Do You Play Games In Different Languages You Don't Understand

[oldgamerz]

Most people usually don't know how to navigate a video game in a different language. (at first). But I heard of people playing through games not understanding a single word of text and even completing them.

But I also heard that some video games, JRPGS as an example have story decisions in them that if you pick the wrong decision. you can get game over. And, need to start over. Even worse, (for people who don't know that language) some games randomize decisions, so the exact text option is different each time you play the game. But I cannot name any from the top of my head,

maybe some of you can?

I currently don't know have any games in another language that I don't understand

[bfbeam]

I used to play (but never successfully beat) DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure on the Wii Virtual Console. I liked playing Milon's Secret Castle for the NES so I thought I'd enjoy its sequel. The graphics were really nice and cartoony but I didn't get into it as much. Nothing was translated but it didn't matter much since it was only platforming.. At least the parts I played through.

[hoshichiri]

I can read a tiny bit of Japanese, so I tend to be able to stumble my way through anything arcade or platformer- but as soon as dialog becomes important, I can't make do anymore.

I typically avoid anything that's outside of my understanding- I mean, it's kind of pointless otherwise, right? You could navigate an RPG just learning what's 'yes', 'no', and 'save', but isn't the reason for playing an RPG the story? You lose the main point of the game without being able to read it. There's enough stuff out there in English that I don't need to cut back the experience like that just to play something.

[pzeke]

I've navigated through some JRPGs with FAQs, but for the most part I stick with simple games and avoid anything else were basic reading skills are needed. I've also played a few games in Italian, French, and German, but again, simple stuff where you can keep pressing a button to proceed. This was years ago, though, so I'll just wait until whatever game I'm interested in gets translated. Still hoping Kaiju Busters Powered gets translated one of these days.

I've played a couple of games in Spanish, too, but I know the language.

[kashell]

I've been studying Japanese for a some years now, so I can get by with some text heavy RPGs. Games with less dialogue are even easier.

When it comes to audio, these days I prefer English. I used to favor the Japanese audio.

[ferraroso]

Well, as I've said here before, being born in South America, with the exception of some releases from SNK and Sega through Tec Toy, I've played all games up to the beginning of the 7th generation without understanding a word of the languages used in it (be it English, Japanese or any other).

With time, one begins to understand that "はい" and "yes" are the equivalent to "sim" in Portuguese and that "いいえ" and "no" mean "não", but in order to play RPGs, some action games and even point and click adventures, we used to resort to huge magazines we called "Detonados" (or "detonated") that were step-by-step manuals explaining how to beat the game from begining to end (all spoilers included, haha).

As far as I know, the first console game released in Brazil fully translated in Portuguese since the mid 90's was (for some reason) Viva Piñata for the Xbox 360 in December 2006! I remember all the gaming websites and magazines making a huge fuzz about it back then.

[kypherion]

I put Super Smash Bros. Melee in japanese cause why not

[chrismb]

I've played fighting game in japanese. I also watch walkthroughs in Spanish but that's just because i'm learning spanish, at this point I think I could complete a game in spanish without too much trouble but I haven't tried yet.

Besides fighting game I haven't played any games in languages I don't understand, obviously I've played games like Yakuza that have japanese voice acting but the game is still in english. I might try to play the 3 japan exclusive Yakuza game tho but idk how it will go lol

[snyderec3]

Depending on the game, Japanese versions are sometimes better for speedrunning because fewer characters makes it faster to mash through text.

[bikingjahuty]

I have a ton of Japanese imports, but luckily many of them require little to no understanding of Japanese to play and fully enjoy. Many of these games are fighting games, SHMUPs, arcade ports, and various other games that don't rely heavily on text or dialogue to get through. Sadly, games like RPGs or certain adventure games are a bit inaccessible for me since my Japanese is rusty as hell, and even when I was at my most proficient I was barely capable of basic conversation in Japanese, or being able to read and understand just enough Japanese to make my way around Japan if I ever visited. But luckily a lot of Japanese titles I own even have english menus which make the game indistinguishable from the game's english version or if an english version ever existed.