Why Do Trails Localizations Take So Long?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ม.ค. 2022
- This has been a question in the Trails community for longer than I've even know about the Trails series, and today I'm trying to answer that question. I've tried to minimize spoilers in both narration and footage, but bear in mind I use footage from all Trails openings from Sky FC to Reverie, and in game footage from all games FC to Cold Steel 4, plus some trailer footage for Kuro no Kiseki
Link to Early Falcom history video: • The Early History of F...
Trails in the Sky SC article link (content warning): kotaku.com/the-curse-of-kisek...
List of suicide crisis lines in various countries: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of... - เกม
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This is a great video, CommRio. :D I'm the Leona Renee mentioned in the video, and I can say it all pretty much tracks. Even if I'm no longer involved in the series, your thoughts/assumptions on the problems with localizing future games (including Falcom going ham on releasing multiple Trails games year after year recently) also tracks.
I want to say thank you for expressing such concern for the staff. Jessica Chavez has also mentioned the extreme stress of Sky FC and SC, and yeah, SC in particular ended up being multiple instances of me sitting in my office chair for over 30 hours in a row trying to get things done. Sleeping in the office. Grabbing quadruple espresso shots at 9PM to keep on through the night. All that good stuff.
The burnout was so extreme that I was feeling similar thoughts Dice had, but I didn't want to acknowledge them and was even angry it got in the way of progress. I felt at the time if I could power through the worst, then so could he. It was the wrong way to go about it completely, but depression and suicidal thoughts put you in a very dark place, and I can easily say while I love the Trails series with all my heart, no game is worth burning yourself out to such a degree. The series itself was not only a huge learning experience from a localization perspective, but it was also a learning experience on a person's physical limits as well. I do still push myself from time to time due to the nature of the industry, but I'm also very adamant about keeping my free time, getting lots of sleep, and generally avoiding burnout as much as possible. I'm a freelancer now, so when I feel burnout coming on, I communicate as much with the client and always choose my health first. I also heavily encourage others who are younger and more willing to burn themselves out to do the same before it comes to the worst.
It's worth noting that coworkers tried to tell me to stop, but I became obsessed with meeting a certain quality standard for the games. I was getting almost offended when people told me to stop after a certain point, but hey, depression/burnout brain makes you think wildly stupid things.
One thing I didn't see mentioned in the video was voice recording. Only the English localization does voice recording, and the workload involving providing an English dub option has evolved a lot over the years. Falcom was reluctant to provide original audio in the beginning, or rather, we were never made aware of the hoops to jump to get them and at least thought they were completely closed to us. At this point, it could have been either; they could have relaxed this policy as the years went on or something else entirely, but that we couldn't get the JP audio in the beginning and grew used to this policy was the truth. In any case, dubbing a game adds to a lot of time. There's:
- formatting the script
- finding all the timed lines
- Falcom never told us these timed lines. The only way to know was by watching all the cutscenes and noticing them, and by TOCS4, there was hundreds upon hundreds to find
- There were also lines that weren't timed as a whole but "timed" because facial expressions changed midway through a line. This number was also in the hundreds and I just had to watch all the cutscenes and figure them out myself
- listing out all possible SFX added on to lines like echos, radio SFX, etc.
- listening to all files beforehand and sorting them into folders by character since they're delivered in a single folder
- watching all cutscenes multiple times/writing all the stage notes about the scene for the actor (basic emotional delivery, physical distance, relationship with people they're speaking to, what's happening in the scene, etc.)
While I wasn't present for recording for TOCS3/TOCS4, I tried helping behind the scenes while I could. I wrote stage notes for TOCS3 until I was too sick and had to drop out (I was sick from burnout and taking isoniazid for tuberculosis at the time), and I wrote TOCS4 stage notes up until the finale chapter. One watch was to purely catch timed lines and highlight the Japanese in the script so the English could match changes in expression or full timing, and the other was writing context directions. Do both at once, and the process becomes agonizingly slow.
All in all, TOCS1-TOCS4 included approx. 15k lines each (TOCS1-2 had about 10k lines each, but we recorded about 5k new lines per game for the PC release). The process, recording included, can take 4-6 months of work. Granted, you're multitasking other things at the same time, but it's just not a quick process at all. You also have the check each file afterward and make sure there aren't any errors.
I was co-director in the recording studio for TOCS1-2, and the process also is exhausting. Sometimes ten hours of listening intently to line after line, scrutinizing in an instant if it fits the context or doesn't. And since characters are recorded one person at a time, you also had to memorize if a previous read matches a current read. Like this:
Person 1: This is...
Person 2: ...great!
Person 1 might've been recorded two months ago, but I still need to remember how they read their line to ensure Person 2's delivery sounds right when matched with Person 1's line. I would usually review the cutscenes a third time for every character the morning they were set to record (so on the day Alfin was recorded, I'd wake up early and review all Alfin voiced scenes in context). By the end, I saw these cutscenes dozens of times.
From what I've seen watching folks play through the games on TH-cam, Hajimari no Kiseki and Kuro no Kiseki bump up the timed lines/partial timed lines for facial expressions even MORE than previous games. Not only that, but there are scenes with super fluid animation, meaning they could possibly fall into the realm of ADR territory (where you have to record to picture to match the animation). That also adds time. I don't know how many files they have since they're Japanese only atm and I'm no longer part of the series, but I imagine those games would take even more time than the 4-6 month window to prep. ***
***This is pure speculation based on my past experience with the series. Please don't read into this.
Personally, even though I'm a big Trails fan, I'm glad I've only worked on the games once they're completed. Given the heavy lore and how much I've relied on the finished visuals to edit scenes or direct the voice acting, I can't imagine going without visual context. I can't imagine, with the lore as heavy as it is, working on this while there are still changes being made to the script in the Japanese. Honestly, it would lead to a shoddier product. Maybe it would be faster, but the cost in quality could potentially be severe. These aren't one-off titles, but one story in the middle of a grander story. It's hard enough picking up hints in future games enough as it is!
Again, thanks for the great video! Can't believe I only came across it now.
I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the video and took the time to comment. I appreciate the confirmation of some of my assumptions and the insight into various areas of the process. I especially value the glimpse into the intensive process of English dubbing. I've certainly gained a greater appreciation of the whole process after this not only for the work done on games like Trails, but for any game with many voice lines and lore-filled stories (I'm definitely thinking about that with regards to Ai The Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative that I'm playing through now).
I am glad that you are working in a healthier manner and environment now. Burnout in the video game industry is far too common, which makes your work advocating for yourself and informing the young workers getting into the industry all the more important. That extends beyond the video game industry even as I have tried to take to heart some of the advice I've heard around to avoid burnout in my own work.
One of the reasons I'm especially glad to hear that you watched and enjoyed the video is because it was your tweets (the ones I mentioned in the video) that inspired me to make it.
I know I (and likely many others) really appreciate the care you put into your work on the Trails series, and I can see that even more now with your comment. Thank you for taking the time to watch the video and write your comment. I'm wishing you the best of luck in your future localization and VA efforts!
This is so great to read. This really makes you rethink about all the work that is being put in a game and in a localised version of a game. And there are still people pirating games. *sigh*
Anyway, I thank so so so much to all of you to make possible to play these games in English. Even if I am at a pretty good level in Japanese I will always buy localised games too to support all the work being put in it (and because I freaking LOVE collecting videogames)!
Thanks for your contribution to the series. 🙇
I've grown so used to English voice acting in this series I could no longer imagine playing Trails games with Japanese voices. I highly appreciate all the effort you guys have spent dubbing the series. Thank you.
Speaking of Shoddier product, Do you personally have issues with Fan translators? Don't mean to be rude, But while the people working on the official release are stressing out, I'm over here completely happy with fan translations. Life is getting crazy and I'm getting older, I can't be waiting 2+ years anymore. If there's another option to enjoy the game faster such as Fan translation mods then I'm going to opt for that.
Better explanation than some other channels who rushed to say "NISA IS DOING US A FAVOR YOU GUYS" no, Nisa is a company, they don't do favors, they do profits. Falcom and Nisa deemed localizing Crossbell profitable and did it. They weren't doing Trails fans favors.
It's sometimes hard to remember when we know of individual people working on the games who love them and have that same passion that us fans do, that most of the decisions surrounding the games from Falcom downwards are made on the basis of money. That's the case for most industries, but it's not a fun reality to confront at times
That goes really for every company, including Nihon Falcom. At the end of the day, they're all making games to make money. It's also why I don't understand why people, especially on the internet, feel all tribal about a company, like if I criticize Sony or Blizzard or Square Enix, they feel like I attacked them personally and respond with such viciousness that you'd think they were the CEO.
@@FretsonFireTracks the debate in the community back then is that we shouldn't criticize NISA at all because they are doing us a favor by localizing Crossbell. I agree with what you are saying, but whether NISA are fans of the series is not the debated point. Not back when the video was made. NISA has always been localizing niche JRPGs, and Trails is no exception, they have to be fans on some level to do that. No one is questioning their fandom. They are still a company and they are making moves to cut expense which is why they bought the Geofront translation, why they won't add English voice overs, and why the releases are so delayed because they aren't as much a priority.
Tbf I think NISA is regretting taking on this damn struggle ass companies games 😢
One correction tho, Falcom ain't ever refused anything. They had a shoestring budget since Adam and they still do 😥
@Evalyne Hicks I never even implied they are only in it for the money or dont care about fans. Even the most passionate companies don't do things at a loss either. They are out to make a profit as a company, regardless of passion for the product or else they'd be a non-profit company, not many of those make video games. If Ys 10 makes no money, they won't make Ys 11 no matter how pumped they were for it. That's why they were so hesitant about the western market for a long time, they weren't sure if it would be a profitable venture.
"The question on Falcom localization has now become 'when' and not 'if'"
THANK YOU. This is something I've been saying since the Crossbell localization announcement and I'm so glad to see someone else acknowledge it! Honestly the series is in the best situation it has ever been in with regards to localization, full stop. I got FC on PSP in 2012 and have been closely following the localization ever since and this video is a fantastic breakdown on the whole situation. It's honestly shameful how much hate and misinformation has bled into the fandom from people who either don't know the full context of the Curse of Kiseki or simply don't care and want any reason at all to fuel their hatred for localizers.
So glad to find this video even if it was super late lmao. 10/10 video!
I'm glad to hear from a longtime fan that you enjoyed the video. I do understand that not every person can go back through the history of the series so I always hoped this video could help spread awareness and understanding for what it took to get the first Trails games over and how far we've come since then
Witch is great to hear that the localizations are profitable, just shows how much staying power this franchise has.
Recently beat CS IV a few weeks ago and now I'm suffering in pain while waiting for Reverie...After Reverie is released in the West I honestly think Falcom should reconsider their position giving localization companies their scripts after the game releases. The Trails games are growing in popularity over here and Falcom is making a mistake by not capitalizing on it
I do agree, I also really don’t expect Falcom to change their practices. Some of the old guard (especially founder and current chairman Masayuki Kato) are notoriously resistant to change
@@CommRio That is most Japanese companies sadly...Great video!
It makes me wonder why it's so hard to set their text in stone earlier.
@TBN won't pop well you have to remeber that Falcom is a lot smaller compared to Atlus. Its not as easy as you think
@@guruthosamarthruin4459 I have heard that they only stop twerking the script once the game is released. That is the roadblock.
Thank you for the info, brother. It was VERY informative and I learned a lot more I was unaware of. I’ve been a Trails fan since 2016 too and I agree that things have improved and I look forward to further improvements and more localizations. Thank you again for the information
You're welcome, happy to help spread the information
I love this video! I'm new to the series (currently playing Trails of Cold Steel 1) and being a new fan, I started researching other games in the series. I noticed how few games were available and wished to learn what was what behind the scenes. This video shined the light on a lot of questions I had.
Glad to be able to answer some of those questions, and I hope you continue to enjoy the games as you play through them.
I knew a lot of the info in this video already due to many various sources, but I still have to say this was the best, most informative and professional Trails localization video I've watched yet. I really respect the fact you didn't just make it personal and whine about having to wait for the games like A LOT of people in the community do. I also am glad you brought up the hellish Sky localizations because even though the series is my favorite and I'm dying to get to the next chapter, I would never risk someone's physical or mental health to reach that point quicker.
I really loved your final quote "The question on Falcom localization has now become "when" and not "if". I became a fan in 2020 so I certainly never experienced the 'if' days, but in just 2 years Falcom became my all time favorite developers, I binged through the entire Trails and Ys series back to back over the course of that time and did so much research and learned all about the company, their history and how important and influential they've been to gaming despite only just recently finally getting some of the recognition they deserve, so there's few devs I respect more than Falcom and I'm grateful to be a fan in an era where I don't have to worry 'if' the games will ever get localized. While waiting is never fun at least I know the wait has both a definitive beginning and end.
Yeah the journey of Falcom as a company and even their recent history is fascinating although not always the happiest. Things have changed so much and I'm really glad to have seen many people joining the community. Thank you for your comment!
Great video man. Good research and information, narration and editing are also pretty good. Keep it up
Thank you!
I began a journey in the summer of 2020, I would start with this game called Trails in the Sky. In present time, I have plowed through the arc 1 and 2 and currently on the 3rd act of CS2.
But this series is very dear to my heart. I give it the credit of reviving my love for not just jrpgs, but gaming in general when I had felt like it was time for me to say goodbye to gaming, due to the nasty anti-consumer practices all the publishers hit us with.
Trails also made me very interested in the localization process. When I discovered that The Geofront was in the middle of their Crossbell project and I saw that daunting almost unclimbable mountain they were hiking over...well I never felt so grateful like that before. I have come to understand much about localizing, and one day I hope to be able to climb mountains like The Geofront inspired me to.
So yeah, it's hard to remember, but these small teams or even daring madmen who localize by themselves, please appreciate them. IMO the localization people are the unsung heros here in the West.
Thanks for sharing your story, I wish you the best of luck in pursuing whatever mountains you choose to climb.
This a super interesting topic, thank you for talking about it in a so detailed way!
Glad you enjoyed and thank you for your comment
Great video as always. I think im in good spot here as i just discovered falcom games and i have soo many games to catch up with so i dont have to worry about localization of the recent games. I finished ys viii just the other day and god i absolutely loved this game, its the best jrpg i've ever played even beats chrono trigger for me which is my all time favourite game. As for trails games, i will most certainly be playing all the games but not anytime soon as im already quite occupied with ys for now.
Great video. I always knew the translations for Trails was really messy but not quite how utterly horrible it was. Thanks for adding context to what ended up happening to the various translations. It's really helpful and puts the long wait into perspective. 100 percent agree that any game development should not make the developers suicidal or depressed.
Glad you enjoyed and feel better informed now. I do think it's important to keep the story fresh in our minds as fans
This is a very interesting video, and it really makes sense why the Trails games take so long given the volume of work that goes into them, and the other Falcom games, and all the other games they work on.
I'm glad to be able to spread this information around, this is exactly why I made this video in the first place.
This video is great and deserves more recognition 👏
Thanks
Great video dude heck I just started playing trails in the sky 1 recently and enjoying the ride so far.
Thank you and good luck on continuing playing through, hope you enjoy it!
@@CommRio you bet!
I'm currently at cs1, all i can say for you is that you're in for a wild ride
@@user-nc7qh6ng2w sweet!
Long ride ahead
Awesome video. Really excited to start this series. I've only played A Tear of Vermillion...(Gagharv trilogy)
I have been playing Trails ever since the PSP Port for Trails in the Sky. If I remember correctly, it might've been a fan-made translation. It took a while before I was able to play SC in the PC, and the other games. Now, 10 years later, I am currently finishing Cold Steel IV, and seeing how the series grew gives me a ton of nostalgia. Thank you for this video, it brought a lot of memories of playing, and waiting. Haha.
Quite the journey and soon we'll be able to continue it
Great content brother. Earned a sub from a fellow trails fan! :D
Thank you! Always happy to have more Trails fans around
the question on falcon localization has now become "when" and not "if"
This is the exact question I typed in. Thank you for the answer hahahaha Fuckign love the series but dear lord, is the wait huge
Glad to be of help
As for the reason NISA wants to release PS4/Switch/PC versions at the same time instead of staggering their releases is probably because it makes marketing less expensive and more effective, since you only need one marketing cycle for all versions of the game instead of several consecutive ones.
It's also less messy because it avoids the pitfall of having to market the switch/PC port of one game and its sequel on PS4 at the same time which can lead to consumer confusion (this is what they had to do with Cold Steel 3 and 4 ).
Anyways, good video and lots of pertinent points!
bonus: it gets the portbeggars off their back.
This made me rethink how I should be going through my Trails journey. I just got into TotS the 3rd and with the rate I'm going, I might catch up to Trails into Reverie in a month or 2. Considering how slow the localization is, I might have to slow down my progress so that I won't be waiting too long.
Thanks for this comprehensive explanation.
When I started Trails in the Sky I thought I would not have this problem, since there was a lot of games in the series to play.
But after binging the series and finishing Cold Steel IV, I begin to question the reason why these localization were taking so long.
This video helped me understand and develop some admiration for NIS America.
Subscribed
It seems like a lot because it is a lot, but it's still very easy to catch up especially when you get really into the series.
@@CommRio can confirm that's true I beat cold steel 4 2 nights ago and I'm now in the Reverie waiting room lol.
This video is what made me decide if I was gonna buy the Crossbell games on Ps4 or just watch a video on them. Im hoping that I wont have too much trouble going into Reverie without having played the Sky games
You'll be good without Sky for Reverie. Sure it has references just like Crossbell and Cold Steel have, but nothing that will prevent you from enjoying the game.
@@CommRio Thanks for the info. I'll still be playing Sky eventually either way
Amazing video. Thanks a lot!
Thank you!
IIRC xseed were told by Falcom that they HAD to localize Cold steel when they did as part of their contract, they didnt choose to. Though I also think I recall Tom saying that they would have chosen to localize cold steel anyway because they had no chinese translation staff.
If you have a source for that I'd love to see it because all I've heard is that XSeed did have a choice, but given the rights issues, the translation stuff, the PSP being a dead market in the US, the length of the script, and what Falcom was saying about playing in either order, XSeed chose to do Cold Steel first
@@CommRio I would have heard that from Tom on the old xseed forums soo... yeah. I Cant remember his forum profile name. Wyrd-something. He had a photo of the lamulana dude.
i've just read the new released article on trails from zero port, and i feel very excited to play the NISA port, it has many high quality settings and choices!
Yeah Durante does great work
Trails into Reverie and Kuro no kiseki is what I’m looking forward to the most.
Very fair, hope you enjoy them once they come out
Trails ir reverse have eng patch now game not have ant side qeasts būt lot mini games
The steam pc port of Kuro has an english patch that has only some random npc dialogue untranslated.
They are still working on it and you can do most side quests and the whole story in english currently with jp va
@@liampm66 any link for it?
Great video. Counterpoint to Falcom not doing us any favors with releasing Kuro 2 this year. Kuro 2 looks sick.
True enough, doesn't mean it wouldn't be sick next year, or that Ys X won't be sick too
Hey I don't mind waiting for this masterpiece
I'm sure a lot of research and looking into info has went into this. I'm extremely surprised to hear that crossbell duology is something that was both evaded by choice (choosing cs over crossbell), and later on going becoming an objective that needs to happen. All along i've imagined the copyright issue of that arc was the main driving force away from it and thought XSeed had no choice or planned to localize up to cs2 before hopping back to crossbell before cs3
Its nice to know that things are coming along nicely but im just worried if all those announcements were a bit too optimistic, hopefully no delays X:
And because of the nature of the games and its spoilery content it can be extremely hard to dodge when there's a ton of fans that hopped on fan translations to get their hands on the games early, its at least good to know that new fans >2023 will be able to enjoy a cohesive10 games straight available to them on pc without hopping around from one platform to another
The copyright issues with Crossbell certainly didn't help matters especially later on when it became apparent they were going to be more relevant than previously assumed.
Yeah the spoiler dodging is becoming an art especially with the Euro spreadsheet now released.
I don't mind waiting for the localizations. Just means I have more time to save for a new PC to play trails on max settings.
I've just started this series. Playing Cold Steel 1 and then gonna wait for the release of the Zero games, as I heard it ties in with events with the following cold steel games. Unfortunately, I don't have the appropriate systems to play the Sky games, so I'll watch summery videos of the plot on YT. Overall, I'm excited to get my teeth into these games!
Well I hope you enjoy the series even if some of them are over TH-cam
@@CommRio Thanks man! Tbh, due to OCD, I might find a way to play the Sky games anyway. Would prefer an authentic experience still lol Aside from that, great video and sub well earned! :)
Just use an old laptop/desktop the sky arc can run on a pregnancy test lol
Thank you for emphasizing the importance of taking care of the devs. The story behind Sky 2 is so heartbreaking and I hate that one of my favorite games is tied to so much pain. People need to be patient.
It is and I wish that the game industry wasn’t filled with those kinds of stories. I hope it never again happens with Trails
lol the dude screwed over xseed, acted like a complete jackass and just made their jobs 10x harder, and for no reason other than “im depressed”
Damn, you nailed the release date of Kuro 1's global release. It does come out in Summer 2024
I will take the win (I completely forgot I predicted that)
I do not mind the wait i have good times with the trails games
That's a fine roundup! Trails games are in a quite unique situation. The scripts are some of the largest of the whole medium but the audience is tiny compared to big franchises. The western fanbase on the other hand is veery picky when it comes to quality of the localisations.
I don't follow discussions so much anymore since the constant complains about Reveries release date started, this part really annoys me about the community. I'm very happy to finally see the official release of the Crossbell games, which might be the series' finest and damn they deserve this treatment so much.
My only fear is that Falcom might damage the quality of newer Trails games with annual releases. They really should give their other IPs like Xanadu more love, especially in times where Ys is becoming more and more like Trails and the other way round.
Annual releases of Trails games is not a good idea. Annual releases of any game series is a bad idea (look at any sports game in the past decade). I also think Falcom has untapped potential in several areas that I'd love to see them explore, and yes I selfishly want us to get closer to Japan with Trails releases and if they take a break that will make it easier.
Definitely agree on the yearly release schedule being bad. I can't help but wonder what's up with YS 10 though.
On the plus side I can play Cold Steel IV now since the others haven’t been localized. I was watching recap videos on Lady Virginia’s channel so it would be a lot to play through.
Her videos are very helpful for that (as well as being entertaining)
You have to realize the insane amount of dialogue in these trails games, it takes a lot of time to translate it.
As someone who has beaten hajimari and is waiting for the kuro spreadsheet, I still understand the wait for trails localizations just like the people waiting for the official releases.
hajimari is in english already with patch now ( pc version ) and kuro have spreasheet with overlay systeme on pc
@@pochul I'm aware I've played them both, but we really shouldn't have to wait years for the official translations and rely on fan projects to play the games in the west. Falcom just refuses to modernize and it does harm the series over here.
Good video and summery
True I’ve always wonder why it always take so long
Well hopefully my video can help clear up some of the reasons
22:42 "The question on Falcom localization has now become when, not if" that's all I need to hear honestly, even as I am seriously considering learning japanese in order to "catch up". Take your time translating the greatest franchise of all time guys
I bought 1st part accidentally on steam for 1$. Then I became so addicted to it I bought 2nd part right away as soon as I find out there is a sequel available. That already got full price.
Cool, by that time i might have forgotten the whole story and replay it again from trails fc
English Port: Ahem..
1. 144fps
2. 4k support
3. 0 bugs
4. English VA
4. ps4/ps5 HD textures
5. Script localization
6. MX
7. ???
Chinese Port: We just want the game.
All very nice, although if we're talking Crossbell we don't have English VA, but everything else
I swear I read somewhere that the Trails series was at its midway point after Trails of Cold Steel II, which would mean there would only be 2 or 3 games left after Kuro no Kiseki II. Although, seeing as it just keeps getting more popular in the west, it would be silly of Falcom to do a complete reset after the 15th game or so. They're most likely to do a soft reset and take the setting away from the continent of Zemuria but still in the same world with a continuous timeline (or prequels?). It's pure speculation on my part I'll admit.
The most common quote I've heard around was that Cold Steel 4 made it 60% done, so by that estimate there would be 3 games after Kuro 2, but this is Falcom I would expect it to be extended. There is also plenty of potential for prequels or companion games, so I agree they could conclude the main arc and then develop off of that for future games
@@CommRio it'd 65% now after kuro 2, so 5 games left after Kuro 3
There is no chance it'll end even remotely soon. They can just make games that place in the countries we've never been to like Remiferia and that'd be that. Of course ones that come to old locations with appropriate plot as they already do also.
A map of Zemuria revealed a couple years back had the east almost completely blacked out as content we haven't yet seen, even if most of it is said to be unhabitable deserts and wastelands.
I've always personally felt like all companies need to hold off all releases until all localizations are complete for a game. But I know that won't happen
No shit
i plan on buying the crossbell game when they release officialy but i dont plan on playing them because i have already played them
Very fair
The answer comes down to multiple things.
1. Localization rights and dubbing if there is 1 for 1 there are quite a few other JRPG series that take a while to get localized though now most do simultaneously release in modern times but even Juggernauts like SE used to delay games like KH
2. Falcom is arguably smaller so that coincided with 1. makes it longer.
3. The most probable in my mind the amount of text and dialogue if you have ever played a kiseki dear lord the dialogue and I'm not talking about cutscenes or even just textboxes you guys know how many npcs are in these games every one of those have to be translated and there aren't huge teams working on these translations
4. Falcom having a quirk in their business: they allow their developers to work on the games up until the day before release in Japan. This is also partially why they only published on Playstation for the longest time as discs are easier and quicker to produce compared to cartridges. But because of this...
5. They don't license out their games for localization until after they're released in Japan.
6. NISA wanted to release Zero, Azure, Reverie, and Nayuta on Switch, PC, and PS4 simultaneously and in order to do that, they had to port Zero, Azure, and Reverie to Switch and PC as Falcom didn't directly make those versions of those games.
Playing Hajimari without the crossbell games is a genuine sin, game will lose a lot of its value without them
I'm glad that people will be able to get the chance to play it officially beforehand, and I really can't wait to play Reverie myself.
@@CommRio hope you enjoy it by then, game is fantastic :)
@@lelouch6865 I would be very surprised if I didn't enjoy it
While I did play the Geofront translation of both the Crossbell games, I will definitely be buying and playing the official localization of those games as well, not just due to those being the Kai versions, but because I like to see the differences from fan translation to official as well.
Playing the second two Cold Steel games is pretty confusing without Crossbell too. Those games are so good. I'm really happy that people who haven't sought out the fan translations will finally have a chance to play them.
It’s always crazy to me how fans will give content creators the benefit of doubt when asking for a break, but kill companies for wanting to take a break & take a bit longer to release games. Like yes, I would love to have all these games out extremely fast because I want to continue seeing the story, but not at the cost of people’s health (mental & physical). I feel like fans really need to chill out & just learn that stuff takes time, especially if you want it to look & play good. So ima just keep being & avoiding spoilers.
Not that I'm making excuses for the people who are pro-crunch, but it is easier to empathize with a content creator because of the social nature of watching someone's content versus a company with no specific human face. As for everything else you said absolutely.
@@CommRio oh nah 100% I just wish people would try and remember that all those the heads of these companies make extremely large amounts of money, the workers likely don’t so when we, as fans, bash these companies they’re the ones being affected
Its easier for people to feel bad for one person doing their "passion" more than a company who wants a profit. Its sad but people only see the people at the top of the company and not the workers at the bottom who often struggle and are exploited. Even though these people also work out of passion and not just for a profit.
Wow your video are great, i was mainly a PC player so i can play all of the trails game but yeah it was a shame that the trilogy who begin all of the series are not available on the modern console , about the localization time i personally think it could be improved but like tou said in the vid it was kind of hard , in the past 2 month a started to play other series game like xenoblade to wait for Reverie and it was perfect cause i discover a new game 😂
Thank you. Hope you enjoy Xenoblade I know quite a few people who enjoy Trails and Xenoblade it seems like those two series have enough similarities that people who like one usually enjoy the other as well
@@CommRio yeah I kind of a fan myself just recently , the story are so good and like the ending song of the Future redeemer dlc say , we don't know what waiting for us behind the close door so yeah we can hope for a future one day when trails game will have what it deserve to be .
I love the work of NISA and Falcom regardless of their mistakes. I blame fate. I am wrong to do that but the wait is too painful.
Fate is a harsh master
How long till AI can localise in a matter of days? Or am i not understanding the process (and how AI works for that matter)..
So how vital are the crossbell games in cold steel?
For Cold Steel 1 and 2 it’s helpful but just with minor references since the time periods overlap for those with Crossbell. For Cold Steel 3 and 4 they matter quite a bit more (I personally held off playing those two until I’d played Crossbell and I’m happy I did)
I definetely am seeing myself in Team Self Care.
Sure ... There is that assumption that you just need to hire more translators. But in Germany we say: Too much cooks destroy the food.
In Game Text despite all guidelines some Things start to happen. Cities change names, Characters have different ways of talking etc.
A good Translation needs time. I did a German Translation for Clock Tower on the SNES thanks to the Tools the Fan translator provided for the Rom. And i can say. Three lines of Text with 22 Letters each. And the Text needs to fit. It was Like writing some Haiku for each Line because almost every Line had to be edited over and over to fit and make Sense in the end.
And coming back to Trails. By now there is more than enough Material to kill time. I started with Cold Steel 1 - finished Cold Steel 3 Last week. And to get a First Impression i watched the Trailer for IV. Where i discovered Lloyd from Crossbell and Estelle from Sky appear.
Even though it's a brutal cliffhanger i want to make most out of the Series and now Play the Sky and the Crossbell Series to make most out of it. Even in full bingewatching (bingeplaying) Mode this will Take months. 😅
I already bought Reverie but until i finally can enjoy it the localisation for Kuro no Kiseki might already be out. Maybe even the one of Kuro 2.😂
This is why I love hearing from translators because even though people close to me have done translating work and I've talked to them about the experience there's always more to hear about and appreciate. The beauty of language is in both its simplicity and complexity, the building blocks may be similar but each language is rich with cultural context and any work coming from that language will have the same.
Thank you for your further insight, and I hope you enjoy playing the Sky and Crossbell games!
I don't know. that one girl in Nayuta looks strikingly similar to what little we see of the Grandmaster in Trails. Then again could just be a similar model with some color swaps on the hair to make them different.
We'll have to see, as I said there may be a reason Nayuta is getting focus even as NISA is trying to catch up to Falcom
19:41 well well well.
I guess I wouldn't get it since i've only recently gotten into these games (played through Cold Steel 1-3 and am in the middle of 4) so i'm mostly just playing catch up but I don't really mind the longer localization times since even in the first game I noticed just how STACKED the script is for this series. I do wish they'd let hand the scripts out to the localizers prior to release just to help smooth the process over but maybe they'll eventually work themselves into it. Now while I can wait on Trails, i'm definitely importing Ys X cause my hunger for more of that series is through the roof right now lol.
I think the script of the games might be continuously adjusted or altered right until the final stage of the development (like the final testing before it's gone golden master). That's probably why the developer can not give the script to localization company before the game is released.
There's a saying in Final Fantasy XIII-2, if you change the future, you change the past. Even if they do the phrase development where the team focus on one chapter before another, it's always possible that changes in one chapter would affect the prior chapters as well.
Also localization evolve a lot more than what most people would think of. In the Trails case, they go so for as doing all of the voice over in English. That's not common anymore. And given how many dialog there are in the game, it might not be the wisest decision (as most people would switch to Japanese anyway, although English VO in TOCS-series is excellent).
Last but not least, I think ... toxic environment of game development might not be better than before, but probably not from crunching. Most company do much better now comparing to decades ago (I used to do 14-hours, 6-days a week before, and that's mildly crunch comparing to many companies). I think nowadays the source of pressure and negativity are from the players. It's a common knowledge nowadays not to show yourself working on a launching game, as you can fall into a target easily. Many companies have setup a suggestion to avoid contacting players directly unless you're a PR working for the game.
They do continue to change up to the last minute as I recall but that hasn't prevented them from giving advanced looks of the script to Cloud Leopard to do the Chinese and Korean translations so it seems it is feasible even if English would still take longer.
Certainly fan reaction to the games studios and the ones making it has been bad especially now that social media allows fans to reach further. It definitely makes sense for companies to exclusively communicate via PR because we've seen what happens when they don't. I hope that crunch has gotten better but we still get reports of it every year at various companies so I think it's unlikely to be gone just a little better
@@CommRio it will take by faaaaar longer. Chinese and corean are much closer to japanese than english.
And right now it just takes more time since they fell far behind in the past but like to Stick to the releaseorder nowadays without canibalising their games with their own products.
Still I am feeling like we are coming closer and closer to the eastern release Dates. Trails in the sky SC took 9 years from japanese release to worldwide release....
I have a theory that we'll see Kuro in 2024 and possibly Kuro 2 in late 2024 early 2025. I'm probably wrong and if I am that's fine. I'm also guessing that NISA sees enough profit to continue localizing them, plus, given how rabid Ys and Trails fans are, it'd make sense for them to release a localization per year. I think with the healthy western sales figures released from Falcom, that at minimum the gap between localizations will be a shorter time period.
Honestly, I doubt we're gonna get Kuro 1 and 2 in the same year.
@@theazureknight9399 it's why I mentioned 2025.
Does anyone realize the blue/pale hair girl from trails of nayuta look kinda like the grandmaster of the society?
Maybe it really has a connection to trails main timeline?
There are growing suspicions on that, and I think Falcom's insistence on porting and localizing Nayuta may be a hint at it being more important than previously revealed.
@@CommRio yeah i would have thought so too. Personally I would love if it has some form of connection. Or cameo like Towa Kokone in Tokyo Xanadu and Towa from trails
I always understood why we get JRPGs (most of them) a year or two after being released in their home country. Kingdom Hearts 3 and Elden Ring are the only ones I can think of that have simultaneous worldwide releases.
Nihon Falcom games have the worst case of this and rightfully so.
Allmost all FFs after 7 came out on the same date to my knowledge
Fire Emblem have also been doing worldwide releases for the recent titles
I'm curious about how much of Caligula 1's script was done entirely by NISA since the original Caligula effect was localized by Atlus.
Sort of like how the English versions of Utawarerumono Mask of Deception/Truth on PC are done by DMM games, but the english script is totally Atlus's
I don't know on that front
They ought to do another break and introduce Ys 10 already. Ys 9 was alright, but it wasn't as good compared to Ys 8
I will always remember the pain I felt after Finishing Cold Steel 1 for the first time and then shortly finding out after that Cold Steel 2 hadn’t yet been released in the west
That is certainly a painful cliffhanger. Just be glad you didn’t play Sky FC and then have to wait 5ish years for part 2, wondering for most of that time if you were ever going to get resolution to that cliffhanger…
Those were dark times.
after playing the 4 Cold steel i would say the cliffhanger of the 3 is more painful than 1
Huh... I get it now.
By the time Kuro no Kiseki is translated, they will likely skip the PS4 version. Darn...
that's gonna be 3 years from now if we're being optimistic, hopefully kuro gets an english patch asap when it hits pc this june just like with reverie
@@andy-xz2uk your prayers have been answered for kuro english patch most of it is translated except some sidequest dialogue and some random npc dialogue, still being updated tho
To put it into context, for one person to translate 1.6 million words in one year, that's 769 words a work hour (assuming a 40 hour work week).
Was it translation? Cause if you’ve seen how many npc’s you could talk to. That’d probably sum it up
Its okay with me. I have 4 more games to play till Azure comes out, waiting on CS 3 and 4 until I play that and zero
not mainstream enough
if this was as popular as the atelier series is now it would get localized in a second
I think Atelier is an interesting comparison, so I'm good to make it since I think it actually highlights the unique nature of Falcom.
1. Sales, yes now Atelier sells more than Trails does but even before that was the case (basically before Ryza) Atelier was localized faster. Lydie and Suelee took 4 months to release in the West compared to the years it takes Trails. Then we have Falcom's other series Ys. Ys VIII sold about as much as Atelier Ryza 1 and yet the Ys series isn't getting localized any quicker because of it. That strikes me as an argument for why sales/popularity isn't the reason for the delay.
2. Company size, this is what I think the big difference between Atelier versus Trails/Ys is. Atelier is localized in-house, and Gust is part of Koei Tecmo a company with over 2,000 employees globally. Falcom has 62 employees as of 2019, and Nippon Ichi (the parent company of localizer NISA) has 215. That amount of manpower just can't be overcome easily.
There are days I am very grateful for the stance on spoilers. Don’t give a fuck if I get a detail or a big event told to me. I only give a fuck if how it got there is explained to me. The Journey is more important then the what in the long run as it can build tension for me. I also can forget those details if the game/book draws me in to a point where I am just thinking of the story.
Definitely that's how I feel about the azure spoiler in cs 2.
I was like wow what happened, this was crazy. But im still so amazed about what lead to this. Looking forward to azures release
Falcom should start sharing their scripts before the game is out in Japan. It's probably never gonna happen though.
Yeah unfortunately I think Falcom needs a change in leadership before they'd shift their policy on that front.
They edit stuff until close to launch according to some.
The not giving scripts to localizers is such a baffeling decision before release. Why shoot yourself in the foot? Are they afraid of leaks? Or do they think their westerns partners would try to influence the writing?
There's another reason: the dub.
If game were released undubbed, like Crossbell games, the localization pace would be a bit faster.
The reverie trailers seem strange hearing Lloyd speak english
Why Do Trails Localizations Take So Long: because it's one of the gaming franchise with the biggest text line to translate. Trails of Cold Steel 4 had 2,541,725 Japanese characters to translate. Exemple, if you combine all Harry Potter books, then you have near 1 millon words. In brief, Cold Steel 4 have more than the double of Harry Potter. It's only for one game ahah. ;)
But to be fair. A lot of it is from previous games like many explenations who is who and so on.
Still even if we cut this all out its insanely much Text combined with beeing one of the smaller amount of not AAA Games with english dub and even how well localised they are. These are not just translations.
Do you guys still remember final fantasy 10 (thank you beeing translated into "I love you"?)
只能說幸好中文有雲豹
I don't mind waiting honestly. Some people getting into the series would feel overwhelmed if the games came out faster here and not only that given how much dialogue and such is in these games and how NISA also has their own games they make, its honestly impressive how they are even localizing 4 trails games in 2 years. Happy more people can enjoy the amazing arc that was crossbell finally and hyped to play Reverie next year. Just hope NISA isn't working too hard.
Yes to everything you have said. There is no way they'd have been able to do the 4 games in 2 years without the advanced work by The Geofront, and agreed having Crossbell and Reverie coming soon is cause for celebration
Best game!!
no need to wait hajimari got patch english in pc version ( fan patch ) and kuro have overlay translate too since some week
More people need to watch this video. It pains me when people are complaining about the speed of localization of Trails games when they don’t even know the full context on why it’s happening.
This is exactly why I made the video in the first place
@@CommRio yea it also sucks people are upset about Crossbell coming westward! We are finally gonna have all trails games in the correct play order!!!
What I'll never get in my life: why japanese companies keep thinking PC is an afterthought. If they embraced PC as a platform, their market would grow exponentially.
That being said, maybe Falcom should start being a bit more trustful with the scripts. I mean, three years for Hajimari is quite a lot. Edit: I didnt knew they had decided to release all the versions at the same time. Well, that is a wonderful surprise.
I was actually going to comment before you edited on the simultaneous release for platforms, as a fellow PC player it was welcome news for me. As for Japan not embracing PC they gradually are especially companies like SEGA but it’s hard for them to get past how unpopular PC is as a platform in Japan so it’s blind spot for many companies. Falcom is getting better but it’s a slow process and it would be great if they sped it up more
@@CommRio Yeah, sorry for the edit, but I felt really dumb after you literally said "well they're releasing all the versions at the same time". I'm a bit mad with Falcom bearing in mind how much we had to wait for Cold Steel 4 (because the ending of 3 was just "o shit", even topping the ending of 1, which didnt feel as much of a hit because I already had 2 ready to install) but at least they're not Atlus. Holy shit Atlus hates PC. And as a PC player I dislike them back a lot.
@@KairoStark Atlus is such a strange case given they're owned by SEGA one of my most friendly PC Japanese developers, but it's clear they have very differing ideas about PC. Slowly but surely Atlus will have to port it's library to PC, but it's surprising to see them still so reluctant after P4G's success on PC.
@@KairoStark We had to wait 1 year on CS4. Now we get to wait 2 1/2 for Hajimari and god knows how long till we get kuro 1&2.
Falcom making a PC version would go a long way to getting these games localized by fans way faster than NisA can.
Simply because home and portable consoles were more popular in Japan, simple to plug and play and can be brought and played everytime everywhere (for portable ones).
Falcom themselves started as a PC game developer and released their games for PC, so their main audiences were limited. Their games ported on consoles up until early-mid 2000s were done by 3rd party publishers. It’s not until 2006 they ported their games themselves starting from Sora FC for PSP to expand their audiences more in the console market because at that time PC market was shrinking. Their decision was paid off as their Sora FC sales (PC+PSP) were increasing until it had reached 1 million as of 2014.
In 2012, XSEED made the important decision by releasing Ys Felghana and Origin PC first on Steam to test the water, which we know it’s eventually successful for English PC market, worldwide, and Falcom. Even Falcom liked this idea, otherwise those games wouldn’t have been released on Steam.
Short answer because there amazing
when its comes to abuse employees its weird, on one hand you want to buy it so that those people suffering was for nothing, on the other hand you dont want to buy it as it would support shitty behaviour, a lose lose situation
It can be a struggle, but for the most part the devs already got paid while working on it. For some games there are bonuses depending on performance, but I've never heard of that for localization companies, so yeah the devs got paid before the game was in our hands so our money mostly goes to the companies and their execs. Of course then it can be argued that the sales would encourage more games that can employ those people again ensuring their continued income. I find you just gotta find your personal philosophy on it and try to stick to it as much as you can, but it ain't easy
2023 will good years
It is definitely looking like it
@@CommRio sad i played game with eng mod now not need wait 2023 anymore now need wait kuro
It is all about money, if this game was not a niche low sales game this would be translated instantly.
So it's a pain in the ass to work with falcom 😭😭 it's sad cuz their games are sooo good
One problem not highlighted here is that you have localization companies willing to undersell their labor because they are a small company. This was XSeed's problem which later led to the problem with NISA later on because they had to outbid whatever Xseed offerred.
If you've seen an Ys VIII 1.0 playthrough (there are a bunch online), a bilingual can tell that bunch of it is machine translation due to how unnatural it reads. It's really a shocking difference if you ever played Disgaea.
You normally have a translator/editor proofread and do the edit side by side with the original text, but considering the turnaround time that NIS promised, plus the ports, there was not enough for it.
The Trails series has even more dialogue than Ys due to the settings in its game (Ys IX shows how horrendous it can be for an Ys game). It's only natural that they take their time with Cold Steel III
Trails rising in popularity in the West is honestly great. That would mean the companies would (hopefully) give more realistic turnaround times and better pay.
1.6 mil japanese characters =/= english words. I would also not count the Persona 5 localization as a company fully utilizing its advantages; there were some pretty big mistakes at launch and I remember it had like, 12 editors for some reason? A classic example of too many cooks spoiling the broth, likely because too many people wanted to be part of the project.
I do think Falcom is going to have to invest in making the western market more if they want stronger sales here. They can keep calling themselves a small company, but I don't know how they expect to grow if they don't cater to the markets that can bring in a profit. Falcom is famously stubborn about many things, but it almost feels like they want to remain small and barely scraping by? Kondo might have to step down before that changes.
This is a theory of some that I've seen but it is possible Kondo isn't the issue and it's more the board that is very conservative. Especially given that the current chairman and founder of Falcom Masayuki Kato has been resistant to change in the past.
You're also right that 1.6 million Japanese characters aren't equal to English words but it gives a good ballpark number. Based on the English word estimates I've discovered Cold Steel 3's script is likely between 1.1 and 1.2 million English words, but those figures are less certain than the Japanese characters.
The moment Falcom starts wanting to throw a wider net and cater to more mainstream audiences might just be when I quit playing their games.
Expect online modes, battle royales, lootboxes/gacha systens and a dumbing down on the combat system so that people will be able to play the games with their brains turned off.
And of course, expect the story of the games to get sterilized and watered down in order to avoid controversy, especially with how hyper-senstivie mainstream western audiences have become over the years. Be careful what you wish for.
Exactly Kuro No Kiseki 2 PS4/PS5 will be out in Japan by Sept. 30th THIS year by the time both the first Kuro game and its Sequel get a dub it will likely be in 2025 - 2026 and by then Japan WILL STILL always be 3 to 4 games ahead.
goddamn bro, i'd be 30 by then
I'll be like 45 to 46 years old by 2025 - 2026 and by then the Series is likely to star being PS5/Switch/PC only games and not on the PS4 any more IN Japan.
So hopefully by the time Kuro No Kiseki and its sequels do get a English dub it will still be playable on the PS4.
@@veghesther3204 since the jp dub is on ps4 there is a high chance that they'll release kuro on the ps4 too, I'm currently playing reverie with English patch because i can't wait anymore, to my surprise the translation is good, the only downside is the npc's aren't translated
uhhh
text?
Definitely a big reason but not the only
Personally, I rather take their time, as long it has an English Dub option, they can take as much time they need, there is a reason why backlog exist.
Mentioning GeoFront and not Guren and Flame who did the base translations for crossbell.
Fuck I want Calvard Trails sooo bad, don't really care much about Zero cause I already played CS I-IV so its all spoiled for me :(
I've pretty much been detailing all of these points in the Steam forum for the past year where so many people are just quick to trash NISA and blame them for "unreasonable release schedules" when they don't understand anything about what goes into localization or why things have gotten this way. Nice video btw.
Thank you and yeah I don't bother going on the Steam forums anymore, it's just a disheartening experience, but good on you for keeping up the battle
3 yrs is still terrible for reverie for today 2 yrs is understandable
They are trash tho
Simple, because they need to censor the dialogue. How many times are you going to stick your head in the sand and ignore that fact?
Also, I just wanna say this: If Nisa don't grab the KAI versions and add the EVOLUTION extra content into it I'll flip my table out of this universe XD
I know the PC versions has their original charm but I want the extra content. We are at a point where, unlike the Sky series, that were released when the Evolutions versions didn't exist at the time, the crossbell versions of Kai and Evolution are already out AND they are enhanced versions from the original. And I want that. Sorry. I really do.
So I really hope they do deliver us with the newer versions, even if they have to localize more text. Again, I don't mind to wait.
Hell, if XSEED still has the rights for the sky series, I would totally buy again a new version of the sky evolution series, I don't care. I wanna give those series my money. And I'm glad Crossbell is being made now, because if there's a thing the original Sky has that the cold Steel doesn't, is the awesome charm the chibbi sprites has when they made the comedic scenes. I love seeing Anton on the ground because of a breakup on Sky SC, I love how silly it is that every character moves while idle but anton is there, on the ground, on a position that made me laugh because of how comedic it was with those sprites.
The same for Tita's mother and grandfather essentially dancing while fighting. Those kind of things aren't present on Cold Steel, because there's no way to do them as heavenly as the sky did. xD And I believe crossbell will have those events too. I love that the fight scenes are way more cinematic now (because they were very silly on the sky series and very stiff on the Cold Steel series, especially the two first games), but it does loose that charm. A thing that will probably disappear on the Calvard entirely with the changes they did (I haven't seen much, but the fact that now I won't be able to know who is actually speaking something because they don't use the balloons individually for each character with their model talking will mean I have to decide if I read the text OR look at the model moving it's mouth because just as any other trails games since cold steel, not all sequences are voiced. That's a downgrade on the design that made me really sad XD
I did read and watch a lot of videos and news about the Sky SC localization and frankly, it was a fucking nightmare, working on those conditions while being in love with a series and wanting it to be released but essentially being fucked up in every single step because of the lack of I dunno, common sense of the higher ups is a nightmare, and I'm eternally thankful to the souls who actually spent so damn much time translating and adapting every single text, and I'm really indebted with them for that.
AND in a small side note: I was replaying CS3 and I'm so glad they changed a few lines that didn't actually work with the English voice, such as Laura just essentially laughing at Neithardt when she was actually complimenting him on his promotion on the army annoyed me as heeeeeelll. Good thing Nisa is actually doing their best for Trails, at least as much as they can.
AND, about YS8, localization issues apart, most of the infuriated people with that game were way more annoyed with the game not being actually well ported to PC rather than the text itself, people still got it on PS4 and held to the game for them, but on Steam? The game not only received a mass murdering almost NO Man's Sky level of bad reviews, most people refunded the game because they said the game was unplayable (even if I was able to finish the game on release and the biggest issue at the time was a flickering on certain areas). Anyway, they did what they could, and so far, most releases they've done on PC for YS games did good for me. Most of the Cold Steel releases I still prefer on PS4, even with the slow down. Just because, frankly, Durante wanted to cut time in half by re-using Cold Steel I and II assets instead of porting the PS4 assets for UI on the game and I'm a very UI-Crazy guy: Those buttons and Turbo icon (AND the way the turbo mode works on PC by the way), just turn the game down to me. I prefer to play the original releases, with all the slow downs they have just because of that XD
In the end I can only see the Trails game having a boost in localizations IF, and only IF the game gets a success level as PErsona 5 suddenly had. And frankly, I don;t see that coming. Even with the additions to Kuro's combat, TRails is a series for people who LOVES to read those awesome stories, and not everyone wants that. Actually, trails is the only series in which I don't mind grabbing up a FAQ to play with because I want to see all of it but I don't want to spend hours trying to find everything. That's not for everyone.
At the end of this big, huge and insanely not necessary commentary section I did, the video is pretty good, I love how much info you give us without being petty about anything. It's very good info delivery. Thanks! :D
I do know that the version getting localized is the Kai one, so that's good for the extra content.
I also wish XSeed were willing to revisit Sky (to at least port to Switch/PS4 if nothing else), but I think it is unlikely.
Oh yes the Ys VIII debacle was definitely not limited or mainly about the localization, but I feel like the lessons NISA learned from the port disaster have been rectified by partnering with PH3 for ports.
Yeah it is unlikely Trails will ever get the sort of popularity that would allow it to compete with Persona, but there are still steps Falcom could take to improve sales and marketing in the West but I won't hold my breath on that one.
Thank you for your comment and I'm glad you enjoyed the video and found it informative.
Localization can also include character designs and gameplay mechanics, among many other things. I don't know how much has to be done for these, but these were definitely things that came up in some of the localization titles I worked on. Localizing is A LOT of work even outside of the text.
It really is, and I wish the industry paid localizers more and they got more recognition in general. Based on all I know of it, localizing is a tough job even when working on something you have passion for
what nice way to say "censorship"
Character designs should never be changed. Just censorship