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What does GAF think about games released into the West with JPN text & voice only?

N

Nyoro SF

Member
Assume that the game is easy to play. Like a rhythm game or a simple puzzle game like Puyo Puyo. Not an RPG or story game with loads of text.

Question posed by the localization producer of Sega of America. No potshots or drive-by posts at Sega as a company please. This question is encompassing to all companies and gamers anyway.

https://twitter.com/sam_mullen/status/618149894239358976

An entirely unlocalized title, released directly to the West in the fastest manner possible with no localization. Would you be okay with that especially if the game can be learned with a bit of trial and error?

Personally I am fine with that. I import games all the time and the majority of them are titles which I can learn through a bit of guessing, then have hours of fun. I'd like to hear GAF's opinion though.
 
V

Vylash

Member
if it's not a jrpg or something with lot of text i see no reason to care honestly, i'm not losing sleep over a few lines here and there not being in english
 
S

sn00zer

Member
I think its great for certain games (those never released in the West), but absolute horseshit for others that have official trnslations...like Tomba 2!...mostly Tomba 2!.... GAAAAAHHHHH SOMEBODY FUCKING GET THE RIGHTS TO TOMBA 2! IN ENGLISH
 
D

darkness_s

Member
I'd be ok with games that have little text and are pretty self-explanatory, but I'd prefer at least the menus to be translated.
 
S

Sophia

Member
There are some PSN/VC games that are already like this. I say it's fine as long as it's noted upfront that there is no translation.
 
F

FluxWaveZ

Member
It depends entirely on the game. Persona 4: Dancing All Night is a rhythm game that is simple enough to navigate with Japanese text (even though you need translation guides for items, achievements and settings), but I'm unable to experience the rather lengthy story with Japanese text and voice only. Typically, if there's even a moderate amount of story in the game, I would not be okay with it.
 
S

Seraphis Cain

bad gameplay lol
Wasn't Deathsmiles IIX released on XBL with zero localization whatsoever? They just tossed the Japanese version up there because people wanted it and it's a shmup so 99% of the text doesn't matter anyway.
 
R

RyanPierre

Member
If the game uses the language so infrequently, then I'd want it localized since it shouldn't be a huge task to do it in that case.
 
J

Jamix012

Member
I mean...conversely if it's just a few lines of text I see no reason to not translate it. You could probably grab an English speaking intern with some game knowledge, google translate and have them spend a day on it if you really wanted to have the cheapest method. I understand not having English voice for a lot of games, but text? I see no reason to leave it Japanese.
 
P

Producer

Member
I wouldnt mind. I bought Deathsmiles 2x from xbla and its all jp except from some menus.

It would make it easier for me especially on vita/3ds if i kept everything on one account.
 
L

lord_of_flood

Member
RyanPierre said:
If the game uses the language so infrequently, then I'd want it localized since it shouldn't be a huge task to do it in that case.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with this. If there's so little Japanese in the game, then it shouldn't take much effort to localize it, right? It's kind of an odd question to pose.
 
Eolz

Eolz

Member
Hayama Akito said:
If this can bring Puyo Puyo Tetris here i'm okay.
Click to expand...

Same.
I don't mind for some old games that were on megadrive for example, and didn't have much text. Or how we got Murasame Castle and Recca on the Virtual Console for example. As long as it's mostly gameplay and don't need/have much text...
JP voices only have never been a problem too.
 
S

shiyrley

Banned
If they do it to bring games that otherwise would never be released in the West, then sure, but doing this to not localize games that would otherwise be localized? NO. It's a double edged sword. If this suceeds they would start to think "oh, we don't even need to localize this game after all, cancel the translation." I'm sorry but I'm not convinced.
 
K

Krejlooc

Banned
Fine by them. Just treat the audio like a fictional language like panzereese in panzer dragoon if it bothers someone
 
N

Nyoro SF

Member
Platy said:
Weird question for a localization producer to ask.

This includes even Options and Press Start ?
Click to expand...

Hilariously enough, in a lot of Japanese games those words/phrases are in English from the start.

Seanspeed said:
If I cant even navigate the menus I wont be buying.
Click to expand...

Just press some buttons and see what happens. :p
&#12475;&#12540;&#12502; <- This means Save, I just saved you a lot of time.
 
R

RK128

Member
Well, this did happen with a few games (the N64 VC version of Sin and Punishment is completely in JPN text and audio; no English at all), so things like shooters, puzzle games and games with simple mechanics.

Games like RPG's, Action/Adventure games and the like? They NEED to have English translations even if its half-hearted so that we people can mostly understand what is going on.
 
I

Isotope

Member
IdreamofHIME said:
Didn't Nintendo do this with Sin and Punishment 1?
Click to expand...

The Wii VC had numerous import games that weren't translated at all (Granted, they weren't exactly story heavy). If I'm not mistaken, the S&P Wii VC release kept its JP subtitles, but it had English dialogue, along with some menus translated I think?
 
W

wrowa

Member
Difficult topic. They need to clarify very, very clearly that those games are Japanese-only to make sure that everyone buying the game is absolutely aware that they are getting their hands on an unlocalized game. Even if the game is playable without knowledge of the language, Japanese is just too big of a barrier as if such an offer would be otherwise acceptable.

In general though, I wonder how much it can really costs to at least translate menus into English. Hackers are often doing this in a couple of days, so it shouldn't be too time-consuming for the actual developers either.
 
A

Almighty

Member
Nope, not for me at least. The minimum I ask of a game before I even think about giving them my money is that the text be in English. I don't care how simple it is if they can't even do that then no sale from me.
 
C

Crayolan

Member
If I'm paying for an NA copy of a game it better have english. I can let JP voices slide but untranslated text isn't acceptable. If I wanted to play it in JP I'd just buy a JP copy.
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Honestly, aside from Nintendo's region locked systems, why does this even matter? If you want an unlocalized game, then import it.
 
Sakura

Sakura

Member
If it is a rhythm game or something without much text then they should just translate it... It would take what, one day to translate the menu options?
If people wanted Japanese text only then they would've probably just imported the game already.
 
S

Substandard

Member
There are games I would play if they put the menus in english and left the game alone. I don't know if I want japanese only games released with 0 translation.

I'd rather have some hacked together fan translation patch or something so I know what's going on. Even though there is no story, I wouldn't play PSO2 without the english patch.
 
N

Nyoro SF

Member
Crayolan said:
If I'm paying for an NA copy of a game it better have english. I can let JP voices slide but untranslated text isn't acceptable. If I wanted to play it in JP I'd just buy a JP copy.
Click to expand...

I think this is along the lines of digital access.
You can get a digital game from Japan PSN by switching regions to another Japanese account then doing Japanese searches from there. However you have to be mindful of a Japanese account and email address (and fake address, lol) and not only that, but you have to be able to add Japanese currency to your account, which is actually a lot more annoying than it needs to be.

However it's a lot easier if it's published to the American / European PSN side, then you can tie it to your account and find it faster (I assume they'll at least give the game a title). and pay for it normally.

Chacranajxy said:
Honestly, aside from Nintendo's region locked systems, why does this even matter? If you want an unlocalized game, then import it.
Click to expand...

It would also be assuredly cheaper if released on the Western market.

fedexpeon said:
Awful unless the game has no menu/selection,no story or character driven narrative, no item/stats elements...Basically, you can only release music, puzzle, and side scroller genre.

But still...why?
Those genres aren't fit for the NA market.
Click to expand...

Sony of America? Is that you?
 
F

fedexpeon

Banned
Awful unless the game has no menu/selection,no story or character driven narrative, no item/stats elements...Basically, you can only release music, puzzle, and side scroller genre.

But still...why?
Those genres aren't fit for the NA market.

Edit: Is SEGA running out of idea to make $$$ or is this NA SEGA being dumb again?
 
S

Sophia

Member
Isotope said:
The Wii VC had numerous import games that weren't translated at all (Granted, they weren't exactly story heavy). If I'm not mistaken, the S&P Wii VC release kept its JP subtitles, but it had English dialogue, along with some menus translated I think?
Click to expand...

Yup. Menus were translated, JP subtitles kept, and the dialogue was always in English.

DoReMi Fantasy was another game that was put up and not translated.
 
A

Aarglefarg

Member
sn00zer said:
I think its great for certain games (those never released in the West), but absolute horseshit for others that have official trnslations...like Tomba 2!...mostly Tomba 2!.... GAAAAAHHHHH SOMEBODY FUCKING GET THE RIGHTS TO TOMBA 2! IN ENGLISH
Click to expand...
It is on EU PSN with English.
 
W

Weltall Zero

Member
I say nope. It sets a bad precedent, there is no guarantee that games getting that treatment aren't "games that would otherwise not be released in the west" but "games that would have been translated, but won't since it's OK not to". It gives companies an incentive not to bother localizing at all.

People should be pushing for better localizations, not worse or none at all. If the price for companies upping their localization standards is having some games localized later down the line or not at all, so be it.
 
J

justjustin

Member
As long as a publisher is up for it, I'm up for it. If they clearly note it's in Japanese, any kind of game would be fine.
 
G

gelf

Member
If its a choice between that and not getting them at all then I'm all for it. In particular a PC release could get unofficial localised mods anyway.
 
M

Miff

Member
I'm all for it if it meant availability of games that appear uneconomical to localize.

Having read some comments of non-english games on steam though, some people seem to be really offended by it.

Thought this was a good idea;
@strobeflashlite said:
If there's English supplements (ENG manual, etc.), that's when not translating the game would be acceptable.
Click to expand...
 
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