-Could- have had Suikoden II today...

[AB Positive]

At the store I worked at before I got promoted just got Suikoden 2 traded in. Argh. Even the used price is $49.99 but that's still a steal. Dammit, if I hadn't been promoted I could have gotten it... oh well.

-AG

[zemmix]

I swear I always see this one at the stores. I'll have to pick it up next time if its that good.

[zmeston]

At the store I worked at before I got promoted just got Suikoden 2 traded in. Argh. Even the used price is $49.99 but that's still a steal. Dammit, if I hadn't been promoted I could have gotten it... oh well.

-AG

The gameplay is solid, but the text localization is legendary in its awfulness. There's at least one point where the text wasn't translated at all; since the game uses an English character set, the text prints out as gibberish instead of Japanese. Man, did we have fun mocking that game at Working Designs. (These days, I mock Ephemeral Fantasia, the worst PS2 RPG ever.)

-- Z.

[AB Positive]

working designs? Hmmm....

Can you find out whose idea it was to hame Umi comment about condoms in the MKR Saturn game?

Every time I read that in the game, I just start cracking up.

-AG

[maxlords]

At the store I worked at before I got promoted just got Suikoden 2 traded in. Argh. Even the used price is $49.99 but that's still a steal. Dammit, if I hadn't been promoted I could have gotten it... oh well.

-AG

The gameplay is solid, but the text localization is legendary in its awfulness. There's at least one point where the text wasn't translated at all; since the game uses an English character set, the text prints out as gibberish instead of Japanese. Man, did we have fun mocking that game at Working Designs. (These days, I mock Ephemeral Fantasia, the worst PS2 RPG ever.)

-- Z.

I found the localization of Suikoden 2 to be awesome, and had NO problems with the transalation. Thought it was very very well done. Where in the game are the parts you're referring to? I REALLY REALLY loved Suikoden 2, but maybe I just falied to notice a lot of problems or something....

[zmeston]

At the store I worked at before I got promoted just got Suikoden 2 traded in. Argh. Even the used price is $49.99 but that's still a steal. Dammit, if I hadn't been promoted I could have gotten it... oh well.

-AG

The gameplay is solid, but the text localization is legendary in its awfulness. There's at least one point where the text wasn't translated at all; since the game uses an English character set, the text prints out as gibberish instead of Japanese. Man, did we have fun mocking that game at Working Designs. (These days, I mock Ephemeral Fantasia, the worst PS2 RPG ever.)

-- Z.

I found the localization of Suikoden 2 to be awesome, and had NO problems with the transalation. Thought it was very very well done. Where in the game are the parts you're referring to? I REALLY REALLY loved Suikoden 2, but maybe I just falied to notice a lot of problems or something....

Um... the parts I refer to are the start, middle, and end. Heh. If you had no complaints about the quality of S2's text localization, more power to you. I myself found it very amateurish and Janglishy, but keep in mind I'm a picky bitch. Also, to repeat, I'm not disparaging the gameplay. Just the localization (which rumor and legend has it was performed by Casey Loe, ex-GameFan writer and RPG freak).

-- Z.

[zmeston]

working designs? Hmmm....

Can you find out whose idea it was to hame Umi comment about condoms in the MKR Saturn game?

Every time I read that in the game, I just start cracking up.

-AG

We took a lot of heat for Rayearth's localization, as many people rightly found it distasteful to have three teenage girls dropping dozens of double entendres. Then there was the small matter of deleting almost all of the voice acting from the Japanese version, in which every line of dialogue was accompanied by speech. Victor made up a lame excuse about the speech "slowing down" the game, but the simple truth is that it would have taken forever to record and cost a small fortune, even at the slave wages Victor paid his voice talent.

I couldn't tell you who wrote the condom line, as there were five writers involved with the Rayearth localization: magazine journo John Ricciardi (whose draft sucked and was almost entirely thrown out), Victor Ireland, hacker/programmer Tim Trezpacz, ps2.ign.com legend Dave Z, and myself. I regret not having done more rewriting, but when I joined WD, Rayearth was already well under way, and I didn't want to come in with a "You guys are doing this all wrong!" attitude.

-- Z.

[Kid Fenris]

Um... the parts I refer to are the start, middle, and end. Heh. If you had no complaints about the quality of S2's text localization, more power to you. I myself found it very amateurish and Janglishy, but keep in mind I'm a picky bitch. Also, to repeat, I'm not disparaging the gameplay. Just the localization (which rumor and legend has it was performed by Casey Loe, ex-GameFan writer and RPG freak).

-- Z.

Seriously? Damn. Casey "Takuhi" Loe is one of my all-time favorite game critics (right after Zach Meston, of course). It's kind of strange that he'd fumble the Suikoden II translation and then do such a good job on Valkyrie Profile with his old Gamefan pal Nick "Rox" Des Barres. I seem to recall that some studio, instead of a particular person, was credited with the localization for Suikoden II, but then, both Nick and Casey were listed as members of "some studio" in the VP credits. I just can't remember that studio's name.

Oh yeah. Suikoden II. It's an excellent RPG, and one of those games that's almost worth its stupidly excessive eBay price. The translation's pretty clumsy, though. Check out Zany VG Quotes for some of the more amusing lines.

[hezeuschrist]

How can you have a thread about terrible scripts and not mention Legend of Dragoon? I don't know if any of you remember this, but early in the game you have to some place thats poisoned or some crap (I didn't pay much attention to the game, and only played it for a whopping 6 hours. Slow battles killed any enjoyment the game may have held), and the girl falls down.

"Ow!"

"Are you ok?"

"Yes. Lets go"

That's the whole scene. What the crap?

[bizounce]

What games would you say had the closest translations. I'm talking translations so close that playing the Japanese version may even be pointless? Let's keep this RPG wise too.

[maxlords]

Don't know.....how was Panzer Dragoon Saga's?

[zmeston]

Um... the parts I refer to are the start, middle, and end. Heh. If you had no complaints about the quality of S2's text localization, more power to you. I myself found it very amateurish and Janglishy, but keep in mind I'm a picky bitch. Also, to repeat, I'm not disparaging the gameplay. Just the localization (which rumor and legend has it was performed by Casey Loe, ex-GameFan writer and RPG freak).

-- Z.

Seriously? Damn. Casey "Takuhi" Loe is one of my all-time favorite game critics (right after Zach Meston, of course). It's kind of strange that he'd fumble the Suikoden II translation and then do such a good job on Valkyrie Profile with his old Gamefan pal Nick "Rox" Des Barres. I seem to recall that some studio, instead of a particular person, was credited with the localization for Suikoden II, but then, both Nick and Casey were listed as members of "some studio" in the VP credits. I just can't remember that studio's name.

Oh yeah. Suikoden II. It's an excellent RPG, and one of those games that's almost worth its stupidly excessive eBay price. The translation's pretty clumsy, though. Check out Zany VG Quotes for some of the more amusing lines.

I'm a horrible critic, but thank you for the blatant plug anyhoo.

It's quite possible that Loe was only given time for a single draft, as S2 reads much like the Janglish first drafts of the PS1 Lunars. Maybe Nick Rox is the talented one of the bunch, or maybe Loe expected to have time for multiple drafts, or maybe (as the RPGamer staffers claimed about their infamously awful Dragon Warrior VII translation) Konami used the wrong text files.

Hearing Rox's name reminds me of the bizarrely high percentage of bored rich people in the game-journalism field, yet another of which I encountered at this year's E3. I don't know how they find their way into this particular profession, but they do. Including Rox, I can name a half-dozen BRP journalists.

-- Z.

[Kid Fenris]

It's quite possible that Loe was only given time for a single draft, as S2 reads much like the Janglish first drafts of the PS1 Lunars. Maybe Nick Rox is the talented one of the bunch, or maybe Loe expected to have time for multiple drafts, or maybe (as the RPGamer staffers claimed about their infamously awful Dragon Warrior VII translation) Konami used the wrong text files.

Hearing Rox's name reminds me of the bizarrely high percentage of bored rich people in the game-journalism field, yet another of which I encountered at this year's E3. I don't know how they find their way into this particular profession, but they do. Including Rox, I can name a half-dozen BRP journalists.

-- Z.

I'd like to hear about some of them, if that's not asking too much, and about Rox in particular. I always wondered what his deal was during the days of Gamefan. Is he still designing stuff for Versus Books?

[zmeston]

It's quite possible that Loe was only given time for a single draft, as S2 reads much like the Janglish first drafts of the PS1 Lunars. Maybe Nick Rox is the talented one of the bunch, or maybe Loe expected to have time for multiple drafts, or maybe (as the RPGamer staffers claimed about their infamously awful Dragon Warrior VII translation) Konami used the wrong text files.

Hearing Rox's name reminds me of the bizarrely high percentage of bored rich people in the game-journalism field, yet another of which I encountered at this year's E3. I don't know how they find their way into this particular profession, but they do. Including Rox, I can name a half-dozen BRP journalists.

-- Z.

I'd like to hear about some of them, if that's not asking too much, and about Rox in particular. I always wondered what his deal was during the days of Gamefan. Is he still designing stuff for Versus Books?

I've never met Rox in person, only heard the stories, and they're about what you'd expect. If your mom was the most notorious groupie-whore in the history of rock 'n roll (Pamela "I'm With the Band" Des Barres), you'd be angry at the world and looking for escape. Videogames provided an outlet for Nick to vent his frustrations via punching/kicking/shooting, and as many alternate realities as he could stand.

Nick's not designing anything for Versus, because Versus went under at the beginning of the year. I worked on Versus' last-ever official guide, for The Getaway, which was bought and published by Prima. Not my best work, but then, The Getaway's not the best game.

A few BRP examples: Hal Halpin, former publisher of Videogame Advisor/GameWEEK/ieMag (the industry's first attempt at a trade magazine, a la Variety); the much-despised publisher of Silicon Magazine, whose name I can't remember (according to the tales, his mega-rich dad invented magnetic resonance imaging tests); J. Douglas Arnold, my former strategy-guide co-author, whose mother was a real estate magnate and head of her own tourist-guide publishing company. There are others, but they're nice people and I don't want to offend.

I myself have spent my entire life fighting to escape my poor-white-trash roots, with mixed success.

-- Z.

[Mayhem]

After not being able to find Suikoden III anywhere, QoF and I ran into two copies at her local Gamestop whilst I was over there last week

Okay, not quite the same thing, but they aren't easy to find any of them

[ManekiNeko]

"The gameplay is solid, but the text localization is legendary in its awfulness. There's at least one point where the text wasn't translated at all; since the game uses an English character set, the text prints out as gibberish instead of Japanese. Man, did we have fun mocking that game at Working Designs."

Y'know, Zach, it's possible for a video game to be TOO well localized.
Just take a look at this. It's what would have happened to Zero Wing if Working Designs had gotten their hands on it.

http://grblitz.overclocked.org
(visit this first to defeat remote link blocking)
http://grblitz.overclocked.org/zerowd.gif

JR

[ManekiNeko]

KidFenris: I remember reading Nick Rox's articles BEFORE he started writing for GameFan. He wrote a review for a video game fanzine called Dystopia, edited by an obnoxious, bitter Eminem wannabee who almost everyone hated. Rox wasn't especially popular in fandom, either... once he joined GameFan, most of us quickly grew tired of his constant praise of undeserving games and his insistance that the Playstation version of Street Fighter Alpha was superior to the Saturn game, when in fact the opposite was true.

ZachMeston: Blah, it stinks that the editors of video game magazines gave jobs to all the rich kids. Some of us middle-class midwesterners could have used those opportunities too. I was never able to break that glass ceiling and become a professional video game writer, even though I feel I'm more than qualified for such a career. The closest I ever came was writing freelance reviews for the currently defunct j-pop.com.

JR