Blood Gear?

[shawnji]

I've been playing through this recently and it's kind of a surprise that it hasn't been brought up more often.  Has anyone ever looked at working on hacking and translating it?

[cjameslv]

I've been playing through this recently and it's kind of a surprise that it hasn't been brought up more often.  Has anyone ever looked at working on hacking and translating it?

This game is talked about and fairly easy to play without needing to read moon runes. There seems to be alot more translation action revolving around rpg's currently.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, aside from a few stumbling points I think this game is pretty easy in Japanese.

I agree though, it's fucking weird how rarely this game is brought up around here. It's a AAA game all the way.

[Keith Courage]

I played through this game without knowing any Japanese and it was fun. However, I'm sure it would have been 10 times better if it were in english. One can only imagine how awesome this game would have been if I new what was going on.

[ToyMachine78]

This is an excellent game. I started a thread last year singing its praises.

[BigusSchmuck]

I'm beginning to wish I didn't trade it off... It really does deserve a translation for crying out loud!

[jtucci31]

This is an excellent game. I started a thread last year singing its praises.

Your thread is what made me buy it! I haven't had time to play it yet though. I don't want to play random half hour installments when i get free time. I've been looking forward to playing it for awhile.

[SamIAm]

I started playing this today. Right away, I think the biggest problem is going to be that so many major story events happen in cutscenes that don't have text subtitling in them. If the whole game is like the beginning, this really makes things difficult.

By the way, what the hell is with it refusing to load unless you have enough space for two saves? And the saves are huge!

The gameplay is pretty fun, especially once you upgrade the mech a bit. It ain't easy, but that's probably a good thing.

[SignOfZeta]

I played through this game without knowing any Japanese and it was fun. However, I'm sure it would have been 10 times better if it were in english. One can only imagine how awesome this game would have been if I new what was going on.

See, that's an all too common misconception, IMO. You only *think* the plot is amazing because you can't read it. If you could read it you'd probably find that the storyline and voice acting are as lame as every other video game out there. You can probably make some shit up as you go along that's better than the real thing.

IMO what makes 8/16-bit RPGs more fun than the new stuff is how there is a lot of room for player interpretation. When someone says "Die!" in Dragon Quest III it's pretty much up to you to invent what those voices sound like, the exact actions they take when they stab the guy with their sword, etc. With a modern FF RPG virtually nothing is left to the imagination, they do everything for you, and they don't do it as well as I can in my head.

For years I always wanted games from my favorite strategy series, Super Robot Wars, in English. I can read Japanese well enough to clear the game but I miss a lot of the story. Then, when translations started coming out, like for the two GBA OG games or the fan translation of J, I realized upon playing them that...I'd rather not be burdened reading hundreds of pages or pure crap.

[SamIAm]

See, that's an all too common misconception, IMO. You only *think* the plot is amazing because you can't read it. If you could read it you'd probably find that the storyline and voice acting are as lame as every other video game out there. You can probably make some shit up as you go along that's better than the real thing.

Spot on. A woman in a skirt can look sexier than she does in pants because there are a lot of details that you actually can't see. Your imagination fills in the blanks in with maximum optimism.

On that note, you know what else I think people have misconceptions about in Japanese games? Voice acting quality. Every non-Japanese person seems to think every single goddamn game is a voice performance masterpiece. Most couldn't name one Japanese game that has bad voice acting. And of course they couldn't - they can't judge it at all. Do you think someone who has never had a conversation in English in his entire life could tell that US Dragon Slayer has bad voice acting?

For years I always wanted games from my favorite strategy series, Super Robot Wars, in English. I can read Japanese well enough to clear the game but I miss a lot of the story. Then, when translations started coming out, like for the two GBA OG games or the fan translation of J, I realized upon playing them that...I'd rather not be burdened reading hundreds of pages or pure crap.

Yep. I played Witch and the Hundred Knight in Japanese before it came out in English. Some people on English forums kept saying how amazing the story was. I on the other hand have never seen a game that needed its word count halved more in my life. Funny, people mostly stopped talking about the "amazing story" after it came out in English.

I don't think Americans are perfect or that all scripts should follow one pattern or anything like that, but one thing I have noticed is that Japanese people aren't hard enough on themselves about length, and there's a greater tendency for their stuff to have too many words.

I really like this scene from A River Runs Through It. Who was it who said "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one."? That was a great thing about old games - the size limits pretty much prevented this from happening.

I'm doing various translation projects for PCE games now, and I think they'll all be better for being in English in a sense. However, while I won't say which, there is at least one that I have to admit doesn't have a great story or writing.

[cjameslv]

...On that note, you know what else I think people have misconceptions about in Japanese games? Voice acting quality. Every non-Japanese person seems to think every single goddamn game is a voice performance masterpiece. Most couldn't name one Japanese game that has bad voice acting. And of course they couldn't - they can't judge it at all. Do you think someone who has never had a conversation in English in his entire life could tell that US Dragon Slayer has bad voice acting?...

Truth

[BigusSchmuck]

...On that note, you know what else I think people have misconceptions about in Japanese games? Voice acting quality. Every non-Japanese person seems to think every single goddamn game is a voice performance masterpiece. Most couldn't name one Japanese game that has bad voice acting. And of course they couldn't - they can't judge it at all. Do you think someone who has never had a conversation in English in his entire life could tell that US Dragon Slayer has bad voice acting?...

Truth

I dunno, the voice acting in the Japanese version of the original Metal Gear Solid was pretty horrid me thinks. Roy Campbell anyone? Yick.

[technozombie]

See, that's an all too common misconception, IMO. You only *think* the plot is amazing because you can't read it. If you could read it you'd probably find that the storyline and voice acting are as lame as every other video game out there. You can probably make some shit up as you go along that's better than the real thing.

It's kind of like reading a book, then they go and make a movie and the casting is complete shit, with characters nothing like you imagined them to be. It's better when you make it up yourself.

[shubibiman]

See, that's an all too common misconception, IMO. You only *think* the plot is amazing because you can't read it. If you could read it you'd probably find that the storyline and voice acting are as lame as every other video game out there. You can probably make some shit up as you go along that's better than the real thing.

IMO what makes 8/16-bit RPGs more fun than the new stuff is how there is a lot of room for player interpretation. When someone says "Die!" in Dragon Quest III it's pretty much up to you to invent what those voices sound like, the exact actions they take when they stab the guy with their sword, etc. With a modern FF RPG virtually nothing is left to the imagination, they do everything for you, and they don't do it as well as I can in my head.

For years I always wanted games from my favorite strategy series, Super Robot Wars, in English. I can read Japanese well enough to clear the game but I miss a lot of the story. Then, when translations started coming out, like for the two GBA OG games or the fan translation of J, I realized upon playing them that...I'd rather not be burdened reading hundreds of pages or pure crap.

It's not a misconception : in Japan, 95% of the seiyus have always been professionel voice actors. When I listen to most of the voice acting of Turbo CD games, it really sounds like the voice of amateurs.

Nowadays, things have changed and you just have to compare english voice acting now and english voice acting 25 years ago. Now, the voice acting is made by professionnals.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

It's not a misconception : in Japan, 95% of the seiyus have always been professionel voice actors. When I listen to most of the voice acting of Turbo CD games, it really sounds like the voice of amateurs.

Even if the voice acting were top notch by the most talented people in the world, it wouldn't fix a crappy script or a trite story line, and that's applicable to both PCE games and stuff out today.

Nowadays, things have changed and you just have to compare english voice acting now and english voice acting 25 years ago. Now, the voice acting is made by professionnals.

They might be voice by professionals by definition (they get paid for their work), but that doesn't mean they're all that talented.  Many games I've played have people speaking haltingly, in annoying pitches to sound ominous or like a kid, or with horribly fake accents.

[shubibiman]

When I said professional, I meant that they were renowned. There's but a few PCE CD games with amateurish voice acting tbh.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

When I said professional, I meant that they were renowned. There's but a few PCE CD games with amateurish voice acting tbh.

Right, but the point was that well polished scripts and intriguing plots are hardly universal.

[spenoza]

Think about it this way: a professional voice actor can often bring up a poor script, even if only a little. An amateurish voice "actor" can tank even a great script.

[SamIAm]

On one hand, there aren't as many cases of people who are totally unqualified amateurs doing voice work in Japan. The minimum standards are much higher, especially in the 90s, and that goes for everything from how well the voices are matched and the performance quality to the recording equipment.

On the other hand, though, not everything is "good". A lot of it is just blandly "competent". Some of it is definitely "below par", and can make you shake your head or smile awkwardly or whatever you do when you see someone trying but not quite pulling it off.

I brought it up because Blood Gear has, so far, struck me as being "below par". For example, I think the actors recorded their lines separately because some of the reactions between characters seem incongruent to me.

This is going to ruffle some feathers, but I always thought Dracula X's voice acting fell squarely in the "competent" category. Put away your pitchforks, it's far from bad. It's not really "bad" at all. It's kind of like a Betty Crocker cake.

[esteban]

Think about it this way: a professional voice actor can often bring up a poor script, even if only a little. An amateurish voice "actor" can tank even a great script.

Absolutely. It is so true in film/television, it only makes sense that it would be true with voice work, stage work, etc.

It shall henceforth be known as the

Voice Actor Axiom (VAA): A professional voice actor can often bring up a poor script, even if only a little. An amateurish voice "actor" can tank even a great script.

Of course, another element to this, which SamIAm mentions below, is the "bland, sterile overall product" that results from "technically competent acting/engineering/direction"...

You don't have to look further than Hollywood or Le Television to see the sterile, technically competent, norm.

It really is nice, and exciting, when we encounter a truly *inspired* ensemble of voice actors performing a script.

On one hand, there aren't as many cases of people who are totally unqualified amateurs doing voice work in Japan. The minimum standards are much higher, especially in the 90s, and that goes for everything from how well the voices are matched and the performance quality to the recording equipment.

On the other hand, though, not everything is "good". A lot of it is just blandly "competent". Some of it is definitely "below par", and can make you shake your head or smile awkwardly or whatever you do when you see someone trying but not quite pulling it off.

I brought it up because Blood Gear has, so far, struck me as being "below par". For example, I think the actors recorded their lines separately because some of the reactions between characters seem incongruent to me.

This is going to ruffle some feathers, but I always thought Dracula X's voice acting fell squarely in the "competent" category. Put away your pitchforks, it's far from bad. It's not really "bad" at all. It's kind of like a Betty Crocker cake.

This is certainly true outside of Japan, so it is not surprising to see that Japan is not immune to "competent, but sterile" or "bland, but professional" when it comes to pop culture.

Every now and then, something will be truly INSPIRED, and the audience will recognize it as such....

In a way, I feel that I am lucky since I can appreciate Dracula X cinemas as being *better* than they are for a native speaker/discerning critic.

This happens a lot with foreign films...where non-native speakers are much less discerning when it comes to dialogue/script because they lack tools to truly evaluate the original language/content.

This is not only the "Curse of the Gaijin" but the "Blessing of the Gaijin"...

[SamIAm]

That apparently goes for the German intro as well:
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=7918.msg394703#msg394703

Funny that these came up at the same time.

[ToyMachine78]

I use Google translate on JP games with a lot of written dialogue and for the menus. Its kind of a pain to keep snapping pics of the TV screen but that's only for the story. Once you learn the menus you're good. It does a decent enough job to give me the gist of the story or conversation.

[SignOfZeta]

I honestly wasn't even thinking about voice acting when I mentioned what we now know as "the gaijin curse/blessing". A dumb thing is a dumb thing regardless of who wrote it or read it. An average Super Robot Wars game nowadays consists of literally *hours* of reading about who's boobs are bigger, who's too embarrassed to ask who out on a date, recapping storylines, and other basic infantile tedium. It's better to just hold down L+A and blast right through all that shit so you can get to the robot smashing.

If I wanted to read something good I'd pick up a book. Currently: Banvard's Folly. It's very good.

[Arkhan Asylum]

I want an RPG where all of the voice actresses (there will be no dudes in this game) have obnoxious high pitched animuuuuu voices.

and it will have the most serious storyline of all time.

[SignOfZeta]

I think that's Megumi Paradise.

[CrackTiger]

Private Eye Doll + battles.