14 DAY TRIAL // As far as the gaming industry goes, the really big developing fields are America and Japan. While there is no real competition between the two, and both tend to stay out of each other’s way, western games tend to have a North American release while Japanese ones also tend to be localized. When a title truly hits big, then it will stretch across the ocean and make its way to other climates, but, usually, publishers try to steer clear from the marketing nightmare that lies within the cultural differences. Basically, what's cool here isn't as popular on the other side of the fence, so a well-sold product here can very well flop entirely over there.
As far as the western RPG market is concerned, BioWare is one of the biggest representatives of the business, and it has a history of excellent games as much as anyone can have it. But, while an obvious fan of RPGs, considering it's the only genre it develops, the company isn't really fond of what Japan does with its games. BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk talked to Destructoid last week about the JRPG and it looks like he's not impressed at all.
"The fall of the JRPG in large part is due to a lack of evolution, a lack of progression," Zeschuk said. "They kept delivering the same thing over and over. They make the dressing better, they look prettier, but it's still the same experience." Not to dampen his spirits, but not only do general western RPGs do the exact same thing, but, from a Japanese's point of few, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age: Origins are pretty much the same thing too.
"My favorite thing," Zeschuk added, "it's funny when you still see it, but the joke of some of the dialogue systems where it asks, 'do you wanna do this or this,' and you say no. 'Do you wanna do this or this?' No. 'Do you wanna do this or this?' No. Lemme think — you want me to say 'yes.' And that, unfortunately, really characterized the JRPG." Again, this is just a different path the game chose to take. The West emphasized a lot more on freedom and sandbox-mentality, while Japanese developers prefer relying a lot more on a linear story, a more emotion-driven and scripted one.
In the end, BioWare's man concluded that, "We have big debates on whether GTA is an RPG, for example. It's got all the elements, it just doesn't have the numbers. And what gamers here want is that higher depth, that higher integration of features...Mass Effect 2 is in some ways a continuation of that evolution." Oh, well, with that little sentence, his entire statement just turned from credible, almost-honest, constructive criticism into blatant publicity and shameless promotion. It looks like he opted for the less moral choice in his dialog options.