You probably heard already about NIS America apologising for the terrible translation job they did on Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, and will issue a free update down the line that will fix the translation. This just doesn’t anywhere, NISA is known for their terrible practices and laughable translations. This has come to a point that sometimes a fan translation can make more sense and contains better flowing text.
NISA doesn’t offer apologies all that often. The CEO of NISA, Takuro Yamashita, is correct; this sort of terrible translation should not have happened. Ys VIII however is not alone in the list of games that NISA has put out that should be retouched from the grounds up. Ar Tonelico series is somewhat infamous for its lacklustre quality in translation, with Ar Tonelico II‘s even going so far of having no translation in the game or completely mistranslations of in-world terms and being inconsistent on the name changes they did. The quality assessment wasn’t up to par with the title overall, seeing how the end-game boss has a bug that crashes the whole thing. This is just a singular example, of course, but we could point out such things as Ar Tonelico Qoga’s English voice script being different from the Japanese one, and even at times from the English text script. If you though name changes are OK, NISA may change your mind with their take on Atelier Arland trilogy’s Esty Erhart being renamed as Esty Dee for a stupid STD joke.
Not to turn this whole post into bashing NISA, but translation really isn’t the only place they falter constantly. I mentioned the game breaking bug in Ar Tonelico II, but that’s just one example of bugs NISA introduced into their games during localisation process. Witch and the 100 Knight on the PS3 has a game crashing bug, plus causing the game to overheat the console itself to the point of it suicide. The translation aside, NISA never did issue a patch on these, and I recall them even refusing to acknowledge the overheating issue. Again, a single example, but we could talk about Disgaea D2 having a CPU melting bug at release, game crashing Skills and opening essentially off in the middle of playback.
It wouldn’t be a full three-course meal if we didn’t have censorship to throw into the mix. NISA’s release of Mugen Souls and Mugen Souls Z saw removal of some 120 CGs. There has been multiple explanations over the years, but all that really boils down to wanting to appeal the largest possible market. This is coming from a company that is release a very niche set of games to a niche audience. NISA doesn’t seem to realise that the larger Western market doesn’t like anime style, especially not in America and in parts of Europe that doesn’t have along lasting anime related pop-culture elements, like with the French and Goldorak, so trying to appeal new market with a product they have an aversion of is a terrible business move. Maybe the best example of this would be the censorship of Criminal Girls, where the player needs to give the titular characters “motivation lessons” through slight slapping and whipping with naughty overtones. Censoring the game’s main appeal, appeal that only appealed to even smaller audience than normal, is nothing short of retarded. The game itself is nothing special in content, it’s a mediocre RPG overall, but a really nice playthrough. The motivation lessons just added something extra to it, and now even that was denied.
Anyone who saw NISA grabbing the Ys license after XSEED’s deal with Nihon Falcom was over could tell you that the quality of the translation would go down. Nobody questioned that, and like some sort of collective arcane expectation, that came about. The only reason why we’re seeing an apology issued with a promise of a new, free patch being delivered, is at least partially because of a mailing campaign the fans had put up. The main reason however is without a shadow of a doubt is that Nihon Falcom put pressure on them. Hammering Falcom with information on the failures of their new partner in the Western was the best way to turn the tide, as only Falcom has the leverage to essentially force NISA’s hand on the issue.
XSEED has handled the Ys series like a pro. They essentially revived the franchise in the West and made it a household name long after people had forgotten how good Ys I and II were on the Turbografix-16. However, with NISA being a larger company and being able to offer more money, they could grab the rights and a deal with Falcom. NISA now had their hands on a franchise that fit in their overall library of titles, was already popular, and expanded their market away from naughtier games. Well, they managed to fuck that up.
It’s not everyday you see sensible English from Japanese being re-translated by a localisation company. For example, a region called Crevice of the Archeozoic Era was changed to Archeozoic Big Hole. Certainly, there are better options than Crevice in the context, but Big Hole is not only an invitation for a series of stupid jokes about some big hole being important for a character, but also sounds really stupid. That may be just a single issue that really stuck with me, but the rest of the script is no better. Character descriptions are awkward at best, treating them as in-game inanimate objects rather than characters. There is an imgur folder up for some examples used in the mailing campaign, and it’s a good thing to check out if you’re interested further. Some of the examples are weirdly selected, but they give an idea how things are.
Let’s not forget that the in-game bestiary for Ys VIII contains different area names that are in the in-game map.
OG moonlanguage versionAre you serious? A goddam Mephorashmoo? Is it a cow?
We would not have seen NISA bending their asses over this if there was no pressure from Japan’s side. Nothing would have been rectified if not for that. It’s a sad situation when NISA more often than not completely ignores criticism from their consumers and even refuse to acknowledge some of their mistakes. This isn’t even the first time the consumers have raised their voice against NISA and their translation, which is probably why some have taken an issue with it. The argument that people should be happy to even see a game translated doesn’t hold water, as XSEED would have wanted to continue with Ys series. I also have already discussed the good enough argument. NISA tends to have hardcore fans that don’t really care if they have good quality titles or not all the while there is a sect of those who won’t touch NISA’s products at all because they do care. NISA all in all is an example when can be understood-mentality extends from translation to everything else. It’s just not cutting it. NISA’s not just a blunt blade, but a blade that was left to rust on purpose.
The situation with NISA won’t change until more of companies from Japan start to care about localisation. Falcom is painfully aware of the need for their games having a demand to be well translated, as XSEED has managed their IPs like a golden egg. Most other companies simply don’t care, and translation overall gets the shaft in the processes of things.
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, like all games, deserved a proper localisation. Now that the game will be getting a better one, will it be worth purchasing? Wallet voting here is a tricky one; on one hand you shouldn’t support a company with practices you don’t agree with, but in times when they do rectify their mistake, either by force or via free will, that should be appreciated. If this has peaked your interest, I recommend sitting back for a whole and waiting to see what the reworked translation is like. The fact that NISA had to employ a new translator and editor for the game should tell you about the quality they strive for normally, and much they care about their products in the end. Well, products that are owned by another company they just happen to have a license to. Personally, I can’t but hope to see Falcom giving Ys‘ license back to XSEED as soon as possible, as NISA seems unable to change their ways unless forced to.
Think of a logo with text, or check the logo on the product that is nearest to you. If I’d ask you to write what some of those logos say, you’d might write something like Hitachi, Sound Blaster, Battlestar Galactica, Talisker, Canon, Muv-Luv and so on. After all, that’s what it reads on the package.
Logos don’t always write the title or name correctly, for whatever reason. Often they do, but every now and then you came face to face with something that’s clearly written wrong on the logo for the sake of making or look good or other reasons. More often than not, it’s aesthetic. That reason fails on more or less on every level, as anything can be made aesthetically pleasing.
Josh Hadley had a little rant some time ago about how all the current 21 Jumpstreet products write it as 21 Jump Street, with the space in there. He based it on how the original show’s logo clearly shows how it’s supposed to be written as one word. However, it more or less was found out that the registered trademark is 21 Jump Street, which is also the street name and thus used in home media splashtexts and on other materials. Hadley’s rage wasn’t in needles or without any merit, just wrongly directed. We would assume that what the package says is true, we have no reason to assume otherwise.
I does look like it’s just one word, but it isn’t. You could argue that they exist on two different planes, where the median of the two parts are not aligned with each other
This has of course lead people to misspell certain products because the logo misspells them too. It says so on the package is more or less moot point when reality is that the logo was made by someone who didn’t give a shit about the correct form of the title. Mega Man is one example of this, sort of.
Above is all covers for the Classic Mega Man series. You can see clearly that the games’ logos change from game to game until 5, after which that arching logo became more or less standard for the series. 6 changes the rows for the latter part, but otherwise it’s the same as 5, 7, 8 and Legends’ games titles. There’s some changes for sure, but outside that the boxes held their way of spelling right. Even when Mega Man 9 and 10 came out, their parody boxarts used the correct spelling. However, at some point somebody at CAPCOM really lost it and didn’t know how Mega Man was spelled.
The Mega Man X series followed the lead that the Classic series had made, but the shift to PlayStation seems to be final nail in correct spelling’s coffin for a time.
For whatever reason, somebody at CAPCOM decided that Mega Man should be spelt without the space between, despite this is incorrect. This change happened to majority of the games released after 2000, after Legends 2.
Mega Man Battle Network, Zero and ZX all use the the misspelled title logo. Even the unreleased Legends 3’s logo uses the incorrect spelling, and distances itself from the established look the series already had. Starforce logo is interesting in that sense that it hints towards the space, but for whatever reason reads MegaMan, so take that as whatever you wish.
The problem with this is that even thou officially the correct written form is Mega Man. Years back in some interview or QA, or possibly even via an e-mail inquiry, a CAPCOM representative stated that the series is officially written with two words, space between. This makes sense, as Megaman is a registered trademark. However, in Japan Rockman is one word. The name would’ve been used in West as well, but there is already a game named Rockman. Marvel also has a character named Rockman. There is also a line of amplifiers under Rockman title. More recently CAPCOM has been able to start correcting what they write in their logos. Mega Man Universe logo has a space between the words, signifying that they really are getting on with it. The recent Project X Zone 2 trailer also spelled Mega Man X without any troubles. Seems like whoever is in charge wants to make sure they are using their registered names in order to keep everything in proper shape.
Why people still write Mega Man incorrectly is solely because CAPCOM themselves couldn’t make head or tails how to spell it. It doesn’t help that there was no real guideline when it came to translating the games, so the translators themselves had to make calls, which ended up with Mega Man X5 with its peculiar character namings. PlayStation era saw some renewal for the franchise, and it’s pretty clear someone wanted to follow the Japanese logo and use similar font with the imported red triangle behind the text. The X series saw some restructuring too, and while I still think the PlayStation logos is best of the bunch, it could use that space in there. However, it was stylistic choice to eliminate it from there, but that’s like eliminating the spine while drawing people for better poses. I’ve got no idea what the hell was wrong with CAPCOM of Europe during the mid 2000’s, as they redrew all logos in horrible style that didn’t fit anything. However, this style was more or less used across the whole Mega Man brand family that was going on at the time, a thing I could get behind if the logos’ look were at least decent. They simply don’t fit.
I can’t fault the customer from not knowing what is the correct spelling form, when the company in charge of the product can’t get their head around how to spell in titles. They’ve been taken into a big misconception, but nowadays I don’t see any reason anyone to type Mega Man incorrectly any more. The information is out there and there’s no reason to correct one’s habit. Of course, idea of changing incorrect spelling one has been using for ages may be very uncomfortable with many, but then again that’s also a way to determine when a person got into the series. People who became fans of the series post-2000 will write Mega Man as one word, as older fans tend to use the correct form.
Of course, you could always check the original American trademark registry.
This, however, is completely different situation from Spider-Man.
I’m sure all you who have read comics are more or less familiar with the above logo or some variation of it. Yet, it’s frequently misspelled as Spiderman in general use. There’s no excuses here; the logo spells it right, the company gets it right (most of the time), the movies use the right name and so on. It’s like some sort of common agreement with the consumers and fans to drop the – from there, or sometimes replace it with a space. It’s sort of counter Ys; there is no ‘ in Ys.
From this we can ask if logos and their text should reflect the actual name of the product. Personally, I say that is a must. There is no reason to write Coca-Cola as Cooking Cila just because the designer could make a better logo out of it. If that would be the case, kick the designer out the door and get someone better to work on it. Outside that, I would say it’s good form not to stray away from what actually reads on the text. It’s not illegal to misspell your product name in the logo or title on the box, that’s not false advertisement. I guess common sense should be used here the most, rather than think too hard whether or not to intentionally misspell your product name. It could end up being embarrassing.
I just keep forgetting about this. Without further adieu, here’s the selected track of the month. Turn your volume up to eleven.
I wanted the theme for this month to be both melodic and striking, and luckily Ys Zanmai had the perfect track for this. We can argue if this is or isn’t the best track on the disc, but Ys music is starting to be a bit overused, and Feena’s theme has seen perfection already. The only way it can be made any better is by having a virgin maiden voicing it with complete honesty and out of love towards an equally pure young man while a guardian, a veteran of many wars, plays the harmonica with his hands that have seen and felt more blood than anyone else on this earth.
Things are a bit hectic at the moment. By this I mean that I’m falling behind all of my schedules, but I intend to push out at least three posts until the end of next week. That’s +1 post to the normal quota I try to keep up as much as I can.
But as for now, do enjoy the music and the upcoming summer. Next month we need a bit more fresher tunes.
So, not outselling films isn’t mainstream enough to this person subbed Jay Raymond. That’s like saying you’re not selling enough fast food after you’ve bankrupted MacDonalds.Let’s see a quote that set me off, and why I’ve been really hesitant to talk about this piece of news;
“You have to master face buttons, triggers and they all do different things,” she went on. “So obviously we’re never going to get to that really mass-market place where we’re touching a really broad audience with our messages with controllers, so Kinect and other more natural ways to interact with games are incredibly important. I think we can go further.”
May I punch this person? What this person is saying [is] that traditional controls are far too complex for a newcomer. Jay calls herself a “hardcore gamer” and that was the final stroke.
Video games, especially console and arcade games, are meant to be easyget into and hard to master by their core nature. Just because your company designs a complex controller doesn’t mean that you should make complex use of it.
Let’s take a look at the controller family tree, which is missing the most basic arcade controller and the SpaceWar arcade cabinet. Here we see how the shape has changed throughout the years and evolved bit by bit both in size, shape and in number of buttons. I disagree that the Mr. Game&Watch evolved from an Atari joystick, as it’s a combination of many things, like the directional buttons on computer and arcade joystick rather than Atari stick.
At what point did we go over the threshold of being easy to get into? Does less buttons mean easier access? No, it does not. We never went over the threshold. If you check my Double Dragon review I went over how console controller centric the controls were.
It is the developer who decides how complex the controls are, not the controller.
Controllers, as they are, should be as unobtrusive as possible in design. Every button should be within reach and accessible. Both D-Pad and sticks should be responsive and in a place where one can lay their thumb easily on them. Xbox’s controller is horrible mess in this regard with its Black and White buttons. Microsoft managed to improve their design in the 360 by taking everything that worked in the Dreamcast controller and the rest from other controllers. The NES had just two buttons and you could do aninsane amount of stuff with just those two buttons. Anyone who has played Turtles III can tell that those two buttons were more than enough. Mega Drive has three buttons, and those buttons saw a lot of use. Later it had six, but even then not all games used those because they did not need them.
Jay thinks that modern controllers are complex because they are made complex on purpose. Why? Because developers try to port more and more computer controls to consoles and vice versa. It’s insanely stupid. Dual Stick controls are the worst design choice one can make for a console game. If possible, let me use a keyboard and a mouse for those games. Console controllers are not for that, same just like you are not meant to play Doom with a damn arcade stick.
However, do try playing Ys games with an arcade controller. It works surprisingly well because it has roots in console gaming despite being on a computer.
So no, Jay. You’re wrong in this case.From a design standpoint a lot of controllers are nigh perfect in design. SNES has one of the most revered design overall, and pretty much everybody agrees that if you need to use a pad for fighting games you go for a Sega Saturn pad. You do not need to use all buttons on the controller to make good controls. On the contrary, if you manage to make aconsole game that uses as fewbuttons as possible you have far more coherent and tight controls. That’s a good thing, unlike what developers seem to think.
If you want complex controls that need to use large amount of buttons, then go for computer games. You have a keyboardful of buttons to use in your game. Controllers themselves are not complex, and if they are then something is seriously wrong.
Like with Kinect. Kinect is a perfect example of controller that on paper seems simple and straightforward, but how it works now is more complex than any controller. Console controllers by their nature are accurate. Kinect isn’t. Mouse is accurate as well, but that’s a completely different control method than a D-Pad or a stick. If a controller isn’t accurate from the get go, the only way to make it work is to work around it. Kinect games do not even try, and honestly the technology, while impressive, isn’t up there yet to be used with console games.
Putting more emphasize on controller free games would be a mistake. Kinect never really sold well, as most of them were sold with the new 360 packs. Nobody bought them separate, and people who did bought them mostly to use them in their tech projects. Then we also have the question why the hell would Jay want to push Kinect if she herself doesn’t play the games it offers.
Throughout the article it comes clear that she’s a computer gamer and has very little grasp on what does work with consoles and what doesnot. If controllers are far too complex and if they scare away the customers, then make ityour job to simplify the controls. Take away the triggers, lessen the amount of buttons, or make completely unique controllers for different games. NES was an awesome console because it allowed the user to play with whatever controller he wanted. The amount of NES controllers is large and filled with awesome controllers like the NES Advantage and the NES MAX. Wii followed the same line of thinking, but never really took it far enough.
Video games in general, especially arcade games, are about skill and execution. Saying that they’re too complex for people to get into is not having enough faith inyour customers; you’re underestimating your customers. There is an image of complex games, and that’s just an image. Reality can be anything else from game to game. Double Dragon NEON has far too many buttons in use for its own good for sure, but then we have games like Deathsmiles that work completely well with two or three buttons. And yes, I’ve seen shooting games that use six buttons for some God forsaken reason. R-Type needed exactly two and that was enough.
What I’d like you, my dear reader, to do is to think up a game with the most convoluted controls you’ve had displeasure to play, and then simplify them.
Sometimes the game developers should develop a game from ground up with its own controller. Physical creation is important as well, and with the loss of arcade we’ve lost physical craftsmanship almost altogether. Making the physical instrument a part of how the game works, be it a traditional game or electronic, is a gateway to understand the game itself better. Developing a game for a ready controller and not understanding how controls actually work only yields loose, inaccurate and bad controls no matter what controller is in question.
Yuzo Koshiro without a doubt is one of the most important persons in video game music. Koshiro was one of the first musicians who went from bleeps and bloop, from small jingles and tunes to full blown music with FM Synth.
Koshiro mastered his craft as time progressed, but his master Joe Hisashi has been a great influence to Koshiro. However, Koshiro found his own way in crafting music, which made him the legend he is today.
Koshiro is most known for his Street of Rage and Shinobi music, but his most influential music do come from PC-88 with Ys, The Scheme and Misty Blue. This man isn’t just an artist, the man’s a master craftsman.
If you’re anywhere near Washington during MAGfest (and I mean anywhere near as in anywhere on the same continent) do yourself, and to me, a favour and go MAGfest and listen to him. Because damnit, it’s Yuzo Koshiro.
Foilage Ocean in Celseta. I have to say that I’ve used to call this game by other names that Falcom has used in their music. 27th of September seems to be the release date and the game has seen some… changes.
This is not Adol Christin. Well, it is but not really. This is artistic detrition. The direction to which Ys has gone during the past years has not been good (Ys Seven been rather subpar game with very little to do with previous games) and so has the direction of art. Look at the above picture and tell me that it set in fantasy middle-ages or so. You can’t as it looks far too much like post-industrial clothing.
This is what Ys looked like ten years ago.
This is how Ys looked twenty years ago. Between those ten years the art direction did not change, it evolved. However, with Ys Seven the art direction began to change, and now with Foilage Ocean it has abandoned the direction it should have.
I had hoped that this game would have been the second coming of Oath in Felghana, which was incredible evolution of Ark of Naphistim in gameplay and art. However, Foilage Ocean seems to be a step away from these roots, as it follows the path Ys Seven stepped into.
I’ve got something against Ys Seven. I bought it at release and I was greeted with a good game which I’d recommend people to play. However, as an Ys game it lacked the same striking rhythm and overall quality that of Oath in Felghana, or even Ys Origin.
This art direction what has been used in the Trails in the Sky series, as well as in the Kiseki series. However, this kind unification of art direction is utterly stupid. Why would anyone want to take away what is unique to your series? Uniqueness that does not exist anywhere else? Uniqueness that sells?
Falcom’s being stupid here, and much like their fellow developers they are rather blind. To say, they can’t really see the forest from the trees. They’re concentrating on one point that they find most interesting and amusing, and disregarding all else. It’s like Falcom’s watching at one mushroom only and disregarding that the forest roof has dragons. This is not anything new in the industry, unfortunately.
Foilage Ocean in Celseta began because it was asked how would Falcom do Ys IV. They were listening to their customers, which was good, but disregarded everything else afterwards, which was not only bad, but also extremely stupid.
There has been a lot of talks about computer games losing their manuals and including a PDF file in the installation disc or the like. However,now it seems like PSVita games as well are dumping the manuals. This diminishes the overall value of the video games.
I own the collector’s edition of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventure computer MMORPG. I’ve never played the game as I got the whole package second hand, but I bought the package because it has extremely good bonuses: music soundtrack, a cloth map, an artbook and a huge box to boot. It’s one of those games I bought simply because of the extras, but then again, I paid 3€ for it.
If games are to lose their manuals, I fully expect to pay less than 40€ for them. Printing a manual is costly, but putting one up really isn’t. If they’re really just going to put a PDF file to the disc, they’re devaluing themselves. Manuals have been an important part of the video game industry since the beginning. They’ve been essential to the experience since the Odyssey, where the rules and methods of gameplay had to be read from the manual. In the Atari days manuals had comics and stories with them, and PC games usually had some sort of copy protection that you had to crack with the manual. Even the NES Startropics’ manual had this page you had to dip in water in order to find an answer to an in-game question, thou this page was a separate letter in PAL region. Most fighting games list the character moves in the manual, and this was essential in the time when games didn’t list the moves in Pause menu. Special mention has to be given to the King of Fighters Maximum Impact that came with full colour booklet that not only listed the moves, but every characters’ backstory. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how you do a manual.
Most customers want a full fledged colour manual that matters. It’s part of the video game package as a whole, and with every game that comes with a lacking manual makes the customer feel like they’ve been cheated. It’s the same thing with the new DVD cases that have holes; it makes it all feel cheap. Actually, what I’ve heard most people who get these environmentally more friendly cases throw them away and buy new ones that properly protect the contents. What they could do is to make the cases smaller. DVD keepcases are oversized anyway, they could improve the CD jewelcases to be more durable and use them. I have to say that the BD cases SONY has been putting out are very good in this regard, slimming down the thickness and height, but keeping the value high.
However, the Nintendo DS, Sony PSP and PSVita cases are just far too big, especially the European DS cases. They could be more like the VHS cases; snappy fit, not too much empty space and compact. These three consoles are supposed to be portable in the end, so a portable case for the games would seem like a good idea, but this point has been missed. Also, they’ve missed the point of having manuals it seems.
From left to right with upper row first; BD, Japanese GameCube, generic DVD, GameBoy protection box, PAL DS, Japanese Sega Saturn, PSP, Japanese SNES box, MegaDrive case and rental NES case (basically a large VHS case)
I have to say that I love SEGA for having plastic cases for MegaDrive games. It gives the games more value. I can take a NES or SNES games without their cases, it doesn’t really matter. I can always get a VHS case for them. But MegaDrive games? It just feels wrong not to have the plastic case with them. It adds value to the game itself. Same thing with manuals. If a game doesn’t come with a manual, it has far less value overall. Cardboard boxes still feel cheap no matter what. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a new box for my loose games, but that would take a) a lot of room b) I don’t have a lot room. Racketboy has these neat multipurpose boxes, that seem to be modified VHS cases.
Losing the manuals from new games is a great loss most people won’t even notice. If you ask any video game hobbyist that lived in the 80’s about manuals, they usually have some fond memories of them and how awesome it was to read through them. Manuals have been underused for more than a decade now, and it shows. We are in need something like what Atari did back in the day, packing music tapes and comics with their games without resorting to these limited edition bullcrap we’re having today.
You want customers to buy your video game? Give it more value. Make a great box filled with extras.
Look at that stuff EXCEED packed with the PSP Ys games. Now that’s some value if I ever so one
Rather than just rewriting a post that was mysteriously deleted for reasons unknown (someone got my password? Glitch in the system? Something else?) I decided not to rewrite that lost post but rather combine it with a new one, making it a double post. The first part has some new stuff added in, so if you managed to read the Langrisser IV post beforehand, you might want to skip most of it until game n. 498 a bit lower.
So, once more, the game number 497 is Langrisser IV.
Limited edition package just has a large red L behind the logo, but it also came with pins, a small booklet and other extras. Naturally, I purchased the Limited Edition package.
Langrisser III was something of a black sheep of the series amongst fans, so Masaya decided to return to basics to please the fans with great results. Seriously, after Langrisser Millenuim and Schwartz Langrisser III suddenly looks a lot better. Just trust me. However, Langrisser IV’s system did have a new Judgement System that determines which character moves first. Basically, characters with high speed stat moves first, so this system is highly questionable as it is. It changes the players’ strategy a bit, as the soldiers tend to move faster than their Generals.
Langrisser IV has two versions; the ‘original’ Sega Saturn version and the PlayStation that was bundled with Langrisser V in Final Edition double pack. The PlayStation version changes Langrisser IV’s system to that of Langrisser V’s, making the game a bit easier in theory. I have no idea why they changed the system, but this might warrant me a reason to track it down for completions sake.
Langrisser IV’s presentation is top notch, as with every 32-bit era games with Satoshi Urushihara’s artwork. The man might draw shitloads of porn, but that doesn’t make him a great artist in his own field. Urushihara’s work was one of the reasons I got into Langrisser in the first place, as his sleek and shiny lines just grab my view and I have to look at every crevice these lines create.
Mmmmm, crevice…
Honestly, I’m a big Urushihara fan and only lately I’ve been able to get my hands on artbooks and comics he has made. While he has had worked on some adult material (as in bulk of his life work) I’m slowly tracking down his earlier works in some form to see the evolution his career gone through. Urushihara’s colouring is one reason I want to stay with Black and White images, but at the same time I’d really love to learn to colour my images with those same plastic and metal tones. Trust me, if you don’t know how to reproduce Urushihara’s method, it’s a bitch to make.
Other than that, Langrisser was a long time a contender for reasons yours truly started to study Japanese. The language barrier in the story is pretty high, but luckily most of it is spoken, and this man can at least understand the language. The story, as always in Langrisser, is great if I failed to mention it before. It starts with a small rebellion, until events stack unto each other until a nation basically is under war. Friends and foes are made, swords clash against each other as does emotions and views. It’s a great story, well told and presented. While it really doesn’t tie to Langrisser I & II, and III’s a prequel to those, IV and V do tie to each other quite tightly.
If you’re wondering why I wanted to learn Japanese, it was a song named Makenai Ai ga Kitto Aru by Yukie Nakama. Cue for Youtube search.
Now this is gameplay, unlike in some visual novels I love so much
Now, with Langrisser IV, I’ve completed the main series collection for the Sega Saturn. I might track down Warsong for the MegaDrive / Genesis, as it is the first Langrisser game and thus far really the only ever released in the West, even if it got that name change. The reason for this is that Langrisser got a few remakes under the name Der Langrisser that is by all means a different game, and all games that came after that basically disregard Warsong’s points. There’s no reason to complain though, Warsong hasn’t really aged that well in the end, but as a curiosity and for completions sake…
The game number 498 is…Ys IV; The Dawn of Ys.
I love this kind of game covers
But hey, don’t you already have this, asks a keen reader. Yes, I do have Ys IV in my Super Nintendo/Super Famicom collection. However, that game is called Ys IV: Mask of the Sun. Ys IV had two different iterations; one for the SNES/SFC and one for the NEC PC-Engine, also known as TurboGrafx-16 in the West. These two games are two completely different beasts from each other, as the SNES/SFC version was developed by Tonkin House, and the PC-E version was developed by Hudson/Alfa Systems. Also, Falcom was developing a third version for the MegaDrive with SEGA, but that never came into fruition for some reasons.
There was also a PS2 remake that was pretty bad in every regards.
In the Ys canon, Mask of the Sun is seen as the sequel to Ys II and as a prequel to Oath in Felghana (which is a remake of Ys III.) Objectively, Dawn of Ys is a superior game with better sound quality, faster music and better controls, as Dawn of Ys was the first game where Adol could move diagonally, whereas Mask of the Sun sticks to the original PC Ys game’s anally accurate hit boxes with restricted movement. Actually, Dawn of Ys comes on top in every regard compared to Mask of the Sun with better level design, better boss battles and all. Dawn of Ys is also quite a long game, ranking at the same length as Ys Books I & II on the PC-Engine.
Fans generally regard Dawn of Ys the best game in the earlier Ys era before Ark of Naphistim and it’s not hard to see why. While the music is good as per Falcom standards, it still doesn’t hold up to Ys III.
Don’t worry, Oath in Felghana tops any video game soundtrack anyway and I’m not even speaking as a fan here!
Dawn of Ys also almost had an anime made out of it, with trailers and all out, but ultimately it fell through as no animation studio was interested taking the job. Well, this was after the economy crashed in Japan, so it’s no wonder nobody wanted to animate an OVA about a game series that would soon be forgotten for years.
While I don’t have any real personal memories regarding the Dawn of Ys, it’s a game that I’ve always seen as something “I need to get to.” Ys IV and V are something I never really got into. Ys I&II are classics on their own regard, Ys III was a curiosity with an awesome soundtrack, The Ark of Naphistim was a good game, Oath in Felghana made everything and anything better and then some, and Ys 7 is just damn good. Ys Origin was decent, thou I’m not really unto dungeon crawlers in my Ys. Perhaps it’s just that Ys IV and V aren’t that good when compared to the rest of the series, especially V. I never really gave them an opportunity thou, and this is why Ys IV; The Dawn of Ys deserves my attention. At some point in the unforseen future I’ll promise to sit down with all three of you and play you properly to the end.
The Dawn of Ys also got a translation by Deuce, which seems to be reasonably good and all. Dawn of Ys has a lot more plot and talking heads than it’s predecessors, so when fans do something like this its always a welcome plus. The fantasy world Ys represents isn’t really uncommon, but there isn’t really anything that compares to Ys these days. They’re like remains of the days of old, but still alive and well in our time, ever changing so slightly to walk towards the future. Whatever Falcom is doing for Ys in the future, it can’t that bad, can it?
Well, remember that Ys game for the PS Vita I spoke of earlier? Well, Ys; Celceta no Jukai, or The Great Forests of Celceta seems to be remake of Ys IV. Like Oath in Felghana used a refined engine from The Ark of Naphistim, The Great Forests of Celceta will be using a refined engine of Ys 7. I’m getting the feeling that the staff at Falcom are slowly but surely retracing their past and making the Ys series into one of the most finest and grandiose game series still alive. I’m all for it. We need more good games like this.
Ys IV has a track named “The Great Forests of Celceta,” which I see more appropriate name for the remake than Woodlands of Celceta, which most news sources seem to use to an extent. There’s also names like “Celceta’s sea of Trees” and so on. They even use the song in the trailer! In all essence, this is Falcom’s first real take on Ys IV. Adol’s adventure in Celceta’s forests has always eluded proper treatment for a long time, but perhaps now Falcom will give some justice to this chapter of Ys.
I don’t usually want to go into a game console without those seven games or so before I want to purchase it, but for Ys, I’ll make an exception. I paid 150€ for MuvLuv, I can pay ~500€ for a new Ys game, right?
![MML2Title[1]](https://aaltomies.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/mml2title1.png)
![Spiderman_logo[1]](https://aaltomies.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/spiderman_logo1.png){kind=logo}
Aaltomies 
