Three reasons why Japanese games are the best

I love Japanese games. Not all Japanese games, of course, but many of them. So without further adieu, here are the three reasons why Japanese games are the best:

1) The most epic stories

I love the stories, I love the size of them, the scope of them and the absolute insanity of them. I mean lets look at the Final Fantasy series, especially 7, 8 and 9. Those games where huge, complicated and totally immersive. Do you remember when Cloud went into his Mako coma and began to realise who he really was? Do you remember Squall carrying Rinoa along the train tracks?

It was beautiful, it was tragic and it was so full of emotion it made my stony Scottish heart soften… briefly.

Or what about Devil May Cry? Dante the reluctant hero who saves the world using the weapons left to him by his parents (do you remember how awesome the original Sword of Sparda was?). He battles demons, his twin brother (both as Virgil and Nelo Angelo) and the king of Hell itself. He even has enough time to get into a Oedipal relationship with a demonic clone of his mother. This is the stuff legends are made from!

2) Incredible worlds

The Japanese are so damn good at making worlds! Western developers have three settings for games: Tolkien-esque fantasy, modern day and dystopian future, and sure these are interesting, but Japanese developers are cool enough to stick it all in a blender!

Yes that is a giant metropolis underground, and yes it is overrun with demons. What of it?

I mean check out Shin Megami Tensei IV; this game is batshit crazy! You are a bad-ass motherlovin’ samurai hunting, demons and protecting your Edo-inspired castle/city state. Then you go underground and find a whole damn modern city down there, complete with electricity and a goddamn teleportation system. Then just to add a cherry to the top of utter-madness that is this game, the secretive monk order that you both do and don’t work for, make you collect relics like refrigerators and ethernet cables! Oh, and you command an army of demons you can fuse at will…

Thats…just…awesome!