Hideki Kamiya, the creator of both Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and CEO of PlatinumGames, says that Japanese developers should be "proud" of the term JRPG and thinks it "should be celebrated moving forward". These comments come in response to those made by Square Enix's Naoki Yoshida earlier in the year, who isn't a fan of the descriptor. The Final Fantasy XIV and XVI producer said that for some Japanese developers: "It was like a discriminatory term. As though we were being made fun of for creating these games".
Speaking to VGC, Kamiya weighed in on the subject but had a different outlook on the matter. Discussing Platinum's strategy for competing and standing out to Western audiences, he says the best way to do so is to embrace "our unique sensitivities as Japanese creators". Kamiya explains the sentiment:
"When you look at Bayonetta as a character, she doesn't look strong like Kratos, she doesn't look like she could take on these massive demons, but she was very unique in the way she was created, in the way we view action game heroes, from a unique Japanese viewpoint. So when it comes to the term 'JRPG', this is something that ties into this - these are RPG games that, in a sense, only Japanese creators can make with their unique sensitivity when it comes to creating these experiences. I think it's certainly something that should be celebrated moving forward, and someone should actually aim to make a 'king of JRPGs' game to express that. As Japanese game creators, we're very proud of the actual term JRPG."
Our own experience of the term likely mirrors that of many Western enthusiasts; still growing up and not yet awakened to our true gaming powers, we didn't really understand the nuance of the term JRPG or cared (if we'd even heard it before); we just knew that we loved Final Fantasy and wanted more games like it. Finding or affording them, however, was another matter entirely, and because of that scarcity, there was an added mystique to the genre, making each new title we could get our grubbing hands on that much more special.
What do you think of Hideki Kamiya's comments on the matter? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source videogameschronicle.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 30
Wait , bayonetta is an rpg??
who cares? I'm gonna call my genres whatever I feel sounds right to me. Everyone has their own opinion
Its a high accomplishment for Japan when theyre the only country that has its own foremost game genre. Good for them.
This reminds me a little bit of the minor scandal 11 years ago when respected indie developer Phil Fish, responding to an audience question at GDC, quipped that "Japanese games suck."
Since then, Fish has gone into self-imposed exile, Japan-based developers have continued to produce some of the greatest games of all time, and the guy who asked Fish for his thoughts on games from Japan went on to become CEO of his own gaming company, in Japan. (Makoto Goto, founder of Game for IT)
@ChronoBreak777 I mean they are generally action platformers. "Metroidvania" is just the best term to describe them as they were the first games to implement such game design.
Like how we call games like Nickelodeon brawl, Playstation All Stars, and Multiverses basically "smash clones". It's not a genre but it gives gamers an idea of the gameplay than just saying "it's a fighting game"
I didn’t really think of it ever being used as an insult. Perhaps leans a little into Orientalism with the whole ‘wow look how wacky and irreverent those Japanese are’ but the term itself refers to the fact that Japanese RPGs are just generally a different flavour from Western ones. No different from other forms of media that have their roots in specific locations like German Expressionism or Dunedin Sound. Hell, even American Realism is uniquely shaped by the American way of life and can be slightly hard to connect with even with the States’ cultural exceptionalism.
@Luvstagrind fighting game fans call them platform fighters. It's a better term.
@nessisonett or Eurojank for instance. It's a neat descriptor that could immediately tell you what it is you're about to consume.
I see both sides of it, but FFXVI was not a JRPG, which I think is part of Naoki Yoshida's argument. If you went into FFXVI expecting a JRPG you would really disappointed.
This is the correct perspective. Maybe at one time the term 'JRPG' was used in a mocking manner but that was way back in the early part of the 360 gen, and even then nobody took clowns who said it mockingly serious because most of them fit the 'dude bro' Madden, CoD and GTA only stereotype to a T.
@Ultrasmiles No, but Platinum probably created all of the battle mechanics for XVI.
@Cashews true but I've heard non-fighting game fans just use the term "smash clone" because it just gets the point across as the game super smash bros was so iconic even most non-gamers can understand what kind of fighting game it is.
Isn't this the guy who blocks anyone that doesn't speak to him in Japanese? I mean I pretty much agree, but his games aren't the ones being called J Action games and are picked apart for all the things that make it Japanese even if he apparently wants that lmao
The crazy part though is that Nomura said this 1st but Yoshi ps the one being made out to hate JRPGs
Yeah it was never insult it was just a term used to describe a specific group of games. Yoshi-P is just up himself to be honest.
It seems like people in Japan see jrpg as meaning a rpg made by japanese developers. That is definitely not the definition which is prevelant in the west as I've seen it. It would make no sense as a genre if it was defined like that.
At some point there are always going to be people who like it and those who dont. There will always be people who use certain things to self promote and there will be those who dont. I dont mind the term jrpg as it tells me straight away the genre that game belongs to. Same as "soulsborne" tells me what to expect. Just to put my 2 pence worth in i dont like the term "country rock."
Jrpg is not discriminatory term, it's a description of the country origin of said rpg, like wrpg for western for example.
It also my favs genre beside metroidvania 😃
"Did you just assume my genre?"
@Constable_What yup that’s what happened to me, I was expecting a JRPG and got an action/adventure game with a couple rpg elements, so I was disappointed for sure.
@SerraAngel
Japanese people only like to play their own games, i.e. JRPGs, while they don't like to play WRPGs at all, although there are exceptions that are popular in Japan, for example, Minecraft.
@Constable_What To be fair, Eurojank is a lot more derogatory than JRPG, even if it’s accurate a lot of the time!
Someone that makes sense finally. There has never been anything wrong with the term JRPG
Most jrpgs have similar themes and gameplay style, such as final fantasy and the tales series, and most have a larger focus on story.
Wrpgs differ somewhat depending on the developer, for example Bethesda's open world games, or the new rpg champ Baldurs Gate 3 which focuses more on story telling than Skyrim.
Not too keen on 'Boomer Shooter', it sounds ageist and also elitist, like only Boomers can or should play/like it.
RPG from Japan, JRPG! Does exactly what it says on the tin.
Lets not forget Japan has one of (if not the highest) output of videogames for a country, so I think they can rightly have a genre named after themselves.
WRPG I think is a bit reactionary and unnecessary.
It's either a JRPG or a RPG. That's also not to say that other countries can't make JRPGs, or RPGs in the style of a Japanese RPG.
God it's all so confusing these day.
Let's be real here is was used as a insult a lot. But I love the Japanese games something nice and different. I miss the days were we had more of that colorful and edgy stuff. I hope we get a lot less PS3/360 era games grey and boring. The other thing is miss with games like Final Fantasy is the more diverse cast. I'm not a big fan of the dudebro crap.
Yoshi-P is a fraud
It's hilarious and ironic that the guy who created the game, that's not an RPG, that the guy who hates the term JRPG tried to copy instead of making a JRPG with a JRPG franchise, is celebrating the term JRPG.
I can't really think of any well known Japanese devs other than Yoshi-P that don't celebrate the unique Japanese aspects of their games. Nobody ever played a game from Miyamoto, Aonuma, Sakaguchi, Kamiya, Kojima, Nomura, Taro, Toyama, etc and said "Wow, this game seems so generically non-specific it could have been made by a Ubisoft global design committee, and it's better for it!"
Well... i don't know. I think i side more with YoshiP on this. I think FFXVI is very much still an RPG with japanese sensibilities, but not afraid to break the mold instead of just sticking to the expected tropes.
I think the JRPG should want to evolve and destroy the mold. Yakuza too is another example.
I don't think we want JRPG's to always be the same anime with the same tropes. It should strive to be more. Break the mold, be original, go further, try something new.
Ah Kamiya. Honestly I'm for JRPG used. It's for 'their' distinct identity. Like he said with the characterisation, Kratos and Bayonetta are very different characters. Let alone the power scales, their worlds, their expectations of what each offers.
Smash clones and boomer shooters it depends. I take smash clones not that seriously I take it as 2D Battle Arenas (while many like the big anime IP ones more the 3D ones) even if you don't see many Power Stone like games I think anymore the four player arena ones?
Boomer Shooters I take as that 90s style, so less using Doom Clone as a term and more old school shooters then 'only boomers'. I like them existing then not as modern shooters have gone their direction and I'm more into the 2000s/2010s ones that do certain things then multiplayer focus or other singleplayer elements of them. Titanfall 2/Bright Memory Infinite for modern ones I care for. Immortals of Aveum I will think about as while it's magic, and probably not as much a Hexen even if for a magic shooter many would think of that IP. It's something then the usual of shooters right now.
Having wacky hair/unique designs, big weapons (they must have some magic/a lot of strength these characters to be able to wield them), silly moments. It's very Japanese and hit and miss depending on anime or games use of such tropes of characters personality to actions.
Even the way they sprinkle in retro ideas into modern games. It can be literally 2D Mario in Mario Odyssey sure. But you have your other elements. I'm fine with multiple gameplay elements in a Platinum game. Why not a ship segment in Nier Automata/Bayonetta. Why not some other genres, gameplay ideas or retro inspired but a continuation/spin on it not just oh we copied this and this.
A focused game is fine but sometimes something else calls for more than that. Like a tank segment oh we don't see those in shooters as much anymore.
I didn't like Bayonetta 3 as much as 2, but I am Astral Chain where I think they did a few things better but brought to Bayonetta 3 didn't click with me as much besides Bayonetta 3's differences as well were fine.
You have the more gruff tough guy, deep voice of Kratos, brutal but still cares about some people, has his backstory but still fighting gods for his reasons. Even if sometimes he can seem as just 'the tough guy' and not much personality, he does but in some areas.
While the sassy Bayonetta, her characterisation and her side of things, her backstory and her reasons for fights gods (because hack n slashes focus on large scale threats and combat to suit them XD). She uses big weapons sometimes or fights in a dancing way, something you don't really see in a western game as a fighting style I guess???? as it would be strange. Firing guns from her feet even.
You get your sassy and helpful characters like I guess Catwoman but it depends.
I mean what western devs would make Catherine. Atlas did a great job with it. A puzzle game and visual novel sort of experience with choices to determine what I always think of a metaphor of dating paths. The west most would find weird but it's a very unique Japanese style of game with pushing art in interesting directions we don't usually see in some regions. It's bizarre but it also is highly creative in how it's gone about in some Japanese games.
No matter how violent, fan service or even pure and everyone appealing like a Katamari, Watum or something they all still have that unique quality only Japan can make, that creative angle and many audiences are open to it, others aren't. I love seeing what they make even if I'm not into every game I do respect them or do play some of them because of how appealing they are for ideas.
It was never a slur at all or anything to disrespect. I can understand how it can be misunderstood though.
The Japanese have niche ideas in their games or that Japanese personality many of us enjoy while others don't.
While the accuracy/differences in JRPGs are different these days they aren't all turn based, you see even western visual novels these days, among other factors of what the core action rpg, turn based, lower or higher budget, quality of life and so on in each of them.
But it's a term for region, separation on key ideas now more generalisation to I guess an honor they make games with their own great ideas even if the term has expanded/changed/maybe become meaningless over time besides just 'made in Japan' besides many JRPGs changing over time depending on their features, their expanded audience appeal for real time combat, themes/story telling, characterisation and more.
There are points I agree with Kamiya on and then there’s the kinda remembering of oh right it’s Kamiya I really should pay him no mind. Like he’s got extremely valid points when it comes to like Bayonetta (even if he did ruin the franchise) versus Kratos and he’s absolutely right that developers in Japan have much MUCH more sensibilities compared to western devs. Like he’s totally right that in terms of mood setting or story writing and even the world of most Japanese games are just that much richer then most western games. Personally if you ask me we have a great reference point this year with FFXVI and just everything about it. It’s a world with these Dominants and like look part of the world is rotting and these crystals are like 3 million billion feet tall and so much more. And you’re like wow this world is enthralling I wanna get dug in and then you got Baldurs Gate 3. Now all respect to Larian on this. And I know they’re not American. But this game has almost American sensibilities in now crude they pivoted with the marketing. It went from if you ask me like “hey uh we’re a D&D game and there’s a D&D movie coming out and we hope you enjoy it.” To “THIS IS THE GAME WHERE YOU HAVE SEX WITH BEAR. DID YOU HEAR THAT STORY? BEAR SEX GAME. BEAR SEX. BEAR SEX. BEAR SEX. BEAR SEX.” To the point I’m kinds sick of the game despite how well it’s selling. The only other thing I wanna say I’ve heard of the game is that Dark Urge thing which just sounds like the worst part of 7th Gen Gaming the morality systems in most games that usually meant nothing. All of this to say yeah Western studios are usually pretty boorish whereas Japanese studios just aren’t. So that’s like the one point I can give kamiya.
All no! Everyday now somebody is being racist! If you disagree with some one your racist. If some don't like what somebody says their racist. The jrpg have been called that since the regular nes days. Sounds like somebody's feeling left out and needs a little attention to feel important. People are using the word racist like a bad common joke. Like all jokes one day no one is going to take it seriously when it does need to be taken seriously.
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