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- What Westerners Want
- Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago by J-Man
So I was getting up-to-date with Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation because I missed a few episodes, but one comment in particular caught my attention. In his review of Ninja Gaiden 2, his next to last comment states that the game was made to appeal to the western audience. Being the self-absorbed prick that I am, I wondered: What do they think I want?
Okay, let's be fair. I'm not your mainstream gamer, so then they must mean Americans and Europeans (and Australians) in general.
So, what do we, as a society, prefer in the games we play? I can't get my head around it. If Team Ninja is to be taken literally, then we'd want blood, titties and broken cameras. But that can't really be it.
I can't think for somebody else, it's late and I'm tired. So I'm just going to tell you what I like in a game, then ask you to do the same.
I like a game that is accessible, meaning that when I pick up the controller, I know how to play. I don't like complicated combos right off the bat, mainly if they're practically required (I'm looking at you, Devil May Cry). I like a game to get progressively harder, but never overwhelming. Mastery should be rewarded, not required. JRPGs need to be more interactive than DVD menus. Unless it's a major part of the style, I hate excessive blood and gore. MadWorld's is cool; it still eludes me why Prince of Persia had to be so damn bloody all of a sudden.
Most importantly (important enough to have it own paragraph), I want a game to be just that: a video game. Not a video game. Don't try to be a movie, like Xenosaga. (The opposite also applies: Don't try to make movies into video games.) If I wanted a cinematic experience, I'd go to the cinema. When I play a game, I want it to leave me in control and say "Go wild!".
That's all I can think of from the top of my head. I look forward to your input, and if we get enough replies, then maybe we'll have a good idea of what Westerners want.
Disclaimer, since I can see it already: Any games mentionned are merely stated as examples, nothing else. If you just so happen to like and I don't, just know that I won't take anything away from it. It just doesn't suit my tastes. Tough.
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Comments
I definitely think the expectations change on a game-to-game basis.
Action games - you don't really need an amazing story, in fact, minimize the story as trying to push something over-the-top and unbelievable onto the viewer/player only makes it worse.
RPG's - Rely a bit more on story, but even then most of the time you aren't pulling a Pulitzer prize winner into a game.
Strategy and RTS - Again, we just want battles here. Civilization is amazing because there is no need for a story, you really create your own.
As for game play/controls - I also have a problem with tutorials. A lot of the time, they are just teaching you stuff you would have figured out yourself. Give us a space to play in before we hop into the game's real action, and I think most gamers will figure out how to handle their character(s).
What we want - a solid experience. We want to interact with our games. Sometimes a ton of cutscenes is ok, but most of the time we want a meaty experience. Give us real decisions to make, characters we care about, and a decent set of controls and I think most gamers will be satisfied.
Just give me a game where I'm running over something, while a beer is in hand. Give me a gun, grenade, or ability to call in a Nuclear Bunker Buster. Big explosions, Big boobies, and lots of action.... I think this sums up western gaming. I don't want a soap opera, or watch as the action unfolds in a RPG, I want to be in the thick of it: up to my ears in great gameplay coupled with a tolerable storyline....
for myself i want..
+Good Controls
+A solid to amazing story (anywhere in between)
+Something new brought to the table
+Something to keep me playing (a Character, story plot, combat)
+Challenging while not frustrating (what Sarah said)
and i actually liked Xenosaga being like a movie, because the story was interesting enough that I didn't mind sitting there and watching hours of story. :)
What I want from a game changes since I play so many different types, but here are a few of the things I look for:
-I always want it to be challenging (never frustrating)
-A story I can get into (even if it is a bit over-the-top)
-Like you said, J-Man, something I can get into right away and learn as I go along. I'm very impatient, and I hate when a game starts off with 20 tutorials. Just let me figure it out for myself!
-Something interesting enough to hold my attention for the entire length of the game; something that makes me say "I can't wait to go home today and play such-and-such game today."
-At least some unique element, even if the whole thing isn't so much.
I actually go for the stories, or at least I thought I did, until I played Crisis Core and nearly threw my PSP across the room for how little it actually let me PLAY THE GAME. I probably wouldn't have minded as much if the story wasn't absolutely abysmal.
But on the whole? I do sort of emphasise the video in video games. I love RPGs, Japanese and otherwise. Mass Effect might have one of the most emotionally powerful final acts I've ever played. There actually are a contingent of game fans out there --I did my thesis on them-- that engage games for reasons other than playability. Though they're a minority, I think their tastes are valid: they do enjoy the long narratives games can offer, the fact that they can be "revealed" by the player rather than constructed, and that someone else has thrown together the script.
So while people like me and many of the gamers I interviewed have a minority taste, I think PART of the Westerner contingent... actually wants what the Japanese want, often their RPGs, adventure games, and visual novels. Something to consider. :)
I don't know if this site will provide a representative sample of western gamers, but for me anyway I also prefer less cutscenes and more polished game mechanics, controls etc. I'm sad to admit, but I can't really handle the difficulty that many easterners seem to have no trouble with... -_- Maybe they are just genetically different. Oh yeah, and speaking of Square, I don't want a main characters who is girly. Terra was a girl and even she wasn't girly. Castlevania's been getting wierd too, they keep anime-ing/girlifying it.
I guess I'd like some balance between eastern girlymen and western space marines all the time. (Space marines are cool, but, something different would be nice now and then.)