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Game Director Faceoff: Hideki Kamiya vs Shinji MIkami
- Thread starter Zaku
- Start date
TheSpaceBetween
Member
Just read the first page, it's split down the middle it seems (as it probably should be). I agree that Kamiya has been more consistent, but Mikami has made the best games. They are both incredible. REmake, Resident Evil 4, Vanquish, Okami, and The Wonderful 101 are my absolute favorites by them.
Edit: Oh, actual votes are being counted. I'm still high off playing The Evil Within, so I gotta give it to Mikami.
Edit: Oh, actual votes are being counted. I'm still high off playing The Evil Within, so I gotta give it to Mikami.
Squirts Macintosh
Member
One vote for team Kamiya. Can't go wrong.
Monocle
Member
No.
Monocle
Member
He wrote and consulted and laid the foundations. Not the same as directing, but his contribution to Bayonetta 2 was substantial.
Playing Bayonetta 2 right now, because I'm a moron and thought the game came out today instead of a week ago.
It's got a lot more of him in it than I'd expect from someone who's not Hideki Kamiya. If I were a betting man who had to make a wager, I'd say Yusuke Hashimoto directed Bayonetta 2 the same way Hideki Kamiya directed Resident Evil 2: With a lot of oversight during his baby steps into the first stages of making the game before Kamiya stepped back and let him work it out on his own.
His name is definitely one I'm going to be keeping an eye on if Kamiya's willing to let him take sole Director status for the sequel to Bayonetta. Especially since it looks like he did a lot of work under both Kamiya and Mikami during his tenure with Capcom and later with Platinum Games.
Still though, Bayonetta 2 has Kamiya's dirty finger prints all over it. It would not surprise me in the least if Kamiya had put a lot more work in for it than just Supervision, but he was stepping back and giving Hashimoto a chance to make a name for himself the same way Mikami took a step back with Resident Evil 2 and let Kamiya distinguish himself.
In fact, it's practically the same setup. Senior-level employee makes great franchise, up and comer gets to be Director for the balls-to-the-wall sequel which improves on all the good stuff the first game did.
...Huh.
I wonder if Hashimoto's twitter will be half as awesome as Kamiya's?
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Bayonetta > Viewtiful Joe > Vanquish > RE4 > Wonderful 101 > God Hand > The Evil Within > Devil May Cry > Stuff I haven't played
Christ, there's more of this list that I haven't played than I thought
I'm a philistine, wtf
Monocle
Member
Eh. Honestly, PN03 is the weakest link in the chain. It's interesting, not good.
Everything else? Yeah, you goofed not playing them yet.
I know, right?
Unfortunately true. More people need to ask if Luke Plunkett eats shit. Also, I respect Kamiya as a content creator more because of tweets like that. Compromising to appeal the most to the masses leads to games like Watch_Dogs.
zerokoolpsx
Member
Kamiya has more of the games that I really like. Absolutely love DMC and Bayonetta.
Mikami has RE4 under his belt, along with Godhand and Vanquish.
Kamiya is more consistent while Mikami has better highs and lower lows.
Its really close, but I give the edge to Kamiya.
Mikami has RE4 under his belt, along with Godhand and Vanquish.
Kamiya is more consistent while Mikami has better highs and lower lows.
Its really close, but I give the edge to Kamiya.
No I didn't know that, but I wasn't interested in God of war. I think by its very nature 3d character action games are more niche than third person shooters, so while kamiya may have been inspirational to a small genre, Mikami kickstarted a whole new one (or if not that, really threw it into motion). It doesn't take away from kamiya's hard work, but mikami's effects are more far reaching.
PensivePen
Member
Both of these men are absolutely legendary and have created massive hits that helped to define and revolutionize genres, as well as cult classics that criminally undersold. Of the two I would say that Kamiya is better at producing games that have higher highs, but much lower lows. His affection for gimmicky segments in his games can often hurt their replay value. Mikami on the other hand maintains a masteful pacing throughout his titles, and the level design in his titles is always so outstandingly fine-tuned for the mechanics.
I easily consider them the two greatest game directors of all time, but I would give the edge to Mikami, I just feel like overall I enjoyed his games just a touch more thanks to their greater focus on core mechanics. Plus he made REmake. Kamiya himself said it best:
I easily consider them the two greatest game directors of all time, but I would give the edge to Mikami, I just feel like overall I enjoyed his games just a touch more thanks to their greater focus on core mechanics. Plus he made REmake. Kamiya himself said it best:
J
Jotamide
Unconfirmed Member
Kamiya, the most consistent and better in my eyes.
Kamiya sees Mikami as a master, a mentor, a teacher and he respects him a lot. He said it on twitter several times. Both of them have great resumes and had an impact on the game industry one way or another. But if I had to say which one is better, I'd definitely say Kamiya. I enjoyed Kamiya's games more than Mikami's.
So yeah, my vote goes to Kamiya.
So yeah, my vote goes to Kamiya.
Kamiya amazing but theres no active video game director right now on shinji mikami level, kamiya was the director of re2 but mikami was heavly involved as producer it was he forced kamiya to back to the drawing board to rework the entire game, mikami is kamiya teacher.
Shinji mikami is responsable for amazing games like goof troop, aladin,resident evil,dino crisis,resident evil 4,god hand,vanquish and the evil within and thats not including all the classic games his been under as the producer for.
Shinji mikami is responsable for amazing games like goof troop, aladin,resident evil,dino crisis,resident evil 4,god hand,vanquish and the evil within and thats not including all the classic games his been under as the producer for.
David Jaffe is on record as saying that God of War's combat is directly inspired by Devil May Cry.
Neff
Member
Well Kamiya did write the story/characters, and also insisted on the classic game references, although far fewer are present than in the original game.
Otherwise, I feel his absence more than his participation. It lacks his penchant for surprise, variety, and novelty twists on the core gameplay. It's also feels rather modest in scale compared to his usual colossal gaming feasts, with shorter, fewer chapters and relative lack of diversions.
It's a great game, no doubt, but it doesn't feel anywhere near as Kamiya-esque to me as the first game did.
theprodigy
Member
I might as well jump in and go with Mikami
Shadow_FFVI
Member
By that logic Hironobu Sakaguchi will beat both of them.
SoraanTribal
Member
Having just beaten Okami today, I'm going to say Kamiya... easily. Definitely my favorite game by him!