Import Review | Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter

Trails in the Sky is a JRPG developed by Nihon Falcom and localised by XSEED Games. Ever since the dramatic cliff-hanger at the end of Trails in the Sky: First Chapter, fans have waited, and waited, and waited for Second Chapter to arrive.

Sadly that wait is going to go on for just a few more months as Trails in the Sky Second Chapter isn't due out in English until this Summer. But this time TiTS (don't giggle!) is coming to the PC (Steam) and PSP.

Can't wait for the game? Well, why not jump into this review of the import version of the game and find out for yourself how it stacks up?

Note: This is actually the second iteration of this review. The kind folks over at Continue Play have edited this piece to high heaven and made it infinitely more readable than the first version.

Review - Hatsune Miku Project Diva f (Vita)

The Playstation 3 version of Hatsune Miku Project Diva f  has been in players hands for some time now.  But the Vita version has still not been released yet in the West (scheduled Q1 2014 IIRC).

I've wrapped up my review for Hatsune Miku Project Diva f (Vita) and I definitely had some thoughts on it:

"If you already own the Playstation 3 version of Hatsune Miku Project Diva f, and playing the game in some capacity on the go is not a big deal to you, I’d suggest passing this up. If you have neither version and playing it on the go isn’t absolutely critical to you either, again, you’d be better off passing up the Vita version. Hatsune Miku Project Diva f is a decent game with a creative spark in it, it is fun to play on both systems, but one of those systems has a version that is much more definitive than the other."

So what went so wrong? Take a look for yourself:
Review

Policenauts should be localised. But not because it is a good game.

I've started what I hope to turn into a web column on Japanese games that have yet to be localised.  I look at games which I feel have something special to offer a non-Japanese audience, or at games which I feel really should stay in Japan.

The first game I'm going to look at is Hideo Kojima's Policenauts.

Link

Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster (Vita specific) Impressions

My impressions for Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster for the Vita are up now.  Unlike many impressions which ignore the Vita version, or are only based on the first few hours, these impressions are based on an almost full play-through of the game.

"All in all, our impressions of Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster for the Vita were that the quality of the remastering here is good, even better in some ways than Final Fantasy X HD Remaster.  But it wasn’t consistently better and had a few weird quirks of its own."

Source: http://www.continue-play.com/first-impressions-final-fantasy-x-2-hd/

Did Final Fantasy X’s translation influence the development of Final Fantasy X-2?

Did Final Fantasy X’s translation influence the development of Final Fantasy X-2?

I’ve been playing through the Vita version of Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster and came across this little lovely:

[Caption reads: Those Al Bhed Security Machina purge the Fiends for us]

The interesting part of this is the use of the term ‘Machina’.  Those who have played FFX/X-2 will know that this is the word the residents of the Spira call machines by.

Or at least they think they know that.

After playing FFX HD the whole way through in Japanese I noticed that the term Machina didn’t appear anywhere.  In the Japanese version the non-Jargon ‘Kikai’ (Japanese for ‘machine’) is used.  It isn’t until FFX-2 that the word ‘Machina’ becomes part of the lexicon of the people of Spira; the word ‘Machina’ was introduced by the Al Bhed as a way to re-brand machines to the people of Spira and make them more approachable.   This gives the term a narrower, more precise usage in the Japanese game.

So, in the Japanese releases of these games, from FFX-2 onwards there were two terms for machines in the game world.  In the English version the term ‘Machina’ was present in both FFX and FFX-2.

Why is the term ‘Machina’ only in the Japanese version of FFX-2 but not FFX?  Now it could be the case that the English translation was done so late in development that FFX-2 was already in the planning stages.  The translators might have simply adopted a term that was on the table in FFX-2s design documents.  But given the amount of inconsistency this would create I’m not convinced that this is the case.  Is it possible that the Japanese writers saw the term ‘Machina’ in the English translation and decided to adopt it because it sounded cool? 

Final Fantasy X HD Remaster (Vita) Review

Following up my Final Fantasy X HD Remaster impressions here is the review:

"Final Fantasy X HD Remaster is a chance to revisit a game that in retrospect may well have been better than you first realized. Strong presentation ensures that the game still holds up well today, while a well-paced story and smart player-friendly/UI design choices make it approachable. The remastering on display is generally good, but let down by inconsistent graphics and framerate issues. The problems might dissuade you from playing this game on the small screen – but don’t be tempted to pass Final Fantasy X HD Remaster up entirely, as you’ll be missing out on a 40 hour rollercoaster."

Click for the full review