Comments on: Is it Better to Design a Game Around a Gorgeous World or Great Characters?

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:29:23 +0000

I think the characters were far mroe front and centre in RDR then the world was. The world had a couple of breathtaking moments (entering Mexico for example) But the best bits of the game was almost always about the characters.

By: David

David — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:42:01 +0000

I think, for me, the difference comes down to : In asian games I talk with my friends about the amazing game maker’s story, but in most western games I talk with my friends about MY story. I enjoy both.

By: Tyler M.

Tyler M. — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:17:41 +0000

Just a quick little add on, Red Dead Redemption had AMAZING characters and a pretty awesome world as well.

By: CR

CR — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 23:52:18 +0000

Try Xenoblade Chronicles. Oddly, it seems to do well at both, while at the same time blending a lot of other features. Great characters with a stunning world (even if it isn’t in HD). Plays like a MMORPG, comes from Japan, good music, complex but not hard to understand story line. The Wii takes a lot of flack, but this game proved that the system was more than capable of matching up with the XBox 360 and the PS3 for JRPGs, and gives the Wii U (with a game announced that appears to be a spiritual successor to Xenoblade) hope for continuing to prove that Nintendo can still be the home to great JRPGs, even ones that appeal to western audiences.

By: RNGCoder

RNGCoder — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:36:57 +0000

To add to Anderson, Extra Credit’s 3 part coverage of this topic was early in Season 4.

By: trashcanman

trashcanman — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:34:52 +0000

Well done. I had actually never thought about this topic or noticed that cultural difference between American and Japanese games. But America is catching up on the character front. Final Fantasy’s characters have mostly devolved into a collection of dull cliches over the years and we’ve got awesomeness like Rockstar and Bioware changing the face of storytelling in gaming. Personally, as a rabid consumer of fiction in all it’s forms my opinion is that everything starts with the characters. If they don’t work, the story doesn’t work and even if the story itself is weak, great characters can save it. But not all video games have to be great fictional narratives either so it’s really just a matter of preference.

By: Johannes P Anderson

Johannes P Anderson — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:08:40 +0000

Have you guys ever watched the Extra Credits series on Penny Arcade? They’re all people from the gaming industry who present talks based on numerous subjects around gaming. One was this very topic! You should check them out if you haven’t already.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/show/extra-credits/

By: Gil

Gil — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:00:36 +0000

I’m in the middle of Far Cry 3 right now, and I’d say they have done a great job with the character on top of the amazing world. In most FPS games your character barely even talks or react to the changes in the story. Jason Brody has a complete change of personality the further the game goes as he becomes less “preppy rich kid” into full on tribal member. It’s a great experience to watch him evolve into this killer instead of just starting off as one.

By: Benny Bedlam

Benny Bedlam — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:52:35 +0000

This is why I’m excited for Dragon Age III: Inquisition. They noted that they are taking a page from Skyrim and based on the concept art, it seems they might be implementing a sandbox element to the game. So imagine, BioWare’s characterization marries Bethesda’s open world. This produces a bangin’ offspring. Can’t wait for a trailer to see if I am right, so I can pre-order this thing right away. Not much of a fantasy fan, but I liked this game. Can’t wait to have BioWare implement this in their next Mass Effect game.

I just want to add that the Fallout series never really appealed to me so I was wary to try Skyrim. However, I gave it a go and I was satisfied but yeah you are right it’s hard to remember a lot of plot points and characters. My best memory would probably be hunting animals.

By: Frothy_Ham

Frothy_Ham — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:49:21 +0000

I don’t want to generalize, but I think the difference between Western games and Japanese games in terms of character development vs world building stems from some of the core differences in our cultures.

There was an interesting book I read years back (just found it, check it out here http://amzn.to/VHl6l9) that brings up the idea of how Western culture defines reality compared to Eastern culture. It talks about the idea that Western culture is obsessed by defining each and every piece of reality in and of itself…this is a rock, this is a tree, this is my arm, all of these things existing even in a vacuum. Whereas East culture seems to place more emphasis on defining by relation…the identity of something being based on how it effects it surroundings, a more abstract way of thinking IMO. Not saying one is better than the other.

As a westerner myself, I do often find myself intrigued by the idea of the massive, detailed open worlds that WRPG’s such as Skyrim allow us to explore if only for the sake of exploring. It provides us with a means of categorizing and defining the various physical components. There are hard borders between various areas, measured distances, a slew of weapons, armors and trinkets to collect. So much emphasis is placed on balanced and tested gameplay to go along with top-notch graphics that there just isn’t enough room sometimes to make the characters and plot important or memorable. There isn’t enough room for the abstract.

On the other end of the spectrum is the JRPG. These worlds tend to be much more linear…guiding you along a set path for the majority of the game before eventually opening it up to you. For the most part, graphics tend to be less realistic and more stylized…afore mentioned borders and measured distances less important. Yes, a selection of weapons, armors and various collectible-based side quests still play a part but it is never the focus of the game. The focus always tends to be on the characters themselves and how they affect the world they are in. The heavy-handed, overwrought melodrama of JRPGs can sometimes seem corny and badly written to us westerners…but the point is that so much of the JRPG’s content is based on the abstract…the undefinable…emotions and high concepts, philosophy.