Japanese Developers Going into the toilet in regards to quality? Sound off!

[BC_Gambit]

I've been thinking more and more about how all the "good" games used to come from Japan (this was after playing the Capcom Classics collection again).

Now, it seems a good game is accidentally leaked from Japan once in a blue moon.

I'm not sure where to start my rant, but it may as well be here:

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/bombermanactzero/review.html?sid=6157029

Bomberman act zero for the 360. I'll admit I haven't played it, but it seems to suffer from several symtoms of what can only be called "Japanese Developer Disease (JDD )".

Lets see: It has a ridiculously retarded difficulty in that the single player gives you one life, no saves and is 99 levels long. Wow, that sounds fun, where do I sign up for that? Add to that the bad camera, no muliplayer on the same console, and xbox1 quality graphics and you have steaming pile of crap.

Oh, but they did have time to program bouncing breasts for the female character models. Good to see where their priorities were

Lastly, its a bomberman game. A game that was fun and pretty much perfect on a SNES , yet they managed to screw it up big time.

What is my point? I'm just asking all of you to try and remember the last Japanese game you really liked. I know RE4 was supposed to be the shiznit, but I haven't played it.

I think the last Japanese game I was jazzed about was Ikaruga. That was what, 4 years ago?

Have all the Japanese game companies (Sega, Capcom, Square, Nintendo, etc..) slipped into a pile of manure? Am I just old and crusty? Sound off !

 

[El_Duque]

When I think of Bomberman, I quickly think of the little guy with a big head and 2 dots for eyes and not some Metroid looking thing.

 

[Korigama]

As far as I can tell, Capcom's still in pretty good shape. Minus Yakuza (and likely VF5), I can't really say the same for Sega.

 

[Loopz]

I disagree vehemently.

Katamari D, We <3 Katamari, Tekken 5 are all excellent Japanese developed games from Namco.

Dead Rising is an excellent brawler-style zombie game from Capcom.

Gradius V from Konami/Treasure? Fucking awesome.

KOFXI and SS Tenka are the best efforts yet from Playmore.

Dragon Quest VIII from Squeenix is perhaps my fave JRPG of all time.

I think they go through ups and downs, but to say the overall output of Japanese developers is worse than the past is basically wrong. It sounds like you may just be pining for the golden era of 2D, which is an entirely different issue.

 

[Loopz]

I've been thinking more and more about how all the "good" games used to come from Japan (this was after playing the Capcom Classics collection again).

Now, it seems a good game is accidentally leaked from Japan once in a blue moon.

I'm not sure where to start my rant, but it may as well be here:

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/bombermanactzero/review.html?sid=6157029

Bomberman act zero for the 360. I'll admit I haven't played it, but it seems to suffer from several symtoms of what can only be called "Japanese Developer Disease (JDD )".

Lets see: It has a ridiculously retarded difficulty in that the single player gives you one life, no saves and is 99 levels long. Wow, that sounds fun, where do I sign up for that? Add to that the bad camera, no muliplayer on the same console, and xbox1 quality graphics and you have steaming pile of crap.

Oh, but they did have time to program bouncing breasts for the female character models. Good to see where their priorities were

Lastly, its a bomberman game. A game that was fun and pretty much perfect on a SNES , yet they managed to screw it up big time.

What is my point? I'm just asking all of you to try and remember the last Japanese game you really liked. I know RE4 was supposed to be the shiznit, but I haven't played it.

I think the last Japanese game I was jazzed about was Ikaruga. That was what, 4 years ago?

Have all the Japanese game companies (Sega, Capcom, Square, Nintendo, etc..) slipped into a pile of manure? Am I just old and crusty? Sound off !

I also wanna add that Bomberman Zero is an anomaly as far as J-developers taking a dive. A wicked awful one to be sure, but really just an aberration.

If you include the slew of awesome DS games into the mix, it just furthers the case for Japanese devs NOT losing their punch.

 

[not sonic]

american games are still as much ass as ever though.

oblivion? garbage.

will american developers ever create a game that doesnt use fps controls?

 

[hermegildo]

Japan makes better games than the US.

No big secret behind that.

 

[BC_Gambit]

I disagree vehemently.

Katamari D, We <3 Katamari, Tekken 5 are all excellent Japanese developed games from Namco.

Dead Rising is an excellent brawler-style zombie game from Capcom.

Gradius V from Konami/Treasure? Fucking awesome.

KOFXI and SS Tenka are the best efforts yet from Playmore.

Dragon Quest VIII from Squeenix is perhaps my fave JRPG of all time.

I think they go through ups and downs, but to say the overall output of Japanese developers is worse than the past is basically wrong. It sounds like you may just be pining for the golden era of 2D, which is an entirely different issue.

I admit I enjoyed the Dead Rising demo, and have tried to rent the game ( its been always out at the multiple video stores I've casually checked).

However, the bizarre timed gameplay, the annoying cell calls and the one save game all scream "JDD Syndrome".

Oh, but they let you restart the game at any time and keep your stats! Woohoo, why don't they just let me play the game in a way that doesn't make me want to punch out the TV?

I thought about Playmore and Namco, but they haven't done much new stuff lately.

I thought about katmari, but I haven't played it.

Is KOF11 a "new" game? I don't know. I enjoy Namco light gun games, but I'd say there isn't a lot of new there either.

Besides I'm not saying every Japanese game is crap. I'm just saying the Japanese game developers seem to have the same or worse crap:gold ratio that big NA companies like EA have coasted on for years.

 

[jeff bogard]

I heard really good things about Okami...

And God Hand looks really interesting...

Twilight Princess is coming out as well...

Winning eleven 9 vs 8 isn't much of an upgrade and i haven't played 10. But i heard it still owns Fifa.... (probably my favourite Konami Franchise)

So, i don't know..

 

[toy_brain]

Ummmm...........

Nahhh.
I dont think its that the quality is decreasing, I think its that general market expansion means we see more of the stuff we wouldnt have 10 years ago.

Looking at my collection of Capcom games, most of them are either perfectly good, or at least interesting in a slightly failed way (the latter being Under the Skin). Inafune continues to deliver satisfying violence in all his 3D action games, and while Onimusha4 was a bit of a let-down, Resi is still going strong.

Konami's output has been pretty good too. Kojima stuff is obviously still a major strong point (I'm not a fan personally but plenty others are) as are the Castlevania games and the last 2 Contra's on PS2 were perfectly good (Neo Contra was a bit easy though), as was Gradius V

Similarly Namco has being doing well. The Time Crisis games have always been good in the arcade and even better in the home conversions, and of course there is Katamari, and also their fighting games. Sometimes it feels like they rest on their laurels with the odd sequel (Tekken 4 and SC3 perhaps) but they recoverd with Tekken 5 and hopefully they will do the same with Soul Calibur.

Sega...Hmm, they havent been hitting a whole lot of home-runs lately, but the AM2 division is stil going strong with Outrun2 and the Virtua Cop/Fighter series.
Sega's main problem has been that Sonic just never made the transition to 3D very well, and Sonic Team in general has had a number of duff games.
Still, their Initial-D arcade games have been well recieved, as has Ghost Squad, and Yakuza is picking up good reviews.
I doubt Sega will ever return to Nintendo-levels of brilliance (no I'm not a nintendo fanboy) but I rather like what Sega is doing now - rehasing their old IP's for 'surefire' profits on one hand, while trying something new and sometimes failing on the oher.

Meh, I could go on and on really, but I dont see the point.
Its possible that the need to appeal to a more worldwide audience is landing some japanese games in direct head-to-head comparrisons with westen games, and lack of genre experience on the Japanese part is what's causing the criticism.
For example, the Japanese are relatively new to the FPS/3PS genre and sometimes seem almost adverse to it, so games like Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex seem amatureish when compared to, say, Max Payne.
Then again, how long did it take Midway to turn Mortal Kombat into a series that could even begin to compete with the most run-of-the-mill Japanese fighting game?
Exactly.
So, as Japanese Softco's continue to try and appeal to us westerners, yea, we may well see more sub-par Dirge of Cerberus style attempts at traditionally western-style games. But Capcom have already proven with the Lost Planet demo that they can make a good 3PS.
So y'know. "Only a matter of time" an all that.
(Sounds a bit ominous dosent it)
(God damn I type too much)

 

[ki_atsushi]

The thing is... back in the day, only the best Japanese games made it over here. Today things are different. We now get some of the mediocre titles too.

 

[toy_brain]

I thought about katmari, but I haven't played it.

IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE!

Eee I dunno, young kids these days.......

 

[Loopz]

Besides I'm not saying every Japanese game is crap. I'm just saying the Japanese game developers seem to have the same or worse crap:gold ratio that big NA companies like EA have coasted on for years.

I definitely don't agree with that.
EA is in a class all its own with their mind-numbing level of making absolute shit year after year and passing it off as new. I can't believe the way people lap that shit up every single year. Last week's Top 10 was dominated by the seven different console versions of Madden. EA had to annihilate Sega/Visual Concepts' NFL series in the corporate boardrooms because they couldn't do it on a console, NFL2K5 got better reviews all around than Madden'05.

Usually if Japanese companies (Playmore aside, heh) fail with sequels, it's generally because they try something entirely different that fails to capture what made the original special. There's still a hell of a lot more creativity coming out of Japan in terms of game development than what we see from the rest of the planet.

 

[Korigama]

american games are still as much ass as ever though.

oblivion? garbage.

will american developers ever create a game that doesnt use fps controls?

Or create an RPG that doesn't use a D&D/LotR inspired backdrop and extensive micromanagement...

(DISCLAIMER!: I know they exist, but considering how rare they are, it's a shock to me whenever they actually make one.)

For example, the Japanese are relatively new to the FPS/3PS genre and sometimes seem almost adverse to it, so games like Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex seem amatureish when compared to, say, Max Payne.

PSone Ghost in the Shell >>>>>>>>>>>>> PS2 Ghost in the Shell

 

[toy_brain]

PSone Ghost in the Shell >>>>>>>>>>>>> PS2 Ghost in the Shell

Very true.

 

[J. Max]

Let's see...

Namco: Katamari games, Tales of Eternity, Tekken 5...

Capcom: Dead Rising

Sega: Virtua Tennis looks awesome, as does VF5 (which is the one title that might make me buy a PS3), Yakuza, Sonic Blast (DS)...

Konami: Wow, where to begin? Castlevania DS, Gradius V, Neo Contra (well, I liked it)...

Nintendo: I'm not even going to list 'em all.

Even small companies like Atlus are putting out quality titles...you might have to look a little harder bu they are there. You might have to import if you're into shooters and fighters too...

 

[norton9478]

I thought that this thread was going to be about a new Japanese Toilet simm.

Im' so disapointed.

 

[Lagduf]

american games are still as much ass as ever though.

oblivion? garbage.

will american developers ever create a game that doesnt use fps controls?

Ha thats ridiculous on so many levels.

Most of the really solid RPG's from American developers are on the PC.

Fallout 2 has to be one of the best American RPGs of all time.

The controls for oblivion work well given that it's about immersing the player in the world. Maybe you just prefer JRPGs over American RPGs?

There are still plenty of great American developers.

 

[johnroche]

Eh, the "good/suck" ratio has remained pretty constant. A lot more of the sucky games seem to be coming over than before. One of the first things I sort of realized when doing some retrogaming was how a lot of the games weren't as good as I remembered them. Then again, some of the "x-in-1" systems available in malls seem to have games that may have never come out, and a lot of those games suck the chrome off all trailer hitches within 20 feet.

Sturgeon's Law applies to just about everything, sadly.

 

[Superfamifreak]

Winning eleven 9 vs 8 isn't much of an upgrade and i haven't played 10. But i heard it still owns Fifa.... (probably my favourite Konami Franchise)

To be honest mate, I wouldn't bother with WE10. WE9 is still the best of the lot, but that's only down to the dodgy keeper AI in 10.

 

[Blue Steel]

To be honest mate, I wouldn't bother with WE10. WE9 is still the best of the lot, but that's only down to the dodgy keeper AI in 10.

Plus 9 has online play, and 10 doesn't. WTF?!

 

[roker]

I'm waiting for the comeback of the following developers:

Irem
Capcom Arcade Division
Technos
Raizing

 

[not sonic]

Ha thats ridiculous on so many levels.

Most of the really solid RPG's from American developers are on the PC.

Fallout 2 has to be one of the best American RPGs of all time.

The controls for oblivion work well given that it's about immersing the player in the world. Maybe you just prefer JRPGs over American RPGs?

There are still plenty of great American developers.

youre right.

i cant get into most american rpgs. especially first person ones. add in bumblefuck console controls and its one of the most unappealing gaming experiences ever.

a lot of american games are best on the pc, with a mouse and keyboard, since thats how most are designed. free look.

oblivion on 360? worst game ever
oblivion on pc? mildly appealing

 

[Lagduf]

When the hell is Blizzard going to come out with something new?

Where the hell is my Starcraft 2?

I want Fallout 3 also damnit.

 

[tsukaesugi]

Some of the Japanese games for the 360 have been pretty underwhelming: Bullet Witch was a real letdown, and Zegapain XOR was very very mediocre. These games seem really unfinished, as if the programmers were too rushed to put something out, or they couldn't be bothered to put 100% of their energy into it.

And for every great PS2 game, there are usually two or three forgettable titles, kinda like the Saturn library and the Super Famicom library before that.

So yeah, there are lots of mediocre Japanese games out there, probably more mediocre games than good ones, but I don't think Japanese developers are getting lazier as a trend, I think it's always been this way.