Hard Mode, US Box Art request and a marketing thought

[thefro]

Firstly, many thanks for bringing this over to the US. I've played through the import Japanese version (despite not knowing Japanese!) and loved it and I'm excited to play through it again in English.

I'm not sure if you're going to do anything to the game beyond slapping the European version on a disc, but can you please look into what it would take to let us change the number of "LIFE" we have by default in the game to create a "hard mode". Personally I would like to have to option to change the default number of lives for your characters from 5 to 3.

As Nintendo Gamer says in their review (http://www.nintendo-gamer.net/review/the-last-story-review/3/)

Characters have five lives before permanent death – two too many for even the toughest encounters. That we never once saw the game over screen – bar in one instant fail stealth section late in the game – suggests Mistwalker were worried players might struggle to adapt to new ideas.


I've seen this brought in a few of the other European reviews as well as an issue.

I would think that would just be changing a program variable and adding a menu option that would literally take a programmer only a few minutes to change, but maybe there's something I'm not aware of. I know that might mess the balance up on the NewGame+ but I think it would be very well-balanced for the first playthrough for an experienced gamer. I think this would be a really simple tweak to fix that problem with the game (experienced action gamers can play on "HARD" and people who are are less confident can play on the normal setting).

As far as box art goes, I'd love to see something close to the original Japanese packaging with the sleeve and reversible cover for the packaging

http://i.imgur.com/PmgO8.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/nqjR1.jpg

This plus the "Elements of the Last Story" artbook/mini OST would be great for a Limited Edition or preorder bonuses.

I'm not sure when you're releasing in the summer, but besides having the game at E3, I would suggest bringing Mr. Sakaguchi and whoever else (Uematsu?" to the San Diego Comic-Com in July if the game isn't out yet. That'd be an awesome place to have a demo and build up some interest amongst people who don't check video gaming sites every day.

[PringlesXD]

Wow, it looks really good... I'm tempted to borrow my brother's girlfriend's Wii.

[Lazy_Penguin]

I love the cover sleeve, a shame the Pal region one does not have it even the CE doesn't have it, if XSeed can do even something like this and not a CE that would be great, but I'm buying it regardless so no worries.

[Raguna]

Its a nice thing Rune Factory Frontier came because if not I would have sold my Wii years ago.

[conurebleu]

Thefro; in general, we see limited edition for XSEED games. As least we can have an OST so I wouldn't worry about this one.

Artbook is different, it takes more. The only one I have is Ys seven

[Terro]

The only one I have is Ys seven

Well, that one kinda covered all the Ys games XSEED put out, so it was a nice compilation :)

That slip cover would look REALLY nice on the game though! Still, we just need to wait for close to the time to see what will get announced. I figure XSEED will give us something nice^^

[Fate]

Can I has steelbook please? : )
http://www.zeldainformer.com/images/news/TheLastStorysteelbookblog.jpg
Thanks!

[PringlesXD]

O~M~G. So sexy.

[conurebleu]

I do not like steelcase only because it's not as my other games. It's like....too much different to be on my shelve >< Esthetically speakin

[Fate]

Just put the white sleeve on it! Then it fits again.

[Raguna]

I'm having storage problems so I have to sell some games now if I can remember which they were again...?

[conurebleu]

Lol! True, but if we have to choose between artbook and steelbook, it's an easy choice for me : ARTBOOK :D

[Raguna]

Lol! True, but if we have to choose between artbook and steelbook, it's an easy choice for me : ARTBOOK :D

I totally agree with you on this one!;)

[Nool]

I agree with you two, I hope it comes with a soundtrack too, and maybe the sleeve will be a nice touch. Whatever Premium/Limited's edition Xseed comes up with will make The Last Story that much more awesome.

I noticed that the logo on the steelbook spine is upside down. :eek:

[Jack_McCloud]

I'm the opposite. I love steelbook cases. The Metroid Prime Trilogy and Final Fantasy XII steelbooks got me hooked to collecting them. :P

[conurebleu]

But it's only a box :D I prefer having something more, something I can look and listen to. Yes you can look a steelbook but..you can ''Read'' a artbook *__*

[Eliskor]

This game is by the creator of Final Fantasy and if you know Final Fantasy you know they're well known for their music. So what I'd like is for the Limited Edition to have a soundtrack as a possible bundle or pre-order bonus. :> I don't care, JUST GET IT DONE PLEASE. XD

[conurebleu]

Like I said before, I wouldn't stress out for a Soundtrack, If I remember well most CE got their soundtrack.

Ys 1&2
Ys 3
Ys 7
Solatorobo
Fragile Dreams (only sadly pre-order) it prefer it when it's automaticly in

[Eliskor]

Well I've not picked any of those up so I wasn't aware. I am a fan of the steelbook though!

[conurebleu]

And I respect that ^^

You never played an Ys title? You're missing something big Eliskor!

[Eliskor]

Well I own the PSP Ys 1 & 2 Collection but I've not yet dipped into it. Been kind of backlogged. Haha... I'll probably start it within the month.

[conurebleu]

Start it now. Okay it's not the most inspiring battle-system, but it soon becomes addictive AND...The games are real short, you cannot get stuck since the walthrough is in the manual :D At least for the first game.

Try it out soon :-)

Then get Oath in Felghana and Seven which are even greater than the 1-2. 1-2 is nothing compared to 3 and 7 ^_^

[Eliskor]

I will definitely start it soon! Been needing to stop ignoring my PSP as is.

[conurebleu]

Yes I say! Your PSP is calliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing~~~

[Terro]

(I still haven't had a chance to play Chronicles or Oath...) I blame Pokemon for sucking up ALOT of my handheld time v_v...

[conurebleu]

Hide it! Hide it!

I'm simply summarazing what we saw to this day with XSEED :

*Soundtrack (lots of game release)
*Reversible cover (Fragile)
*Artbook (Wild arms 5 and Ys 7 including artwork from Ys 1 2 3 7)
*Shiny boxes
*Fishing rod/meaning controller thingies :D
*Posters
*Badges
*fabric World map (not sure with my word used in here...)
*Collection cards


What we never saw :

*Sleeve
*Steelbook

Meaning : I wouldn't be stressing out about having a collector edition, they are used to it :-)

[Rebel40000]

For this LE I think Wyrd should be cloned and come with every retail release.

[conurebleu]

Cloned and have the same spirit so he can speak to us directly, how about waiting in here, it's going to be more effective XD

[momo]

Is there a chance that we might get something like this?

http://collectorsedition.org/uploads/2012/01/Last_Story_Limited_Edition__Small.JPG-540x306.jpg

[conurebleu]

It's XSEED, there is a HUGE chance we get a collector edition, and I guess it will be a epic one to celebrate this epic win :D

[Terro]

It would be nice, but I'm wondering how much money it cost just to GET the game localized (especially from Nintendo...) XSEED is a small company, so I hope something nice will still be in their budget for it :)

[ClintNixwood]

I agree about the Hard Mode. Not sure if a publisher can do that, but that is the one thing I would really like to see in the US version.

On many reviews, it has been said that The Last Story is a little bit easy, and reducing the number of Lives would help make the game a bit more challenging.

I agree, if anyone from Xseed is reading this thread, please see about getting a hard mode, or at least an option to reduce the amount of lives for the characters in the battle system.

Thanks!

[reyvard]

Clint Nix wood : Well I think it will be hard for xseed to do that since they haven't programmers in their team , it's what Tom and jess said us regarding some peoples questions and requests about certains already released Xseed games

Tom look here !

[Zonned87]

Expect it to mostly be identical to the European release. They might at most fix the in game text to American standard English.

[Chaosblade]

Expect it to mostly be identical to the European release. They might at most fix the in game text to American standard English.

Yep, especially since XSEED doesn't have the programmers to make any changes themselves. However minor they may be. If NoE is doing the programming work for it they could probably talk to them about it, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. Same with dual audio, they didn't have that in the PAL release, so it probably won't be in the NA release either.

[conurebleu]

I agree, if anyone from Xseed is reading this thread, please see about getting a hard mode, or at least an option to reduce the amount of lives for the characters in the battle system.

I wouldn't get my hopes up for this. They translate/edit the text, they cannot touch the gameplay.

[ClintNixwood]

Ok, thanks for clearing that up.
Will still enjoy it either way.

Perhaps Sakaguchi-san will tweak that in 'The Last Story 2.'

[Shizuka]

Hopefully it'll be multiplatform.

[Chaosblade]

iOS and Android?

http://andriasang.com/comzzy/sakaguchi_ios/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter


But in all seriousness, Nintendo owns the IP. Not Mistwalker.

[Shizuka]

They can always do like From Software and change things a little bit so that it can be multiplatform.

[Chaosblade]

"The Final Story" - A Hironobu Sakaguchi for your mobile phone (with PS Suite support!)

[Shizuka]

Hopefully, it wouldn't be iOS/Android.

[ClintNixwood]

"The Final Story" for Android, and "The Last Fantasy" for 3DS and Vita. Then, to complete the saga, "The Concluding Chapter to the Last Story of the Final Dream," (Final Fantasy name withheld because it is owned by Square-Enix ;) ) time released on WiiU, then for other consoles, and will be a 3 part epic.

[Phoenix_Apollo]

I honestly don't care if they just give us a reversible sleeve or a pound of bacon. I'd be getting it anyway.

But extras are still nice though. :) Not required, but nice.

[PringlesXD]

Hopefully, it wouldn't be iOS/Android.

I think that's the most likely outcome...

[momo]

Well, if NoE didn't implement a 'Hard Mode' for the PAL release, then I don't expect NoE to code a 'Hard Mode' for NoA.

[rlotze]

Is there a chance that we might get something like this?

http://collectorsedition.org/uploads/2012/01/Last_Story_Limited_Edition__Small.JPG-540x306.jpg

YES!
I want this!

[TyroInferno]

Great idea to up the difficulty by allowing the total lives to be either 5 or 3. This would really improve the game if XSEED could make that change. Have no idea about programming so not sure what this would require. This option (5 or 3) retains the integrity of the game, but would allow for a tougher play through either first time around, or after you have finished. It's too bad Mistwalker did not have this in the original release, but maybe XSEED can add this in, and allow the player to set the difficulty.

[conurebleu]

XSEED localize games, I think they have no programmer.

[Zonned87]

XSEED localize games, I think they have no programmer.Translating games does require some degree of programming skill. Although perhaps not as much as designing a game from scratch.

They would have to have at least a hand full of programmers on staff.

[Raguna]

Well maybe they have some programming skills since when Corpse Party was released Tom said it had a ton of glitches in its Japanese version that the majority were fixed when it got released over here.

[Zonned87]

Well maybe they have some programming skills since when Corpse Party was released Tom said it had a ton of glitches in its Japanese version that the majority were fixed when it got released over here.Alot of Japanese games have glitches or require re-programming to fix those glitches. If you follow Natsume at all you would know they frequently have to patch up Harvest Moon and Rune Factory games because the Japanese versions are usually glitched to hell.

I don't own that many xseed games but I don't imagine the situation is to different.

[Chaosblade]

XSEED has no in-house programmers at all. They only do the localization and the original developer (or outside developer approved by the original developer) handles the programming.

This is why Grand Knights History is taking so long to release. XSEED's has the localization done, but Vanillaware is too busy to be able to work with them on the North American version. So it's currently in limbo.

[ClintNixwood]

I'm sure they could hire some outside programmers. It isn't completely out of the question, I think, if they wanted to contract some programmers to do minor things for a release. But I'm not sure if it is likely.

[PringlesXD]

Well maybe they have some programming skills since when Corpse Party was released Tom said it had a ton of glitches in its Japanese version that the majority were fixed when it got released over here.

I think 5pb. fixed all that.

[Ryos]

I'm sure they could hire some outside programmers. It isn't completely out of the question, I think, if they wanted to contract some programmers to do minor things for a release. But I'm not sure if it is likely.

Contracting for a lot of things like dialog makes sense. Programmers are something of a different story. Not only are there the higher costs involved (not that I have any idea how their contracts are set up, but I'd imagine the localization agreement factors all those costs in), but you'd have to have the contracted programmer(s) have to quickly immerse themselves in code they're not familiar with, which means there would be a lot of trial and error and likelier increased chances of introducing new glitches in the localized version when a "fix" manages to break something else in the game.

[thefro]

Keep in mind in the case of this game, XSEED's parent company Marveous AQL actually developed the game for Nintendo.

So technically they wouldn't have to hire anyone from the outside.

I still think that would be something (along with putting the JPN voice track back in if there's space) that would take a day tops for 1 programmer to change. Obviously I guess you'd have to QA the changes, but I imagine they'll have to do that anyway for putting an XSeed logo at the beginning and adding the XSeed staff to the credits.

[Shizuka]

I think 5pb. fixed all that.

And we lost a name tag on the meantime.

[PringlesXD]

And we lost a name tag on the meantime.
Also their fault, it seems.

[Chaosblade]

They still do QA.

And it also depends on whether or not Artoon's staff is still part of the company. Not sure what happened with that, but it could have been a case of AQI taking the IPs and letting the Artoon staff go. I do recall them going publisher-only and no longer developing titles before the Marvelous merger, so it wouldn't be surprising if there were a lot of layoffs and most of the staff that worked on Last Story is gone.

[Shizuka]

Also their fault, it seems.

Indeed, both of them were their fault. >:

[Raguna]

If it weren't for that name tag I would have a 100% complete game.

[Shizuka]

If it weren't for that name tag I would have a 100% complete game.

I know, we're all mad at Team GrisGris (and in love at the same time, Corpse Party is amazing after all).

[momo]

XSEED has no in-house programmers at all. They only do the localization and the original developer (or outside developer approved by the original developer) handles the programming.

This is why Grand Knights History is taking so long to release. XSEED's has the localization done, but Vanillaware is too busy to be able to work with them on the North American version. So it's currently in limbo.

How does localization work? What does a company do to localize games?

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

How does localization work? What does a company do to localize games?
In general, the text is stored separately from the program. That way the text can be translated without having to modify the program. Same goes for the sound (speech).

[Zonned87]

In general, the text is stored separately from the program. That way the text can be translated without having to modify the program. Same goes for the sound (speech).Usually this makes it possible for fan translations, like with various DS games.

[momo]

In general, the text is stored separately from the program. That way the text can be translated without having to modify the program. Same goes for the sound (speech).

But, The Last Story is already translated and dubbed in English. So what is XSEED responsible for? re-dubbing to American English?

[Chaosblade]

But, The Last Story is already translated and dubbed in English. So what is XSEED responsible for? re-dubbing to American English?

"Translating" it to American English from British English (so removing "u"s and changing some "s"s to "c"s). They did the same thing for Solatorobo using NoE's translation. It's very unlikely that they'll redo the voice acting.

[Zonned87]

"Translating" it to American English from British English (so removing "u"s and changing some "s"s to "c"s). They did the same thing for Solatorobo using NoE's translation. It's very unlikely that they'll redo the voice acting.Sometimes S to Z as well like localising and localizing... lol

[Terro]

Even Harry Potter was localized for Americans. No seriously, they didn't just change the spelling from the British spelling to the American, but changed some words apparently that they felt were too 'British' for Americans... Glad my copy has the Philosopher's Stone in it :)

[Gintoki]

Hide it! Hide it!

I'm simply summarazing what we saw to this day with XSEED :

*Soundtrack (lots of game release)
*Reversible cover (Fragile)
*Artbook (Wild arms 5 and Ys 7 including artwork from Ys 1 2 3 7)
*Shiny boxes
*Fishing rod/meaning controller thingies :D
*Posters
*Badges
*fabric World map (not sure with my word used in here...)
*Collection cards


What we never saw :

*Sleeve
*Steelbook

Meaning : I wouldn't be stressing out about having a collector edition, they are used to it :-)

Couldn't you call what they did with Ys 7, Lunar:Silver Star Harmony, and Trails "reversible covers"? I know they're not exactly covers on the inside, but they do have nice artwork that you could use as an alternate cover.

[conurebleu]

Yes, we could put that in there, it's real nice to have something else then big white side :P

Please keep the british voice acting :)

[ClintNixwood]

We'll have to wait and see just what Xseed actually does with this release. Half of the job has been done for them already ;)
It will be nice to see what kind of special release they will do.