Comments | takuansoho: My New Hobby: US Reviews of JRPGs vs JP Reviews of US RPGs

takuansoho

My New Hobby: US Reviews of JRPGs vs JP Reviews of US RPGs

Feb 13, 2008 09:52

Case In Point: Mass Effect vs. Lost Odyssey

Relevant links:
Lost Odyssey Review: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/849/849927p1.html (or your US critical publication of choice)
Mass Effect Review (Translation): http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26039341#26039341

Scores:
Lost Odyssey:
IGN: 8.2 Famitsu: 36/40 (9.0)
Mass Effect:
IGN: ( Read more... )

Comments 4

cendalire February 13 2008, 18:21:02 UTC

Tha... ...wow. Amazing. XD

killercherrypie February 13 2008, 18:55:08 UTC

It's no secret that the Japanese video game market thinks western games are crap. I find Japanese reviews of western games so laughable because they're so shameless in their bias. 3.2? You've got to be kidding me!

There was an episode of Bonus Round on Gametrailers.com that I think you might find interesting- it's all about Japanese cultural bias in the game market and comparing the two markets and the crossover appeal. It's very short and I think doesn't cover enough but I learned a few things from it.

You know I'm totally a fan of JRPGs and I've been waiting for Lost Odyssey for a long time, but I've also wanted to play Mass Effect since it came out. I might have to borrow that from you when I finish Lost Odyssey.

takuansoho February 13 2008, 19:07:29 UTC

One argument against that is Oblivion. Famitsu gave that a 38/40. At the time, only 44 other games had received that rating since 1986. So it's not just western.

You look at the big differences between Oblivion and Mass Effect and you see that ME is bout dialogue and decisionmaking and really ROLEPLAYING; Oblivion is an open world with tons of items and respawning enemies, while providing lots of side quests and a single storyline. The morality of your characters i never really a question.

killercherrypie February 13 2008, 20:30:06 UTC

Oblivion is a pretty good point. Famitsu has given a lot of western games very good ratings similar to what they get over here, but the market itself is still not going to pick up as much on the games. Especially since Japan is just not picking up the Xbox. The sales are very disproportionate at best. Most of that review for Mass Effect is opinion, and it doesn't make sense considering many of those elements are present in other games which I'm sure they gave very good scores to.