this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2026
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Is it though? It feels very J as in JRPG with a superficial French coating. I don’t see much „culture“ but it might be too subtle for me.
I think that’s exactly what was meant, though. Taking only this screenshot into account, that’s not French culture, that’s French caricature. Are there other aspects that more genuinely express more subtle aspects of French life and history? Genuinely asking
It's literally based on Paris around 1900, the architecture and the trains, the technology and stuff are directly taken from the French "belle époque" of those years. Then there's the music (accordion), the outfits, the entire painting theme, etc. Obviously technology is not exclusively French, and the architecture is generally western European, but that is literally Paris around 1900. Oh, and the names of the painters are from actual people.
That’s awesome! I genuinely don’t know much about it, so I appreciate the perspective
For real. It's extremely in your face with French culture, and I love it.
As someone still at the beginning of the game it still feels somewhat superficial. I dunno what else I would expect, were it not for the descriptions like the OP, which conjure an image to me of game mechanics involving the freshness of bread, force-feeding geese, and interrupting traffic to play bowls (though on that subject I have found two "pétanks") not just art and music.
You might have read way too much into that comment. It still is a JRPG through and through, the devs have made clear comments about the FF (old turn-based) and Persona and Dark Souls inspirations on the gameplay side and the whole frenchness is entirely in the writing and the designs. You'll get the bulk of the story in the last 10% of the game.
Sorry, the screenshot was mostly a jab at the guy pretty much saying a game made by French developers and artists, with songs in French, in a setting heavily inspired by a distinct historical French period wasn't genuinely French enough for him :>
Are you American or something that you don’t get what I mean?
Yes, superficial and on the nose, as corvi said a caricature. Something an actual Japanese studio might cook up for the pitch. Maybe the humor is the Frenchest thing about the game, but then again there might be something under all this that’s too subtle for me. I get more honest vibes from Plague‘s Tale for example.
The story is very French in my opinion and I don't care if you could say it is very Japanese or not (honestly can't judge), those things are not contradictory. It could be both as well.
It's not Japanese, it just has almost all the JRPG tropes (except the terrible writing). But it's as French as Flight of the Conchords' Foux du Fafa.
I mean, It's made by a team of largely French developers and artists. The songs are in French, the setting is basically Belle Epoque France with all the included architecture and dress. Even in the English language version they throw in French swear words.
Sure they throw in baguette costumes as a fun tongue in cheek option but if you think the game is a caricature of French culture based solely on that, you're missing the forest for the trees.
Like, what would actually meet your standard of appropriately representing French culture?
I don't know, I'm not French, so maybe I'm just not picking up all the little things the French creators put in there and therefore don't see the forest. It would be great if someone more knowledgable about (modern) French culture could point some of these out. I'm fond of the mini documentary Karambolage by a French-German tv channel which points out differences in culture and it's a bit more than "look here in this country is the Eiffel tower and there might be French words unlike in this other country".
This post is funny because it sounds like you may not be aware of the whole cultural confluence/intentionally cultivated relationship between French and Japanese art (particularly in the fields of animation, woodworking, and video games) that’s been going on for well over a century now
Can you tell more about it?