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Should Anime Games Be Taken More Seriously?

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Anime style? So basically games made in Japan? Because there isn't really one style to anime/manga. Well that's just down to the individual games and seeing as many respect Japanese games this thread is odd.

If this was about anime licenses then the answer is very simple. Much like western licenses, the games tend to just be cheap cash ins to sucker in the fans. West or east, doesn't matter, it's usually just a lazy effort.
 

patapuf

Member
I don't think anime games have trouble getting taken seriously.

Unless they are based on an existing anime, in which case it's the same as movie games (ie. they are probably going to be terrible).

And unless they are so full of fanservice it gets distracting.
 
Uhm, I can't really think of many other games similar to Ni No Kuni, it is just an art style. I am not sure what makes you think that "anime games" are not taken seriously, since Ni No Kuni was a lot more hyped on GAF that any social or mobile game that probably makes a lot more money, sure not as much as other big games, but people were looking forward to it.

Now you probably have plenty of "anime games" that are actually based on anime but a lot of them almost feels like shovelware and I don't see why people should start to take them seriously. Even then the Naruto games still had a bit of hype since they looked so damn good visually. The DBZ games were hyped too, even though everyone knows they are crap, but DBZ is cool.
 

Akiller

Member
If this was about anime licenses then the answer is very simple. Much like western licenses, the games tend to just be cheap cash ins to sucker in the fans. West or east, doesn't matter, it's usually just a lazy effort.

This, but JoJo's ASB is rare example of how an anime game should be done. Unfortunately no SH will use that game ad a model :(
 
Maybe people would take "anime" games more seriously if the west didn't get the kind of tripe NIS America brings over like those Idea Factory games.
 
Maybe people would take "anime" games more seriously if the west didn't get the kind of tripe NIS America brings over like those Idea Factory games.

Ain't nobody gonna talk shit on Monpiece or Neptunia! Honestly, though, those and Atelier are kind of what most of those types of games are like, if you don't like them then it's not because you're missing some of the magical games from the glorious Nippon that bakamerica isn't localizing. They're all about that same level of quality, which I think is rather high.
 
Senran Kagura certainly deserves better than its 'fanservice anime game' tag it's known for; the production team really did try ot offer a good story and a balance between cute girls doing cute things and an harboiled ninja setting.
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Senran Kagura certainly deserves better than its 'fanservice anime game' tag it's known for; the production team really did try ot offer a good story and a balance between cute girls doing cute things and an harboiled ninja setting.

Its too bad they didnt put in more efforts with the animations and combat system as its still pretty bad. Wasnt too happy with my purchase of Vs when I picked it up to see how much the series had evolved.
 
It seems like many anime games are usually just bare-bones fighters or phoned in beat-em-ups or hack and slash games.

iMPSb4F.png


Meer-sama would like to have a word with you! :O

This is not Anime
Oh yeah?
 
Its too bad they didnt put in more efforts with the animations and combat system as its still pretty bad. Wasnt too happy with my purchase of Vs when I picked it up to see how much the series had evolved.

I really wish they upped the difficulty and made more various ennemy models :)
 

sn00zer

Member
Anime games can be shitty as hell and will still sell tons, or at least enough to be profitable....there is no incentive to make a god game

Even when a decent anime game comes around (Dragon Ball Budakai, nd Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm) the series gets so many half assed sequels until the point people stop caring
 

StayDead

Member
]Anime games can be shitty as hell and will still sell tons, or at least enough to be profitable....there is no incentive to make a god game[/B]

Even when a decent anime game comes around (Dragon Ball Budakai, nd Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm) the series gets so many half assed sequels until the point people stop caring

That's a really cool opinion to have I guess...

Most shit games in Japan don't sell. Just because something doesn't have to sell well to break even or make a profit doesn't mean they're bad games. They may not be to your taste, but they're still good.
 
I don't take western cinema trends more seriously than the ones in anime. At least with anime you can take most of the writing as tongue-in-cheek as opposed to western media where the writing comes off as pretentious.

If we're using quality as a basis for taking something seriously then we should remind ourselves of Sturgeon's adage, "90% of everything is crud."
 

Lusankya

Member
Anime games can be shitty as hell and will still sell tons, or at least enough to be profitable....there is no incentive to make a god game

Even when a decent anime game comes around (Dragon Ball Budakai, nd Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm) the series gets so many half assed sequels until the point people stop caring

So you say they're like AAA games?
 

wildfire

Banned
To answer the OP's question... nope.

20133107090952.jpg

I see a decapitated warg on her leg yet her weapon of choice doesn't allow for decapitations. Hmmmm


"Anime games" shouldn't be regarded as a single homogenous entity in the first place.

They should because whether you like it or not art direction matters in enjoying a game. People aren't bitching about realistic graphics for nothing. It's all about how you can get immersed in a world. The visual presentation can remind people of things that they don't want to think about.
 

Seraphis Cain

bad gameplay lol
Its too bad they didnt put in more efforts with the animations and combat system as its still pretty bad. Wasnt too happy with my purchase of Vs when I picked it up to see how much the series had evolved.

Of course. SK is from the developer of Oneechanbara. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of both SK and Oneechanbara, but I'm under no real illusion that either of them are particularly great games. But hell, SK is probably the best thing they've ever made, from a technical standpoint.

Gotta hand it to Tamsoft, though. They know what their thing is and they stick to it (SK, Oneechanbara, the Ikki Tousen games).
 

fvng

Member
Anime style? So basically games made in Japan?

is this serious.

there is a certain aesthetic style synonymous with anime. (The kinda shit you see from NIS, Tales series, etc etc). I would never tell anyone that Dark Souls or Metal Gear are in the anime style even though they are Japanese.
 
for clarification i will use this wiki definition as to what I'm referring to when i say "anime", or games based on a Japanese art-syle. I realize Ni No Kuni is not based on an existing manga or show, I'm using anime to encompass games such as Ni No Kuni which are done in the vein of the anime style. So my question applies to games based on anime shows, manga or the style of Japanese anime.
Pokemon was always taken seriously
 
Probably because most only appeal to a niche market? Dungeon crawlers like Ys and Visual Novels/Whodunnits like 999, Danganronpa aren't exactly in high demand in the West, add that to the fact most exist on handhelds now..
I highly doubt it's because people think they are sexist. Games like Mortal Kombat do pretty well despite the fact such assertions could be made.

This might be one of the biggest reasons - many of the best Anime-styled games are currently on handhelds or in genres not popular with too many people. On the other hand, games like Ys, 999 and so on don't even pop up in general public discussion about Anime games. Even here on NeoGaf you have topics on a regular basis asking where the good Japanese games have gone and people assuming the only things coming from Japan nowadays are Final Lightning Fantasy and Metal Gear (both not really fitting the bill of "classic Anime look") and Nintendo, which somehow rarely counts in discussion about quality games from Japan because of "international appeal such as Pixar"...

People are just tsundere for anime.

"I-i-it's not like I s-s-secretly watch anime or something. D-don't get the wrong idea, OK!? I was just passing by, that's all!"

I paraphrase that and interpret it as something - probably completely - different but I also get the feeling a huge part of today's gaming audience is very self-conscious about what they play and what others might think they are playing. As is, Anime is not a "cool" thing to like these days, games are though. Of course, there are people who just dislike the overall most cliché stylistics of Anime in general (which is not only the character designs, but also very often the colour palettes used, the way it's animated, the timing of interaction/gags). Of course, there's Anime which does not even look much like the Anime cliché would suggest. But: I like Anime style, but e.g. I don't like military styled FPS/TPS games. There are probably 100 different sorts of military styled FPS/TPS games and even some who are not at all cliché but I wouldn't know since I don't invest my time in research of a topic not interesting to me at all (I got pointed towards Spec Ops, though). So I get not wanting to invest time in something you're not inherently interested in anyways.

And then there's the negative cliché of "half naked girls, stupid companion monsters, colorful bullshit storylines". Since these negative clichés are somehow often picked up upon in general discussion (it is sadly part of our meme culture to point at Japanese stuff and say "LOL Japan so perverted so crazy"), people who are not as informed about the topic might just think "OK, this is embarrasing and I should not appear playing stuff like this." That would be like Justin Bieber suddenly producing a CD full of genuinly good songs of the quality usually ascribed to Pink Floyd or David Bowie (for me personally that is) - yet I'd still think "I can't buy this CD, it's Justin Bieber!". And then there's the crowd who actually likes a certain Anime stylistic, mainly the 80s/90s action Anime of lore (Akira, Bubblegum Crisis, Ghost in the Shell and so on) - and I would mostly compare that style to what we get from companies such as Platinum and to a certain degree Metal Gear Solid.

To wrap it up, I think there are people who don't dislike the looks of Anime generally and would probably dig a good JRPG or Anime-style Action game but refrain from buying/playing it because of the negative clichés of the artform. Playing an Anime game in the dorm or in front of a group of friends might be seen as potentially embarrasing. This has nothing to do with the neccessary reality of things - there are embarrasing Anime productions, there are profound Anime productions, there are Anime productions which stand among the best entertainment options available today - but with the perception of the reality by the mainstream audience.

I kind of feel like I have a love/hate relationship with it sometimes. There's a lot of anime junk that puts me off, but there's some great stuff out there and I generally like the basic style, even from said junk that puts me off otherwise.

There's the aspect that even fans of the genre (and I think it is difficult to speak of Anime as a game genre but let's go with it) are conflicted. I feel very similiar to you in that regard and I probably have a very thick skin. I even enjoy the occasional fanservice (I don't mean only the sexual kind... but also exhibition of many details and backgrounds in a game about giant robots or crossreferences to other japanese products) in my games if the game itself is still quality. In general, as some others have pointed out, it would be best to look at the quality of the game first and the style second. But these are intervened and style (also the technical aspect of it) is part of the perceived quality for most people, myself included.

To answer the question of the thread, I think Anime-styled games should be taken equally serious as any other game out there. The general misconception of Anime in gaming culture is similiar to the misconception of "violence in video games" in mainstream media. If someone thinks of it in such broad terms, maybe he/she should look a bit deeper.
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
is this serious.

Yes, because if you read on to the next sentence I said there really isn't one fixed style to anime. The OP says "games based on a Japanese art-syle" which is pretty broad definition which could include Japanese painting styles from all periods of history so one might as well say it as it is, games made in Japan.
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Of course. SK is from the developer of Oneechanbara. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of both SK and Oneechanbara, but I'm under no real illusion that either of them are particularly great games. But hell, SK is probably the best thing they've ever made, from a technical standpoint.

Gotta hand it to Tamsoft, though. They know what their thing is and they stick to it (SK, Oneechanbara, the Ikki Tousen games).

Did they do the latest Oneechanbara game Kagura? I laughed at how hilarious that was for the most part a 1 move game if you used Saaya and just kept doing Jump Triangle I think it was with her chainsaw. That shit would kill ANYTHING. Though if you tried at least the combo system was a lot better than what was in SK. SK hasnt really changed all that much asides from going from a side scroller to a more 3d action game. But unfortunately the attack animations have not been fixed up all that much or the animations in general. Plus the story bits still are seriously lacking with their choice of backgrounds and other things.

Its why Im concerned as fuck about the upcoming Neptunia game that they supposedly are going to be working on...
 
I paraphrase that and interpret it as something - probably completely - different but I also get the feeling a huge part of today's gaming audience is very self-conscious about what they play and what others might think they are playing. As is, Anime is not a "cool" thing to like these days, games are though..

I know people like this, they'll act like they don't watch this shit then will immediately start talking about whatever new shit they're watching. One guy I know made fun of me buying an Atelier game, even though he watches most of the same animes I do.
 
They should be taken as serious as the devs make them. Most anime games (talking about ones with no shot of coming out in the US) are trash games given to a terrible developer and made to get a quick buck off of JP idiots who simply must purchase anything associated with a property. The crowd that doesn't balk at paying $70+ for two episodes of a series. Those shouldn't be taken seriously.

Obviously something like Ni No Kuni where actual quality is being added into the equation should be imo.
 

docbon

Member
Does this anime game contain weird connotations of incest, or pantsu shots of my waifu lolicons? Are the characters written as if the author has had no social interactions with hoo-man beings in the real world?

If yes, then no.

If no, then yes, I can give it a fair shake.

That's pretty much it for my criteria. Creepazoid fanbases are irrelevant.
 
Once upon a time back when people used to rely on gaming magazines and word of mouth to find good games seeing anime characters on the cover usually meant you were getting a good game. It was like they were creating games with a world wide appeal.

But now it usually means you're getting a lot of weird insular shit in your game. A lot of jpop fashion, strange tropes and things that border on Pedophilia. I guess nobody is buying their stuff so they have to cater to a niche.
 
I don't believe your assertion that games with anime art styles or presentation tropes are limited to genres which any two people would agree are predominantly "serious".

I also remember lamenting in the mid 90s that games with anime art styles rarely got released in the west, at least not intact, so that's nothing new. Then as now, many great, "serious" games never made it to the west because of this. Then as now, the majority of games being released on either side of the world were actually not worth the hype. And of course something that's happened since 1995 is that now you can find out just about everything about a Japanese game before you import it.

There's nothing new about Japanese or western games coasting on thematic tropes, and in Japan as in the west many games have been able to sell gangbusters without having to actually have decent gameplay to back them up. On top of that, in the last 10-12 years, moe anime has proliferated in Japan, which has been an aesthetic turn off to many of us older anime fans. A combination of these two may be giving you the perception that anime games are taken less seriously by default, when it's actually still on a game-by-game basis for many of us.

To answer the OP's question... nope.

20133107090952.jpg

I don't think that actually answers his question at all, unless you're just responding to the thread title.

If a game is good, the art style ought not to matter.

Judge a book by its cover and this might end up happening to you.

I'm now going to refer to the Atelier series as Potions, Pie, and Profit
 

fvng

Member
Yes, because if you read on to the next sentence I said there really isn't one fixed style to anime. The OP says "games based on a Japanese art-syle" which is pretty broad definition which could include Japanese painting styles from all periods of history so one might as well say it as it is, games made in Japan.

I understand what you're saying. I don't think the term anime should be that broad, it shouldn't encompass all the varying styles of Japanese art styles. It would be misleading to tell someone that MGS has an anime art style.
 

frostyxc

Member
Seriousness is something that we should always take seriously. It is the depth, girth, and width of the whole universe. Without seriousness, who would make you feel bad when you make a joke about those chalky mints at the local cafe? Exactly.

As for Arnie May... that guy wants to filled with seriousness, but his hair is so ridiculous that I don't think that it's even possible. Look at it--it's like a bunch of feathers glued to a Chia Pet™! Despite that, we should respect Arnie's wishes and give him some seriousness. Like wasabi at a sushi train (not bang train, SushiLord69xxx!), you want to dab it in, not drop the whole lot into the soyshimi sauce. So let's all be kind and dab a bit of seriousness into Arnie May's life. Just a dab will do ya!

What in the heck is "anime"?!? Oh-ho-ho... Did you guy just Punk'd me?
 

MCD

Junior Member
I saw my friends play J Star something on PS3. I didn't know wtf the game was about but I shed tears seeing Gon.

I want it localized. WE need more Hunter x Hunter games.
 

Yuuichi

Member
I saw my friends play J Star something on PS3. I didn't know wtf the game was about but I shed tears seeing Gon.

I want it localized. WE need more Hunter x Hunter games.

J-Star Victory Versus. I've actually heard it's not very good and that the fun wears off fast, but it's up the person as always.

As for the thread itself, good games are good games, regardless of art style, and I feel that it's something some people just need to learn to look past. It's like not taking TF2 seriously because it has a cartoony style, the argument only really holds up because of American stigmas regarding Japanese style art.
 
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