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[linkboy]

I just ordered a copy of Lunar off of Amazon for $44 (with everything), and the two strategy guides as well (for both Lunar 1 & 2).

I missed out on Lunar 1 (was gone before I could purchase it), but I pounced on Lunar 2 the minute it came out and I still have my copy (won't get rid of it). Still have everything that came with it too (including the pendant).

Vic, I just want to say thank you for those games. I grew up by Redding (Corning and Susanville) and would have loved to work at WD, but you guys closed up before I got the chance.

 

[Grampasso]

People will sometimes, when toasting, say "Let's say cheers in Itallian!" and then say "Chinchin" which means penis.
And by sometimes I mean I've heard it a lot. But what the fuck do I know, I talk to real Japanese people.

Actually that's "Cin cin", the onomathopeic sound of the glasses when they touch, and it's written in a different way but due to italian pronounce rules it's read like Chin chin in japanese (wich would be read "Kin kin" with italian rules).
Due to a lot of different words sharing the same pronounce in japanese a lot of jokes can be made thanks to misunderstandings, I noticed this when I was a dialogue writer for Dynamic Planning sister society in Italy, some phrases had to be completely changed from the original version and it pissed us a lot because we wanted to stay stick to the original as much as we could. I tried to write the dialogue for an anime called Elf Princess Ren... it was simply IMPOSSIBLE. If you can understand japanese watch the anime, it's just crazy. I bet no one could ever localize that one staying true to the original translation.

 

[DidntKnowJack]

I apologize if this seems like an odd bump for a somewhat old thread, but instead of creating a new one, I thought I'd just continue on with this.

I really miss Working Designs. And it kind of hit home the last couple of days. I just got a copy of the LE version of Lunar Silver Star Harmony for the PSP. And while I like it, it just doesn't compare to the stuff 'ole WD used to release. It just doesn't have that Working Designs flavor, and it certainly doesn't have the bells and whistles a lot of the bigger releases WD put out used to have. Those wonderful Lunar SSSC and Lunar 2 EB box sets, and the Arc The Lad Collection.

It wouldn't be so bad if there were another company that did what WD used to do. (Well...it'd still be bad, but we just wouldn't notice it as much.) I guess Atlus comes the closest, but even their Special Editions pale in comparison. That's not to say I don't appreciate Atlus, I do. They release games other publishers wouldn't touch, so they often get my money.

So instead we have to rely on companies to put out shitty collectors editions we have to pay anywhere from 10 to (usually) 40 or 50 dollars more. And even those are just pure money grabs, and the content is usually not worth the extra dough. I don't remember how much I paid for Lunar or Arc the Lad Collection when they came out. It may have been a bit more than normal PS1 titles, but I don't remember them being all that much more. Maybe 10 bucks...? Nonetheless, even paying a bit more, you got your 10 dollars worth.

Anyway, that's the rant I wanted to make. I miss you Working Designs.

 

[MightyKAC]

I apologize if this seems like an odd bump for a somewhat old thread, but instead of creating a new one, I thought I'd just continue on with this.

I really miss Working Designs. And it kind of hit home the last couple of days. I just got a copy of the LE version of Lunar Silver Star Harmony for the PSP. And while I like it, it just doesn't compare to the stuff 'ole WD used to release. It just doesn't have that Working Designs flavor, and it certainly doesn't have the bells and whistles a lot of the bigger releases WD put out used to have. Those wonderful Lunar SSSC and Lunar 2 EB box sets, and the Arc The Lad Collection.

It wouldn't be so bad if there were another company that did what WD used to do. (Well...it'd still be bad, but we just wouldn't notice it as much.) I guess Atlus comes the closest, but even their Special Editions pale in comparison. That's not to say I don't appreciate Atlus, I do. They release games other publishers wouldn't touch, so they often get my money.

So instead we have to rely on companies to put out shitty collectors editions we have to pay anywhere from 10 to (usually) 40 or 50 dollars more. And even those are just pure money grabs, and the content is usually not worth the extra dough. I don't remember how much I paid for Lunar or Arc the Lad Collection when they came out. It may have been a bit more than normal PS1 titles, but I don't remember them being all that much more. Maybe 10 bucks...? Nonetheless, even paying a bit more, you got your 10 dollars worth.

Anyway, that's the rant I wanted to make. I miss you Working Designs.

I second this Necro bump.

The LE 's that WD used to put out more than 15 years ago pretty much SHIT all over 90% of what passes for limited edition games these days.

I think the only 2 limited editions this gen that were worth it were for Batman: AA and Fallout 3.

 

[TheDuce22]

Having recently purchased Grandia I have to agree. It feels completely soulless. I have to wonder if thats how the original Lunar games would have turned out without working designs doing the translating and tweaking.

 

[MightyKAC]

I guess that was the moral of Working Designs.

If you take a risk and give the fans what they want you may end up bankrupt they will always remember you.

 

[DiscoJer]

The LE verion of WD's Lunar seems to have been $60, which was $20 more than most PS1 games ($40).

In the Xseed version, you are paying $40 for a limited edition and the regular is $30. Heck, a lot of normal editions of PSP RPGs are $40 (which is why I don't buy them) - Atlus's Class of Heroes, Persona 1 and 3, Aksys's upcoming Misomething Chronicles.

So my point is, WD might have had some nice packages, but you did pay for them. Not to mention the whole going out of business thing.

 

[Freshmaker]

Having recently purchased Grandia I have to agree. It feels completely soulless. I have to wonder if thats how the original Lunar games would have turned out without working designs doing the translating and tweaking.

Grandia is a masterpiece. Just what the creators envisioned the players experiencing. High quality writing, better than anything a baka GAIJIN could come up with. :lol

 

[DidntKnowJack]

The LE verion of WD's Lunar seems to have been $60, which was $20 more than most PS1 games ($40).

In the Xseed version, you are paying $40 for a limited edition and the regular is $30. Heck, a lot of normal editions of PSP RPGs are $40 (which is why I don't buy them) - Atlus's Class of Heroes, Persona 1 and 3, Aksys's upcoming Misomething Chronicles.

So my point is, WD might have had some nice packages, but you did pay for them. Not to mention the whole going out of business thing.

Yeah, I did some checking, and you're right it was $60. But it was worth every penny. I adore that game. It's my favorite game of all time.

And Lunar 2 was only $44.99, it appears. Unless the documentation I checked was wrong. With all you got in that box set, it blew everything else away. Hell, that would have been worth it for $70.

Grandia is a masterpiece. Just what the creators envisioned the players experiencing. High quality writing, better than anything a baka GAIJIN could come up with. :lol

Like the Gaijins at SCEA? Please. Sony botched that game's translation.

 

[vireland]

I guess that was the moral of Working Designs.

If you take a risk and give the fans what they want you may end up bankrupt they will always remember you.

This faux-otaku-bred nonsense consistently pisses me off.

The deluxe packs we did were *extremely* profitable, which is why the industry followed us at least partway down that road (getting it mostly wrong, but still making plenty of money, too!)

What killed Working Designs was my retarded console monogamy and failure to see that Sony's blockage of us publishing, you know, more games was not something I could overcome since the weirdos that took over SCEA in the early 2000's (and then eventually nearly killed Sony's console biz before being demoted/transferred/quitting in the mid 2000s) didn't understand what we did at ALL and were hung up on the graphics in our games not being awesomely "next gen". If I had cut and run with Sony over to Microsoft at the first sign of trouble instead of trying to "fix" what was never going to be fixed (and didn't need fixing in the first place) for two years, WD would still be around.

Got it? WD Deluxe Packs = very, very profitable with almost NO RETURNS (which is astonishing if you're "in the business"). Did not lead to downfall. In fact the money from them kept WD afloat for more than two years with essentially NO RELEASES while I tried to appease Sony.

Please put the lie to rest, but feel free to continue to always remember us.

 

[Danthrax]

This faux-otaku-bred nonsense consistently pisses me off.

The deluxe packs we did were *extremely* profitable, which is why the industry followed us at least partway down that road (getting it mostly wrong, but still making plenty of money, too!)

What killed Working Designs was my retarded console monogamy and failure to see that Sony's blockage of us publishing, you know, more games was not something I could overcome since the weirdos that took over SCEA in the early 2000's (and then eventually nearly killed Sony's console biz before being demoted/transferred/quitting in the mid 2000s) didn't understand what we did at ALL and were hung up on the graphics in our games not being awesomely "next gen". If I had cut and run with Sony over to Microsoft at the first sign of trouble instead of trying to "fix" what was never going to be fixed (and didn't need fixing in the first place) for two years, WD would still be around.

Got it? WD Deluxe Packs = very, very profitable with almost NO RETURNS (which is astonishing if you're "in the business"). Did not lead to downfall. In fact the money from them kept WD afloat for more than two years with essentially NO RELEASES while I tried to appease Sony.

Please put the lie to rest, but feel free to continue to always remember us.

Awesome post.

 

[diddlyD]

vireland tell us anecdotes from cosmic fantasy 2. it was my first cd-rom game, and the voice and music blew my mind! but nobody ever gives me the "oh yeah i played that too" vibe whenever i bring it up. it's like i'm the only person in the world who played it.

Spoiler

"galem, you pig! where's laura?"

thats the only line i can remember from the game. :lol

edit: that and exile 2, which had really good voice acting from what i remember, especially at the end.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Gaijinworks + PSP Queen's Blade

Make it so!

 

[RurouniZel]

Gaijinworks + PSP Princess Crown
Make it so!

Fixed.

 

[djtiesto]

This faux-otaku-bred nonsense consistently pisses me off.

The deluxe packs we did were *extremely* profitable, which is why the industry followed us at least partway down that road (getting it mostly wrong, but still making plenty of money, too!)

What killed Working Designs was my retarded console monogamy and failure to see that Sony's blockage of us publishing, you know, more games was not something I could overcome since the weirdos that took over SCEA in the early 2000's (and then eventually nearly killed Sony's console biz before being demoted/transferred/quitting in the mid 2000s) didn't understand what we did at ALL and were hung up on the graphics in our games not being awesomely "next gen". If I had cut and run with Sony over to Microsoft at the first sign of trouble instead of trying to "fix" what was never going to be fixed (and didn't need fixing in the first place) for two years, WD would still be around.

Got it? WD Deluxe Packs = very, very profitable with almost NO RETURNS (which is astonishing if you're "in the business"). Did not lead to downfall. In fact the money from them kept WD afloat for more than two years with essentially NO RELEASES while I tried to appease Sony.

Please put the lie to rest, but feel free to continue to always remember us.

The one question I have though... if you guys went over to MS instead, what would you have put out? The only Japanese exclusives I can recall off the top of my head for the original 360 was Metal Wolf Chaos and SMT Nine (which I heard was horrible). I just wish SCEA weren't such cockblocking assholes, there were plenty of great PS2 games that never got released in the states... would've loved to see WD take on the SEGA AGES lineup for instance. (a retranslated Phantasy Star collection, WD style??? OMFG!!!)

 

[Rebochan]

What killed Working Designs was my retarded console monogamy and failure to see that Sony's blockage of us publishing, you know, more games was not something I could overcome since the weirdos that took over SCEA in the early 2000's (and then eventually nearly killed Sony's console biz before being demoted/transferred/quitting in the mid 2000s) didn't understand what we did at ALL and were hung up on the graphics in our games not being awesomely "next gen". If I had cut and run with Sony over to Microsoft at the first sign of trouble instead of trying to "fix" what was never going to be fixed (and didn't need fixing in the first place) for two years, WD would still be around.

And yet plenty of people had no trouble doing this at the same time as Working Designs.

SCEA may have been full of nutters, but plenty of indie publishers sprung up in that time period that Working Designs was failing and managed to find degrees of success with the same kinds of niche games WD would publish.

Sorry, I really don't want to chew out an industry guy, but I can't stand the whitewashing of history going on here. Sony was not the sole cause of this problem.

And I'm sorry, but I highly doubt cutting and running to Microsoft would have solved anything in 2005.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Working Designs ruled. I'm not getting the new Lunar because there's no post-Working Designs people involved

Spoiler

and I've pretty much given up on all JRPGs. Right now I'm not even planning on getting FF13.

 

[FoneBone]

The one question I have though... if you guys went over to MS instead, what would you have put out? The only Japanese exclusives I can recall off the top of my head for the original 360 was Metal Wolf Chaos and SMT Nine (which I heard was horrible).)

Yeah, that's what I was going to ask. I can't think of much of anything beyond those.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

This faux-otaku-bred nonsense consistently pisses me off.

The deluxe packs we did were *extremely* profitable, which is why the industry followed us at least partway down that road (getting it mostly wrong, but still making plenty of money, too!)

What killed Working Designs was my retarded console monogamy and failure to see that Sony's blockage of us publishing, you know, more games was not something I could overcome since the weirdos that took over SCEA in the early 2000's (and then eventually nearly killed Sony's console biz before being demoted/transferred/quitting in the mid 2000s) didn't understand what we did at ALL and were hung up on the graphics in our games not being awesomely "next gen". If I had cut and run with Sony over to Microsoft at the first sign of trouble instead of trying to "fix" what was never going to be fixed (and didn't need fixing in the first place) for two years, WD would still be around.

Got it? WD Deluxe Packs = very, very profitable with almost NO RETURNS (which is astonishing if you're "in the business"). Did not lead to downfall. In fact the money from them kept WD afloat for more than two years with essentially NO RELEASES while I tried to appease Sony.

Please put the lie to rest, but feel free to continue to always remember us.

What other games from the PS1 did you try to get a hold of that you couldn't in the end?

 

[FLEABttn]

I had a certain appreciation for the jokes and humor in past WD games. Then again, I was teenager or even younger when I played the bulk of their games. So the jokes appealled to me more. These types of localizations wouldn't fly with me now that I'm 30 though.

I hope GaijinWorks will take a more mature approach with their future games. Not saying they can't be fun, but they can't go as far as they used to.

Necroing an old post in and old thread, I find the opposite to be true for me. Taking "liberties" in the translation, no matter how minor, used to be blasphemy when I was younger. But after years of literal to the point of sterility or stilted text, after years of games that take themselves too seriously through their translation, screw it, give me more WD-like translations.

 

[Scalpel Knight]

I still have my Lunar 1 and 2 collector's editions in pristine condition on my shelf (no Ghaleon puppet however ). I also have the guide for Lunar: SSSC, but not for EB. Just the translations alone made them worth playing through! I'm wondering how the new PSP remake fares in the translation department.

 

[andymcc]

This particular game was one of WD's more controversial localizations, IIRC.

I imagine that I'd be a bit ticked if I was a fan of the franchise in question and this game seemed completely at odds with the source material, but since I'm not and don't know if that's the case, I can't really bring myself to care either way.

don't worry, the game is much better than the source material.

 

[vireland]

And yet plenty of people had no trouble doing this at the same time as Working Designs.

This statement lacks comprehension and insight. The "people" with "no trouble" were by and large getting this done from the Japanese side with their Japanese parent when there was trouble. We didn't have the luxury of a Japanese parent. Also, there was one specific person who came on at SCEA that was notorious in his/her insanity and irrational psychosis. Lucky us, it became our account manager. There's literally volumes of stories from other pubs I've heard that rival what they did to us. Shocking stuff that'll probably never be told.

Doubt all you want, I don't care. There were things for us to publish/convert with Microsoft at that time, and two years productively doing that would have been a much better outcome than what I did beating my head against the wall at SCEA. But that's age, perspective, and experience, and I have more of all that now.

 

[vireland]

Just the translations alone made them worth playing through! I'm wondering how the new PSP emake fares in the translation department.

Given that the translation's about 90% of the original text, it's the same deal with much better graphics and music so it should be great. Unfortunately, there's a fair amount of iffy/bad new voice acting and some horrifyingly non-musical lyrical bulemia for the two main songs. Winds Nocturne, especially, is a literalism vomitorium now.

 

[stewy]

The possibility of an Alundra release on PSN makes me very happy. It's the only WD game I've never played.

 

[LocoMrPollock]

There were things for us to publish/convert with Microsoft at that time, and two years productively doing that would have been a much better outcome than what I did beating my head against the wall at SCEA.

Metal Wolf Chaos would've been sweet, even though it wasn't your genre.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

This statement lacks comprehension and insight. The "people" with "no trouble" were by and large getting this done from the Japanese side with their Japanese parent when there was trouble. We didn't have the luxury of a Japanese parent. Also, there was one specific person who came on at SCEA that was notorious in his/her insanity and irrational psychosis. Lucky us, it became our account manager. There's literally volumes of stories from other pubs I've heard that rival what they did to us. Shocking stuff that'll probably never be told.

Doubt all you want, I don't care. There were things for us to publish/convert with Microsoft at that time, and two years productively doing that would have been a much better outcome than what I did beating my head against the wall at SCEA. But that's age, perspective, and experience, and I have more of all that now.

So, do the Nintendo/Sony/MS still vet every game like in the 80's and 90's, or is it as relaxed as it appears to be with companies like Zoo publishing shovelware on the Wii?

 

[MattKeil]

vireland tell us anecdotes from cosmic fantasy 2.

I have a Cosmic Fantasy 2 anecdote. The first time I interviewed Vic was at E3 2001 (I think), and being a WD fan and collector I of course geeked out a bit and told him I had all the WD games ever released to that point except Cosmic Fantasy 2. (I didn't own a TurboGrafx CD at the time it came out and when I went back in the late '90s to pick up all the TG-CD WD games, Cosmic Fantasy 2 was nowhere to be found.) After the interview, Vic leaves the little room we're in and I talk to the PR rep for a bit, and a minute later he comes back in and hands me a copy of Cosmic Fantasy 2.

Victor Ireland is a class act, people. Don't ever believe otherwise.

 

[Freshmaker]

Like the Gaijins at SCEA? Please. Sony botched that game's translation.

*whoosh*

I even referenced a webcomic bashing otakoid behavior. *sigh*