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This Week in Games - Flipping the Switch




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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 1:33 pm Reply with quote
Gust just flood there own market with too many similar game that all sound the same (both in title and plot) and look the same (and have all look more or less the same since they switch to 3D at the begging of the PS3 era). So whenever I hear about a new one I have no idea if it's actually new or if it's the one I heard about 6 months ago.

None of them are particularly good too and so they kinda feel overpriced, for example reccetear (Captilasim OH!) is a better atelier game than any of them with some form of management sim, yet was far cheaper at launch (and unsurprisingly is better remembered).

I also don't understand why they decide to push Atelier so hard but abandoned there other IP like Mana Khemia (which I though was far more interesting). They could at least vary it up a bit by having two IP running simultaneously and alternate yearly.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3017
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 1:37 pm Reply with quote
I haven't made the jump from the New 3DS to the Switch yet (too many games that I need to finish first), and now I definitely won't until I hear more details about the new model.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 1:47 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
That all changed when KOEI-Tecmo took over. While every Atelier game gets a localization, it feels like there's only a small effort made to try and market these titles to Western customers.


Quote:
Localization is often an issue, as well: Tecmo-KOEI published Atelier games I have played suffer things like stilted translations and text box overruns.


Koei Tecmo really has no integrity at all when getting the most recent Atelier titles localized. They hire crap translation teams who can't even spell Atelier properly and plaster awkward grammar everywhere; they even took the step of going super cheap and making the most recent title Japanese voices only. They probably think every western gamer who plays Atelier only wants to hear Japanese coming out of cutesy anime girl alchemists. Another major problem is they're having Gust make new Atelier titles too often, and this constant flow has lowered the quality of the series considerably. You can see that lowered quality in titles like Sophie (though not to a drastic degree), Firis, and Lydie & Suelle. Many longtime Atelier fans claim the quality has been dropping since Escha & Logy though. Total idiot company.

Suikoden Shows Signs of Life: I am not crossing my fingers or getting my hopes for anything at this news. More than likely, as you stated Heidi, they're going to use Suikoden's past popularity for some lame nonsense to make a quick buck. After all, the last Suikoden-related anything was sticking the cast from IV in a pachinko game.

This Week's New Releases: I'm definitely getting Luigi's Mansion for 3DS. After work, I'm heading straight to the game store to pick it up.
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Aca Vuksa



Joined: 22 Mar 2018
Posts: 643
Location: Nis, Serbia
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:30 pm Reply with quote
This new Switch model is kinda wacky to me, but looks nice!
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Hal14



Joined: 01 Apr 2018
Posts: 653
Location: Heart of africa
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 3:04 pm Reply with quote
Aca Vuksa wrote:
This new Switch model is kinda wacky to me, but looks nice!


that's not the new switch. It is not yet out.
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Aca Vuksa



Joined: 22 Mar 2018
Posts: 643
Location: Nis, Serbia
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 3:06 pm Reply with quote
HAL14 wrote:
Aca Vuksa wrote:
This new Switch model is kinda wacky to me, but looks nice!


that's not the new switch. It is not yet out.


I know that, though.
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Spike Terra
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Joined: 21 Mar 2016
Posts: 358
Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 3:26 pm Reply with quote
@meiam

I'm going to disagree with most of what you posted.

First off Recettear is a shop sim with a rouge like rpg tacked on to it that plays super different from the Atelier series. Which are traditionally adventure rpgs where item creation is the ultimate goal of the game. While both games are similar in tone, they are two completely different beasts.

I've been playing the series since Rorona and I have found that while the core ideals of the games are similar in tone as well as gameplay, there has always been enough variety in the games to make me come back for more (granted it's also my favorite rpg series). I love the changes they make to the synthesis system as well as how they strive to make combaat feel more statisfy in each addition to the series. Every game feels fresh and I love the stories and the characters that accompany each one.

So yeah as you can surmise from my exuberance that I love Gust as a company... but I loathe Koei Tecmo. Koei Tecmo has had plenty critical game translation errors. Some key examples are when Shallie released with a menu translation error that so bad it would freeze the game. Another example could be the entirety of Ar no Surge's translation goofs like not subtitling the anime cut scenes, constant misspelling of the name Zill and as stated by this article plenty of gramatical and text runoff errors.

As someone who tends to play their games in Japanese. I want Koei Tecmo to go back to dubbing their games, so I could recommend them to more people. I also want them to stop trying to push the DOA style of DLC onto to every Gust game as we end up with 80 dollar season passes for games that used to only boast a max of 10 dollars for dlc content.

I hope in later years that Gust will revist Blue reflection, Nights of Azure, Ar Tonelico or any of their other franchises. I also hope they get a bigger budget and more time to work on any future atelier titles
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invalidname
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2434
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 6:21 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The lack of promotion and awareness for these games can be felt outside of events, too: half the time I don't know a new Gust-developed game is coming out in English until a press release saying it's available drops into my inbox.

For heaven’s sake, cosplayer and 3D printing genius @FioraAertena has done far more to promote the Atelier series in the West than Koei Tecmo has. I saw her win grand prizes for cosplay at Crunchyroll Expo 2017 and Otakon 2018, and for the latter she managed to get at least 20+ fellow Atelier cosplayers to join in a meetup. Who knew there were even that many people cosplaying Atelier/Gust in the whole country?
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 6:39 pm Reply with quote
invalidname wrote:
For heaven’s sake, cosplayer and 3D printing genius @FioraAertena has done far more to promote the Atelier series in the West than Koei Tecmo has. I saw her win grand prizes for cosplay at Crunchyroll Expo 2017 and Otakon 2018, and for the latter she managed to get at least 20+ fellow Atelier cosplayers to join in a meetup. Who knew there were even that many people cosplaying Atelier/Gust in the whole country?


Impressive. Someone give her a job in advertising for Atelier right now.
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Calsolum



Joined: 11 May 2010
Posts: 898
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 10:03 pm Reply with quote
yeah the lack of attention for the Atelier is criminal.
I picked up the game because of how it looked and thought hey anime girls and rpg elements.
Two of my favorite things.
I was so blown away by how darn fun it was. I botched my first play through since I didn't accurately or effectively manage my time and resources. But once I understood how the game worked it was so rewarding completing all the major quests on time and getting lost in side quests.
My only issue is that it was pretty grindy but it wasn't hard. I wish the battle system was a bit more complex and you had more options but it was still fun.
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CrownKlown



Joined: 05 May 2011
Posts: 1762
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2018 11:05 pm Reply with quote
God at least give us a US release of Suikoden Woven Web, and I would take a compliation that had all or at least the first two or 3 suikodens. If that sells well it could always lead to something more. But yes Konami is garabage.

I also disagree with most of the stuff about Atelier, for some reason Gust developed stage four cancer of the mind, and basically has been putting out the same game since rorona. Not just Atelier, but basically all of their games now push quasi yuri overtones. I mean look I dont mind one or two games like that, but I mean Atelier, especially the Mana games on ps2, and Mana khemia games used used to be more main stream normal jrpg. Now its all time management, sim, etc. That does sell. I dont what the author is thinking saying the games have gotten more mainstream, but if you actually look at sales the best selling jrpgs now are things like FF15, Persona 5, and probably the least jrpg jrpg the souls games. Its all action oriented rpgs, games with more realistic graphics and darker colors. More mature games, and one with some kind of semblance of stories. Sim games to this day outside of smartphones are pretty niche.
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2201
PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2018 2:39 am Reply with quote
-Atelier: Yeah, it's definitely a series I'd like to see get more attention just because I feel alchemy is an underutilized concept in gaming.

-New Switch: Probably BS; despite the WSJ being a serous publication, it's the same one that claimed there was going to be a Zelda Netflix show. They don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to games.

-Suikoden: Just give me a collection of the games and I'll be happy

-SCVI: Just a week away now. All I ask for is some proper content after the anemic showings in IV and V
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:26 am Reply with quote
CrownKlown wrote:
God at least give us a US release of Suikoden Woven Web


As far as I've heard, that was not a very good title. Are you sure you want to play that one? It has a very small playable cast (eighteen fighters) as 83% of the Stars of Destiny are non-combatants for the castle, and spells can only be done with items instead of Runes. It really plays like a cheap budget cash-in title. Tierkreis is definitely the bottom of the Suikoden barrel, but Woven Web of a Century isn't much higher than it on the ladder.
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Weazul-chan



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 625
Location: Michigan
PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:23 am Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:
CrownKlown wrote:
God at least give us a US release of Suikoden Woven Web


As far as I've heard, that was not a very good title. Are you sure you want to play that one? It has a very small playable cast (eighteen fighters) as 83% of the Stars of Destiny are non-combatants for the castle, and spells can only be done with items instead of Runes. It really plays like a cheap budget cash-in title. Tierkreis is definitely the bottom of the Suikoden barrel, but Woven Web of a Century isn't much higher than it on the ladder.
I've also heard people were rather unimpressed with it, to the point I'd far rather see an official English language release of the gaidens than that (even if I have already played them thanks to the fantranslations).
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