockstar Games are from Europe? Really?

 

[devutos]

Rockstar Games are from Europe? Really?

Rockstar North are the primary developers of GTA, as far as I know. They are, and always have been, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

 

[Flabagast]

West

East

Man chara design in Zelda games must be the worst in the entire industry

 

[Fbh]

Both are great.
Japan is the single country that makes the most games I like though, as for the "the west" to compete you need to put together teams from all over the world like Belgium (Larian), Poland (CDPR), Australia (Team Cherry), USA (Santa Monica, Mobius Digital, Supergiant, etc), Rockstar (USA + Europe)

 

[Flabagast]

Rockstar Games are from Europe? Really?

Yes they are, at least the core studio, you dumbass

 

[midnightAI]

Who cares? So long as both are coming to your console of choice/pc then why does it matter? Why is it always a competition?

Both do good games, both do shit games

 

[devutos]

Yes they are, at least the core studio, you dumbass

And the creative force behind the games, the Houser brothers are from London. GTA's always been a parody of America as seen from Britain, but I guess many people don't really know that.

 

[Aces High]

Rockstar Games are from Europe? Really?

GTA is made in Edinburgh, Scotland.

15 years ago, a couple of friends and I were on vacation there and flipped out when we saw their building.

We asked if we can come in to take a look at the new GTA.

The security guy said something like "Dinnae fash yersel, it's gonnae be pure brilliant. Noo, awa' wi' ye."

We saw (now) King Charles and Camilla in the castle later that day but he ignored us. Probably because we were doing suggestive poses with his guns.

Those were the times...

 

[StereoVsn]

Let's be fair, there have been pretty great games by Western designers in the last few years. My favorite examples would be Baldur's Gate 3, Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, Hogwarts (hopefully sequel will have better Open World), and Victoria 3 (despite Vicky's issues).

W40K Rogue Trader is another one, but I am waiting for more time to play and more patching. There are additional strategy games that have been excellent releasing in last few years as well.

All that said, if we are looking at mainly console gaming output, then yeah, Japanese (mainly) games have been killing it, and now we have more games coming out of S.Korea and China (that aren't grindy MMOs/gatcha).

Edit: Talking mainly SP games here. If we go MP route there are more good Western examples.

 

[Krappadizzle]

GTA is made in Edinburgh, Scotland.

15 years ago, a couple of friends and I were on vacation there and flipped out when we saw their building.

We asked if we can come in to take a look at the new GTA.

The security guy said something like "Dinnae fash yersel, it's gonnae be pure brilliant. Noo, awa' wi' ye."

We saw (now) King Charles and Camilla in the castle later that day but he ignored us. Probably because we were doing suggestive poses with his guns.

Those were the times...

I know these are all words.. I just don't understand anything you said.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

ehhhhh. This is not new. Japan has been dominating gaming for a few years now for anyone noticing.

Gaf is living in a bubble. The vast majority of major titles carrying the industry are Western:

- COD
- Fortnite
- Fifa
- GTA
- LoL
-WoW
- Apex Legends

But again, Nintendo is the odd one out.

 

[Mung]

East, by a long way. The swagger and confidence is back.

Many western devs are having problems delivering high quality finished games at the moment, and are chasing trends to their own detriment.

 

[StereoVsn]

Despite what you think, 2 of the top 5 Visual novels in VN database are not from japan (Katawa Shoujo & Doki Doki Literature Club). Similarly on Steam, many of the best user-rated VNs are also non-eastern (VA-11 Hall A, Bag of Milk series, DDLC again, etc). So there's clearly a lot of love and respect for said attempts.

Aside from VNs, you'll also see games like Crosscode, Neon White, Stardew Valley, Long Live the Queen, Momodora, A hat in time, Undertale, etc. All greatly reviewed and respected games that drawn inspiration from classic JP games or aesthetics. Crosscode in particular is considered by many one of the best JRPG ever made despite not even being japanese.

Yep, recent Chain Echoes and Sea of Stars were some of the best modern JRGS and they aren't made by Eastern devs as far as I know.

At the same time I have been playing Wandering Sword a bit and it's an awesome Wuxia game. So both East and West have their strengths. I do wish Western devs got off their Woke DEI high horse though.

 

[Punished Miku]

There's plenty to play from both. Like 95% of indie games are western and they are extremely creative. AA stuff like Jusant, Robocop, indies like Dredge, Cocoon. A lot of people are ignoring all that stuff and exaggerating.

Japan is always great, particularly Nintendo. But we also get a lot of time wasted on remakes this gen. And a lot of crap games come from Japan too.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

East:

West:

 

[Denton]

People really need to stop conflating "american" with "western".
The poll results only makes sense if it is considered as US vs Japan

 

[Doom85]

Rockstar North are the primary developers of GTA, as far as I know. They are, and always have been, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

But their headquarters are in New York. You really think the top dogs of the company wouldn't review the trailer to the sequel of one of the most financially successful games of all time before releasing it?

 

[Doom85]

Those two Western games are both European though. Same for CD Projekt's games which are known to feature good looking women. American developers on the other hand have lost it

Also Overwatch still has some new good looking women. Kiriko is super cute, and Sojourn is THICC.

Also, I mistakenly thought Dead by Daylight was made somewhere in Europe, but nope, they're Canadian. And they definitely have a lot of attractive female survivors in the game.

 

[devutos]

But their headquarters are in New York. You really think the top dogs of the company wouldn't review the trailer to the sequel of one of the most financially successful games of all time before releasing it?

No, when did I say that? SIE is based in California and they approved and are publishing Stellar Blade, doesn't mean any of their US-based studios would have ever made anything like that. It's not the companies that have lost it, it's the developers, the people that develop the games. They are not being censored, having 'realistic' women is just what they believe is 'right'.

 

[ByWatterson]

East.

But better question is USA vs. Europe. For some reason, Europe is absolutely crushing the US right now in creativity, risk-taking, innovation, and creating zeitgeist. I assume it has something to do with lower salaries and therefore budgets, but from Helldivers to Baldur's Gate to Alan Wake, there just a lot of interesting coming out of Europe.

 

[Doom85]

No, when did I say that?

It was a hypothetical question.