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[vall03]

just started the game I seriously love the music of the game especially the Boss theme and Altago City!

 

[duckroll]

The game's really good so far. The worst thing about this release is probably the localization. Really disappointing stuff from XSEED. When I first started the game, I felt it was a bit dry and maybe a little too literal. The more I played though, the worse it got. I'm pretty far in the game now, and honestly I think the entire localization job is piss poor.

I don't really know what went wrong, because my last XSEED game was Retro Games Challenge and the localization there was fantastic. Here the entire game reads like a fan translation in SNES rom hacks back in the late 90s. Literal, lifeless, and a total lack of tone. The terms and language used has no consistency whatsoever with establishing a culture or history in the game world, everyone talks exactly the same, predictable "old English" is used for mythical scenes but even then it's written in such a generic way. Not poetic at all.

</rant>

 

[dili]

More or less how I feel. Sometimes I feel the urge to just use the fast forward feature and skip cutscenes.

Everything else about the game though is really wonderful. I'm 10hrs in and it just keeps getting better.

 

[Grimmy]

I don't really know what went wrong, because my last XSEED game was Retro Games Challenge and the localization there was fantastic.
</rant>

You...didn't buy Half-Minute Hero?

 

[andymcc]

The game's really good so far. The worst thing about this release is probably the localization. Really disappointing stuff from XSEED. When I first started the game, I felt it was a bit dry and maybe a little too literal. The more I played though, the worse it got. I'm pretty far in the game now, and honestly I think the entire localization job is piss poor.

I don't really know what went wrong, because my last XSEED game was Retro Games Challenge and the localization there was fantastic. Here the entire game reads like a fan translation in SNES rom hacks back in the late 90s. Literal, lifeless, and a total lack of tone. The terms and language used has no consistency whatsoever with establishing a culture or history in the game world, everyone talks exactly the same, predictable "old English" is used for mythical scenes but even then it's written in such a generic way. Not poetic at all.

</rant>

it's also a pretty boring storyline in the first place.

 

[john tv]

The game's really good so far. The worst thing about this release is probably the localization. Really disappointing stuff from XSEED. When I first started the game, I felt it was a bit dry and maybe a little too literal. The more I played though, the worse it got. I'm pretty far in the game now, and honestly I think the entire localization job is piss poor.

I don't really know what went wrong, because my last XSEED game was Retro Games Challenge and the localization there was fantastic. Here the entire game reads like a fan translation in SNES rom hacks back in the late 90s. Literal, lifeless, and a total lack of tone. The terms and language used has no consistency whatsoever with establishing a culture or history in the game world, everyone talks exactly the same, predictable "old English" is used for mythical scenes but even then it's written in such a generic way. Not poetic at all.

</rant>

Sad to say I agree 100%. I love the XSEED guys and they usually do quality work but this one is definitely not up to par. It's ruining the story for me - half considered switching to Japanese after the first chunk of the game because I felt like I was missing out on the flavor I'm used to from the old games. Atlus' DS work on Ys I&II was pretty bad as well - couldn't continue past an hour or two in because I kept noticing the writing (and not in a good way). Fortunately the DS versions of Ys suck anyway, so here's hoping the PSP ones come over in better shape.

At least Ys Seven is an action-RPG and can survive on great gameplay alone. Sora no Kiseki on the other hand is more dependent on good writing, so hopefully they've got their A team working on that one.

Everyone has a stinker now and again, but hopefully this won't become a trend. Gotta support the little guys so we can keep getting games like this released outside of Japan.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

The titano in

Spoiler

the cave

is kicking my ass.

Edit: I beat him, I still gotta learn to be patient about doing damage.

 

[ULTROS!]

How long is this game? I'm on my way to the

Spoiler

2nd dragon I think, the one on the desert

. Nearly 6 hours in.

 

[Dreamwriter]

The game's really good so far. The worst thing about this release is probably the localization. Really disappointing stuff from XSEED. When I first started the game, I felt it was a bit dry and maybe a little too literal.

You shouldn't have been disappointed, XSEED made it clear from the start that they were doing a horrid translation. In fact, I'm happy with the translation because I was expecting the worst. I mean, did you watch the trailer XSEED released? "Comfortable Familiars are all Well and Good, But What say we Kick it Up a Notch!"

The awesome news is, they are going with a fan translation for their next game, Oath in Felghana, and that translation is actually very high quality.

 

[duckroll]

You shouldn't have been disappointed, XSEED made it clear from the start that they were doing a horrid translation.

Really? Maybe I shouldn't have bothered buying the game then. I'll keep this in mind for all future XSEED games. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Volcynika]

For Nightmare people, is there a recommended level for the third boss

Spoiler

Giant bug

? Might go back and turn in some quests and try him again, killing enemies along the way!

 

[rollingstart]

The game's really good so far. The worst thing about this release is probably the localization. Really disappointing stuff from XSEED. When I first started the game, I felt it was a bit dry and maybe a little too literal. The more I played though, the worse it got. I'm pretty far in the game now, and honestly I think the entire localization job is piss poor.

I don't really know what went wrong, because my last XSEED game was Retro Games Challenge and the localization there was fantastic. Here the entire game reads like a fan translation in SNES rom hacks back in the late 90s. Literal, lifeless, and a total lack of tone. The terms and language used has no consistency whatsoever with establishing a culture or history in the game world, everyone talks exactly the same, predictable "old English" is used for mythical scenes but even then it's written in such a generic way. Not poetic at all.

</rant>

I agree mostly in the sense that I hold down the circle button to slip scenes, and if I accidental skip over a screen or two of dialog, I don't really care. Note that I have in other games I would have loaded up an old save and replayed to see what was said.

About the talk about the game's slow start, I think the only problem is that trailers and the core action of the game are so fast that the slower sections take forever. There is a disconnect when the characters aren't constantly rolling in the cutscenes.

The awesome news is, they are going with a fan translation for their next game, Oath in Felghana, and that translation is actually very high quality.

I heard about that. The question then becomes if I can wait until November or if I should just get the PC version at a high price.

 

[Holy Order Sol]

I'm an old y's fan having played y's 1-3 on the tg-cd and snes(and 6 on ps2), but the combat in this game looks so chaotic and unmanageable. Every vid just looks like an explosion of lighting effects and particles and I can't make heads or tails of what is going on.

It's the only snag holding me back from purchase really. So much positive love though , so what is the word on combat? It just seems so fast and frenetic for it's own good. Do you people find it less cumbersome than it appears? With the 3 characters all jumbled together is it awkward to make out what is happening?

If you can play Seiken 3/Legend of Mana without problems you can definitely handle this despite the faster pace.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Really? Maybe I shouldn't have bothered buying the game then. I'll keep this in mind for all future XSEED games. Thanks for the heads up.

I can't think how anyone could have read the two lines XSeed made for the trailer and expected any kind of decent translation. It sounded to me like they just threw something into a machine translator. And that's what they used to advertise their translation!

 

[Y2Kev]

Stupid eyebrows run in their family

 

[ULTROS!]

This game is glorious. 6 hours in though.

 

[Aeana]

I can't think how anyone could have read the two lines XSeed made for the trailer and expected any kind of decent translation. It sounded to me like they just threw something into a machine translator. And that's what they used to advertise their translation!

They hired a die-hard Ys fan from a popular fan forum to do Ys 7 (and I think maybe SnK, but unsure). I don't think he has any professional experience. Oath PSP and Ys 1&2 are being done by another person from the community who has done fan translations for YsF PC, Ys 1&2 PC, both Ys 4s, etc. I have much more confidence in his abilities. I hope they at least get a better editor for the SnK games, though, because they live by the dialog.

 

[Volcynika]

Hollllllllly crap, beat the third boss by the skin of my teeth with all my health items used. Everyone weak and I had to play it safe and get him to a vulnerable point without losing anyone and finish him off. Such low HP and I finally took him down! Yay

Was at level 11 for everyone, for reference.

 

[bishopcruz]

They hired a die-hard Ys fan from a popular fan forum to do Ys 7 (and I think maybe SnK, but unsure). I don't think he has any professional experience. Oath PSP and Ys 1&2 are being done by another person from the community who has done fan translations for YsF PC, Ys 1&2 PC, both Ys 4s, etc. I have much more confidence in his abilities. I hope they at least get a better editor for the SnK games, though, because they live by the dialog.

He didn't do the translation itself, he did an editing pass, along with someone else. The original translation was already done when he was called in just a few months back. He will be doing the full editing on OiF and Ys 1 and 2 Chronicles based on Deuce's work. I think it will be fair to wait and see how those turn out as they not only will have had more time to work on it, but we can see how the editing does there. This was his first professional project, though to be fair there are different ideas as to the best way to handle a localization.

As for the translations being piss poor, I have to ask in comparison to what? I mean the localization is no FFXII, FFTPSP, or Phoenix Wright, but it does seem a good sight above most JRPGs I have played. To be fair I haven't touched JRPGs much lately, but I did try the LoH games on PSP and THOSE were piss poor translations.

It's not up to Square's best translations clearly, but piss poor seems overly harsh. XSEED has come a long way since Silver Star Harmony (The new scenes in that were painful, physically).

As far as the story, I liked it mainly because on the whole it is in no way pretentious. I builds slowly and doesn't try to throw drama in your face early on. It's not trying to be an FF, it's just trying to be a light fun little story. It succeeded in that regard.

 

[Aeana]

My biggest complaint with the translation is that the personality has been totally stripped from the original dialog. Playing both the Japanese version and this one is really quite stark. Everyone speaks pretty much the same way, without any indibidual syntax or manner of speaking quirks. It's really pretty disappointinng.

 

[Volcynika]

Aaaaaand the next boss took me down fairly quickly. Gotta buy the new weapons at the traveling merchant I guess, but they're like 10k apiece! Not sure if I'll level up anymore, around 13 now.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Aaaaaand the next boss took me down fairly quickly. Gotta buy the new weapons at the traveling merchant I guess, but they're like 10k apiece! Not sure if I'll level up anymore, around 13 now.

What difficulty you playing on?

 

[Volcynika]

What difficulty you playing on?

Nightmare.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

The game's really good so far. The worst thing about this release is probably the localization. Really disappointing stuff from XSEED. When I first started the game, I felt it was a bit dry and maybe a little too literal. The more I played though, the worse it got. I'm pretty far in the game now, and honestly I think the entire localization job is piss poor.

I don't really know what went wrong, because my last XSEED game was Retro Games Challenge and the localization there was fantastic. Here the entire game reads like a fan translation in SNES rom hacks back in the late 90s. Literal, lifeless, and a total lack of tone. The terms and language used has no consistency whatsoever with establishing a culture or history in the game world, everyone talks exactly the same, predictable "old English" is used for mythical scenes but even then it's written in such a generic way. Not poetic at all.

</rant>

Agh, that's really disheartening to hear. I haven't gotten around to starting my copy of the game yet, but everything I've experienced from XSEED so far - Retro Game Challenge, Half-Minute Hero, the nice bonuses in Ys Seven's Limited Edition - has been of such high quality that it's very frustrating to know that the dialogue in the game itself doesn't live up to that. Especially considering how important the Falcom partnership is to XSEED, I would have expected them to put in more effort. Of course, I'll wait to experience it myself before giving a final judgement, but if what you say is true I won't be preordering the rest of the Ys games.

The awesome news is, they are going with a fan translation for their next game, Oath in Felghana, and that translation is actually very high quality.

But if a fan translation, a complete labor of love with no reward expected, is better than a professional translation done by people who translate for a living, we have a big problem! This is the same issue that frustrates me with MangaGamer's translation of Higurashi vs. Witch-Hunt's translation of Umineko - if you're asking me to pay for your translation, you'd better be providing a better product than similar fan efforts already out for free. If you can't be bothered to do that, you're in the wrong job.

 

[rollingstart]

Is there any real reason to use temporary party members? it seems like those who aren't in your active party don't get full experience, so it seems beneficial to keep the people I use all the time leveling up as much as possible.

 

[thetrin]

Is there any real reason to use temporary party members? it seems like those who aren't in your active party don't get full experience, so it seems beneficial to keep the people I use all the time leveling up as much as possible.

I haven't finished the game, but I have a sneaking suspicion those members are going to show up later in the game.

That said, I don't see much benefit in taking Adol or Dogi out of the party. (Mishera is tons better than Aisha)

Question for those who have finished: I'm about 13 hours in, and I'm on my way to

Spoiler

Ruins Island

.

This isn't the end of the game, I assume? It's a

Spoiler

point of no return, at least or now

, and I just want to know if I should be doing all my side quests before heading there.

 

[Salaadin]

Is there any real reason to use temporary party members? it seems like those who aren't in your active party don't get full experience, so it seems beneficial to keep the people I use all the time leveling up as much as possible.

You might want a certain character later on if they have a weapon type that would make your current objective easier. Other than that, I tend to stick to the same 3 characters.

 

[LowParry]

I have to agree, the translation is a bit spotty all over the place but it does what it needs to do. The rest is pretty damn good. I'm nearing my 10th hour of the game on Hard Mode. Inside the first

Spoiler

sanctuary to wake the first dragon

. Having a real blast with the game and haven't really cared to play anything else. However when I'm done, I'll probably bounce next to either Dissidia or Peace Walker.

 

[LowParry]

You might want a certain character later on if they have a weapon type that would make your current objective easier. Other than that, I tend to stick to the same 3 characters.

It benefits on those three characters of having access to the different weapon types. But that could lower your attack power significantly of that character.

 

[bishopcruz]

Agh, that's really disheartening to hear. I haven't gotten around to starting my copy of the game yet, but everything I've experienced from XSEED so far - Retro Game Challenge, Half-Minute Hero, the nice bonuses in Ys Seven's Limited Edition - has been of such high quality that it's very frustrating to know that the dialogue in the game itself doesn't live up to that. Especially considering how important the Falcom partnership is to XSEED, I would have expected them to put in more effort. Of course, I'll wait to experience it myself before giving a final judgement, but if what you say is true I won't be preordering the rest of the Ys games.

It's really not nearly as bad as it is being made out to be. A little dry, yes. Though it seems that overall this translation was a bit rushed, it is pretty much a serviceable translation and it was definitely better than the Lunar one (in the new areas, WHEW that was bad) earlier this year. I think people have forgotten what truly bad translations are.

But if a fan translation, a complete labor of love with no reward expected, is better than a professional translation done by people who translate for a living, we have a big problem! This is the same issue that frustrates me with MangaGamer's translation of Higurashi vs. Witch-Hunt's translation of Umineko - if you're asking me to pay for your translation, you'd better be providing a better product than similar fan efforts already out for free. If you can't be bothered to do that, you're in the wrong job.

Well, from what I understand the lead translator for this is NOT working on any of rest of the Falcom titles. I also think that getting the script for OiF and 1 and 2 Chronicles was more an effort to save time than anything else. They will be getting a fuller, longer editing pass than SEVEN was afforded, and they definitely have a higher quality base to work with as well. So I am hopeful that they will turn out better than this last one did.

 

[matmanx1]

What the translation lacks in style the gameplay makes up for in substance and fun. I do hope for improvement in the translation area for the next release but for now I'm still having a great time with Ys 7.

 

[Y2Kev]

Why don't they explain flash guarding in the game?

 

[duckroll]

It's really not nearly as bad as it is being made out to be. A little dry, yes. Though it seems that overall this translation was a bit rushed, it is pretty much a serviceable translation and it was definitely better than the Lunar one (in the new areas, WHEW that was bad) earlier this year. I think people have forgotten what truly bad translations are.

This is a really piss poor excuse. A bad localization is a bad localization. Just because something worse exists doesn't make it better. Why should anyone buy a product and pat themselves on the back going "Whew, this isn't the worst thing ever!" and feel happy about it? If a game is average and doesn't meet my expectations, it's not a good thing. If a localization is average and doesn't meet my expectations, it's not a good thing. Either way, it means I am displeased with the product in some way.

I didn't buy Lunar because I have no interest in a Lunar remake or port. So telling me that the localization there is even WORSE, does not make any difference at all to me because I didn't buy that, and I don't care about that. I bought Ys7 and I care about the quality of Ys7's localization, not anything else. Previously, I bought Retro Games Challenge from the same publisher, which had a great localization.

I bought Ys7 the moment it was out because I had a good experience with the publisher previously, and I'm interested in playing Ys7. Alas, it seems now the publisher's standards have gone down significantly, and I should maybe consider not giving them the benefit of the doubt again.

When I judge the quality of any product, I never judge it based on how much worse it could be. I judge it based on how good I feel it should be. I only hope that most people have the same expectations of something they pay good money for.

 

[Volcynika]

Fourth boss became easy peasy when I stopped being so offensive in the attack breaks. Relied on

Spoiler

using Aisha to keep distance and move appropriately based on his attacks. Whenever he did the spinning attack which stunned him, let loose with special skills!

. Barely got touched.

Now have 4 party members and trying to decide on who I should use as my 3rd. Might switch up every now and then.

 

[Galactic Fork]

Just got the special edition yesterday thanks to the suggestions on this thread (which is pretty impressive considering my only experience with the Ys series is the horrible monstrosity that was Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys). I'm thinking it might have been a bad idea to start the game on Nightmare mode. The field enemies aren't hard, but the bosses are especially tough. I'm only about 3 or 4 hours into it so I'm not too far to start over.

I'm really satisfied with the companion AI. I thought I'd be really annoyed at first with needing to switch characters to face the different enemy types, but it's strangely fun. The default button config was kinda awkward for me, I had to adjust it so I didn't keep messing up. Is there a way to change the special attack toggle from the R button? I also wish you could equip skills when you buy a weapon. It makes the auto equip of the weapon kinda pointless since you have to go in and equip the skills anyway. Grr.

Hopefully, without much to compare it to, I won't notice how bad the translation is.

 

[thetrin]

Why don't they explain flash guarding in the game?

Wait, you can guard in the game? The game never told me that. I just dodge everything.

Just got the special edition yesterday thanks to the suggestions on this thread (which is pretty impressive considering my only experience with the Ys series is the horrible monstrosity that was Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys). I'm thinking it might have been a bad idea to start the game on Nightmare mode. The field enemies aren't hard, but the bosses are especially tough. I'm only about 3 or 4 hours into it so I'm not too far to start over.

I'm really satisfied with the companion AI. I thought I'd be really annoyed at first with needing to switch characters to face the different enemy types, but it's strangely fun. The default button config was kinda awkward for me, I had to adjust it so I didn't keep messing up. Is there a way to change the special attack toggle from the R button? I also wish you could equip skills when you buy a weapon. It makes the auto equip of the weapon kinda pointless since you have to go in and equip the skills anyway. Grr.

Hopefully, without much to compare it to, I won't notice how bad the translation is.

For me, the control issues stem from the same issues I have with almost EVERY PSP game. The nub cramps up my hand something fierce and makes it into a claw. In general, I fucking hate the PSP controls (and sadly, it has forced me to skip more than a couple games because I can't deal with using the nub).

That said, I've surprisingly had few issues with the nub in Ys 7. Maybe I'm just living with it.

 

[Galactic Fork]

Wait, you can guard in the game? The game never told me that. I just dodge everything.



For me, the control issues stem from the same issues I have with almost EVERY PSP game. The nub cramps up my hand something fierce and makes it into a claw. In general, I fucking hate the PSP controls (and sadly, it has forced me to skip more than a couple games because I can't deal with using the nub).

That said, I've surprisingly had few issues with the nub in Ys 7. Maybe I'm just living with it.

Yeah, I don't use the nub, I use the d-pad in Ys 7. And I also didn't know about the guarding.

 

[bishopcruz]

This is a really piss poor excuse. A bad localization is a bad localization. Just because something worse exists doesn't make it better. Why should anyone buy a product and pat themselves on the back going "Whew, this isn't the worst thing ever!" and feel happy about it? If a game is average and doesn't meet my expectations, it's not a good thing. If a localization is average and doesn't meet my expectations, it's not a good thing. Either way, it means I am displeased with the product in some way.

I didn't buy Lunar because I have no interest in a Lunar remake or port. So telling me that the localization there is even WORSE, does not make any difference at all to me because I didn't buy that, and I don't care about that. I bought Ys7 and I care about the quality of Ys7's localization, not anything else. Previously, I bought Retro Games Challenge from the same publisher, which had a great localization.

I bought Ys7 the moment it was out because I had a good experience with the publisher previously, and I'm interested in playing Ys7. Alas, it seems now the publisher's standards have gone down significantly, and I should maybe consider not giving them the benefit of the doubt again.

When I judge the quality of any product, I never judge it based on how much worse it could be. I judge it based on how good I feel it should be. I only hope that most people have the same expectations of something they pay good money for.

The fact that worse translations exist does not automatically make this one better, the fact that it isn't completely awful DOES elevate it from being utter shit, to being at the very least all right depending on how harshly you are grading it.

There is 'piss poor', which those previous translations were. And there is pretty much average to good, which this one was. I mean honestly it is a bit dry as I have said, but it is readable, there weren't many if any errors in grammar, and the personality of the characters generally came across. It wasn't spectacular, that much is agreed, but it clearly wasn't 'piss poor'. I HATE really awful localizations and honestly this was NOT one of those, it again wasn't amazing, but it got the job done. I have played many JRPGs with truly awful translations, as well as several which were passable. This one ranks above the passable.

I do not regret my purchase of this game based on the quality of the localization, my hard earned money was well spent in supporting the series.

You are entitled to your opinion that the translation was godawful, but I have to ask, if this one is so bad, what are some localizations that you consider just OK, or do you only have a scale that has two poles, great or piss poor?

As far as Retro Game Challenge, what was it about the localization that you felt was so much better? My DS is currently broken, so I don't have the ability to play though it now and it has been on my list of shame for not purchasing. But from what I have read it seems that the two games are completely different beasts. RGC would by its nature allow for a lot more wholesale creativity in the localization than Ys 7 I would think.

My biggest complaint with the translation is that the personality has been totally stripped from the original dialog. Playing both the Japanese version and this one is really quite stark. Everyone speaks pretty much the same way, without any indibidual syntax or manner of speaking quirks. It's really pretty disappointinng.

I wanted to get back to this to see if you could give some more detail. Having talked with some who also played the game in Japanese they said that there wasn't that much variation between the characters and that they often blended together. I don't know whether or not you are a native speaker, I know that the person I was talking to was not, though their Japanese is quite good.

As those two interpretations seem to be at odds, I'd like to get a better idea where you are coming from.

 

[mattiewheels]

Wait, you can guard in the game? The game never told me that. I just dodge everything.

Flash guarding is there, but it's annoying because I always hit the L trigger first and use my special attack instead. You can hold R and tap L whenever you want to guard too, I just haven't gotten used to guarding attacks yet.

 

[duckroll]

You are entitled to your opinion that the translation was godawful, but I have to ask, if this one is so bad, what are some localizations that you consider just OK, or do you only have a scale that has two poles, great or piss poor?

There are lots of localizations which aren't fantastic but do the job well enough that it doesn't bother me at all. I recently played Disgaea Infinite in English, and I thought that was a pretty serviceable localization. The characters had personality in English, and the writing retained much of the original humor without sounding forced or literal. Atlus titles like Devil Survivor and Knights in the Nightmare also felt well localized but I don't think they were outstanding or amazing. It's about the average standard I expect for a game localization these days. On the upper-tier of "really good" would be most Square Enix games, and Tales of Vesperia recently. The "amazing" tier would be reserved for the main Metal Gear Solid games and Vagrant Story.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are clearly examples of unacceptable localizations. Examples would include the original FFT, as well as the first Metal Gear Acid game. Not only are the translations literal and poorly edited, but both games have serious typos which actually provide inaccurate information to either the gameplay or the game storyline. As such it not only fails to create flavor in the text, but it makes everything more confusing for the player.

There are also other "piss poor" localizations which are worse than Ys7, but close enough in the same ballpark for me. Xenogears comes to mind. No serious errors or any of that sort, but the writing is dry and far less interesting than what is presented visually. Xenogears is worse because the gap between how boring the writing in English is and the scope of the actual story is really huge, and it hurts the game a lot more than it does in Ys7.

In fact, for a really nice spectrum of my opinion of localizations in general, we can look at all the Metal Gear games released on the PSP. That represents a good spectrum from bad to great.

MGA (bad, unacceptable) -> MGA2 (okay, average) -> MGS PW (pretty good, but not fantastic) -> MPO (one of the best MGS localizations imo).

Ys7 falls somewhere around MGA2. It's one of those localizations that is totally forgettable but not offensive. But why is it considered "piss poor" as opposed to just "average"? Simple. Because Ys7 is a marquee title for XSEED, and it is also the first and one of the biggest titles in their Falcom line-up. It's not some throwaway title which should be from a B-team or C-team.

If this is how XSEED wants to represent their Falcom line-up, then it doesn't bode well for the rest of the releases at all.

 

[duckroll]

As far as Retro Game Challenge, what was it about the localization that you felt was so much better? My DS is currently broken, so I don't have the ability to play though it now and it has been on my list of shame for not purchasing. But from what I have read it seems that the two games are completely different beasts. RGC would by its nature allow for a lot more wholesale creativity in the localization than Ys 7 I would think.

It's really quite simple. RGC captures the charm and flavor of the game in the English text. Ys7 does not. It has nothing to do with the type of game, or the genre. It simply has to do with how well something reads and whether the text lives up to the story it is telling. It's the same with novel translations. When you read the novel, if you feel that the writing does not do justice to the subject matter, then the translator has failed in one major aspect. It is not enough to simply translate the text from one language to another, it is even more important to ensure the experience and flavor is retained (or even enhanced) in the translation.

 

[Drinky Crow]

jrpgs have charm/flavor? if you are playing this for the story, jesus h christ.

awesome game, by the by. it is like having my action-rpg cornhole lovingly rimmed by an animu gene simmons.

 

[Gazel Ministry]

Hollllllllly crap, beat the third boss by the skin of my teeth with all my health items used. Everyone weak and I had to play it safe and get him to a vulnerable point without losing anyone and finish him off. Such low HP and I finally took him down! Yay

Was at level 11 for everyone, for reference.

Great job! Isn't it awesome to take down bosses on Nightmare difficulty! The boss fights feel way more bad ass when it's a tough fight. The music also feels more energetic because you are up against some ridiculous odds! :lol Playing this game on Normal definitely does not do it justice.

I am pretty into the Sanctum portion of the game on Nightmare still and it feels great. I can tell once I finish this game that it will easily place itself by Bayonetta's side as my game of the year (until I probably play Vanquish!)

 

[Teknoman]

jrpgs have charm/flavor? if you are playing this for the story, jesus h christ.

awesome game, by the by. it is like having my action-rpg cornhole lovingly rimmed by an animu gene simmons.

I like simple old school jrpg stories.

 

[thetrin]

I like simple old school jrpg stories.

I do, too. >.>

 

[Volcynika]

I do, too. >.>

Me three!

 

[Aeana]

I wanted to get back to this to see if you could give some more detail. Having talked with some who also played the game in Japanese they said that there wasn't that much variation between the characters and that they often blended together. I don't know whether or not you are a native speaker, I know that the person I was talking to was not, though their Japanese is quite good.

As those two interpretations seem to be at odds, I'd like to get a better idea where you are coming from.

I don't know how one qualifies "native speaker," but I've been speaking Japanese for almost my entire life.

Many of the characters - especially Dogi and Elk and Aisha - speak differently and have quirks that should have been brought through in the translation. It's been a year since I played the Japanese version, so I'm afraid I can't give any examples, unfortunately. Still, even without those things, the translation could still be decent. I'll echo duckroll's thoughts here. Even without playing the Japanese version of the game, people have picked up on the stilted nature of the dialog, and that's not good. Falcom doesn't have the most amazing writers in the business, but they're good enough. At the end of the day, I just feel that a lot has been lost in the translation.

I still appreciate XSEED taking the risk to release the game, but it should have been treated a little better. Fingers crossed that the SnK translations are actually interesting to read.

 

[Grimmy]

I'm really surprised by this, considering that i thought XSEED did a tremendous job localizing Half-Minute Hero. Especially this level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYT976sS8OE

Nevertheless, I'm getting my Ys 7 tomorrow (finally!). Can't wait.

 

[Aeana]

I'm really surprised by this, considering that i thought XSEED did a tremendous job localizing Half-Minute Hero. Especially this level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYT976sS8OE

Nevertheless, I'm getting my Ys 7 tomorrow (finally!). Can't wait.

They did. HMH has a great localization.

 

[Oyashiro]

I played like 45 mins of this a couple days ago and I'm stuck at the town. Cant figure out how to get out or start a new event. Do I just need to go around and talk to everyone?