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Capcom France: The Great Ace Attorney is not planned to come West right now
- Thread starter GSR
- Start date
I couldn't agree with this more. I actually like AA2 and AA4 but they're definitely flawed. Shu Takumi is also behind PLvAA, which I thought was kinda terrible.
Also Ghost Trick isn't that good.
Meanwhile the "B-tier," team is consistent, with AAI and AAI2 not being incredible but good, and AA5 being tied for my favorite in the series. They could be better than the "main," team if they actually chose a direction to take the series in.
NeoGold123
Member
Perhaps I am looking at it a bit biased because I do enjoy the series, but yeah, I think the Holmes name alone would attract some people to the game. The character design itself is pretty recognizable. I think if I was window shopping for a new game, had a fondness for Sherlock, were interested in trying something new and saw him in some form on the game cover art, I'd buy it. It's not such a stretch to think others would too.
Hours Left
Member
Wrong thread I think, GSR.
There's very little VA, yeah, just a bit in animated cutscenes, and your general Objections and Hold Its and whatnot.
It's not super hard Kanji-wise, if you studied the language for 5 years you should be good enough to follow what's going on.
But they just announced they're localizing AA6, in pretty much the same time frame that the game's existence was even announced. That doesn't spell lack of faith in the franchise to me.
It has to have something to do with the actual content of the game, and it could be the fact that it's just a side story/prequel of sorts, and/or the fact that it's tricky to translate due to the language barriers in the game and just a lot of cultural in-jokes that would be very hard to translate.
Let me clarify a bit more because I got a lot of replies on my initial comment.
Sure you could just explain that Phoenix's ancestors are Japanese and that they changed their surname after moving to the West, that's not the major issue here.
There are just things that would be weird/awkward for a Western audience.
For one thing, the first English-speaking person you encounter in the game speaks gibberish at first, indicating that no one understands what she's saying because everyone in the courtroom is Japanese. This would be tricky to solve in the localization because everyone would already be speaking English, and you could try to explain this by saying "the player is reading English but the characters are actually speaking Japanese," but it would still be weird. Not unsolvable, but just weird.
Then there's the fact that a LOT of the British characters in the game poke fun at the fact that Ryunosuke is Japanese, which I guess is fine since the game was made by Japanese (although it does make foreigners look like racist assholes, which, granted, they often are, and must have been especially so in the late 19th century), but if you're playing a game in English where everyone is constantly making slightly racist quips at the only Japanese characters in the game, that could raise some concerns, you know?
Again, not impossible to solve, but an awkward element in any case.
Then there's the author I mentioned,
Natsume Soseki
Visually though, he looks and even moves a bit like Charlie Chaplin, so with some slight modifications to the model I could see that being a possible solution (although Chaplin was born in 1889, so the timing is just a little bit off), and, again, the racism card is often brought up in relation to this character, so that's another problem.
Yes, there may be workarounds for all of this, and they may sound like minor issues but many minor issues still amount to a LOT of work and it would inevitably involve awkwardness, so I can totally understand Capcom's decision for not wanting to (have their Localization Department) go through the trouble.
the only way this gets released is if they pretend Phoenix himself traveled back in time and disguised himself to solve cases 100 years into the past.
it's apparent the real issue is the main character since japanese references didn't stop previous mainline games from coming over and AA6 itself looks like to have quite a few japanese elements.
it's apparent the real issue is the main character since japanese references didn't stop previous mainline games from coming over and AA6 itself looks like to have quite a few japanese elements.
we should instead be focusing on convincing them to do a physical AA6 release. maybe even do a 2-pack and thrown in AA5 for added value.
Permanently A
Junior Member
What comments were those?
HyperZone<3
Member
yeah, this is utterly baffling.
I mean, flipping Phoenix Wright vs. Professor Layton got a physical release (thanks Nintendo) and that's about as niche as you can get (only sells to people who like both). And NOA hasn't been exactly embracing risks themselves for the last decade or so anyway.
Mostly set in London, features frigging Sherlock, no shit. On paper it looks like it could be the most marketable game in the series.
I mean, flipping Phoenix Wright vs. Professor Layton got a physical release (thanks Nintendo) and that's about as niche as you can get (only sells to people who like both). And NOA hasn't been exactly embracing risks themselves for the last decade or so anyway.
Mostly set in London, features frigging Sherlock, no shit. On paper it looks like it could be the most marketable game in the series.
TheSporkWithin
Member
Holy shit I just laughed at my desk. God, that would be the ballsiest localization move since Robotech.
TangorFopper
Member
I really can't understand the reasoning behind this decision: they are bringing AA6 and not GAA..why? Because GAA is "too japanese"? Come on!
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
It is a disappointment.
Hard to believe that in the PS2 days, Capcom was publishing stuff like Gregory Horror Show, Shadow of Rome, Okami, Viewtiful Joe, etc, and now they can't even scrape together the money to localise a 3DS game.
The 360 generation really destroyed some big Japanese publishers, Capcom wasted most of the last 10 years and are now a shadow of themselves.
The 360 generation really destroyed some big Japanese publishers, Capcom wasted most of the last 10 years and are now a shadow of themselves.
MatrixMan.EXE
Member
Has this got something to do with the game have a distinctly Japanese feel to it? And the fact they set the series in the US for the localisation? Capcom are idiots sometimes. Real fucking stupid.
If AA6 is coming then there is absolutely no reason that this game can't either.
If AA6 is coming then there is absolutely no reason that this game can't either.
TheSlySoul
Member
We kind of guessed because they would have said something.
~Sigh~
~Sigh~
Newtype-001
Member
Man that sucks. The Great Ace Attorney is what got me interested in the games. Now ive tried starting from the beginning going forward. The soundtrack in the TGS 2014 trailer was what really got me
DGS TGS 2014 SUBBED TRAILER
DGS TGS 2014 SUBBED TRAILER
Capcom France has been doing some damage control on twitter since then.
They are basically saying that DGS for the west is not planned as of yet since they are focused on releasing AA6, but they are going to take our feedback on board or something.
It's probably a bunch of nothing but the dream might not be totally dead (it probably totaly is though).
They are basically saying that DGS for the west is not planned as of yet since they are focused on releasing AA6, but they are going to take our feedback on board or something.
It's probably a bunch of nothing but the dream might not be totally dead (it probably totaly is though).
Hahaha, yeah right.
They can't even be earnest about this shit.
Edit: Hm, maybe too cynical. They can say they're bringing up our feedback to those in charge, but to me right now, it reads as though they just want to silence the complainers with false hope.
The fact that they're "concentrating on AA6 in the west" would mean that we wouldn't be seeing DGS for a long ass time, anyways. The most optimistic possibility here would be mid to late-2017, at which point we're hearing about DGS2.
Starwolf_UK
Member
They are also thinking "we were too soon, if only we had waited until Yo-Kai watch came out then nobody would bat an eyelid".
How many of those games you just list warred have scripts on the order of 250,000 words? Then there is the matter that Ace Attorney by the nature of its genre needs not an ordinary translator but a writer too. Plus Zolbrod pointed out some other potential issues.
pinkurocket
Member
Yea I can imagine it's not an easy task to localize a Phoenix Wright game. Even if they allow this one to be more literal, as in, not 'translocalized' and keep the Japanese flavour in there. But part of what makes Phoenix Wright so good, is that the translations inject pop culture and fun banter that is probably quite different from the original at parts. I'm really disappointed we'll probably never get this game localized. u-u
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
I think, yes, if you want to make sure a huge audience can understand the game properly and no one is offended, it seems really tricky. But there is always the simple solution of not localizing much and mainly translating the game, then offering it in a limited run for fans. Look at Steins;Gate for instance (or most of NISA's output actually), which is so extremely Japanese, full of Otaku culture and stuff that really is awkward to many westerners. A simple text translation to English without much (but a bit when it comes to fitting it in with the main series) concern for localization cannot be too expensive, even for this type of game and considering there is a respectable audience of real Ace Attorney fans who'd buy this game right away,
I'd argue it's low risk, should guarantee profit, though on a smaller scale, and would also garner good-will from the fans, with a small chance that topics like Sherlock Holmes that are popular in the west, might make the game another sleeper hit that warrants additional print runs.
`1. Gregory Horror Show didn't get released in the US
2. A couple of those games were much bigger titles than Ace Attorney and all of them we less text heavy
3. Most obviously, in the "PS2 era," there actually were Ace Attorney games. None of them got localized until they were ported to the DS years later, during the "360 generation".
There's definitely an issue with localization with certain companies but I don't think it's awful compared to the PS2 era, and I don't think the 360 specifically made it worse or something. There's a lot of good stuff from the gen 6 that never made it overseas.
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
There's a state in the US that is called Japan? News to me.
Eh pretty sure quite a number of westerners would know that author. He's pretty big in literary circles.
Not75Drops
Member
Yeah it's pretty strange. AA4 was regarded as the worst of the series by many for years and now it seems to get a pass. I don't hate it or anything though. I'll also agree that JFA was the worst of the original trilogy (despite being the first one I played) and is only saved by the last case. The second case is okay but the first and third are just bad. Layton vs AA also had a number of glaring problems, including that twist which is weird even for Layton standards but the game isn't bad.
A bit off-topic but can someone who's also played DGS/GAA verify something? I've heard
that the game has a large sequel hook and a lot of things are left unexplained as opposed to most of the other games in the series where they also have their own enclosed story. Is that true?
I will once again point out that Takumi didn't direct AA4 and was only on story. Also on story, was Takeshi Yamazaki who directed AAI, AAI2 and AA5. But people only ever take shots at Takumi.
Also Justice For All, a "dire sequel"? He did pretty well considering he was forced to write it in only 3 months.
The worst thing about this is that GAA is supposed to be the start of a series. By skipping the first one they're locking us out of a whole sub-series which might as well be too big of a task for any fan translation team. Who knows, if GAA2 comes out on the NX, and there's no way to play fan patches on it, we'll be thoroughly screwed.
Ace Attorney is the one series I'd want to play in English even if I knew good enough Japanese just because the localization is so enjoyable. If the team behind AAI2 does a fan translation I'll be there for sure.
All in all I've pretty much shifted to hoping for a fan effort
Wait there aren't any flash carts that work on newest hardware? I was sure there are. I really hope they'll pop out so that we can play a fan translation.
Ace Attorney is the one series I'd want to play in English even if I knew good enough Japanese just because the localization is so enjoyable. If the team behind AAI2 does a fan translation I'll be there for sure.
All in all I've pretty much shifted to hoping for a fan effort
B-Tier team may have made AAI2 but that's kind of lost on me considering I never got to fucking play it. What I do know is that their output includes the mediocre AAI and AA5, so...
Consistency is good I guess but I'd take AA2 over the consistently middling AA5. Takumi gave us the unforgettable Von Karma, Godot, Dalia Hawthorne, Matt Engarde, and Kristoph Gavin.
AA5 gave us... (Spoiler, I don't get how the tag on this works on mobile)
Not to mention all the weeby animu ass bullshit about lawyers' secret trump card being the real superpower of friendship or whatever, the awful prosecutor's awful design, and Apollo trying to get hard by becoming Raiden and being 100% totally fine after RIPPING OFF HIS BANDAGES in the middle of court when Phoenix reminds him that his friends are his power.
Man I'm really pissed, I don't like what this series became. I'm probably gonna pass on AA6 - I was excited for TGAA.
Consistency is good I guess but I'd take AA2 over the consistently middling AA5. Takumi gave us the unforgettable Von Karma, Godot, Dalia Hawthorne, Matt Engarde, and Kristoph Gavin.
AA5 gave us... (Spoiler, I don't get how the tag on this works on mobile)
Not to mention all the weeby animu ass bullshit about lawyers' secret trump card being the real superpower of friendship or whatever, the awful prosecutor's awful design, and Apollo trying to get hard by becoming Raiden and being 100% totally fine after RIPPING OFF HIS BANDAGES in the middle of court when Phoenix reminds him that his friends are his power.
Man I'm really pissed, I don't like what this series became. I'm probably gonna pass on AA6 - I was excited for TGAA.
CrimsonFist
Member
Should probably spoiler that image.
How do you spoiler images?
Besides tbh anyone who would want to play AA5 has probably already played it by now - it's been years.
Edit - o also I completely forgot to mention how much I hated them treating psychology like it was some kind of brand new superpower currently trending in the courts
sixteen-bit
Member
tag
I'm gonna leave this here since I didn't realize there was a seperate thread. It's a little update although it's not much better
For those saying localizing the game would be hard, I've already offered a solution.
I'm no professional localizer and I still could come up with this.
The real problem here is that Capcom doesn't feel like the game would sell because it doesn't have Phoenix Wright in it.
I'm no professional localizer and I still could come up with this.
The real problem here is that Capcom doesn't feel like the game would sell because it doesn't have Phoenix Wright in it.
The12thGripper
Member
There is one, but it just started and there's only a couple people working on it. It's going to be a while.
mrmickfran
Member
I think that they're overestimating how much we care about the cultural differences in the game.
Which would be a pretty bad excuse if that was the case. Persona still manages to be successful stateside despite keeping all the honorifics and the untranslated food names. People really don't give a crap just as long as the game's good.
Which would be a pretty bad excuse if that was the case. Persona still manages to be successful stateside despite keeping all the honorifics and the untranslated food names. People really don't give a crap just as long as the game's good.
I actually don´t really understand it money-wise ?
How much can the translation cost?
Even if we go for 50.000 $ (I really don´t think it can be that much more to translate some text and dub the 15-30 min on video)
They only sell the game digitally for 25 $
Capcom gets (worst case) 10 $ per game, they just have to sell 5000 games worldwide. They must easily exceed this ...
How much can the translation cost?
Even if we go for 50.000 $ (I really don´t think it can be that much more to translate some text and dub the 15-30 min on video)
They only sell the game digitally for 25 $
Capcom gets (worst case) 10 $ per game, they just have to sell 5000 games worldwide. They must easily exceed this ...
The Awesomest
Member
Sorry for off-topic, but... why??
Sumio Mondo
Member
Well, that's that. We're only getting mainline Ace Attorney from here on in. If even the series creator's game is locked to Japan only, then that really settles my opinion on Capcom as a company. I really hope Shu Takumi makes another original IP next, rather than another spin off of AA otherwise we might never get his games in English again.