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Azure Striker Gunvolt |OT| thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening

A

antibolo

Banned
Will the English version still have the Japanese voices?

The Japanese site includes the voice actor for every character on top of their description (as is standard in Japanese games/anime/etc.) but the English says nothing about it.
 
K

kuroneko0509

Member
antibolo said:
Will the English version still have the Japanese voices?

The Japanese site includes the voice actor for every character on top of their description (as is standard in Japanese games/anime/etc.) but the English says nothing about it.
Click to expand...

Most of it are removed. Only left are battle voices
and the last line in the ending
 
K

kuroneko0509

Member
maxcriden said:
I think all of the parts of the song are in, too.
Click to expand...

yep the songs are still there

antibolo said:
WHAT?? We're in 2014 and they're still pulling that kind of shit?!

EDIT: Found this http://www.siliconera.com/2014/07/2...ase-azure-striker-gunvolt-north-america-soon/

tl;dr The localization team at Inti Creates are a bunch of fucking morons. Hell they even wanted to remove his braid at some point.
Click to expand...

the post below sums up what I felt about the removal.

GeekyDad said:
As hard as paying the voice actors royalties is my guess. They can say whatever they want to give a reason "why," but ultimately I suspect they weighed anticipated sales versus the cost to pay the actors royalties per sale (Japanese or English, doesn't matter), and decided to just gut that part out of the game.
Click to expand...
 
A

antibolo

Banned
If they really did cut out the voices for royalty reasons then they should just go ahead and fucking say it.

The weak excuses they gave in that Siliconera interview are moronic. It's like they're claiming that keeping Japanese voices in a localized game has never happened in any video game ever.

It just feels like they're a localization team that was taken from the year 1994. The fact that they feel the need to do stupid shit like removing the hero's bare midriff doesn't help either. They should just make him a bald space marine while we're at it.
 
M

maxcriden

Member
Found a couple more reviews:

Gunvolt is proof that an entire genre of 2D action games can still work, and I hope that the trend doesn’t stop with Mighty No. 9.
Click to expand...

Venture Beat - 8/10

Azure Striker Gunvolt is a challenging, sometimes brutal adventure that takes cues from the Mega Man Zero series while giving combat a wild new spin. It won't spark everybody's pleasure center, but those who continue to plug away will be properly rewarded. The addition of Mighty Gunvolt only adds to its value.
Click to expand...

Gameranx - 7.5/10

BTW, the above review had an interesting tidbit, is this new info?

You visit the same locales and battle many of the same foes from the Gunvolt, albeit in reduced NES-style roles. The exception is a high school level pulled right out of Gal*Gun -- there are also plans for additional DLC levels [for Mighty Gunvolt], possibly related to Mighty No. 9.
Click to expand...
 
Z

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Sort of. Inafune mentioned a few days ago that DLC was indeed in development, but he wanted to see stages that only Beck could clear. From Siliconera:

The two developers then briefly discuss upcoming downloadable content for Mighty Gunvolt, which is currently being worked on by Inti Creates.

“Well, the DLC content is still under development, so there’s not much I can say yet,” Aizu says. That said, Aizu does specify that additional stages are being worked on. Inafune adds that he would like to see DLC stages that can only be cleared with Beck, the protagonist of Mighty No. 9, to which Aizu replies that he does think that would be fun.

“You’re getting a first taste of Beck,” Inafune says. “I think fans would really want that.”

Both developers also say it’s likely that Azure Striker Gunvolt will see a sequel at some point in the future, although they encourage fans to write in with their thoughts on the matter regardless.
Click to expand...
 
M

Maintenance

Member
How long is the game? Also, something that I heard about it being similar to Time Attack events made me doubt my purchase, if you look at some of my early posts about this game it was a day one purchase to me. Now, I'll wait a while to see more opinions.
 
M

Magnet_Man

Member
RyosukeTH said:
How long is the game? Also, something that I heard about it being similar to Time Attack events made me doubt my purchase, if you look at some of my early posts about this game it was a day one purchase to me. Now, I'll wait a while to see more opinions.
Click to expand...

I played at a fairly leisurely pace and completed the game at 6 hours and 25 minutes. Although about 40 minutes of that was tracking down the gems I missed.

There's more replay to be had from trying to speed through and do that score attack stuff, although it isn't an official mode and is entirely self-imposed.
 
P

PixyJunket

Member
Haha, great thread title.

I'm looking forward to picking this up tomorrow, but I think their little 8-Bit thing is exciting me more at the moment (oops).
 
M

Maintenance

Member
Magnet_Man said:
I played at a fairly leisurely pace and completed the game at 6 hours and 25 minutes. Although about 40 minutes of that was tracking down the gems I missed.

There's more replay to be had from trying to speed through and do that score attack stuff, although it isn't an official mode and is entirely self-imposed.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for the info, I appreciate it.
 
D

duckroll

Member
antibolo said:
If they really did cut out the voices for royalty reasons then they should just go ahead and fucking say it.

The weak excuses they gave in that Siliconera interview are moronic. It's like they're claiming that keeping Japanese voices in a localized game has never happened in any video game ever.

It just feels like they're a localization team that was taken from the year 1994. The fact that they feel the need to do stupid shit like removing the hero's bare midriff doesn't help either. They should just make him a bald space marine while we're at it.
Click to expand...

They didn't cut the voices for royalty reasons. The localization team working on the game is 8-4. The same people who are well loved on this very forum for great stuff like Fire Emblem Awakening, Nier, etc.

It's not a weak excuse just because you don't like it. I'm sure there is an audience of people with low standards who think it's really cool to listen to Japanese voices they don't understand while reading English text pretending that's what the voices are saying, regardless of how accurate that is. English scripts should be written to flow naturally and read (or sound) as good as they can. This means often they won't line up with the Japanese script 1:1. Once that happens, it makes little sense to retain Japanese voices without a Japanese text option as well. It would just be sloppy, like watching something with dubtitles on where it's clearly... not right.

I'm sure there's an argument somewhere that an ideal product would be one with English/Japanese text toggle, voice toggle, a full dub, and even an English subtitle script for the Japanese voice track with more literal translations. No one will disagree with that ideal. But the resources required for that are not realistic for many publishers, much less a small indie studio trying hard to to release a game worldwide so people can play it.

Do I think cutting content is ever good? Nope. In this case do I care that much? Not really.
 
A

Articalys

Member
duckroll said:
It's not a weak excuse just because you don't like it. I'm sure there is an audience of people with low standards who think it's really cool to listen to Japanese voices they don't understand while reading English text pretending that's what the voices are saying, regardless of how accurate that is. English scripts should be written to flow naturally and read (or sound) as good as they can. This means often they won't line up with the Japanese script 1:1. Once that happens, it makes little sense to retain Japanese voices without a Japanese text option as well. It would just be sloppy, like watching something with dubtitles on where it's clearly... not right.
Click to expand...
Isn't this kind of an argument against including the Japanese audio with any dialogue-heavy game unless there's also an English dub, once the translations start to take liberties with the original meaning? Or are you saying it only should apply for non big-budget, small-scale cases like this where the dialogue is all just talking heads and such.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Articalys said:
Isn't this kind of an argument against including the Japanese audio with any dialogue-heavy game unless there's also an English dub, once the translations start to take liberties with the original meaning? Or are you saying it only should apply for non big-budget, small-scale cases like this where the dialogue is all just talking heads and such.
Click to expand...

Of course it is. Why should anyone want voices which say one thing and text which says another? It's extremely unprofessional and stupid. But hey, if a small minority of fans want to pretend they know better, they can continue doing so. :)

GeekyDad said:
Personally, I love the excuse. I just don't believe it.
Click to expand...

What's there not to believe? All the voice actors who worked on the Japanese version are still in the English version. There is combat voice, voices for special attacks, etc. Same cast. Just no story voices. If they're somehow owed royalties for their work, they would still be getting them. All the Japanese songs are also retained in the English version. That's where the most royalties would be if there are any, since that's actual musical performance. If they're cutting stuff for royalty reasons that's the first to be removed.
 
Z

Zolbrod

Member
maxcriden said:
BTW, IGN's review is up, too:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/28/azure-striker-gunvolt-review

They gave it a 7.8.
Click to expand...

That review misses the point of the game in several places, but hey, it's still quite positive, so I'll take it.

Mainly, he complains about how special skills don't interact with the environment in any significant way, but I think he's just expecting something that the game never meant to deliver here.
These skills are not like the weapons you get from bosses in the older MM games (you do actually gain a few weapons from bosses in this game, and they offer interesting strategic options, even if they don't impact the environment), they're just supposed to be useful skills you can activate when cornered.

With only three skill points to use at a time, and with those points regenerating slowly, some of the more powerful skills wipe out your meter completely; that’s a real head-scratcher of a design decision that made me gun shy about trying them at all.
Click to expand...

No, actually that is a GOOD design decision, because you can't allow the player to constantly spam super powerful skills, can you? There's a reason the skill meter takes a long time to build up: because the skills are super useful..

And on equipment:
Necessary components are so exceedingly rare that during the five or so hours it took me to beat the campaign, I never once had anything to equip on either eye.
Click to expand...

Necessary components are plentiful, provided you A: play well enough to get high grades, and B: show an active interest in the Quest system by replaying stages.
I had a shitload of equipment near the end, with a lot of really useful effects.

Don't expect the game to give you everything for doing nothing. Put some effort into it, and you will be rewarded. THAT is good game design.
 
A

Articalys

Member
duckroll said:
Of course it is. Why should anyone want voices which say one thing and text which says another? It's extremely unprofessional and stupid. But hey, if a small minority of fans want to pretend they know better, they can continue doing so. :)
Click to expand...
So are you saying, for example. that Yakuza 3 and 4 should have been dubbed or had their entire voice track cut for the U.S. release, instead of being released sub-only like they were? Or is that a series where any localizations in the translation weren't extreme enough to cross over the line you've set.

I suppose part of the problem at least in Gunvolt's case is that, as far as I know, nobody's done a comparison between some of the English text and their Japanese counterparts from the game, so we've no idea exactly what they had to change in localization. It would probably help the general understanding for the situation.
I mean, whatever this was referring to.
“In the Japanese version of Gunvolt, most conversations are modelled on Japanese subculture, so we had to modify the content of these conversations while localizing the game into English."
Click to expand...
 
A

AcademicSaucer

Member
duckroll said:
Of course it is. Why should anyone want voices which say one thing and text which says another? It's extremely unprofessional and stupid. But hey, if a small minority of fans want to pretend they know better, they can continue doing so. :)

.
Click to expand...

Subtitled movies still exist alongside dubed , so people like that kind of thing.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Articalys said:
So are you saying, for example. that Yakuza 3 and 4 should have been dubbed or had their entire voice track cut for the U.S. release, instead of being released sub-only like they were? Or is that a series where any localizations in the translation weren't extreme enough to cross over the line you've set.
Click to expand...

Beats me. I have no idea what those translations were like. They could have gone for a much more literal approach given the real world setting. I've played Valkyria Chronicles though, and with English text + Japanese voice it's unplayable. Almost every single line is different enough that it's feels like complete rubbish. Had to switch to the dub.

I don't think it's unreasonable to say that if the voice and the text isn't saying the same thing at all, that something is wrong there. :p
 
A

antibolo

Banned
duckroll said:
You clearly fail to understand what I'm saying at all. Try reading again, more carefully this time, and actually comprehend the points being made before wasting time replying again. :p
Click to expand...

No, AcademicSaucer's point is perfectly valid. You are basically implying that the entire concept of subtitles for content in a foreign language is inherently wrong, because the translation can never be 1:1 with the spoken dialogue. This is an absolute fact of translating human languages.
 
A

antibolo

Banned
duckroll said:
Beats me. I have no idea what those translations were like. They could have gone for a much more literal approach given the real world setting. I've played Valkyria Chronicles though, and with English text + Japanese voice it's unplayable. Almost every single line is different enough that it's feels like complete rubbish. Had to switch to the dub.
Click to expand...

The problem here is that the "subtitles" are those of the dub, not the original text itself.

In a game with no English dub to begin with (like Gunvolt), this should be a non-issue.
 
D

duckroll

Member
antibolo said:
No, AcademicSaucer's point is perfectly valid. You are basically implying that the entire concept of subtitles for content in a foreign language is inherently wrong, because the translation can never be 1:1 with the spoken dialogue. This is an absolute fact of translating human languages.
Click to expand...

Nope, you also fail at comprehension. I'm not implying anything. I'm just saying that when the script is no longer what the Japanese voice is saying at all, it makes no sense to keep the voices. The comparison to subtitles in movies is a fallacy because they're produced independently of dub scripts. For games there is always only one script, generally for technical reasons, but even if the technical constrains weren't there, it would not be worth the cost to do two scripts. This is not a hard concept to understand.

Games != movies. Ask anyone working on localization in gaming.

antibolo said:
The problem here is that the "subtitles" are those of the dub, not the original text itself.

In a game with no English dub to begin with (like Gunvolt), this should be a non-issue.
Click to expand...

Gunvolt was written to be dubbed, they just couldn't afford to make one. There are tons of name and term changes to make it read and sound better in English.
 
Astral Dog

Astral Dog

Member
Very dissapointed to hear about the low enemy variety,also whats up with the difficulty? i read some impression saying the game is easy,but the venture reviewer says its very challenging
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Sub Boss said:
Very dissapointed to hear about the low enemy variety,also whats up with the difficulty? i read some impression saying the game is easy,but the venture reviewer says its very challenging
Click to expand...

I tend not to trust reviewers to gauge if something is "challenging" or not
 
@

@MUWANdo

Banned
Sub Boss said:
Very dissapointed to hear about the low enemy variety,also whats up with the difficulty? i read some impression saying the game is easy,but the venture reviewer says its very challenging
Click to expand...

The base level of difficulty is a lot lower than previous Inti games; playing for score is where most of the challenge lies.
 
B

bigkrev

Member
Why is this game not coming out till Friday? I charged my 3DS to buy it this afternoon, and there is now a decent chance I don't actually buy the game now (I have a busy weekend, and Danganronpa and Velocity Ultra are out on Tuesday)
 
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