Jose Barragán (devilot@WORLDNET.ATT.NET)
Sat, 28 Aug 1999 00:59:51 -0400
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.2106.4 Message-ID: <001001bef112$2d1663e0$cce04d0c@141149625> Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 00:59:51 -0400 From: Jose Barragán <devilot@WORLDNET.ATT.NET> Subject: Re: Petition For Sakura 3>> But you also mentioned once how one of the reasons you liked ST was because >> it was a bit of a 'niche' thing. Thus, it shouldn't matter to you if people >> are turned off or on to the series because of a translated game. > >Hmm, did I actually say that? Anyway, maybe I did, maybe I didn't, but >why shouldn't I care? I am a proud Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon fan but it >doesn't mean I'm not intimidated by the many people who mock (DiC) SM and >anime as a whole. I don't care about people who mock the US version of Dragon Ball Z. I know that there's a lot more to the series than what's appeared on US TV, 'cause I own the original manga. >> I know it >> certainly wouldn't matter to me if I enjoyed the Japanese version of Sailor >> Moon and I spoke to people who didn't like the DiC translation. I'd still >> be enjoying the Japanese version. > >Yes, it doesn't effect our enjoyment of the show. But it does affect the >public's perception of a certain thing. For instance, right now ST is a >niche game. Those who know it probably love it. Those who've only heard >about think of it as this mythical game that is probably good. But if it >comes out in a mainstream form... and in a hacked manner, wouldn't that >make you mad? Who's to say that it would come out hacked, if it did? I certainly don't think this would happen. Even if WD translated it, I don't think there would be any big changes in the game dialogue. Maybe WD would decide to remove voice in some segments and add voice in others (as they did in MKR), but even this wouldn't be something really major, IMO. I'd rather they remove voice in some segments than to have uninspired dubbing instead. > >I can point you to many people who were upset by Rayearth's handling. In >fact, I've not heard any praise for WD in this respect from people who >actually have played the import. It's only the ones who haven't played >the origianl who thinks the game is decent, ignorant of what the game >actually *was*. Other than the voices which were removed, how was the game different? I've seen you arguing about how US Rayearth is inferior in so many ways, but the spoken dialogue really can't add that much. Sure, in the Japanese version, if you didn't know Japanese and heard a villager speaking out loud, you knew you were on the right track to continue playing the game, but this isn't the case in the US version...'cause it's in English. :P Also, bringing up Rayearth is unfair to WD. This is the only time in the company's history where they've been faced with such circumstances regarding a game translation (not being able to replicate the original theme song because of the rights, the new logo that had to be added in at the last minute, and most importantly, the hard drive crash that caused so much important information that would have helped make the port easier to be lost). Certainly, the whole MKR translation process was a nightmare for them. I'm sure if they knew what an odyssey that game's translation was going to be, they'd have _never_ bought the rights to it in the first place. > >> Besides, it's not as if we would have >> nothing at all, we'd still have what we've had all along...the import >> version of every single ST game. > >But I'm not addressing us since I said in my last post that we will likely >all be getting the import version anyway. I'm talking about the would-be >fans that won't-be because of a bad translation, because of certain >changes. Let's remember that this is all hypothetical. ST3 hasn't been released yet, and so far there's no mention of _any_ company having even the slightest interest in porting it to the US. > >> also for other people to enjoy. Besides, let's face it, it would be very >> hard to ruin ST...and considering the top-notch writing that the ST games >> have had, even if WD did do a translation of ST3, they wouldn't have to do >> much rewriting (no random townspeople in villages saying dull messages to >> replace, since all of the dialogue is spoken by important characters). > >Funny you should mention that. How about Working Design's decision that >the dialog in Rayearth wasn't important enough? How about them taking it >all out and adding in "spoken diary entries" as if that was really good >compensation for taking the "meat" out of the game? Vic was covering his and his company's ass when he said that the dialogue wasn't important enough. I bet that they just thought it'd take too long to do all that dialogue, and, because they didn't want anymore delays, they just figured "Hell, it'll be easier if we just have the three girls do the spoken diaries." > >Why, if Vic doesn't feel that so and so shouldn't talk, they won't. They still speak, you just don't hear 'em speaking anymore. You act as if that's some HUGE change, and it adds, what, probably thirty more minutes of playing time since you can't fast forward through the spoken dialogue? Guess what, the whole beginning of the game listening to the girls speak for the first hour of the game and _knowing_ I couldn't fast-forward through that if I wanted to (and I wanted to, the second time I started playing...) was really annoying. I would _not_ have wanted to put up with that throughout the whole game. At least in ST, you can fast-forward through dialogue (and I start doing that on my third playthrough of each game, with the male characters...I still enjoy hearing the female seiyuus speak :P). > >They can change a whole lot, Jose... just like how Disney changed some >things in Kiki's Delivery Service. Even though by contract, they can't >touch the video, their full access of the audio changed key aspects of >that movie (especially the ending). That's Disney, and we all know how famous they are for toning down things they don't deem 'appropriate' for their target audiences. This is something they have been doing for years. Their bastardized versions of Hercules and The Little Mermaid made me gag. And even then, let's remember they didn't change the subtitled version of Kiki, at least. :P