An Asian View - East and West

Tradition and Patriotism

Kimonos and Corsets

Still here? Please, carry on reading. (The following 'rant' is simply MYOPINION and does not relate to anybody else unless they agree with the case I'm making)

We're here to talk games. And something I keep seeing is the complain of the depiction of women in Japanese media.

The Kimono. Basically a large cloth that covers a women only exposing their hands and head.

The Corset. Used by women to make the waist look thinner to emphasise a woman's chest and back-side.

Of course, we're taking about now. After more than a 1000+ years (Wikipedia states 794 AD), Western wear bought the bra and panties around making a new form of fetish for the normal Japanese male. This from a time where a slight glimpse of a wrist by a lady in a Kimono was a flirtatious act. This makes the fact that the over sexual depiction of females in Japanese video games is basically them not seeing boobs for so long.

Next, young girls in games. We've all heard stories of Japanese business men taking their life because of stress of work. Young girls are there to show them of "Niceness" or something similar to watching a hamster backflip of its cage. Morale-boosting basically. But obviously not all Japanese find this a good way to relieve stress. Some fallback to watching TV, exercise, reading. But young girls basically brings the "Kawaii" (As much as the Internet exist, I cannot explain this phenomenon but a Japanese woman I worked with tried to explained it to me. TRIED.) which with the popularity of Hello Kitty there, shows that even woman may exhibit the passion some people show when presented with a tiny girl. Also, isn't it adorable when "insert random cute thing" falls over?

I'll jump to specific games and/or companies and perhaps give insight to why we get Final Fantasy and Japan gets a holiday when Dragon Quest is released there.

Final Fantasy. A game that has always been different each and everytime a numbered sequel is release. Let's bounce into the one that has the most vocal "dislike". I personally enjoyed FFXIII. (FF13 if some of you can't tell how many "l" there is) I enjoyed the characters, the setting and gameplay. But I do agree making it linear was a shit decision but even then it's hard to choose whether to blame the story that forced the linearity or the linearity that created the story.

And the new recent FFXV (15) which seems to be playing like Dragon Age/ Kingdom Hearts. Using MP to dodge/block/parry. If "magic" (If it's in there) uses the same bar, what's the tactical point of going close to anything? Especially if there's no stagger system like in FFXIII. And some people are calling that an "improvement". Then again, Dragon Age and Kingdom Hearts resonated well in the West...

Now, something that I have limited knowledge off. Dragon Quest apparently so amazing that even without being commercialise to the West has spawn several novels, manga and anime and has 10 games for its main series. Showing that if Japan were to make a video game and make it to appeal to only the Japanese, it would still continue on.

For now, think about the difference in traditional culture, think about where the game comes from and I soon come back explaining why "the West likes Platinum games".

I'm trying to figure out what you're trying to say here. Because as far as I know, most Japanese people don't live over a thousand years.

I have no words.

This is incredibly stereotypical. There's no insight here, only sweeping generalisations.

Don't discredit the OP. English seems to be his/her second language, and if OP really is asian, least you could take from this is that the market, tastes, and culture are so very different. Other than bewbs and oversexualization, I say Japan keep making the games they actually enjoy playing.

I don't know exactly what you're trying to get at.

Keep studying your English. Your spelling is OK but your sentences aren't structured in a way that makes them easily understandable.

I'm actually really eager to read the next part.

@itwongo: I was trying to inject a little humor...

Yeah but do you guys think a hamburger is a sandwich or wat

I don't know how it's hard to understand what the 'kawaii' thing is about.

I think the language gap here might be a bit too wide to easily cross.

To the OP: Might I suggest focusing more closely one a single topic next time. The post itself jumps between three rather disparate ideas and comes off being rather superficial in all three aspects.

Also, your english is perfectly adequate. Albeit awkward at parts, it doesn't prevent comprehension. Then again, english is also my second language so maybe I'm just use to it.

Closing this due to it being nigh incomprehensible. This is an English-speaking forum and while we don't expect everyone to have it nailed down perfectly, we do ask that posts are at least understandable. This one isn't quite there.