ATLUS is one of my favourite game companies, for a couple of reasons. First, Snowboard Kids on the N64 was , in my opinion, better than Mario Kart 64. Hot damn I loved that game. Second, when it comes to gameplay experimentation, these guys are fearless.
One thing I DO hate though, is that they have a relatively small North American division. When my girlfried or my co-worker takes home Persona games, or maybe the beautiful Odin Sphere, or more recently the new Devil Summoner, I get angry. I know localization from Japanese to North American is difficult, but these guys are hardly putting any effort into it all. And after discussing it with my co-worker, she actually considered it a selling point to have the game maintain its Japanese style and story. Now, I know very little about Otaku and Japanophiles or whatever, but it seems to me that some people think games are better, just because they are more similar to their Japanese release counterparts.
The first, and perhaps most mature way of looking at it, is that when a game is made for an audience that wouldn't normally include you, you are forced to look at that game from an outsider, giving you a different perspective.
My sneaking suspicion however, is that this is similar to the European outlook of the middle-ages when Asia was a misunderstood land of "Marvels". In those days, shortly after Marco Polo, it seems like any old hack (who happened to be literate at all) could get people to listen to him by talking about how weird and alien, and RICH the Asians were. The exoticism of the "Orient" was packaged and sold in those days and I'm wondering how much as changed.
Japanese culture is undoubtedly different, and so some stories don't translate perfectly everytime. But when Atlus refuses to localize a game properly for North America release, I can't help but think that some poor fool is being sold "packaged exoticism" instead a more intelligible story, or more relatable characters. Is It a conspiracy? It is laziness? Is it just an honest matter of budget and time?
One thing I DO hate though, is that they have a relatively small North American division. When my girlfried or my co-worker takes home Persona games, or maybe the beautiful Odin Sphere, or more recently the new Devil Summoner, I get angry. I know localization from Japanese to North American is difficult, but these guys are hardly putting any effort into it all. And after discussing it with my co-worker, she actually considered it a selling point to have the game maintain its Japanese style and story. Now, I know very little about Otaku and Japanophiles or whatever, but it seems to me that some people think games are better, just because they are more similar to their Japanese release counterparts.
The first, and perhaps most mature way of looking at it, is that when a game is made for an audience that wouldn't normally include you, you are forced to look at that game from an outsider, giving you a different perspective.
My sneaking suspicion however, is that this is similar to the European outlook of the middle-ages when Asia was a misunderstood land of "Marvels". In those days, shortly after Marco Polo, it seems like any old hack (who happened to be literate at all) could get people to listen to him by talking about how weird and alien, and RICH the Asians were. The exoticism of the "Orient" was packaged and sold in those days and I'm wondering how much as changed.
Japanese culture is undoubtedly different, and so some stories don't translate perfectly everytime. But when Atlus refuses to localize a game properly for North America release, I can't help but think that some poor fool is being sold "packaged exoticism" instead a more intelligible story, or more relatable characters. Is It a conspiracy? It is laziness? Is it just an honest matter of budget and time?