Japanese vs American character development

[Krug]

Interesting points someone made on Greg Costikiyan's blog:

I think the difference, in terms of characterization, between the US and Japan is that Japan creates the character, whereas in America YOU are the character. Hence the lack of, well, character. Even Deus Ex's JC Denton isn't a paradigm of characterization.

But the tradeoff in Japanese games is that if the character develops, it really has nothing to do with you. The character was always MEANT to develop.

Hence, I think, the greatest fundamental difference between Japanese and American games: open-ended-ness. This is probably most evident in roleplaying games (_not_ Diablo, which I'd hardly classify as a RPG, but stuff like Baldur's Gate or Morrowind). In short, as you said, game mechanics.

http://www.costik.com/cgi-bin/sc2/comment.pl?action=start&id=01&item=90254839
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Food for thought. For RPGs one hardly ever plays premade characters with predetermined fates. I guess the biggest example of Japanese RPGs the poster is refering to are Zelda and Final Fantasy.

Have you ever played a pre-made character in a tabletop RPG and was happy with it? What about Dragonlance?

 

[Chauzu]

I use pre-made characters as toilet paper!

 

[Sagan Darkside]

I use pre-made characters as toilet paper!

Ouch. I don't even want to imagine those papercuts.

SD

 

[Chauzu]

Ouch. I don't even want to imagine those papercuts.

SD

No... you don't...

 

[Terraism]

Have you ever played a pre-made character in a tabletop RPG and was happy with it? What about Dragonlance?

I think you may be right - there's a world of difference there, but I don't know if it's really a difference between cultures, but system - BG - Dark Alliance is an american game, with premade characters. I see the division more from that perspective - consoling gaming tends to be much more streamlined, with structured characters, whereas computer gaming is much more open ended.

 

[Fade]

Interesting points someone made on Greg Costikiyan's blog:

Hence the lack of, well, character. Even Deus Ex's JC Denton isn't a paradigm of characterization.

JC was deliberately designed with little personality so the player can project their desired persona onto him. You can play as anything from a blood-crazed Rambo to a weary pacifist who never kills anyone, so a strong character would restrict the player's characterisation.

 

[Terraism]

Re: Re: Japanese vs American character development

JC was deliberately designed with little personality so the player can project their desired persona onto him. You can play as anything from a blood-crazed Rambo to a weary pacifist who never kills anyone, so a strong character would restrict the player's characterisation.

I think that was what his comment meant - Deus Ex might have a streamlined story, but character-wise, it's extremely open-ended. (Except not, 'cause you do not have the option to stay with UNATCO. [Grumble.])

 

[I'm A Banana]

I don't think it's a cultural thing at all...

I think everybody looks for a character that they can relate to. Either they find it in a character already built, or they form the character themselves. Either way, the entertainment is an extention of the personal narcissim of the player.

And there's nothin' wrong with that at all.

 

[Krug]

I don't think it's a cultural thing at all...

I think everybody looks for a character that they can relate to. Either they find it in a character already built, or they form the character themselves. Either way, the entertainment is an extention of the personal narcissim of the player.

And there's nothin' wrong with that at all.

I guess the best example would be Final Fantasy, where the characters are pre-assigned to you, and you have very little control over their fate. In FFX you don't spend much time building your character before playing it right? Unlike say, Diablo II.

 

[ced1106]

Re: Re: Japanese vs American character development

JC was deliberately designed with little personality so the player can project their desired persona onto him. You can play as anything from a blood-crazed Rambo to a weary pacifist who never kills anyone, so a strong character would restrict the player's characterisation.

I'd say more AD&D module pregens were like this as well. The background of the characters felt bland to myself.

That being said, one of my fave NPCs was this LN cleric of Cuthbert. LN became "bureaucratic", and his whole job was to chaperone 1st-2nd level PCs so that they could go get experience points to go higher levels. Boy, did I do a lot of yelling through that character.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^