Are you completely put off of a game if it has anime/ish aesthetics no matter the mechanics/story/music/everythingelse?

@hunter5024:

From what I've read of the Japanese side of things, I'd say localization doesn't change too much. At least not enough that'd be a factor in all the hatred.

@video_game_king: Do you mean Japanese people tend to think their games are poorly written too, or the localizations themselves are usually pretty accurate?

@hunter5024:

The latter. Japanese people (as far as I can tell) sort of have different opinions on video games than do American audiences. Clunky grammar, yes, but I believe the point was made.

no

@video_game_king: I don't doubt that the localizations are accurate, though I wouldn't say an accurate translation is necessarily a good translation.

@hunter5024:

Doesn't that depend on what you mean by "accurate"?

I'm slightly put off, but I'll usually give it a chance if it looks good. At first I was leery of Persona and Tales of, and Vesperia and P4G are my in my top 10 favorite games this generation.

I have zero problem with anime aesthetics. It's when a game's writing falls into lazy/bad anime tropes that I throw out the term "JRPG Anime Bullshit", and even then I still beat Valkyria Chronicles II, a game that's full of the stuff. So no.

Voice acting can be tricky. There are a lot of good voice actors out there though. BlazBlue and Catherine are two examples of some great ones. Also some older but not too old games do well for that as well. It's mostly just the script that fucks it and I don't think that is really a problem of the localization either. It's not like anime is known for having stellar writing either (and I don't mean just games, but anime anime).

I think I have to agree with people saying it's the writing that's much more off putting. I usually love Tales of games, but Graces F's story was a steaming pile of shit and it made it hard for me to finish the game, though I did.

@video_game_king: You could say that. I suppose what I meant was that a literal translation isn't necessarily a good one. The words themselves aren't really the important part to me. For example if a translation has a character say something completely different than what they said in the original, but the intent of the message is still the same, I would argue that's better than a more direct translation.

But real anime has to be localized too. My worry is that people are negatively judging the writing of something because it was written by a different culture in a different language, and we're losing a lot of the context and nuance that might have been in the original script, which makes the script appear poorer than it actually is.

Oh, definitely. That's one of the reasons why localizations are preferable to fan translations: the latter tend to be stupidly literal.

I think that puts too much faith in the quality of writing in anime games. I think most western games have shit stories and are usually awkwardly written and they are made in my native tongue!

Though straight up, NISA are great at localization and keeping the spirit of the games while massaging them into the English language. Assumption on my part of course that I've not been constantly fooled by subtitles and localizations throughout my years of consuming the medium. I feel pretty confident that I haven't been.

I think that really depends on what you're playing. I hear this sentiment a lot but it's usually expressed by people who don't play a lot of story driven games. I certainly wouldn't say that games have a worse ratio than any other medium, as one glance at the movies currently in theaters should tell you.

It really depends for me. There's a certain level I can tolerate from animish type games, but once it goes beyond and over that level. Then I'll probably end up getting put off by the game. Its like pushing me over the edge without pushing me.

It's not the art style that's the problem. It's the story, lines and the delivery you should be looking at.

Depends on the type of anime art-style. Valkyria Chronicles 1, Phoenix Wright? Yes. Tales of, Disgaea, Valkyria Chronicles 2? NO. So there's a point of no return for me. The writing is then usually the next (and biggest) culprit.

No, NISA translations are the bottom of the barrel. At least the ones that are not Disgaea.

I'm the same way. Meant to click no but clicked yes by accident. Oh well.

@bocam: Ugh, no message posted even though I typed it out... great.

Basically I was wondering what you mean about them being the bottom of the barrel? Too many liberties? Being far off the source?

From the NISA games that I have played I feel like they are doing something right as they usually do a good job when changing them into something English speakers would appreciate.

No but if it heavily uses anime cliches/stereotypes, it makes me think less of that style of game.

Project Sylpheed is a great example.

Still, to generalize that the stories that come from a particular language/culture are worse than game stories that began life in our native tongue (i.e.: Did not require localization) is a result of bias. Localization has produced some true clunkers out of what were, in their native languages, solidly written stories and dialogue. And a lot of western games do have shit stories. That they're games doesn't really absolve them when they fall into writing traps like poorly written movies do. People had (perhaps unfairly) high expectations for the ending of Mass Effect 3, which descended into a poorly written mess. It doesn't matter that some people like the original or Director's Cut better. A basic analysis of the writing comes away with a wealth of ludicrous logic gaps, inconsistencies, an absurd mechanism through which the final choice is made, and the eleventh hour introduction of a supposedly all-powerful character whose purpose was to sweep all of the lunacy under the rug. People are free to like the story and the ending as they wish, but that is still some horrendous writing no matter what language it started in. And yet, some people still choose to defend the writing and ignore the criticisms, no matter how sound the argument may be.

@superwristbands: They take too many liberties, make stupid mistakes, and lack polish in general.

@hailinel: I agree with you about localization, that's the point I'm trying to make. If people think anime inspired video games are written worse than western video games, they probably have this misconception because of the localization process. I get the feeling that you thought I was saying western games are better written which I definitely do not think. I wasn't defending western video games with that comment, I was defending the writing of video games in general, as they compare to other media.

Also I agree with you almost completely about Mass Effect. I would never use Mass Effect 3 as my example of a well written video game. Parts of the series certainly have their moments, but I believe the number of writers leads to far too much inconsistency.

I definitely start out skeptical, but I'm not 100% put off. The game has a lot to prove to me, though.

Child lover? (Also, "skip demo" as a phrase in that game is weird. It's not even a Japanese word for cutscene!)

Ah. Well, I might have misread your comment a bit, but in rereading it, I do see that we're in basic agreement here. Sorry about that.

I guess only if the style is greatly exaggerated, but mostly no. The problems with games that are in the style of anime usually involve the story, genre or the game mechanics.

@hailinel: It's fine. We're on the same side for once, yay!

Depends on the type of game and how anime-ish it is, but mostly no.

Anime used to be good, now slice of life and moeblob crap get first priority since it sells more(weak ass Japanese men!). I'm glad manga has more options.

The last anime-like game I really enjoyed was Valkyria Chronicles. That game is the most anime I can go in terms of games. Too bad Sega went ahead and ruined the entire franchise after 1.

@razielcuts I think the creator should reskin the entire game with better art now that he's a millionaire. Make it the 'Ultimate Edition'.

The Deviant Art-style really bothered me.

I think it depends on the game. Normally I do not hate Anime styling, then again I watched the Hatsune Miku quicklook and was glad that I passed up that trash game.

No? Why? Anime will seem stupid and dumb as long as you don't know shit about it. Same as baseball, american football, soccer, curling, or whatever the fuck else you don't know anything about. Way to be biased OP.

Not the art style alone, but the accompanying game design and typical melodrama common in a lot of Japanese titles is enough to put me right off.

There are exceptions, of course. But not many.

The more anime the better

I have never ever cared about graphics. Writing is important but i'll still play a good game with bad writing. So all that's really left is gameplay and I fail to see how a style of gameplay can be "anime".

Now if it's bad gameplay AND bad anime writing, like Valkyria Chronicles, i'll steer clear!

Nope, I don't hate anime at all and even then i am a mechanics guy at heart.

Nope.

You get out of here with that crazy talk.

lol

Just a little, yeah. It makes me worry about annoying characters and nonsense stories.

If we're talking squeaky voices and cliches of the kind that ruined the anime industry then yea.
If we're talking just Japanese made, or even Asian-made aesthethics and designs and everything, then gimme.
Grim-dark dudebro American aesthethics and themes are what puts me off.

Um, well, yeah...

I sort of don't like Japanese Animation.

Oops, answered the question yes but I misread it. Extreme anime aesthetics with an apparent lack of self-awareness usually puts me off, but it depends.

If people are put off from playing a game like Persona 4 because of the anime aesthetic then you are missing out big time.