And nothing exists that you've never seen, it's cool, I get it.
Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars Rated M by ESRB
- Thread starter Byronic Hero
- Start date
And nothing exists that you've never seen, it's cool, I get it.
It takes literally no effort to briefly look down at the subtitles and then focus your attention back on the character speaking. It becomes second nature after a while. Also, if you're a fan of dubs you usually have to wait quite a long time for things to be released on DVD/BD, and oftentimes it just doesn't happen. With the proliferation of online sites like Crunchyroll etc. you can watch nearly everything legally with little to no wait after it airs in Japan.
I don't really get what you mean by that. How would I be missing out? There's no anime that's only dubbed in English without a Japanese voice track.
Ah, that's too bad. I'll probably end up getting it anyways.
This is true, there's only two examples I can think of, and that's most any anime released for kids (I doubt missing Pokemon's a big deal, and Yu-Gi-Oh's better off in Abridged form anyway) and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, and that one's a weird case because the film was released in America first and had at least some cooperation (maybe just post-production?) with a US studio, so it's quite possible it was either targeting American viewers to begin with or perhaps the Japanese voice track literally did not exist when it came to DVD initially in America.
No, it literally does. It's cool if people enjoy watching nothing but subtitles but it certainly does take away from the experience for many people. It's one of the reasons I constantly turn off sub-titles in games I play, because my eyes are constantly looking down and otherwise pulling me out of the actual experience. You've trained yourself not to care, but most of us would rather watch/play the game than read it otherwise there might as well be no voices at all like back in the day.
HawthorneKitty
Sgt. 2nd Class in the Creep Battalion, Waifu Wars
My point is that entertainment media should not start and end with origins and localization efforts. If you seclude yourself to certain parameters, you'll eventually miss out on something you might enjoy. When I see people claiming that they won't be buying a game just because there are no Japanese voices, it just looks really silly, especially when they have not heard an ounce of the localized game.
When I approach anime, of course I go subbed first since it's accessible to me in that form first, but I am always ecstatic when a dub is announced, not because I love English, but because I loved the show and want to see how and if it has transformed.
When I approach anime, of course I go subbed first since it's accessible to me in that form first, but I am always ecstatic when a dub is announced, not because I love English, but because I loved the show and want to see how and if it has transformed.
NISA Atelier fans != Japanese game fans as a whole. Just import if it bothers you so much. You'd be reading the localized English script either way, so you still wouldn't be getting the Authentic Nihongo Experience®.
I get the feeling most of those that prefer the Japanese dub do so (consciously or not) because it's "foreign"/different/cool, and they find the English performances weak because they can understand the language. Understanding both, I've heard some pretty great and some pretty raunchy voice acting from both regions. The same thing happens in Japan, where they similarly think the English performances are way better. Chinese, German, Arabic, Vietnamese, whatever. Nothing wrong with preferring something in its original language, but deliberately avoiding games just because they don't include a JP audio track seems ridiculously petty. In that case, why even play games if you're arbitrarily excluding a number of them because of something not even related to the "video" or "game" part?
With regards to Ayesha, as the series had grown with that feature, the devoted audience that bought them came to expect it. That's not really an issue with Conception II, which has no previous reputation other than being a Japanese game. Most people don't care about JP voices. Only a very small portion of the potential audience would be missing out. Ayesha got caught in the NISA -> Tecmo Koei shuffle, nobody in either company really knew what was happening, and Koei assured us that such a mixup wouldn't happen again. So go ahead and buy Escha to Logy, as it fits your criteria.
It depends on how they were contracted. Considering the releases were almost simultaneous, it's likely the JP voice actors were contracted for both NA and JP releases at the time the contracts were made. As the Japanese version had English voices as well, it's likely that Atlus JP/Index paid for both the English and Japanese voice acting, rather than putting that cost on dinky little Atlus USA, so it was probably financially reasonable for Atlus to include both for North America.
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
If a japanese game doesn't have the original audio it's a lesser product for me(mostly because some dubs are fucking awful, Atlus has a good record of pretty good dubs), it's not something that will make me not buy a game I'm hyped about, but if it's a game I'm not that excited about I give it a pass.
I'll buy this one because I want to support Atlus, but Ayesha wasn't that lucky.
I'll buy this one because I want to support Atlus, but Ayesha wasn't that lucky.
Eh, it's the opposite for me. I leave subtitles on even in Western games just in case I miss a voiced line or something. I'm not going to say people shouldn't like dubs or anything, having a preference is fine. I just think that if you're a fan of the original audio, games like this often boil down to a shitty situation. If you just buy the game dubbed only you're telling the publisher that you think it's acceptable and will buy games without the original audio track regardless. If you don't buy it, then you not only don't get to play it but there's also less of a chance of them localizing future niche games at all due to lower sales.
Unknown Soldier
Member
P4A had dual audio because it was the only PS3 game ever released to have a region lock to prevent reverse importation.
If Atlus actually includes dual audio in Persona 5, I expect it will also be region locked.
They better include fucking dual audio on P5.
If Atlus actually includes dual audio in Persona 5, I expect it will also be region locked.
They better include fucking dual audio on P5.
Just off the top off my head some of the Voltron stuff was only created for US market and never had Japanese track.
Ah, right... although I believe by 1997 (when I started paying attention to anime) both dub and sub releases WERE the norm on VHS, though subs usually costed more and there were a few exceptions every so often, nevermind that by having two versions there could be availability issues. DVD was a godsend on that front and the fact digital formats don't care to reach parity with the featureset despite being doable (AT LEAST for subtitles/audio) is part of why I have no desire to seriously take up digital download.
Well, there were prior Spike Chunsoft games, but both of those came from different publishers each, and there may well be licensing or even technical issues that weren't there for those two, I could see VLR having the same engine as Conception II for example BUT maybe it doesn't and what they used for Conception II doesn't allow for dual language, and the localization may've come afterwards with no prior planning so there was no way to work in the contracts to get VA like VLR which must have anticipated a strong US response.
So... yeah, same point still admittedly. There just wasn't enough of an investment and too many changing factors, whereas Gust games for a long while were reliably dual audio and from a single publisher, and even was STILL translated by that publisher for the first Tecmo Koei published installment.
Neither that or Robotron are great examples as they're sort of chimeras that are new creations, technically you could do subs but you'd have to hope no one was paying attention to what was being said or it'd look like a completely random splicing of scenes from two different shows. And anyways at least one half of Voltron, Beast King GoLion, IS on Crunchyroll presumably subtitled.
EDIT: The other part two was made available with English Subtitles.
I completely disagree. They might not be as awful as the dubs from the 90s, but that doesn't make them good.
Meh, to each their own, but it's why I cited source material. Something like Star Ocean 4 as an extreme example has a great cast of actors and actresses and was translated by a top notch localizer, but that stuff was just TERRIBLE period. More relevant to making Japanese preferable there are a lot of "cute" characters that will wound alright in Japanese at least to someone that doesn't know Japanese, but will be completely insufferable when dubbed, and I'm not sure that can be avoided no matter what you do.
HawthorneKitty
Sgt. 2nd Class in the Creep Battalion, Waifu Wars
Too bad a lot of people probably never gave it a chance.
Supaidaman
Member
While I would love a dual audio release, I can live with a dub if it's well done. Atlus hardly disappoints in that so I'm pretty confident that voices won't really be a problem for me.
But...
This review kinda killed off my hype and I don't know if I'm getting this game anymore.
But...
This review kinda killed off my hype and I don't know if I'm getting this game anymore.
Tye The Czar
Member
Seriously. The partial nudity is overblown. Too mild for an M rating.
I would never skip on a game just because it doesn't have dual audio (case in point: I buy a lot of Atlus games lol), but it's still a negative point that may influence my decision to purchase a game or not.
I dislike the concept of dubs in general. Coming from a non-English speaking part of the world, I grew up with dubbed American movies, and as I became fluent in English and no longer needed them, I have come to find them really annoying and dumb-sounding, to the point where I can't stand them anymore, regardless of language.
I'm guessing that most people who favour dubs are American, and therefore have a narrow linguistic view of the world where they lack the sense of appreciation in hearing the original language that something was written in. Understanding the language or not is irrelevant, that's what subtitles are for. Unless you are a small child, reading subtitles should not be a problem that would detract from the experience.
As a non-Japanese game example I enjoyed that Sine Mora kept the Hungarian voiceover in the English version of the game. I don't understand a word of Hungarian (again, not relevant), but it added a lot of flavour and authenticity to what would otherwise be a very plain experience.
I dislike the concept of dubs in general. Coming from a non-English speaking part of the world, I grew up with dubbed American movies, and as I became fluent in English and no longer needed them, I have come to find them really annoying and dumb-sounding, to the point where I can't stand them anymore, regardless of language.
I'm guessing that most people who favour dubs are American, and therefore have a narrow linguistic view of the world where they lack the sense of appreciation in hearing the original language that something was written in. Understanding the language or not is irrelevant, that's what subtitles are for. Unless you are a small child, reading subtitles should not be a problem that would detract from the experience.
As a non-Japanese game example I enjoyed that Sine Mora kept the Hungarian voiceover in the English version of the game. I don't understand a word of Hungarian (again, not relevant), but it added a lot of flavour and authenticity to what would otherwise be a very plain experience.
Cheese Sandwich
Banned
Arc Rise Fantasia is one of the few games I had to search for an undub online, and I was damn glad there was one for such a niche title. I don't mind English dubs in any game. I actually prefer English voices over the original, as I can concentrate on what's happening on the screen much easier, but the VA in this was awfully horrendous...had to swiftly turn off the game in disgust after the first voiced scene. Only notable drawbacks is how I couldn't understand what the characters were saying during a battle, as subtitles only appear in cutscenes.
ShinMaruku
Member
Day 0. Paid off I am ready to go!
sensui-tomo
Member
Way to go for generalizing a whole group of people <_< Its cause i'm an american that i'm narrow minded? What Bullshit is that.
It IS more common it seems in America for there to be little tolerance to foreign VA. But dubs are also desired in other parts of the world too, so it may be a problem with people in general and it just shows up more with Americans because most of the pop media's exported out rather than in.
Lee Chaolan
Member
Got this pre-ordered for the Vita I don't own yet over the 3DS I do own. lol.
The Grim Heaper
Member
The power of high-quality breasts.
Yeah, and Millenium Girl had a pretty good dub. Especially since Western dubs have this tendency to age up some of the voices, sometimes it clashes with the characters. MG didn't do this, which was cool.
Not sure yet if I want to get this, though. Although the hybrid VN/RPG aspect is somewhat interesting, I'm iffy on the dungeon gameplay...
Did they really say that? Do you have a link handy so I can go and read about it?
chrominance
Member
Trying to find it now, but nothing's come up so far. There is the official-ish apology for Ayesha's lack of dual audio, if that's enough for you, but I thought I remembered some interview with a Gust dev saying "we didn't know the west cared about Japanese voices!" or something to that effect. I'll keep digging, but now I'm wondering if someone maybe said it in a GAF thread as a potential reason for Ayesha's lack of dual audio, rather than an actual quote someone said.
EDIT: Nope, wait, here it is. It's from a Playstation Universe interview with Gust director Yoshito Okamura:
Thank goodness, I thought I'd imagined the whole thing!
Just wait for a sale then. I believe in 6 months or so the game will be on permanent discount state in PSN.
Yeah, a huge part of this is probably simply underestimating the desire for that. Which means contracts don't have it factored in, coding doesn't support the option, or it's just not explored period. That one's more surprising than with FF though just because of how the series always had them.
cj_iwakura
Member
Don't hold your breath for that.
Though I can understand your view (I too, consumed movies and video games all with subtitles), and tolerate it (much better than playing game that exclusively have dual audio), no need to generalize here. It doesn't make your position much better and acceptable.
With Atelier Ayesha, it is a whole different thing since the series always had them like you said. It's like, the usual pizza you order always have pepperoni on them but someday, the one you ordered don't have it. Of course as someone who like pepperoni would surprised in negative way by that.
Thanks for the work you put into finding it, really appreciate it. I'm gonna go read the whole interview now.
They actually were one of the forerunners there, but I suspect Atlus Japan doesn't really see it as a priority for games they develop (especially in light of how some prominent Japanese developers are genuinely baffled it's even desired outside of Japan), many of the titles they've gotten lately were on portables and thus space constrained, especially on DS, and perhaps just plain bad luck in their choices for what can reasonably have it.
michaelius
Banned
Words of wisdom.
While dual audio is preferable it's better to have localisation not 100% perfect than none at all.
Dracandros
Banned
Dual audio aside, I'm leaning on not getting this game based on the review. Then again, between Demon Gaze/this game/Bravely Default/Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls/SMT IV/Persona Q/Persona 4 Golden/Class of Heroes 3...I'm most likely purchasing only one of them.
I miss Elminage more than I thought. Dungeon crawlers feel so lifeless without the difficulty and dungeon quality behind them IMHO.
I miss Elminage more than I thought. Dungeon crawlers feel so lifeless without the difficulty and dungeon quality behind them IMHO.
cj_iwakura
Member
SMT IV is the best of the bunch. Elminage is great, too. I wish a better localization company had gotten hold of it.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
Dunno, man. I really don't care about dual audio, so is not exactly a deal breaker to me.
Same for me, I'll still buy this game, eventually. It'll just be a lower priority for me. There's plenty of other Vita games coming out soon like Danganronpa and Demon Gaze.
Also, an interesting side note: It looks like this game doesn't require any extra memory, so you can play this game without a memory card if you want.
Mobile Suit Gooch
Grundle: The Awakening
Gonna walk into my Gamestop with a big grin on my face when I pick this up.
The alternative is no localisation at all. So if Japanese audio is so important to you learn the language and import that version.
I've always found people who praise shitty Japanese voice acting over shitty English voice acting funny. It's still shitty voice acting, you just can't understand one of them.
I prefer subs to dubs when watching my asian martial arts movies. With real people, bad dubs can take me more out of the experience than bad dubs for videogames.
For videogames I prefer {good} English voice acting. Though, I can tolerate a bad dub as long as it isn't too bad {chaos wars, urf}
For anime, which I rarely watch, I prefer it in English tho I am more tolerant of bad acting here.
For videogames I prefer {good} English voice acting. Though, I can tolerate a bad dub as long as it isn't too bad {chaos wars, urf}
For anime, which I rarely watch, I prefer it in English tho I am more tolerant of bad acting here.
I got used to it after a while, and if anything I just found my self laughing at how bad it was, rather than being annoyed. So in a way I actually got extra enjoyment from it.
Either way, the gameplay and story was actually surprisingly decent outside of the bad dub, so it would have been a massive shame if people hadn't have bothered with it.
(If anyone doesn't know what we're on about see this video)