Setting Sun - On Final Fantasy And Western Design Philosophies

Thanks to 1UP for its feature discussing the still-declining state of the Japanese videogame industry, despite recent figures showing a small increase in sales for the first half of 2004. Nevertheless, it seems that "Japanese hardware and software revenues [were] down 11% in 2003 and nearly 40% since the peak of the PlayStation generation in 1997". The piece muses on reasons for the decline: "Complex, lengthy, story-driven [Japanese] games demand an awful lot of care and feeding these days, and often offer paradoxically little replay value... [whereas Western developer] DMA Design hit on a formula with Grand Theft Auto III that... offers activities suited to both long stretches of gameplay and short sittings of cruising or random action." In a similar vein, a OPM-reprinted column from Andrew Vestal suggests a solution: "One possible catalyst [for design change] is the upcoming Final Fantasy XII. In an interview, character designer Akihiko Yoshida readily admits that 'many team members are huge fans of non-Japanese games,' and... the game disposes of large parts of console-RPG design expectations." He concludes: "It's possible the game will act as a Trojan horse, introducing Western design philosophies to a wide swath of Japanese gamers and designers."

Comments

Re:Western vs. Eastern..

[hoferbr]

Best stories you've ever experienced? I felt totally bored after a few hours. Japanese games have a tendency to add philosophy into the script. It is like reading Pleateu with a few monsters battles here and there.
Japanese game designers think they are starting a new intellectual trend. Just think about Metal Gear Solid 2. A wonderful game engine & design put to waste because of a terrible story line.
Give me some Miyamoto games where all I need to do is rescue the princess (Peach or Zelda).