What I’m about to write would have been enormously unprofessional a few months ago, but since I’m no longer a member of the games press, nor do I have any intention of going back any time soon, I am more than happy to express myself freely.
My statement is simple: If you’re that cynical about video games, find something else — anything — to write about.
I say this after a day in which not one but two utterly dreadful articles were brought to my attention — I’m not going to link to either; you can seek them out yourself if you’re that interested.
First up was the review of Fairy Fencer F over on my former stomping grounds of USgamer. After witnessing… the reviewer in question’s review style on a couple of other Japanese role-playing game titles — most notably the actually rather excellent Tales of Xillia 2, which he panned — and the fact that, back when I was still on the staff, he wouldn’t review Atelier Rorona Plus on the grounds that a Google Image Search for the game looked “creepy”, I wasn’t altogether surprised to see that he tore this title to shreds, also. And he did so in such a way that told me three things: 1) he had a pre-existing dislike of the company that produced the game (Compile Heart) 2) he hadn’t taken the time to engage with the game on anything more than the most superficial level and 3) he simply didn’t give a shit about JRPGs as they exist in 2014.
I haven’t yet played Fairy Fencer F, but given the way in which the review in question was expressed — telling people who might actually be interested in the game absolutely nothing about the game, its story or its characters and instead bashing Compile Heart and its parent company Idea Factory, bemoaning easily ignored technical issues and generally looking down its nose at people who might want to play it — I don’t have much faith in it as a whole. I intend to give the game a fair shot myself once I have time to settle down with it, and when I do I intend to provide some detailed thoughts on the subject over at MoeGamer, much as I did with Tales of Xillia 2 recently.
Now, games journos will often point out how stupid it is to disagree with a review, which is, after all, a subjective opinion. And it kind of is; if you like something which someone else hates, then great; more power to you. But what we had here was more than that — it was an outright unhelpful review, instead more concerned with scrawling “I Hate Compile Heart” over everything than actually providing any sort of interesting, helpful analysis or criticism. It actually felt borderline insulting at times — though thankfully not so much as the site’s notorious Hatsune Miku Project Diva F review, which was so offensive to fans of Japanese games that emphatic complaints from me and my then-colleague Cassandra led to the formation of my JPgamer column.
If this was a one-off, I wouldn’t mind so much, but the reviewer in question has now done this several times — leading me to question the motivations for assigning him (or him stepping forward; I don’t know which way round it was) to these titles in the first place. As the former staffer who single-handedly built up a ton of goodwill with fans of niche titles that get ignored at best, marginalised or even ridiculed at worst by other sites, I can’t deny that it smarts a little to see all that goodwill getting well and truly pissed up the wall by giving the sort of games that I would have been all over — and that my fellow enthusiasts would have loved to hear more about — to someone who clearly and obviously hates them. Something that helped make USgamer unique has been lost; now it’s just another site with a predictable “loljapan” attitude about it. I would rather the site simply didn’t review these titles at all than let this joyless arse anywhere near one ever again, but sadly it’s not up to me. How very disappointing.
But let’s not get too hung up on Fairy Fencer F because this was, surprisingly, not the most stupid thing posted today. No, that honour goes to the epic-length editorial over on Polygon about finding the tutorial to the new Lord of the Rings game troubling. Why? Because at one point, you sneak up on your wife and kiss her, using the same control scheme and animations as you use later in the game to assassinate people and monsters. Somehow this bizarre objection was spun out to somewhere in the region of 1,500 words — an impressive achievement on the part of the author to take that long to say absolutely nothing, I must admit. (Although frankly, given the state of some of the entries on this blog, I’m probably not one to talk. But eh; there’s a difference between a professional, commercial games site and a personal blog I use as an outlet for mental detritus.)
Polygon has been going down the toilet for a long time; I can’t say I’ve ever been a particular fan of their uniquely pretentious brand of games journalism, nor the sanctimonious attitude of several of its staff writers, but since ditching their features staff a while back — the one part of the site that actually had anything meaningful or interesting to say — it really has been circling the drain. I wasn’t surprised or angry to read this article today after someone pointed me in its direction earlier; my only real reaction was a sigh and a shake of the head. Games journalism in 2014, ladies and gentlemen; better to say 1,500 words of nothing at all about the week’s big release than, you know, say nothing at all. Because if you make people angry you’ll at least get some page hits as people share it indignantly.
Today has been one of numerous days that I’ve looked back on my time with the games press and thought “That was fun while it lasted, but I don’t want to go anywhere near that ever again.” If a prerequisite for being a member of the games press of 2014 is being a joyless wanker who can’t find the fun in anything, then count me out. Give me a call when you ditch the clickbait business model, fire all these miserable tossers and start bringing on board people who are actually enthusiastic — even passionate — about this exciting medium. I won’t be sitting by the phone waiting for your call, however; I’ve got better things to do.
You know, like playing games… and actually enjoying them.
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“Something that helped make USgamer unique has been lost; now it’s just another site with a predictable “loljapan” attitude about it.”
Yes. This exactly! I was exasperated by that review (Fairy Fencer F) and immediately thought of you, Pete, as I was reading it. I would’ve reached out if you were still on the twitters but I had a feeling that you would address this.
JPgamer had become my favorite column on that site and now they are destroying it to emulate the broken model that is used everywhere else.
M. Reviewer (I won’t name him since you didn’t) as had that annoying attitude for a long time. Although I respect his knowledge of video games (I’ve been a Retronauts listener for a long time), I kind of dislike when people push their conservative agendas/values on readers. That Google image anecdote… Not very surprised. It’s just annoying.
If anything, this has convinced me to purchase FFF as soon as I’m done with Neptunia Rebirth, a series I discovered thanks to your efforts.
Before reading your reviews and columns, it was very hard to find a compelling reason to give those games a go if you were unfamiliar with them.
Thank you for writing this, and for being honest about the current games press situation, even if it has the potential to fluster some old colleagues.
Sorry if my English turns out not to be perfect 😉
Regards,
Hugues
@mos8580
Thanks for the support. I’m just sick of seeing games that have just as much right to decent-quality coverage as other stuff get treated like this.
It’s doubly disappointing when you poured a year of your life into helping build a community that provided a “safe space” for fans of games that routinely don’t get treated fairly — a community that you yourself were also hungry for.
It’s triply disappointing when your criticisms get dismissed with a wave of the hand, but oh well. What can you do. I’ve said my piece, and so far as I’m concerned, I’m putting it behind me.
What a pity that USgamer couldn’t be what it had the promise to be back in the bright-eyed days of it opening. But if they want to keep going in that direction, there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. I just wanted to express my frustration.
Disappointed to read this, Pete. I appreciate your love for niche releases, but you know perfectly well that Jeremy champions Japanese games more than most people in the industry. If you disagree with Bob’s review, then fair enough. But please don’t tell me that USgamer is a “loljapan” site because it panned a handful of niche RPGs. You know better than that.
We’re not going to agree on this, Kat, so I’m not going to argue with you. I am sorry to hear that you are disappointed in what I’ve said here, but I can guarantee that you are nowhere near as disappointed as I am in USgamer’s coverage of niche titles since I have left.
Suffice to say that I think Bob’s review output of niche titles speaks for itself. I have no say over the site since I was kicked to the kerb, so do whatever the fuck you want, but if I were you I would keep that man away from further niche RPGs and visual novels, because his demonstrably poor attitude towards them is losing you readers. It may not be many readers, and you may not care about such a minority of your overall audience, but alienating any of your groups of readers, however small, is not a helpful or productive stance to take.
The game experiences provided by titles like Fairy Fencer F, Xillia 2 and Xblaze are just as “valid” as anything else you might cover on the site, and they — not to mention the people who do enjoy them — deserve to be treated with a little more respect than a throwaway review that reads as if it’s been prejudged before the game was even fired up once.
And if you can’t do that, well, don’t cover them. It’s not as if there’s a shortage of great games to write about.
You’re right when you say that Fairy Fencer F, Xillia 2, and Xblaze are just as valid as anything else. But the way you tend to uncritically defend them does the genre a disservice. As for Bob, I think you’re unfairly generalizing his work. Maybe you missed his Danganronpa 2 review? Or maybe is touting of Resonance of Fate and Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky? This is not a zero sum game here. Sometimes the people who love a genre the most, and Bob loves RPGs and visual novels to death, are also its harshest critics.
You can be critical without being hateful. You can criticise while still being enthusiastic, and to be honest I kind of resent your implication that I uncritically defend these games. I will be the first to acknowledge that Compile Heart’s titles in particular tend to be clunky messes that won’t appeal to everyone — and frequently have done — but they also have heart and soul, which is why despite being such clunky messes, they have such passionate followers, and why I will happily champion them to anyone who will listen that is looking for something a little off the beaten track.
A little acknowledgement of that passion, even if the evaluation is ultimately overall negative, goes a long way — particularly as most sites tend to dismiss these games altogether out of hand. I’m not saying everyone has to turn into Neptunia fans overnight. Just understand why some people are.
As it stands, the review we’re talking about here just came across as mean-spirited and dismissive. For the people who would be most interested in the game, it is not useful at all. For those not interested, all it does is confirm their existing prejudices and biases.
I think the name of the company was ill-chosen. It’s more like a Compile Wisdom Tooth, or a Compile Appendix… something vestigial and easily left behind. It’s borderline insulting for them to have hijacked the name of the developer responsible for classic software like Puyo Puyo, Zanac/Aleste, and The Guardian Legend. It reminds me of the nudie mahjong hell Nichibutsu became after Shigeki Fujiwara left to join Hudson Soft.
Anyway! I like Bob Mackey’s work. His work is irreverent and pointed, without falling into mindless mean-spiritedness. I do agree with you about Polygon, though. I’m not sure how the scene in the Mordor game is any more offensive than playing hide and seek with a small child to learn the ropes in Dishonored.
Also, why does my avatar look like something I’d shoot in an Atari 2600 game…?
I completely agree, you won’t find a more dispassionate, jaded group of people that games journalists. I find a lot of them just won’t put in the effort to learn how a game plays (see: most Wonderful 101 reviews).
Even Jeremy Parish had to go and preface his MGS5 preview from TGS with an entire 2 or 3 paragraphs about Quiet having a swimsuit style bra on (oh noes!) and dissonant for being too mystical, calling everyone else realistic comic book war heroes, when she’s standing next to a guy with a robotic hand in the 80’s who’s offspring will go on to fight optic camoflouge ninja cyborgs, vampires, clones, and an AI that controls the government and the masses… and going on about how Kojima is a pervert, as if the visionary breadth of his work can be reduced to 50% perversion, in equal measures… or even close to it.
It was disheartening to see one of my favorite bastions of knowledge and curators of console history’s strong Japanese roots, turn out to just be another guy who’s had to get on the “are you in or out” peer frequency to thrive and survive in this industry.
Thanks for saying that. Was about 90% sure that sentiment was somewhere in your mind, but it’s gratifying to see for real.
You know I wouldn’t project too much on to BM. Sometimes his sarcasm can come off a little biting or mean spirited. But he’s a solid games reviewer. I’ve learned to look past it. Yes I agree there need to be more enthusiast press who enjoy games. I also feel BM and US gamer is one of those places. Maybe he just doesn’t hold the same games in high regard as you. But talking about retro games or Dark Souls etc. he is very much enthusiastic and a game lover. Maybe he was given those games because he actually does like Anime and RPG’s but feels those tropes were misused on crappy games. Sometimes liking something a lot can make you a very harsh critic.
This is what baffles me. He’s clearly a much better writer than what that FFF review suggests. If he doesn’t like the game, fair enough; let’s hear a bit more about why he thinks that along with what the game itself is like, so people can make an informed decision about whether or not they want to give it a try.
I’m not sure I buy the “loving things makes you a harsh critic” argument; you’re the second person to make it today. I love a number of things a lot — not just games like this: board games, certain types of music and certain TV shows all fall into this category — and all loving them makes me want to do is celebrate them. Acknowledge their faults, for sure, but I would always, always rather look for the positive while acknowledging the negative rather than focusing pretty much exclusively on the negative.
Horses for courses though, I guess. He’s the one with the job in the press.
Pete likes fanservice, Bob doesn’t. It’s the attitude towards sexualized content that really makes the difference here and the subject needs to be addressed head-on. You call him “joyless” when you really just want to say “this guy does not get his jollies the same way I do.” Look at the comments on the recent RoF article – he said the fanservice costume creeped him out. There’s no need to complicate the issue with name-calling and put downs.
I’d like it if you addressed the fact that for many if not most American JRPG fans, fanservice is a turn-off. It’s something that’s been featured in JRPGs more and more prominently over the last decade and for most of us, it’s a huge disincentive.
This isn’t about fanservice specifically — I don’t think anyone had even brought it up until now — more a general attitude. (FFF is, by all accounts I’ve heard, pretty tame in that regard anyway.) What I object to is the lack of respect with which these games are treated, often on the (frequently mistaken) assumption that they’re nothing but fanservice: the feeling that they don’t need to be explored in detail.
Since you brought it up, though, let’s address it: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with fanservice. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with games having a healthy dose of cheeky acknowledgement of sexuality, or even outright eroticism. I don’t even think there’s anything wrong with games that centre around this aspect — though I draw my own personal line, as I think a fair few people do, at anything that involves sexual violence of any type. In many cases, though, by that point you’ve crossed the line out of “fanservice” into something else by then, be it either porn, horror or both.
Human beings are sexual creatures. We respond strongly to visual stimuli, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with finding an animated character attractive, particularly if they’re depicted in such a way that they’re clearly supposed to be attractive — but it’s much more than simple physical attraction. The very essence of “moe”, which is the philosophy around which a lot of these games (and related media such as anime) are designed, is to depict characters in such a way as to elicit feelings of affection or love. If you engage with it — and that’s something you have to make a specific effort to do, so not everyone is willing or able to do so — it can lead to a strong “bond” between player and character, and that, for me, is the big attraction for this sort of thing. I reach the end credits of, say, a Neptunia game feeling sorry that I don’t get to spend any more time with these characters, because I’ve come to regard them with genuine affection. It’s not about wanting to bang them — at least not for me, anyway; I don’t presume to speak for everyone.
And this, here, is the rub; it’s easy to look at a fanservicey title and write it off as nothing but cheap titillation. In doing so, though, you often miss out on interesting, character-led experiences. Take something like the widely-panned Time and Eternity, for example; in that, the fanservice was a reflection of the male protagonist’s character and how, as someone who was about to marry the girl of his dreams — with everything that implies in a society that is, it is suggested, somewhat traditional in its attitudes towards what men and women can and cannot do with one another according to their marital status — he would undoubtedly find it enormously frustrating, both in a regular and sexual sense, to see himself repeatedly murdered on what was supposed to be the happiest day of his life. To imply that he wouldn’t be carrying around increasingly lewd thoughts about the girl he loves — who seems perpetually out of reach — would be, I feel, somewhat disingenuous.
Ultimately one of the things you need to remember is that these games hail from a different culture where there are different values relating to things like sexuality — and that these values often vary between society at large and the freedom of expression that the creative media provides. There’s a goodly proportion of Japanese media that represents a significant “release” from the constraints of polite, public society, and, as someone who finds self-expression through art (in my case, writing and music) to be extremely helpful, I applaud that.
If certain aspects of that media makes you uncomfortable, then that’s on you; it wasn’t originally designed for you, so it’s your choice as to whether or not you engage with it. I choose to, and I have experiences I consider to be highly rewarding as a result. You say that “most American JRPG fans” find fanservice a turn-off. Well, at this point, it’s a case of either deal with it or find something else to play. There are, it seems, enough people in both the East and West to make games of this type viable for both development and localisation, so I’m not sure your statement is altogether correct, anyhow.
No-one is saying you have to enjoy fanservice or otherwise sexualised content, but all those of us who do enjoy it ask is that we be allowed to do so without the pointing and laughing. It’s a healthy and happy thing to be comfortable with your own sexuality; I’d much rather enjoy the happiness and bright colours of moe than feel like I’m repressing my own natural instincts or wallowing in depression. And besides, as I’ve noted above, you might just be surprised how little actual fanservice there is in one of these games; Compile Heart’s titles in particular are all about enjoyable characterisation and fun mechanics far more than they are about titties. Hyperdimension Neptunia in particular features one of the most positive depictions of women in the entire industry: an all-female party of ass-kicking heroines, none of whom ever need a man to save them, and all of whom have a pleasingly open and fluid attitude towards sexuality and confidence in themselves, regardless of age, size, shape, body type or anything else that might cause real people to stress about themselves. That actually sounds pretty admirable to me.
I will add a disclaimer here that all of the above is only true if you don’t allow your attitude to fanservice and sexualised content to colour your own judgement of real people. And, much like the endless tedium of the “do violent video games make people violent?” debate, I’m pretty sure this is a non-issue, frankly. I am in a happy and loving relationship with a real person whom I treat with respect — and who treats me with respect; I don’t walk down the street wishing people would bend over and show me their pantsu; I don’t feel that the opposite sex “owes” me anything. I can, in other words, distinguish between the worlds of fantasy and reality, and I don’t know anyone who can’t.
I will also add a second disclaimer that there is a ton of fanservice out there for heterosexual male players, and that I acknowledge it would be nice for female (or gay) players to have more of an opportunity to have some sexy fun, too. That’s slowly changing, though; we’re slowly starting to see more otome games being released in the West — Sweet Fuse is a hugely enjoyable example, and I fully intend to give Hakuoki a go at some point soon — and Japanese-inspired Western developers such as Winter Wolves and Hanako Games regularly acknowledge and cater specifically to audiences other than (or in addition to) straight men.
I think it just makes things a lot more clear if you don’t use “niche games” or “Japanese games” as a euphemism for games that prominently feature fanservice. As Kat pointed out, Bob has given plenty of positive attention to niche Japanese titles, just not the ones where the fanservice got in the way of the overall enjoyment.
There’s a lot to unpack in your informative and well-considered response, and I think we’re simply going to have to agree to disagree on certain points. For example, I find the idea that Neptunia sends a powerful, sex-positive message ludicrous because of the way the girls are dressed. Those are fantasy costumes; real women don’t dress like that. I like girls in skimpy clothes just as much as the next hot-blooded hetero guy (assuming they have the head/body ratios of adults and not children, which is another all-too-common aspect of fanservice games), but when it comes down to it I prefer more realistic designs to skimpy ones. For example, I like the “leather outfit” Batgirl compared to the “spandex outfit” one. I don’t have the chops to really debate gender issues in games, so this is where I’ll have to bow out of the discussion.
I do agree with Kat’s sentiment that you tend to lack the ability to view these games critically and that hurt my experience as a USGamer reader. You seemed to take offense to this accusation up-thread but then described how a player has to “make a specific effort” to appreciate a moe title. I think that’s exactly why you were called uncritical. This is all water under the bridge now, and you have started your own site to cater to fanservice enthusiasts, the people who “get it.” I hope the new site fairs well for you.
Why is sexuality in Japanese games derided and shameful, but fucking aliens and IGN video girls in Mass Effect enlightened and progressive? Why does it even need a different name? The former often seems flirtatious, silly, simultaneously self-aware and self-depreciating.. the flatter often seems like voyeuristic, shameless power fantasy for vicarious thrills that leverages it’s uncanny valleys to be an obscene puppet show – the stop gap to holodeck dildos.
Don’t even try to say a drawing is somehow more deviant and perverse than a 3D model.
The country has already been shamed into self-imposed chaste and self-loathing, and I think it’s gone on long enough. All this stuff is projected insecurities, centuries of sexual repression in America, being vomited onto the linger ghosts of a WW2 enemy. It’s psychologically repulsive, especially in it’s oblivious guise of progress and intellectual analysis.
I love niche JRPGs. And that’s why I love and can rely on Bob Mackey’s reviews. I want thoughtful analysis of a game, and Mackey provides it. Even better, he provides thoughtful analysis from the perspective of someone who loves and has joy for great JRPGs. It’s precisely because of this joy for great RPGs that I take it seriously when Mackey explains why a game like FFF is mediocre. You disagree with Mackey, but that doesn’t make him joyless or biased. I know that when Mackey tells me a niche Japanese game is exceptionally, it really will be exceptional.
On the other hand, something that isn’t helpful in a review is nonsense about how “nakama” is an untranslatable and particularly Japanese narrative trope. This tells me literally nothing about a game. I thought that was bizarre the first time I saw it, and it only became even more bizarre when later I saw you writing about struggling to distinguish between hiragana characters. If you don’t know the basic alphabet, you are probably not in a position to throw “nakama” around like a buzz word. You might want to consider backing off your “nakama” thesis until you have enough language ability to back up your claims.