You'd think Square-Enix would be able to do it at least though. They also catch the most flack for not having dual-audio too IMO.
I'd rather have a good game before dual audio.
You'd think Square-Enix would be able to do it at least though. They also catch the most flack for not having dual-audio too IMO.
I'd rather have a good game before dual audio.
Luckily, the two aren't really related (although some would probably disagree).
Their target market was people who buy Dynasty Warriors games. No one in their right mind would license a Gundam anything for release in north america if that was the selling point.The second Dynasty Warriors: Gundam game had no Japanese voice track. What the FUCK? Who the hell was their target audience? And how the heck did it sell well enough to bring the 3rd one over (complete with Japanese VAs again!)?
The second Dynasty Warriors: Gundam game had no Japanese voice track. What the FUCK? Who the hell was their target audience? And how the heck did it sell well enough to bring the 3rd one over (complete with Japanese VAs again!)?
I skipped over it and have the 1st and 3rd ones because you can only hear "Kamille's a man's name, AND I'M A MAN!" so many times...
Is it true that Sony was pretty much forcing people to leave out Japanese voiceovers in the US a few years back?
Do regular dynasty warriors fans buy ALL the spinoff games? Sheesh! I know the games were pretty well-liked among the Gundam fan community.Their target market was people who buy Dynasty Warriors games. No one in their right mind would license a Gundam anything for release in north america if that was the selling point.
Ahaha, props, dude.The guy who watched all his Gundam in English.
Me.
I have never heard of this (but I haven't been buying a ton of new series). Can you give an example?The licensing stuff is really ridiculous. That example in OP is insane, but not surprising. Like how many US distributors of anime can't even subtitle OP/ED music anymore because the lyrics have to be approved by the band/artist, and by the time the approval process is done the 13-26 episodes of the show that actually use that music have already been released here. Not to mention the cost of the legal process for all that.
While ease of piracy and declining interest undoubtedly did a lot of harm to anime releases here, I wonder how much of it is Japanese companies having a stick up their ass now that it's not as niche and unpopular/unknown as in the 80s and 90s. At least the lyrics are crap I don't care about 99% of the time in anime/games... and don't usually care even in English.The licensing stuff is really ridiculous. That example in OP is insane, but not surprising. Like how many US distributors of anime can't even subtitle OP/ED music anymore because the lyrics have to be approved by the band/artist, and by the time the approval process is done the 13-26 episodes of the show that actually use that music have already been released here. Not to mention the cost of the legal process for all that.
Hopefully sometime in the near future studios realize that the there still is a good sized audience for anime in the west, but it's only chance is via streaming/digital distribution so that westerners get it as soon as possible to counter fansubs. Maybe they can work out international licensing stuff from the get-go to avoid these headaches, for both anime and video games.
They don't really have a choice and would probably like almost any game that gets licensed. Did Ken's Rage 1 and 2 come out here because Fist of the North Star is such a popular franchise that's always greeted with huge sales?Do regular dynasty warriors fans buy ALL the spinoff games? Sheesh! I know the games were pretty well-liked among the Gundam fan community.
Hahaha, that decision really surprised me, too. But something like HnK seems like it'd work pretty well as a beat em up.They don't really have a choice and would probably like almost any game that gets licensed. Did Ken's Rage 1 and 2 come out here because Fist of the North Star is such a popular franchise that's always greeted with huge sales?
Actually, that doesn't disagree with my overall point at all! In fact, I completely agree with that line of reasoning. If the localization was done poorly -- and make no mistake, voice-acting is part of localization -- then that's a completely fair and justifiable reason not to spend your money on the product, I believe.
This post was in response to a person who stated they wouldn't buy any game that removed the original Japanese language track, period. No stipulation on the quality of the English dub -- basically just, if it's dubbed, it's not getting bought, even if the dub is absolute top-quality work.
That's really what I find disheartening. Being picky about the quality of a localization, though, is totally fine, and I would always strongly encourage that.
Also, just to be clear: I'm a little afraid the above-quoted explanation may imply that we only ever begrudgingly dub games and never actually WANT to do it, which isn't true at all. In actuality, we LOVE dubbing games, because voice-recording is just a LOT of fun! Probably the most fun any of us ever have at work, in fact!
It is super-expensive and extremely time-consuming, though, so deciding whether or not to dub a game is always a tricky prospect, and requires a lot of business analysis. The amount of voice-acting included in the title, the type of voice-acting and the availability of the original Japanese voices are always key factors in our final decision. And in general, if we DO dub a game, we always at least TRY to keep the original Japanese language track intact as well.
No, that's really not true. In most cases, the voices simply aren't available at all -- no matter how much money we throw at them. If publishers could pay off the studio to extend their licensing to other countries, and that's all there was to it, then I'm pretty sure they would in most cases. I mean, we have very little budget for anything, but I know we certainly would if we could in all but the most extreme cases.
-Tom
Yeah, it's a series I think you could just make a decent enough dumb action game with, throw to the US, and possibly still get respectable sales. It's not like they made a Musou game with ridiculous cutesy moe girls, but with men who can blow up tanks through enough punches.Hahaha, that decision really surprised me, too. But something like HnK seems like it'd work pretty well as a beat em up.
They don't really have a choice and would probably like almost any game that gets licensed. Did Ken's Rage 1 and 2 come out here because Fist of the North Star is such a popular franchise that's always greeted with huge sales?
You'd think Square-Enix would be able to do it at least though. They also catch the most flack for not having dual-audio too IMO.
It's still nice to have the option if they can fit it in, and in the case it's THERE in the Japanese version so if they remove it in localization, well, what the fuck? Not that I'd want to play that in Japanese, we're talking piles of classic Disney stuff and the right talent hired, so it just wouldn't be right to play in Japanese, but it seems like an easy thing to keep feature parity on, especially as they seemingly acknowledge that THEY want English VA, so wouldn't WE possibly want Japanese VA?Square-Enix games do not need dual audio. Why? Because the mouth movements fit in English, and they actually hire competent actors sans Vanille's actress. There's no point, really. I prefer to watch anime in the original language, but games kinda lose their immersion, plus all the awkward pauses by Japanese actors in games.. bleh. I also never understood why anyone in the west would ever want dual audio in KH1.5. Our version has superior VA.
Without using the e word, it seems ridiculous to me that some players seem to be unable to see outside of the realm of their own self interests, recognize that there is a legal minefield for localization companies to navigate, have the common sense to understand that companies are not likely to pay Japanese voice actors extra to cater to the tastes of a limited portion of their fanbase, and would prefer it if their personal tastes (in this case, Japanese dub instead of English dub) supersede the rest of the fanbase. Forget companies not providing reasonable content, what made you more important than other fans?
I prefer Japanese dubs for the most part and almost always select the Japanese dub when given the option, but come on. Learn to be flexible.
You and me BOTH!XSEED could dub Trails SC in whale sounds and I'd still buy it.
I just need the Trails games.
Unfortunately, the consumer has little reason to deviate from their self interest, and why should they? If it's that important to them, they absolutely have the right to not buy the game because they did not get what they wanted. This is absolutely fine and there is nothing wrong with it. XSEED should definitely add the dual audio track if they want to reach that audience. If they can't, whether or not it was out of their control, they have failed to have their product appeal to them and should not expect to see their money. If that portion of the fanbase is as limited as they believe, it shouldn't have a huge impact on their sales anyway. It works both ways.
If the VA is truly bad, I can understand this, but I can't really follow this line of thought otherwise. It's not XSEED's fault if someone has unreasonable expectations.
is it really that hard to understand that people have different preference and different thing they see important ? wanting japanese voice on japanese video game?.
squareenix is weird Their Asian version of FFXIII series and dissidia are using JP voice + eng sub, which mean they are willing/able to pay the license for using jp audio even tough it's a region that wasn't that big in term of sales compared to EU/NA.
Reality CAN make that unreasonable as highlighted here. :/is it really that hard to understand that people have difference preference? wanting japanese voice on japanese video game?.
If the VA is truly bad, I can understand this, but I can't really follow this line of thought otherwise. It's not XSEED's fault if someone has unreasonable expectations.
Some of them.Don't you think if they COULD they WOULD have dual audio?
The quality of the VA is irrelevant. Stop trying to paint the consumer in a negative light for not wanting to buy something that does not appeal to them. It doesn't matter how unreasonable their expectations are.
I take it you think the customer is always right?
The original spirit of that phrase is absolutely correct. It's the business's job to bend to the will of the consumers, because it's their job to make people want to buy their products. That doesn't mean that any demand a particular customer makes is correct, but it does mean that if a portion of your customer base wants something and you don't deliver, then it's your own problem if they take their business elsewhere, nobody else's.
So why don't you buy the Japanese version?
I suppose it's not terribly different than deciding not to play a game because the graphical style doesn't cater to someone's tastes. On the other hand, a refusal to buy games that don't include dual audio ... for certain platforms, I wonder how many times this means not buying the game but playing anyways.
Every time this issue comes up I imagine that the property not being licensed must have been funded with crazy yakuza money or something that would make international licensing a real problem. You've got a world wide audience with their wallets out shouting "Shut up and take my money" and the Japanese company is like "No Lawl, we're cool with just selling this game to the locals, no game/cartoon for u". Is there any other country where this would happen? Who doesn't like money?
I'd say that this is reaching quite a bit to imply that people whose needs aren't being met would simply resort to piracy.
Pirated copies of undubbed games do exist, and if those people resort to piracy to get what they want, hey, pirates are offering a product that XSEED could not. In regards to those who would pirate what they want and not buy the game anyway, it's hard to make the argument that they would have bought an official release of what they wanted in the first place if they are scumbags.
Alas, I do not wish to derail the thread with piracy discussion.
Some people do. Some learn japanese solely for that purpose. Others don't think it's worth such an investment time wise. However they still would like the va to coincide with a characters behaviour as there is no American analogue to the way some japanese characters behave and shoehorning an English vo into it is disconcerting. Of course it's up to the business to provide that convenience... or not.So why don't you buy the Japanese version?
I feel like I'm the only one here who plays niche japanese games/watches anime or whatever and generally prefers to have things dubbed.
The central premise of the OP's quoted statement is essentially flawed. So I'm supposed to give my money for something which lacks a feature I want, just to "support" future games which also may or may not have the feature? Really? Should I start buying games which don't have an ending, to support future games which might have them? And what happens when the publishers take the "message" I'm sending the wrong way, and decide instead that it's okay to not go through the trouble of trying to obtain the original language track? After all, people are buying games without them, so who needs them anyways?
I feel like I'm the only one here who plays niche japanese games/watches anime or whatever and generally prefers to have things dubbed.
Every time this issue comes up I imagine that the property not being licensed must have been funded with crazy yakuza money or something that would make international licensing a real problem. You've got a world wide audience with their wallets out shouting "Shut up and take my money" and the Japanese company is like "No Lawl, we're cool with just selling this game to the locals, no game/cartoon for u". Is there any other country where this would happen? Who doesn't like money?
I can think of a bunch of American TV shows that aren't available in the UK, and vice-versa. I can't use the "have to localise" excuse for that.