@finalstar2007 said:
I've read on a site once that its a bit costly to include both tracks and some companies say that they worked hard on localizing the games and hiring voice actors so including Japanese tracks does not give that hard work justice and i personally agree on that i mean the people worked hard to voice the game and for them to not have any appreciation from gamers in the end is pretty messed up so.
imo i would say either get used to the English voices, play the game on mute and just read the subtitles or import the game and read the subtitles off a website or maybe skip on it all together.
Now there is another idea where the company can make money off Japanese tracks is to provide them via DLC ( maybe $1 or $2 ) for the minority of those who nag about not liking the English voices.
as far as i know only NISA provides both English and Japanese tracks in all their games.
As far as I know, a majority of gamers usually go with the dub anyway, even when there is a voice option, so it's not like the localization team's efforts would be ignored if they decided to include the original voice track.
There's also the "undub" modding option, although you'd need a modded console... which usually means losing access to online gaming.
The DLC idea sounds pretty good. It could help a publisher make some extra cash.
@texasgoldrush said:
@Jag85 said:
Perhaps, but I think it's worth pointing out that Ultima Underworld was not "the first role-playing game to feature first-person action in a 3D environment" (like Wikipedia claims). Several years before it, Japan had a first-person 3D action RPG called Star Cruiser (one of DMC/Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya's favourite games), so it's not like Japanese developers weren't already doing similar things. Nevertheless, it is quite likely that Ultima Underworld had an influence on King's Field, along with earlier first-person RPG's like Megami Tensei, Shining, Star Cruiser, Wizardry, or Dungeon Master.
Either way, I was talking about Demon's Souls, not King's Field. Besides King's Field, other games that the Demon's Soul creators mentioned include Bushido Blade, Wizardry, Diablo, and Monster Hunter. They also cited the manga/anime series Berserk as an influence. My point was that Demon's Souls stuck to what it did best, instead of trying to "mainstream" itself. Because of their insistence on a challenging combat system and hardcore difficulty, Sony refused to publish it in the Western world, until Atlus USA picked it up and proved them wrong. Similarly, more traditional JRPG's like Tales, Ni No Kuni, Bravely Default, etc. have been performing well in the West despite lacking "mainstream" qualities.
But, Star Cruiser relied on polygons, like many games before it. Ultima Underworld didn't. they used more detailed sprites and it revolutionized the genre. Ultima Underworld is a common ancestor to most3d RPG games, including Elder Scrolls as well as id Software shooters.
While Demon Souls was influenced by other games, it is the spiritual successor to King's Field.
And really, the problem with Japanese companies is not that they are trying to appeal to the west or mainstreaming their games, its that they do not know how to do it. FFXIII shows this...it tries to have Call of Duty pacing, then tries to be Mass Effect, then tries for an open world without knowing why the design works. And those games you listed, while they do perm well in the West, they are blown away by WRPG competitors.
Final fantasy should go more Western, both in its gameplay and it storytelling, but that doesn't mean it has to be dumbed down.
You mean Ultima Underworld's ray-casting engine? While it was indeed influential (influencing the likes of Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Elder Scrolls), King's Field was using 3D polygons, not ray-casting.
As for Japanese companies trying to Westernize, like you said the problem is that they're struggling to understand what makes Western game design work. Square Enix have been trying to borrow superficial elements of Western game design, combining it with Japanese game design, and the end-result just didn't work out. If they don't "get" Western game design, then why not just stick to what they do best?
By the way, I highly doubt the likes of Tales, Ni No Kuni or Bravely Default are even trying to compete with WRPG's, so I don't see the point in comparing them.
@Lulu_Lulu said:
@ texasgoldrush
Did you here the news about Final Fantasy XV's all new features ?
The Ability to move and attack feely in combat... Kinda like an Action game. LOL ! I've allways critised Japanese games who have characters that don't move. And I'm not just talking about JRPGs... I'm talking about games like Street Fighter where your only two options when somebody throws a fireball at you are 1) Block 2) Jump Over It. I mean... Where the option to you know.... Side step the freaking thing. And the games that do have Side Stepping... Tekken and Dead or Alive, they don't have fireballs.
Actually, Final Fantasy XV is more like Kingdom Hearts... since it's from the same team.
Street Fighter isn't as simple as you're making it out to be. If there's a fireball coming towards you, there are other options to consider, like for example: 1) Block. 2) Jump over it. 3) Crouch or slide below it. 4) Hit back with a fireball. 5) If close enough, close-range attack. 6) If fireball coming from air, run forwards or attack from below. 7) parry (SF3) or focus (SF4). 8) super combo or ultra combo. And so on.
There are quite a few fighting games with both side-stepping and fireballs, like Fatal Fury and Toshinden, for example. Also, some Tekken and Soul Calibur characters have fireball-like attacks.
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