>>717465537Well yeah obviously it’s an absurd generalizing overcorrection to say “all Japanese media is inherently good, all western media is inherently bad”. But the basic sentiment behind it, that the Japanese market is simply a more reliable place to look for good games in 2025, is true. What games have westerners been making these past 7 years? TLOU, Tomb Raider reboot, GOW 2018, RDR2. Products that are focused more on being cynical stories than fun games. That’s not to say these games don’t have merit (and I’m being generous by not cherry-picking the real garbage like Assassin’s Creed or Dragon Age), but the design philosophy behind is fundamentally flawed and antithetical to what the medium is about. Meanwhile, in Japan, you have devs like Capcom, Fromsoftware, and Team Ninja who are fucking killing it right now. Their games are pure. No strings attached, no ulterior motives, no politics, no pretensions. Though, recently, this extends to the Korean and Chinese markets as well. So it’s more of an East vs. West thing than Japan vs. West. Death Stranding is a bad faith cherrypick since you know Kojima is a one-of-a-kind westaboo who is explicitly trying to replicate the shitty western trends I’m talking about