Greetings and beatings, Chris of the Gesualdi Clan,

With all certainty, I can say two very contradictory things about the Japanese gamer.

1) They make us look like a bunch of wusses when it comes to game difficulty.

For every game that a reviewer states is too hard for us mere mortals to play through, there are approximately hundreds of Japanese kids who could do so with their eyes shut and both arms tied behind their back. In fact, they probably do just for the hell of it because the game is too boring. Seriously, I've watched multiple play throughs of Donpachi, Radiant Silvergun and every Metal Slug on the planet, on the same credit. I've seen people put any of the Bemani games up to 7X speed, dark mode, super random, etc. etc. and still manage to get S ranking. Ridiculous combos on every number of fighting games. It's the country that brought you the under 2 hour play through of Resident Evil/Biohazard, with only the knife for crying out loud.

And yet,

2) Whenever games get released here, the difficulty level is usually jacked up.

Sad but true. Chances are, that normal difficulty that's giving you so much trouble is probably the Japanese hard. Apparently, we're more apt to slog on through until we can beat whatever obstacle put before us. The Japanese gamer doesn't like to die and will lose interest if they do too much of it.

So let us recap,

1) The Japanese like a difficult game.
2) We get the harder versions.

Maybe it makes sense in bizarro world.

Cheers,

da_crank

I total agree how much of a smart idea it is to simple wait for a game
to drop in price or keep an eye out for deals and avoid paying full
price for a game.I found ICO about five months ago for only $15 at E.B and what a deal. I am sure when the game first game out it was at least $70 something Canadian so look at all the money I saved :)

BTW wonderful game, I total agree with you.

Chris

Howsit, Cris?

When it comes to the differences between Japanese gamers and American gamers I feel the easiest way to point out said differences is to look at the gaming industry surrounding them. In Japan one thing everyone always likes to comment on is how ridiculously many more games are released there as to us here. What does this mean? Well, for one thing just about anyone who as ever actually spent time looking at the import market knows that the glut of Japanese releases consists of 3 things. Super bad ass titles that get translated and released overseas (IE: Final Fantasy, Metal Gear). Sub-par shitty licensed anime games (think just about every Dragon Ball and Neon Genesis game... ever). And of course the shall we say unique titles that are normally too weird to ever see the light of day here (for a few that we actually know of think REZ, Animal crossing and .... hehe... Seaman.... ;) ). Out of these 3 groups there is one that easily surpasses them all in terms of what the market consists of. 90% of it is the stupid ass Licensed anime poo (note: I'm not an anime hater. So don't get me wrong, anime rules, but the games blow). And we bitch because we don't get as many games as they do. Boo hoo.

Now the American market basically consists 75% of what gets sent over from Japan. IE almost everything they make that is worth a damn. Then we have the glut of super bad ass games made in the US and Europe (GTA, Splinter Cell, prince of Persia, anything that involves a first person view and shooting stuff etc.). And of course small groups of shitty (mostly licensed) Nickelodeon/ power rangers crap.

So what do the markets say about the people they are catering too? Well for one, because Japan gets just about every game made under the sun they are pretty much obese with games. They no longer care about the quality because the sheer quantity of games demands that at least something is going to be worth a damn. And if not hey, atleast they get to mack on some more digital ladies in some stupid dating sim. If anything they are the equivalent of the spoiled little kid whose parents buy them anything they want Whilst here in America where we are practically starved for games in comparison. We desperately await the next morsel of gaming goodness to temporarily quench our ever-lasting lust for the next gem the game dev. gods of Japan taunt us with. And because we get sooooooo very much amazing A++ quality games (like I said we get almost everything good from Japan) we are extremely picky. We're the poor kid down the street who works the shitty paying paper route to afford the occasional game. And if we spend our hard earned money on some shitty game, well then sonny somebody is going to f*&king pay. While we get fewer games, we demand more of the quality. So in essence were sort of stuck up when it comes to games. I mean really, anyone who bitches about the quality of an amazing title like any Final Fantasy is a fool.

Also if you look at us culturally Japanese being more passive while Americans being more aggressive things make even more sense. The Japanese because of their passive culture (sorry if I'm delving too much into ethnic stereotypes, I mean no offense) they simply don't complain about what sucks. Where as us crazy aggressive Americans are pissed off at everything. Look how we utterly destroy any game that sucks. Hell any game that pseudo sucks we rip the hell out of. It takes balls to release a game here because quite frankly if it sucks. We will f*&king destroy you. I'm surprised Capcom had the balls to release another game after how pissed off the American gaming public was at Devil May Cry 2. Ok maybe a bit over the top but you get the point. The point? The Japanese gaming public has suffered from its glut of games, both the shitty and the awesome. They no longer are picky with quality and simply take what's handed to them because hell, they get everything anyway. Americans are simply rabidly demanding of our games. We want the best. Hell we want better than best. That and we bitch to damn much. :) The moral of the story? So what if some games like Final Fantasy X may or may not be up to par. At least we didn't get Cho Eniki.

-Rich Luckritz
aka
chaosMonkeyPoo

PS: Cho Eniki is an.... errr.... shooter game for PSone. Look it up an you'll understand ;)

Dude...

When you preorder a game you aren't actually spending any more money
than you would if you just bought the game at launch.  When I read the most recent collumn I got the impression that you didn't understand this concept.  See, when you spend the $5 to preorder you get free stuff AND it goes toward the total price of the game.  So if there is free stuff involved, and you are going to buy the game anyways, why not preorder?

--
Tim

Itagaki is an asshat. He's only saying that because he's pissed Japanese gamers aren't buying his games. Maybe if he'd develop for a system that had other Japanese developer support he'd sell more games there. He needs a muzzle or something so he can't have pissy tantrums like this anymore.

Who loves games more, the casual gamers in America who buy Grand Theft Auto or the people that stand outside for hours to get a new FF or DQ game? Who seeks out new things, American gamers who buy Grand Theft Auto: We're Running Out of Fictional Cities or Japanese gamers who buy Final Fantasy XXVIII? Neither are seeking new things. They want the same old franchises because they feel comfortable with them. Game companies, like all companies, care about making money. Because they about money, the game companies spoon feed us sequels, because they're almost a sure way to make money, and we eat them up. But it happens in both America and Japan.

Addendum: 1) Doesn't your $5 preorder deposit go toward the game? 2) FFX rules 3) ToS, while good, is not the greatest RPG ever 4) if he thinks DOA:XVB should be taken seriously he needs a punch in the mouth 5) #lh demands the control of the column because you are a slackermonkey!

- Zeth, who could kick Itagaki's pansy ass!