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Is there a bigger budget Japanese game than Yakuza Ishin that hasn't been localized?
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AcademicSaucer
Member
Phantasy Star Online 2? Dragon Quest X?
SatoAilDarko
Member
Dragon Quest X?
sublimit
Banned
Infernostew
Member
Sega was so dumb not to localize Ishin. Especially since around the time it came out there weren't too many games released on ps4. Could've been a real hit on the console with proper marketing. They should really just start licensing out games they have no intentions of localizing since I'm sure there are a bunch of publishers who would love to do them.
Lord of Ostia
Member
Yeah Ishin not coming out over here was a huge disappointment. I'd love to get a slickly produced samurai game at some point this generation, and Ishin really seemed to fit the bill nicely.
Uh, what? No recent Yakuza game comes close to 1m per entry? Did you mean half a million?
TheSpoiler
Member
Do people not know how much localization costs? It's steep. Very steep. Especially when you realize it isn't just switching text in a txt. file.
lucebuce12
Member
But all you need is a computer and a guy who speaks both languages, how hard can it possibly be?
/s
Hexa
Member
Yakuza 3 sold 510k at the end of 2009.
Yakuza 4 sold 558k at the end of 2010.
Yakuza: Dead Souls sold 410k at the end of 2011.
Yakuza 5 sold 522k at the end of 2012.
Yakuza Ishin sold 384k at the end of 2014.
Yakuza 0 sold 386k at the end of 2015.
I don't think they expect anywhere near a million. I think they'd be more than satisfied if they could hit half a million again with Yakuza 6.
Edit: Wait a second, my numbers for Ishin and 0 were off. My bad.
Infernostew
Member
I understand that but it could've been a great time to gain interest in the franchise especially since around the months that it was released in Japan, there was nothing releasing for a while. Also, if they don't want to foot the localization costs, then I'm sure there are companies that do.
JuanLatino
Member
wow....are those numbers really enough to justify the cost of a Yakuza Game?
I didn't play those game, but they look much more expensive than game like Tales of etc. and even those sell more copies normally
CrazyArcadia
Member
For its time, at least, Sakura Taisen wasn't a cheap game series what with the famous cast of artists and voice actors, animated sequences and so on. Highly popular in Japan, too. Only the 5th game was ever officially translated and released oversea.
Phantasy Star Nova on Vita was also 'high AAA budget' according to SEGA, no?
Phantasy Star Nova on Vita was also 'high AAA budget' according to SEGA, no?
Relaxed Muscle
Member
EX Troopers? A 3DS port of a game that was made with the remanants of Megaman Legends 3?
I wouldn't call that big budget.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
They're not big budget, but it's a damn crime Tales of Destiny: Director Cut, Destiny 2, Rebirth and Hearts DS are never localised.
IrishNinja
Member
yeah, as a huge yakuza fan, i was one of the guys here & on sega's forums telling people to not really expect Ishin...Kenzan! was fantastic, but it's likewise a niche take on a niche series, where 5 barely happened and i'm still overjoyed we got 0.
for those interested: i made a thread here about importing & playing kenzan!, which is totally doable now thanks to youtuber KHHsubs fansubbing not just the major cutscenes, but the sidestories too! also great news, he's a few videos in (last i checked) to doing the same for Ishin, i'm waiting till that effort is further along before importing my copy.
interesting #'s, is there any kinda breakdown as far as east & west? i adore 4, but was afraid it did far worse over here somehow. still, i'd love to see how 5 did here late as hell/digitally, nevermind how much that 0 number goes up in january!
t's one of the finest series in modern gaming! so yes
for those interested: i made a thread here about importing & playing kenzan!, which is totally doable now thanks to youtuber KHHsubs fansubbing not just the major cutscenes, but the sidestories too! also great news, he's a few videos in (last i checked) to doing the same for Ishin, i'm waiting till that effort is further along before importing my copy.
interesting #'s, is there any kinda breakdown as far as east & west? i adore 4, but was afraid it did far worse over here somehow. still, i'd love to see how 5 did here late as hell/digitally, nevermind how much that 0 number goes up in january!
t's one of the finest series in modern gaming! so yes
honestly sega's really indulging us here, and it's clear 5 only happened with sony's push...i can imagine localization of all that text isn't cheap for our crowd.
i'm likewise bummed binary domain never got to continue, but so pleased we're still seeing yakuza games come over here - much less getting a physical for the next one!
i'm likewise bummed binary domain never got to continue, but so pleased we're still seeing yakuza games come over here - much less getting a physical for the next one!
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Well, I can tell you that Yakuza Ishin didn't sell any copies in the West.
Goddamn it.
Hexa
Member
I screwed up the numbers for the last two. My bad. >_<
These are only for the Japanese version, with the English versions all being localized after the cut off dates mentioned. I'm not sure about the English version sales, though as far as I know the Japanese version composes the vast majority of sales, though supposedly the main land Asian versions are picking up as well. Also, these are all from Famitsu so they don't include digital either.
IrishNinja
Member
hey, i'm importing my copy soon!
honestly, i loved the shit out of my time with Kenzan!, but i totally get why it wasn't brought over, for the same reasons as Ishin. i imagine much of the base here would've dug those more than Dead Souls, but here we are.
ah, those new #'s are more promising...and that's japan only then? not bad, for what i was expecting. part of me assumes 3 sold the highest here in the states, but would be surprised if that was a great deal more than 100k.
BigEmil
Junior Member
Yakuza 0 80's setting has many stuff not in the previous games so lots of brand new assets etc had to made, including Yakuza Ishin spinoff set in the Samurai spot.
And of course Yakuza 6 brand new assets everywhere
TheSpoiler
Member
Just run it through Google Translate and you are set. Duhh.
I'm sure they would have gained some sales from the lull of games, but localization is, again, not cheap. Not only do you have to translate the thousands of lines of text (of which Yakuza games have many of, and Ishin is no exception), you then have to make sure it translates well to US and EU readers. That's not even taking into account the considerable difficulty of switching that sort of old style of speaking into something relatable to other audiences.
Then you gotta program all that in. And that takes a whole lot of time. Errors can result in bugs all over the game. So developers have to pour all over that stuff. It's not easy, and it's not cheap.
Asking other companies to license a game that regularly doesn't make much in its home country is asking a lot. The only reason Sony invested in Yakuza 5 was so that resulting entries could have more attention on them, and I'm pretty sure US numbers were pathetic anyway.
Cobble all this together, and include the fact that the fanbase in the west at the time was small as shit and that Sega is on a tight budget (that's only loosened up very recently), and there you go - that's why Ishin didn't come over. Now, it's too late, so they move on and bring us the other games whenever financially viable.
sublimit
Banned
I remember playing the demo of Ex Troopers back in the day and although i enjoyed it and thought the game was really beautiful i don't think it costed anywhere near as Ishin.
Same goes for Vesperia as well at least judging by the demo.
Strange.I thought i read somewhere that one of the main games (probably either 3 or 4) did around 700.000.Personally i thought the series was doing between 500 and 700.
HyperBitHero
Member
Ishin wasn't that expensive. Damn good game though. One of my favorites in the series.
IrishNinja
Member
yeah? how'd you rate it next to kenzan?
HyperBitHero
Member
Better than Kenzan, but Kenzan also has a lot of positives in its own way. In some ways it is better.
Hierophant
Banned
kinda ot but i always wondered if you spoke japanese
What the hell are you talking about? "Code that in"? We're talking about text. They subtitle low budget movies every day that don't sell even near 500 000 copies. Sure, this would be like translating ten movies, but still.
The series seems to be quite popular here in Korea. Each game up through 5 (including spinoffs) came with a full story translation booklet. Now, Kiwami and (soon) 0 actually received full-on Korean languge versions (subtitles only thankfully). Pretty sure this is thanks to Sony more than anything. They've also pushed for Korean localizations of Falcom's Trails and Ys series, as well as all the Sony system Dragon Quest games of late (just started DQ Heroes II on the Vita).
I played Kenzen with ThePatrick's guide and had a great time. I believe it was the first game in the series that I actually finished. Got Ishin day one but haven't finished it yet. Was waiting for KHHsubs story translation to be finished and then just never had time to get back to it. Still, I played enough to know it was a fantastic game and I very much look forward to getting back into it once the stars align. Ryu Ga Gotoku has become a series that I pretty much buy immediately without even giving it a second thought. It is puzzling and a shame that it has not caught on in the west considering the high quality of the games.
striferser
Huge Nickleback Fan
You might want to read this:
http://h-protagonist.tumblr.com/post/133766547738/how-the-sausage-gets-made
So yes, text totally need to be code in and sometime those text is not text, but a pic, so they need to use 2d or 3d illustrator to fix that. A language change can also cause a lot of unexpected problem in the game. There's text limit, fitting text box and many other things.
Edit: unless you're joking, if that the case, i'm sorry
MaximumSpider
Banned
Would Tales of Vesperia PS3 be considered big budget?
Jawmuncher
Member
No ishin was one of the dumbest things ever. If there was ever a time yakuza should have been given a chance over here again it was then
You had a new system, with not a lot of games, and a entry in a series that was basically stand alone. I think people would have bought it in the West.
You had a new system, with not a lot of games, and a entry in a series that was basically stand alone. I think people would have bought it in the West.
not really many AAA budget made in Japan nowadays except for Final Fantasy and MGS(R.I.P), but some midsize budget games I can think of are Gundam VS Extreme Full Boost, Kamen Rider Battride War, and DOA Xtreme 3.
oh yea, and the recent Sengoku Basara games, wtf, get off your lazzy asses Capcom!
oh yea, and the recent Sengoku Basara games, wtf, get off your lazzy asses Capcom!
TheSpoiler
Member
I'd like to think that guy is joking, but I dunno.
Nah, with the extreme costs of localization and Sega's budget at the time, they couldn't do it. And I don't know why people think a game coming out during a lull is automatically going to drive up high interest. A few hundred copies might be the result, but that's not going to cover Ishin's budgetary needs.
Had the stars aligned so perfectly and they had the funds to take the chance, it would have been great. But they'd still need the brand momentum from the previous Yakuza games, and they are only just getting that back.
Nah, with the extreme costs of localization and Sega's budget at the time, they couldn't do it. And I don't know why people think a game coming out during a lull is automatically going to drive up high interest. A few hundred copies might be the result, but that's not going to cover Ishin's budgetary needs.
Had the stars aligned so perfectly and they had the funds to take the chance, it would have been great. But they'd still need the brand momentum from the previous Yakuza games, and they are only just getting that back.
Spring-Loaded
Member
The HD re-release of Yakuza 1 & 2 was also a big missed opportunity for being given a chance. Apparently both games had English subtitles ... 2 certainly did even back on PS2.
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
What stung about this is I'm pretty confident, even with hardcore kanji on screen, this would of still outsold lost planet 3.
Sumio Mondo
Member
Not really since 1 is getting a remake and 2 will no doubt get one as well. I think fans would rather they gambled on those than just re-releases of the originals we've played already.
I certainly do. I have the original games for the PS2, but would love to see Kiwami here in the west and hopefully there's a Kiwami 2 too.
Spring-Loaded
Member
Kiwami already came out, just only in Japan. Not sure what makes you think 2 will get that treatment "no doubt" either.
Kiwami has new dialogue and side content that would need to be translated — the original versions of 1 and 2 have english translations already (2 does at least, 1 had the english dub).
The HD collection came out in 2012. Kiwami released in Japan in January of this year. Sure, now it would be better to push for a Kiwami translation, but back in 2012, an HD re-release of the first two games would've been a good starting point for people new to the series.
It was a missed opportunity. Does that make sense?
At least in the japanese market, Yakuza games have never reach 1 million units.
For example Ishin LTD (PS3/PS4) is roughly 400K.
Hellraider
Member
The worst thing Yakuza-related is Sega refusing to throw in the trash this garbage-tier name. It's amazingly incompetent, just like most things related to Sega Japan and the western market.
killatopak
Member
SRW games are pretty big budget.
Sumio Mondo
Member
Because the remake of 2 will be on the same engine as the Yakuza 1 remake engine? It would make sense for them to remake 2 and then release both the 1 and 2 remakes in the West so newer audiences can enjoy those old games better. As good as 1 and 2 were back then, the formula has been much improved upon since which the remake of 1 no doubt has. To introduce new fans to 1 and 2 remastered instead to the remake of 1 (and potential remake of 2) doesn't make much sense to me, no.
Spring-Loaded
Member
Sure, having the (purely theoretical) 2 remake packaged with Kiwami for Western audiences would make sense now that Kiwami is a thing. Kiwami didn't exist in 2012 when the HD collection came out back in 2012, there was no Kiwami, though it may have been planned.
And yeah, a remake of 2 is merely a possibility. It hasn't been confirmed, and considering it a safe bet is a bit of a reach.
If Kiwami gets localized, it'll come out late 2017 at the very earliest, more likely in 2018 (which is still an early estimate considering it took three years for 5 to be localized). The theoretical Kiwami 2 hasn't even been said to be in development yet, so that's like 2020, maybe ...
You don't see value in getting the HD re-releases localized 6-8 years (again, an optimistic estimate) before getting the remakes localized? The localization process is extremely involved and time-consuming when it's from the ground up Y1 and 2 OG releases already have translations and the only remaining subtitles needed for 1 would be for spoken dialogue in cutscenes (most in-game dialogue was text in that game anyway).
Spreading awareness of the series and giving people a chance to jump in with relatively budget priced re-releases have been worthwhile for other series, and since those games would be less intensive translation endeavors since 1 & 2 are mostly and fully translated, respectively. Yakuza 6 is going to be out, and there are no localized versions of 1&2 beyond the PS2 (outside of backwards compatibility, PS classics, etc.) the series recaps can only do so much with convincing people to jump into the series halfway through.
Kiwami will likely be a better point to jump in for newcomers, but since that won't be localized until 2017 at the earliest, it would've been nice to have gotten the HD versions localized five years ago, back when those were the best versions of those games. Hence "missed opportunity." Not sure why you think you need to convince anyone Kiwami would be better than the original game from 2005 it obviously would be, but it wasn't around four years ago when releasing those HD versions would've been a good idea.
But sure, let them localize Yakuza 6 before the whole localized series exists on consoles released in the last decade
Wow I think that proves my point even further.
If they are satisfied with just half a million , there is no way this is some big budget AAA series.
