THE iDOLM@STER > THE iDOLM@STER 2
Vic Ireland on translating im@s
Treemotan:
Nah, I do see your side of the argument as well. I was merely citing them as examples of socialization-centric games that have done reasonably well in the U.S.. In terms of defining success, I do try to take into account the different audiences and various gauges for how they did. No matter what the game or its genre, they will always have a small portion of fans when compared with the total amount of game consumers. Thus, there's always a general target audience that companies will pander to, but there will usually be a nice periphery demographic that will rake in some extra profits.
When you compare the revenue of these non-mainstream titles to game market behemoths such as Zelda or Call of Duty, certainly, their sales seem very modest and lackluster. hen put in perspective, they've done reasonably well. If a series doesn't do well, the licenser drops it. If it does well, they continue localizing the series.
ninjamitsuki:
Well, growing up with Lunar, which had a very high quality localization and release, I have good expectations if Vic Ireland is involved.
I honestly think the most that could happen is some funny woolseyisms added into the dialog (Working Designs was famous for their Woolseyisms) and toning some of the loli aspects by maybe aging up some characters.
Working Designs also treated their customers really well. And their translations were a labor of love. However, they only released really lavish deluxe packages of their games. That's how they made their profits. All the games were more expensive, but to make up for it it came with awesome bonus items. They were doing great until the early naughties, when SCEA forced them to release games with "normal" packaging. That's actually what led to their downfall.
Here's the box for Lunar 2: Eternal Blue that I got, it shows all the nice things that they put with the game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjzyzTj8Lns
It came with a leather-bound book with lyrics to vocal songs in both English and a very literal translation of the Japanese lyrics, artwork, interviews with the creators, a mini-walkthrough, behind the scenes, as well as character standees, a poster, and a replica of Lucia's pendant in-game. Keep in mind that Working Designs themselves made the pendant. There was a similar pendant sold in select stores in Akiba, but it was much, much smaller.
If we can expect that kind of quality with the localization of iDOLM@STER, this is a very, very good thing. They probably won't go all out with the bonus items due to costs for such things these days, but I've played through Lunar 2 and the translation is top-notch even though it's not faithful. In the Japanese version, you'd have the townspeople saying generic tidbits, but in the English version WD gave the NPCs personalities of their own just with their dialog. But the main story itself stayed exactly the same. However, iDOLM@STER is based entirely on dialog, so they won't have to change things like the NPCs in Lunar. They'll just treat it the same as the dialog of the main characters, means the same thing but maybe add a bit more flavor.
And as I said, a lot of games these days have the option for Japanese audio, I know the Atelier games do. It shouldn't be too much of a problem.
I mean, look at Hetalia. The Funimation dub changes the entire thing to a gag dub with more American sounding jokes, but at the end of the day you can watch it in Japanese with English subtitles on that same DVD.
Also worth mentioning that freaking OTOMEDIUS somehow managed to make it to the states complete with body pillows, but something with a much broader appeal like iDOLM@STER hasn't.
And last but not least:
Nobody's forcing anyone to buy it. Most of us have imported a game or two, we can always play the Japanese version and have the same experience. But the English version could be a brand new, fresh experience.
Also. JENNY STIGILE JENNY STIGILE JENNY STIGILE.
I'd fund the kickstarter if it meant iDOLM@STER in English. Of course, my expectations are WAY too high since this is Gaijin Works, not Working Designs, and they can't afford to go all out these days I bet, but I imagine the same spirit.
Also, WD was very good with dubbing songs. In Lunar 1 they made up the lyrics, I admit, but in Lunar 2 the lyrics are slightly different than the Japanese but still carry the same message. I think as long as the song has the same message, any translation is fine. Here are the Lunar 2 songs they translated:
Also, here's a great example of a Japanese song dubbed into English working well, the first Rurouni Kenshin opening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIcvHSUCiAs
I honestly prefer it over the Japanese version...
However, I think it's very likely that the dialog will be dubbed in English but the songs will stay in Japanese. That's the attitude most anime translators have these days.
Roswell:
Does anyone even know if Gaijinworks really does comprise of the same people of Working Designs besides Vic Ireland? I understand that people have really high nostalgia towards Working Designs, but Gaijinworks is nonetheless a new company and we can't expect the same treatment for games just because Vic Ireland is the head of it.
ninjamitsuki:
Well, I don't know about staff and I know it won't be exactly like 90's early naughties WD, but I can imagine a similar spirit, just toned down a bit with a bit more of the Japanese culture kept in. Honestly if iDOLM@STER were to be handled competently I can just imagine it being like a typical anime dub you see nowadays, like the Lucky Star dub but maybe change out the cultural jokes with things that are more familiar, but not TOO American that it would make it seem out of place in a Japanese setting.
I mean, they know what they're doing, at least.
It could be a lot worse. Some company could have licensed iM@S, changed all the names and replaced the songs with popular American pop songs, you know. It does happen. I even heard of this DS game from Japan that even had the animesque sprites replaced with crappy American-style drawings in its US release. (Though I doubt someone would bother doing that to entire 3d models. XD) And even though not EVERYONE at Working Designs is involved, Vic gives me hope for an amusing translation.
As for translating songs into English, which I don't think would happen, I think that they should go for the Lunar 2 approach. The specific lyrics are different, but the song has the same overall meaning in both languages. Don't translate word ford word, as it'll sound awkward, but make sure the song means the same thing as it does in Japanese. I think Lucia's theme is a good example of that.
I have the Japanese version and I know the translations. If an English version came out, I'd love to experience it like a brand new thing, with dialog I can relate to and seeing my favorite idols in a new light.
Setsuna:
--- Quote from: ninjamitsuki on May 09, 2012, 05:34:16 am ---Well, I don't know about staff and I know it won't be exactly like 90's early naughties WD, but I can imagine a similar spirit, just toned down a bit with a bit more of the Japanese culture kept in. Honestly if iDOLM@STER were to be handled competently I can just imagine it being like a typical anime dub you see nowadays, like the Lucky Star dub but maybe change out the cultural jokes with things that are more familiar, but not TOO American that it would make it seem out of place in a Japanese setting.
I mean, they know what they're doing, at least.
It could be a lot worse. Some company could have licensed iM@S, changed all the names and replaced the songs with popular American pop songs, you know. It does happen. I even heard of this DS game from Japan that even had the animesque sprites replaced with crappy American-style drawings in its US release. (Though I doubt someone would bother doing that to entire 3d models. XD) And even though not EVERYONE at Working Designs is involved, Vic gives me hope for an amusing translation.
As for translating songs into English, which I don't think would happen, I think that they should go for the Lunar 2 approach. The specific lyrics are different, but the song has the same overall meaning in both languages. Don't translate word ford word, as it'll sound awkward, but make sure the song means the same thing as it does in Japanese. I think Lucia's theme is a good example of that.
I have the Japanese version and I know the translations. If an English version came out, I'd love to experience it like a brand new thing, with dialog I can relate to and seeing my favorite idols in a new light.
--- End quote ---
I believe the game you're referencing is Onendan and Elite Beat Agents.
Ironically, it worked well enough.
Anyway, just to make this post relevant (and just to clarify) the business hurdles you'll need to leap over haven't changed:
You need to pay off the licensors of the VAs (Yep, they're not all internal NBGI) if you want to keep a Japanese soundtrack which usually means paying out the VA's agencies - and sometimes they can be quite steep.
You'll also have to in this case pay out Sony (Due to the Anime licensing tie-in) and then you'll have to pay out NBGI itself, for licensing.
Then the usual localisation costs on top of that.
The business case (When I visited it last a couple of years ago) wasn't particularly good. I was told in no uncertain terms NBGI didn't think the math could possibly add up without a couple of hundred thousand sales, if not close to half a million. (It's where I got the numbers in another post from.)
You then have the DLC condundrum (although considering we're nearing the tail end of the im@s2 sales period, this is alleviated somewhat, particularly when they run a upcoming sale) which causes issues with the whole price disparency (if you run the English DLC for significantly less than the Japanese counterpart, well, what's stopping the Japanese from just saving 20+% by importing the game and DLC cards? Yeah, NBGI would be a LITTLE bit upset when they take that haircut.)
Yeah, the problem isn't translating it (As I always have noted) it's the business proposition that normally gets you. Or more accurately 'We can't afford the licensing costs and associated demands'. It's what happens when business gets between entertainment, unfortunately.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version