Is it just me or are the newer games less complex?

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

I’ve noticed a trend in the recent releases of English translated Bishoujo games. Mainly that they are getting easier, simpler, and more linear. For example: playing something like Season of Sakura or Runaway City, and then moving on to something like Tsukushite Agechau 4 (I’m gonna serve you) or Come See me Tonight; There is a huge difference in the complexity of those games. Granted they are all good games and such, but I’ve just noticed a difference from the older games and the newer ones. It could be just me of course, I’m sure the best ones are the ones that will never be translated. Anyone else think that way?

Damn… sorry for the rant, I’ve a habit of typing in excess, don’t get too bored reading it :slight_smile: .

#2

With a few exceptions, I’d agree. Doushin isn’t in the simpler category, but its an exception, not the rule.

#3

I think Japanese people just like easy games. As much as I like the numerous RPGS and action games that originate from Japan, I find very few of them to be difficult.

#4

Having myself plenty of problems with self-imported japanese games, I can’t entirely agree here…

I rather think that those “easy” games were chosen intentionally for lacalization by G-Collections because doing them was also quite easy - in most cases, the user-interfce didn’t even have to be modified because the choices simply displayed the face of the targeted girl!
So, what remained was translating the japanese text and replacing the CGs without mosaics.

There is a multitude of b-games in Japan that are QUITE difficult. As a matter of fact, an average player like me usually has to rely in these games frequently on a kouryaku!

But those complex games also add complexity and thus costs to their localization!
If a game is as complex as Doushin, what do you guess how many more playthroughs the testers needed for covering the entire text-matrix?
… and whow many playthroughs would have been needed for “Tsukushite Agechau 4” in cpomparison to that?

Plus the more complex games also have more complex stories and thus more lines of text to be translated. The same goes for the amount of CGs that have to be altered!

So, while G-Collections back then chose a way to release plenty of games quite quickly one after the other, they in turn had to put restrictions on the average complexitity of the games that they would bring over. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have survived their first year - and never managed that ambitious 1-game-a-month-schedule during their first years!

Plus: the market might not all consist of hardcore-players who want to fight for every single CG - with twice as much playthroughs!

So, they released a mixed bag with many of their games being admittedly QUITE easy simple entertainment and a handful of them being MORE!

However, let’s also not mix up G-Collections and Peach Princess, because even if Peach Princess now sells the G-Collections’s games, they never were involved in their decisions which games to localize.

… and among the real own line-up of Peach Princess’s games, I don’t see many examples for “easy” games at all!

#5

I was referring more to games in general, not just b-games. But you are right when you say we only see the localised ones. I hate the “choose the face of the girl you want” interface, but I don’t bother playing those ones.

I have no doubt there are complex b-games out there. I also have no doubt those complex games would be a pain in the butt to localise, so I don’t blame G-Collections for going down the easier road. Maybe in a few more years the market will be big enough to justify the work and cost involved.

BTW, Is a “kouryaku” a walkthrough?

[ 06-21-2006, 06:08 AM: Message edited by: Stretch ]

#6

Basically yes, depending on the game and the elements involved in it.

Sometimes a “walkthrough” (=step-by-step-solution) isn’t enough to solve a game - or actually not possible to be written down because of random elements in the game!

#7

I don’t blame them either for going down the easier route, but the easier ones they translate are also not nearly as good storylines as many of the older games I’ve played. It’s gone downhill in both dircections.

It might sound kinda strange to some, “What you want storyline in a Bishoujo game?” but i like good storyline in any game…

But then again I am the minority of people who, FE, imported my DQ games when they wouldn’t come out here because I loved them so much and am disapointed the dircetion FF has gone and am glad the way DQ has gone. (and what that has to do with Bishoujo games is that well…the general simplification of games and more attention to fluff aka graphics, special effects and FMV than what makes a game good, storyline & character developement (for all characters)).

[ 06-21-2006, 07:50 AM: Message edited by: Jinnai ]

#8

… want storyline? Play Ever 17! :slight_smile:

(As for me, I continue slogging through trying to build this romance/horror game I’m working on. No, you can’t see it, because I’m not hiring an artist until all the code is in place, so right now it looks like crap. But there are several hours of gameplay already!)

#9

Hmm, I’ve seen Ever17 around, I may give it a shot. It looked pretty good.

Anyway, looks like most of you hit it on the head. Marketing. While most of us might prefer the more difficult games, I can see where the companies are coming from as well. So that means we’ll just have to buy more B-Games :slight_smile:

On a side note, do many individuals/groups do fan-translation patches for some of the games that usually aren’t translated?

#10

As far as I know there are only a few…

… and I have yet to hear of the first of them succesfully completing their project!

But don’t get me wrong: I am not gloating!
I was once tugged into such a project myself and got back then an impression what we tried to tackle… :eek:

#11

havnt really played enough bishoujo games to say whether they have got simpler but i have noticed other games are getting simpler, i mean First person shooters etc

#12

Romance/Horror…now that sounds interesting…

But yea, i know what you mean…artist are hard to come by…I am trying to get one who will help me with my Tenchi game…the one i asked doesn’t seem too likely.

#13

There are a few completed translations. I have one of those patches, Planetarium. Melty Blood and Tsukihime in theory just need insertion and beta testing…

#14

Ah yes I know of one: True Love. It has random events and the walkthrough I got mentioned that they happend so I had to like save and reload a couple of times for the event to accur.

#15

True Love’s events are not random. They occur in certain time frames, while doing a specific thing on a particular time of day.

#16

Sorry Benoit, but effectively True Love’s ones are random events. If you can’t get the cat event in a certain day you’ll never get Anze, but… it’s possible you’re not going to get it at all. Save and reload did the trick… Ah good old days… :frowning:

#17