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Post by bonesnapdeez on Jul 31, 2023 15:08:48 GMT -5
Would like to see the Marionette Company games translated. Why? Love the artwork, love visual novels, love Micro Cabin. Simple as.
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Post by Ex on Jul 31, 2023 15:32:11 GMT -5
I agree the art style of those VNs is excellent, especially the classic '90s coloring style.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 31, 2023 21:35:56 GMT -5
The good ol' 2000's.
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Post by toei on Jul 31, 2023 23:25:51 GMT -5
Speaking of Micro Cabin, I'd like Riglord Saga 2. The first game (Blazing Heroes in English) looked like a mess at first but turned out to be a surprisingly cool early Saturn SRPG with some pretty wild spells that led to fun combat.
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Post by toei on Aug 11, 2023 14:20:39 GMT -5
I'm sure I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I'd like to see Shinjuku no Okami (Wolf of Shinjuku) translated, for the PS2. It's the only Japanese attempt at a GTA III-style sandbox game I know of, though like in True Crime, you play as a cop (probably unavoidable in Japan - wasn't GTA banned in some parts of the country or restricted or something?) It looks pretty low-budget in comparison - Spike was more of a niche publisher - but I'd give it a shot. Xeo posted a few times about how Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring were these new Japanese takes on the modern open world, but I'm curious about this earlier, lower-profile take.
"Eiji Mikami, the so-called "Wolf of Shinjuku", is a 36-year-old police detective at the Central Shinjuku Station known for his own distinct brand of justice. After an undercover agent investigating a gun smuggling ring is discovered and killed, a deal goes bad and illicit weaponry winds up all over the city. Crime is on the rise, and it's up to Eiji and the Shinjuku Police to recover the stolen weapons."
Thumbs up for the protagonist being 36.
"if he harms too many innocents, his badge will be revoked, causing an immediate game over. However, he can return to the station between missions to write apology letters and repair his reputation."
This is the most Japanese thing I have ever read.
I'm rooting for a wave of niche PS2 / Dreamcast game translations. We've already had Rent A Hero Dreamcast, now it's time for games like this and Sega Gaga.
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Post by Ex on Aug 11, 2023 16:41:48 GMT -5
I'm rooting for a wave of niche PS2 / Dreamcast game translations. While I appreciate all translation efforts, I would prefer that to more Famicom and Game Boy Color translations.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 11, 2023 16:50:09 GMT -5
Yeah, those systems have been mined pretty extensively at this point. Lots of stuff leftover in the PS1/PS2/Dreamcast space.
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Post by Xeogred on Aug 11, 2023 17:31:23 GMT -5
Looks like Deadly Premonition since we were just talking about that. But in the vein of Yakuza or something.
I guess some homework for toei or whomever, is if something kind of predated Shenmue's ideas and design? Or maybe the director has mentioned some stuff that influenced him at some point. I can see how Shenmue probably kicked off a big change in the industry for some developers, but yeah there could be other stuff out there like it I bet.
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Post by toei on Aug 11, 2023 19:34:05 GMT -5
Looks like Deadly Premonition since we were just talking about that. But in the vein of Yakuza or something.
I guess some homework for toei or whomever, is if something kind of predated Shenmue's ideas and design? Or maybe the director has mentioned some stuff that influenced him at some point. I can see how Shenmue probably kicked off a big change in the industry for some developers, but yeah there could be other stuff out there like it I bet.
In my opinion, the original Rent A Hero did in some ways. It was also marketed as a RPG, but isn't really one. Though it advances as you take on a series of assignments, unlike Shenmue, it's also mostly an adventure game where you walk around a modern city, advance the story by doing light investigating (mostly asking people about things), and sometimes get into real-time battles. Like in Shenmue, there's a desire to ground an unrealistic premise into a world where normal people live. Early on, it even has you work an actual job for a short moment, delivering food. You have a bank account and can make deposits and withdrawals with cashiers or ATMs (though maybe Mother did that first?) There's also an arcade you can visit filled with AM2 games, just like in Shenmue, though of course, being a Genesis game, you can't actually play them (that would have been insane in the late '80s!). Instead, you get to listen to the theme songs from each game. Both games were made by Sega AM2, and I think both games have some similar ideas about what else a "RPG" could be, even if Yu Suzuki wasn't as involved with Rent A Hero. Also, the fact that you advance the story by completing jobs you're given resembles the mission-based structure of later open world sandbox games. You just ride the train instead of driving a car. After that, I've heard that Mizzurna Falls actually does some of the things Shenmue did about a year earlier . It was an attempt by Human, who were making a ton of adventure games around that time (including the Clock Tower series) to make a more free 3D adventure game with time passing in real time, something earlier consoles couldn't really have handled, and other steps were taken to make the world feel real. Those were ideas that people fantasized about long before they were possible, though, in the same way that Yuji Horii was talking about MMORPGs featuring AI-generated NPC dialogue in the '80s. It was just a matter of how well you could simulate a living, breathing world with the technology available. I'll also throw in the bicycle from Earthbound as an early example a real-world "vehicle" you could drive to get around modern cities.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 11, 2023 21:35:30 GMT -5
You know, I think you're very much right. Rent-A-Hero almost seems like a sort of "slice of life" game in some ways, just like Shenmue. I'm trying to think of some other stuff that is similar, but nothing is really coming to mind. I don't know anything about Mizzurna Falls, but I have heard that it's a pretty good time, so I plan on rolling around to it eventually. I gotta finish Tail Concerto first, though.
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