{"id":2660,"date":"2010-10-20T08:31:05","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T08:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielprimed.com\/?p=2660"},"modified":"2012-03-16T05:50:37","modified_gmt":"2012-03-16T05:50:37","slug":"western-rpgs-a-checklist-of-suppositions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielprimed.com\/2010\/10\/western-rpgs-a-checklist-of-suppositions\/","title":{"rendered":"Western RPGs: A Checklist of Suppositions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I grew up playing Japanese games and despite the continual global popularity of western games in recent years, I still haven’t really formed a strong taste for them yet (there are exceptions, of course). In fact I only seem to be gravitating even more closer to Japanese games, particularly with the forth-coming release of the 3DS. So, as with my prior phobia of PC games, I’ve decided to take the issue head-on and the first step in dealing with a problem is to talk out the situation. Therefore, I present a Japanese game fan’s interpretation of the nichiest of all western-made games; the western RPG. Later, after downing some of the genre’s classic staples, I will return to this piece and re-address my current suppositions, some of which are obviously a little ignorant (which is the point really).<\/p>\n

Western Ideals of Freedom and Democracy<\/h3>\n

Despite the degradation of democracy over the past few decades due to capitalism and the centralisation of power, westerners still believe in it either as a virtue or a dogma, which goes to say that this large chunk of our ideology permeates into everything we produce, including our video games too.<\/p>\n

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Many westerner games, not just RPGs, run with this quality of freedom, which leads to more player-driven experiences. From what I can gather there are two main parts to this: the first being the option of rolling one’s own character (therefore assigning themselves to a customisable playstyle), the second is dialogue options which allow players to steer the course of content (choose your own adventure). JRPGs tend to be much more rigid by comparison, offering a grandiose director-controlled narrative . To be honest, customising the avatar and directing my own experience is something I haven’t had too much exposure to, so I’m not all that comfortable with it. Simply put, when I’ve comes across these options in some games, I just choose the less shit option and stick with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh\u201d Contexts<\/h3>\n

Science fiction and Tolkien-esque fantasy, are popular themes for western RPGs, and to be honest, this scares me a little. From what I can judge, the fiction in these games is inspired by the respective books this brand of fiction is rooted in, and I’ve always had a phobia that I will never understand the science fiction\/high fantasy niches. Maybe interacting with these worlds through games will act as a point of access.<\/p>\n

Too Much Text and Reading<\/h3>\n

Lately I’ve clued onto the fact that if not actively engaged in the media I consume then it just turns me off. I suspect that video games have instilled this taste in interactive media and utter boredom with anything else. Consider these examples of consumption habits over the past 6 months:<\/p>\n

Movies<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Faust<\/em>, Nosferatu<\/em>, Metropolis<\/em> (German, black and white expressionist films)<\/p>\n