What is the read on this game from the Japanese playerbase?

[Lium]

I'm just curious because I can't read or write Japanese and don't really trust Google translate to do a good job translating what I see on the JP forums.

NA forums are of course predictable. Everything is terrible, everything is horrible, the game is dying, etc. Every now and then we'll get actual constructive criticism. It's like that on every American forum in every MMO out there. So this forum is no different. (i.e. it's just as crappy.)

But I am genuinely curious what the Japanese players think. There might be cultural issues at work here. Full disclosure, I work at Sony but it's on the entertainment side and is in no way connected to Playstation. But I have Japanese co-workers and public criticism seems to be a no-no in Japanese culture.

So, it could be that Japanese players are just as unhappy as American players are with FFXIV but they do not voice their displeasure on the forums or social media.

But if anyone can read Japanese I would love to know what their mood seems to be.

PS. I know I'm asking this on the NA forum so any response I get will likely come with an agenda ("They think the game sucks!") but I'm hoping to find an honest take somewhere in the thread.

[strawberrycake]

I'm just curious because I can't read or write Japanese and don't really trust Google translate to do a good job translating what I see on the JP forums.

NA forums are of course predictable. Everything is terrible, everything is horrible, the game is dying, etc. Every now and then we'll get actual constructive criticism. It's like that on every American forum in every MMO out there. So this forum is no different. (i.e. it's just as crappy.)

But I am genuinely curious what the Japanese players think. There might be cultural issues at work here. Full disclosure, I work at Sony but it's on the entertainment side and is in no way connected to Playstation. But I have Japanese co-workers and public criticism seems to be a no-no in Japanese culture.

So, it could be that Japanese players are just as unhappy as American players are with FFXIV but they do not voice their displeasure on the forums or social media.

But if anyone can read Japanese I would love to know what their mood seems to be.

PS. I know I'm asking this on the NA forum so any response I get will likely come with an agenda ("They think the game sucks!") but I'm hoping to find an honest take somewhere in the thread.

So, they regularly tell Yoshida to either self delete during streams, or complain about how out of touch he is. between Nico Nico and other Japanese forums they are just like us in many ways if not worse as they aren't afraid to bully people out of the game, witch hunt them and dox them to the extreme. A lot of the reception to EW is like us as well, 50/50. Doom Sayers and none Doomsayers, People are Ok with the status quo and people who aren't.

The Big Difference is that in JP they get more done due to the lack of individualism, so more of their community does more of the content, leading to many people feeling justified in their takes. So they're more so an extreme version of the NA forums, but on different sites and more blatant without much they have no chill.

[yoshinoharu]

As far as actual feedback goes, they're definitely a lot more organized. There's a superthread for feedback and suggestions instead of the dozens of different threads that we tend to do here. The older superthreads get purged as they reach critical mass and they just start a new one. As for the general suggestions within the feedback superthread, they tend to be more geared towards functionality and QoL rather than the changes to core systems that we seem to call for more abundantly.

[Palladiamors]

So, they regularly tell Yoshida to either self delete during streams, or complain about how out of touch he is. between Nico Nico and other Japanese forums they are just like us in many ways if not worse as they aren't afraid to bully people out of the game, witch hunt them and dox them to the extreme. A lot of the reception to EW is like us as well, 50/50. Doom Sayers and none Doomsayers, People are Ok with the status quo and people who aren't.

The Big Difference is that in JP they get more done due to the lack of individualism, so more of their community does more of the content, leading to many people feeling justified in their takes. So they're more so an extreme version of the NA forums, but on different sites and more blatant without much they have no chill.

I used to play a Japanese only game called Gundam Battle Operation and your synopsis fits that community to a T. I found favor with them because I was darn good in the Alex and BD-1 but if they didn't like you or your suit they just booted or bullied you.

[Shougun]

So, they regularly tell Yoshida to either self delete during streams, or complain about how out of touch he is. between Nico Nico and other Japanese forums they are just like us in many ways if not worse as they aren't afraid to bully people out of the game, witch hunt them and dox them to the extreme. A lot of the reception to EW is like us as well, 50/50. Doom Sayers and none Doomsayers, People are Ok with the status quo and people who aren't.

The Big Difference is that in JP they get more done due to the lack of individualism, so more of their community does more of the content, leading to many people feeling justified in their takes. So they're more so an extreme version of the NA forums, but on different sites and more blatant without much they have no chill.

First time I read a Japanese anon board for FFXIV feedback when someone asked a similar question. Hahaha. Made the NA English forum look like a lukewarm cup of tea.

A lot of stereotypes and lack of hands on knowledge shape some people's opinions of what Japan is, many are preferential in Japans favor at least lol but it gives me the whole Nippon Steel #1 vibe on the topic of Katanas. Relatively narrow and romanticized view of things that lacks a broader experience, although that is generally my sense of whenever I hear western (typically American) comments on outside the walls they know.

[Avoidy]

Pretty sure they have even less chill than we do. In ShB, I remember reading about a Japanese SCH player who was not happy with the changes made to his job so he sent angry packages to Square HQ. And when the Ultimates world first competition was happening, every region knew that there were people cheating, but only JP went hard enough to dox players and organize public mass reporting campaigns to put the pressure on Square to abide by their own ToS until they finally had to act. Everyone acts like the reason Square listens to Japanese feedback is because of nationalism, and maybe that's part of it, but I think another part of it is the devs simply fear their Japanese players' haters because a hater from JP is chugging haterade and has no chill compared to an NA hater.

And honestly all of these haters look like a calm day at the beach compared to the Chinese community's haters. If you're ever on bilibili, those guys are making full blown meme videos styling on the dumbass parts of this game. Next time your friend complains about DRK in PvP, send them this. It was made by the Chinese fans. https://streamable.com/c9acjp Their memes are potent. Meanwhile, if you wanna criticize the game on NA, you have to preface it with a million apologies and then brace for the great community to nuke you from orbit for saying even 1 bad thing. Look at how people turned on Zepla when she suddenly had a grievance with the game for the first time in like 50 years lmao.

[Teno]

NA forums ?

[OgruMogru]

NA forums ?

*EU vestigial limb withering intensifies*

[Shibi]

Here, more organised, fairly slow. monolithic threads with slightly different moderation practices. Some things do get them riled up. Outside of here? PvP Sudden Death Match.

NA forums ?

<- down the bottom of this very page.

I've got so many wonderful American friends, BUT even they joke that for some of their country the rest of the world doesn't really exist; outside China, that place with the Igloos up north where they can get cheaper medicine, and that place down south with the better version of Coca-Cola.

[Lium]

NA forums ?

I didn't include the EU forums because from what I've seen they are not nearly has vitriolic as the North American forums, which are mostly Americans complaining about everything under the sky.