UnchainBlades ReXX as eShop download (moved discussion)

[stealth20k]

http://www.nintendopower.com/images/NP277_TOC.pdf



I DONT LIKE THIS AT ALL:mad:

[Chaosblade]

Probably e-shop/PSN. So multiplatform digital-only.

Curious to see how that would work. Does the 3DS e-shop give you more prominence than Wiiware? Because it seems like developing for Wiiware was suicide.

[Lumina]

Copy/paste of my opinion from the other thread:

If this is true, I really don't get why the hell this going DD only, this is an RPG on a currently RPG starved system. Not to mention that the 3DS itself is a new system with great sales recently. I knew this was going to become a normal thing with XSEED, how utterly disappointing. With each DD game released I'm growing increasingly indifferent about XSEED game announcements. I don't mean to B.i.t.c.h, it's just how I feel.

[Chaosblade]

It probably has more to do with sales expectations than anything.

I'm not sure the "stop picking up games that you expect to sell too poorly for physical releases!" point works, they probably just take what they can license and expect to make some sort of profit on, and digital only probably opens up a number of possibilities they would have had to pass on for financial reasons. In fact with the state of the portable market, there probably aren't that many games that physical releases will really work for - not that I'm advocating digital-only.

[Gintoki]

A full retail game downloadable on a Nintendo device?! I'll be hiding in my basement waiting for hell to thaw out.

[Chaosblade]

Nintendo actually announced not too long ago that the eshop supported games up to 2GB, IIRC. So basically, retail sized 3DS games right now.

[stealth20k]

If true, I am probably fully done with xseed...........

there is no reason for this to be DD AT ALL...........

[Gintoki]

Yeah, I remember, but still, can't be too careful. *tinfoil hat* >.>

[stealth20k]

well xseed wil find out quickly that games like etrian 1-3 sell because they were physical and affordable. People bought them

[zaracoatl]

If this is download only, I'm not interested. -_-; I like having the physical copy.

[Milius]

You all know where I stand on this, I don't feel like I need to say more.

[Gintoki]

DD or not, unfortunately I'm not big on dungeon crawlers. : /

Where's my Senran Kagura, Xseed?!

[Milius]

DD or not, unfortunately I'm not big on dungeon crawlers. : /

Where's my Senran Kagura, Xseed?!

Even if they do bring it, at this point it'll probably be DD too.

[Gintoki]

Even if they do bring it, at this point it'll probably be DD too.

I thought they were all DD in this game. XD

Har har har!

[Fabrizo]

Even if they do bring it, at this point it'll probably be DD too.


I thought they were all DD in this game. XD

Yo dawg, I heard you like DD... :p

[Milius]

*Facepalm*
Oh you guys~

[Mu-12]

Does this make this the first retail game to end up localized as a download in NA? <_<

[Gintoki]

For a Nintendo system, yeah.

[Mu-12]

Ah yeah, left that part out. Nintendo's finally embracing the glorious digital Google-monopolized future.

Might be neat. I was always curious about DD-only titles.

[Takao]

Probably e-shop/PSN. So multiplatform digital-only.

Curious to see how that would work. Does the 3DS e-shop give you more prominence than Wiiware? Because it seems like developing for Wiiware was suicide.

eShop is a lot better for promo than WiiWare, or DSiWare. The only problem is how freaking slow navigating eShop can be. It's worse than PSN on PSP, Vita, or PS3.

[perrandy]

eShop is a lot better for promo than WiiWare, or DSiWare. The only problem is how freaking slow navigating eShop can be. It's worse than PSN on PSP, Vita, or PS3. i dont understand whats the deal on here? i mean most of you bought corpse party digitaly and were most happy about that and now you are mad at this....this doesnt compute...also neph must be smiling somewhere out there while reading this XD

[Ryos]

i dont understand whats the deal on here? i mean most of you bought corpse party digitaly and were most happy about that and now you are mad at this....this doesnt compute...also neph must be smiling somewhere out there while reading this XD

I'm pretty sure the folks who got Corpse party probably aren't that concerned about this being DD only, though people felt that was more niche than this (which given dungeon crawlers in general, I dunno).

[Takao]

i dont understand whats the deal on here? i mean most of you bought corpse party digitaly and were most happy about that and now you are mad at this....this doesnt compute...also neph must be smiling somewhere out there while reading this XD

I have no problem with this being DD-only. I'm not even interested in this game. ;P I was just stating that the eShop is really slow to navigate.

[Shizuka]

Copy/paste of my opinion from the other thread:

If this is true, I really don't get why the hell this going DD only, this is an RPG on a currently RPG starved system. Not to mention that the 3DS itself is a new system with great sales recently. I knew this was going to become a normal thing with XSEED, how utterly disappointing. With each DD game released I'm growing increasingly indifferent about XSEED game announcements. I don't mean to B.i.t.c.h, it's just how I feel.

I agree with your opinion. I can understand Corpse Party DD, I can swallow Sumioni DD, but Unchained Blades Rexx? No.

[SIN]

DD or not, unfortunately I'm not big on dungeon crawlers. : /

Where's my Senran Kagura, Xseed?!

Me either, I find them frustrating. But I still hope this doesn't become too much of a trend.

[Shizuka]

Should Unchained be successful, who knows? Senran Kagura could be their next DD-only title.

[SilverCitizen]

DD or not, unfortunately I'm not big on dungeon crawlers. : /

Where's my Senran Kagura, Xseed?!

Yeah XSEED! Come on!

Even if they do bring it, at this point it'll probably be DD too.

Which I would be totally fine with. Except no chance of extras or instruction manual which I heard was pretty nice.

I thought they were all DD in this game. XD

Har har har!

Oh man, that got me lol'ing.:D

[stealth20k]

I think xseed is making a giant mistake that could literally cause them to go bankrupt sooner rather than later as they are basically giving the finger to 75 percent of the people who would buy this title, but wont because its dd only

for example if this was physical I would of bought 2 copies. But if its dd only, I will forget xseed ever did this and wont spend a penny.

[Gintoki]

Yeah XSEED! Come on!


Which I would be totally fine with. Except no chance of extras or instruction manual which I heard was pretty nice.


Oh man, that got me lol'ing.:D

The instruction manual is awesome! Though I still don't have the Jp 3DS required to play it, lol.

[Wander]

When I first heard about/saw Unchained Blades at Siliconera I really wanted to play it, but I never did since it was a bit expensive for me to import. I'm glad to see that Unchained Blades is coming to NA thanks to Xseed, and I don't mind that's it is DD only, but I am curious if it will be available to download on PSN. Anyway, thanks a bunch Xseed, you guys rule XDD!

[stealth20k]

When I first heard about/saw Unchained Blades at Siliconera I really wanted to play it, but I never did since it was a bit expensive for me to import. I'm glad to see that Unchained Blades is coming to NA thanks to Xseed, and I don't mind that's it is DD only, but I am curious if it will be available to download on PSN. Anyway, thanks a bunch Xseed, you guys rule XDD!

its in nintendo power, not sony mag.......that should tell you

[GeekyJuuu]

It's not set in stone. Nintendo Power leaked the news about Good People Die/Virute's Last Reward, and then Aksys cleared it up that it was INDEED going to Vita as well as 3DS. They do cover multi-plat games.

My best advice is to wait for the XSEED announcement to be positive.. :]

[Wander]

Seeing that this news was from nintendo power I doubt they would give info on a non nintendo console like the psp. So Unchained Blades being available on psp is still a possibility.

[Gintoki]

Seeing that this news was from nintendo power I doubt they would give info on a non nintendo console like the psp. So Unchained Blades being available on psp is still a possibility.

Exactly. It was the same with Blazblue CS2 and Good People Die.

[wrath]

I think this game alone would compell me to buy a 3DS BEFOR KH3D comes out...Worth it.

[Mu-12]

Pretty cool that XSEED is the one to take Nintendo's retail-to-digital maidenhood. You go on ahead and keep breaking them there glass ceilings, guys.


Should Unchained be successful, who knows? Senran Kagura could be their next DD-only title.

http://i.imgur.com/lxWI4.gif
i'm ready for this
BRING IT ON

[stealth20k]

well sumoni there dd only vita title ( the same situation) is floping

[Shizuka]

I like to think that they (XSEED and Acquire) thought the game would be successful, and after the horrible japanese launch, XSEED decided to make it DD-only.

[Ryos]

I like to think that they (XSEED and Acquire) thought the game would be successful, and after the horrible japanese launch, XSEED decided to make it DD-only.

Yeah, 10,000ish sales in Japan and retail launch here=lol.

[Shizuka]

Yeah, 10,000ish sales in Japan and retail launch here=lol.

Retail numbers-wise, Sumioni sold less than 4,5k copies in Japan at launch. Somewhere around 3k, if you factor the spot it grabbed on the top 50.

[Takao]

well sumoni there dd only vita title ( the same situation) is floping

Imagine how much money XSEED would've burned if it went retail. The game's just too expensive and repetitive for the value it proposes.

[stealth20k]

Imagine how much money XSEED would've burned if it went retail. The game's just too expensive and repetitive for the value it proposes.

Different situation. A game like this will make profit because its on a platform thats doing really well.

[stealth20k]

either way this title should be dual retail and dd

[Wyrdwad]

I understand you want games to be released on physical media, Stealth, but it's just not always possible. You may be *absolutely certain* they would sell better if they were released physically, and you may be able to list off a bunch of great reasons why that's the unquestionable truth of the matter... but the simple fact is, you don't know all the factors involved. There's a lot more to releasing a game than just printing up boxes and flash memory cards and sending them out to stores. There are things like minimum build requirements, ESRB fees, distributors, retail shelf space, etc... and a lot of that is completely out of our hands.

As I've said before, whenever we release a game digital-only, we have VERY GOOD REASONS for doing so. It's never a decision we make lightly, and it's always something we try to avoid if we can... but sometimes, there's simply no helping it.

Please trust that when we release a game digital-only, we've done so only after carefully weighing all the factors and discussing the matter at length. It may be disappointing to you... but sometimes, it's just the way things have to be.

-Tom

[Shizuka]

As I've said before, whenever we release a game digital-only, we have VERY GOOD REASONS for doing so. It's never a decision we make lightly, and it's always something we try to avoid if we can... but sometimes, there's simply no helping it.

My problem with you saying that is that, more often than not, you're praising DD-only, saying that it's the future of the industry, making everybody think that XSEED's just jumping onboard with the future, instead of trying to show that you do try to make it retail. I'd say that you have to make up your mind about this trend and follow it, I'm starting to get sick of reading different approaches from you to the same problem.

[Wyrdwad]

My problem with you saying that is that, more often than not, you're praising DD-only, saying that it's the future of the industry, making everybody think that XSEED's just jumping onboard with the future, instead of trying to show that you do try to make it retail. I'd say that you have to make up your mind about this trend and follow it, I'm starting to get sick of reading different approaches from you to the same problem.

I think you've been misinterpreting my statements.

I haven't been praising digital-only, I've been "praising" digital media in general (preferably as an option in addition to physical media). And even then, I'm not really praising it, I'm just playing devil's advocate and listing its good points -- because digital media does have a lot of good points!

When given an option, though, I *always* pick physical over digital unless it's a game I just really don't care about (or an older game I wouldn't be able to play physically due to loss of hardware, never having owned the hardware in the first place or the hardware de-synching audio and video when output to HDTVs).

I'm accepting of digital-only because I know it's the only way we're able to get certain games in English. But that's about as far as I go. If you've been interpreting anything I've said on here as outright praise for digital-only, then I truly apologize for the misunderstanding.

-Tom

[Serge]

I truly see what are Tom's words, so I just have to believe in it. I do think DD is a good thing in addition to the physical release, even though I've never bought a game in this way. I trust you when you say that DD is the only chance of a western release, even in this case: though I will only support it if it will be avaiable on PSP either (won't buy a 3DS for this game).

[Shizuka]

I think you've been misinterpreting my statements.

I haven't been praising digital-only, I've been "praising" digital media in general (preferably as an option in addition to physical media). And even then, I'm not really praising it, I'm just playing devil's advocate and listing its good points -- because digital media does have a lot of good points!

When given an option, though, I *always* pick physical over digital unless it's a game I just really don't care about (or an older game I wouldn't be able to play physically due to loss of hardware, never having owned the hardware in the first place or the hardware de-synching audio and video when output to HDTVs).

I'm accepting of digital-only because I know it's the only way we're able to get certain games in English. But that's about as far as I go. If you've been interpreting anything I've said on here as outright praise for digital-only, then I truly apologize for the misunderstanding.

-Tom

That's still misleading. Try to differentiate your personal opinion from the company's opinion, or just try to post from the company's point of view on this kind of topic, and maybe you'll make more sense.

[Wyrdwad]

That's still misleading. Try to differentiate your personal opinion from the company's opinion, or just try to post from the company's point of view on this kind of topic, and maybe you'll make more sense.

I thought I was differentiating. Generally, I speak from my own point of view -- it's only when I use the pronoun "we" that I'm speaking on behalf of XSEED. And it's usually pretty clear from the tone of my posts which is which, too... or I always assumed it was, anyway.

Again, though, sorry if there were any misunderstandings.

-Tom

[Shizuka]

It's at times like "We're always trying to find the best solution for the games, but we all know digital is the future" that you can crash both opinions and make it sound like XSEED's eager to embrace that future. I've seen it more than once, or else I wouldn't be discussing this, to the point of where that's the idea it came off to several people, not just me.

[Wyrdwad]

Ahhh... OK, I think I see the source of your confusion.

When I say "we all know digital is the future" (and did I really word it like that?!), I mean that 100% literally -- I'm not trying to say "it's the future, and what a glorious future it will be!"... rather, I'm just trying to be realistic and say, "it's pretty clear that the industry is headed toward digital content as the norm, superseding physical content, over the next 10 or so years." That's an industry trend, and it's not something I'm happy about, but it is the reality of the situation.

And the thing is, it's an industry trend for a reason. There are factors at play that are making digital distribution the more encouraged medium for publishers, and in many cases making physical distribution utterly impractical or impossible. Meanwhile, some of the benefits of digital distribution are also making it possible to release niche titles with far less risk, allowing publishers like us to release games we never would've been able to before.

So yeah... in the end, it's a double-edged sword. I don't like it, personally, but I'm willing to accept it. And as a company, there are some aspects we DO like about it, as it makes certain games possible for us to release that we would've had to turn down otherwise... but we still do try for both physical and digital whenever possible. We'd be foolish not to!

-Tom

[Shizuka]

I'm not discussing the pros and cons of DD-only, I neither love it or hate it, I just think that when the subject comes up, don't try to patronize the customer. I know most of them didn't participate on the DD-only discussin back then, but when anybody brings up that topic, and you find yourself in need of repeating that sometimes "it's necessary", don't try to engage on a discussion of repetition that it's a trend, we'll have DD-only consoles someday, and so on.

[Wyrdwad]

I'm not discussing the pros and cons of DD-only, I neither love it or hate it, I just think that when the subject comes up, don't try to patronize the customer. I know most of them didn't participate on the DD-only discussin back then, but when anybody brings up that topic, and you find yourself in need of repeating that sometimes "it's necessary", don't try to engage on a discussion of repetition that it's a trend, we'll have DD-only consoles someday, and so on.

Duly noted. I didn't realize I was coming across as patronizing. I'll try to be more cognizant in the future.

-Tom

[Shizuka]

I'm sorry if I came off rude at some point, I do realize that maybe this whole conversation would be better had through a PM, and for that, I'm sorry. Now if you excuse me, I'll get back to hyping for the PSP version of this particular game.

[Gintoki]

Tom has been nothing if not patient. I'd have lost my cool by now, giving the same explanation over and over again.

[Shizuka]

I know I can cause that effect on some people, and that's how I usually know if someone is a special person for being so patient.

[Raguna]

I'm patient myself when I have to wait alone for stuff but when I have to argue and talk with people I loss my cool after 1-2 hours. If its someone that I really know I blow or so persistent that my ears start figurately bleeding I start getting mad at the first ten minutes. So me alone in a Corpse Party setting is safer than me with others in a Corpse Party setting. In the end Tom. Your patience is a miracle.

[Shizuka]

That's why he has a bright future in this industry.

[suashi]

Tom has been nothing if not patient. I'd have lost my cool by now, giving the same explanation over and over again.

I think if he kept his cool with the old locked thread he's basically won gold in the Talking to a Brick Wall Olympics, LOL.

[Takao]

Different situation. A game like this will make profit because its on a platform thats doing really well.

That's not how the game industry works.

Resident Evil Revelations isn't some mega smash success and that's a huge IP on 3DS. Tales of the Abyss got a tiny print run because the preorders likely told them to not bother with a large one. That's on 3DS.

You have to be the right game at the right time, and from what I've seen Unchained Blades is far from being the right game.

[Ryos]

Resident Evil Revelations isn't some mega smash success and that's a huge IP on 3DS. Tales of the Abyss got a tiny print run because the preorders likely told them to not bother with a large one. That's on 3DS.

The first example is telling but I don't know how much of a good choice ToA is because there are two strikes against that: it's a nearly 1:1 port of an old PS2 game and it was ported to a portable system when portable systems don't yield nearly the amount of interest here that they do in Japan (unfortunately). I know I would have put down money for another version of ToA if there'd been something different about it, say Bamco went back and dubbed the skits. But since they did nothing? Eh, not worth my time. Keep in mind that I've bought all three versions of Persona 3 because of the differences in the versions and felt each and every one was well worth the cost.


You have to be the right game at the right time, and from what I've seen Unchained Blades is far from being the right game.

Now that point I'd definitely get behind. People keep forgetting that the Nintendo DS as far as hardware was concerned was a big seller in this country, yet the software often did not yield good results here, and a lot of the same problems the DS faced are also what still plague the 3DS. And that's if this game were something that would appeal to customers and retailers alike.

[stealth20k]

either way I think etrian IV's physical US edition ( we know it will) will sell 5 times as much as both unchained dd platforms.

I know xseed aside from last story and grand knight history ( both confirmed physical) I wont buy anything else from xseed for the forseeable future

[stealth20k]

That's not how the game industry works.

Resident Evil Revelations isn't some mega smash success and that's a huge IP on 3DS. Tales of the Abyss got a tiny print run because the preorders likely told them to not bother with a large one. That's on 3DS.

You have to be the right game at the right time, and from what I've seen Unchained Blades is far from being the right game.

Thats exactly how the game industry works. Resident evil SOLD VERY WELL on 3ds. And tales sold out................you tell me what was good?

[Wyrdwad]

That is your right, and we're sorry to hear you won't be buying any of our digital products. All I can say is... you're missing out! ;)

Also, trust me when I say this (and please don't take this the wrong way)... but you don't know how the game industry works. TRUST ME.

I speak from experience. I was pretty shocked when I first got hired here. Things are a lot different than you'd expect. A *lot* different.

Looking at the industry from the inside is actually a pretty scary experience...

-Tom

[stealth20k]

Its the principle of the thing. Nothing personal.

[SIN]

That is your right, and we're sorry to hear you won't be buying any of our digital products. All I can say is... you're missing out! ;)

-Tom

Well it isn't like after those mentioned games, EVERYTHING from now on is going to be digital. The games being released on digital media so far are extremely niche so it isn't surprising. But I guess you said "forseeable" and nothing else physical has been announced yet.

[Takao]

Thats exactly how the game industry works. Resident evil SOLD VERY WELL on 3ds. And tales sold out................you tell me what was good?

Who told you Resident Evil sold well? It completely bombed in Europe, and from what little we've seen in North America it hasn't done very well.

[stealth20k]

Who told you Resident Evil sold well? It completely bombed in Europe, and from what little we've seen in North America it hasn't done very well.



Is europe the world? From what weve heard from capcom employees, the game exceeded expectations

The game has sold over 200k in japan,

and fyi http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/888821-resident-evil-revelations-tops-uk-sales-chart

toping the charts in UK, isnt bombing in europe

[Takao]

Topping the UK charts isn't much of an accomplishment. Revelations first week in the UK was estimated to be around/under 15k. It dropped off the face of the planet after that. In North America it failed to make the NPD Top 10 despite a weakish month, and it being a very strong IP on what is a strong platform.

Capcom's expectations may have been exceeded because the game was low budget, but by no means is it a big success.

[Wyrdwad]

Also, Japanese sales don't mean a thing for the rest of the world. The market in Japan, the market in North America and the market in Europe are all very, very different beasts.

I mean, if Japanese success were a measure of American success, the PSP would still be one of the best-selling platforms here, and the Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star Portable games would be flying off shelves left and right.

-Tom

[Shizuka]

Well, DD-only has been confirmed. I'll probably buy the PSP version, but that's because a UMD print was unlikely in the first place.

[Takao]

Also, Japanese sales don't mean a thing for the rest of the world. The market in Japan, the market in North America and the market in Europe are all very, very different beasts.

I mean, if Japanese success were a measure of American success, the PSP would still be one of the best-selling platforms here, and the Monster Hunter and Phantasy Star Portable games would be flying off shelves left and right.

-Tom

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's western performance still makes me very sad. A great MGS game debuting to a 50k first month in the US? Is such a thing even possible? Unfortunately.

[SIN]

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's western performance still makes me very sad. A great MGS game debuting to a 50k first month in the US? Is such a thing even possible? Unfortunately.

I thought portable ops and peacewalker were both great entries for the series, a lot of great back story.

[Chaosblade]

Holy moly, that voice acting. And no dual audio?

[stealth20k]

This is a message I got from the kickstarter for class of heroes

It's less than 7,000 Deluxe Packs to fund this project, which is less than 1/3 the smallest production run I've ever done on a Deluxe Pack.

Don't lose faith. At the current rate of pledging, we will fund in less than 20 days. Our job is to keep the slow but steady level of funding up. Thanks for your support - tell your friends!!

I think xseed should get in this business

[Wyrdwad]

Holy moly, that voice acting. And no dual audio?

We couldn't do dual audio, unfortunately. We tried, but it was a no-go.

What's wrong with the voice-acting, though?! Fang, especially, sounds pretty badass, if you ask me. (:

-Tom

[stealth20k]

i dont really like that voice actor either but what can you do?

[Chaosblade]

I didn't find it particularly impressive. Maybe it will sound better in the context of the game rather than just laid over the trailer. Could just be that I've played a number of games with really great dubs recently so my perception is a bit skewed.

It wasn't Lyme from SO4 or Niko from ARF bad though.

[Lumina]

Gotta admit, I was hoping that they were going to blow our minds with a UMD release. No such luck, too bad. I hope it'll be $15 or less or I'll have to wait until its on sale. By the way, where are you guys seeing video of this?

[Wyrdwad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OcU7AZUn0Y

-Tom

[Lumina]

Hmm, I don't mind those voices at all. Seeing that it's voice acted does pique my interest though. Isn't voice acting expensive? I'm wondering if this could have been released physically if the original voice acting had been kept instead. Ah well, too late for that now lol

[Shizuka]

So... Was Nintendo that made you dub the game in order to be DD-only?

[Gintoki]

Thats umm...thats an interesting dub...

[Shizuka]

That's a quality dub, from what I've gathered. A lot of recognizable voices, although I'd wonder if the game is fully-voiced or if it's as limited as Trails in the Sky.

[tomasdk]

Hmm, not liking the dub, but it's hardly a deal breaker as there are so few dungeon crawlers nowadays and I love them. So looking forward to this. Also, this year is turning out great for dungeon crawlers, Legend of Grimrock for PC, Class of Heroes 2 for PSP and now this for PSP/3DS. Yay! Now someone localize Elminage: Gothic and this will be the best year in years. :)

[Chaosblade]

That's a quality dub, from what I've gathered. A lot of recognizable voices, although I'd wonder if the game is fully-voiced or if it's as limited as Trails in the Sky.

About 3000 lines apparently, so more than Trails for sure.

[Shizuka]

About 3000 lines apparently, so more than Trails for sure.

How does that measure to other JRPGs? Is that a lot, so-so or not a lot?

[Wyrdwad]

Closer to around 2300. Which places it in the "just barely more voices than Felghana" category. So it's a pretty decent amount, but like Felghana, it's basically just story-advancing scenes that are voiced -- not NPC dialogue or any minor cutscenes.

And I can't give the exact reason why a dub was necessary, but suffice it to say that whenever we have a dubbed game with no Japanese language voice option, it's usually due to licensing issues, platform policies and/or technical issues. You may feel free to speculate on the exact reason, but just remember I won't be able to confirm or deny which is the correct answer. (:

-Tom

[Chaosblade]

It's fair amount. Not sure what the average is but I'd guess it's a bit below average. Last Story has around 12000 lines for reference, which is a LOT.

Beaten by a better answer.

[Shizuka]

I won't really speculate, I'm already glad it's getting voices instead of being a mute game.

[Ventara]

Wow, voices huh? A pleasant surprise. And I'm glad it's confirmed for the PSP, as there was a very low chance I'd buy it digitally for the 3DS. I'm definitely interested in this game, and will be keeping an eye out for more info as we get closer to the release.

[Mu-12]

the main character

immediately after looking at him, this came to mind:
http://i.imgur.com/2a40J.png

i approve

[Ryos]

Thats umm...thats an interesting dub...

So...is it possible to mute voices? It's entirely possible that it may grow on me but I'm not digging the dub at all.

[perrandy]

So...is it possible to mute voices? It's entirely possible that it may grow on me but I'm not digging the dub at all. i will say this, looks interesting.the voices arent that hot but i dont mind since i played thru arc rise fantasia heh...

[Shizuka]

Does anybody know for a fact the size of the file from the JP PSN Store?

[Chaosblade]

Pretty sure it's 540MB.

[Shizuka]

And all 3DS are packed with a 2GB MC, right? I guess the size is right for any casual 3DS owner with enough space left on their memory.

[wrath]

Im just stoked it'll be on the PSN so I dont have to go out and buy a 3DS anytime soon...I <3 Xseed

[Ryos]

Im just stoked it'll be on the PSN so I dont have to go out and buy a 3DS anytime soon...I <3 Xseed

That was my main reaction too, actually. :P

[Raguna]

Im just stoked it'll be on the PSN so I dont have to go out and buy a 3DS anytime soon...I <3 Xseed

*Raises his own hand in agreement.*

[suashi]

Im just stoked it'll be on the PSN so I dont have to go out and buy a 3DS anytime soon...I <3 Xseed

/joins the echo chain

[Baroque]

Won't someone please help me? The girl at 50 seconds in, who's her VA? I recognize that voice from somewhere, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm going crazy here. ;_;

[Shizuka]

...Neptune?

[Chaosblade]

Wonder why they haven't created a forum for this game yet, since it's announced and all.

[Gurack]

Thank you all for bringing a small cliche over again. I used to be all against digital downloads, but it's so much more convenient now. Sad to say, probably won't be buying another umd since I've gone with the vita. I'm still holding onto hope atlus will release a later edition of class of heroes or someone else will when opportunity arises. Can't wait to play this, thanks again!

[Shizuka]

Wonder why they haven't created a forum for this game yet, since it's announced and all.

I sent Tom a message a few hours ago, but it just happens when someone reminds them.

[Gintoki]

Hasn't even been a day. Give them time.

[Chaosblade]

I know, I'm not impatient, it was more of a thinking over the keyboard thing. Since games like Last Story and GKH got forums up pretty much immediately after they were announced.

[Wyrdwad]

I know, I'm not impatient, it was more of a thinking over the keyboard thing. Since games like Last Story and GKH got forums up pretty much immediately after they were announced.

We're just all a bit busy right now, that's all. I'll see about setting up a board for the game right now.

-Tom

[conurebleu]

Dungeon-Style Japanese RPG Title from Lunar and Grandia Series Veterans Coming as a Digital Download in 2012


I'm officially not in =/

[Dogi]

I enjoy digital and physical. Having it digital just means I can have more game variety available on the go. DD also usually has faster load times which are sometimes a thing even on carts.

If the price is right I'll probably try this. I don't see all the major whining about it not being physical. It just means you literally cannot lose the game

[conurebleu]

We all know about dd games good sides. But I still won't buy. So there's no point pointing again and again those points again ;-)

....Lose the game? XD I never lost a game in my entire life

I'm not encouraging this, and if everybody would do th esame, dd game wouldn't be a good opportunity for compagnies. I stand by my wish. Physical games only :-)

[Takao]

The white mage doesn't sound like nightmare fuel in the dub which is great. Though why do I care, I have no interest in this game, hah.

[Ryos]

The white mage doesn't sound like nightmare fuel in the dub which is great.

Mikuru T_T

[Wyrdwad]

Conure: All I can say is... your loss! ;)

-Tom

[conurebleu]

Yeah. I know. I supported you guys because you were into the physical thing a lot. But now...You're not making much physical games anymore. It really is disappointing for a fan. I was asking people to support you, I won't now. The Last Story is instant pre-order. But for the rest, sorry guys but my vote goes physical, so does my money. I won't buy DD game because I do not support the industry going this way. And buying one game will enter in conflict with myself, so I prefer to sacrifice some games than to encourage the industry going all DD-only.

And now what? You almost making fun of me, if it's not already the case.

But, being an YS fan, I'll simply import it on PS2 since I won't be able to get it physical probably in english. Might as well look a script and play in japanese.

[Dogi]

I'm not encouraging this, and if everybody would do th esame, dd game wouldn't be a good opportunity for compagnies.

You're clearly missing why this is good for companies. There's no production costs for the physical copies and the only losses per sale are the loses going to the DD provider. Xseed is able to localize such a niche title as this because of how inexpensive DD is. Xseed was able to bring Felghana and Origin to steam for the same reasons.

I can understand the desire to own a physical representation of your purchase, but that is not the point of gaming. Gaming is about enjoying good games. Preventing yourself from that just on the basis that there's not something you can hold in your hands (arguable as the same data would be in your PSP/3Ds) is silly and somewhat childish.

[conurebleu]

Like I said, I know about dd games positive point, so you don't need to tell 'em over and over again.

Gaming for me is not only about game itself. I like to search for them , talk about them with friends, being able to choose on my shelf which one I want to play and play the game. Being at one click away is boring and I would loose interest. You cannot change how I see things.


is silly and somewhat childish.

Call me a child if you want. But that would be denigring my point of view about gaming. How about some respect for different opinions? I respect your side and points, but I'm just not in. You already have lost a member out of your insults (and here I'm talking about Sin, Gintoki, Chaosblade and you). Who's not there anymore?

I don't care at all about unchained blade rexx now, but I'll only hope Ys will make it physical.

[Raguna]

I respect your decisions and wishes bleu and I'm half with you in this one. I totally love getting games in physical form but man life sure isn't easy for the JRPG player.

I never blame people for things but I feel rather mad so I'll just blame the FPS market. Just to clarify I'm not blaming the FPS players I'm just blaming that since most people in the world see an FPS they don't even bother searching for awesome JRPGs or even the normal RPGs to an extent.

[Dogi]

I didn't call you a child, I called the notion of needing the satisfaction of a physical copy childish. There is a difference.

[conurebleu]

C'mon. That's the same in my eyes. It's not you, it's your actions and thinking. So, that means my way of thinking is childish, pretty good. Thanks a lot. Anyway, I'll leave the party to those you'll like it. I'm breaking the fun on here.

[majestix1988]

if going physical its have chances of being "Used Game" & Its okay for DD only because it can help Xseed on market for more money to use for publishing "new" games in the future for psp or 3DS) even without physical things that will be using on your portables but its even digital form it can help xseed

+ Xseed still a "Teenage" need new things to make it popular even more than FPS or watever games that popular

[commodorewheeler]

Personally, I'm fine with this game being DD-only. I plan on getting it, but let's face it, it's a niche RPG title that only hardcore JRPG enthusiasts will buy. That market seems to be in the toilet right now in the US, and I'm sure that Xseed would have released a physical version of it if they thought it could be profitable at all for them.

Now if Ys Celceta comes out as DD-only, I will be really disappointed. That game is just begging for a Premium Edition release.

[conurebleu]

but let's face it, it's a niche RPG title that only hardcore JRPG enthusiasts will buy. That market seems to be in the toilet right now in the US, and I'm sure that Xseed would have released a physical version of it if they thought it could be profitable at all for them.

I...know...that...Stop repeating this point...every...single...time...*mind explodes*

[Dogi]

Think of it like this. The correct way to help ensure more physical releases isn't refusing to buy something that isn't a physical release.

Atlus and NISA are able to take bigger risks and release physical editions of titles they know won't sell well because they've not only got a large market in the US but have even larger parent companies in Japan. Atlus can take the hit Growlanser IV will no doubt bring because they know P4U and P4G are going to sell hundreds of thousands of copies.

Xseed doesn't have that luxury, and while they know they will be losing possibly a few hundred sales to physical purists they know there's enough fans who simply do not mind and will still buy a good game for being a good game.

And yes we know you understand, but you were not the only detractor from DD in this thread.

[Ignigknotic]

Think of it like this. The correct way to help ensure more physical releases isn't refusing to buy something that isn't a physical release.

Atlus and NISA are able to take bigger risks and release physical editions of titles they know won't sell well because they've not only got a large market in the US but have even larger parent companies in Japan. Atlus can take the hit Growlanser IV will no doubt bring because they know P4U and P4G are going to sell hundreds of thousands of copies.

Xseed doesn't have that luxury, and while they know they will be losing possibly a few hundred sales to physical purists they know there's enough fans who simply do not mind and will still buy a good game for being a good game.

And yes we know you understand, but you were not the only detractor from DD in this thread.

Get this guy a medal. Requotting because of so much truth.

[stealth20k]

^ you think atlus and nis are that much bigger? I doubt that

[wrath]

That was my main reaction too, actually. :P

*Raises his own hand in agreement.*

/joins the echo chain
I had echos :D and a charecter died on me while doing this:(
Anyhoo I realy dont want to have to buy a system yet if I dont have to,buying a gamecube game compatible Wii cost me way more than the device was worth....None of the "local" stores had any thanks to the Wii U's appearence ,and I dont plan to buy a Vita untill I have to either.
Im personally just holding out on the 3DS in hopes for a KH3D model but I doubt one will appear over in my neck of the woods

[Takao]

^ you think atlus and nis are that much bigger? I doubt that

Atlus has 400-500k (WW) sellers in the Persona series.

NIS has Disgaea.

AQ Interactive has ???

[GeekyJuuu]

^ you think atlus and nis are that much bigger? I doubt that

NIS handles anime, and they've grown into a good-size publisher. The make limited print runs of their few sure-fire seller titles, and they do pretty damn well. Neptunia justified a reprint, Nep-Nep mk II is selling for crazy prices on ebay and also had to wait for more stock of the game-only edition, and they've got Disgaea.

Atlus, on the other hand, has one thing: the entire JRPG/japanophile/weeaboo market dancing in the palms of their hands. They made off well with Catherine, Devil Survivor has been selling through its own limited runs, and they have several WRPGs and download titles that have bolstered their funds and expanded their market. With hits like Demon's Souls on their hands, they've been pretty ok for a while. Compound that with the good point already made that P4G and P4A are next, and it's no secret why they feel secure enough to take a risk on a small run for Gungnir and Growlanser.

In short, while they're not as big as EA, Ubisoft, and the like, they certainly seem to be in better standing than Xseed right now, sadly. Wait until The Last Story hits-then they may REALLY take off running. At least, I really hope so!! ^^

[stealth20k]

apples and oranges.

The company that xseed should be compared to is aksyss. Thats really it

[GeekyJuuu]

Well, you sort of compared them before, but okay, Aksys then. ^^ I'm quite a big fan, so I'd never have a hard time talking about them!

Aksys has a pretty big hit on their hands with BlazBlue, plus its DLC. They do tournaments for it and stuff, they sell fightsticks, and other assorted merch. Much in the same way that NISA works, they have these alternate revenue streams. They also have other popular series, such as Bit.Trip to make ends meet and finance their riskier prospects, such as 999. Aksys got lucky-999 made them some bank and became a cult hit, thanks to the large install base of the 3DS, an audience hungry for more Ace Attorney-esque gameplay after being burned by Capcom via AA2, and a lot of great press.
Also, for comparison's sake, Aksys releases MANY digital titles. The entire Bit.Trip series in on WiiWare. Cho Aniki was DD only. Arcana Heart 3 was DD only. MANY of their games came out via PSN more than just these and, to date, more than XSEED's released! And, oh wait for it, here's the kicker, this is my favorite part....They still release physical titles too. Yep. They have struck a balance between DD only, physical, and DD+ a limited physical run. They've settled into their niche, they've been around since the PS2 for goodness' sake, and they are comfortable enough in their financial position to be able to take an occasional risk on Hakuoki, 999, ect.

Also, this is something that I feel needs to be added. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did XSEED not almost completely go under after stuff like Half Minute Hero and Retro Game Challenged underperformed, and Ignition snapped up their rights to Muramasa and Arc Rise Fantasia [oh, if only you had gotten it, XSEED!!] so suddenly? XSEED's been on the brink of financial ruin. We don't even know how close they are to going back there. To the best of my knowledge, this is something that the other niche publishers have NOT experienced, at least not to the extent XSEED has. The fact that they dealt with this sort of justifies their caution. They've been close to the edge, and who wants to go back? So until they find that Aksys-esque niche, that balance, I don't blame them for playing it safe. This game wouldn't sell the way Etrian Odyssey does-there's no name recommendation. Using a dub will incite the wrath of a vocal minority who claim "EVERYTHING IN JAPANEEZE IS DA BEST DESU!!!" It's just not EO. It's just not a mainstream title.

Anyways, this has been a sufficient ramble, so I think I'm done here. XP We've both made our points, have we not? :D

[KnightofAncient]

apples and oranges.

The company that xseed should be compared to is aksyss. Thats really it

Please enlighten me on how they are different. They are publishers and they compete for the same jrpg market.

[conurebleu]

Actually we can compare apple with orange...nutrition speaking XD

[none123]

apples and oranges.

The company that xseed should be compared to is aksyss. Thats really it

I think this is more of a case of comparing green apples with red apples.

[stealth20k]

and atlus is a pinapple

[iammako3]

Hm, while I like Troy Baker (I'm fairly certain that's Fang's VA in the dub), judging from what I've seen of the character I don't know as if I'd have cast him. However, it may work with more game context. I think the green-haired girl has a pretty appropriate voice from the one line I heard though, lol.

Since this is DD only I won't be purchasing this game, so I'll need someone who is buying it to tell me if Troy Baker works with actual gameplay. ^_^

[Tiamat]

man the DD only hate is so strong

[tomasdk]

Well, the people who are ok with it, or even dare I say happy about it usually don't post very much about it. Atleast based on my observations.

[Ryos]

Well, the people who are ok with it, or even dare I say happy about it usually don't post very much about it. Atleast based on my observations.

That's pretty much true anywhere in business. The people who don't like something are far likelier to respond to customer surveys and vent in company forums and so on than those who are fine with it. Partially here it's because the people who are ok with it are probably too busy playing the game. :P (Not that it's out yet here)

[machinemaiden]

That's pretty much true anywhere in business. The people who don't like something are far likelier to respond to customer surveys and vent in company forums and so on than those who are fine with it. Partially here it's because the people who are ok with it are probably too busy playing the game. :P (Not that it's out yet here)

That's pretty much me. I'm happy being able to play a game that I wanted and never thought possible any way I can get it. I usually post to show my support for games that I'd like to see localized and/or thank the company for a game that I wanted to see localized and they have made that possible, then I go on to wait impatiently for that said game. XD

[Takao]

Thats exactly how the game industry works. Resident evil SOLD VERY WELL on 3ds. And tales sold out................you tell me what was good?

So yeah, we got an NPD leak of Revelations. Its LTD sales in the US are about 130,000. That's pretty bad given the critically lambasted Operation Raccoon City sold 4-5x that in its first month.

[stealth20k]

So yeah, we got an NPD leak of Revelations. Its LTD sales in the US are about 130,000. That's pretty bad given the critically lambasted Operation Raccoon City sold 4-5x that in its first month.


Actually thats pretty damn amazing when you consider raccoon city was on 3x as many platforms...........thats why...........

you cant just compare a game that was released on 1 system vs a game that was released on 3, and then compare the sales...... not to mention they were on 3 platforms that have been out 5+ years..............not the 1 the 3ds has been out


130k is incredible

[Wyrdwad]

While releasing a game on a number of different systems does help, I don't think it helps as much as you'd expect. In the end, the number of people who buy the game will be just about the same -- they'll just have more choice as to WHERE to buy it.

With the 3DS being new, however, I do believe that could account for lower sales -- but isn't that the point Takao was trying to make, that 3DS sales aren't particularly great right now?

Nonetheless, I'm actually in agreement with you, Stealth. If that number is accurate, it's honestly not bad at all. 130k sales in this short a time period seems surprisingly high to me. It may not be up to Capcom's expectations (who knows?), but we'd sure love to get sales numbers like that. ;)

You do have to keep in mind, though, that those are numbers for a Resident Evil game. We'd be lucky to get a small fraction of that with a niche RPG.

-Tom

[Ryos]

Nonetheless, I'm actually in agreement with you, Stealth. If that number is accurate, it's honestly not bad at all. 130k sales in this short a time period seems surprisingly high to me. It may not be up to Capcom's expectations (who knows?), but we'd sure love to get sales numbers like that. ;)

You do have to keep in mind, though, that those are numbers for a Resident Evil game. We'd be lucky to get a small fraction of that with a niche RPG.

-Tom

It's all relative to expectations. I'd be willing to wager Capcom expects much better from RE but then any RPG not named Final Fantasy has trouble pushing that many sales. I think the more interesting point with regards to Capcom is the fact that their staple RPG series (Breath of Fire) has been dead for quite some time now. :(

[Takao]

Actually thats pretty damn amazing when you consider raccoon city was on 3x as many platforms...........thats why...........

you cant just compare a game that was released on 1 system vs a game that was released on 3, and then compare the sales...... not to mention they were on 3 platforms that have been out 5+ years..............not the 1 the 3ds has been out


130k is incredible

Are you a Beyblade, because the spin you're putting on is pretty great.

Operation Raccoon City was a poorly rated (like I mean Revelations has an 82 on Metacritic while ORC is at 53) outsourced to random developer spinoff that was a drastic departure for RE. Revelations on the other hand is a highly rated main series entry developed in Japan that aimed to bring the series back to its roots. And for what it's worth, ORC is only available on 2 platforms right now. The PC version launches next month, though that won't really help given PC software sales are largely DD based.

Those numbers for Revelations aren't good. To put them into a 3DS related perspective, Kid Icarus: Uprising has already outsold Revelations in the US, despite Uprising being a newer release. When one of the largest third party franchises in gaming releases a quality exclusive iteration and it can't outsell a revival of a largely forgotten and mediocre action game from Nintendo it should tell you it's not all roses over there.

[stealth20k]

While releasing a game on a number of different systems does help, I don't think it helps as much as you'd expect. In the end, the number of people who buy the game will be just about the same -- they'll just have more choice as to WHERE to buy it.

With the 3DS being new, however, I do believe that could account for lower sales -- but isn't that the point Takao was trying to make, that 3DS sales aren't particularly great right now?

Nonetheless, I'm actually in agreement with you, Stealth. If that number is accurate, it's honestly not bad at all. 130k sales in this short a time period seems surprisingly high to me. It may not be up to Capcom's expectations (who knows?), but we'd sure love to get sales numbers like that. ;)

You do have to keep in mind, though, that those are numbers for a Resident Evil game. We'd be lucky to get a small fraction of that with a niche RPG.

-Tom

I know we hate vg chartz

http://www.vgchartz.com/game/45684/resident-evil-revelations/USA/

and I was slightly off, but still over 100k is pretty good

[stealth20k]

@Takao

There is no spin...................

raccoon city was released on 3 platforms, which have been out over 5 years

revelations was released on 1 thats been out 1 year

If anything I am being reasonable

"Kid Icarus: Uprising has already outsold Revelations in the US, despite Uprising being a newer release."

And pokemon black white has outsold everything on the ds............so what?


"When one of the largest third party franchises in gaming releases a quality exclusive iteration and it can't outsell a revival of a largely forgotten and mediocre action game from Nintendo it should tell you it's not all roses over there"

1) Its your opinion its mediocre
2) It has nintendo marketing and hype behind it

You really do like comparing apples to oranges

even xseed jesus christ tom agrees with me

[Takao]

I already told you ORC launched on 2 platforms. The PC version launches next month.

Pokemon Black/White isn't the best selling DS game btw. But since you bring up Pokemon, the Resident Evil IP compared to the Kid Icarus IP is like comparing Pokemon to Medabots or something. One of the worst selling main/numbered entries likely sold better than the latter's entire franchise combined. A Resident Evil game shouldn't be selling worse than a Kid Icarus game is the point I'm making. Resident Evil is a huge brand that has its main entries sell millions. Kid Icarus isn't anywhere near that popular, yet Revelations was so quickly outsold.

If you want another game that wasn't miraculously saved by the all healing powers of the Nintendo 3DS there is Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, which is a pretty large failure in Japan. Like selling worse than a poorly received outsourced spinoff failure despite 3D being the direct precursor to KH3.

[stealth20k]

Fine so it launched on 2, thats still a huge difference man

"Pokemon Black/White isn't the best selling DS game btw"

Its second or third

" But since you bring up Pokemon, the Resident Evil IP compared to the Kid Icarus IP is like comparing Pokemon to Medabots or something. "

apples and oranges, stop comparing things that dont matter


"If you want another game that wasn't miraculously saved by the all healing powers of the Nintendo 3DS there is Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, which is a pretty large failure in Japan."

Are you freaking kidding me? It SOLD EXTREMELY WELL, considering a KH has never launched within the first 5 years of a system launch before...........

"Like selling worse than a poorly received outsourced spinoff failure despite 3D being the direct precursor to KH3. "

The game wasnt a spinoff, even square says that

your starting to annoy me, seriously, even tom says your wrong

[Raguna]

I know this is your discussion and I would only like it resolved and not interfere but please don't use Tom as a leverage in anything.

You guys are both giving out your points about it which is a great thing. Sorry if I'm sounding like a moderator but I don't really see why you should be mad at another person's opinions. People always view things differently and yes if its hyped by Nintendo is bound to get sold out.

The only opinion I have about this is that Kid Icarus, Kingdom Hearts, Revelations, and Pokemon are all different genres. I also think that there aren't many horror fans out there that like running away from monsters since they prefer killing them. Well, in the US and Europe since its the total opposite in Japan.

[stealth20k]

The point is I dont even remember what the original point is anymore, its gone too far

[Takao]

Its second or third

Not even close. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games#Nintendo_DS)


apples and oranges, stop comparing things that dont matter

How is that an apples to orange comparison? It provides context between the popularity of two franchises on 3DS. The last two mainline Resident Evil games sold 6 million (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_evil_5#Downloads_and_sales), and 7 million (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_4#Sales). The last Kid Icarus game was in 1991. Clearly Resident Evil is in another universe of popularity compared to Kid Icarus, which makes Resident Evil: Revelations' sales very underwhelming when a mainline Resident Evil title is outsold by a revival to a franchise that isn't even a fraction as popular within a week of release. Maybe Capcom are happy with those numbers. I'm not them, but they're certainly not good for this series.


Are you freaking kidding me? It SOLD EXTREMELY WELL, considering a KH has never launched within the first 5 years of a system launch before...........

How is this not spin? Are games not allowed to sell poorly on 3DS in your universe, because Dream Drop Distance is a disaster.

Here's some first week numbers for you to chew on:

Important Entries:
[PS2] Kingdom Hearts (Square) - 411,492
[PS2] Kingdom Hearts II (Square Enix) - 737,652
[PSP] Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (Square Enix) - 456,453

Not so Important Entries:
[GBA] Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (Square Enix) - 173,828
[NDS] Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (Square Enix) - 291,211
[NDS] Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (Square Enix) - 119,532

Now Dream Drop Distance's first week sales:
[3DS] Kingdom Hearts 3D (Square Enix) - 213,579

Lower than Days, Birth By Sleep, KH2, and KH. That's actually really bad given this game was put on the same pedestal as Birth By Sleep, KH2, and KH in that it was an internally developed entry meant as a bridge to Kingdom Hearts 3. By the way, the first KH launched within 2 years of the PS2's launch. That was before the franchise was a known quantity to be generally quality games, and yet it still well above 3D's numbers.

Here's a chart documenting the percentage of the first week sales in regards to the life time sales in the Kingdom Hearts series:

http://www.gamescharts.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/graphjap13g.png

As you can see, this isn't a series known for legs. It's an incredibly front loaded franchise. Its first week sales were 65% of its first shipment as well, which is actually low for the franchise. That is a bad sign. Second week sales dropped 80%, which is one of the worst second week drops in franchise history. 3DS is a very affordable platform in Japan. Like cheaper than PSP affordable, and 3DS hardware sales are incredibly good in Japan as a result of that. Didn't help KH: 3D though.

This game isn't suddenly going to rebound, and in fact looks very unlikely to even reach Birth By Sleep's first week sales. The game may crawl to a decent total if prices are slashed, but in this case I can guarantee Square Enix likely aren't pleased. This is an expensive entry or an established franchise that has really not done well in comparison to the rest of the series.


The point is I dont even remember what the original point is anymore, its gone too far

You said that XSEED missed the boat by not releasing this game on retail for 3DS because apparently everything on 3DS has sold well. I disagreed with that opinion, because no platform magically makes all games sell well, and then I provided you two high profile games that haven't exactly done very well on 3DS. If these huge name games haven't done great, who's to say UnchainBlades ReXX could?



your starting to annoy me, seriously, even tom says your wrong

Tom didn't say I was wrong. He felt those numbers are impressive, but he's saying that as an employee to a company that likely has never seen a game sell 150k+ units. He even prefaces his comment with saying that those numbers are for a Resident Evil game - like I established before, a huge franchise that has seen games get TV advertisements and that any niche RPG they'd sell would sell a fraction of that 130k. Tom hasn't commented after I tried to provide context with the Kid Icarus numbers.

[Wyrdwad]

I know we hate vg chartz

It's not that we hate VGChartz, it's that VGChartz is completely wrong about U.S. sales numbers 100% of the time. Seriously, if you go by VGChartz numbers, all of our games have sold EXCEPTIONALLY well... but in reality, they've sold as much as 5 to 20 times LESS than what VGChartz reports.

Never, ever trust VGChartz for U.S. sales data. They're a great site for looking up Japanese sales data, but that's only because Japanese sales data is made public by MediaCreate, whereas U.S. sales data is never publicly released.

The best approximation of U.S. sales you can get is through NPD, which you have to pay to view (unless it's leaked by someone, as Takao noted). And believe me, you do get what you pay for.

-Tom

[Adrian-kun]

'U.S. sales data is never publicly released.' What's the point for all of this secrecy? Does it matter business wise? If the Japanese are able to provide one-to-one data, why can't Americans do the same?

[Wyrdwad]

I don't get it either, frankly. I just know that if we give out U.S. sales numbers, companies get angry. And those sorts of bridges are best left unburned.

If it were up to me, though, I'd post sales numbers for every one of our games every single week. (:

-Tom

[stealth20k]

I don't get it either, frankly. I just know that if we give out U.S. sales numbers, companies get angry. And those sorts of bridges are best left unburned.

If it were up to me, though, I'd post sales numbers for every one of our games every single week. (:

-Tom

Leave the mystique, you dont need to

@Takao

The back and forth is over from my side. Just know that your posting numbers without context which really doesnt mean anything.

All I am going to say is when you take into account the USER BASES, AND DATES at which the kingodm hearts games launched you will see relative to that DDD has done the best in the series

[Adrian-kun]

I don't get it either, frankly. I just know that if we give out U.S. sales numbers, companies get angry. And those sorts of bridges are best left unburned.

If it were up to me, though, I'd post sales numbers for every one of our games every single week. (:

-Tom

And this is why I appreciate you. I have pretty much come to see you as the embodiment of Xseed. The responsibility is high;)

[Wyrdwad]

And this is why I appreciate you. I have pretty much come to see you as the embodiment of Xseed. The responsibility is high;)

See, that statement just scares me. (: Heheheheh...

-Tom

[Guardian Of Darkness]

so when is the game heading for PSP ??

[Takao]

I'm not even going to bother with arguing numbers Stealth20k, because you'll just ignore them anyways. If Square Enix were truly expecting the performance of 3D to be what it was they wouldn't have 35% more copies than anyone wanted. It's better to have a smaller initial shipment with various small reshipments rather than a huge first shipment that stays on store shelves for months. If Square Enix were expecting this as a result of userbases one would have to question why they put such a top effort on an unproven platform. They could've launched the game alongside a PSP SKU, or just ported BBS to 3DS to mitigate any failure due to userbase. But I'm sure none of this will make a difference to you since it seems you're hardset in the "NO GAME CAN FAIL ON 3DS" mindset.

[Deepthroat]

So Xseed is publishing KH 3D in the US ? Good to know... Oh wait ! :D Games can indeed fail on 3DS but considering the user base, KH 3D did pretty well BUT I think Square Enix was expecting better sales.

Concerning UnchainBlades reXX, the dub seems pretty awful on this first trailer... No dual audio makes me really sad :(

Tom, do you plan to release this one in Europe ? I know you did that for several PSP titles (YS Seven, Lunar, etc.) so... ?

[Ryos]

Concerning UnchainBlades reXX, the dub seems pretty awful on this first trailer... No dual audio makes me really sad :(

I'm really really really hoping that it's because the audio is out of context that it sounds so bad. If not, it is what it is. I was unfortunately expecting this when I saw how good some of the Japanese cast is (and in turn would mean licensing issues).

[Olivier]

I'll be sure to get the game. After the acquisition of The Last Story and my recent discovery of Trails in the Sky, y'all are quickly becoming one of my favorite companies in this industry and I'd hate to see anything happen. I'm torn between buying it for the platform I'd be more likely to play or the platform more likely to affect SC.

[Richard12]

Game looks great, almost better than most retail games. Etrian Odyssey-esque, perhaps? Shame there's no retail release. Definitely gonna get it for 3DS though, I'd love to see XSEED support the system more strongly.

[Wyrdwad]

I seem to have missed the last few comments on here -- sorry about that!


Concerning UnchainBlades reXX, the dub seems pretty awful on this first trailer... No dual audio makes me really sad


I'm really really really hoping that it's because the audio is out of context that it sounds so bad.

A lot of people have been saying this, but honestly, I don't get it. I don't think the voice-acting sounds bad in that trailer at all! Is it perfect? No, of course not. But the worst that can be said about it is that the characters are overacting -- and overacting is generally a welcome thing in a highly anime-inspired, highly melodramatic game.

Overall, I think the voice-acting in the game is great... but my opinion has diverged from popular opinion before (Ys: The Ark of Napishtim on PS2, for example, which I personally think has top-notch voice-acting; and Odin Sphere on PS2, which I personally think has subpar voice-acting), so it's really hard for me to say what you guys are going to think.

I will say that those lines were indeed taken out of context -- I mean, they kinda had to be, what with it being a one-minute trailer and all! So hopefully when you hear all the voices in context, you'll come to appreciate them more. I just don't get the hate! I mean, these are professional voice-actors with countless anime and video game credits under their belt, directed by a true professional who's also got countless anime and video games under his/her belt (still can't reveal identities for legal reasons, sorry!), and most of the body of work of all parties involved is generally beloved by fans, so it seems really strange to me that this would spurn such ire.

I guess it remains to be seen what everyone will think once the game is released. Here's hoping you guys appreciate it in the end, though -- we put a lot of effort into it, as did all the actors involved and the voice-director, so it's certainly not like it was some quick dollar-store deal or anything! ;)


I'm torn between buying it for the platform I'd be more likely to play or the platform more likely to affect SC.

Buy it for the platform you'll be likely to play it on, of course! There's no such thing as a "platform more likely to affect SC." Money is money! If you buy it on either platform, it'll make us happy -- and if it's a hit on either platform, that could easily make life easier for us in releasing future games, on ANY platform! There's no reason to assume that buying it on PSP over 3DS will help us more with unrelated game releases -- buying it is buying it, period!

-Tom

[Ryos]

I will say that those lines were indeed taken out of context -- I mean, they kinda had to be, what with it being a one-minute trailer and all! So hopefully when you hear all the voices in context, you'll come to appreciate them more. I just don't get the hate! I mean, these are professional voice-actors with countless anime and video game credits under their belt, directed by a true professional who's also got countless anime and video games under his/her belt (still can't reveal identities for legal reasons, sorry!), and most of the body of work of all parties involved is generally beloved by fans, so it seems really strange to me that this would spurn such ire.

Everyone has different perspectives on the quality of voice work in games but experience alone does not equate to an automatically great performance. For example, the cast for the second episode of Xenosaga had a lot of dub experience but it was pretty poorly done overall and with some casting changes that raised some eyebrows (KOS-MOS :(). For me voice acting can make or break an experience because there are games that are greatly helped by phenomenal acting (Nier) and then then there are games that end up whiffing with bad acting (granted this sort of experience doesn't come up as much recently but I always like to cite Grandia, which was just plain hideous when compared to the star-studded original). Back in the good old days with text only, we were left to determine how we thought the characters sounded, which I think is a lot of the same reason why movie adaptations always manage to upset readers when their perception ends up not translating over to the silver screen. Part of it too is that we've gotten some pretty good dubs for Xseed games so this one seems like an aberration.

I'm hoping of course that this is all irrelevant and that the game's acting is great. We just have too limited of a sample to go off of until we get a chance to hear it (properly) in action.

[Shizuka]

(...) and Odin Sphere on PS2, which I personally think has subpar voice-acting)

Nonsense! Just kidding, but I don't really find voice actors bad, as long as I can mute them.

[Davar]

Been gradually reading through this forum and figured I go ahead and sign up to through in my two cents,

First off, Tom, XSeed and the whole sha-bang, the whole going for a digital release over a retail one because that's what it takes to make localizing the game viable? FREAKING GENIUS. Whatever it takes for awesome games to get translated that I otherwise wouldn't have a chance to play I am all for. If you guys could continue to release more games parallel on both the 3DS and PSP that would be even more awesome, myself having a slight bias for 3DS releases because that's currently the only console I own.

And the thing about the voice actors? I listened, and they're not perfect, not Disney dubbing Studio Ghibli films with well known celebrity voices by a long shot. BUT YOU GOT VOICE OVERS IN!!! You could have saved yourselves a ton of cash and I'm sure headache by either leaving the Japanese voices over the English text or else leaving the voice files out of the game entirely. But you got the English voices in and voices that I can buy as belonging to the characters. I recently played through Devil Survivor:Overclocked shortly after playing the original voiceless version, and the sheer emotional quality that voices added to that story has my appetite whetted for another voiced rpg... and here one is!

So... my one question that maybe could be answered about the digital download before, if I'm still using the stock 2GB card that came with the 3DS, should I be buying a new SD card in anticipation of release day?

[commodorewheeler]

Been gradually reading through this forum and figured I go ahead and sign up to through in my two cents,

First off, Tom, XSeed and the whole sha-bang, the whole going for a digital release over a retail one because that's what it takes to make localizing the game viable? FREAKING GENIUS. Whatever it takes for awesome games to get translated that I otherwise wouldn't have a chance to play I am all for. If you guys could continue to release more games parallel on both the 3DS and PSP that would be even more awesome, myself having a slight bias for 3DS releases because that's currently the only console I own.

And the thing about the voice actors? I listened, and they're not perfect, not Disney dubbing Studio Ghibli films with well known celebrity voices by a long shot. BUT YOU GOT VOICE OVERS IN!!! You could have saved yourselves a ton of cash and I'm sure headache by either leaving the Japanese voices over the English text or else leaving the voice files out of the game entirely. But you got the English voices in and voices that I can buy as belonging to the characters. I recently played through Devil Survivor:Overclocked shortly after playing the original voiceless version, and the sheer emotional quality that voices added to that story has my appetite whetted for another voiced rpg... and here one is!

So... my one question that maybe could be answered about the digital download before, if I'm still using the stock 2GB card that came with the 3DS, should I be buying a new SD card in anticipation of release day?

I am also curious to know how much memory this game will take up on the SD card.

[Kovaelin]

A lot of people have been saying this, but honestly, I don't get it. I don't think the voice-acting sounds bad in that trailer at all! Is it perfect? No, of course not. But the worst that can be said about it is that the characters are overacting -- and overacting is generally a welcome thing in a highly anime-inspired, highly melodramatic game.

Overall, I think the voice-acting in the game is great... but my opinion has diverged from popular opinion before (Ys: The Ark of Napishtim on PS2, for example, which I personally think has top-notch voice-acting; and Odin Sphere on PS2, which I personally think has subpar voice-acting), so it's really hard for me to say what you guys are going to think.

I will say that those lines were indeed taken out of context -- I mean, they kinda had to be, what with it being a one-minute trailer and all! So hopefully when you hear all the voices in context, you'll come to appreciate them more. I just don't get the hate! I mean, these are professional voice-actors with countless anime and video game credits under their belt, directed by a true professional who's also got countless anime and video games under his/her belt (still can't reveal identities for legal reasons, sorry!), and most of the body of work of all parties involved is generally beloved by fans, so it seems really strange to me that this would spurn such ire.

I guess it remains to be seen what everyone will think once the game is released. Here's hoping you guys appreciate it in the end, though -- we put a lot of effort into it, as did all the actors involved and the voice-director, so it's certainly not like it was some quick dollar-store deal or anything! ;)

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Most "purists" can't even understand the language - and if you even try to listen a little, both dubs are pretty "over-the-top" and they generally match up with each other. Ooh! Will we eventually get to know the VAs identities? Now I'm curious!


Buy it for the platform you'll be likely to play it on, of course! There's no such thing as a "platform more likely to affect SC." Money is money! If you buy it on either platform, it'll make us happy -- and if it's a hit on either platform, that could easily make life easier for us in releasing future games, on ANY platform! There's no reason to assume that buying it on PSP over 3DS will help us more with unrelated game releases -- buying it is buying it, period!

I'll definitely be getting the PSP version, but I'm still itching to find out what the major differences are aside from the map thing.

[Wyrdwad]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Most "purists" can't even understand the language - and if you even try to listen a little, both dubs are pretty "over-the-top" and they generally match up with each other. Ooh! Will we eventually get to know the VAs identities? Now I'm curious!

Sorry. Same deal as always... voice actor identities can't be revealed.

You can probably guess a lot of them, though. ;)


I'll definitely be getting the PSP version, but I'm still itching to find out what the major differences are aside from the map thing.

There really aren't any. FuRyu developed both versions at the same time, and really didn't seem to favor one platform over the other for anything.

-Tom

[Kovaelin]

I'm just going to guess Johnny Yong Bosch is cast as someone, because that guy is in everything.

[321jassman]

I'm just going to guess Johnny Yong Bosch is cast as someone, because that guy is in everything.
Here's a fun fact, JYB is Joshua's VA!

[Unsmashable]

I'm pretty sure Troy Baker is Fang (dragon-dude). So not really worried about quality of voice-acting in context. He has a fairly solid track record. (<3 Vincent).
Japanese voice acting in trailer seemed pretty sketchy to begin with. :/

[Ryos]

I'm just going to guess Johnny Yong Bosch is cast as someone, because that guy is in everything.

JYB is the man so that wouldn't be a bad thing. :P