Support NeoGAF

Error · Sep 17, 2006

seriously what gives?

if they dont butcher their games by censoring or editing the shit out of them for NO ****ing reason at all (see XS3 and all those Tales of games), they dont release the games here (see Venus and Braves)

yet how come crap like Death By Degrees makes it here? is there a company that's more clueless than this one? it really baffles me.

Im pretty mad I couldnt get to try Venus and Braves because they didnt released it here, I heard it's an excellent RPG.

Mr Jared · Sep 17, 2006

In before anyone disses the Fast and the Furious. It rules

Duderz · Sep 17, 2006

Error2k4 said:
Im pretty mad I couldnt get to try Venus and Braves because they didnt released it here, I heard it's an excellent RPG.

:lol

I knew this is why you made this thread before I even clicked on it.

A Black Falcon · Sep 17, 2006

Every major Japanese publisher makes a whole lot of games that they never release anywhere else, and frequently censor some of the ones that do get released here... Namco is hardly doing anything special in that regard, that's for sure.

lollerskates · Sep 17, 2006

I wanted Dead to Rights 2 to actually be a good game, was namco USA responsible for that one? They just threw that franchise away with the sequel they put out for consoles/psp.

Error · Sep 17, 2006

yeah!

apparently it has a prequel too that also didnt get released here, it's called 'Seven' or something like that.

dammit, I watched a vid and it looks great.

Every major Japanese publisher makes a whole lot of games that they never release anywhere else, and frequently censor some of the ones that do get released here... Namco is hardly doing anything special in that regard.

well Namco USA sure is pretty good at that shit! their best games dont get released here seriously!

in fact it's actually shocking Katamari Damacy was released here without music by 50 cent and Snoop Dogg.

ethelred · Sep 17, 2006

Okay, since both Duderz and Error were asking about it, here's the scoop on Venus & Braves.

Basically, this is an extremely innovative RPG.

You have a grid for your party -- three by three. Before the battle begins, you get a status screen showing you basically everything about the enemy. So you arrange your character properly, into the formation you like best, before each battle. During each round, your front row will act with a predetermined move, your middle row offers support, and your rear row will support/heal itself. After the end of the round, you can choose to keep your formation or do a rotation. Move the front row to the back, the middle row to the front, and the rear row to the middle.

In terms of its gameplay, it reminds me of Ogre Battle a lot -- in the sense that you have no manual control over your characters in battle, aside from rotating rows, and the key to winning is in strategy and positioning. The strategy is examining your enemy before the battle, analyzing his strengths/weaknesses/special abilities, picking a party of characters, and coming up with the proper formation to best utilize attacking and mid-row supports. And, of course, knowing when to rotate and when to stay still.

Outside of combat, it's... a lot like Valkyrie Profile, I guess. Time passes, different chapters progress. The main character is immortal... but pretty much everyone else who joins him dies. If you watch the intro, it's actually showing a timeline go by with different years, and the characters who are around during those years. Each character aside from the hero has an optimal year in their lifespan, during which their stats will improve the best, and after that they have a declining stat progression. The story is also geared around this immortality and passage of time. Outside of battle, you have a lot of Fire Emblem style cutscenes. The game's very, very story-heavy.

So... yeah. Extremely innovative, one of a kind, and probably Namco's best RPG ever. Great artwork and graphics, great music (listen to the opening trailer and the battle theme to get an idea).

Opening: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QsfUbyLSaEk
Battle: http://youtube.com/watch?v=TyCviqWrATE

DarknessTear · Sep 17, 2006

Himuro said:
Never heard of Venus or Braves.

pics?

Pics can't really do it justice. It's a nice artsy-ish game.

Error · Sep 17, 2006

HOLY **** at ethelred post, that sounds amazing.

shit it could have been the Valkyrie Profile of this generation.

FateBreaker · Sep 17, 2006

Himuro said:
Never heard of Venus or Braves.

pics?

I think that's his point.

I'd like to believe Namco USA is getting better, but ...

davepoobond · Sep 17, 2006

because they're all ex-SCEA employees

Error · Sep 17, 2006

FateBreaker said:
I think that's his point.

I'd like to believe Namco USA is getting better, but ...

yeah they announced they were going to bring ToTA and you are like "holy shit! Namco is finally doing something good for once!" and then you read they start editing and censoring stuff for not reason at all, it's really stupid.

Duderz · Sep 17, 2006

Wow. I really, really want to try this game out.

I remember the first videos of this way back when - it was the music and art style that really interested me, but I knew it wouldn't come out here. I think I even emailed Namco about it. :lol

So sad. Could've been one heck of an RPG to play.

EDIT: Man, those videos are awesome.

How I wish I could've played this.

Pimpbaa · Sep 17, 2006

I was more pissed at them in the past for taking so damn long to bring out games that had little to no translating needed from the japanese versions.

Error · Sep 17, 2006

I bet Venus and Braves is a bitch to play in Japanese because I could import the game or something if there some faqs that can help me with it, I really want to try it.

DarknessTear · Sep 17, 2006

Error2k4 said:
I bet Venus and Braves is a bitch to play in Japanese because I could import the game or something if there some faqs that can help me with it, I really want to try it.

It is pretty rough to play in Japanese. Not even import friendly at all. I can only hope down the road that PS2 fan translations become popular.

Error · Sep 17, 2006

:sigh

Duderz · Sep 17, 2006

Error2k4 said:
:sigh

QFT.

ethelred · Sep 17, 2006

Himuro said:
Never heard of Venus or Braves.

pics?

Check the vids I posted.

Duderz said:
Wow. I really, really want to try this game out.

I remember the first videos of this way back when - it was the music and art style that really interested me, but I knew it wouldn't come out here. I think I even emailed Namco about it. :lol

So sad. Could've been one heck of an RPG to play.

EDIT: Man, those videos are awesome.

How I wish I could've played this.

Error2k4 said:
HOLY **** at ethelred post, that sounds amazing.

shit it could have been the Valkyrie Profile of this generation.

Yup. :/

It's unconscionable that this game never got a US release.

Bebpo · Sep 17, 2006

Worst company ever

Glad I play imports!

May16 · Sep 17, 2006

Error2k4 said:
in fact it's actually shocking Katamari Damacy was released here without music by 50 cent and Snoop Dogg.

That would have been ****ing awesome.

Error · Sep 17, 2006

btw

I forgot about the god awful VA treatment BK1 recieved.

A Black Falcon · Sep 17, 2006

well Namco USA sure is pretty good at that shit! their best games dont get released here seriously!

How about Konami, withholding things like all but three of the Goemon games... or Nintendo, their list of Japan-only titles is quite long. Just for the GBA, there's three Starfi games, Magical Vacation, KuruKuru Kururin (well that was also released in Europe), Kururin Paradise (that wasn't), Mother 3, Fire Emblem 6...

because they're all ex-SCEA employees

SCEA is possibly the worst because not only do they withhold their own games, but they deny release for other companies' games too sometimes... (Working Designs and SNK are looking at you, SCEA...)

Error · Sep 17, 2006

Bebpo said:
Worst company ever

Glad I play imports!

did you played Venus and Braves? if so how was it?

Black Falcon: yeah but Nintendo sure has gotten a ****load better and their localizations rock

jj984jj · Sep 17, 2006

ethelred said:
Okay, since both Duderz and Error were asking about it, here's the scoop on Venus & Braves.

Basically, this is an extremely innovative RPG.

You have a grid for your party -- three by three. Before the battle begins, you get a status screen showing you basically everything about the enemy. So you arrange your character properly, into the formation you like best, before each battle. During each round, your front row will act with a predetermined move, your middle row offers support, and your rear row will support/heal itself. After the end of the round, you can choose to keep your formation or do a rotation. Move the front row to the back, the middle row to the front, and the rear row to the middle.

In terms of its gameplay, it reminds me of Ogre Battle a lot -- in the sense that you have no manual control over your characters in battle, aside from rotating rows, and the key to winning is in strategy and positioning. The strategy is examining your enemy before the battle, analyzing his strengths/weaknesses/special abilities, picking a party of characters, and coming up with the proper formation to best utilize attacking and mid-row supports. And, of course, knowing when to rotate and when to stay still.

Outside of combat, it's... a lot like Valkyrie Profile, I guess. Time passes, different chapters progress. The main character is immortal... but pretty much everyone else who joins him dies. If you watch the intro, it's actually showing a timeline go by with different years, and the characters who are around during those years. Each character aside from the hero has an optimal year in their lifespan, during which their stats will improve the best, and after that they have a declining stat progression. The story is also geared around this immortality and passage of time. Outside of battle, you have a lot of Fire Emblem style cutscenes. The game's very, very story-heavy.

So... yeah. Extremely innovative, one of a kind, and probably Namco's best RPG ever. Great artwork and graphics, great music (listen to the opening trailer and the battle theme to get an idea).

Opening: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QsfUbyLSaEk
Battle: http://youtube.com/watch?v=TyCviqWrATE

I said wow. Then I said **** YOU NAMCO!

ethelred · Sep 17, 2006

A Black Falcon said:
How about Konami, withholding things like all but three of the Goemon games... or Nintendo, their list of Japan-only titles is quite long. Just for the GBA, there's three Starfi games, Magical Vacation, KuruKuru Kururin (well that was also released in Europe), Kururin Paradise (that wasn't), Mother 3, Fire Emblem 6...

SCEA is possibly the worst because not only do they withhold their own games, but they deny release for other companies' games too sometimes... (Working Designs and SNK are looking at you, SCEA...)

Not localizing Mother 3 is a sin.

However, Nintendo is a LOT better than Namco in the sense that while Nintendo may not localize every niche game it has (there are a lot), it does localize a TON of niche games. This is in stark contrast to Namco, actually, who is really almost paralyzed by the concept of taking that kind of risk.

But, er, yeah, SCEA tops them all, I guess.

Bebpo · Sep 17, 2006

Error2k4 said:
did you played Venus and Braves? if so how was it?

Black Falcon: yeah but Nintendo sure has gotten a ****load better and their localizations rock

Only a little but I liked what I played.

I have more beef against Namco USA for the non-stop butchering of EVERY GODDAMN TALES TITLE (including Abyss **** **** **** it's gonna hurt the game so much) and the XS censorship. Oh and the Ace Combat 3 fiasco.

davepoobond · Sep 17, 2006

A Black Falcon said:
SCEA is possibly the worst because not only do they withhold their own games, but they deny release for other companies' games too sometimes... (Working Designs and SNK are looking at you, SCEA...)

certainly, different companies have different policies -- nintendo and microsoft were bound to have denied games in the past as well, and considering Sony has greenlighted really shitty games in the past, one can only imagine the worthlessness/crappiness of how certain titles they denied could have actually been. of course, to generalize and lump things into any one extreme would inevitably not be the truth. The closest to truth would most likely be somewhere in the middle.

besides, SCEA hasn't done half bad of a job since they propogated the PS2 as the #1 console =p

Error · Sep 17, 2006

I want to try the game so bad, is there any hope for a fan translation or something? a miracle or whatever...?

CO_Andy · Sep 17, 2006

I hear Victor Ireland wanted to license Venus & Braves, but Namco turned him down.

DarknessTear · Sep 17, 2006

CO_Andy said:
I hear Victor Ireland wanted to license Venus & Braves, but Namco turned him down.

Maybe they will submit to the power of the Gaijin.

Error · Sep 17, 2006

CO_Andy said:
I hear Victor Ireland wanted to license Venus & Braves, but Namco turned him down.

*transforms into a demon and starts devouring every single Namco USA employee DDS style"

I3rand0 · Sep 17, 2006

Bebpo said:
I have more beef against Namco USA for the non-stop butchering of EVERY GODDAMN TALES TITLE (including Abyss **** **** **** it's gonna hurt the game so much) and the XS censorship. Oh and the Ace Combat 3 fiasco.

Dont tell that to their community :lol

http://tales.namco.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=47497&sid=f52e0b76b2503d466381ae6bacf953a4

Duderz · Sep 17, 2006

CO_Andy said:
I hear Victor Ireland wanted to license Venus & Braves, but Namco turned him down.

oh please oh please oh please

What's his company's website? I'll write them a letter.

SolidSnakex · Sep 17, 2006

CO_Andy said:
I hear Victor Ireland wanted to license Venus & Braves, but Namco turned him down.

Someone posted awhile back in one of the Tales thread saying that NAMCO USA wouldn't allow anyone to pick up a Tales game. If they were released here they'd be released by NAMCO Hometek. So that's probably how they are with any of their games.

davepoobond · Sep 17, 2006

what did they censor in Xenosaga III? if its lesbian sex scenes, then i'm gonna be pissed.

Error · Sep 17, 2006

I3rand0 said:
Dont tell that to their community :lol

http://tales.namco.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=47497&sid=f52e0b76b2503d466381ae6bacf953a4

:lol some dude from that forum stole my bleach avatar.

Duderz · Sep 17, 2006

davepoobond said:
what did they censor in Xenosaga III? if its lesbian sex scenes, then i'm gonna be pissed.

:lol

Some blood in certain scenes that from what I'm told don't make a whole lot of sense with the censoring in place.

Error · Sep 17, 2006

what about Atlus? hell anyone!? I just want the ****ing game in a language I can understand.

ethelred · Sep 17, 2006

Duderz said:
oh please oh please oh please

What's his company's website? I'll write them a letter.

You don't have to write him a letter; he's always been an enormous fan of the game, and I'm sure he's well aware that it would be an amazing, critically-praised cult hit in the US.

But it's Namco's game. If they're not going to bring it over, nobody's going to bring it over.

A Black Falcon · Sep 17, 2006

Black Falcon: yeah but Nintendo sure has gotten a ****load better and their localizations rock

Better than their NES or SNES days, but that list was the GBA to show how they continue to not release games here -- and unlike even Sony, Nintendo refuses to allow other companies to release games that they won't release in other markets in those markets (like how Sony's first-party Rule of Rose is being released in the US by Atlus -- Atlus also asked about some of those GBA games I'm pretty sure, and were refused.).

Some other Japan-only Nintendo GBA titles are the recent Digitylish series and F-Zero Climax...

, no sign of those being released here. Oh, as for the Gamecube, there are fewer, but first-party Japan-only titles include Kururin Squash, Nintendo Puzzle Collection, Donkey Konga 3 (though all three could be mentioned, with how the music is the main point of the game and they have completely different song lists), and (released in both Japan and Europe but not the US) the GC Doshin the Giant game.

certainly, different companies have different policies -- nintendo and microsoft were bound to have denied games in the past as well, and considering Sony has greenlighted really shitty games in the past, one can only imagine the worthlessness/crappiness of how certain titles they denied could have actually been. of course, too generalize and lump things into any one extreme wouldn't be the truth. The closest to truth would most likely be somewhere in the middle.

Nintendo certainly used to, but in recent years they've gotten a lot better about this. As far as I know, this generation third party games that don't get released in the US on Nintendo platforms are not rejected by Nintendo but by the publishers themselves. That is, it's Nintendo's relative lack of success that's limiting the release list, not exclusionary policies -- quite unlike SCEA (as for Microsoft, I believe that they are also more open, though that was Xbox... I'm not sure how it is for the 360 -- if someone tried, would they allow 2d games to be released on X360, outside of Live Arcade? Possibly, but I'm not sure...)

besides, SCEA hasn't done half bad of a job since they propogated the PS2 as the #1 console =p

The list of games SCEA would never dream of allowing to be released in the US is ridiculously long and includes so many titles that niche markets here would be interested in that that's not even remotely true... they aren't denied based on sales potential you see, but just based on whether they're 2d and/or Sony's whims... yeah, a few 2d games do manage to slip through, but not many, and most of them are collections, not single titles -- there's a very good reason why all of SNK's US PS2 releases are 2-packs, and it's not because they want to do things that way.

I have more beef against Namco USA for the non-stop butchering of EVERY GODDAMN TALES TITLE (including Abyss **** **** **** it's gonna hurt the game so much) and the XS censorship. Oh and the Ace Combat 3 fiasco.

I haven't heard about what they're doing to Abyss...

Not localizing Mother 3 is a sin.

However, Nintendo is a LOT better than Namco in the sense that while Nintendo may not localize every niche game it has (there are a lot), it does localize a TON of niche games. This is in stark contrast to Namco, actually, who is really almost paralyzed by the concept of taking that kind of risk.

This is certainly true. Despite that list I made, they did release things like WarioWare -- something that I don't think any other major company would have even DREAMED of releasing here... just look at Sony's PSP clone of the thing -- Japan only. But Nintendo's games are almost all so good that it just makes the lack of the rest even crueler... still though, they are trying harder than they used to, with things like finally releasing Fire Emblem here, Magical Vacation DS getting a US release, the aforementioned WarioWare, etc...

kenta · Sep 17, 2006

As awesome as that battle concept is, I can see why Namco is hesitant to bring it over. Not only would the localization be a whore and half (assumption based on ethelred's comment about it being heavy on story), it seems like it'd have pretty limited appeal in North America. If it were localized I would honestly be surprised to see it break 50,000 sales and if Namco sees it the same way then then it's just a black hole of money.

Like I said, though, I love the idea of that battle system (and Error for someone that hates Gambits in FFXII so vehemently I'm surprised to see your enthusiasm for this system). If anything we can hope that another developer at some point in the future incorporates a similar system into a game that ends up getting localized. I'd love to play around with a system like this

Error · Sep 17, 2006

yeah SCEA is right up there with Namco USA. they have gotten a lot better with their localizations tho, their PS1 stuff was atrocious. also their policy regarding 2d games sucks so much.

Like I said, though, I love the idea of that battle system (and Error for someone that hates Gambits in FFXII so vehemently I'm surprised to see your enthusiasm for this system). If anything we can hope that another developer at some point in the future incorporates a similar system into a game that ends up getting localized. I'd love to play around with a system like this

I dont hate gambits, but that's not the kind of stuff I want in a main Final Fantasy game

I actually like ogre battle even with it's AI control, because the micro management was freaking awesome.

but let not turn this into a ff12 thread. Namco USA sucks.

ethelred · Sep 17, 2006

A Black Falcon said:
Better than their NES or SNES days, but that list was the GBA to show how they continue to not release games here -- and unlike even Sony, Nintendo refuses to allow other companies to release games that they won't release in other markets in those markets (like how Sony's first-party Rule of Rose is being released in the US by Atlus -- Atlus also asked about some of those GBA games I'm pretty sure, and were refused.).

Okay, Atlus is releasing Rule of Rose. Atlus also released Cubivore and are releasing Polarium Advance, which are two other Nintendo-published games. And Atlus released Tactics Ogre for the GBA, which was a Nintendo-published game as well.

So it's not like Atlus was blocked from everything. Just Mother.

A Black Falcon said:
The list of games SCEA would never dream of allowing to be released in the US is ridiculously long and includes a lot of titles that niche markets here would be interested in that that's not even remotely true... they aren't denied based on sales potential you see, but just based on whether they're 2d and/or Sony's whims... yeah, a few 2d games do manage to slip through, but not many, and most of them are collections, not single titles -- there's a very good reason why all of SNK's US PS2 releases are 2-packs, and it's not because they want to do things that way.

Agreed.

A Black Falcon said:
This is certainly true. Despite that list I made, they did release things like WarioWare -- something that I don't think any other major company would have even DREAMED of releasing here... just look at Sony's PSP clone of the thing -- Japan only. But Nintendo's games are almost all so good that it just makes the lack of the rest even crueler... still though, they are trying harder than they used to, with things like finally releasing Fire Emblem here, Magical Vacation DS getting a US release, the aforementioned WarioWare, etc...

And there are others, too. Sure, they passed on Giftpia... but they brought over Chibi Robo, and are even releasing its sequel. Hotel Dusk and Another Code are two other recent examples.

kenta said:
As awesome as that battle concept is, I can see why Namco is hesitant to bring it over. Not only would the localization be a whore and half (assumption based on ethelred's comment about it being heavy on story), it seems like it'd have pretty limited appeal in North America. If it were localized I would honestly be surprised to see it break 50,000 sales and if Namco sees it the same way then then it's just a black hole of money.

Like I said, though, I love the idea of that battle system (and Error for someone that hates Gambits in FFXII so vehemently I'm surprised to see your enthusiasm for this system). If anything we can hope that another developer at some point in the future incorporates a similar system into a game that ends up getting localized. I'd love to play around with a system like this

A lot of text, and a lot of voice work too -- and WE ALL KNOW what Namco Hometek thinks about voice work.

Still, the game would never be a blockbuster... but marketed properly, they definitely could've turned it into a nice cult success. They just have to take some chances sometimes. Katamari Damacy is a good example -- that's just as unlikely to have been a success on paper. You never know sometimes.

At the very least, they could've pocketed the cash from some other publisher and let them do the work of releasing the game and absorbing the risk.

But yes -- the game is phenomenal, the gameplay is phenomenal. It's a great system and truly one of a kind.

ThatCrazyGuy · Sep 17, 2006

Namco sucks till they port Tekken DR to PS2.

Bebpo · Sep 17, 2006

A Black Falcon said:
I haven't heard about what they're doing to Abyss...

Cutting voice out of all the skits in Abyss like ToS, except Abyss has a lot more skits than ToS so it's even worse this time around. In the Tales games, the skits are where 98% of the character development is. If Tales games had no skits they'd be like 8-bit rpgs with a group of heroes going from A->B->C-Final Boss. The skits make the casts likeable and make the adventures enjoyable, especially since the story in most Tales games is kinda ho-hum, the skits are far more important than the plot (though Abyss's plot is pretty solid) IMO. When you take the voice out AND don't change the auto-scrolling (because it thinks the voice is still there) so you have to slowly wait for the lines to change...you kill the skits and most people will skip the majority of them and complain about the cast/writing.

Tales is huge in Japan because it pulls together the best voice actors in the industry and give an adventure full of tons and tons of excellent voiced dialogues that are more entertaining than most anime. Taking them out for the US release, is basically taking out a major selling point of the game.

Bebpo · Sep 17, 2006

SCEA's PSP division is probably worse though. The PSP rpg situation is the biggest joke in gaming history. In Japan it's the best handheld rpg system ever IMO (if you've haven't played a lot of the more obscure Saturn/PS1 rpgs), yet in the US it's pretty much the worst rpg system ever. They're only shooting themselves in the foot by not allowing all the great titles to come out in the US.

davepoobond · Sep 17, 2006

Bebpo said:
SCEA's PSP division is probably worse though. The PSP rpg situation is the biggest joke in gaming history. In Japan it's the best handheld rpg system ever IMO (if you've haven't played a lot of the more obscure Saturn/PS1 rpgs), yet in the US it's pretty much the worst rpg system ever. They're only shooting themselves in the foot by not allowing all the great titles to come out in the US.

i guess SCEWWS hasn't really helped in this regard. too bad.

Error · Sep 17, 2006

Bebpo said:
SCEA's PSP division is probably worse though. The PSP rpg situation is the biggest joke in gaming history. In Japan it's the best handheld rpg system ever IMO (if you've haven't played a lot of the more obscure Saturn/PS1 rpgs), yet in the US it's pretty much the worst rpg system ever. They're only shooting themselves in the foot by not allowing all the great titles to come out in the US.

but they allow crap like Legend of Heroes... seriously I sometimes wonder how these companies work.

davepoobond · Sep 17, 2006

Error2k4 said:
but they allow crap like Legend of Heroes... seriously I sometimes wonder how these companies work.

one theory is office furniture. it makes people retarded.

Support NeoGAF

Why does Namco USA suck so much?

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Member

Banned

Member

Banned

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Member

Banned

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Member

you can't put a price on sparks

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Banned

Member

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Banned

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Banned

Member

Banned

Member

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Member

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.

Member

Banned

you can't put a price on sparks

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Member

Banned

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Member

Banned

Member

you can't put a price on sparks

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Banned

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Member

Member

Has no PEINS

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

Member

Member

Banned

Banned

you can't put a price on sparks

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp

you can't put a price on sparks

Similar threads