Yuji Hori, Dragon Quest creator and Chrono Trigger developer, has made the astonishing claim that US game reviewers dislike traditional Japanese RPGs, sharing his belief that the North American gaming press has some sort of vendetta against turn-based roleplayers. Dude, seriously?
“I wonder sometimes why the US reviewers are more negative towards turn-based battle systems,” he said, sounding like he was two steps away from declaring BIAS. “Real-time play has fun aspects too, but for this type of game there is more strategy that comes with a turn-based system. Also, you can play with other people in [Dragon Quest IX] and decide what actions to take together.”
No disrespect to Hori, but what the Hell is he talking about? Dragon Quest IX has an 85 on Metacritic, and DQ VIII before it had 89. Most reviewers I know gush about traditional JRPGs and there are so many US game writers who wish they were born Japanese that they’ll jerk off over anything Square Enix publishes.
I have no idea where Hori got this idea that US reviewers don’t like turn-based RPGs, but I think he’s talking absolute bollocks.
Interview: Yuji Horii and a Lifetime of Dragon Questing [IGN]
