They took two years to break a game. They're shit. You're only as good as your last job, and they really screwed the pooch on this one.
Not talking about GL here, but I just can't agree with that statement for anything.
They took two years to break a game. They're shit. You're only as good as your last job, and they really screwed the pooch on this one.
You're only as good as your last job
Michael Jordan is only as good as the Washington Wizards era.
it seems that there's a way out of the summon-freeze. If you wait a few minutes after the freeze (3 - 4 minutes in my case) the game unfreezes by itself without any consequences (and you're able to use the summon command).
So, the game is actually "playable" until the end, but i hope this shit gets patched as soon as possibile. I'm really mad at ghostlight right now. Now i fear for future Atlus games on 3DS...
The fuck? I'm not defending it. In its current state, no one should be buying this unless there is a guarantee of a patch coming.
in theory every single 3DS retail game could be patched. In reality the only one i remember of is Mario Kart 7.
As an Australian, I couldn't be any more frustrated by the fact that I have to wait for version that requires German, Spanish, Italian and French or w/e the EU PAL versions have.
you'll be even more pissed off hearing that DS:O isn't even localized in any european language other than english...
I'm not familiar with Ghostlight but from the posts in here it seems they are handling the changes in the game's code themselves? That seems rather peculiar. The delay thing reminds me of WD which programmed the localization themselves too.
Digitally Downloaded: European and Australian gamers are often frustrated by the time it takes to publish games in these markets - in some cases it can be a year after the game was released in the US. Could you outline the process for publishing a Japanese game in PAL territories, and explain for us the delay?
Alasdair Evans: Its frustrating for gamers, but there will always be delays like this unless the original developer/ publisher has planned from the outset to localise and release their title in Europe, US and Japan simultaneously. For us, the first stage of publishing a Japanese title in the PAL region is deciding which games you are interested in. While that may seem a little obvious, its important to mention as this decision opens up several potential causes for delays. After that, we need to contact whoever holds the rights and arrange for a version of the game to be sent to us for evaluation. Depending on whether the game has been licensed for North America or not, the version we receive may be in either Japanese or English. After the team here has looked at the game, a report is prepared and assuming we still feel the game meets our requirements and that there will be a market for it, we contact the licence holder and try to negotiate a deal with them.
If and when a deal is reached, we will then start the localisation process. Even if a game has already been translated into English, changes will still need to be made to the game as the technical requirements differ from region to region. This means that a brand new product has to be created, the complexities and inherent issues of which can easily be underestimated. Creating any new product throws up the risk of generating new bugs through the sometimes necessary implementation of new libraries and so forth and that in itself can open up a whole world of hurt in terms of development time, bug testing and fixing and master submissions. Not to mention that throughout this process we will also be working on the manual and localisations, box art and any other printed materials such as the Collectors Edition content.
Finally, once the game has been passed by the console manufacturer, it needs to be marketed and sold in to stores via distributors and retail chains. The market is very tough for boxed product at the moment so this can sometimes be a lengthy process. Once orders are placed from distributors, the product is put into manufacture alongside any collectors components and a release date is set.
Of course this whole process opens up many stages at which a game could be delayed.
Sometimes we source and evaluate games that have previously been overlooked for various reasons, so to the end user it can seem like months or years before a localised version reaches our shores. For example the success of a sequel to an established series can sometimes indicate interest in earlier games in that series that may have been passed up previously.
Once we find a title that we want to bring to Europe, theres usually a lengthy negotiation process covering all aspects of the title, i.e. fees, rights issues over art and music, copyrights over the source code and use of middleware etc. All these issues need to be resolved before signing a game, so complex legal aspects of any agreement can take time before we can actually get things moving.
Alongside all that, circumstances sometimes change and a game that may not have been possible to licence before may become available at a lower cost, making it possible to reach an agreement when it was not before.
Once a title is signed, the localisation and testing process takes a lot of time and effort to get right. Japanese-to-English translations of large story-based JRPGs can take months just to get a first draft (were usually talking about hundreds of pages of text here) and every new test build of a game has to be tested as if it were the first. That means hundreds of hours of testing.
Even if the game has already been translated, it will still have to undergo changes to the code. As I mentioned earlier, the technical requirements in each region differ and there is also the possibility that additional bugs will be spotted which will need to be fixed.
This usually means having the Japanese dev/publisher make the changes, which can also introduce delays as the particular team who worked on a title may not be immediately available. Unsurprisingly, dev teams never sit idly waiting for localisation work from us, naturally they need to work on new products, so we usually have to find a balance that enables multiple projects to run in parallel. This can mean that we may have to wait to start a project and fit in around developers tight schedules. Downtime can invariably occur here.
Aside from all of this there are also lots of smaller issues that can add up to big delays. For example, before licensing a title, we will evaluate it, which often requires waiting for a playable work-in-progress build or even a finished version, which can take weeks to months. On more marginal titles we may even wait to see how well a title sells in Japan or the US before setting out to acquire it for Europe.
Lastly, we have to factor in the console submission and approvals process of the game, as well as the printed materials. Its sometimes even tougher for us if we decide to create one of our typically fantastic Collectors Editions! As you can imagine, each special item has to be designed and approved by the licensor or rights holder. On top of all that, there are applications for age ratings, manufacturing and shipping and it sometimes only takes one minor problem in any one aspect of development or production to delay the whole process by weeks or even months.
There was an interview from last month with Ghostlight's Senior Producer, Alasdair Evans. I'll quote the question about the localization process (more at the link).
I'm just posting this to give more insight on what Ghostlight does.
Have there been many 3DS retail games that receive patches?
Europe:
- Animal Crossing (1.1)
- Oshare de Kawaii! Koinu to Asobo! Machi-Hen (1.1)
- Inazuma Eleven Go 2: Chrono Stone Neppuu (1.2)
- Inazuma Eleven Go 2: Chrono Stone Raimei (1.2)
- Style Savvy (1.1)
- Fantasy Life (1.2)
- Nicola Kanshuu: Model Oshare Audition Platina (1.1)
- Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney (1.1)
- Medarot 7: Kabuto Ver. (1.1)
- Medarot 7: Kuwagata Ver. (1.1)
- Dr Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training (1.1)
- Sengoku Musou Chronicle 2nd (1.1)
- G1 Grand Prix (1.1)
- Tantei Jinguuji Saburo: Fukushuu no Rinbu (1.1)
- Penguin no Mondai: The Wars (1.1)
- Culdcept (1.1)
- New Love Plus (1.2)
- Flora and Fauna 3D Field Guide (1.1)
- Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D (1.1)
- Danball Senki Baku Boost (1.2)
- Metal Gear Solid 3D Snake Eater (1.1)
- Dynasty Warriors VS (1.1)
- Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (1.1)
- Mario Kart 7 (1.1)
US:
- Style Savvy (1.1)
- Mario Kart 7 (1.1)
just style savvy and mario kart for the US eshop
Atlus needs to find a European publishing partner that isn't Ghostlight. >_>
Oh you mean the wanks who screwed Nintendo and thier developers over? Those Ubisoft?SE publishes Activision's games in Japan.
Altus should just partner with someone like Ubisoft for Europe.
it seems that there's a way out of the summon-freeze. If you wait a few minutes after the freeze (3 - 4 minutes in my case) the game unfreezes by itself without any consequences (and you're able to use the summon command).
So, the game is actually "playable" until the end, but i hope this shit gets patched as soon as possibile. I'm really mad at ghostlight right now. Now i fear for future Atlus games on 3DS...
I think this needs to be read by more people.
It needs patching but it's also not unplayable. At least that's better than it seemed, whilst also acknowledging that it still seems pretty bad.
Then again ain't these the exact same companies responsible for the P4A? I hope publishers cannot region lock Vita games ;-;
Yes, i can confirm that the freeze happens every single time you pick up the "summon" command. The game unfreezes by itself after 4 minutes.
Okay, wrap it up guys, it's not a bug. It's just realistic localization. Just like how Atlus games take a longer time to come out in Europe, demons also take a longer time to be summoned in Europe.
(lol)
I guess the customers are the root of all evil after all.We deeply value the continued commitment from our devoted Ghoslight fans and all the EU JRPG fans as without you all we wouldnt be here.
So we just had to wait until Sunday to get word from them, nice going.
It will probably take a couple of weeks before they release a patch, but at least they will do something about it. GL are certainly far from being the bad company that many are trying to make.
Also, if Nintendo's approval process is anything like Sony's, then the fault is also shared by Nintendo's QA for not seeing these issues, or waiving them (as Sony usually does when the money is shown).
Haha. All the time they needed. If two years was not enough, what are we looking at?
Yes, let's ignore all the responsibility the actual publisher has to their consumers and make every other possible excuses for the result. "Trying to do something" about a fatal problem in a released product is not a sign of a good company. It is the bare minimum expected of a company which expects to remain in business in the long run. The fact that they have to correct something to begin with is already a sign of how bad they are.
Yes, let's ignore all the responsibility the actual publisher has to their consumers and make every other possible excuses for the result. "Trying to do something" about a fatal problem in a released product is not a sign of a good company. It is the bare minimum expected of a company which expects to remain in business in the long run. The fact that they have to correct something to begin with is already a sign of how bad they are.
I'm not ignoring anything, but giving the case of Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, they could have done nothing and don't care about about this.
Or maybe they were just like Square-Enix who paid Sony to have their bugs waived and still release the Tomb Raider as such, or like any of the other big publishers that constantly do this instead of fixing the games.
Whatever happened with DS:O, Ghostlight are addressing the situation and aren't just ignoring it, that cannot be seen as a bad thing, god forbid people try to amend their mistakes. Good previous releases on PSP and PS3, now they have a problem working with a new platform and they end up being the worst company in the world? Give me a break.