Announcement: SSRPG English Release is coming soon...

[Murray]

One thing that sticks out in my mind is the Shannon Doherty humour in the first Lunar game.

Haha, I don't remember exactly what it was but I remember what you're talking about. I also remember thinking it was pretty funny at the time. I was like 15, though.

At least, if nothing else, having an english-based engine should make the game easier to retranslate properly, right?

 

[bemanicho1]

No, they weren't. They were lazy, and shameless about it. Completely willing to make stupid alterations to a script (yay, scatological humor and dated pop culture references) for absolutely no reason, instead of just translating the dialogue and making it flow naturally. Or occasionally tinkering with difficulty levels and completely screwing over a game in one direction or the other.

Sure, they made nice collector packaging, but as a company and as a translation group, they were a shapeless mass of bad decisions, and the world is definitely no worse off without them. :P

Well, I for one enjoyed their translations. The jokes they put in were usually funny and made the games more interesting. True, they made Silhouette Mirage more difficult for no good reason, but I don't think they did that for most of their games. They brought a lot of good J-rpgs to the US that may not have made it over otherwise. Even if they made some mistakes, they still did a lot of good imo.

 

[Deuce]

Well, I for one enjoyed their translations. The jokes they put in were usually funny and made the games more interesting.

Sure, poop and fart jokes did wonders for the Lunar series. Not to mention Austin Powers references. If that kind of shit is needed to make a game interesting, then what you have is a lousy game in the first place, or at least, a boring story. You can liven up dialogue without dumbing it down.

True, they made Silhouette Mirage more difficult for no good reason, but I don't think they did that for most of their games.

Exile was tweaked to be too easy, and they made the sequel (Exile: Dark Phenomenon) hard to the point of near-impossibility. I don't doubt they screwed up elsewhere. And Vic Ireland was/is a pompous asshole.

If it comes down to a bad translation or no translation, I'd pick no translation. Then, there's still a chance a decent company might license the title.

 

[bemanicho1]

Sure, poop and fart jokes did wonders for the Lunar series. Not to mention Austin Powers references. If that kind of shit is needed to make a game interesting, then what you have is a lousy game in the first place, or at least, a boring story. You can liven up dialogue without dumbing it down.


Exile was tweaked to be too easy, and they made the sequel (Exile: Dark Phenomenon) hard to the point of near-impossibility. I don't doubt they screwed up elsewhere. And Vic Ireland was/is a pompous asshole.

If it comes down to a bad translation or no translation, I'd pick no translation. Then, there's still a chance a decent company might license the title.

Kind of like how it says in a review of the Sega CD Popful Mail at http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/popfulmail/popfulmail.htm "While a lot of people don't care for their loose interpretations of the original Japanese version, a lot of the dialogue and extra gags that they added really fit the game. In a part where you come across two soldiers, whom were just regular boring characters in the Japanese version, they toss in a Dragnet reference." Yeah there were some juvenile jokes in their translations (although I usually found them funny) not all the jokes/extra stuff they put in the translations were like that.

And I never said their extra jokes made the games interesting, I said they made the games more interesting.

Even if they messed up bad with Exile 2, I don't think the changes they made to the other games were game-breaking changes, just annoying ones.

And for most of the games that Working Designs released, games that fit into a niche category (very anime/rpg) that isn't the most popular type of game in the US, I'd pick a bad translation than no translation since the chance would be slim that some one else would publish it for the US. There are so many decent/good JRPGs that never made it to the US since the market isn't big enough to bring them over. If it weren't for Working Designs we probably wouldn't have gotten Vay, Popful Mail, the Sega CD Lunars, Alundra, Growlancer 2 and 3, Exile, Albert Odyssey, Dragon Force, Magic Knight Rayearth, Vanguard Bandits, and the Arc the Lad collection.

 

[dark penguin]

Haha, I don't remember exactly what it was but I remember what you're talking about. I also remember thinking it was pretty funny at the time. I was like 15, though.

At least, if nothing else, having an english-based engine should make the game easier to retranslate properly, right?

Actually, I think I was about 15 as well. My sister loved 90210 at the time, and I'm pretty sure I made her read the Doherty slander in the game.

Ah, the memories.

 

[SuperDeadite]

In their later years, WD's simply couldn't compete anymore and their style kinda faded I'll admit. (Though Growlanser Generations turned out quite well.) But in the early days of CD game systems, they were awesome. Most big name companies stayed away from the TCD and SCD, but Working Designs did what they could. It's worth keeping an SCD around just for Popful Mail.

 

[Neo Alec]

Hey. Leave Working Designs alone. They were a great company.

Hey, leave good games alone. Don't encourage their desecration.

True, they made Silhouette Mirage more difficult for no good reason, but I don't think they did that for most of their games.

Most of the alterations they made were random and nonsensical. Like completely changing the video compression scheme in Lunar Eternal Blue for PlayStation. It had stereo sound before and didn't sound like it had been re-engineered. I prefer knowing the game I'm playing hasn't been tampered with.

In a part where you come across two soldiers, whom were just regular boring characters in the Japanese version, they toss in a Dragnet reference."

Popful Mail was already a humorous game without the added pop culture references.

 

[bemanicho1]

Hey, leave good games alone. Don't encourage their desecration.


Most of the alterations they made were random and nonsensical. Like completely changing the video compression scheme in Lunar Eternal Blue for PlayStation. It had stereo sound before and didn't sound like it had been re-engineered. I prefer knowing the game I'm playing hasn't been tampered with.

Like I said before, I'd rather play a game in English with some questionable changes than not be able to play it in English at all. Aside from Exile 2, the changes they made to the games were not bad enough to make the games unplayable.

Popful Mail was already a humorous game without the added pop culture references.

Yeah, but they made it even funnier with the added references. It's kind of like the show MXC. With the redubbing and all the other changes they made to Takeshi's Castle, they made it even funnier than the original show.

I never considered their translations as 'ruining' the games. I found their translations funny and charming.

 

[Neo Alec]

Aside from Exile 2, the changes they made to the games were not bad enough to make the games unplayable.

What did they do to Exile 2? I don't remember any problem aside from the scrolling, which must have been there in the first place.

Yeah, but they made it even funnier with the added references. It's kind of like the show MXC. With the redubbing and all the other changes they made to Takeshi's Castle, they made it even funnier than the original show.

If you would rather play a parody of the original games, then we're not having the same conversation.

 

[bemanicho1]

What did they do to Exile 2? I don't remember any problem aside from the scrolling, which must have been there in the first place.

As Deuce said, it was made harder to the point of being almost impossible.

If you would rather play a parody of the original games, then we're not having the same conversation.

What I meant was the added pop references made the game funnier imo.

 

[Neo Alec]

I remember finishing Exile 2 without much problem. That was back when we bought Working Designs stuff. Well, they shouldn't have done that.

 

[jbeedham]

This Samurai Shodown RPG sounds pretty cool. I hope it won't be too hard to play it on Neo Geo CDZ.

 

[SNKNostalgia]

One thing that sticks out in my mind is the Shannon Doherty humour in the first Lunar game.

I also remember Bill Clinton jokes and what not on one of the Sega CD Lunars. Then they modernized the jokes with other current people of our time with the Playstation versions.

As for CDZ compatibility for SSRPG, there is nothing to it. Everyone, please quit worrying about it. It is a very simple edit to get running. It is even easier to do than the regular copyright for all Neo CD systems.

 

[Viewpoint]

Hey. Leave Working Designs alone. They were a great company.

No they weren't. They did a shitty translation job by adding stupid pop culture refrences and fucked with things that didn't need to be fucked with.

Lunar 2 for SegaCD being a prime fucking example of putting in a "Pay for a Save" System was the most fucking retarded thing ever done to an RPG.

 

[Neo Alec]

Lunar 2 for SegaCD being a prime fucking example of putting in a "Pay for a Save" System was the most fucking retarded thing ever done to an RPG.

That was their addition? Wow. It's a little annoying initially, but after a while it doesn't matter too much. Still, you think twice before saving all over the place. Wow.

 

[bemanicho1]

No they weren't. They did a shitty translation job by adding stupid pop culture refrences and fucked with things that didn't need to be fucked with.

Lunar 2 for SegaCD being a prime fucking example of putting in a "Pay for a Save" System was the most fucking retarded thing ever done to an RPG.

I already said what I felt about them. Read my previous posts. I'll just say again that without them, you probably wouldn't have been able to play most of the games they released in English.

 

[Viewpoint]

I already said what I felt about them. Read my previous posts. I'll just say again that without them, you probably wouldn't have been able to play most of the games they released in English.

Honestly the only title I liked the most from them was Dragon Force and even then I was seriously put off by the script.

"Hey, I guess playing with legos really paid off!" When trying to upgrade one of your castles defenses.

Fucking dumb.

 

[Deuce]

Just an update... I've been taking a break for the past couple of weeks to decompress from the holidays, play some games, watch some movies and just generally de-stress. I've cleared all of the "OMG gotta complete them" games from my plate, so what's left is stuff I can deal with at my leisure. I will resume work sometime this week, in all likelihood.

Oh, yeah... my wife also got me into House, M.D. So you can blame her for nurturing that little addiction. I had to go back and watch the entire series in rapid succession. Never before has a television character so reminded me of myself.

 

[Neo Alec]

Damn you, Dr. House! Yeah, I went through the same thing with the show. I had to rent the first season and watch reruns of season 2 during the summer (this was before USA showed the reruns). He reminds me of myself too.

 

[Clessy]

Omg deuce you live within driving distance of me. SSRPG PARTY DAY ONE OF PATCH RELEASE WOOOO.

 

[Asura]

Yo Deuce!! Any updates on the project?

 

[snkmax330]

Any update please?

 

[Marek]

/facepalm

From the main forum menu this bump had so much potential...

 

[evil wasabi]

If this translation ever comes to light, a new thread can be made. This one is now closed. Thanks.