Support NeoGAF

[Metalmurphy]

So how likely is it that excessive whining on GAF about wanting an English version of AH would make Sony take note and do something about it?

Spoiler

Try the official foruns instead. But it would take ALOT of whining.

 

[gloone]

I just got the game myself today.

At first the amount of Japanese text and the fact that you have to talk to people ALOT when the game gets started almost made me regret my purchase.

Then, about and hour into the game, i realized that all the text in the game is just there to tell some kind of story. I have no idea what's going on really but I enjoy the game just as much.

I would've been kind of lost without the mission translations i found on gamefaqs but with help from them I feel that I'll do just fine.

I just unlocked the camera and took a bunch of pictures. Here's 4 of them:

 

[BobJustBob]

My copy of this came in today. I played a few hours and, though I'm enjoying it, the only way it could be less like the original game is if it didn't take place in the ocean. The original game dumped you in the ocean with no direction and no goals. You had the four ways of communicating with fish, and you had this reef-building side game where you planted different colors of something and it would attract fish. But otherwise the entirety of the game was you exploring for no reason other than to see what was there. There were no characters, there was no story, there was no creature log, there were no upgrades, and there were no missions.

 

[Totobeni]

I just unlocked the camera and took a bunch of pictures. Here's 4 of them:

DAMMMN :O

fuck you SCEA ..fuck you very freaking much ..

 

[BobJustBob]

This is really addictive. I've played it basically nonstop since getting it and now it's a quarter to three. I think I'm almost done with the story. I've uncovered almost the entire map and I've got the first page of upgrades for the sub.

 

[WYWY]

Ooo just finished the main story. 12 hours.

But there are still several chapters to go. And new missions are still coming in. Wonder if these are all side-stories, or if there is a "second main story".

 

[ElyrionX]

Is it worth wading through the game if I don't know a single shred of Japanese? How integral is understanding the story to the experience?

 

[radios shipping overview]

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4895731

So, so gorgeous. SCEA fails so hard for not having even announced this for US relesae.

 

[jax (old)]

playasia has this for sale so I'm currently contemplating buying this with AFRIKA aka hakuna matata - is this any good - anyone played it recently? Apparently all the text is english?

 

[Goldrusher]

Some stuff from the other thread...

The game is 100% English, even though some things are poorly translated, but no Engrish or Babelfish though... and you'll always understand everything. It's just that grammatically it's not always correct and there's the odd word misplacement.

And you'll need these:

• story mode help
• enormous guide, run it through a translator

○ from that guide, singer fish stuff
○ map with every sonobuoy & singer fish​

Got my copy today and wow, this game is awesome !

Screenshots !

After a few missions, your sub gets upgraded with a camera. The screenshots are saved in 720p in the XMB, with the file name being the location where you took the photo and in the file details you can see which fishes are on them !
Unfortunately the latter is some kind of PS3-exclusive feature and you can't read it on a PC.

Sea of Tranquility

Sea of Melody

Sea of Calling

If you had enough of all the crazy stories and mysteries, you can try to complete the "ocean database". There are over 500 fishes and creatures to find...

Whales are easy to spot... snails not so much. Like this one right here:

Let's get a little closer. It's in the very center of the following photo:

Can't get much closer than this:

!!!

just finished the main storyline, & still playing the side-missions. really impressed with how spectacular the graphics are, & how over-all well done the whole thing is (& the guy does look like cheney, & the chopped-up dialog's great ). this game, even more than afrika, really deserved a western release - in motion, it's as gorgeous as anything anyone's released this generation...

Granted I've only played an hour so far, but I think the translation is good (and certainly a lot better than babelfish or something like that). The way everyone constantly adds "well" to everything they say is pretty funny though.

The thing about this game is that while it looks good in screenshots, it looks so much better in motion. Things like the way the sun comes dappling across the ocean floor, the fish animation, and actually the music...all of that is lost in screenshots.

Wow, I already finished the game. I still like the game, but it's not a deep experience at all. I know I have a whole slew of fish still to discover, but even then it all feels a bit on the light side. The technical side of the game is decent enough, but again not impressive enough to be truly immersive (for instance: fish don't react to anything...at all) and the 4-sounds minigame is more annoying than anything else. I'm not gonna count the horrible (yet hilarious) translation as a downside, because the game hasn't even been released in English-speaking territories.

I don't wanna come down too hard on the game, because it really is a nice and relaxing, non-taxing game and it's pretty much unlike anything I've personally played yet. But when it comes down to it, the few hours it takes to complete the game don't really justify the €50 I payed for it. They could've done so much more with it, but I guess that would take a bigger budget.

I'm glad I have the game and I still recommend it, but I hope that when another one of these comes along there's a bit more to it. If so, I'm there.

/edit: also, I just ordered Hakuna Matata (Afrika) because I feel like playing another one of these games.

I just got this game for Christmas and I absolutely love it! But then again, I loved Ecco series and Treasures of the Deep and Everblue 2, I just love the underwater genre period.

But yeah, its pretty short to get to the credits (10 hours?), but it'll let you play more afterwards and you only unlocked the game's other half that's full of side quests and possibly more fish/treasures to find. I got excited at this. The game seem to really open up when you get this far.

And yeah, I agree with another poster that the 4 sound singing is really annoying, but mind you, the initial contact is usually just one song composition for you to unlock this particular fish to make contact to again later. And when you do, you'll notice that they have these numbers from "00" - "20" which indicates their levels of songs. Each time you passed their song, they level up and the song gradually get more and more longer and complicated. Taking it from me (I'm deaf), the songs are easy til you hit somewhere in 10s and 9s. :\

I suppose its easier for those with hearing to recognize the sounds by the buttons instead of looking on screen for shapes (they go by too fast) but even then, I thought I heard that the sounds aren't exactly sounding like your own sounds so you couldn't really replicate it if you wish to memorize it.

I also just got mine and wow, this game is a serious contender for the prettiest game I've played on the PS3.

The dialogue is actually very witty and made me laugh, especially with Kemelmen (who reminds me of Dick Cheney). The way their pictures change as they talk is a nice touch.

Very happy with the game so far.

Hey there,

anyone who's got a craving for more nice Screenshots from the visually stunning Aquanaut's Holiday, we got some up on our site:

Over 300 Aquanaut's Holiday Screenshots

There's also a review of the japanese version available: Review - german

Review - Google translated

Have fun,

Dominic

 

[jooey]

playasia has this for sale so I'm currently contemplating buying this with AFRIKA aka hakuna matata - is this any good - anyone played it recently? Apparently all the text is english?

terrible english, but yes. sweet game, though. you'll probably like it better than afrika. I know I did!!!

 

[Rummy Bunnz]

I'm glad the translation's terrible. I don't think I'd want to play an Artdink game where I wasn't slightly confused most of the time. Also love the game's HUD and use of real photos for the NPCs. Makes it all feel very "CD-ROM".

 

[Haunted]

Looks and sounds really good.

 

[NolbertoS]

I ordered this and Afrika (aka Hakuna Matata) on play-asia..thx for the English guide link..I'll be sure to spend many hours swimming away at this game.

 

[Neuromancer]

Awesome game, I should post some photos some time. I ended up getting the non english version of the game and let me tell you- indecipherable! The woman and I actually had a bit of fun looking at the people's facial expressions as I clicked through dialogue options and making up what we thought they were saying.

I hear there's a megalodon somewhere out there, haven't seen it but have seen some big ass whales and sharks.

 

[Tailzo]

If someone tires of they chinese / korean english text version, pm me, please I'd love to get my hands on this game some day.