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/vr/ - Retro Games


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4095796 No.4095796 [Reply] [Original]

Why were RPGs so much more popular in Japan than in America in the 80s and early 90s?

We just got a few hand me downs of the most popular ones but missed out on way more. What was it about the culture that they were more accepted in Japan than the US?

>> No.4095806

>>4095796
The fuck are you smoking

>> No.4095808

There's more to the world than just consoles OP. Many Jap RPGs were ports/homages/ripoffs of DnD, or Ultima. There wasn't much interest in console RPGs in the US since most RPG players were on PC or doing tabletop.

What's with all these threads from millennials who don't know shit? Trying to impress your friends with retro gamer cred?

>> No.4095812

At that time the demographic for consoles was younger in America than in Japan. RPGs appeal to a slightly older demographic. West was playing RPGs on computers instead of consoles.

>> No.4095817

DQ got a much better reception, that's really all it comes down to. You didn't really need to supply demand in the west until audiences caught on to bigger titles in the mid 90's.

I think DQ might suit the japanese mentality better as well, they're simple but they're some of the most tightly designed and realized games ever made. Most of the attention for JRPGs in the west seems to stem from their bombastic stories.

>> No.4095820

>>4095812
Most of the sentiment for DQ games in japan is because tons of children grew up playing them. They weren't niche games for shut-in neckbeards.

>> No.4095834

>>4095808
This. Even in Japan you had shit like Dragon Slayer, Hydlide, Black Onyx, Deep Dungeon on the home computers plus all the ports from the west like Bard's Tale, Wizardry etc.

>> No.4095846

>>4095834
and Xanadu, a then PC exclusive, sold nearly half a million copies in 1985, a year before Dragon Quest was even released.

>> No.4095861

By and large they weren't nearly as obtuse to play

>> No.4095896

>>4095796
Japan doesn't see art as toys, for one, and Americans are just generally dumb and don't like to have to think when playing video games.

>> No.4095897

>>4095808
What's with all these posts from hipsters who can't argue without calling someone a millenial? Trying to impress your friends with retro gamer cred?

>> No.4095909

>>4095796
They weren't, they were more popular in america, on pc, which is why the japanese rpgs exist.

>> No.4095934

>>4095796
Videogames were enjoyed by kids and adults alike, in Japan.

Whereas in the US, up until the late 90s, videogames were widely perceived as "for kids".

>> No.4096157

>>4095808
>>4095909
wRPGs were more popular in Japan than in the west though. Wizardry is still a thing there while dead here, for example. Ultima selling more in Japan than the US is another example. Even Black Onyx, the original jRPG, sold more copies than Wizardry 1 and Ultima 1 did during their first year.

I honestly have no idea why this was though PCs weren't/aren't nearly as popular in Japan as in the US. It's also strange because Japan is supposedly more conformist and (young) adults are expected to devote more time to school, career, and family and not play anti-social games.

Maybe jRPGs were just more user-friendly and fun than their western counter-parts, going all the way back to Black Onyx.

>> No.4096227

You're guys are mostly forgetting that rpgs are equally as popular in japan as it is in the west. Rpgs of that style were always a niche and there's still people in the west who enjoy them. They just aren't as vocal as the obnxious attention seekers of today who hold onto either the current hot game or the popular mainstream games.

OP is a fag

>> No.4096324

The west never liked rpgs
Only pokemon and FF7

>> No.4097538

>>4095796
jrpgs sold just fine, don't believe the hype. when dragon warrior was bundled with nintendo power subscriptions went through the roof

>> No.4097675

>>4096324
thatsbait.gif

>> No.4098780

>>4097675
Prove me wrong.

>> No.4098836

Because Japs have patience and intelligence. Americlaps just want MARIO JUMP ON THE TURTLE LOL

>> No.4099484

>>4095897
He's right, though. It's painfully obvious you're a millennial, and don't actually know anything.

>> No.4099501

>>4097538
Jrpg is not a genre.
Dragon Quest is a turn based RPG.
I know you don't realize this but there are turn-based RPGs made in countries other than Japan.

Well, now you know. Please stop being so ignorant.

You're welcome.

>> No.4099505

>>4095796

it's not a matter os westerners having bad taste. It's quite the contrary actually. Japs were always the close minded ones, only buying jrps and not much else. Americans on the other hand always played every genre out there, so jrpgs had to compete with many more games thus not selling so well.

>> No.4099526

>>4099505
Well...they're kind of limited to what gets localised

>> No.4099527

Americlap kids would have been too dumb to play them.

>> No.4099538

>>4095808
Don't be a cunt. I'm a millennial, born in '97, I genuinely love retro games. How the fuck am I supposed to know about Ultima and DnD on PC from back in the day? I literally never heard of that part of the culture before. Get off your high horse old man.

>> No.4099549

>>4099538
>How the fuck am I supposed to know about Ultima and DnD on PC from back in the day?

You do the most basic research possible before opening your mouth and making retarded claims

>> No.4099550

>>4099549
Fuck you elitist

>> No.4099556

>>4099550
fite me

>> No.4099576

>>4099527

Too dumb?

They don't require skill or thought though.

>> No.4099629
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4099629

>>4095808
Yeah, except PC and table top were niche as fuck and console gaming was super popular and mainstream at that time.

What's up with all these millennials calling other people millennials?

>> No.4099706

>>4099629
DnD was huge in the early 80s. It even had a TV-show and various high profile controversies.

>> No.4099847
File: 721 KB, 446x251, whats_wrong_with_you.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4099847

>>4099629
>Yeah, except PC and table top were niche as fuck

>> No.4100751

>>4099549
At least you recognize he's one of the elite, and you are not.

>> No.4100794

>>4098836
The Japanese also want MARIO JUMP ON THE TURTLE though

>> No.4100846
File: 122 KB, 460x460, 1451069439049.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4100846

>>4099706
>>4099847
>Thinking table top D&D was as popular as NES in the 80's
>Think PC gaming was as big as NES in the 80's

>> No.4101025

>>4100846
You want to make that strawman any bigger before you start whacking on it?

>> No.4101034

>>4095796

what game is this? tineye isnt helping

>> No.4101058

>>4101034
Artifact Adventure
You should be using yandex instead.

>> No.4101129

There was a lot more to translate, and they might have had constrictions due to memory or how things were coded in for the original language which made it more cumbersome to translate.

>> No.4101210

>>4095896
The fuck are you talking about? Vidya games have always been labeled as toys in Japan. It's even reflected in their design philosophy. The majority of the shitty artfag games usually come from the West.

>> No.4101246

>>4099550
"Elitism" is fine though, it raises quality of discussion to a suitable level for everyone involved. When you try to discuss RPG history without ever having heard of Ultima, it's like you're interrupting an ongoing conversation to ask what people are talking about. Add 10 other people like you intruding in every hour and that conversation isn't ever going to get anywhere. If you're really interested in video games, take some time and research them yourself instead of expecting people to teach you everything.

>> No.4101286

>>4101246
If you've never heard of Ultima, it's mostly because you're a fucking kid and don't need to be here in the first place. I wish they'd just fuck off back to /v/ and stay there.

>> No.4101408

>>4099629
This
Nobody gave a fuck about shitty wrpgs back then.

>> No.4101412

>>4101025
So you don't have an argument. GG

>> No.4101420

>>4101246
>Ultima
That's that dead CRPG franchise, right? Sort of a contemporary of Wizardry, which the Japs now own. Lol, those games sucked mad dick.

>> No.4101427

>>4101420
Ultima is something like a Ford Model-T within the video game sphere: innovative, popular, and tremendously influential, but ultimately a damn jalopy.

Read this, even CRPG oldfags acknowledge its awful design.
http://www.filfre.net/2014/07/ultima-iv/

>> No.4101431

>>4101420
If it at least had remained dead. Instead EA rehashed it as an unsuccessful mobage.

>> No.4101434

Can you guys, instead of shit flinging, understand that regional trends between US and PAL territories is making this discrepancy?

European countries were much more heavily PC focused with stuff like amiga and and sinclair's being much more popular than they ever were in the US.

>> No.4101501

>>4101420
Ultima games were incredibly influential and ahead of their time from a story and systems perspective. Ultima 3 was an incredible influence on RPG developers. Ultima 4-6 had a fantastic focus on moral choices and their repercussions. Ultima 7 was a complete living-world RPG years before the Elder Scrolls.

I'd say that Ultima 7 and Serpent Isle still hold up today as great classic games. Ultima 6 is also pretty playable by today's standards, though its interface can be fiddly.

>> No.4101517

>>4101501
Serpent Isle is linear crap due to the rushed release.

>> No.4102978

>>4101412
I'm not even the guy you were arguing with. I'm just pointing out that you're trying to argue with things that weren't even insinuated, let alone actually said. You literally pulled a strawman out of thin air and started beating that fucker like it owed you money.

>> No.4103403

Here's a world I fantasize about: one in which every time a grotesque schlub says anything even slightly disparaging about another person's age on /vr/, terrifying robots teleport to his vicinity, restrain him, and castrate him (unless this has already been done to him as punishment for a previous offense, in which case they will merely pat him on the head and depart)

>> No.4103610

Here's a world I fantasize about: one in which every time some child says anything even slightly related about a time period they weren't alive for and know absolutely nothing about, terrifying robots teleport to his vicinity, restrain him, and castrate him (unless this has already been done to him as punishment for a previous offense, in which case they will merely pat him on the head and depart)

>> No.4103623
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4103623

>>4103403
sounds like a kid's fantasy

>> No.4103820

>>4099538
>born in '97
You are Gen Z my young friend, the dawn after the darkness.

>> No.4103840

>>4095796
Are you an idiot? Go take a look at early PC games, they were 90% western RPGs.

I think your question is "why were JRPGs popular in Japan".