Writing Tips and Reviews

Make Everything Appeal to Everyone

I remember my friends were talking, and someone asked if Namco would ever put the Tales characters in indigenous clothing rather than just Japanese. So let me tell you something. Japan doesn't care. Japan's priority is not to appeal to the fans with JAPANESE ORIGINATED CHARACTERS in indigenous clothing. What they're focused on, is making money, through a good story and fun WELL DEVELOPED characters. That's why series like Tales of has succeeded.

If you do it, then that's you, no a big game developing company looking to make money on the new game. Do you see Japanese games trying to advertise with characters wearing clothing from another country? Unless it's meant to be, say, a country traveling game, then that's a different story. Wait, no it's not. The appeal is the cute chat caters, gameplay, and story.

I could never see Yuri Lowell wearing an outfit from a real life country. Only in the Japanese outfits, since, I don't know if you know this, Tales of Vesperia is a Japanese game. He won't probably ever be put in an outfit like that by Namco, fan artists are different.

My point, this is advertisement. Japan doesn't care about what America cares about. They're not going to say "this character is (this American controversial thing)" as a selling point.

The character designs aren't even Japanese, it's the event outfits that usually are. The regular character designs are based off the world they're from. The world isn't earth, the world is whatever Namco wants the world to be. It's a fantasy world with monsters and magic, is that one character in a, let's say an Italian outfit, more important than the world layout and story? 

My character follow the same thing, I'm also Japanese so...anyways. My characters aren't in Japanese, European, Italian, this or that clothing. They're in clothing that's according to their world. A world that's cold to freezing will have characters bundled up unless they are a race that's not effected by the cold. They aren't wearing clothing from a country that doesn't exist in their world.

As a selling point, it has to make sense. Like I said, a story set on earth with traveling involved will have characters in outfits much like in real life. A story set in a fantasy world where that clothing doesn't exist and have a character wearing that is stupid.

Not okay, not cool, they stand out in ways they shouldn't, and it makes no sense. Unless, it's an event outfit that's outside the main story. Like Tales of Asteria, where events don't effect the game and the characters are in cool outfits. The casino outfits uare amazing. Just going to say that.

What's my conclusion? Advertise the world, advertise what characters are and a bit of their role, advertise the story and if you're making a game, advertise the gameplay.

I'm going to leave this here.

Then there's Diego.