Caleb Lawson (sonofseto@HOTMAIL.COM)
Wed, 1 Sep 1999 07:48:22 PDT
X-Originating-IP: [216.111.21.7] Message-ID: <19990901144823.35579.qmail@hotmail.com> Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 07:48:22 PDT From: Caleb Lawson <sonofseto@HOTMAIL.COM> Subject: Re: Petition For Sakura 3>This is like the sub vs dub argument used by anime fans, the sub fans says >that >the scripts are move faithful, while the dub fans say that the subtitles >are >distracting from the actual experience. etc. but this is not the point >being >argued here. >What people were complaining about here is because they're afraid that the >translation isn't faithful. The game could still well be fun and a great >gaming >experience, but is not the *same* fun and gaming experience as a faithful >translation, THAT's the reason why people where complaining. Of course, this is all completely hypothetical, since as of now there are no plans by anybody to release an ST game in America. We have no particular reason to believe that a WD translation wouldn't be faithful. Working Designs does often alter a lot of text, but that's townspeople conversations. The plot & the major characters' dialogue stay pretty much the same; the alterations in those areas are mainly just to convert the literal translation to something actually resembling coherent English (something many other companies *coughSQUAREcough* tend not to bother with). And since Sakura Taisen doesn't HAVE townspeople conversations that you find in games like Lunar, that shouldn't be a problem. >Assuming that ST is going to be released in English, I don't see how they >would >just subtitle it. Subtitling it will probably mean that it will be limited >to >the *fanboys* and losses it's mess appeal, as statistics of anime tape >sales >would point out to you ;) Yes, WD would undoubtably dub any ST game they released, just as they've done in their past released. But the reality of the matter is that we're not likely to get ST in English without a re-dubbing. After all, the only company besides WD that we could reasonably expect to be interested in ST would be Atlus (if Thousand Arms is a success), and guess what? They'd almost certainly dub it! Just like they did with TA. Would I like a subbed ST? Yes; I'm a big fan of Yokoyama Chisa, and I like the rest of the cast as well. But I'm almost certain that this will never happen. The only subbed ST we're going to see is the OAV. >The inhereted problem with ST, IMO, isn't so much about the language >barrier, but >the GENRE of the game. Yes, it's an RPG/adventure/strategy, but one of the >main >focus of the game is the love simulation section, which is a genre that >even in >Japan that people cannot accept, let alone in America, for this sole reason >is >already limiting the game to a niche market. I would dare say that the >mere >thought of trying to win love from a virtual personality would make the >average >Joe think three times before they would even look INTO the game, let alone >purchasing it. Think about it, people that idolize Lara Croft are regarded >as >computer geeks with no life (generally speaking), now you're trying to >convince >people to play virtual dating? "I'll go out to get a REAL date, thank you >very >much!" is probably what they would tell you. Sure, you and I ST fans know >there's a lot more to ST than dating, but what would the average person >think? >America, although always being portrayed as the leader of the world in some >areas, is actually quite old fashioned and closed minded than you would >like to >think. First off, we don't really know how the dating sim element would go over in America, because it hasn't been tried yet. Maybe Thousand Arms will give us some idea of how willing American gamers are to accept the concept. But until then, all we've got is speculation. BTW, given the quite considerable popularity of both Sakura Taisen & dating games that DON'T have other aspects to them would indicate that the Japanese ARE willing to accept the idea. Maybe the average American wouldn't be, but the "average" American probably wouldn't have much interest in the other elements of ST either. Nanaki ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com