We have a lot of catching up to do to Japan. Here, we just come out with these same, stale ass games. "Oh, unlikable protagonist who I'm supposed to be rooting for but really can't but I'm just missing out on something beyond the surface. Ok, well guess I'll shoot everything in sight. The end." These Japanese games coming out this year (and next) are going to shit all over the western-based games from the highest plateau. MGSV, Final Fantasy XV, Persona 5. These games all have swag through the fucking roof. The know what they are, and they aren't apologetic about it. And that's the kind of shit I want. I don't care - good, bad, whatever - I want something new, something blue. Fresh experiences that I can't get elsewhere. Metal Gear: What game out there is going to give me a crazy deep storyline with badass characters, sweet tunes, photorealistic visuals AND strap a balloon to a dude and tell him that he's one of the good guys now. Persona: What game is going to let me play as Harry Potter? Final Fantasy: Where else am I going to find a game with as big and fantastical a world with on-the-fly battles that have the potential to surpass the systems implemented in some of the best ARPGs the industry has ever seen? Japan's biggest and most iconic titles are getting their grove back and are going to be hard for anyone who calls themselves a gamer to pass up on.
Word.
Mainstream games are so boring man. Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and Minecraft are all stale as fuck, and I've played each of these series for an extensive amount of time. AC2 and CoD4 are some of my favorite games last gen, but the developers are too lazy to come up with new stuff. AC putting dumb tower defense minigames in their games and CoD living off of Multiplayer and Zombies is exactly what I'm talking about. At least Minecraft was something new and fresh and though I don't care much for it anyway. And the funny thing is that people like to complain about Kojima always making Metal Gear, but they'll buy all the other shit up at a moments notice.
And now CODAW is copying off Halo and Titanfall and people are calling that shit new get the fuck outta my face with that.
And word.
I don't even get the argument, that pops its ugly head now and then. The only thing western games have ever accomplished, even the best of them, is pushing the visuals, but they all wish they were as focused and as mechanically sophisticated as Japanese games.
This one is gonna be a very strong year for Japanese games. MonHun4U, MM3D, Bloodborne, P5, DMC4SE, MGSV, XCX, ZeldaU, SFV, potentially FFXV, Scalebound and Deep Down, these are all quality games, with gameplay you can't find in the western games.
Exactly every Metal Gear is UNIQUE. None of them play like the others. That's the difference. Kojima knows he can't get funding for other titles besides so he innovates within his own series.
Been saying that for a long while, but completely gave up because people will simply not listen. Been saying it for many Japanese series, including many Nintendo series, so the argument is shot down simply because of Nintendo bias.
Many Japanese creators innovate in their own series. Aonuma does it, Koizumi does it, Mikami does it, Miyazaki does it, as you said Kojima does it, and funnily Kamiya takes a reverse approach, meaning making new games but borrowing stuff from his earlier games.
It is indeed true that unlike the known western AAA series, Japanese series sequels are not rehashes and always introduce new mechanics.
Gameplay is still king in Japan and that's why i still fanatically play their games.
Edit: Before i got jumped on, when i say western games i mean AAA, ultra hyped, bloated, photo-realistic messes. There are ofc great western games throughout the history of gaming, and unfortunately they usually sell like shit and their devs hardly get any credit.
