Super Robot Wars import advice please

[prismra]

http://image1.play-asia.com/350/PA.04541.002.jpg

So I just discovered this game series yesterday as I was researching my impending Dreamcast collection. Holy fucking shit! I had no idea what I've been missing! Are you kidding me? Gundam, Evangelion and more all in one, sweet, strategy RPG? Count me in!

So I looked at the Dreamcast version and it looks killer. Then I see that they have one for PS2 as well. I watch the Youtube vids. Amazing. So I think I'm going to attempt to play one of these gems.

One problem: I know almost zero Japanese.

I see that gamefaqs has some translation guides but they mostly cover the story. My question is this. How playable are these games for the Japanese illiterate. I have no problem printing out the translation guide to get the gist of the story but what worries me is the rest of it. Those menus look rather intimidating.

Have any fellow gaijin attempted to tackle one of these games?

[snes_collector]

I'm not sure if it's the same thing, but if you haven't already, check out Super Robot Taisen Original Generation 1 & 2 for GBA. They are really fun, and you don't have to worry about all the translation stuff.

[Kitsune Sniper]

It's not the same - yes, it's the same series, but Original Generation uses nothing but original characters. The other series use a mix of original characters and licensed characters.

[prismra]

I was looking at the GBA ones and I think I am going to give one a try. BUT, the GBA games are "original generations" which are a spin-off series from the original and as such do not contain any of the licensed mechs or characters. I really want to try the main series games but I am scared.

Look how f'n sweet this is. This is the PS2 version:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=i4WUg8GM45s

Looks so fun! The animations and graphics look wonderful. I can just image if we ever see a PS3 iteration of this how gorgeous it would look with HD sprites. One can dream.

I was hoping someone else around here has tried brute-forcing their way through one of the JAP games and if it was worth it.

[snes_collector]

It's not the same - yes, it's the same series, but Original Generation uses nothing but original characters. The other series use a mix of original characters and licensed characters.

I see, thanks for clearing that up.

[Sabz5150]

I was looking at the GBA ones and I think I am going to give one a try. BUT, the GBA games are "original generations" which are a spin-off series from the original and as such do not contain any of the licensed mechs or characters. I really want to try the main series games but I am scared.

The GBA titles in the US are excellent... worth every penny. I own both and love the hell out of them. They are the titles that got me into tactics games. I will recommend that you start with the first game and move to the second. There is a storyline in there.

A GCN with GB player makes this one even better :D

[smork]

Really this sort of thing is a personal question. Have you tried playing imports before? I hated playing Japanese-heavy imports before I learned Japanese. Other seem to be OK playing even RPGs with little knowledge.

Get one of the cheap iterations of the series (it's on every console since at least the SFC), see how you like it.

[prismra]

I think I answered my own question. I tried a ROM (gasp!) of one of the newer SRW games on the DS and it made me really sad. There is soooo much Japanese text that I would be missing a lot of the fun. I think I'm going to save myself the agony.

I wonder if the two Original Generations games on GBA sold well enough to warrant any further investment in the series. What worries me is if those games didn't sell too well that Atlus would blame it on lack of interest instead of the fact that they released the games for GBA when the DS had been in the market for almost two years already.

[The 1 2 P]

You know, I have like 6 of these games for my PS1. When I use to play them, I really had no idea what the hell was going on, but thanks to the gamefaqs guides I got further than I would have without them. I really wish they would have brought all of them over to the US but I realize that different license agreements is probably the number one reason why that never happened.