Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post
2) There are cultural difference to consider. Not that there are no universal topics that stories can revolve around but cultures have different values and sometimes that sends mixed messages. We often see the "religions is evil" trope in JRPGs but I would argue that the trope is really more about "organized bureaucratic religious institutions are evil" as opposed to religion itself being evil. This is because Japan is pretty religiously liberal compared to Western cultures. They recognize holidays and go through several religious traditions, but most of Japan's major religions are done on a more personal level. Someone in Japan may say they are Buddhist or Shinto but it's not like either faith is an institution that enforces or calls for participation unlike traditional Judeo-Christian based religions. There views can be controversial in the West but in the hometown it's not really a big deal from there perspective. The games are sometimes actually controversial or hitting hard topics but there are some value dissonance going on as well which may or may not be apparent.
I first learned about this in a video way back that was going over the religious topics in Final Fantasy. I found it to be a pretty interesting eye-opener, if anything I think I prefer the Japanese's take on religion than I do the West. They have a point, too. Especially if you pay attention to the larger religious institutions out there.