@shell_kracker: I absolutely prefer Japanese aesthetics. If you look at any of Hideki Kamiya's games there is something visually unique about them (well maybe not RE2 but,) if you look at Viewtiful Joe you can tell it's inspired by a bunch of Power Rangers, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman type stuff Kamiya probably watched when he was a kid, Okami is based in Japanese mythology and the art style emulates Japanese paintings. DMC1 and Bayonetta even have pretty unique designs to the environment and the enemies.
I think something about the Japanese games I liked is that they aren't afraid to make things cute or put in little details. I don't think many western studios would make a character like Kirby or Pikachu. In Okami when you bark at a little girl she will pet Ammy, or if you use any of your brush techniques on villagers they put in animations that fit your actions. They didn't need to put that stuff in but it's cute and nice that they thought of it. That's one of the reasons I love MGS2 and 3. The developers thought of EVERYTHING. Any instance that happens you can call up your CO and ask them whats going on. Pick up some new facepaint, call Signit and he'll tell you all about it for about 2 minutes. The only western games that may have that level of detail are Rockstar, Bioware or Bethesda games. Even then it's not quite the same.
Personally however I think if we look at the world's myths, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia have really cool religions, heroes, and monsters. Colonized America has only been around for what 400 years? All of our myths are either just adapted from other places, are super corny and kind of lame like Paul Bunyon or John Henry, or they are so close to real life, who cares. I think the place the west takes inspiration is more modern and that's fine. The west looks at movies to make games, Red Dead Redemption and LA Noire both love to reference film. There is just something very American about them. They are time pieces that are more grounded in reality than something you'd see in Persona 4. Just as Okami celebrates Japan, Red Dead Redemption celebrates America. There is something beautiful about the big open spaces in Red Dead, it feels like you could go to some desert in Texas and find a place that looks like where you've been in the game. Even the DLC for Red Dead references zombie movies, which as far as I know are a very western thing, as well as Bigfoot, a chupacabra, as well as some Christian religious stuff like the 4 horses of the apocalypse. Fallout references 1950's American culture, down to the plasma guns that look very 1950's scifi.
@miketakon: I'm not sure if it is fair to say JRPGs are always by the numbers. Mother 3, Nier, Fire Emblem, and Tales of Vesperia are all pretty different games. Hell even if we just look at the Final Fantasy series we can see how different each entry is from the previous title.
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