[EDITORIAL] Playism and ZUN’s treatment of Touhou is unacceptable.

I usually don’t use this site to soapbox, but if you’re reading this, I assume you’re into niche games, and at very least have heard of the omnipresent Touhou franchise.

If by some chance you haven’t, it’s a long-running shmup series basically created by one guy: a doujin/indie developer who goes by ZUN. He does it all: programming, music, art, and story.

ZUN is an extremely talented and prolific individual, and I’ll never contest that.

What I will say is that he comes across as one of the most stubborn, prideful developers in the industry, and he’s only doing him and his works harm as a result.

ZUN is notoriously protective of Touhou, to the point that he has yet to allow anyone to make an anime out of the franchise, despite what I can assume are dozens of lucrative offers.

He additionally has refused to let the games see official localization. Although there is a very devout fan community that continue to translate and patch his games for them to receive wider notice, his pride continues to belittle their efforts by refusing to let the games get any proper release, dooming them to a tiny niche.

This brings me to Playism.

The Touhou community was abuzz with the news that Playism had struck a deal with ZUN to release the newest title, Touhou 14: Double Dealing Character, digitally on PC.

This was unexpected, and a great cause for optimism. Maybe ZUN had lightened up! Maybe Touhou was finally getting the official globalization it deserved!

Except… the game was completely untranslated. Menus, story, EVERYTHING was left in Japanese.

http://playism-games.com/game/215/double-dealing-character

At ZUN’s insistence.

That neither the media or community has expressed outrage at this is beyond me.

It is unacceptable in this day and age to expect players to pay money for a lazy localization.

I’m sure there’s people out there who think that this is just a shooting game, and localization doesn’t matter.

Well, people say the same thing about BlazBlue in regards to its story mode. But there are people who play those story modes. There are people who care. And they deserve just as much respect as those who play the games to dodge ridiculous amounts of bullets. (Personally, I play them for both.)

It’s entirely possible that Playism had no control. Maybe ZUN’s stipulation was that they could only release it untranslated.

If that really is the case(and I believe it is), then were I in Playism’s shoes, I’d have told ZUN to get lost. It’s not worth the reputation, the insult to fans’ intelligence(especially when they had it patched within days), or catering to ZUN’s foolish pride.

As an aside, some may mention that Touhou games have begun to finally see some official release on Sony’s platforms… except these are only fan made ones.

All the games so far have been derivatives of Touhou works, nothing from the mainline series.

If this is the precedent that ZUN hopes to set in western territories with his franchise, then maybe it really is meant to stay over there. If ZUN doesn’t care about us, then we have no obligation to care about him.

Post-Mortem: Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters

This was a fascinating little game. Sadly it’s also very experimental, and part visual novel, meaning it’s going to get overlooked by reviewers and gamers alike.

TTGH is difficult to classify. It has elements of SRPGs, VNs, and modern occultism.

The big appeal here is the story, because I love modern day plots and the occult, and TTGH has plenty of both.

Aksys’ localization team again prove their work to be some of the best in the industry. Every character’s personality comes through with wit and charisma, and even the less likable characters(Mifune starts out as a total bitch) still come across as fleshed out and well developed.

Sadly, due to the episodic nature of the game, a lot of the more interesting characters wind up resigned to being important in a single chapter, but at least you get to hang out with them at the HQ.

What really brings the game down is the obtuse battle system.

While it makes sense that fighting ghosts should be a difficult venture and they should not be easy to confront, the implementation of it just feels kind of haphazard.

Battles are somewhat like SRPGs such as Eternal Poison and Fire Emblem… in theory.

Movement occurs on the grid, then the actual attacking gets displayed in 3D visualizations.

TTGH uses a very unique graphical style with hand-drawn art animated into short scenes, and it really makes the visuals pop.

It’s just a damn shame that most of the battles boil down to guess work. Maybe the ghost will be there when you attack it, or maybe it’ll move right past you and run into you, negating your turn altogether.

It makes the battles thrilling when your attacks do connect, but insanely frustrating when they don’t. It becomes less about strategy and more about guess work.

Of course, you can easily break the game when you unlock skills like Eagle Eye and buffing, which instantly show you ghosts and let you boost your ATK through the roof, but someone’s bound to get frustrated long before those skills come into play.

If you can adjust to that glaring flaw, then you’re in for one hell of a ghost hunting occult tale, one well worth experiencing again in the future. I can’t say I’ve ever played a game like it, which is usually the highest praise I can offer.

As an aside, although I happen to be straight, I couldn’t help but think that the two gay characters who appear in the game are borderline offensive. They’re caricatures at best, insulting at worst.

Maybe the community wouldn’t take offense by it, but I feel developers can do better than falling into gay stereotypes.

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni/When They Cry coming to Steam!

I said wow.

Definitely relevant to my interests, especially since MG said they might localize the fighting game(!) if this does well. SO BUY IT!

Would I let them use our script if they localized Ougon Musou Kyoku? HELL YES.

http://mangagamer.org/announcements/

Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers(PS1) Fan Translation officially cancelled

I know this might seem silly since we already have an official US release on the 3DS, but I still wanted this.

This project was originally started by Gemini(hacker) and Tom(translator) who were responsible for Persona 2: Innocent Sin’s PS1 fan translation.

Except this time, Atlus USA beat them to the punch.

It was suspected for a while that this meant the fan translation would get canned, and finally, from the project lead:

Pretty much dead at this point. EN2 will be my last patch released, will probably leave Little Princess to somebody interested and capable to give it the treatment it deserves. With the 3ds release I feel it’s kind of pointless and risky. Even Tom agreed that we forget it ever existed.

The translator’s thoughts:

1) As Gemini said, they’re a first draft and have not been checked in-game.
2) Anybody can start working with them, deriving translations from them, editing them and such, without consulting me.

If a hacker capable of working on it steps forward, then I’d be okay with collaborating with them… But I’m not going to actively push Gemini to hack SH when there is an official translation available, even if the official translation is “not perfect” (and nothing is perfect).

I wouldn’t say it’s completely pointless or risky to finish Soul Hackers… But there certainly is a cost/reward factor going here. Is the cost of the amount of work needed worth the reward of completing it? I can’t say that it is… I’d rather put the work I would have spent revising this into some of my other projects.

So why care about the classic version now that it’s officially been released on the 3DS?

Well, apart from the 3DS’ god-awful audio(you can barely hear anything in SH) and reduced resolution, there isn’t much reason to be honest.

Still, it’d be nice to play SH on a console. Also, the battles are like quadruple speed in the 3DS version.

Here’s how the OG looks, if you’re curious.
(Saturn version, spoilers!)

Suda 51 Interview: thoughts on Killer7 spinoffs, NMH3, and a TSC localization?

Felt the need to share this interview from Gamereactor, at a game development convention in Barcelona.

http://www.gamereactor.es/noticias/242804/Una+hora+de+fan-service+y+dise%F1o+de+videojuegos+con+Suda51/

Thanks to CaVaYeRo from NeoGAF for the time stamps. My thoughts after.

• 00:00 – Brief introduction, Suda means “you sweat” in Spanish.
• 03:32 – Killer 7 memories: Development freedom with Mikami-san, art style and complex, layered story.
• 06:45 – Flower, Sun and Rain: The unique loop-day structure and the tour guide book clues as fresh mechanics. PSOne vs PS2 development and non-action games. Lost (TV series) and Uchikosi-san (Virtue’s Last Reward) vibes.
• 12:56 – No More Heroes 3: What’s left to do and when.
• 15:06 – How to create GhM’s strong and unique characters. Indie creative freedom and publisher tastes. The NMH switch from PS3/Xbox 360 original shooter concept to Wii-focused final design.
• 19:43 – Suda-san as one of the last “Japanese dev stars”, “no more heroes” in game development? Hotline Miami devs as heroes and chemical brothers.
• 24:15 – Shadows of the Damned: Collaboration with Mikami-san and anecdotes, the funniest trip to EA. Mexican and Spanish influences, Latin passion, Suda-san “Spanish blood” and Barcelona inspiration.
• 31:50 – Lollipop Chainsaw: The zombi genre in a unique, B-class fun way. The US school comedy. The pitch trailer.
• 36:48 – The James Gunn involvement & commitment. Collaborating with filmakers, Suda as “the Robert Rodríguez of videogames”.
• 40:21 – Importance of art in GhM, “Art of Grasshopper Manufacture” album personal meaning, how to choose/hire an artist for the studio, team play like in FC Barcelona.
• 46:00 – GhM before and nowadays: grass-hopping from punk/indie style to business and GungHo owned studio, yet gaining creativity.
• 49:22 – Let it Die and concepts to share with young developers as inspiration and advice. Making games you’d like to play, nigh time creative mood, connection with people.
• 54:55 – Q&A from audience and readers:
– Killer 7 prequel or sequel chances.
– Marvel vs. Capcom and DC vs. Grasshopper Manufacture
– 58:20 – Times at Human Entertaiment wearing suit.
– 60:16 – The Silver Case remake chances.
– 61:50 – Opinion on indie games, innovative ideas and big publishers.
– 65:53 – Suda51 last advice for young developers. Three bullet points for game development: passion, finding your own form, finding your own rhythm.

Now, takeaways.

• Suda has no real plans for a Killer7 spinoff or sequel, but wouldn’t mind seeing a fan service game like “DC VS Grasshopper”. No real surprise, it’s no secret he prefers to do new things, i.e. ‘Kill The Past’. This is a constant subject in the interview.
• FSR’s time loop was the result of him wanting to do something different besides all the constant action games of the PS2 era. He’s glad he thought up the idea before Lost and Kotaro Uchikoshi(VLR/999).
• He’s very much aware of the desire for a TSC port, and wants people to play GHM’s first game.
• No mention of Lily Bergamo being changed to Let It Die whatsoever. I bet the topic is taboo. I’m sure he’s as unhappy as everyone else.
• Human made him wear a suit to work, so it seemed fitting that a ‘weird’ company like GHM came about as a result.

Personally? I feel he’s hamstrung by GungHo and  it is very unlikely, but with the interest he mentioned in the GHM book(being approached by Spanish companies to localize TSC), I hope it’s possible.

Dragon Force II Fan Translation (Saturn)

I am late as hell to this one, but better late than never.

http://verve-fanworks.com/

(Full disclosure: I helped test on this, but not as much as I’d have liked to. I was not involved in the project beyond that, and a massive love for the original game.)

I’ve yet to finish it, and although I feel this pales in comparison to the masterpiece original, this is still a fine game that is worth playing for any DF fan, especially to reward the fan translation team’s biblical efforts. This baby was YEARS in the making, and is a landmark achievement.

Go bring ruin to the invaders!

HYPE TRAILER!

Digimon:Redigitize Fan Translation (PSP)

Full disclosure: I have nothing to do with this project whatsoever, but I’m going to make it a point to share the hard work of other translation teams, because boy do I know how it feels to devote a lot of work to a niche cause.

https://digimonworldre.wordpress.com/

This is a full translation of the PSP successor to Digimon World. I’m not that familiar with the franchise, but I’m sure the site has plenty of awesome helpful info.

If the art looks familiar,it should! The character design is by Suzuhito Yasuda of Durarara! and Devil Survivor (in)fame.

Be sure to show the team some love!

The Art of Grasshopper Manufacture: Suda51 on industry limitations & creative freedom

First off, you should buy this for the artwork. There is some brilliant artistry on display.

From Killer Is Dead to Shadows of the Damned to Sine Mora to Lollipop Chainsaw to No More Heroes to Killer7 to Flower, Sun, & Rain to The Silver Case and back again, this has something for everyone.

You can easily get it at Amazon.jp for around $40, with shipping,and with a full English translation included.

(Image credit to Neogaf’s Eolz)

What REALLY makes this fascinating is Suda’s personal tidbits on every game in the book. Not just the mainstream stuff, he even comments on projects that he merely oversaw or assisted on like Contact, Evangelion: 3nd Impact, and the iOS game Frog Minutes.

Here’s some fascinating excerpts.

On Shadows of the Damned, and EA making him do FIVE DRAFTS:

They[EA] told us that ‘westerners are about guns, so give him a gun’, and the direction of the project turned 180 degrees. EA is a really macho company, and we argued with them as we developed it. Their demands were really strong. WE ended up drafting the scenario five times before it was completed. In the end, each was so unique that it felt like I had basically written five different games.

In the very final(fifth) draft, it turned into a love story. EA informed us, “There’s this thing called an ‘elevator draft’, and if you can’t tell your story in the length of an elevator ride, Hollywood won’t use it.” All their stories fall into one of four categories.

On Sine Mora.

The scenario was written entirely by Digital Reality’s director at the time, Theodore Reiker. He was also a Hungarian, and was thinking of basing the story off of Hungary’s war history. Hungary has a history of constantly losing in battle, so the sadness of those wartime events made its way into the game. Some very powerful emotions went into this project. I had a mostly hands-off approach with this project, doing little more than play testing.

On Killer Is Dead, Lollipop Chainsaw, and Kadokawa Games being all about the bottom dollar.

There was a strong request from our publisher, Kadokawa Games, to include sexy female characters, so although we originally only had Vivienne and Mika, we started to add even more to the game. We added a “gigolo mission” in order to boost sales. As for the female character designs, Kadokawa’s demands became very overwhelming, to the point that there wasn’t room for my own ideas.

We had just finished an earlier project, Lollipop Chainsaw, and I really didn’t want there to be this image of “Grasshopper = erotic”. Lollipop’s backstory wasn’t supposed to be erotic at all, but it turned out that way because we added the shell bikini costume(among others)later in development.

However, that was done because the publisher, Kadokawa Games, had a solid idea of what sells, and that became a good learning experience. The development was hard, but in the end, we had fun making this game.

On No More Heroes & No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle:

With No More Heroes, we wrote the story first. We made it based on my scenario, but for 2, it was the opposite and we did the characters first. If I had to say, the story was rather thin. That’s the difference between 1 and 2.

On Killer7, and Shinji Mikami providing complete creative freedom.

Killer7 was a game that I designed and checked practically by myself. I originally wasn’t going to do it alone, but Mikami wouldn’t hear of it. That was ultra-Spartan, but I absolutely had to do it all myself.

I really liked the scenario, but I had to ask someone else to substitute for some of the work. When Mikami read it, he asked,”This isn’t your scenario, is it?” When I said, “Ah,I left this to some other staff because of the workload,” He replied, “No, it’s no good. Please write it all.” Then, I supposed, if he really liked it that much, I need to meet his expectations, and wrote every last word and phrase. I don’t think I could make a game like that again.

At that point, Mikami entrusted the making of the entire game to me. I think I was probably protected by him(even from Capcom) when the release date was pushed back. He provided an environment that let me create everything I wanted to create. That kind of development is really rare. I haven’t had an experience like that since, a project like Killer7 that I practically made with my own hands.

Truly, I feel like Mikami really protected me all the way.

On Flower, Sun, and Rain:

There were many fans who said this was their favorite game. It’s a mysterious game. If I look back on it now, I think, “So I was able to make a game like this?” It’s an adventure game that’s difficult to explain. I was originally from the very bottom of the game company Human Inc., but the other staff had different origins, so I probably seemed like a stray dog to some of them. In any case, I still wanted to create something new, even if we argued all the time.

On The Silver Case:

This is an illustration from Parade, the third episode. During the original draft, Miyamoto’s illustration cut schedule was packed, so I only asked him for all the cuts for the third episode.

When we ported Silver Case for the DS, Miyamoto took a break from the illustration that he was doing on Ward 25 at the time and started on all the cuts for this parade. In the end, we finished the port to the DS but weren’t able to distribute it, so this illustration hasn’t been distbruted either. Now I want to remake The Silver Case, not just port it.

Silver Case is something I’d like to release outside of Japan someday. I have been getting some offers from a Spanish company to localize it along with some other titles. This was my first original title and the debut for Grasshopper, so it’s really important to us.

I wanted to make a game that can’t be deciphered in just a single glance. It was difficult to get the staff to understand that. I guess I really did look like a doubtful character, a “stray dog”. But if I have to say, I think I really wanted to go down the path of making a game in a way that no one had ever achieved before.

The Silver Case is like the history of that battle.

Let’s Streaming Thursdays – Featuring Yakuza 2!

I like to feature obscure games on my equally obscure streaming channel every so often.

Here’s one of them!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cj_iwakura

Not sure if it’ll become tradition, but if turnout warrants it, it might!

Post-Mortem: Deus Ex – Human Revolution

I didn’t ask for this.

Yeah, Jensen, I know.

Deus Ex HR had a pretty steep climb awaiting it from the get-go. Not only is it the prequel to one of the most beloved(and replayed) PC RPGs of all time(of which I’ll share my thoughts one day), it also follows on the heels of a sequel that was widely disliked at best; more commonly considered an insult to the franchise.

Where Infinity War went wrong(focusing more on action over being an open-ended RPG), HR seeks to stay true to the original. It certainly succeeds. Each level has a wide variety of objectives and methods in which to complete them.

Want to stay unseen, and only crack skulls when absolutely necessary? Adam’s your man.

Want to turn into a mass-murdering vigilante, blowing apart and skewering anyone who dares to cross you? He can do that too.

Apart from getting a little tedious, the gameplay stays enjoyable all the way through. Even the controversial boss fights, while quite difficult, are nothing the protagonist can’t handle without some quick movement and thinking. Well, being armed to the teeth helps as well, but that’s never difficult.

Where HR really shines is, thankfully, the story. As good as the original game’s mechanics were, it was really the story and characters that people often remember. Choices mattered, relationships could change based on how the protagonist acted. The world was believable and thought-provoking.

Human Revolution delivers on all this, too. Where the original game was in a cyberpunk-styled world already sinking into disrepair and ruin, HR takes place in a civilization at the peak of innovation.

There’s chaos on the horizon, though, and it’s clear the utopia isn’t going to last much longer.

The game really glows through character interactions, especially as the protagonist engages in debates with key figures. These verbal conflicts are often more engaging(and challenging) than any of the boss fights, and easily the highlight of an already great game.

Sure, you can augment the protagonist to get additional insight into their minds so you can know how to respond, but where’s the fun in that? (It’s actually quite fun.)

HR was a big success critically and financially, so even though the ending ties smoothly into the original game, hopefully the team at Eidos Montreal find a way to build on the foundation they’ve created.

He might not ask for it, but I will.