The past week or so has been generous to games looking to find their way out of Japan. Whether it’s Hyperdimension Neptunia, Crescent Pale Mist, or Record of Agarest War Zero, each is finding themselves a home in the west.
But what about those games less fortunate? Namco followers, you know where I’m coming from. What about games like Tales of Vesperia (PS3) and Tales of Graces F? Or games like Dream Club and the countless amount of shoot ‘em ups that storm Xbox 360? Or MMOs like Dynasty Warriors Online and Uncharted Waters, available on both PS3 and PC in Japan, however, come to North America/Europe as PC-only affairs? What about visual novels like Alchemist’s murder-mystery game, Umineko no Naku Koro ni?
I’ve made my point. Localization is an iffy subject. It takes time to complete and is a hassle waiting on. Let’s get to the questions.
Why do you think companies like Namco are reluctant to bring over Tales games while companies such as NIS constantly freely bring over games like Neptunia and Trinity Universe, which are usually guaranteed to sell much less? What problems do you believe plague games that we actually do see localized? Are these problems consistent? What can be done to fix them? Are there any games that you believe are a top-notch example of proper localization? And finally, if you could choose a list of three games still a stranger to western lands, what would you bring over?
i think these companies are just being sissy. i mean if you look at sales tales of symphonia and vesperia damn near sold more here than in japan. i think big companies are just to afraid to take a small risk.
Agreed. I can understand devs erring on the side of caution but they seem to have very confused image of “western” gamers and what they are willing to buy. As you say, look at the sales figures.
It makes sense financially to release the game to as many locales as possible, more people buy it, more people become fans of it – and everyone wins.
Also, one thing which REALLY annoys me is when a game gets a “western” release which turns out to be only for NA. I know that nowadays I can just import things, and I understand the language barriers of the European Union, but it just gets on my nerves!
But on topic, let’s look at Tales of Graces F; surely it is evident by looking at polls and petetions etc just how many people (including I think all of us on this site) want the game to come to Western lands. Localising the game is surely a small price to pay when your going to get a huge boost in your sales %!!
True enough, though if anything the general mood towards the west is to be more cautious than ever, therefore I think it goes deeper than simple cowardice. There’s a growing lack of faith in seemingly ‘Eastern’ games selling well in the ‘West’, especially in Japan itself, even though the non-existent marketing these games often receive in the west is what actually kills their chances usually, and when they get it right they sell very well indeed (as you point out).
Also, speaking specifically of these questions from Sal:
What problems do you believe plague games that we actually do see localized? Are these problems consistent? What can be done to fix them?
Ace Combat 3.
It had perhaps the best storyline of any arcade shooter ever (at the time at least), amazing multiple endings, and fun, engrossing dialogue. Oh, and the actual cut scenes (anime) where BEAUTIFUL. Or rather, it had these things, in Japan. What did Namco America do? They butchered it, apparently assuming that the ‘West’ wouldn’t be interested in the MASSIVE amounts of story that was removed. Talk about ignorant.
I’ve generally always been a fan of Namco, but when they did that I started to ask some hard questions about how they view the western world. It boils down to mass perception, I think. The ‘majority’ of western gamers (by their estimation) aren’t interested in hours of amazing anime footage, so they shelved it (hours may be an exaggeration but it’s a relative term).
How consistent screw-ups like that are I couldn’t say, but certainly, there does tend to be a huge amount of assuming going on. I remember years ago Hideo Kojima said he had to add higher difficulty to Metal Gear in the west as they preferred the game to be more challenging, which was actually one of the reasons I was never able to get into those games, they were fun, but the hard bits were just a smidge too frustrating. (Yeah I’m crap, I KNOW…)
So yes, maybe if they just gave us a chance to judge games on their own merit, rather than looking at the original and going ‘oh, those westerners won’t like that, let’s change it/remove it/not release it’.
Regarding the RPG’s, they’re very much a specific audience anyway, and when RPG players get behind a game, they REALLY get behind it. I think perhaps, Namco and people like them need to start listening to what the people who actually play such games are telling them, and worry less about the ignorant mass who wouldn’t know a good limit break if it hit them at over 9000HP in the FACE (yes I went there, and yes, I will one day go to the depths of hell for my bad humour and bloated posts, amen :P)
I basically agree with Mirthor^. Honestly, if NB would just go look at some forums they would see countless old time JRPG fans waiting for HD console fantasys. Money is making decisions like this too hard for publishers now-a-days. Just make quality games and niche fans will buy it! If NIS can keep releasing Disgaea over here no problem then I’m sure Tales can get here. PS3 is selling now people…get a move on, and don’t be afraid. It’s really all so frustrating.
just leaving my signature:
I WANT TALES OF games LOCALIZED!! just DO IT!
and SMACK ppl’s faces like Troy Baker… that give us false hope!
*rage mode off*
I’m one of those who subscribe to the theory that Troy Baker was actually telling the truth. That he was called into the studio and did some more VA. And that the project was cancelled after that point; not that uncommon.
However, yes, the truth remains is that.. it was false hope.
Come on, ‘New Tales Of’… localisation!
The three localizations I would kill for are Tales Of Vesperia(PS3), Tales Of Graces F(PS3), and the new Tales Of(PS3). PS3 Tales games all the way!!!!!
.. interested to know.. (as it’d be unprofitable to release more than one at a time)…
If you had to pick one of those three, which one would you choose?
I’m obviously with most of the commenter’s. I would love to see the Tales series get more releases outside of Japan. I really just can’t believe the excuses they come up with. They could release Tales of Vesperia PS3 with the movie (BD) in a special edition combo with DLC, and it would most definitely sell more than, let’s say MagnaCarta II. Saying that MC II made more sense to localize and release is laughable. I’m not dissing the game, (it was ok) but the tales series is far more well known than Manga Carta in america and europe.
I think it comes down to this, NB games doesn’t want to take staff off of other projects, that “experts”, say will sell more outside of japan, to localize the tales games. And with the JP gaming market starting to try and mold games to be old to western markets, this could continue.
They fail to see how a good game will sell even if it isn’t a well known name. Demon’s Souls is a great example. Yes, it was a well known name on the internet, in gaming corners, but that is a very small amount if you look at the big picture. A bunch of people had never heard of the title. To further prove my point, sony passed up localizing and bringing over Demon’s Souls, they listened to business people. (I can just these guys in suits saying this junk right now: The game will never sale here sony!, sure, it sold in Japan, but not here sony! The people who would buy it here already imported it sony!) 90% of the time, these so called experts are not true gamers, they can look at billions of charts and reports, but if they don’t play games themselves, they will never understand.
It gets even more technical with games from Japan. There is a niche audience outside of Japan. Some of the people love anything from Japan, some are anime lovers, others love jrpg’s. I could get more technical, but most of the time, you can take the above and put them all into one group. They might seem small, but are actually bigger than you think, and most importantly, they tend to buy games! Not rent, they purchase them, and special editions if possible. They buy all the dlc, anime, any merchandise they can. They usually are the hard core forum posters, they even attend conventions when they can!
This is the group game companies want to market these games to! I fail to see how they don’t realize this! I’m looking at you Sega! You too Namco-Bandai! I could go on with this, but I think anyone who bothers to read this, would agree with me on some level.
On to something positive.
Atlus gets it. Everything I said above, they get. They know who they are selling games to, and they market them accordingly. They prove it time and time again. And not only do they pick great games to bring over from Japan. They do a fantastic job with localization! Just about any Atlus game could win the award for best localization. And they end up surprising people with the sales numbers, especially these game experts. Just look at Persona 4, and Demons Soul’s! I could point out more examples, but I don’t need to.
In conclusion, companies like Namco-Bandai are wrong, they tell us time and time again. This game is not worth localizing, it won’t sell here, blah blah blah. We have tried it before and it didn’t work.
You are doing it wrong! You are marketing it to the wrong people, you are releasing the game at the worst possible time, often times with crucial content missing. It is full of bugs, and never gets supported or patched after release.
If they expect that niche audience I was talking about to support a hunk of crap like that, forget it! We would like our games, but we don’t want to spend money on junk.
You put the time in, and do a proper job with localization, support the game if it has bugs, that will be enough for us. Then you just have to market it correctly, and I just about guarantee you will sell copies.
Don’t believe me? Fine, just watch Atlus continue to do it every year. :P
True true… as an old-school Namco fan of many years (Tekken 3 is still my fave 3D fighter, arcade or console), it breaks my heart to say it, but sometimes I wish Atlus had the rights to Ace Combat 3, everything would have been so different… (I’ll stop moping about that game now *cough*)
“They do a fantastic job with localization! Just about any Atlus game could win the award for best localization. ”
you’re a riot buddy
I typed my stuff above drunk, like I type most everything. I do feel the love Ice T.
Perhaps I went a little overboard, but ever since Atlus has gotten more staff on board, they have done a very good job with translation, voice work, and going the extra mile. They manage to localize games without removing every ounce of Japanese culture from them. Which is pretty impressive, you agree?
I don’t have much to add, Zero. But that was a brilliant post. Spot on.
Although Sony didn’t pick up Demons Souls, they did pick up White Knight Chronicles.. Which I’m.. personally, very thankful for.
Zero, i totally agree with you, Atlus DOES release the awesome games in the world, as well as good times, but man, Namco, is dying slowly. I think Namco should just pass the Tales of to Atlus, nee?
All of these japanese developers are seeing the huge money being made for bullshit COD and “western” rpg’s and want to get into something like that.
These days, if a game doesn’t sell 8 million copies, it’s considered a failure. This is how these developers are thinking right now, and my own prefrence to games to be played are hurting for it.
Namco is not afraid when it comes to Publishing. Nobody though Enslaved would do well, and right now, nobody thinks Splatterhouse will do well, but they publish the games anyway.
I know these aren’t the same people who handle the Tales series, but everytime Namco gets something people want, they keep it from us. Xenosaga NEVAR FORGET.
I only wish there was all tales games in U.S. but i think they would hurt them selfs if they only make ps3 tales they should be multi platform exclusive is y companys lose so much money espically how easy it is to port games now. You only limit your sales when you do ps3 only i love tales verperia for my 360 but makes no since y they didnt port it for ps3 owners.
I would like to see the new “Tales of …” (Faithus – Zestia – Xillia.). I’m also interested in Armored core 5, but it sure comes to NA. Ni no Kuni from Level – 5.
Enough Japanese exclusive games. I didn´t like what they did with “Nier Replicant”