Chou or CC (senshi@ALL.COM.AU)
Fri, 2 Oct 1998 02:33:20 +1000
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 02:33:20 +1000 From: Chou or CC <senshi@ALL.COM.AU> Subject: Re: Topic of the Week
DRX wrote:
> Richard E. Rae wrote:
> Topic: What did you think about the way the plot turned out in ST1?
>
> Did you feel that the true identities of certain characters were, well,
> wrong? Did you think it was it an interesting example of how RPGs work
> (mostly other people's) mythologies into their plots? Did you find it
> offensive/perfectly natural? Do you think that that could impede its
> arrival/success in the US market (as if it would ever come to the US)?
>
I don't think the characterisation of the game was bad, but it was nothing out of
theordinary. It was pretty standard RPG characterisation. Some of the backgrounds
ofcertain characters weren't even shown until ST2. The plot outcome was pretty
standard IMO, Ayami was a surprise though. I think the plot twist was a bit better in
ST2. Even though I think they are pretty standard stuff, the excellent execution of the
whole story still made this game stand out.
> As for US versions, I think they would bomb big time. For one, the Taisho period
> probably doesn't attract many people and there are so many representations uniquely
> Japanese that it would kill the intent of the game even if the translation was
> good. Sakura Wars is a character driven game, which has a huge following in Japan
> in game form, radio, animation, live action and related music orchestrations.
> Suppose the game(s) do get a stateside release, there isn't enough material to
> generate the appropriate level of hype that the game(s) deserve. Average Americans
> just aren't going to eat up all the related goodies. How are they to promote a game
> which is relatively unknown and use character recognition to interest the buyer
> when there is nothing else ST related? How do you promote a genre that doesn't
> really exist in the US? Simple, you don't.
Very true, IMO, fandom in the Western society differs so greatly to fandom in Eastern
society in general. The way I see it, Western fans tend to be a small group of
minorities that are very dedicated to their fandom, while Eastern fan have a more even
spread of fans ranging from casual to the dedicated. But I think it's slowly changing,
for example anime is getting more and more attention everyday, I'm sure nobody would
thought that it would get this kind of attention back few years ago. For games, I'm
sure if someone have the guts to bring over some of the related mechandise for future
games like the genre of ST it might just take off. The only problem for ST is that the
Saturn is pretty much dead in the Western country, so it would not have a chance to do
so.
> > >>Iris: Hero or Menace???<<
>
> > Little girl!! (Which means she can be both!)
I no fan of Iris, but I don't hate her. BTW, I think she does look pretty when grown
up.
> >
> >
> > She's a kid who hasn't gotten control of all her powers, of course, but she's
> > as heroic as the rest of the girls (witness her grabbing and teleporting Chou
> > away from the others before he exploded and took them with him).
I loved that scene! It absolutely shocked me! Come to think of it, I think ST2 lack
this kind of shocking moments compared to ST, there wasn't a scene in ST2 that caused
me to yell "WHAT??? I NEVER KNEW THEY WERE GOING TO DO THAT!"
Later
Chou