Nintendo fans launching massive campaign to get Wii RPGs localized, Reggie laughs

Jave

I don't think the fact that Nintendo not releasing the games is the bigger problem, but the fact they're not telling us WHY they're not releasing them. The way they keep dodging the issue even when asked directly is annoying and almost insulting. I'm hoping that at least a statement comes out of all this.

But I'll make a prediction: Before fiscal 2011 is over, at least one of these games will have a confirmed release date (if not already out) here in the Americas.

Here in the what?

V Faction

Drez wrote:

Look, I don't expect any company to take a loss for the purposes of disseminating entertainment products overseas, but I do expect them to make a better effort of it. In my opinion, these companies fall back on the excuse of "it won't make money" too often. Maybe if they spent more money advertising these so-called niche products, and maybe if Nintendo had paid more attention to what they were doing with the Wii in America in the first place, it WOULD make money. Or it would at least break even.

Sorry to cherrypick your comment from the larger post, but this part seemed a little odd. Nintendo has made efforts to market niche and non-niche Japanese titles here in the west. When big giants like Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest can't penetrate the barrier (or at least to the heights of their success in Japan), the results are seen as a failure. So, I think it's more a question of not marketing period, but rather how they do market--the right kind versus the wrong kind. I've got some ideas on how it could be "better", but who knows if what I or anyone else thinks could be the right way to tap into the environment here in NA. Spending gobs and gobs of money on the wrong advertising is just as bad as little to no marketing at all.

Ultimately, the North American market spoke with their cash and dollars. They made stuff like the next Mario and Wii Fit and Wii Sports a huge success. Day in and day out, this is the biggest message that gets buzzed to Nintendo HQ. Right now, if people are true to their commitment and stick with their pre-orders, and things like Japanese sales of the games like Xenoblade go up as a result, then it could be enough to tip the scales in getting noticed among the usual successful stuff.

JihadJesus

Well in this specific case I don't think marketing has much to do with - it's niche title with a clear ceiling. It just takes a different approach - Atlus has made a living off of title like this with much lower production values. It isn't in any way impossible to make a profit off of a niche game, you just have to be willing to recognize it as such.

In this specific case, it probably stands to make Nitendo an (admittedly small) profit given the likely volume of sales, but then releasing the game at all could essentially be seen a marketing cost when all of the development has already been paid for.

AbsoluteZero

I could see Xenoblade getting a limited release out of this, but not the others.

wirehead26

Why the fuck did Mother 3 never get officially localized anyway?

Maddoc

wirehead26 wrote: »

Why the fuck did Mother 3 never get officially localized anyway?

Most likely reason, in my opinion? It came out in Japan two years after the DS had launched worldwide.

Fig-D

Not all that interested in Pandora's Tower, but I'd throw my $50 at the other two.

V Faction

Look at it this way:

1) Three is generally a good number.

2) Getting one over here could open the floodgates for the others.

3) All three are published by Nintendo, a clear commonality that makes sense.

4) All of them are quite recent. Still fresh in the mind.

5) Pandora's Tower is the most recent and is actually rated M.

Interests may vary (they may not even apply to any of these 3), but the unification makes them standout more. It creates a more compelling argument.

Rakai

Maddoc wrote: »

wirehead26 wrote: »

Why the fuck did Mother 3 never get officially localized anyway?

Most likely reason, in my opinion? It came out in Japan two years after the DS had launched worldwide.

Legal most likely killed that franchise. The music it used was inspired by a number of sources (although the legal issues aren't as bad as 2). It was released on a handheld whose successor was already on the market for 2 years and was a franchise the creator had no intention of continuing. Nintendo most likely didn't want to worry about being sued and perhaps releasing 3 would draw attention to 2 and get them sued for that given that it was released as EarthBound.

Dritz

Bit off topic but someone mentioned Arc Rise Fantasia, was that any good?

Chris FOM

V Faction wrote: »

Drez wrote:

Look, I don't expect any company to take a loss for the purposes of disseminating entertainment products overseas, but I do expect them to make a better effort of it. In my opinion, these companies fall back on the excuse of "it won't make money" too often. Maybe if they spent more money advertising these so-called niche products, and maybe if Nintendo had paid more attention to what they were doing with the Wii in America in the first place, it WOULD make money. Or it would at least break even.

Sorry to cherrypick your comment from the larger post, but this part seemed a little odd. Nintendo has made efforts to market niche and non-niche Japanese titles here in the west. When big giants like Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest can't penetrate the barrier (or at least to the heights of their success in Japan), the results are seen as a failure. So, I think it's more a question of not marketing period, but rather how they do market--the right kind versus the wrong kind. I've got some ideas on how it could be "better", but who knows if what I or anyone else thinks could be the right way to tap into the environment here in NA. Spending gobs and gobs of money on the wrong advertising is just as bad as little to no marketing at all.

Ultimately, the North American market spoke with their cash and dollars. They made stuff like the next Mario and Wii Fit and Wii Sports a huge success. Day in and day out, this is the biggest message that gets buzzed to Nintendo HQ. Right now, if people are true to their commitment and stick with their pre-orders, and things like Japanese sales of the games like Xenoblade go up as a result, then it could be enough to tip the scales in getting noticed among the usual successful stuff.

Dragon Quest IX did over a million copies for Nintendo (last fiscal report). They were apparently pleased enough with the results that NoA assumed publishing responsibilities for Dragon Quest VI from SquareEnix, who had previously published DQ Rocket Slime, Monsters, IV, and V on the DS. Nintendo is also publishing DQ Monsters 2. So the franchise may not be the massive success it is in Japan, but it seems to be doing something right and NoA continues to back it heavily. Monster Hunter Tri also did 126,000 in its opening week and supposedly did reasonably well afterwards. Maybe not huge numbers, but far better than the series had previously performed in the West.

Not every game is going to be a megahit. Nintendo knew Kirby's Epic Yarn wouldn't put up NSMB numbers, and yet they funded and published it. NSMB Wii did 20 million on the Wii, and yet Nintendo did Mario Galaxy 2 knowing it would cost more and sell less because they wanted to do so. Metroid Prime Trilogy was a love-letter to fans. As was Sin & Punishment 2 (and without knowing hard numbers and expectations I'd be hesitant to call it a retail bomb, that game was always going to be niche as hell). Or plenty of others for the Wii/DS, and even more on the GameCube/GBA. You can still get a nice return on investment without selling 20 million copies, and it's only recently that Nintendo has seriously started clamping down on what they bring over.

Drez

Rakai wrote: »

Maddoc wrote: »

wirehead26 wrote: »

Why the fuck did Mother 3 never get officially localized anyway?

Most likely reason, in my opinion? It came out in Japan two years after the DS had launched worldwide.

Legal most likely killed that franchise. The music it used was inspired by a number of sources (although the legal issues aren't as bad as 2). It was released on a handheld whose successor was already on the market for 2 years and was a franchise the creator had no intention of continuing. Nintendo most likely didn't want to worry about being sued and perhaps releasing 3 would draw attention to 2 and get them sued for that given that it was released as EarthBound.

Honestly, I think Nintendo engages in Nipponcentrism from time to time, and I think it informs decisions like the above - whether or not to get Mother 3 localized. They aren't particularly terrible about it given the entire industry. It's not like they don't like or value the American (or European) markets, it's more like they just don't give a shit what we think. We either conform to and consume what they want to shovel at as or we can basically go fuck ourselves. It's a thing. Probably the worst, most obvious culprit (at least in the video game industry) is Square Enix.

Maybe I'm wrong about Nintendo, I don't know, I just don't feel like they actually care about the consumer that much. It's more like "This is our vision. This is what we're going to do. Enjoy it or don't."

CygnusZ

Drez wrote: »

Chen wrote: »

The level of self-entitlement is astounding. Nintendo is a business. They don't owe you anything. Likewise you don't owe them anything. If you don't like what they're doing then don't buy their products. Vote with your wallet etc. Or you could offer to support this movement instead of bickering about Nintendo's business decisions on an Internet forum.

When all is said and done, I disagree with you.

I am usually the first person to cry "entitlement complex" here, especially with regard to G&T. But in this case we are talking about the dissemination of art.

Yes, Nintendo is a business. No, they aren't and shouldn't be legally obligated to provide any specific product to any particular region.

However, I think the gatekeepers of art do have some moral duty to trend toward global dissemination over regionalization, especially now, with the global systems we have in place and the nature of this specific industry where data can be easily transmitted across the sea without the need for physical delivery.

I know I am reducing this subject to an almost absurd degree, but at the end of the day we can either shrug and just accept what companies offer us, or we can in turn offer up our own voices in protest. In this case, I don't see an entitlement complex. Consumers simply want the ability to consume certain products, and legitimately.

Look, I don't expect any company to take a loss for the purposes of disseminating entertainment products overseas, but I do expect them to make a better effort of it. In my opinion, these companies fall back on the excuse of "it won't make money" too often. Maybe if they spent more money advertising these so-called niche products, and maybe if Nintendo had paid more attention to what they were doing with the Wii in America in the first place, it WOULD make money. Or it would at least break even.

And breaking even isn't a bad thing. Companies like Square Enix more or less have a perpetual middle finger pointed up at non-Japanese regions. They might not make a killing porting their Final Mixes and International Versions over here but I refuse to believe they would take a loss. So, to me, it comes down to laziness. I expect better of Nintendo. I expect better of Square Enix. When you have much smaller publishers like ATLUS at least making a damn good effort to properly port/localize AND market their products overseas, then you have to ask yourself why Square and Nintendo can't do the same.

It's because they don't have to and because nobody calls them on it.

Well...we can call them on it. They will never actually "have to" do anything, but that doesn't mean that we who want to purchase and experience these things have an entitlement complex in pointing out how crappy the current consumer situation is.

1) Companies do not have a "moral obligation" to release their entire catalogs worldwide. Movies can be transmitted through the internet, does that mean that Hollywood has a moral obligation to translate every obscure movie into Japanese and release it in Japan? How about books? How about music?

The only place where a moral obligation exists are in fields where the non-release of a technology has the potential to create significant harm. For example, refusal to distribute AIDs medication in South Africa because it's impossible to turn a profit could be seen as unethical.

2) Localization and publishing aren't cheap. Localization requires programming changes, which means that you have the developers who could be working on a new game stuck reformatting the text and tweaking the code to run in English. In other words, it can be a pretty huge opportunity cost. And if a game wasn't designed with foreign markets in mind it can take a lot of time to translate and edit the script. It's not that SE is "giving you the middle finger" for not release final mix or whatever, it's because it has real costs that are realistically never going to be recouped.

Publishing isn't cheap either. First of all, you need to actually press the discs and create the packing. Second of all, products have to be to conform to the laws and standards of the country of release. For example, submitting the game to the ERSB. There may be a need to change game content depending on what they tell you. Sometimes conforming to laws is simply expensive, like having to print up a second set of instruction manuals in French for Canadians. Third of all, as you've pointed out, the economy is global. So not only do you need to go through this progress, you better be sure that your niche market hasn't already imported the game from another market.

---

The fanaticism that surrounds Nintendo never ceases to amaze me.

pslong9

Dritz wrote: »

Bit off topic but someone mentioned Arc Rise Fantasia, was that any good?

It was decent. Everyone rips on the voice acting, and deservedly so, but it goes from "OH GOD MY EARS" to "eh, it's not so bad" after you get past the first couple of hours. The story is your generic "save the world using the power of elemental spirits", so don't expect anything earth-shattering. The music largely falls under the same themes that you'd expect from a JRPG, but there are a few standout tracks.

At least the battle system / weapon system is unique, and I think it's extremely well done. The battle system is turn-based, but instead of each character having a turn, you have a set of points that you can distribute however you'd like. So if you want the main character to attack 3 times, you can. If you want all of your characters to attack once, you can. When it comes to boss battles, this system provides a lot more strategy than I've seen in the traditional turn-based battle systems. Weapons also are unique in that they all have the same attack power, if you will. They differ in that each weapon has a 4x4 (I think?) grid, which comes with two gems that provide bonuses. One is locked to the weapon, and the other can be removed and placed with other weapons. The weapons require "weapon points" (think EXP but for your weapon) to expand the grid (starts out 3x3) and to get access to the removable gem. Each weapon also has a bonus stat that only comes into effect if the entire grid is filled. Again, it's one of the more unique takes I've seen on a battle system in an RPG.

If you're looking for a lengthy JRPG and you're okay with a mediocre story and poor VA, it's decent. On a true 1-10 scale, with 5 being average, I'd give it a 5. It's an average, okay game. As I said, the battle system is great and unique, but it doesn't do enough to overcome the poor voice acting and recycled JRPG story. But again, if you enjoy JRPGs and are searching out a new one, this one would satisfy that yearning.

Drez

CygnusZ wrote: »

Drez wrote: »

Chen wrote: »

The level of self-entitlement is astounding. Nintendo is a business. They don't owe you anything. Likewise you don't owe them anything. If you don't like what they're doing then don't buy their products. Vote with your wallet etc. Or you could offer to support this movement instead of bickering about Nintendo's business decisions on an Internet forum.

When all is said and done, I disagree with you.

I am usually the first person to cry "entitlement complex" here, especially with regard to G&T. But in this case we are talking about the dissemination of art.

Yes, Nintendo is a business. No, they aren't and shouldn't be legally obligated to provide any specific product to any particular region.

However, I think the gatekeepers of art do have some moral duty to trend toward global dissemination over regionalization, especially now, with the global systems we have in place and the nature of this specific industry where data can be easily transmitted across the sea without the need for physical delivery.

I know I am reducing this subject to an almost absurd degree, but at the end of the day we can either shrug and just accept what companies offer us, or we can in turn offer up our own voices in protest. In this case, I don't see an entitlement complex. Consumers simply want the ability to consume certain products, and legitimately.

Look, I don't expect any company to take a loss for the purposes of disseminating entertainment products overseas, but I do expect them to make a better effort of it. In my opinion, these companies fall back on the excuse of "it won't make money" too often. Maybe if they spent more money advertising these so-called niche products, and maybe if Nintendo had paid more attention to what they were doing with the Wii in America in the first place, it WOULD make money. Or it would at least break even.

And breaking even isn't a bad thing. Companies like Square Enix more or less have a perpetual middle finger pointed up at non-Japanese regions. They might not make a killing porting their Final Mixes and International Versions over here but I refuse to believe they would take a loss. So, to me, it comes down to laziness. I expect better of Nintendo. I expect better of Square Enix. When you have much smaller publishers like ATLUS at least making a damn good effort to properly port/localize AND market their products overseas, then you have to ask yourself why Square and Nintendo can't do the same.

It's because they don't have to and because nobody calls them on it.

Well...we can call them on it. They will never actually "have to" do anything, but that doesn't mean that we who want to purchase and experience these things have an entitlement complex in pointing out how crappy the current consumer situation is.

1) Companies do not have a "moral obligation" to release their entire catalogs worldwide. Movies can be transmitted through the internet, does that mean that Hollywood has a moral obligation to translate every obscure movie into Japanese and release it in Japan? How about books? How about music?

The only place where a moral obligation exists are in fields where the non-release of a technology has the potential to create significant harm. For example, refusal to distribute AIDs medication in South Africa because it's impossible to turn a profit could be seen as unethical.

2) Localization and publishing aren't cheap. Localization requires programming changes, which means that you have the developers who could be working on a new game stuck reformatting the text and tweaking the code to run in English. In other words, it can be a pretty huge opportunity cost. And if a game wasn't designed with foreign markets in mind it can take a lot of time to translate and edit the script. It's not that SE is "giving you the middle finger" for not release final mix or whatever, it's because it has real costs that are realistically never going to be recouped.

Publishing isn't cheap either. First of all, you need to actually press the discs and create the packing. Second of all, products have to be to conform to the laws and standards of the country of release. For example, submitting the game to the ERSB. There may be a need to change game content depending on what they tell you. Sometimes conforming to laws is simply expensive, like having to print up a second set of instruction manuals in French for Canadians. Third of all, as you've pointed out, the economy is global. So not only do you need to go through this progress, you better be sure that your niche market hasn't already imported the game from another market.

---

The fanaticism that surrounds Nintendo never ceases to amaze me.

This isn't about Nintendo, it is about the state of our current tug of war between globalization and regionalization.

Globalization is better. It is better for everyone if art were available everywhere. I already said, I do not expect any company to actually throw money away. What I do expect, and what I do think is a moral duty, is to trend away from laziness and bean counting. THAT is what companies like Nintendo and Square Enix engage in.

I also believe that if you have a choice between not-turning-a-large-profit-but-recouping-losses and not bothering, the better moral choice with regard to this subject is the former, not the latter. I absolutely do not think companies need to throw money away. But I also do not believe for a second that companies don't look at their potential profit margins for certain and go "eh, why bother?"

You can disagree. I am sure many people do. I don't think that companies should have a legal obligation to "gamble" on products, but I do think they don't even put the effort in to figure out how to properly market and release more things overseas and that laziness or whatever you want to call it not good.

Also, the solution to squelching imports? Release them in ALL locales at the same time. Despite what Square Enix would like everyone to believe, proper localization does not require 9-15 months of work.

V Faction

Chris FOM wrote: »

Dragon Quest IX did over a million copies for Nintendo (last fiscal report). They were apparently pleased enough with the results that NoA assumed publishing responsibilities for Dragon Quest VI from SquareEnix, who had previously published DQ Rocket Slime, Monsters, IV, and V on the DS. Nintendo is also publishing DQ Monsters 2. So the franchise may not be the massive success it is in Japan, but it seems to be doing something right and NoA continues to back it heavily. Monster Hunter Tri also did 126,000 in its opening week and supposedly did reasonably well afterwards. Maybe not huge numbers, but far better than the series had previously performed in the West.

Not every game is going to be a megahit. Nintendo knew Kirby's Epic Yarn wouldn't put up NSMB numbers, and yet they funded and published it. NSMB Wii did 20 million on the Wii, and yet Nintendo did Mario Galaxy 2 knowing it would cost more and sell less because they wanted to do so. Metroid Prime Trilogy was a love-letter to fans. As was Sin & Punishment 2 (and without knowing hard numbers and expectations I'd be hesitant to call it a retail bomb, that game was always going to be niche as hell). Or plenty of others for the Wii/DS, and even more on the GameCube/GBA. You can still get a nice return on investment without selling 20 million copies, and it's only recently that Nintendo has seriously started clamping down on what they bring over.

Really? Because my understanding was that they wanted to hit the same numbers as DKCR (for Kirby).

If you're talking familiar franchises or sequels, I get the feeling the Big N is teensy bit more comfortable with taking the risk on bringing the games to a new market. But for new ventures or unknown franchises, it's definitely more of a leap of faith. They may have simply become more and more hesitant over time to take that leap without a safety harness. So while these mega-recognizable games do enough to sell, in the end it still doesn't do any convincing for the lesser known games. And that goes back to my whole marketing argument: is it the name that sells? What's the right way to make it so the unknown games can be brought out into a vicious market where the economy stinks, bias is in favor of Western games, and above all is brutal on the dollar conversion?

UncleSporky

IGN is now saying they haven't heard from Nintendo yet but have been reassured that a statement is coming, if not today then tomorrow or Wednesday.

In response, the internet immediately became hopeful that the response would be well-considered and not simply canned, as that would've been easy to push out at any time.

plufim

Awesome. So now the rest of the world gets Excitebots, right?


Right?

Linespider5

Hell, who knows?

I'm almost crazy enough to suggest Nintendo might be preferring to eventually repackage Xenoblade on the WiiU where it might do better merely by being a launch game on a brand new system.

AbsoluteZero

UncleSporky wrote: »

IGN is now saying they haven't heard from Nintendo yet but have been reassured that a statement is coming, if not today then tomorrow or Wednesday.

In response, the internet immediately became hopeful that the response would be well-considered and not simply canned, as that would've been easy to push out at any time.

Or ... IGN is full of shit and now scrambling to get a comment from Nintendo.

UncleSporky

AbsoluteZero wrote: »

UncleSporky wrote: »

IGN is now saying they haven't heard from Nintendo yet but have been reassured that a statement is coming, if not today then tomorrow or Wednesday.

In response, the internet immediately became hopeful that the response would be well-considered and not simply canned, as that would've been easy to push out at any time.

Or ... IGN is full of shit and now scrambling to get a comment from Nintendo.

One thing's for sure, it'd be trivial for Ninty to tell Amazon to pull the listing and that'd be that. If they were going to do it they probably would've done it by now.

carmofin

pslong9 wrote: »

Dritz wrote: »

Bit off topic but someone mentioned Arc Rise Fantasia, was that any good?

It was decent. Everyone rips on the voice acting, and deservedly so, but it goes from "OH GOD MY EARS" to "eh, it's not so bad" after you get past the first couple of hours. The story is your generic "save the world using the power of elemental spirits", so don't expect anything earth-shattering. The music largely falls under the same themes that you'd expect from a JRPG, but there are a few standout tracks.

At least the battle system / weapon system is unique, and I think it's extremely well done. The battle system is turn-based, but instead of each character having a turn, you have a set of points that you can distribute however you'd like. So if you want the main character to attack 3 times, you can. If you want all of your characters to attack once, you can. When it comes to boss battles, this system provides a lot more strategy than I've seen in the traditional turn-based battle systems. Weapons also are unique in that they all have the same attack power, if you will. They differ in that each weapon has a 4x4 (I think?) grid, which comes with two gems that provide bonuses. One is locked to the weapon, and the other can be removed and placed with other weapons. The weapons require "weapon points" (think EXP but for your weapon) to expand the grid (starts out 3x3) and to get access to the removable gem. Each weapon also has a bonus stat that only comes into effect if the entire grid is filled. Again, it's one of the more unique takes I've seen on a battle system in an RPG.

If you're looking for a lengthy JRPG and you're okay with a mediocre story and poor VA, it's decent. On a true 1-10 scale, with 5 being average, I'd give it a 5. It's an average, okay game. As I said, the battle system is great and unique, but it doesn't do enough to overcome the poor voice acting and recycled JRPG story. But again, if you enjoy JRPGs and are searching out a new one, this one would satisfy that yearning.

I would actually give it a much better grade then that. It's not groundbreaking, but it's much much better then any of your regular Tales-installments at least. Overall the game is a very solid JRPG that suffers a little form pacing issues towards the end.

Moioink

Chen wrote: »

Wait a minute. I just heard about Monolith Soft's other project, Soma Bringer, which I am told is a Diablo clone with multiplayer co-op. Forget Last Story! They should bring this over here instead! Never mind it's a two year-old DS game! I need something to mull over obsessively before Diablo 3 arrives.

It has been fan translated, semi related but so has Tales of Innocence. Fire Emblem DS 2 and Miles Edgeworth 2 are in the works currently because it seems like neither will be localised.

I admire the enthusiasm of this campaign but at the same time it seems weird to have to beg for NOA to have a worthwhile release schedule for the Wii. Flash cartridges are cheap and Wiis are easy to hack for region free: If they won't localise stuff then there are other avenues.

Synthesis

As a person who was much more likely to buy a Gamecube than a Wii in the past decade, this thread has been pretty eye-opening. I think the complaints--as far as complaints can be--are fairly valid. Is Nintendo obligated to listen? Of course not, no more than they are obligated to leave their hooker-filled money vault for business outside of human survival and running their publicly-traded company. But people are not obligated to grin and bear with their frustrations.

I'm going to keep following this myself. I've had a long history of disappointment with localization efforts (Sakura Taisen.....*sigh*), but that's come and gone years ago. It's very interesting to hear about this now.

Dritz

carmofin wrote: »

pslong9 wrote: »

Dritz wrote: »

Bit off topic but someone mentioned Arc Rise Fantasia, was that any good?

It was decent. Everyone rips on the voice acting, and deservedly so, but it goes from "OH GOD MY EARS" to "eh, it's not so bad" after you get past the first couple of hours. The story is your generic "save the world using the power of elemental spirits", so don't expect anything earth-shattering. The music largely falls under the same themes that you'd expect from a JRPG, but there are a few standout tracks.

At least the battle system / weapon system is unique, and I think it's extremely well done. The battle system is turn-based, but instead of each character having a turn, you have a set of points that you can distribute however you'd like. So if you want the main character to attack 3 times, you can. If you want all of your characters to attack once, you can. When it comes to boss battles, this system provides a lot more strategy than I've seen in the traditional turn-based battle systems. Weapons also are unique in that they all have the same attack power, if you will. They differ in that each weapon has a 4x4 (I think?) grid, which comes with two gems that provide bonuses. One is locked to the weapon, and the other can be removed and placed with other weapons. The weapons require "weapon points" (think EXP but for your weapon) to expand the grid (starts out 3x3) and to get access to the removable gem. Each weapon also has a bonus stat that only comes into effect if the entire grid is filled. Again, it's one of the more unique takes I've seen on a battle system in an RPG.

If you're looking for a lengthy JRPG and you're okay with a mediocre story and poor VA, it's decent. On a true 1-10 scale, with 5 being average, I'd give it a 5. It's an average, okay game. As I said, the battle system is great and unique, but it doesn't do enough to overcome the poor voice acting and recycled JRPG story. But again, if you enjoy JRPGs and are searching out a new one, this one would satisfy that yearning.

I would actually give it a much better grade then that. It's not groundbreaking, but it's much much better then any of your regular Tales-installments at least. Overall the game is a very solid JRPG that suffers a little form pacing issues towards the end.

Sounds like it's worth a look thanks. I just finished DQVI and am working through Radiant Historia so it'd probably feel like a bit of a step down but I imagine it can be gotten pretty cheap.

cj iwakura

Algertman wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

Well, maybe the Wii U will bomb and then Nintendo will go out like Sega.

Poetic justice.

How old are you?

29. I was in Sega's camp from Genesis to Dreamcast, I'm entitled to be bitter against Nintendo. :P

Andy Joe

These games all look good and I'd buy them if they came out in America, but honestly between my GBA, PSP, and NDS games I have enough long JRPGs in my backlog as it is.

Igpx407

I posted this in the Xenoblade thread but it seems like a good idea to post it here too: Scathing article from Wired on Nintendo's import policies

Brainiac 8

Canadian shopping site added pre-order entries for the three games just to support the cause.

http://vgplus.blogspot.com/2011/06/were-joining-operation-rainfall.html

Holy crap.

L Ron Howard

I have a Wii, though I don't play it often enough at all. I would like to add a preorder to help everyone out, but I don't really think I'd get around to playing any games. I have enough PC and 360 games as it is.

Algertman

cj iwakura wrote: »

Algertman wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

Well, maybe the Wii U will bomb and then Nintendo will go out like Sega.

Poetic justice.

How old are you?

29. I was in Sega's camp from Genesis to Dreamcast, I'm entitled to be bitter against Nintendo. :P

Then you should know there's no way Nintendo could go out like Sega because they aren't that stupid. Unless you call the 32x, SegaCD, and Saturn a success that is. But if you do you might as well lump PSPGo in with those as well.

Sega had failure after failure before the Dreamcast even hit. There was no digging themselves of the hardware grave they put themselves in.

Brainiac 8

Xenoblade confirmed for Aussie release:

http://www.vooks.net/story-20261-Xenoblade-Chronicles-hits-Europe-September-2nd-Australia-as-well.html


This leaves the US as the only major territory without a release confirmation.

Algertman

We'll get it.

Brainiac 8

Yea, I'm thinking it's still on its way here, they just haven't said so yet.

The Last Story and Pandora's Tower I'm less hopeful about.

Drez

Igpx407 wrote: »

I posted this in the Xenoblade thread but it seems like a good idea to post it here too: Scathing article from Wired on Nintendo's import policies

Wait, Trace Memory has a sequel?

Jave

I wouldn't cry foul too early on Pandora. It only came out in Japan last month, so regardless of what Nintendo's plans are, by localization standards this game is not particularly late.

Drez

And we're not getting Ace Attorney Investigations 2.

I am pissed. I am pissed more about that than anything else. Jesus Christ.

PaperLuigi44

Don't remind me

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

Xenoblade confirmed for Aussie release:

http://www.vooks.net/story-20261-Xenoblade-Chronicles-hits-Europe-September-2nd-Australia-as-well.html


This leaves the US as the only major territory without a release confirmation.

Huh, I liked the music that's been posted here so I might give it a look.

Vegan

Drez wrote: »

Igpx407 wrote: »

I posted this in the Xenoblade thread but it seems like a good idea to post it here too: Scathing article from Wired on Nintendo's import policies

Wait, Trace Memory has a sequel?

Yes.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-Another-Code-R-Wii/dp/B002AAVDUY

Bioptic

Vegan wrote: »

Drez wrote: »

Igpx407 wrote: »

I posted this in the Xenoblade thread but it seems like a good idea to post it here too: Scathing article from Wired on Nintendo's import policies

Wait, Trace Memory has a sequel?

Yes.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-Another-Code-R-Wii/dp/B002AAVDUY

And it's actually quite good, in a snoozy ultra-relaxed sort of way! Certainly feels like you're exploring more of a world than what I've seen of the DS game

And y'know what? I liked Disaster: Day of Crisis. It's a collection of gimmicky minigames interspersed with competent rail shooter sequences and a ludicrous plot, which gives it the feel of an even stupider and hyper-condensed series of 24.