Many wRPGs have a home on PCs, and are subject to the mercy of modding and texture enhancements from their fanbases. This can make acquiring screenshots of the base game an interesting task, but also provides food for thought when many of the visual mods for a wRPG like Oblivion are intended to make it look like a jRPG. These mods are used and sometimes created by Westerners, but often originate on Japanese sites, like this one. Occasionally, the clean, "beautiful" people created with these mods contrast very jarringly with the subject matter. See below.
Modded player character in Oblivion. Belongs to Fragnostic of Deviantart.
Unintentionally turning Skyrim into a Japanese horror game.
When cultures collide.
While customizable characters are not unheard of in Japanese RPGs, the genre is known for its set characters and customization is usually limited to the ability to choose between a number of presets. Many western RPGs allow players to completely customize every aspect of their character, offering sliders so that players can manipulate individual facial or body features.
Elder Scrolls:
Skyrim, Oblivion&Morrowind:
Heavy suits of armor inspired by the 'Medieval fantasy' trope. Versus jRPGs (or the above texture mods), colours are muted.
Armor, character proportions and faces were 'realistic' (or at least attempted to be, as much as the technology of the day would allow). Concept art, as it also did during early jRPG days, expresses the original intent better.
Skyrim's art direction was slightly different, with more concrete influences for their costumes, characters and world building. The game's artists strived to get away from the "renn-fest" that was Oblivion, describing the game's art style as "generic". This criticism is actually aimed at many wRPGs, as they often find themselves in the same, ambigous 'medieval fantasy' land. One of their named, chief influences was the McFarlane Conan action figure set, alongside the Lord of the Rings movie franchise. Article & podcast link found here.
Mass Effect Series:
Set in space, using a very different colour palette from many other Western RPGs.
Outfit design is functional/practical for the environment the characters must traverse; most of them wear battle/space suits throughout the game, with the exception of a couple of cutscenes and for the player character during ship sections between missions. Casual clothing follows the same functional, no-frills design; form fitting and lacking in accessories.
Knights of the Old Republic:
The Witcher series:
Witcher 1:
The Witcher series is Polish; both the source material and the studio are from there. This might explain the interesting blend of outfits and character designs. While the character art, weaponry, and general feeling of the game are very western, the outfit colours and designs (more noticbly in 2) branch out a little bit from those usually found in 'medieval-esque' wRPGs. Colours aren't overly bright but they are varied, with red appearing regularly. Outfits range from functional to significantly less so, due to the portrayal of many different people in many different walks of life (as well as prostitutes and adult content).
Clothing layers are a common theme, breaking up what would be larger chunks of color or plain cloth and keeping the eye interested. Accessories like belts and pouches are used generously.
Jade Empire:
Jade Empire is a departure from the usual settings of modern wRPGs. Set in a fantasy version of ancient China, the game is full of golds, reds, blues, and asian architecture. Despite the setting, facial modeling/texturing remains very realistic over idealistic.
Outfits are practical, appropriate for fighting, and characters come in all shapes and sizes. They're modelled with the Chinese in mind, and all look distinctly oriental. With the exception of one or two characters, jRPG characters often do not have a clear ethnicity.
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines:
Outside of the inclusion of the usual supernatural elements (vampires, werewolves, ghosts), VtM:B is removed from the usual high fantasy settings that wRPGs inhabit. Clothing, character designs, hairstyles and weaponry are generally based quite heavily on reality. However, it's a very sexual, gloomy and exaggerated version of modern times.
Fable:
Many Western RPGs push for realism, or realism as far as the technology of the time would allow the artists to emulate. Fable seems to follow this trend on the surface, but has some odd nuances; big heads, hands and feet and stylized (slightly oversized) eyes give it a slightly Dreamworks/Pixar-ish look. The clothing design and influence in each game changes depending on the game in the series.
Fable 2:
Fable 2 saw the slight dialing down and reduction of the "cartoony" feet and hand proportions, as the artists moved towards something more real. From an interview with Eurogamer:
"Yeah, we made the feet and the hands smaller. We brought in the proportions of everything, so it isn't quite as cartoony - a slight movement towards reality. We do know that whenever you do that with a successful product, you've got to be aware that this is the stuff that people like about it, so you've got to keep that in mind." [McCarthy, Mike (2008)]
"I think generally, in a funny way, it's very slightly more realistic than Fable. The look of it is slightly... Fable is really quite cartoony. This is slightly less exaggerated. It's still not trying to be real life." [McCarthy, Mike (2008)]
Characters remain distinctive, and come in a diverse spread of shapes and sizes. Protagonists aren't necessarily attractive -- nor are supporting characters.
Fable 3:
Fable 3 retains the 'not trying to be real life' vibe from the previous two games, and is set in the European industrial revolution -- contrary to the first game, which is set firmly in the Medieval Fantasy setting favoured by many Western RPGs and literature. The second game sits somewhere between the two.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-20-the-art-of-fable-iii-interview
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-art-of-fable-2-interview
My opinions on the games themselves aside, I actually really like the art style in the Fable games. It's not shooting for ultra realism, and the characters have a lot of personality in their appearances because of it. Lots of wRPGs shoot to look very close to real life, which Fable's artists actively claim to be avoiding.
Kurt Kalata: One of the big differences between Western and Japanese games is the huge visual gap. Americans complain that Japanese games are too bright and crazy and cartoonish, while Japanese gamers complain American games are too dark and generic and realistic. Why do Japanese games tend to stylize the graphics rather than favoring realism?
Inafune: From birth, you are exposed to your native culture and you view it through your own eyes. Japanese children are exposed to "manga culture" and the established aesthetics that exist in Japan. It is ingrained in our culture. Western audiences, especially Americans, on the other hand, are exposed to a wide variety of characters. From Spongebob to comics such as X-Men, Spiderman, and other superheroes, westerners are exposed to vast differences in the cultural products they consume and this is seen in the visual style exhibited in western games. I don't think this cultural difference is going to change, and to be honest, I don't think it should. As Japanese designers, we can still make games that appeal to not only Japanese, but also western visual tastes.
Kobayashi: I think a lot of the bright, cartoonish visual look in many Japanese games is a result of the strong culture of anime cartoons and manga comic books we have in Japan. The gamers here have all grown up on anime and manga, and many continue to read manga into adulthood. Since Japanese anime and manga are usually very bright and colorful, that tends to be the kind of visual style that is accepted in Japan. For overseas, it might be that with more of an entertainment background in movies and TV, realism is the type of visual style that is desired. Of course, this is not always the case as there are a lot of American and European gamers that do like the bright and colorful art style and plenty of Japanese gamers that prefer the realistic visual style.
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/eastvswest/eastvswest.htm
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