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Why does Namco USA suck so much?
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A Black Falcon
Member
That is true... perhaps Nintendo draws a line between games that Nintendo published, but did not develop, like Ogre Battle of Cubivore, and first-party developed games like Mother? That's my best guess at least.
Yeah, Chibi-Robo and Another Code are other good current-gen examples... another is perhaps Custom Robo, with how the N64 game didn't get a Western release.
I really like SNK's games, and the thought of us possibly never getting a US release of Samurai Shodown Tenka, King of Fighters XI, and Metal Slug 6 simply because of Sony's policies on 2d is awful... hopefully they'll come out sometime. It's too late for Goemon PS2 though... poor Working Designs.
Oh right, the removed voices in the skits... they're doing that again? Annoying... but yeah (though that post didn't address it), censorship in Japanese games is always really annoying. Extremely common, but annoying every time...
Synbios459
Banned
Yeah, Namco USA does suck, but they still have awhile before they get to SEGAs level
trancejeremy
Banned
Error2k4 said:
Hrrrrmph. Those aren't crap. They are very good. Great story, decent battle system, very nice graphics, no loading time. Sure, they are basically old-school, SNES style RPGs, no voice or cutscenes, and the translation could be better, but I really enjoyed them myself.
Anyway, I believe those made it over because while they aren't new games, they aren't ports of PS1 games with nothing added, like most of Namco's Tales games for the PSP. They are basically remakes of PC games.
If you want to pick on something, pick on Astonishia Story.
trancejeremy said:
They are big steaming piles of crap. Terrible stories, terrible characterizations, bland battle system, nonexistant character growth / customization systems, average graphics, nice music, atrocious translations.
trancejeremy said:
And you've pinpointed the one game that's even worse.
bobbyconover
Member
Drill Land.
FateBreaker
Member
Lain said:
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A Black Falcon
Member
Could Namco Hometek ruin both Xenosaga III & TotA? It is even possible?
Right, Xenosaga was horribly censored, wasn't it...
FateBreaker
Member
A Black Falcon said:Right, Xenosaga was horribly censored, wasn't it...
I thought they did a nice job on the translation and voice acting though ...
...I gotta give 'em SOME credit =\
FateBreaker
Member
linsivvi said:
Brave Story, Jewel Summoner, an SMT title I think...some ports (Tales of Eternia). Hmm...yeah, what else is there?
linsivvi said:
If you don't mind ports (for instance if you haven't played the original games) then:
Tales of Eternia, Tales of Phantasia, Suikoden I, Suikoden II, Devil Summoner, Tengai Makyou IV, Valkyrie Profile, Monster Kingdom, Brave Story, plus probably a few others. For a system that's only a couple of years old that's a pretty damn good lineup. Sure if you've played all the ports then it might not be your cup of tea, but that's no different than the FF games on GBA so same deal. The only PSP rpg ports I'd previously played were the Suikoden games, so all the rest is new to me and really enjoyable.
Part of it is the experience also. Playing games with full voice acting like Eternia/Phantasia/Tengai IV/Monster Kingdom on a portable (while on the go) is an amazing exeperience that's taken forever to get to but is now technically possible. For me voice acting is incredibly important in rpgs so finally getting the full console-level rpg experience on a handheld is very nice.
Kurosaki Ichigo
Member
Namco .... Hometek ... Suck
It ... Does ... Conmute
As a tales fan, I hope they GIVE UP bringing tales of this way, enough bastardization already. This is not 'at least its coming', no, go **** yourselves Namco Hometek, don't touch what you don't deserve to touch.
Lend the series to Atlus or NIS.
It ... Does ... Conmute
As a tales fan, I hope they GIVE UP bringing tales of this way, enough bastardization already. This is not 'at least its coming', no, go **** yourselves Namco Hometek, don't touch what you don't deserve to touch.
Lend the series to Atlus or NIS.
Pureauthor
Member
Namco, Capcom, and Sega.
Great games, but they can't make business decisions to save their lives (or companies).
Great games, but they can't make business decisions to save their lives (or companies).
Azure Dream
Member
Wow, the music in Venus & Braves... and that battle system looks interesting, to be sure. I won't lie and say I'd automatically pick it up if they released it over here, but I'd consider it carefully.
But Namco Hometek drives me nuts. So cheap about voice acting ("Well, we thought we'd only do HALF the game...", yeah, we've heard from the English producer why, but he shouldn't have to make such a choice, and WE shouldn't have to pay full price for a product that's had aspects hacked out), and changing things that don't need to be changed. (There's a ratings system for a reason. Stop butchering whatever it was the Japanese designers and developers were trying to accomplish with a scene or particular element.)
But Namco Hometek drives me nuts. So cheap about voice acting ("Well, we thought we'd only do HALF the game...", yeah, we've heard from the English producer why, but he shouldn't have to make such a choice, and WE shouldn't have to pay full price for a product that's had aspects hacked out), and changing things that don't need to be changed. (There's a ratings system for a reason. Stop butchering whatever it was the Japanese designers and developers were trying to accomplish with a scene or particular element.)
ethelred said:
It's true that they aren't very good now, and the PSP remakes are kind of bleh all around, but they were pretty awesome when they came out originally (in the early 90s).
As with most remakes, it will be mostly people who are fans of the original that enjoy the games. It's kind of like, oh, FF4a (or maybe, more appropriately, FF3ds, since it's a similar kind of 'remake' to the PSP Legend of Heroes games?). I don't know how much someone who never played FF4 originally would enjoy it NOW, so it's the same deal with Legend of Heroes 3-5.It sure would be nice if someone brought Legend of Heroes 6 FC and SC over, though. At least there's a fan translation of FC going.
Kurosaki Ichigo
Member
fixed...Brobzoid said:
Brobzoid said:
Katamary wasn´t released in Europe because it used a technique that was extremely hard to make it work at 50Hz (and in Japan most of developer doen´t know that most of the actual TVs in Europe accept 60Hz signals, but well...). That is the official answer I got from a develoepr of the game.
And Namco doen´t have a house in Europe. What they have is Namco Hometek divisions (they only manage PC games).
Europe is a joke as videogame market, better not speak much of it.
Aeana said:It's true that they aren't very good now, and the PSP remakes are kind of bleh all around, but they were pretty awesome when they came out originally (in the early 90s).
It sure would be nice if someone brought Legend of Heroes 6 FC and SC over, though. At least there's a fan translation of FC going.
It's not like FF3 at all, though. FF3 got some nice gameplay upgrades in its remake, and what's more, its gameplay systems have more depth than LoH's anyway -- the job system provides for excellent customization of characters and different ways of evolving them. There's a lot to play around with there; LoH doesn't have that. FF3's story is also good and the translation is guaranteed to not be amongst the worst in recent years like Bandai did with the two PSP Legends.
I'm not going to knock the originals, though, as I never played them and can certainly appreciate the context of the timeframe in which they came out.
Link1110
Member
Their REAL sin is some of their poor decisions.
"OK, we can do Tales of Destiny 2 PS2 or Xenosaga 1" "Doyee, Xenosaga"
"Let's decide. Tales of Rebirth, an absolute masterpiece, and sequel to a game which sold 400,000 copies or Arc the Lad: Generation, a game hated by all who play it and will go on to sell 15,000 copies" "Duhhh, Arc the Lad"
"OK, we can do Tales of Destiny 2 PS2 or Xenosaga 1" "Doyee, Xenosaga"
"Let's decide. Tales of Rebirth, an absolute masterpiece, and sequel to a game which sold 400,000 copies or Arc the Lad: Generation, a game hated by all who play it and will go on to sell 15,000 copies" "Duhhh, Arc the Lad"
Link1110 said:
Um... well, the first one, at least, was not a poor decision in a business stretch -- by any sense of the word.
Tales of Destiny 2 was a sequel to a game that sold only 70,000 in the US, and where Hometek had already played the "2" card prematurely and inaccurately on Eternia (which then proceded to sell only 55k).
Xenosaga, on the other hand, was pretty much considered the sequel to one of the more successful PlayStation RPGs -- and the success carried over and netted them 500k in sales (waaaaaaaay more than Destiny 2 ever would've brought in, I'm afraid).
If they had to decide between one or the other, then from a business decision standpoint, they made the right decision. This isn't about that, though.
Hunter D said:
Uh... Venus & Braves, the game I've been praising the hell out of the whole thread?
Baten Kaitos is good, and Xenosaga is a love-it-or-hate-it series, which is different from inarguably bad. Katamari? Ace Combat? Haven't they made lots of good games?
Link1110 said:
You said poor decision, which implies business sense in this context. The context is furthered by the fact that your very next example brought up the sales argument -- Symphonia's sales versus which End of Darkness ended up garnering.
In the first case, they made the right business decision... unfortunately. But there's really no reason why they couldn't have localized both, and that's what the thread should be about. Companies like Atlus are able to create viable, thriving business models off of localizing niche games (even those with lots of text and voicework) and still turn a nice profit off of them -- and a company like Hometek, the US branch of one of the largest Japanese third parties and a company with resources out the ass, could certainly find a way to make that work too -- make a profit on these games and build more fan loyalty and support.
Shouta
Member
Bebpo said:
This begs the question, "Why don't the Tales teams start integrating character development into the story?". The skits are where the personality comes out, the story should be where the development is like in Legendia, Destiny II, and Symphonia (more or less).
Oh and Namco sux.
Mr_Furious
Member
Namco US is honestly one of the worst offenders though. Between them making lame arbitrary decisions on what gets localized and how it gets localized and not even allowing another publisher to pick up one of their Jp rejections, the bashing is quite warranted, imo.A Black Falcon said:
The fact that Mr Driller Drill Land is not in the U.S. is a ****ing crime.