March 2013 - Recently Added to Collection/ Recently Purchased

[darko]

I picked up DuckTales 2 and Shatterhand on the NES today.

[turf]

I picked up DuckTales 2 and Shatterhand on the NES today.

One doesn't simply "pick up" Duck Tales 2.  Did you find it out in the wild? 

[foxhack]

I picked up DuckTales 2 and Shatterhand on the NES today.

One doesn't simply "pick up" Duck Tales 2.  Did you find it out in the wild?

Yeah, I just woke up, blah

[disgaeniac]

Anybody here pick up Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk yet?

Just wondering...

The last 3 'Atelier' games (Atelier: Rorona, Totori, and Meruru); I'd pre-ordered the LE's of...right around the time it became possible to do so.

It's no secret here that I like N1 - and that I enjoy supporting them, and that I'm usually pretty quick to do so.

The *anomaly* (well, actually there's several) with this newest Atelier game are:

A.  It's the 1st game in a new "arc".  The last 3 games (mentioned above) made up the 3 games in the "Arland" arc.

- Now, this is nothing unusual, as the Atelier games have been known to come out in story arcs of 3's (The 3 "Iris" games, the 3 "Arland" games), etc.

- (Presumably), this is/should be the 1st/opening game in the next set/arc of 3 (iirc, it's to be called either the "Dusk" or "Twilight World") trilogy.

B.  More significantly and *controversially* (because..."gamers"), is the fact that, since the last 3 (Arland) games, GUST (the company making the games), has been bought-out/taken-over by...Techmo-Koei.

- When this became common knowledge, there was the (usual & expected) high amount of threads, sites, forums, blogs, and the (*God damnit! I'm so sick & tired of*) OPINIONS stated & posted as FACTS, etc. of our brother "pundits" of the gaming industry (read: the "keyboard-kowboyz" (read: *MY* term for the equivalent of "armchair" fill-in-the-blanks, "Couch Coaches/Crusaders" and/or "jailhouse lawyers" types of things:)

Setting sites & web-spaces everwhere aflame with their hypothesizing (they'll actually begin with a "Now, this is just me guessing & speculating here, but")...

...and then *STILL* finish their sentence/statement by...yep, ya' guessed it...stating whatever guesses & opinions they just talked about...as...*FACTS*

*SHUDDERS*

YES!  This vexes me to no end - and is one of my most-hated pet peeves *Raaawwwr* 

Anyhow, coming back in from the tangent/rant that I went off on...

- TK really didn't (to my knowledge, at least) market/advertise the game at all, since they were the "Localizers" (instead of NISA) this time...there was no LE and/or any extras for the established fan-base (admittedly, small & niche here in the West), and (apparently) they committed one of the most heinous & un-forgiveable sins by...

...dropping/cutting the option to play/switch-over to a Japanese dub of the game 

Personally - I just don't give a shit about this, as I've never understood the appeal & importance (and, I actually seem to be in the minority on this side of the issue) of being able to play a game in a language that I don't understand 

Maybe, if some of you here *do* find/understand the importance of this...please do share it here

- I "get" that losing & receiving *less* options is never a good or consumer-friendly thing,

- I can totally understand why something like this would bother those fluent in Japanese and bi-lingual gamers,

- I can understand (and even join the masses:) in complaining about the lowering of the "norm"/what we have come to expect from previous installments of certain games & series, by certain companies/localizers,

*BUT*

- I just don't get why those who don't/can't speak, read, or understand Japanese in the 1st place...would go so far as to try and form "boycotting movements", and, not only just vote w/ their wallet themselves (by not buying the game) -but- by also trying to convince as many as possible to do the same, because...

...there's no option for them to play the game...in a language that they don't even know

As always, just my 2 cents (and, yes...I do realize that I'm losing $ here since every time I give my 2 cents...all that I ever get is a penny for my thoughts:)

Thanks, fellow vgcollectors for, once again, tolerating my racing jumbles of words & feelings that never fail to = a RANT 

[kimimi]

It's about authenticity more than understanding, it's about being as close to the original as possible. There's also the fact that Japanese voice overs are usually much better quality than their western counterparts - and if you don't understand Japanese then it'll still sound better than an average English dub.

I don't get all in a lather over it, but then again I have the luxury of being able to buy everything in Japanese anyway.

[disgaeniac]

It's about authenticity more than understanding, it's about being as close to the original as possible. There's also the fact that Japanese voice overs are usually much better quality than their western counterparts - and if you don't understand Japanese then it'll still sound better than an average English dub.

I don't get all in a lather over it, but then again I have the luxury of being able to buy everything in Japanese anyway.

w/o understanding the language, though - how would one even be able to differentiate between what is good/bad voice acting?

[kimimi]

That's the point - you can tell right off if it's a bad English dub (which let's face it, it's more likely to be a bad/average English dub than a great one) but if you don't understand Japanese then you can't tell, so your experience isn't ruined by somebody shouting SPIRITS GIVE ME STRENGTH for 40 hours.

[disgaeniac]

That's the point - you can tell right off if it's a bad English dub (which let's face it, it's more likely to be a bad/average English dub than a great one) but if you don't understand Japanese then you can't tell, so your experience isn't ruined by somebody shouting SPIRITS GIVE ME STRENGTH for 40 hours.

Fair point.

Still, *personally*, I think that I'd prefer a bad to mediocre telling/voice-acting of a story that I can understand...over a flawless performance that I can't really appreciate and/or get anything from in a language that I know nothing about...

[foxhack]

Fair point.

Still, *personally*, I think that I'd prefer a bad to mediocre telling/voice-acting of a story that I can understand...over a flawless performance that I can't really appreciate and/or get anything from in a language that I know nothing about...

Look for Chaos Wars (PS2) on Youtube. Then say that again.

[disgaeniac]

Fair point.

Still, *personally*, I think that I'd prefer a bad to mediocre telling/voice-acting of a story that I can understand...over a flawless performance that I can't really appreciate and/or get anything from in a language that I know nothing about...

Look for Chaos Wars (PS2) on Youtube. Then say that again.

Haha!

I *have* Chaos Wars for the PS2!

Still, since I really only play rpg's (where story *does* matter, to me)...I'll still take that fail-worthy, nausea-inducing dub...just so I can *follow* the story - instead of just looking at menus written in characters that are meaningless (to me)...

[burningdoom]

I picked up DuckTales 2 and Shatterhand on the NES today.

Ducktales 2 has been on my wishlist for a long time. One of the games that my brother sold for a freaking Game Boy Color that I'll probably never get back, Along with the entire Dragon Warrior and Mega Man titles on NES among many others. 

[jobocan]

Anybody here pick up Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk yet?

Didn't read the rest of your post yet... but no. I actually had this pre-ordered at bestbuy.ca, and they have yet to get it in stock. No idea what's going on. Same thing happened with Etrian Odyssey 4 actually, but at least with that I had the option to cancel my pre-order and buy it in-store, but they don't have Ayesha in store... So I can only wait.


That said, just went to the flea market store I go to sometimes... Got out of there with Castlevania Curse of Darkness on Xbox and Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver on Dreamcast.

Sadly the Toys R Us didn't have a Claptrap figure, so I picked up a smaller Wreck-It Ralph figure there.

[desocietas]

That's the point - you can tell right off if it's a bad English dub (which let's face it, it's more likely to be a bad/average English dub than a great one) but if you don't understand Japanese then you can't tell, so your experience isn't ruined by somebody shouting SPIRITS GIVE ME STRENGTH for 40 hours.

Fair point.

Still, *personally*, I think that I'd prefer a bad to mediocre telling/voice-acting of a story that I can understand...over a flawless performance that I can't really appreciate and/or get anything from in a language that I know nothing about...

Funny, Scott and I were just complaining about the grunts and gasps and such that are all over Fire Emblem: Awakening.  I switched over to the Japanese language track, and it's *much* more bearable.  Yes, I might not understand when they possibly say things like "Let me have strength!" or "Give me a break!" or whatever cheesy things they might be saying, but at least it doesn't pull me out of the game and make me hate the characters...  For some reason the gasps and grunts with American voices feel way over the top while the Japanese ones don't bother me in the least.  Not sure if it's because I've heard it all before in other JRPGs or because American voices really are that much more jarring...

[insektmute]

It's about authenticity more than understanding, it's about being as close to the original as possible. There's also the fact that Japanese voice overs are usually much better quality than their western counterparts - and if you don't understand Japanese then it'll still sound better than an average English dub.

I don't get all in a lather over it, but then again I have the luxury of being able to buy everything in Japanese anyway.

So much this, and it applies to foreign language films as well. It's about authenticity, preserving the original tone and intent, and for me, learning that these things are communicated regardless of whether you understand the original language.

As far as Japanese games go, voice acting isn't a disposable thing that they just get random people off the street to do. Seiyu go through rigorous training, and the field is very competitive, which shines through in the work they do. By contrast, look at most English dubbed anime and video games - it's consistently the same stable of people, and outside of the rare exception like Jennifer Hale, they're failed TV/movie actors who do it largely to pay the bills, or worse, random people or enthusiastic fans who have no business anywhere near a microphone.

It's even worse if a characters is supposed to be cutesy, over the top, or really excitable, and in some cases, poor VA quality is enough to make a game virtually unplayable.

[pacpix]

Picked up all of these recently!