Working Designs Fans (Growlanser)

Well, since it's very rare to get any news about WD and their games, I figured I'd post that Growlanser is available for preorder.

You can preorder directly from WD or you can preorder at any other store.

There are 2 versions of the game. One is $50 and has the 2 games, a foil cover and a 'full color' manual.

The other version is the $90 limited edition. It comes with all of the above, a watch, a deck of cards, a necklace and a ring.

If you preorder directly from WD they will give you set of mini-cards as well. I think the mini cards may be available when you preorder at some brick and mortar stores as well.

One thing I wonder, since the last full game WD put out was what, Arc the Lad collection a few years back, how the fuck they stay in business. It's not like their games are million sellers all the time, and in fact, if you look at some of the games they release, I'd be surprised if they hit more than 100,000 in sales.

All of their games are great, however, and even though I barely play games anymore, I am picking up the LE for myself.

Anyone else interested?

I was interested but they keep pushing it back and pushing it back (for no good reason) and now with so many great games coming out the next couple of months, it is way down on my list of games I would like to buy.

I will probably pick it up cheap used someday.

Well, I think the release date is set, finally. It's supposed to be out Nov 9 or 11 this year.

Getting release dates moved is nothing new for WD. I mean, shit, Magic Knight Rayearth took what, almost 5-6 years before it was released?

As far as 'great games' coming out, I don't really have anything coming out that I have any real desire to go and buy, so one $90 game next month will probably be all I buy for the next 3-6 months.

How is the battle system?

I hope it's not anything like the Langrisser games on Saturn....ugh

slerch666 said:

Well, since it's very rare to get any news about WD and their games, I figured I'd post that Growlanser is available for preorder.

You can preorder directly from WD or you can preorder at any other store.

There are 2 versions of the game. One is $50 and has the 2 games, a foil cover and a 'full color' manual.

The other version is the $90 limited edition. It comes with all of the above, a watch, a deck of cards, a necklace and a ring.

If you preorder directly from WD they will give you set of mini-cards as well. I think the mini cards may be available when you preorder at some brick and mortar stores as well.

One thing I wonder, since the last full game WD put out was what, Arc the Lad collection a few years back, how the fuck they stay in business. It's not like their games are million sellers all the time, and in fact, if you look at some of the games they release, I'd be surprised if they hit more than 100,000 in sales.

All of their games are great, however, and even though I barely play games anymore, I am picking up the LE for myself.

Anyone else interested?

Click to expand...

You know, I also wonder how in the heck they stay in business.

Anyway, I did pre-order a LE copy at ebgames.com since May of this year (they had a free 2nd shipping offer for any pre-order), and yesterday I got an email from EBgames stating that according to WD the LE copy will be released on 11/9. So, I am still waiting for this game...

Charles

WD = best localizations ever.

The possibly were (dunno if still are but I guess so) the very only western company knowing shit about jpn videogames.

Fact.

Dreamer said:

How is the battle system?

I hope it's not anything like the Langrisser games on Saturn....ugh

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I hope this isn't a trend from them. Never played Langrisser, but I have Cosmic Fantasy 2 from them for the Turbo-Duo. Great storyline and intermissions, but horrid battle system.

Dreamer said:

How is the battle system?

I hope it's not anything like the Langrisser games on Saturn....ugh

Click to expand...

You have to remember these games are from several years back in Japan, so games like Disgaea and La Pucelle Tactics weren't yet available. Here are the previews over at PS2.IGN.COM.

The bit you'll likely be interested in is here:

At his heart, Growlanser is your typical turn-based RPG; or at least in terms of outward appearances it is. Simply selecting what kind of attack you want to perform (such as magics, defense, techniques, and other such stuff) allows your characters to take on enemies with stats determining your effectiveness. Where the strategy comes in, however, are your positioning and battle-objectives. Instead of immediately attacking a foe at the start of a battle, their location on the map may force you to have to move towards them during your turn -- leaving you open for long range or magical attacks in the meantime. Civilians and team members can be killed in the midst of your travels as well: oftentimes triggering your defeat or a shift in the storyline that affects the rest of your adventure.

Its this obvious need for clever planning during battle that separates Growlanser from the common crop of role-players. As every fight is an important one and you'll never know what affect certain outcomes will have on the grand scheme of things. Forming relationships with characters, establishing a love life, and interacting with NPCs outside of combat is another key component to doing well in the long run. Most conversations are made up of complicated dialogue trees that offer multi-branching pathways and changes in reputation with whomever you're speaking with. Of course, we've only experienced a few hours of this so far, but from what we can tell -- it can get pretty deep.

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Shito said:

WD = best localizations ever.

The possibly were (dunno if still are but I guess so) the very only western company knowing shit about jpn videogames.

Fact.

Click to expand...

Never heard of atlus eh?

Matt

Force said:

Never heard of atlus eh?

Matt

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Oh, you mean those who named 'Gouketsuji Ichizoku' (The Gouketsuji Family) as 'Power Instinct' maybe?

Shito said:

Oh, you mean those who named 'Gouketsuji Ichizoku' (The Gouketsuji Family) as 'Power Instinct' maybe?

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Yes, changing a japanese name that would mean nothing to someone over here is terrible. AT the same time, putting bill clinton jokes into rpgs is great.

Not that I really care about either one really, but I think it's funny that people still act like WD is so unique. I'll actually be happy if they go out of business. Just more games atlus can bring over and keep $$ out of vic ireland's pockets.

But who knows. Maybe they'll milk the lunar franchise a bit more and stay afloat a couple more years.

Matt

PS: growlanser looks good, and I guess I'm glad WD is bringing over a game I want to play. It would be the first one since the sega CD days.

Force said:

Yes, changing a japanese name that would mean nothing to someone over here is terrible.

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I swear to god 'Gouketsuji Ichizoku' means to any Japanese EXACTLY what 'The Gouketsuji Family' means to any English speaker.

Just the name of the family being the kingpin of the game storyline.

Whoa!

Being an Anime fan, I can see where Force is coming from. It would piss me off if an English company did similar things to Anime (oh wait, they do, which is why I don't watch dubs).

I don't particularly mind in games, but I can see where one would.

As far as WD 'milking the Lunar franchise,' all I have to say is sports games. At least with the Lunar releases on the PSX we were given updated graphics, an expanded story, better animation and a better package over all. Think about all the poor saps who buy Madden and all the others every year. What do you get? Same engine with updated rosters. Thanks sports game makers for going out of your way for fans.

I also have to say that personally, I am GLAD WD releases games. You may think Atlus is a good company, but they are a niche company and don't have the funds to release as many games as they should. I think the two companies, while they have different approaches to their RPG translation, are damn fine companies, releasing games we would otherwise NOT SEE IN THE USA. That's what it all comes down to IMO.

Shito said:

I swear to god 'Gouketsuji Ichizoku' means to any Japanese EXACTLY what 'The Gouketsuji Family' means to any English speaker.

Click to expand...

As an English speaker, I'll tell you that it does not mean the same thing to me. I have no idea what that word is. Maybe if I was Japanese I'd know it was just a family name and nothing else. For all I know, there's some other meaning to the word. Even you telling me that there isn't means nothing to me. You don't live in Japan.

WD isn't really the only good company that does decent Japanese translation anymore. While I usually applaud their efforts, some of their jokes are getting OLD. Anyway, Disgaea, La Pucelle, Phantom Brave and the Persona series are all very well translated. I can't wait to try Noctune....

slerch666 said:

Being an Anime fan, I can see where Force is coming from. It would piss me off if an English company did similar things to Anime (oh wait, they do, which is why I don't watch dubs).

I don't particularly mind in games, but I can see where one would.

As far as WD 'milking the Lunar franchise,' all I have to say is sports games. At least with the Lunar releases on the PSX we were given updated graphics, an expanded story, better animation and a better package over all. Think about all the poor saps who buy Madden and all the others every year. What do you get? Same engine with updated rosters. Thanks sports game makers for going out of your way for fans.

I also have to say that personally, I am GLAD WD releases games. You may think Atlus is a good company, but they are a niche company and don't have the funds to release as many games as they should. I think the two companies, while they have different approaches to their RPG translation, are damn fine companies, releasing games we would otherwise NOT SEE IN THE USA. That's what it all comes down to IMO.

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I don't really disagree with what you said. In fact, this was kind of the point I was getting at. The only thing I was disagreeing with was that moron a few posts up who acts like WD is God's gift to hardcore gamers, and no one else does what they do.

And I'm not pissed about the bill clinton jokes in lunar either. I could care less actually. I just used that as an example to contrast that lame power instinct name change argument, and to show that the almighty WD makes unnecessary changes too.

I'm actually glad WD releases games too. LIke I said, I'm looking forward to growlanser gen. I do have something personal against victor ireland after arguing with him for months on end (saturn newsgroups...golden era of the internet), but that's really neither here nor there.

Matt

EDIT: got me on the lunar thing, but I'm still of the opinion that if WD wasn't riding the lunar wave so long they would have went belly up a while ago.

dmhawkmoon said:

As an English speaker, I'll tell you that it does not mean the same thing to me. I have no idea what that word is. Maybe if I was Japanese I'd know it was just a family name and nothing else. For all I know, there's some other meaning to the word. Even you telling me that there isn't means nothing to me. You don't live in Japan.

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What the fuck does that mean?

'Gouketsuji' is a family name, just as 'Smith' or whatever. Of course, 'Gouketsuji' is written in kanji thus has an 'inner' meaning (the one of the kanji it's made of), but that's just a swestern names have also inner meanings of their own. Where's the problem?

Gouketsuji is just a NAME! Pretty much as Kusanagi (Kyo) or Sakazaki (Ryo) or whatever.

I can't see why the game couldn't retain the name of 'The Gouketsuji Family'.

I am a fan! of WD & Atlus.

I want! La Pucelle & Phantom Brave.

I like how the games are made from Japan!.

Shawn Carr2o said:

I am a fan! of WD & Atlus.

I want! La Pucelle & Phantom Brave.

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La Pucelle Tactics and Phantom Brave were published in America by Mastiff and Nippon Ichi Software respectively

Around the beginning of September we started receiving counter displays for Growlanser and the free flyers we pass out had pictures of it's impending release. Since then, it's been pushed back twice and we were told to take the counter displays down. It wouldn't suprise me if the game gets pushed back again.

I won't lie, I'm usually first in line regarding WD releases. I can't say I care for the sometimes utterly pathetic humor they try to put into their games but the packaging and presentation they have down solid. Oh and having met Vic Ireland in person at the '98 E3, I can say without a doubt all of the stories of him being a rude and uppity asswipe are merited.

I'd have to echo some of the sentiment from Force's posts...there's plenty of other companies out there now who have taken the feather out of WD's hat and while they don't have the packaging aspect down, they at least get the games we want to play out ON TIME. Atlus is perhaps the biggest and most notable company nipping at WD's heels but there's a few other companies on the up and up such as Agetec, Mastiff, Conspiracy, and occassionally the guys from Crave.

One thing I always wondered myself as well was how WD stayed in business with such LONG gaps between their releases. It seemed like when the PS2 first came out they finally got on the ball with a few releases but shortly after they came out, they fell back off the face of the Earth again. Meh oh well.

Well, WD did it again!

I just got an e-mail today from EBgames stating that the publisher, WD, pushed the release date of Growlanser: Generations LE to November 24th.

And the waiting saga continues...

Charles

I would definitely like to pick this game when it comes out. I'm glad I'm given a little bit of time to do so in order to get some moolah together.

Shito said:

What the fuck does that mean?

'Gouketsuji' is a family name, just as 'Smith' or whatever. Of course, 'Gouketsuji' is written in kanji thus has an 'inner' meaning (the one of the kanji it's made of), but that's just a swestern names have also inner meanings of their own. Where's the problem?

Gouketsuji is just a NAME! Pretty much as Kusanagi (Kyo) or Sakazaki (Ryo) or whatever.

I can't see why the game couldn't retain the name of 'The Gouketsuji Family'.

Click to expand...

If I saw that title I would have to ASK someone if it was a name or an adjective. I'm sure most other English speakers would too. It's just not clear to me even now that there isn't some dual meaning I'm missing out on. But since it's a name, I would rather they just change the titles completely like they did as opposed to change the last name so I can understand it.

It's just SMART to change the name of the game so English speakers realize it's a fighting game. The title is unimportant to the actual game anyway. "The Goketsuji Family" means absolutely nothing to an American. Maybe it has some more meaning to a Japanese speaker. I don't know.