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[Busaiku]

UPDATE - cj_iwakura started a petition for the dub, several VAs have signed it, it seems to be getting traction.
https://www.change.org/p/aksys-games-support-the-dub-for-blazblue-central-fiction
Aksys has since commented that an English dub is possible, but ArcSys might need some extra convincing, so they've likely taken notice.

Oh well, just so that it doesn't go to waste, here's the new thread first post that I had put together.

Title: Petition to Add English Dub / Voiceovers to BlazBlue: Central Fiction
OP:

As you may know, the latest entry in the BlazBlue series, "BlazBlue: Central Fiction" is scheduled to release in the US on November 19th, 2016 (for both PS4 and PS3). However, unlike the previous 3 games in the series, the final game in the current story is currently scheduled to release without english dubs / voiceovers. That means that the entire lengthy story mode as well as the interactions of the character during fights would be completely in Japanese (with English subtitles during story mode).

The first BlazBlue game, "BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger" released in 2009 and for the past 7 years fans of the franchise have grown accustomed to having their characters voiced by some of the best voice actors in the business. Now you can imagine that after 7 years and 3 games later, it could really drain the experience to have the voices changed.

Aksys Games posted on twitter:

https://twitter.com/aksysgames/status/768503373612015616?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
"Basically boiled down to- game now w/ no dub. Game 6-8 months later w/ dub. We made a tough decision, but stick by it."

They later also posted:

https://twitter.com/aksysgames/status/769315786175361024?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
"2. An English dub is possible, but sometimes devs need extra convincing. Petitions, fan pages, etc all help. Fan communities"

cj_iwakura has started a petition to get Aksys's attention and it has started to gain traction as well as gaining the attention of several of the voice actors themselves. As the purpose of the original thread discussing this has changed, we felt this was worth a new thread instead of having to keep bumping the old one with the link to the petition as people continue to sign.

So far we have over 2200 signatures and plan to see how high we can go!

From the other thread...

https://twitter.com/aksysgames/status/768503373612015616

If that means arc system games are released earlier in the west for me its a good trade.

https://twitter.com/aksysgames/status/768505645473542144

Shame about no dub dlc plans

Most of us assumed as much, but Aksys confirmed it.

EDIT - cj_iwakurs started a petition for the dub, several VAs have signed it, it seems to be getting teaction.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I'm not happy about that but whatever.

 

[purseowner]

Sad for those who wanted it, but for those like me who want Japanese audio, this is surprisingly refreshing audio news - it's usually the other way round.

Still, shame it's inconsistent with previous entries.

 

[Noi]

Accordingly, a lack of a dub makes me go from picking it up at launch to getting it discounted 6-8 months later.

 

[WickedLaharl]

Aksys has turned into such a shit company.

 

[Doctrine Dark]

That's...a terrible decision.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

Meh. Means I get the game earlier.

Understand this is frustrating to some but I only care about the fighting in a fighter.

 

[daegan]

This is a fighting game? Definitely the right decision. It lets the community grow together instead of what happens when regions get the game far apart.

 

[spindashing]

That really bites. BlazBlue's dub is real good.

 

[Master Milk]

Isn't it still an October release in Japan though?

Importers still gonna import . . .

Why does the dub delay the release so much? Has it always been like that?

 

[Pejo]

Surely the money they save in the localization process will translate to a 29.99 release day price, right?

 

[Nyoro SF]

Looks like they're really trying to close that release gap to get their regions in order. That or the roster's just simply gotten too huge to justify the cost anymore.

 

[DR2K]

Wait 6 to 8 months then.

 

[Leafhopper]

I like the dub, a lot but, if this gets the game localized faster, I can deal.

 

[Zyrox]

This is such horseshit. The BB series had really great dubs in the past imo, omitting the dub for the final chapter of the current story when many western players have already grown accustomed to these voices is terrible.
Also the BB series has a lot of character/matchup specific mid battle dialog which will probably not be subbed. It sucks to miss out on that.

 

[Gunstar Ikari]

This is a fighting game? Definitely the right decision. It lets the community grow together instead of what happens when regions get the game far apart.

Except Central Fiction has been in arcades for nearly a year.

 

[duckroll]

DIdn't they do the same with GGXrdRev? Dubs cost money. Maybe the games just aren't selling to a wide enough audience to justify the extra effort anymore.

 

[Rutger]

Understandable. Such a long wait time must hurt, they lose some sales from importing during that time, and probably more importantly, they miss out on the new game at tournaments hype.

It sucks for those that want the dub, but I can't fault them wanting to avoid such a delay.
Well, if it's just a month I probably wont bother importing this time.

 

[Resolution]

DIdn't they do the same with GGXrdRev? Dubs cost money. Maybe the games just aren't selling to a wide enough audience to justify the extra effort anymore.

That and most people import the games anyway.

 

[Neoxon]

I mean, I get why they made that decision, but it still sucks.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Aksys has turned into such a shit company.

Akshit

 

[LiK]

When people complain about not having an English dub, it shows how much people like them now. Back in the day, all people wanted were the original voices cuz it was "pure" or whatever.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

Except Central Fiction has been in arcades for nearly a year.

Arcade means nothing to console players.

 

[kewlmyc]

That's really depressing for fans of the story. I've played each game's story mode with the dub voices, so it's going to be super jarring ending this quadrilogy without the voices I've grown accustomed to.

However, it's a fighting game first and foremost, so I'm sure people would appreciate playing the game immediately instead of having to wait 8 months for the dub only story only players like me.

 

[Eusis]

When people complain about not having an English dub, it shows how much people like them now. Back in the day, all people wanted were the original voices cuz it was "pure" or whatever.

The majority always wanted dubs, it was the vocal minority that wanted subs.

Says a lot though for the dubs that people can legitimately be sad about missing a good dub job rather than just wanting everything they hear to be in English, yes.

 

[Astarte]

I plan on actually getting great at this game thanks to the strong ass George anime scene (and the resident Amane player) so I personally am not really affected (because character voices are drowned out). I did like Patrick Seitz's Ragna voice though, and I feel for the people who really really liked the dub.

 

[JayEH]

I'd rather take the game earlier. Don't care much for the dubbed voices either (or story really) tbh but I think most of the characters were fine.

 

[firehawk12]

Heh, this is like the opposite of Atlus isn't it. At least Aksys has a better reason to not include a dub than Atlus to constantly ignore the sub people.

 

[SliceSabre]

As much as I may rail against dubs I found BB's to be great. Disappointing but I'll still still get the game.

 

[s_mirage]

To me the English voices are the characters voices, so this news doesn't exactly push me to buy the game. Also, I don't believe this is all about timing. I would be shocked if money wasn't a pretty bug factor here too.

 

[Z3M0G]

That's a long fucking story mode to read through...

Not that I'm against that in other games, but I was very comfortable with the character voices in these games.

The fuck, I thought these games were popular? Clearly not...

Edit: Ok, I see good points above, abut how the cost of the dub likely raised the cost and time to localize exponentially with each release.

But it is still difficult to swallow... as others have said, those characters ARE those Dub voices after all this time...

And it will still be a $60 release... :/

 

[eefara]

What a shame. I pretty much only play the games for the story, and the voice actors are so good that no dub pretty much just encourages me to wait until I see it in the bargain bin.

 

[88random]

Gotta cut down the costs. Japanese voices are always better anyway.

 

[Wild Card]

Get fucked arcsys/aksys, the minimal value added through each new version of one of these games has futher declined, so I'll most likely be waiting on it to drop to a more appropriate price.

 

[LordGorchnik]

The BB dub cast was A+ material. Sad to see this isn't happening.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

Isn't it still an October release in Japan though?

Importers still gonna import . . .

Ive always bought the game twice, once import once localized to get the dubbed story. With this release the localized version has 0 value, so I'll only be getting the import

Why does the dub delay the release so much? Has it always been like that?

no, calamity trigger and xrd sign released with dub shortly after JP release

 

[mollipen]

I cannot believe that anyone would legitimately be upset about a fighting game now having dubbed voices for a portion of its extra content. Yes, I'm well aware of how big the story portion of Arc's games are, but that comment still stands.

I'm also increasingly annoyed by how entitled a lot of fans of J-gaming are. Hey, want to go back to the early days of getting niche Japanese games over here that I lived through? Things are utopia right now compared to how it used to be. If lack of dubs or digital-only releases mean we get more games more timely than we would otherwise, good.

 

[JayEH]

I cannot believe that anyone would legitimately be upset about a fighting game now having dubbed voices for a portion of its extra content. Yes, I'm well aware of how big the story portion of Arc's games are, but that comment still stands.

I'm also increasingly annoyed by how entitled a lot of fans of J-gaming are. Hey, want to go back to the early days of getting niche Japanese games over here that I lived through? Things are utopia right now compared to how it used to be. If lack of dubs or digital-only releases mean we get more games more timely than we would otherwise, good.

I agree that is it annoying to see people say they won't buy a game because it only has Japanese voices (Tokyo Mirage Sessions come to mind) and especially for a fighting game but I can understand being upset over a case like this where it was always dubbed previously.

 

[Nyoro SF]

I cannot believe that anyone would legitimately be upset about a fighting game now having dubbed voices for a portion of its extra content. Yes, I'm well aware of how big the story portion of Arc's games are, but that comment still stands.

I'm also increasingly annoyed by how entitled a lot of fans of J-gaming are. Hey, want to go back to the early days of getting niche Japanese games over here that I lived through? Things are utopia right now compared to how it used to be. If lack of dubs or digital-only releases mean we get more games more timely than we would otherwise, good.

Don't get me wrong, I don't care about dubs at all and I come from a similar old gaming background, but...

if you're given a feature in a previous iteration of the game, you expect that feature to be maintained through sequels. It's a general sentiment that spans all game types. If you're given the ability to do a Boss Rush mode in the first game, you expect to be able to do it in the sequel as well, as an example off the top of my head.

 

[Wild Card]

I cannot believe that anyone would legitimately be upset about a fighting game now having dubbed voices for a portion of its extra content. Yes, I'm well aware of how big the story portion of Arc's games are, but that comment still stands.

I'm also increasingly annoyed by how entitled a lot of fans of J-gaming are. Hey, want to go back to the early days of getting niche Japanese games over here that I lived through? Things are utopia right now compared to how it used to be. If lack of dubs or digital-only releases mean we get more games more timely than we would otherwise, good.

If they hadn't released the previous three games with high quality dubs you might have a point, maybe

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Aksys been messing up bad lately.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

I cannot believe that anyone would legitimately be upset about a fighting game now having dubbed voices for a portion of its extra content. Yes, I'm well aware of how big the story portion of Arc's games are, but that comment still stands.

I'm also increasingly annoyed by how entitled a lot of fans of J-gaming are. Hey, want to go back to the early days of getting niche Japanese games over here that I lived through? Things are utopia right now compared to how it used to be. If lack of dubs or digital-only releases mean we get more games more timely than we would otherwise, good.

stop, just stop using that word. Companies arent magically entitled to peoples moneys just for releasing a product. People have wants and expectations that have to be met, and if a company doesnt meet them they wont get that money

its the same bizarre shit when a PC version gets a fuck awful port and someone says "you should just be happy it got ported"

 

[Lupin the Third]

Except Central Fiction has been in arcades for nearly a year.

In the select parts of the country that have up-to-date/import-friendly arcades. We have none in our state, I'm pretty sure.

 

[kirblar]

You just can't have that long a delay in today's market. When players in one country are just getting a new version while Japan's already on the next revision, it's awful.

 

[1337]

Great call.

 

[novabolt]

I guess dubbing isn't worth it to them.

 

[Kintaro]

I cannot believe...

For as long as you have covered gaming, i wonder if its good or bad that things and reactions still surprise you. =)

 

[Bebpo]

I hate dubs, will never play BB dubbed and I still think this is a bad idea because it's screwing over the dub fans who've played through the story with those voices for years supporting the franchise. Especially since this is the finale of the story. Options are always good.

No idea what the sales are for the series though. It's understandable if they just can't afford it.

 

[mrmickfran]

From a business standpoint, it makes sense. Why put so much money into a game that won't sell that well at all?

The people giving Aksys shit for this need to realize that Aksys is a small company who has to make decisions like this. One wrong move and the company shuts down.

 

[mollipen]

stop, just stop using that word. Companies arent magically entitled to peoples moneys just for releasing a product. People have wants and expectations that have to be met, and if a company doesnt meet them they wont get that money

Nah, I think I'll keep using it, because that's how I feel about the fandom at times. I've seen fans who would rather the game not come out than come out under the exact specifications that they want.

If they hadn't released the previous three games with high quality dubs you might have a point, maybe

Things change, unfortunately. The situation now might not be the same as it was before. The quantity of voice work that needs to be done could be much larger. The fanbase may be shrinking. Too many people may be waiting to pick up the game cheap. Fans might be getting tired of Arc milking their fighters. Every game doesn't come out under the exact same conditions.

I agree that is it annoying to see people say they won't buy a game because it only has Japanese voices (Tokyo Mirage Sessions come to mind) and especially for a fighting game but I can understand being upset over a case like this where it was always dubbed previously.

I've got no problem with people being upset/disappointed over this announcement. I just think the people need to keep perspective on the situation. It's a fighting game, with a heavily Japanese anime slant, that then has a secondary-to-the-fighting story mode, and it'll still have voices just not in English. If that's all it takes for you to drop the series, that's kind of sad to me.

For as long as you have covered gaming, i wonder if its good or bad that things and reactions still surprise you. =)

Okay, look, when my hands typed "I cannot believe" earlier, that was probably a gigantic lie. XD