Fate/Extra Western Release! Also: Sequel Planned!

[Ian Caronia]

Fate/Extra for the PSP is finally seeing a Stateside release with English translation and everything...aside from English VA work. The original Japanese VAs are gonna stay in.
It's being translated and published by Aksys Games and set for a November release.

Synopsis from TvTropes:
"Fate/EXTRA is a Spinoff of the Visual Novel Fate/Stay Night, released for the PSP in 2010 by Type-Moon and Image Epoch. Described as some as Fate/Stay Night meets Shin Megami Tensei or .hack. Similar to the later entries in the Persona series, it is a combination of Visual Novel and RPG elements based around a Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors system."
_The combat system isn't literally Rock-Paper-Scissors, obviously, but works off that old style of play: i.e. like in the Fire Emblem series (Sword beats axe, axe beats spear, spear beats sword).

Links
Interview: http://www.siliconera.com/2011/07/13/extra-extra-read-our-fateextra-interview/
Screens: http://www.siliconera.com/2011/08/08/aksys-summon-english-screens-of-fateextra/

PLUS, for those of you who think buying this game when you can get the romhack of it off the net or something is a waste, consider this:

Fate/Extra will be getting a direct sequel called Fate/Extra CCC. That's right! The ending of Fate/Extra isn't a lone ending, and the protagonist of that game will be the protagonist of the sequel as well. Saber will be returning too, along with "two mysterious girls".

Link: http://www.siliconera.com/2011/09/05/fateextra-ccc-destined-for-psp-this-spring/

Apparent story details: "Details about the story trickled out. This game is a continuation of the Fate/Extra line, but it goes in 180 degrees in the opposite direction. The game is set after a failed Holy Grail War. A girl?s passions and eros are listed at themes."

...I have no idea what those themes are and if they aren't total bullshit, BUT I have a feeling that, should Fate/Extra sell well enough, Aksys Games would be inclined to bring this over in time, too.

Personally, I'm buying.

EDIT: Link to the fact that THERE WILL BE A LIMITED EDITION ($40)
http://www.aksysgames.com/2011/09/12/fateextra-limited-edition/#more-6716
Credit to Megablue9 for LE and Fact Booklet info


EDIT 2: Seems like the Limited Edition will be getting even more stuff, but through Gamestop. That's right, Gamestop is selling the pre-orders of the Limited Edition with a booklet called "Fate/ the Fact".

From the website: "Fate/the Fact is a 20 page magazine devoted to explaining the events and mysteries of the world in which Fate/EXTRA takes place. With in-depth articles and an exclusive interview with one of the main protagonists, Rin Tousaka, Fate/the Fact is a must-have collectable for Fate fans everywhere!"

Game comes out on November 1st, so pre-order if you want-
Wait.
An interview with Rin? Wonder what that's gonna be like...

 

[Halo Fanboy]

I'll have to tell my brother about this. The only problem is that Aksys are bad translators.

 

[Ian Caronia]

I've had absolutely no interest in the visual novel, since I basically hate those.

But this actually looks pretty awesome, I might have to get it.

I only got into the visual novel because this was coming out. I'm much more into RPGs than VN titles, but it turns out you don't have to know anything about the Fate Stay Night novels to get into this self-contained story.

This should be really good. So far it's on Gamestop's best seller list, too, so with our support of this release we might be able to get Aksys Games to translate and publish the sequel over here too.

 

[Ian Caronia]

I'll have to tell my brother about this. The only problem is that Aksys are bad translators.

I only know it from Arcana Hearts 3, which was translated pretty well from what I've seen.

 

[genericusername64]

you say .hack I get excited, everything else just points to a meh game

 

[Halo Fanboy]

^^What was good about it?

 

[TrevHead]

I'll have to tell my brother about this. The only problem is that Aksys are bad translators.

Anyone who has played the US localisation of Deathsmiles will agree with you there, its really bad and corny. Heres an article showing a few screenshots
http://blackflowermusic.com/blog/535-like-keep-your-cool-deathsmiles-is-so-totally-kawaii

My PAL version thankfully is much better, and I havnt played any aksys games as theyre US only. But I shudder to think what their other games are like.


About FSN, im planning on picking a PSP in a few months and most likely it wont be available for PAL so ill be importing the US version. I hope Aksys do a good job.

 

[Ian Caronia]

It's self contained? YES. This pleases me. The lack of interactivity in VNs drive me crazy.

Actually the visual novels from Type-Moon (Fate/Stay Night creator company) are pretty interactive. So much so that the whole story depends on your choices.
_The difference with this game is that it's more akin to how the Persona series works and isn't told through just images (as is apparent from the links).

I'll have to tell my brother about this. The only problem is that Aksys are bad translators.

Anyone who has played the US localisation of Deathsmiles will agree with you there, its really bad and corny. Heres an article showing a few screenshots
http://blackflowermusic.com/blog/535-like-keep-your-cool-deathsmiles-is-so-totally-kawaii

My PAL version thankfully is much better, and I havnt played any aksys games as theyre US only. But I shudder to think what their other games are like.


About FSN, im planning on picking a PSP in a few months and most likely it wont be available for PAL so ill be importing the US version. I hope Aksys do a good job.

So do I, but well Arcana Hearts 3 is well translated. I think you're confusing "corny translating" with an artistic decision that's very "hit-and-miss" with some people.

You see, especially in literature and such, the concept of an accent is a very touchy one. Many authors who choose to write characters which speak in a language that isn't their first do so with this kind of style.
For instance: "There are no humans left, Master."
This line can be either- "Zare are no 'umans left, Master." or "Sare ah no humans left, Mastah." depending on the region you want your character to be from and just how uncomfortable they are with the English language.
_A famous semi-comedy show about WWII set in France actually worked with accents to depict when characters were speaking in another language. Instead of actually speaking the language, they would switch over to a French accent, then to an English accent, while the German characters would have German accents.

Of course when it comes to putting a thick accent to your character you have to make sure the reader knows that they aren't speaking that way because they're retarded, and rather because they're awkward with a language that's not their own. The screens you showed actually did this right since the characters with accents actually used common phrases from their nationalities. If the characters were meant to be used to English, then it would be ridiculous, but from what I understood it was actually done fine.

So from what I've seen in the case of Deathsmiles, it's less a situation involving bad translating and more one depicting a stylistic choice. Like I said earlier, the choice is very hit-and-miss with people even today since some folks can't read an accent and take what's being said seriously. Some find it interesting and can really dig it. It's a make-or-break for immersion very often.
It's no inherently corny since it's done right and for a purpose, but some just can't read accents like that, which is a risk the writer/translator must accept before doing that.