Girlish Grimoire Littlewitch Romanesque Discussion Thread

JAST Games Game Discussions
#21

Specific games don't get localized because the chance of any given title getting localized are small. There's ~12000 Japanese VNs in the VNDB database, yet maybe 500 or so have been translated to English. Even with a large boost from being a title from a company JAST or MG works with, or relatedness to a successful franchise, the sheer number of alternatives makes translation of any given title less likely.


As an English customer, you just have to accept what you're given. English companies have a wide range of customers they're catering to, and not a lot of resources, so it could very well be that only a fraction of titles they release will be of interest to you. If you can't accept that...well then it's time to learn Japanese, because eroge will never be big enough to garner mainstream attention like RPGs and anime have.

#22

@Dark_Shiki

Never say never; trends are being established by the society itself.
If they have a changed mindset, even the most unpopular thing can become popular.
I doubt anyone would have thought about Visual Novels getting popular outside of Japan anyways, yet there are games even for the Super Famicom. I own Otogirisou, for example, as well as some other Sound Novels; the genre itself does have potential.
I refuse to simply sit tight and accept the kinds of games publishers localize and be done with it.
Combine a great RPG with a Visual Novel, and it has a decent chance of succeeding, even in mainstream regions.
Seinarukana comes to mind, it looks incredibly, both, visually and gameplay-wise.
I'm glad that the games being localized aren't as shitty (or shitty at all, very subjective) as the stuff of usual by now in western territories established games.
Diversity in Enlish-localized VN's is present, but I hope for the industry this to be the case for the long-term future, too.
I tried learning Japanese, but haven't been too serious about it.
Maybe, an edutainment attempt would work for me, though I'm not learning well on computers in general, I prefer pen and paper.
Backed this here nonetheless.

I can see your point about the amount of titles available though.
Too many titles, too less customers to publish one game after another.
Still, what about all these extraordinary good titles... there's a bunch of them that simply deserve an official release outside of Japan. :/
I don't mind waiting too long for a title, if it literally takes years for localisation, I don't mind (if those are mammoth projects with over 50+ hours of gameplay).
It's just sad to see these games not succeed here, there are so many interesting concepts.
Even without any gameplay, pure text can be appealing; it's just something that can easily result in getting bored very quickly.
I'm always glad if great voice acting is present in those games to keep me interested, it implies to follow an actual conversation, so it's not just my sense of sight that is been stimulated, but also my listening comprehension.
It must be pretty expensive covering all of this, money will probably be a massive factor for making decisions, too...

#23

Business doesn’t make any money doing what “the game ‘deserves’”. They make money by putting out product that enough people want that they don’t go broke. My whole post was an attempt to make that point.

In the case of Shuffle Essence, there’s an easy (but not officially confirmed) answer to that question. The instant MG releases Shuffle Essence, absolutely no one ever buys another copy of Shuffle vanilla. Why would MG spend a bunch of money to accomplish that, when they could instead spend that money on something else?

In the case of Shin Koihime Musou, it’s because Koihime is a huge game, Shin Koihime is like three times as large, and in between eating up all of Mangagamer’s translation resources, and costing a ton of money to license it, they have flat out said they can’t unless they can sell - I think it was 6K units. The original Koihime took over a year to hit 2K. No, that is not a typo, that really is how few copies get sold in English.


Also, one of the keys to understanding this market is that it’s all about licensing from Japanese companies. Lots of different really small companies. If they don’t want to talk to you, you’re done. If they can’t because of resource constraints, you’re done. If they don’t exist anymore, you’re almost certainly done even if you somehow get the rights from whoever buys up the pieces. If the game is more than a few years old, it’s dicey if they still have what you need.


And a lot of these companies see essentially no upside to coming to the US market. The recent success with Steam excepted, these games all sell a small fraction of what they sell in Japan, and for half the cost. To a lot of companies, time spent dealing with the English market is time wasted that they could have spent for a greater ROI in the Japanese market.

#24

Much like what was said before, I just got my game this morning and saw the game card inside. How exactly do I use the code to redeem a game title?

#25

Hi, Zed! This URL might eventually change with all of the new web development going on hereabouts, but currently you can visit the following web site to register the code and download the game:


http://support.g-collections.com/vmate/login


(This is the same site J-List's emails send you to when you receive a download code for a downloadable game purchased there. Staff-on-hand, feel free to correct me if I'm giving erroneous information, but I'm 99% sure that's right.) Hope that helps and that you enjoy Littlewitch!

#26

Nandemonai, yes, it's a challenge when games are big and expensive. One thing we're not too happy about is the way RPGs take 2-3x the resources yet sell about as well as any other game. While we've released some nice ones, and have an amazing game coming out soon (Seinarukana is nearly read to start promotion on), unless we can see increased interest by fans it'll be hard to choose another one in the near future.

#27

Honestly the "best" game would be


a) something with high visibility, e.g. fans generally know about it

b) something that's short, a series of short games that are easy to translate and fans can buy piecemeal

c) preferably, Japanese developers who are not insane, and do not do things like lose their source code or uncensored images

d) something with gameplay, or at least interesting in-game features that are fun or new


While I'm wishing, I'd like a pony.

#28

@ Peter Payne

Does such a game even exist? I can hear your sarcasm here of course, but it didn't stop you guys from releasing VN's in general, so that is something. :)

a) But, how would one find a game with ''high visibility''?
I'm under the impression that people who are into these nichÈ games are all scattered around the place and just play what they like for themselves, everyone doing his own thing.
Is there even something like transparency to filter the people's likings to a respective popular title?

b) Still wondering about the†fandisc of Littlewitch Romanesque. Can anyone confirm the content shown in this link to be present in the ''Editio Perfecta''?
I haven't seen it there, and already unlocked the extra stuff, it would be nice if someone could tell me about that for sure.
But to get back on topic, a series that is small, easy to translate and that wouldn't be too expensive, right?
There are a lot of titles, but what would appeal?

c) Nothing to add here, seems like a troublesome matter in general. Wished I could give more than just my two cents here without actually providing solutions, sorry. :/

d) That's a great idea! Titles like Aselia the Eternal, Littlewitch Romanesque, Fukai ni Nemuru Oujo no Abaddon, Venus Blood and Twins Panic are relatively good examples regarding titles featuring a gameplay. Twins Panic isn't really that noteworthy though, since it's a Breakout clone from what I remember, but you get the idea.


I doubt finding a title that meets all of the above criteria will be easy, but atleast there is something to aim for. A title not meeting all these requirements isn't necessarily bad, after all.
I for one am curious about what is planned for the near future. :)

Also, on a side note, I am one of the people liking RPG-like Visual Novels/Eroge, so there is atleast one fan here of these games. ^-^
And I'm fairly positive I won't be the only one here.
However, if the amount of people isn't sufficient to justify a translation... not everything can be translated.

#29

"One thing we're not too happy about is the way RPGs take 2-3x the resources yet sell about as well as any other game. While we've released some nice ones, and have an amazing game coming out soon (Seinarukana is nearly read to start promotion on), unless we can see increased interest by fans it'll be hard to choose another one in the near future. "


One issue I can think of is that RPGs require special marketing at a different audience. If you ask VN fans to buy an RPG, they're going to whine that there's gameplay interfering with their story. RPG fans don't necessarily frequent VN sites, because they don't like VNs especially--they like RPGs. On top of that, when RPG fans are looking for RPGs to buy, they're looking for promotional materials that highlight the gameplay: gameplay screenshots, gameplay videos, and playable demos. RPG fans tend to read reviews before they buy, which means you need to get RPG sites to review your games.


I wrote a piece about Yumina the Ethereal detailing my concerns about the marketing. I think you saw it, because some of the concerns were addressed. But I never saw any reviews on RPG sites, which was a big reason it probably didn't do as well as you'd hoped. There's a huge potential audience for VN-style RPGs with strong gameplay, but you're going to have to work a bit harder to tap it than you're probably used to. But if you spend the huge amount of resources to license a long RPG like Seinarukana...why wouldn't you market it the best you could?


The other big thing you HAVE to do with Seinarukana is you have to get it on Steam. Absolutely. Positively. If you can get it on Steam, and you can get it noticed--the game will sell like hotcakes if you price it right. I've played Seinarukana, and the gameplay is a blast. Steam users will eat it up. Censoring the H-content in Seinarukana will be no issue, because there's hardly any to begin with. And with a censored version, sites like RPGFan and RPGamer should review the game, which will multiply your sales. Make sure you get them review copies before release!


Just make sure you throw some marketing muscle behind the game this time, 'kay?

#30

By the way, if you want more feedback on what RPG fans want to see, I could possibly deliver. I get the impression you're a bit out of touch with the RPG audience, particularly the mainstream RPG audience that could be a huge engine for sales. I have contacts at RPGFan that could provide advice on marketing, and contacts at Fuwanovel that might let me make a medium profile blog post inviting general feedback.

#31

Speaking of a possibility of seeing Seinarukana on Steam (which I think could also help it getting some more attention - why not release your game on other services at the same time?), since it is technically the first game in the series, Aselia the Eternal would also be a logical title for a Steam release - especially since it should already be “Steam-ready” as only the All-Ages version is available in English. I already purchased the hard copy version of the game, but I’m sure it would see a boost in sales if you also released it on Steam and other retailers like GOG.com and Humble Bundle. It’s already DRM-free on your site, but I don’t think it would hurt to broaden the audience - it probably wouldn’t require that much work to release on those platforms either (though I’m no business expert).

#32

Seinarukana is technically a sequel, but there's not much connection with Aselia the Eternal. Marketing it as standalone is the best strategy to avoid alienating people that might not be interested in Aselia (because of its lower resolution and weaker battle system, for example).

#33

I don't buy this VN on Steam until the eroge version is available on it u.u

#34

*facepalm*

#35

@Dark_Shiki

I know how you feel, I probably do the same. :/

@AndrÈ Iori Yagami

What kind of dumb statement is this?
As far as I know, Valve is against porn at Steam, so no Visual Novel will ever be released on Steam with 18+ content.
Why would the fact that this title is available just as the All-ages release affect your opinion about purchasing it?
If you want the adult one, buy it from J-list as a hardcopy version, or even just as a download; it's not like it is not available to you.
You want something, you get it, yet you want it on a specific platform, otherwise, you won't buy it.
Idiocy at its best.
(And yes, I'm aware of being rude now, but that doesn't change my points being justified.)
What you want is already availabe; Mangagamer, for example, has to censor their games as well, if they want them to be distributed over steam.
Usually, the 18+ versions are always available at the corresponding sites of the publishers for purchase, so there is no legit reason at all as to why you would intentionally wanting to sabotage this title in one way, or another.
Because, you are indirectly doing that, when simply not buying it for non-existant reasons.

#36

Yagami is a well-known critic of JAST and Mangagamer. To be fair, his argument isn't quite as stupid as it appears at first glance. Yagami lives in Brazil. He doesn't have a credit card. He wants JAST and Mangagamer to accept bank slips, which are the standard method for payment in Brazil, like Steam does. From Yagami's point of view, the only version available for purchase is the censored version on Steam. He's protesting this. He wants the uncensored version to be available for purchase with bank slips.

#37

For some of these games, (Little Witch in particular and soon Starless) Can't Yagami just buy it from J-list? J-List takes bank slips...

#38

a) buy the Steam version

b) patch it with the unofficial patch that's out there

c) "Maestro, we're ready for you to teach us!"



#39

Oh, why we are at it, what did you guys think about the use of H-scenes in Littlewitch Romanesque?
I personally thought that the H-scenes didn't really fit into the game that good, to be honest... but more content is more content, and it certainly wasn't bad artwork or anything.
I just sorta distracted from the overall feel this game gave off, in my opinion.
What are your thoughts about this?
Just thought I would ask, it's the discussion thread after all. :)

#40

"For some of these games, (Little Witch in particular and soon Starless) Can't Yagami just buy it from J-list? J-List takes bank slips..."


Not sure. I assume it isn't that easy, or Yagami wouldn't be complaining so hard and for so long?