No Dual Audio For Western Release of Fire Emblem Fates

[mtarzaim02]

Playing a japanese game with an english dub, is like watching a star wars movie with an "annoying orange" dub.
It has its charms, but it's not what we expect.

Nintendo still hasn't understood we want japanese games to be japanese. Not western-as-japaneses-think-western-is.
Keep the quirks. Keep the voices. Keep the culturals. Keep the gamergate baits.

And if a song cannot pass the japanese frontiers, don't waste money on licencing it locally.

 

[CaitSeith]

Personally I'm starting to wonder as to what else they might strip out in the name of 'localisation'. Its a small thing to start with but the question is will it actually end there.

"Where will it end?" This is the second time someone has been saying they're concerned more features will be cut. What are you actually concerned about being cut out? Because the only things cut out are things that just plain wouldn't work in America. Hell, these things probably would've been cut out anyway and we're just getting the blow by blow thanks to sensationalist media.

Localization cuts and replacement in games have been happening for decades; and it shouldn't be surprising that it doesn't always end up well, as sometimes the assumptions about what works and what doesn't work in the west are wrong. One old example is Tecmo Cup Soccer Game for the NES. It's a Soccer game where, instead of controlling the players movements and actions in real-time, it was done with RPG-like menus, and the actions were shown with dramatic detailed animations. You may find this concept awesome or boring; but the localization made a huge disservice to the original game. It took the original game, and gave to its characters and story a complete americanization to their looks and personality.

Spoiler: Why is there concern about localization taken too far?

Why?​

Just... WHY!?

The irony is that just translating the game would had gave them more sales than their resulting game. The original japanese game is called Captain Tsubasa, and it's based on an anime series with the same name. I don't know how popular that anime was in America; but in Mexico and South-America it was a huge hit and even a childhood inspiration for current professional soccer players. This is an example of a localization that surpassed the point where it should had stopped.

 

[chadachada123]

I don't even know why this is a thing. Why wouldn't they have dual audio? It is pretty basic for JRPGs at this point, and it isn't like it is that hard to do. If it is for laziness, then just put the Dub dialogue as Subs for the Japanese version. I don't understand this at all...

This. Bravely Default, I believe, did a similar thing, where switching to Japanese audio didn't do anything except change the audio. To not include it for any reason besides space issues or song licensing just seems...silly.

(For the song, just leave that as English only; I think you're going to be losing more sales by not having any dual audio than only having 99% of it).

I wonder if that's really the case. The sales thing, I mean. I can't think of any series that started selling significantly better after adding dual audio. It seems to be one of those things that doesn't affect sales, but is usually added anyway if it's not too difficult/expensive. It's like a little service towards a segment of the fanbase, just like extra costumes or other little extras.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I doubt that this will "significant"ly affect sales, but I do think that this announcement will kill a non-zero number of sales that'll likely add up to more than whatever they saved by not including it.

If, for example, Bravely Second didn't have dual-audio, that would feel like a stab in the dick and would probably be a deal-breaker for me personally.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Huh, the first cut of substance.
But I suppose it's a middle-finger to sub-only audiences, or as I call them "Sub-humans", so it's not like anything valuable was lost.

For the record, are you calling people who like stuff in its original language assholes? That's lovely. That's ingenious. That's a million dollar piece of mind, and I'm framing it in this quote for keeps.

This may come to you as a shock but some of us don't speak 'murican as a first language and prefer Japanese to a shitty dub that isn't even catering to us.

I'm not referring to the people who actually speak Japanese and would have probably gotten the Japanese version, I'm talking about the weebs who have convinced themselves it's better because it's Japanese and they don't understand it.

Thing is we can't import cause the 3ds is freaking region locked! We have to buy a second one.


Also, I have to explain something. As a nonjapanese person, one does not simply press a button and then instantly know japanese. One does not flip a switch, cast a spell, generally do something easy and convenient and quick. It takes YEARS to learn JP to a degree where importing jrpgs is viable. You know what helps people learn during these many years? Immersion in the language in the form of media. You use broad strokes to paint people who ask for subs as weeaboos when in fact they're the very people that have undertaken the journey you want them to but still wish to actually play games as they travel and not save 4 years worth of backlog for once they have passed the proficiency test.


Simply put, there's not just two states, one of knowing and one of not knowing a language. There's a ton of inbetweeen, some may know barely enough to navigte menues, some may know vocabulary but lack the vast kanji knowledge required in reading text (3000ish different characters for highschool level). Back in 09 my vocab was good enough to allow me to import ffxiii but that was because everything, even the npc lines, were voiced. Games like persona which entail a lot of plain text would still be beyond me at that point, so let me tell you, subs were GODSENT for those kinds of games, and I was no damn weeaboo for not being a savant at memorizing thousands of ideograms with multiple ways of pronounciations each.

 

[ninja51]

I don't know... The ONLY things I've heard about this game, not actively seeking info, is that this and that feature has been cut from the western release. Why would one in the western world want this game then? Its seeming to me that it is getting less and less care towards and equal western version. Why would anyone want to buy a game that has only had pre release press about how the game will NOT include a feature in past games or features from the Japanese version. Its just bad PR and only negative info coming out, that's enough for me with any game to know I shouldn't purchase it until much after its release. I guess Nintendo fans are just really desperate for ANY new games to play.

 

[xaszatm]

I don't know... The ONLY things I've heard about this game, not actively seeking info, is that this and that feature has been cut from the western release. Why would one in the western world want this game then? Its seeming to me that it is getting less and less care towards and equal western version. Why would anyone want to buy a game that has only had pre release press about how the game will NOT include a feature in past games or features from the Japanese version. Its just bad PR and only negative info coming out, that's enough for me with any game to know I shouldn't purchase it until much after its release. I guess Nintendo fans are just really desperate for ANY new games to play.

Because many things that were "removed" have been revealed to be false, or are not why people play these games. Also, it seems like Fire Emblem Fates has "removed" a lot of stuff because people keep making the same article over and over, even when proven wrong. So far, only one thing has been removed from the game and that's the Japanese dub. The petting mini-game is still in the game. It's just that you can no longer "pet" the people but instead it skips to the dialogue function they say when you "rub" them enough times.

Also, can we stop with the "Nintendo fans are desperate" mantra? If they truly were desperate than many of the Wii U's best games wouldn't have under-performed even by the Wii U's unfortunately low base.

 

[kenu12345]

I don't know... The ONLY things I've heard about this game, not actively seeking info, is that this and that feature has been cut from the western release. Why would one in the western world want this game then? Its seeming to me that it is getting less and less care towards and equal western version. Why would anyone want to buy a game that has only had pre release press about how the game will NOT include a feature in past games or features from the Japanese version. Its just bad PR and only negative info coming out, that's enough for me with any game to know I shouldn't purchase it until much after its release. I guess Nintendo fans are just really desperate for ANY new games to play.

Cause its looking to be a good addition to the franchise for anyone that actually follows the game and doesn't only read click bait(QM) The game at most has just went through standard locali ation and having some functions to be re worked like the weapon system which I am yet to see if I like yet. Add on to it that its add more of what were in the previous games but not in the latest installment and I see more promise

 

[NiPah]

Huh, the first cut of substance.
But I suppose it's a middle-finger to sub-only audiences, or as I call them "Sub-humans", so it's not like anything valuable was lost.

For the record, are you calling people who like stuff in its original language assholes? That's lovely. That's ingenious. That's a million dollar piece of mind, and I'm framing it in this quote for keeps.

This may come to you as a shock but some of us don't speak 'murican as a first language and prefer Japanese to a shitty dub that isn't even catering to us.

I'm not referring to the people who actually speak Japanese and would have probably gotten the Japanese version, I'm talking about the weebs who have convinced themselves it's better because it's Japanese and they don't understand it.

Damn dude, that's fit for Youtube comments, not here.
Japanese dubs are normally better in my opinion because I find them more enjoyable to listen to, and in the end isn't that why we're playing are video games? For the enjoyment?
Not that this is surprising, big companies aiming for the casual market often leave out Japanese dubs due to cost and ineptitude, nothing new here.

 

[Erttheking]

I'm just going to quote this here from the last thread about something being cut:

Personally I'm starting to wonder as to what else they might strip out in the name of 'localisation'. Its a small thing to start with but the question is will it actually end there.

"Where will it end?" This is the second time someone has been saying they're concerned more features will be cut. What are you actually concerned about being cut out? Because the only things cut out are things that just plain wouldn't work in America. Hell, these things probably would've been cut out anyway and we're just getting the blow by blow thanks to sensationalist media.

Yet another cut I see. This one actually kind of important unless they get unbelievably good voice actors. Anyone ever tried to play Hyperdimension Neptunia with English dubbing? I actually found it literally painful. How about watching something like Strike Witches?

Not everything can have the same quality of voice acting for the dub as Hellsing did.

Uh, this doesn't really fit in with the original comment I responded to, where you said you might as well strip out "localization." I don't really see how leaving the original Japanese in is part of of localization. And unless you were in actual physical pain, it wasn't "literally".

Don't get me wrong, be upset about this if you want to, I can see where you're coming from on this one, but it doesn't really fit in with your original comments of being concerned where things will stop, considering there's really no connection between this and the other examples. Seriously, I have no bloody idea what's going on.

 

[Tony2077]

i don't see any reason to get so upset over this like some people are

 

[Kaimax]

i don't see any reason to get so upset over this like some people are

Because the last game had Dual Audio, that's enough to get people riled up.

 

[Tony2077]

i don't see any reason to get so upset over this like some people are

Because the last game had Dual Audio, that's enough to get people riled up.

well you won't see me doing that considering one of the anime series i own has completely different va's in season 2 from season 1

 

[FirstNameLastName]

I don't know... The ONLY things I've heard about this game, not actively seeking info, is that this and that feature has been cut from the western release. Why would one in the western world want this game then? Its seeming to me that it is getting less and less care towards and equal western version. Why would anyone want to buy a game that has only had pre release press about how the game will NOT include a feature in past games or features from the Japanese version. Its just bad PR and only negative info coming out, that's enough for me with any game to know I shouldn't purchase it until much after its release. I guess Nintendo fans are just really desperate for ANY new games to play.

As has been pointed out in previous threads on this game, a lot of the stuff being removed or altered is pretty much standard practice for Nintendo during localization. Not that it happens for every single game, but this isn't out of the ordinary. Yet, after the first article on this game's localization proved to be a massive controversy and talking point some rather shrewd journalists have realized that stoking the flames is both easy and profitable, so now every minor alteration that would normally slide by without a fuss is getting a big, fat click-baity microscope pointed at it so people can shout about "censorship".
If they so much as change the cover art you can bet there will be an article on it.

 

[Kaimax]

i don't see any reason to get so upset over this like some people are

Because the last game had Dual Audio, that's enough to get people riled up.

well you won't see me doing that considering one of the anime series i own has completely different va's in season 2 from season 1

Your case is not comparable though, as yours is not an removal/omission, but simply a substitution. Previous game (Awakening) has shown that they didn't have any problem including the Japanese audio files, even though it was slightly buggy to activate it and the fact that Awakening was actually going to be "the last" fire Emblem if it didn't sell well.

The omission here doesn't make sense, even economically it doesn't make sense (Awakening was a huge hit). That's why some people raise their voices.

I'm personally disappointed that I can't hear Miyuki Sawashiro in this localization, without downloading the voice files/watch youtube/import the Japanese copy.

 

[Josh123914]

i don't see any reason to get so upset over this like some people are

Because the last game had Dual Audio, that's enough to get people riled up.

well you won't see me doing that considering one of the anime series i own has completely different va's in season 2 from season 1

Your case is not comparable though, as yours is not an removal/omission, but simply a substitution. Previous game (Awakening) has shown that they didn't have any problem including the Japanese audio files, even though it was slightly buggy to activate it and the fact that Awakening was actually going to be "the last" fire Emblem if it didn't sell well.

The omission here doesn't make sense, even economically it doesn't make sense (Awakening was a huge hit). That's why some people raise their voices.

I'm personally disappointed that I can't hear Miyuki Sawashiro in this localization, without downloading the voice files/watch youtube/import the Japanese copy.

And also IIRC Awakening games came packaged with Japanese, English, Korean, Italian, Spanish and French (and perhaps more). Removing Japanese as a language seems totally unnecessary to me.

Also, according to /vg/ the English VAs this time around are terrible, so Japanese may have been the preferred option for a lot of players anyway.

 

[Tony2077]

i don't see any reason to get so upset over this like some people are

Because the last game had Dual Audio, that's enough to get people riled up.

well you won't see me doing that considering one of the anime series i own has completely different va's in season 2 from season 1

Your case is not comparable though, as yours is not an removal/omission, but simply a substitution. Previous game (Awakening) has shown that they didn't have any problem including the Japanese audio files, even though it was slightly buggy to activate it and the fact that Awakening was actually going to be "the last" fire Emblem if it didn't sell well.

The omission here doesn't make sense, even economically it doesn't make sense (Awakening was a huge hit). That's why some people raise their voices.

I'm personally disappointed that I can't hear Miyuki Sawashiro in this localization, without downloading the voice files/watch youtube/import the Japanese copy.

i don't suppose anyone would get upset if they had said no English voice over

 

[Kaimax]

i don't suppose anyone would get upset if they had said no English voice over

If Fire Emblem Awakening NEVER had an English audio, probably yes. As nothing was removed or omitted.
But not having a "specific" language is not the point. The point is, why omit something that existed in a previous game that was never been a problem. That's the main reason for this upset, AN OPTION WAS OMITTED for no logical reason.

What are you trying so hard to prove anyway?

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

I guess Nintendo fans are just really desperate for ANY new games to play.

Except that's a complete and utter lie considering how diverse the 3DS library is. Just a couple weeks ago we got Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam, FF: Explorers just recently came out, Steamworld: Heist has been out on the eShop for some time, Project X Zone 2 is coming out the same week as FE: Fates, then there's the Mega Man Legacy Collection, the VC releases of the original Pokemon are being hyped to hell, Hyrule Warriors Legends is out next month, and Bravely Second is out in April. If Nintendo gamers are desperate for anything it's the time needed to play those games.

 

[ManutheBloodedge]

i don't see any reason to get so upset over this like some people are

Because the last game had Dual Audio, that's enough to get people riled up.

well you won't see me doing that considering one of the anime series i own has completely different va's in season 2 from season 1

Your case is not comparable though, as yours is not an removal/omission, but simply a substitution. Previous game (Awakening) has shown that they didn't have any problem including the Japanese audio files, even though it was slightly buggy to activate it and the fact that Awakening was actually going to be "the last" fire Emblem if it didn't sell well.

The omission here doesn't make sense, even economically it doesn't make sense (Awakening was a huge hit). That's why some people raise their voices.

I'm personally disappointed that I can't hear Miyuki Sawashiro in this localization, without downloading the voice files/watch youtube/import the Japanese copy.

And also IIRC Awakening games came packaged with Japanese, English, Korean, Italian, Spanish and French (and perhaps more). Removing Japanese as a language seems totally unnecessary to me.

Also, according to /vg/ the English VAs this time around are terrible, so Japanese may have been the preferred option for a lot of players anyway.

Ummm... I haven't heard much of the new VAs aside from the Smash Bros Trailer for Kamui, and I didn't notice anything eargrating there. Granted, I am not a native english speaker, but still, how would you define a horrible voice actor and how does the english cast of FE fall into that? I am not critizing you, I am legitimally curious about a native perspective.

 

[NiPah]

i don't see any reason to get so upset over this like some people are

A lot of people just like the Japanese dubs better.
I'd kind of liken it to if they switched from an anime art style to a human like CG style ala Star Ocean The Last Hope, I wouldn't say one is better then the other but I certainly enjoy the anime style imagery more then CG.
Languages sound different, I quite enjoy the sound of the spoken Japanese language, and thanks to watching anime/playing Japanese games I've gotten used to playing them while listening to the dialog in Japanese. I also have a long history of hearing bad English dubs, not everything Dub studios shoot out is good (I own Chaos Wars). This results in me really only being interested in JRPGs with language options, I'll buy great games even if they don't bring over the original dub, but I'll never praise such practices.