>>718680162
Im going to say that i agree that there are roughly 2 phylosophies competing and that they more or less consist in what you said.
But I personally think that theres is one thats just better than the other in general, which would be the japanese approach. Mostly because i dont think the japanese neglect narrative depth as a condition, or that it hinders the mechanics if the narrative is good. Its more of hierarchy of values, and generally the japs understand that games are mostly an interactive medium with its own rules and horizons to conquer, and the japs have been a lot more ambitious with them. Interactivity should generally be the main focus of the devs, and the story should be very much adapted to be told around whatever interactivity system is designed. Of course nintendo is a paradigm of this wsy of thinking, yet it still has had games with reasonably sound stories in the past. But even shit like FF, which sounds like games where gameplay is secondary to the story, were games that dared to experiment with presentation, story length and even toying with the mechanics here and there in order to make an entertaining ride in a wsy that western games just didnt even dared to back in the 90s.
In comparison, western games mostly just take what has been working and selling well and decide that any story can be told in a RE4 style of presentation, and that we just need more graphics and stories that could tonally fit in whatever current streaming media is popular right now. There is absolutely no thought put in wether the mechanics service the stories in any way, and japanese games arent remotely as limited in this regard.
Of course theres all sorts of greys and exceptions here. Classic pc gaming is a completely different story and the japs have no business there, and also we could talk about eurojank games and all sorts of interesting shit thats produced outside of japan. But roughly speaking, in what console gaming concerns, the japs just know better.
