Posted April 05, 2013
Note: This is in an open essay/topic format. I encourage discussion on this subject, as I'd really like to see what the community thinks of these games - please give me your most honest opinions, but try to come into this topic with an open and informed mind. Thanks, I'd really appreciate it.
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Hello GOG.com community,
Recently I was going through my backlog of games and noticed that I had a few games on it that I hadn't taken a look at in quite a while. All I really remember about this game was that it was supposed to have a really cool story that was told from multiple perspectives and had a really good translation (from its Japanese version) by Hirameki International. What Hirameki International was involved in the 1990s and early 2000s was localizing Visual Novels from the Japanese market for the United States. When they first began releasing their games, they released them in their "Anime Play" label. This label was essentially their butchered versions of the games available in Japan; this would allow you play the game on your DVD player, using your remote for options. While this was a cool idea, it took away from what was originally intended and sadly resulted in some botched games.
While this was one of their failed experiments, some of their releases were brought over in the same form as they were originally created in, and were done with fantastic extras and what has been regarded as a stellar localization, with a moving Science Fiction story and great characters. The game was called Ever 17: The Out of Infinity. Released in December 2005, this game was lauded for all of these things and more, but the game was ultimately considered too niche for the US, and the company eventually became defunct. However, even to this day there is a strong following of people who both support the many different kinds of nisual novels (colloquially referred to as VNs) who fan-translate new works and continue to recommend and talk about these older releases.
(Note: * indicate games that have more in common with the adventure genre.)
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney*.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective*.
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward.
the BlazBlue series,
Persona 4: Arena.
Do you know what all of these games have in common? All of these games either take elements from VNs, or are essentially VNs themselves. The story modes in the Blazblue series - a VN with some fighting every now and then. Phoenix Wright? While there is some detective work, it's essentially just reading. What I don't understand about many gamers perceptions of this genre is that they don't see the VNs that they themselves have played and enjoyed before.
This is evident in a LOT more than just these examples, but they're everywhere. Heck, even Aksys Games (the US localization company) have/continue to localize what they call Otome VNs for the PSP, a romantic-type VN designed for the female audience. Those two games: Hakuoki - Demon of the Fleeting Blossom and Sweet Fuse: At Your Side don't even have "gameplay," and yet somehow they've made Aksys some money. Even games like Corpse Party and it's sequel Book of Shadows (on PSN in NA right now) has seen a release by XSEED (another US localization company) - and that was a HORROR game with some seriously scary and disturbing stuff in it. And these games have even done moderately well.
There are products all over the market, both in the past and currently, that are both "traditional VNs" and "new/experimental VNs". There is the dedicated fan-base that support the traditional stuff regardless of what goes on elsewhere - but even they would like to own legitimate copies of these games WITHOUT DRM! Hell, I know I'd buy at least Ever 17 in a heartbeat. It's harder to get running on modern machines, it's hard to find, costs $200 dollars for an old boxed copy. Wouldn't it be great to have a great story revived so that people who want to play it don't have to import it, spend all their cash, or be lured into pirating it? In the end, I just hope you at least found this informative, and maybe, just maybe, I swayed someones mind into checking out and supporting this under-appreciated genre (with great games like Ever 17 no less).
So I'll open up the forum to the GOG community --> would you consider buying/playing VNs if they were made available? What is your stance on these games or even their viability in the US - or other places around the world outside of Japan? Would you pay for a non-translated Japanese-only release if you knew there was a fan-translation out there (or not)?
[For basic information on VNs, please check out the wikipedia artilcle here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel
[If you see this thread get buried, please bump it, I'd really like to get some good feedback from as many as possible.]
If you're interested, here are some other VNs that might sway your mind:
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_17:_The_Out_of_Infinity]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_17:_The_Out_of_Infinity[/url]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steins;Gate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate/stay_night
GOG.com Wishlist Entries:
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/ever_17_the_out_of_infinity
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/never_7_the_end_of_infinity
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/remember_11_the_age_of_infinity
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/steinsgate
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/fatestay_night
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello GOG.com community,
Recently I was going through my backlog of games and noticed that I had a few games on it that I hadn't taken a look at in quite a while. All I really remember about this game was that it was supposed to have a really cool story that was told from multiple perspectives and had a really good translation (from its Japanese version) by Hirameki International. What Hirameki International was involved in the 1990s and early 2000s was localizing Visual Novels from the Japanese market for the United States. When they first began releasing their games, they released them in their "Anime Play" label. This label was essentially their butchered versions of the games available in Japan; this would allow you play the game on your DVD player, using your remote for options. While this was a cool idea, it took away from what was originally intended and sadly resulted in some botched games.
While this was one of their failed experiments, some of their releases were brought over in the same form as they were originally created in, and were done with fantastic extras and what has been regarded as a stellar localization, with a moving Science Fiction story and great characters. The game was called Ever 17: The Out of Infinity. Released in December 2005, this game was lauded for all of these things and more, but the game was ultimately considered too niche for the US, and the company eventually became defunct. However, even to this day there is a strong following of people who both support the many different kinds of nisual novels (colloquially referred to as VNs) who fan-translate new works and continue to recommend and talk about these older releases.
(Note: * indicate games that have more in common with the adventure genre.)
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney*.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective*.
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward.
the BlazBlue series,
Persona 4: Arena.
Do you know what all of these games have in common? All of these games either take elements from VNs, or are essentially VNs themselves. The story modes in the Blazblue series - a VN with some fighting every now and then. Phoenix Wright? While there is some detective work, it's essentially just reading. What I don't understand about many gamers perceptions of this genre is that they don't see the VNs that they themselves have played and enjoyed before.
This is evident in a LOT more than just these examples, but they're everywhere. Heck, even Aksys Games (the US localization company) have/continue to localize what they call Otome VNs for the PSP, a romantic-type VN designed for the female audience. Those two games: Hakuoki - Demon of the Fleeting Blossom and Sweet Fuse: At Your Side don't even have "gameplay," and yet somehow they've made Aksys some money. Even games like Corpse Party and it's sequel Book of Shadows (on PSN in NA right now) has seen a release by XSEED (another US localization company) - and that was a HORROR game with some seriously scary and disturbing stuff in it. And these games have even done moderately well.
There are products all over the market, both in the past and currently, that are both "traditional VNs" and "new/experimental VNs". There is the dedicated fan-base that support the traditional stuff regardless of what goes on elsewhere - but even they would like to own legitimate copies of these games WITHOUT DRM! Hell, I know I'd buy at least Ever 17 in a heartbeat. It's harder to get running on modern machines, it's hard to find, costs $200 dollars for an old boxed copy. Wouldn't it be great to have a great story revived so that people who want to play it don't have to import it, spend all their cash, or be lured into pirating it? In the end, I just hope you at least found this informative, and maybe, just maybe, I swayed someones mind into checking out and supporting this under-appreciated genre (with great games like Ever 17 no less).
So I'll open up the forum to the GOG community --> would you consider buying/playing VNs if they were made available? What is your stance on these games or even their viability in the US - or other places around the world outside of Japan? Would you pay for a non-translated Japanese-only release if you knew there was a fan-translation out there (or not)?
[For basic information on VNs, please check out the wikipedia artilcle here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel
[If you see this thread get buried, please bump it, I'd really like to get some good feedback from as many as possible.]
If you're interested, here are some other VNs that might sway your mind:
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_17:_The_Out_of_Infinity]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_17:_The_Out_of_Infinity[/url]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steins;Gate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate/stay_night
GOG.com Wishlist Entries:
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/ever_17_the_out_of_infinity
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/never_7_the_end_of_infinity
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/remember_11_the_age_of_infinity
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/steinsgate
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/fatestay_night
Post edited April 06, 2013 by FlamingFirewire