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[Gormenghast]

Like many have said, the old translation just doesn't cut it, especially since DQ has really come together to create a specific flavour with its translation and VII's old translation has none of that.

Sounds like hand waving to me.

Specific flavor can be added to a script quickly. Retranslating every word is a different thing and completely unneeded.

If there's a monster who got a different conventional name you can fix it very, very quickly.

It's a lot of work, sure. But far from what they want us to believe. Those are just excuses to not do it.

While many JRPGs had horrible translations it's entirely untrue that "modern standards" are so much better. "New" doesn't always mean better, and translations can get rushed today as they were at the time.

It's just so much hand waving and it makes no sense that no port at all is better than a port with the old script.

I wish they thought the same when they brought FF13 to Steam.

 

[mao2]

Just to give some insight on how the DQ mobile ports are doing, here's some figures.

Google Play Store (Worldwide Installs)
Dragon Quest ($2.99) 10,000-50,000
Dragon Quest II ($4.99) 1,000-5,000
Dragon Quest IV ($14.99) 1,000-5,000
Dragon Quest VIII ($19.99) 10,000-50,000

iPhone App Store (US Top 500 Paid Rankings by day)
Dragon Quest ($2.99) start (09/11/14) 14, 8, 13, 19, 20, 25, 42, 29, 31, 47, 75, 78, 122, 162, 135, 143, 180, 211, 273, 274, 287, 275, 225, 223, 163, 229, 315, 254, 80, 73, 83, 131, 161, 169, 146, 160, 195, 373, out (10/19/14), return (10/20/14) 495, out (10/21/14), return (10/23/14) 339, 318, 295, out (1/26/14), return (10/27/14) 370, 361, out (10/29/14), return (10/30/14) 448, 470, out (10/31/14), return (11/07/14) 407, 378, out (11/09/14)
Dragon Quest II ($4.99) start (10/09/14) 41, 35, 74, 107, 127, 137, 174, 298, out (10/17/14)
Dragon Quest IV ($14.99) start (08/07/14) 215, 156, 144, 173, 201, 267, 287, 397, out (08/15/14)
Dragon Quest VIII ($19.99) start (05/29/14) 108, 104, 152, 182, 198, 223, 228, 238, 317, 350, 416, 467, out (06/09/14), return (08/28/14) 400, 416, out (08/30/14)

Doesn't Google Play have specific country or region stores? Anyway there are Japanese versions too. For example, Dragon Quest VIII has install numbers of 100,000～500,000.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.square_enix.android_googleplay.dq8j&hl=ja

 

[Thores]

Look, I don't care if I have to wait till 2016, as long as it actually comes over here. I will buy DQVII 3DS if it comes out in English.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

In other words Nintendo halp!

 

[sörine]

Doesn't Google Play have specific country or region stores? Anyway there are Japanese versions too. For example, Dragon Quest VIII has install numbers of 100,000～500,000.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.square_enix.android_googleplay.dq8j&hl=ja

You're right, I pulled the figures from AppAnnie but it seems they only list US store installs on the game pages (though they have rankings for all markets).

So those numbers were US only. Still low though, each DS remake in the US has likely outperformed all four Android ports combined and at a much higher pricepoint. If the DS remakes were too low for SE to consider continued localization, the smartphone remakes must send an even more chilling message.

 

[Shizuka]

If they started after seeing Bravely Default's success, it'd be a Q1/Q2 2015 title.

 

[Famassu]

This. I'm tired of hearing about how hard it is. Just hire Plus Alpha for a year and let them do their sexy thing. How much can two people doing nothing else cost? 200K each? Come on Square. Let Enix come out to play

Lol if you think 2 people can do it in a year, you're severely underestimating how much work localizing a huge game like DQVII would take. They would not only have to have a pretty big team translating the text, but they need people implementing that text into the game and QA is also important to test that something in the localization doesn't break the game or create other problems. It's a team effort.

And translators are usually paid by the amount of text they need to translate, not how long it takes them.

 

[epmode]

Do it.

Goddammit, crowdfund it or whatever. Square-Enix is so worthless these days.

 

[Famassu]

Do it.

Goddammit, crowdfund it or whatever. Square-Enix is so worthless these days.

Dragon Quests don't sell all that well outside Japan. Localizing a game as big as DQVII is very costly (+ all the other costs involved in getting a game to retailers + opportunity costs) and portable gaming isn't exactly doing super well nowadays, which means that badly selling titles like DQ ports aren't exactly the kind of games any publisher would localize without a second thought. Even Nintendo tried it, was burned and is unwilling to touch Dragon Quest anymore. Square Enix are a business and have plenty of good reasons to be hesitant with any future DQ releases, especially when it comes to ports/remakes that pretty much never have the sales appeal of a new mainline release.

Besides, Squaresoft probably left a lot more games unlocalized than Square Enix has, so I don't see why leaving a shitty selling game unreleased makes them somehow worthless if Squaresoft wasn't.

 

[epmode]

I care about games I want to play, not the financial health of a company that virtually stopped producing anything worthwhile. So yeah, worthless.

I think this would be a good fit for PC, honestly. JRPGs do well on Steam and the platform is starving for good games. ...and as long as I'm dreaming, I'd like a pony.

 

[Purple Cheeto]

It should be any week now. I was actually expecting it last week, based on the release pattern of DQ1 and 2. But it might take a little longer, I guess.

Yeah I've been checking on Thursday nights for two weeks or so now in anticipation. I'm sure it is close, I've just been hankering for it since I finished DQ2.

 

[xevis]

Lol if you think 2 people can do it in a year, you're severely underestimating how much work localizing a huge game like DQVII would take. They would not only have to have a pretty big team translating the text, but they need people implementing that text into the game and QA is also important to test that something in the localization doesn't break the game or create other problems. It's a team effort.

And translators are usually paid by the amount of text they need to translate, not how long it takes them.

Why would you need a pretty big translation team? DQV DQVIII, DQ9, Rocket Slime -- all translated by Plus Alpha; a translation company of size two. If the programmers at Enix are worth their salt the translators need only insert the text into some kind of parseable markup that matches text with objects and events -- so "implementing the text" is a non-issue. Yes, you still need some english-speaking QA guys to play through the game and make sure everything is consistent. For the most part though QA guys are a dime a dozen. The important job is translation.

 

[Aeana]

Sounds like hand waving to me.

Specific flavor can be added to a script quickly. Retranslating every word is a different thing and completely unneeded.

If there's a monster who got a different conventional name you can fix it very, very quickly.

It's a lot of work, sure. But far from what they want us to believe. Those are just excuses to not do it.

While many JRPGs had horrible translations it's entirely untrue that "modern standards" are so much better. "New" doesn't always mean better, and translations can get rushed today as they were at the time.

It's just so much hand waving and it makes no sense that no port at all is better than a port with the old script.

I wish they thought the same when they brought FF13 to Steam.

Editing takes just as long as, if not longer than translation, particularly when the goal is to bring it up to the standards of the rest of the series. The new script is also not likely to be in the same format, so someone would also have to go through it and match it up, as well. This is completely ignoring the fact that the original translators have scattered and cannot be spoken to for clarification of meaning. It's not hand waving, it's reality. Tell any editor in the business that their job is trivial and they will laugh in your face.

Why would you need a pretty big translation team? DQV DQVIII, DQ9, Rocket Slime -- all translated by Plus Alpha; a translation company of size two. If the programmers at Enix are worth their salt the translators need only insert the text into some kind of parseable markup that matches text with objects and events -- so "implementing the text" is a non-issue. Yes, you still need some english-speaking QA guys to play through the game and make sure everything is consistent. For the most part though QA guys are a dime a dozen. The important job is translation.

The Plus-Alpha folks did not translate by themselves, they always had help. DQ8 had four main translators, DQ9 had three, but this is on top of the localization coordinators and directors (i.e. Richard Honeywood) working on stuff as well.

 

[xevis]

The Plus-Alpha folks did not translate by themselves, they always had help. DQ8 had four main translators, DQ9 had three, but this is on top of the localization coordinators and directors (i.e. Richard Honeywood) working on stuff as well.

Dammit, Aeana. Whose side are you on anyway?

Fair point though. I'm probably oversimplifying what's involved here. Still, the number of people and sums involved don't seem huge -- especially as I expect we will not get anything more than an iOS/eShop release (so SQ can avoid manufacturing physical carts).

EDIT: I thought it would be interesting to dig up the entire localization credits for DQIX. According to MobyGames (because my copy of DQIX is packed up in a box and I cannot check directly) there were 3 English translators and 4 supervisors. Presumably they needed so many managers because there were lots more people translating into other languages. Still, let's say the entire localisation effort needs twice that number. 15 guys doing nothing else for one year. At $200K each (i.e. some well paid localisation peeps!!) that's a cool $3 million -- or just 75K copies @ $40ea to break even. Come on Square

 

[patrickthehedgehog]

Just stop Square-Enix. If you can sink money into the junk you normally publish what's stopping you from translating a well received game from the past? The only reason you are relevant at all is because of your games from the PSX era and MAYBE FFX.

 

[Psxphile]

xsive brings up an interesting point. If they commit to localization it wouldn't be just one language, would it? They'd have to localize into several for the EU audience... if translating into one language is making them take pause and consider risk vs reward, imagine having to fathom 4 or more on top of that.

Or they could just ignore the EU entirely. The rage would be palpable, especially because of region-lock (though that's not a problem with mobile devices.... or is it?).

 

[Orniletter]

The smartphones ports have been fine. Except VIII and the bad framerate. And maybe the scaling in DQ1 but most people won't notice it. Go buy them and support more DQ releases

I really really wish I could, trust me, but I just can´t enjoy games on my phone.

I don´t even know If they´d run all that well on my Galaxy S3 .

 

[Guinness]

Now I have literally no hope to play that game on my 3DS.

It could be localized in America, but I can't see Squarenix bringing it to Europe. I wouldn't mind playing DQ7 in English, but damn you Nintendo for the region-lock.

 

[Shizuka]

Why would they have to localize the game for several languages? Lots of publishers don't do that.

 

[Narpas Sword0]

Please localize please

 

[Kaybe]

Why would they have to localize the game for several languages? Lots of publishers don't do that.

Square Enix and Nintendo does. Since they actually publish their own games in Europe. But in this case English-only would be the only sane option.

And I wish they would just start translating it once and for all and we and they wouldn't have this dilemma again in the future.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I would buy them all on PSN.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

So, its only happening if Nintendo pays for it ?


Didnt NOA said that they had to choose between DQ7 and Bravely Default ?

 

[Aeana]

So, its only happening if Nintendo pays for it ?


Didnt NOA said that they had to choose between DQ7 and Bravely Default ?

That never happened.

 

[Jucksalbe]

At $200K each (i.e. some well paid localisation peeps!!) that's a cool $3 million -- or just 75K copies @ $40ea to break even. Come on Square

As if $40 of each copy would end up at SquareEnix and much less just their localization department.

Square Enix and Nintendo does. Since they actually publish their own games in Europe. But in this case English-only would be the only sane option.

As far as I can tell, their mobile DQ releases are all English only (judged by the listing on the Apple store), so it seems to be a possibility. But yeah, the DS releases were all multi-5.

 

[Sakujou]

cmon nintendo please bring this as a multi 5 game.

you brought us so many wonderful games, what is the problem

 

[Escalario]

I'm sure Nintendo would localize and release it in NA and EU if DQ11 would be exclusive to 3DS. With all the rumours of DQ11 being PS3/PS4 and Nintendo outright refusing to have to do anything with the series outside of Japan, I believe there's gonna be another FFVII-like betrayalton.

 

[Oregano]

cmon nintendo please bring this as a multi 5 game.

you brought us so many wonderful games, what is the problem

Speculation but the problem might be that the next Dragon Quest is probably a PS4 game and it doesn't make sense to spend time and money promoting a brand on a competitor's platform.

Spoiler

Insert Snake in Brawl joke here.

 

[Orniletter]

cmon nintendo please bring this as a multi 5 game.

you brought us so many wonderful games, what is the problem

multi 5 is so unnecessary imo

Those games are meant to be played in english, not with some weird bavarian accent in the german version

Speculation but the problem might be that the next Dragon Quest is probably a PS4 game and it doesn't make sense to spend time and money promoting a brand on a competitor's platform.

Spoiler

Insert Snake in Brawl joke here.

Thats probably true. It was an easier pill to swallow when DQ was still Nintendo exclusive, but not anymore in the post-multiplat DQ world.

 

[Red Liquorice]

It feels like it's been out too long on 3DS for them to want to localise it for the West. Smartphone port may be out only chance?

 

[Kaarina]

I don't really understand the complaints about this not being localized. Dragon Quest 7 was already localized and released outside of Japan and its reception always seemed to be poor. Was the game largely reworked when they did the remake or something?

It was never released in europe though!

At this point I don't even care if they only released this on ios since I just want to be able to play it! :<
Of course I would prefer 3DS...

 

[Kai Dracon]

Everyone at Square Enix Eidos Batroc Jumblebunny talks a lot about what they'd like to do, what they imagine doing, could have done, may one day do, have an idea for, and might happen.

It's the starting to do part that comes hard for them.

 

[Sakujou]

multi 5 is so unnecessary imo

Those games are meant to be played in english, not with some weird bavarian accent in the german version


Thats probably true. It was an easier pill to swallow when DQ was still Nintendo exclusive, but not anymore in the post-multiplat DQ world.

dude,
you can tell the same about the original japanese version.

if there is a possibility to have the game in german, i would take it.

i loved ni no kuni in german as well as ff9 which had excellent translations.


i would also dip if the game becomes available in english, but this always feels like the company/publisher didnt make an effort to distribute the game in the receiving country.

please please please, i have all dq games, i want this one too here in europe as a retail game and if possible in german too (if se is a cheap arse company, they can release it in english, and if SE is SEga then they wont release it )

 

[sörine]

It feels like it's been out too long on 3DS for them to want to localise it for the West. Smartphone port may be out only chance?

Given the performance for the iOS/Android games in the west so far 3DS may be the only platform even capable of justifying a localization. The fate of smartphone DQVII likely rests on the 3DS version paving the way.

 

[checkeredknight]

Literally all I want out of my 3DS right now is DQ VII. You either just do it or you fucking don't. I am sick to death of seeing these articles with the devs dancing around the idea. I swear this is like the fourth God damn one where they have said "Oh, it would take some time but we don't want to alienate our fan base blah blah blah yadda yadda." It's PR bullshit, just do it already or stop this teasing.

 

[inner-G]

I wish I was a billionaire so I could buy S-E.

These out-of-touch senior citizens and board members don't deserve to be in charge of these iconic IPs.

 

[Stage On]

3ds isn't exactly overflowing in rpg releases and which one's it does get have sold pretty well. Bravely default did really good and proves that the system has an audience for these type of games, so now it's time for Square enix to stop giving lip service that they learned from that and actually put action to words and bloody translate some more games for it starting with DQ7

 

[Curler]

3ds isn't exactly overflowing in rpg releases and which one's it does get have sold pretty well.

Um what? There's TONS of rpgs (specifically, jrpgs) on the format.