What's Wrong With Western Games - Plea For Help / New Years Resolution
17A Call For Help - please recommend / advise me on games that will help me unlock this cognitive problem. What's wrong with 'Western' RPG games - and the mechanics they bring the the whole genre. Why do I bounce off crafting mechanics and character customisation? Why do I demand video game developers write compelling stories rather than make me imagine my own?
#NewYearsResolution - Get Over This Mental Block
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This is part of a video series providing retrospective analysis of popular culture (video games, books, comics, movies), trying to understand how our taste in entertainment has changed over the last few decades. In these videos look at topics such as the history behind their creation, the cultural impact they had on the wider world or just celebrate high watermarks - experiences that deserve to be celebrated. In 2018 video gaming became the worlds single most popular form of entertainment however that does not mean other forms are dead or deserve to be forgotten. We have been fortunate enough to reap the benefits of an evolving industry that learns from both it's successes and mistakes - and I've been learning as a consumer. This series is designed to celebrate and share important milestones and significant releases; be they good or bad.
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From Wikipedia:
A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immersed in some well-defined world, usually involving some form of character development by way of recording statistics. Many role-playing video games have origins in tabletop role-playing games and use much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. Other major similarities with pen-and-paper games include developed story-telling and narrative elements, player character development, complexity, as well as replay value and immersion. The electronic medium removes the necessity for a gamemaster and increases combat resolution speed. RPGs have evolved from simple text-based console-window games into visually rich 3D experiences.
With the release of the low-cost Famicom console (called the Nintendo Entertainment System overseas), a new opportunity arose to bring role-playing games to Japan. Dragon Quest (1986) was the first such attempt to recreate a role-playing game for a console, and requires several simplifications to fit within the more limited memory and capabilities of the Famicom compared to computers; players in Dragon Quest controlled only a single character, the amount of control over this character limited due to the simplicity of the Famicom controller, and a less-realistic art style was chosen to better visualize the characters within a tile-based graphics system. Dragon Quest was highly successful in Japan, leading to further entries in the series and other titles such as Final Fantasy that followed the same simplifications made in RPGs for Dragon Quest.
Because of these differences, the role-playing genre eventually began to be classified into two fairly distinct styles: computer RPG and console RPG. In the early 2000s, however, as the platform differences began to blur, computer RPGs and console RPGs were eventually classified as Western role-playing games (or WRPGs) and Japanese role-playing games (or JRPGs), respectively.
Though sharing fundamental premises, Western RPGs tend to feature darker graphics, older characters, and a greater focus on roaming freedom, realism, and the underlying game mechanics (e.g. "rules-based" or "system-based"[54]); whereas Eastern RPGs tend to feature brighter, anime-like or chibi graphics, younger characters, turn-based or faster-paced action gameplay, and a greater focus on tightly-orchestrated, linear storylines with intricate plots (e.g. "action-based" or "story-based"). Further, Western RPGs are more likely to allow players to create and customize characters from scratch, and since the late 1990s have had a stronger focus on extensive dialog tree systems (e.g. Planescape: Torment). On the other hand, Japanese RPGs tend to limit players to developing pre-defined player characters, and often do not allow the option to create or choose one's own playable characters or make decisions that alter the plot. In the early 1990s, Japanese RPGs were seen as being much closer to fantasy novels, but by the late 1990s had become more cinematic in style (e.g. Final Fantasy series). At the same time, Western RPGs started becoming more novelistic in style (e.g. Planescape: Torment), but by the late 2000s had also adopted a more cinematic style (e.g. Mass Effect series).
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Other Statistics
Dragon Quest Statistics For A Friend Remembers
At present, A Friend Remembers has 384 views spread across 2 videos for Dragon Quest, with his channel publishing less than an hour of Dragon Quest content. This makes up less than 0.96% of the total overall content on A Friend Remembers's YouTube channel.