Isn't it a little odd japan never pushed their massive 'isekai fad' into videogames?

[dope_danny]

Now just to preface if you didn't know 'isekai' is a genre, kind of, of storytelling that basically means 'main character travelled from the real world to a fictional one'. This can in the grand scheme of things mean Alice in Wonderland, Tron, The Neverending Story and so on. In japan however there has been a massive surge in light novels and web novels getting turned into anime and manga based on the idea.
Often its just a silly power fantasy, sometimes its a more interesting case of 'you have knowledge of things like steam power, electricity and medicine this fantasy world doesnt' that ends up popular because of the visual dichotomy but for the most part its real people -almost always hit by a truck when crossing the road, maybe one day the truck drivers dark origin will be revealed- going to worlds with rpg mechanics behaving in 'real life'.

Thinking on it its surprising how much more uncommon this kind of thing is in videogames compared to the 1990s'. It often does lead to cringe stories but its as popular in japanese media as battle royale is here and while its often seen as shitty harem power trips written by people with an apparent grudge on the world the popularity is undeniable. I honestly cannot remember the last time there was an anime season without an isekai manga or light novel adaptation hastily shat out to cash in on whats the battle royale tier fad in young adult media over there.

So why do you think they barely touched on it in videogames? in terms of current gen there is Digimon World: Next Order that uses the trope in a monster rancher kind of way and a bunch of hastily shat out hard game flips, mechanics, animations and all for Sword Art online by bamco but beyond that its the usual games japan has been outputting -albeit in improving quality in recent years- for the last two console generations.

Bare in mind i don't what more of them personally, it just seems terribly strange to see the notion heavily explored in one media and not the other when it is such a huge storytelling fad over there.

Why do you think studios havent tried to cash in on the popularity of things like overlord or log horizon?

[Super Kami Dende]

I guess because technically as a Gamer, playing a Videogame is already putting you in that "different" World. Especially in RPG's. Since you are directly controlling the character and there is no real need to put another wall between Player and Game.

Though I wouldn't turn down another Final Fantasy Tactics type Story.

Kind of becomes a bit weird when you are a dude playing a dude playing a dude.

[Tech614]

Because Ni No Kuni was already niche as it is and more popular in the west then in Japan. If Ni No Kuni blew up you would have absolutely seen more of it.

Popular in Japanese media does not mean something will be popular to Japanese gamers. I mean if it's not telling to you that a co production between Level 5 and Studio Ghibli was a domestic flop in Japan will it ever be?

[Schattenlied]

I guess because technically as a Gamer, playing a Videogame is already putting you in that "different" World. Especially in RPG's. Since you are directly controlling the character and there is no real need to put another wall between Player and Game.

Though I wouldn't turn down another Final Fantasy Tactics type Story.

Kind of becomes a bit weird when you are a dude playing a dude playing a dude.

[Airlick]

Why do you think studios havent tried to cash in on the popularity of things like overlord or log horizon?

Because it's terrible and only appealing to unsatisfied nerds. While Japan does have a comparatively large population of those, it's still probably not enough to make such a game a worthwhile investment. At least we should hope this abomination of a genre dies as soon as possible.

[Vespian]

Because it's terrible and only appealing to unsatisfied nerds.

90% of manga and anime are terrible, including the one in your avatar, but that's not related to genre or type of audience. Every genre has it's gems and the audience usually reads more than just a single genre. It's just that being successful with one in a specific genre leads into more of a kind. Most are terrible, with the rare exception.

I really like The legendary Moonlight Sculpture and Dr.Stone for example, the latter being made by the artist that made Sun Ken Rock, which I absolutely adore. There's probably plenty of titles I'm forgetting to mention. On the other hand, I think The Gamer is absolutely terrible, but that one has more of a following. Oh well.

[potis]

Because it's terrible and only appealing to unsatisfied nerds. While Japan does have a comparatively large population of those, it's still probably not enough to make such a game a worthwhile investment. At least we should hope this abomination of a genre dies as soon as possible.

Posting that, with anime picture, the irony is so strong, i will end up banned if i freely speak.

The only reason games like that havent popped up is because VR is a facade and the technology simply isnt there.

The studios making the animes/light novels are cashing in a lot on other stuff.

Also OP, most of animes or light novels have or end up having a retarded ass story, there is a difference between reading something and being a complete autistic nerd about it.

I have cringed at 100% of the animes or mangas i have read at some point, in the terms of "Dear god this is so retarded", doesnt mean i am gonna scrap the other 95% of the anime/manga for 2-3 things.

Even One Piece is downright retarded at times, or the more mature ones end up doing something completely stupid too.

[Deleted]

I guess because technically as a Gamer, playing a Videogame is already putting you in that "different" World. Especially in RPG's. Since you are directly controlling the character and there is no real need to put another wall between Player and Game.

Though I wouldn't turn down another Final Fantasy Tactics type Story.

Kind of becomes a bit weird when you are a dude playing a dude playing a dude.

Pretty much answered right here. It would need some sort of meaningful gameplay(or even story) outside of the "isekai" part, with either the option to return to the "real" world regularly like a video game and do stuff outside of it, play a different character in the real word or something.

[Airlick]

90% of manga and anime are terrible, including the one in your avatar

Miku is neither manga nor anime, actually. I'm not about to start defending her, though, many of "her" songs are some of the worst ones one can hear.

Posting that, with anime picture, the irony is so strong, i will end up banned if i freely speak.

Also OP, most of animes or light novels have or end up having a retarded ass story, there is a difference between reading something and being a complete autistic nerd about it.

I have cringed at 100% of the animes or mangas i have read at some point, in the terms of "Dear god this is so retarded", doesnt mean i am gonna scrap the other 95% of the anime/manga for 2-3 things.

Even One Piece is downright retarded at times, or the more mature ones end up doing something completely stupid too.

Who is better suited to voice their concerns about unsatisfied nerds than one of their own?

I'd say putting "even" ahead of One Piece doesn't exactly prove one's knowledge of anime, since it belongs to a genre that is exactly one of the most cringeworthy ones. You should look at the less popular series for better writing, for example, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu is definitely right there at the top, not just of anime/mangas, but actually of any media. It's one of the most mature stories, with unbelievably good character development and voice-acting, and no cringe at all. Out of the more popular series, I'd name Baccano for its pure sassiness, it does border with cringe, but it does so in an ironic and self-aware style, which makes it even funnier.

Kinda derailing here, though.

[Vespian]

Miku is neither manga nor anime, actually. I'm not about to start defending her, though, many of "her" songs are some of the worst ones one can hear.

Ah, so I was right about the stereotype popstar girl. Whenever you see one of them feature in an anime, you know it's terrible.
I believe the topic is derailing, indeed. One-Piece is an example of absurdity for the sake of absurdity, so suggesting that "even" One-Piece is absurd at times is in itself ridiculous, so you get no argument from me there.

The topic is perhaps better suited to compare to Assassins Creed. In-game you have this context of you as a person that plays a virtual memory of an ancestor, which works, for the most part (at least narratively), but was just boring to me. When you then take the movie, it's absolutely terrible.

In my opinion it's just hard to get right and if you don't get it right, it will drag the entire project down, while that same story could have been told without including the story within a story/world within a world concept. It needs to have a purpose narratively, otherwise it's just a gimmick, which it is in most manga/manwha/Novels.

[dope_danny]

Ah, so I was right about the stereotype popstar girl. Whenever you see one of them feature in an anime, you know it's terrible.
I believe the topic is derailing, indeed. One-Piece is an example of absurdity for the sake of absurdity, so suggesting that "even" One-Piece is absurd at times is in itself ridiculous, so you get no argument from me there.

The topic is perhaps better suited to compare to Assassins Creed. In-game you have this context of you as a person that plays a virtual memory of an ancestor, which works, for the most part (at least narratively), but was just boring to me. When you then take the movie, it's absolutely terrible.

In my opinion it's just hard to get right and if you don't get it right, it will drag the entire project down, while that same story could have been told without including the story within a story/world within a world concept. It needs to have a purpose narratively, otherwise it's just a gimmick, which it is in most manga/manwha/Novels.

I think in the west in particular there is a sense of 'its not the real world so it doesnt matter' with these things. Even when the game itself of course isn't real. Lot of folks were excited for the evil within till it came out that its all a dream set in a psychos brain and then a lot of people vocally soured on it 'because it doesnt matter'.

[Verdugo]

Lot of folks were excited for the evil within till it came out that its all a dream set in a psychos brain and then a lot of people vocally soured on it 'because it doesnt matter'.

I think its more because it has some really questionable design decisions, story was a mess and it really wasnt that scary (which is REALLY good for a horror game).

Evil Within 2 was better recieved I believe, and you knew from the very start that you are in a dreamworld.

[Noomz]

Now just to preface if you didn't know 'isekai' is a genre, kind of, of storytelling that basically means 'main character travelled from the real world to a fictional one'. This can in the grand scheme of things mean Alice in Wonderland, Tron, The Neverending Story and so on. In japan however there has been a massive surge in light novels and web novels getting turned into anime and manga based on the idea.
Often its just a silly power fantasy, sometimes its a more interesting case of 'you have knowledge of things like steam power, electricity and medicine this fantasy world doesnt' that ends up popular because of the visual dichotomy but for the most part its real people -almost always hit by a truck when crossing the road, maybe one day the truck drivers dark origin will be revealed- going to worlds with rpg mechanics behaving in 'real life'.

Thinking on it its surprising how much more uncommon this kind of thing is in videogames compared to the 1990s'. It often does lead to cringe stories but its as popular in japanese media as battle royale is here and while its often seen as shitty harem power trips written by people with an apparent grudge on the world the popularity is undeniable. I honestly cannot remember the last time there was an anime season without an isekai manga or light novel adaptation hastily shat out to cash in on whats the battle royale tier fad in young adult media over there.

So why do you think they barely touched on it in videogames? in terms of current gen there is Digimon World: Next Order that uses the trope in a monster rancher kind of way and a bunch of hastily shat out hard game flips, mechanics, animations and all for Sword Art online by bamco but beyond that its the usual games japan has been outputting -albeit in improving quality in recent years- for the last two console generations.

Bare in mind i don't what more of them personally, it just seems terribly strange to see the notion heavily explored in one media and not the other when it is such a huge storytelling fad over there.

Why do you think studios havent tried to cash in on the popularity of things like overlord or log horizon?

It's usually a pretty shitty genre though. As you say, it's all a power fantasy. It's shallow as fuck.

[dope_danny]

It's usually a pretty shitty genre though. As you say, it's all a power fantasy. It's shallow as fuck.

True but so is battle royale. Its not so much 'why hasnt this amazing thing been capitalised on' but rather 'this trash is extremely popular so why not milk till the cows come home?'

[Blade Wolf]

It's usually a pretty shitty genre though. As you say, it's all a power fantasy. It's shallow as fuck.

The Sword Art Online games for example rely way to much on fanservice because the gameplay is quite shitty and that's not even touching on the characters themselves.

[dope_danny]

The Sword Art Online games for example rely way to much on fanservice because the gameplay is quite shitty and that's not even touching on the characters themselves.

A lot of them are recycles of entire games like reverse assett flips. The last one 'fatal bullet' is literally new character models and textures over the psvita game 'freedom wars'.

[unholytestament]

The Sword Art Online games for example rely way to much on fanservice because the gameplay is quite shitty and that's not even touching on the characters themselves.

Well it's not helping that the games in the show make no sense and would be pieces of shit no one would play. Shitty games inspired by an anime about shitty games.

So at least they're accurate...?

[Noomz]

The Sword Art Online games for example rely way to much on fanservice because the gameplay is quite shitty and that's not even touching on the characters themselves.

It's garbage level anime and games. It's all the shit tropes, all the clichés. Really dull.

[StrawberryZebra]

Now just to preface if you didn't know 'isekai' is a genre, kind of, of storytelling that basically means 'main character travelled from the real world to a fictional one'. This can in the grand scheme of things mean Alice in Wonderland, Tron, The Neverending Story and so on. In japan however there has been a massive surge in light novels and web novels getting turned into anime and manga based on the idea.

It's a handy trope to work with if you're a game developer. It allows for the character to ask questions of the new world they're in that would be obvious to the people living there. Like asking about Cars or Wifi in our world for example - The only people who can really ask painstakingly obvious questions about them are children. It gives the player the chance to explore and find out about their new surroundings without removing them from the experience.

On the other hand, it is possiably the laziest, easiest way of dumping world building info onto the player. It requires very little nuance or skill in the delivery and just allows an NPC to straight up tell you what you want to know. Chances are it never became an established story telling method for games because there are much better avenues for developers to use for world building.

[Bigbazz]

Given the current course I thought this thread might be a good candidate for



The Miku guitar pedal.