/vr/ - Retro Games

don't be a fag, just download the US version and beat it without a guide.

>>7945567
But I speak Japanese

Should I play the version by a bunch of professional game designers or the version balanced by a bunch of weaboos with no clue what the fuck they were doing?

>>7945635
>Wrecking Designs
>professional

>>7945615
then I guess it's too late for you to not be a fag

>>7945659
I’m pretty sure that’s what he said

>>7945635
They didn't design it. They localized it.

>>7945660
kek

>>7945564
Theres an "un-working designs" patched version of the game out there for you to download if you want. Its not hard to find at all

alundra bros...

>>7945635
>or the version balanced by a bunch of weaboos with no clue what the fuck they were doing?

So you meant Wrecking Designs here?
Because I wouldn't call them professional (added a sex joke out of nowhere that actually got Alundra delayed once ERSB/Sony noticed, they supposedly "fought for it", also they brag how 30% of the game is edited/"written" by a game journalist friend fooling around)
Neither would I call them game designers (they have a limited number of "attempts" and so instead of actually traveling to Japan and bugtesting the game there, they just modify the stat table in ridiculously boneheaded ways then ship it without any testing or fixing in case things go wrong, which they almost always do.)

Then they'd go online picking up fights with critics of their work IN 1998, a nasty habit they still didn't drop years later (they encouraged their resetera clique to attack the modder restoring game balance to these games, because it was making them LOOK BAD)

And I'd trust anyone other than the company who seriously releases a game like Popful Mail where you have a HP gauge that goes up to 100 but you die in two hits (8 in the Japanese version). Even chink bootlegs had more game design good taste than be caught dead doing something similar.

The romhacker who did the patches had enough humility to not touch the script yet because he wasn't fluent in Japanese and wanted the opinion of a translator. That alone makes his work ethic more respectable than Vic Ireland.

>>7945778
There’s unworking designs patches for a lot of their games right now, which is great

>>7945778
Neat

>>7945564
If you really want to get away from WD, apparently the pal version either got its own translation or toned down the us version. Of course that brings you to the world of 50hz instead.

>>7945957
That only happened with Shining Wisdom, I think?

>>7945659
>>7945767
>>7945876
You've got to be the same person. There's no way multiple people could have possibly misread what this guy said originally.
>Should I play the version by a bunch of professional game designers OR the version balanced by a bunch of weaboos with no clue what the fuck they were doing?

Do you notice the big OR that I capitalized for you? That makes this a comparative statement. He's saying the original devs are the professional game designers, and Working Designs is the bunch of dumb shits.

>>7945997
Yes, in the Saturn. Sega of Europe did the translation. If you play it on a US Saturn, it will play at 60 Hz. They didn't optimize for PAL so it plays just fine.

>>7945564
I think this game taught me the wrong lesson, I started to get excited everytime someone died because I was getting a new weapon.

>>7945564
Aye

>>7946134
Zelda didn't do that?

>>7945564
I didn't think the US version was that desu. I did play it when I was 12 though, i guess

>>7945564
Try it and see you f you like it

Was Alundra 2 any good?

I know if Working Designs was doing the same style translations today I'd HATE it. With that said I love the translations they did back then so much. I know it's irrational but it's how I feel.

>>7951518
Working Designs legitimately ruined good games with their half assed excuse for localization.

>>7951558
You mean they made boring bland games like Lunar memorable and fondly remembered

>>7951558
All I can say is nostalgia is a hell of a drug, I know it's shit but I love them anyways. Same for Woozey translations.

>>7945564
Play the japanese version. The un-wrecked designs patch fixes what they broke but doesn't fix the atrocious translation.
>>7945767
They change gameplay and mechanics in all their games during the localization process.
>>7951569
You don't know japanese. I do and have played the Lunars in their original form, they are far from boring or bland.

>>7945564

yes. also wish they re-translated the game. Working designs are sloppy faggots.

>>7952727
>You don't know japanese. I do
At best you have learned enough Japanese to consume cartoons and video games targeted at Japanese middle school children with writing levels to match, and even that would be a reach. Anyone who could actually speak Japanese wouldn't be throwing an autism tantrum about 25 year old video games not being 1:1 translated.
>and have played the Lunars in their original form, they are far from boring or bland.
Please regale me with examples of the deft and charming NPC dialog of the Japanese versions of Lunar. It's not like the entire "proper" translation has been done for years and its all a bunch of bland lifeless throwaway lines of 0 value.

would have been a 10/10 game if it wasnt for the missable content and the casino minigame.

>>7952742
Give me throwaway lines that speak to the original writer’s intent and usually add to the world building over idiotic references and juvenile attempts at humor. I know you were a kid when you played these games, but you need to grow up eventually. Working Designs are as bad as Nintendo’s Treehouse translations, if not so much worse.

>>7953345
>>7952742
>>7952727
>>7945876
>>7945567

This autist debate is rather enjoyable. Carry on.

>>7954721
The autist debate is literally one at best severely autistic, at worst legitimately schizophrenic dude who goes into every single thread ever made on this board about any game that working designs had anything to do with and more or less copy pastes the exact same posts in all of them.
https://desuarchive.org/vr/search/text/designs%20resetera/
Just ignore and/or laugh at him and try to have a conversation with anyone else in the thread who appears remotely sane.

>>7954776
That's what makes it enjoyable, anon. This is one of the best threads I have had the pleasure of reading in /vr/ for quite a while.

I'm playing the Working Designs PSX one just because it was available. I also though their Growlanser 2 and 3 localizations were ok.

I don't see the issue.

>>7945564
Alundra 2 isn't as bad as most people think. It's more like Landstalker than Alundra. I liked it.

>>7950723
If you like Landstalker, you'll like Alundra 2. I liked Alundra, but those dream sequences just pissed me off. I didn't care. I love Landstalker and play it through roughly every second year now.

>>7954860
Once you try the JP versions or restorations, you'll never go back. I recommend you get something with a small iso size and try both versions to see for yourself. WD gameplay modifications are legitimately awful. In their own words, they're "mistakes" and barely tested at all by their own admission.

Silhouette Mirage's game reviewers were basically recommending players import the Japanese Saturn version instead because they played both versions. So around that period (1998) they started toning down their modifications significantly.
Some employees quit around that time for unrelated reasons on less than amicable terms, so Vic Ireland actually tried throwing them under the bus for all things wrong with the localization *and* the gameplay "updates". He's a real piece of work.

>>7955095
Same devs.

What's the gamelike in this like? Zelda? I've been meaning to play the game for years but have never gotten around to it.

From what I heard, apart from the translation, all that changes from japanese Alundra to west Alundra is the damage you take from enemies and the HP of the enemies, in the japanese version enemies did less damage to you but they had more hp while in the west version they had less hp but did more damage to you per attack

I don't know japanese so I can't see if the original script is very different/better to the one we got in the west but then again the first time I played this game was in Spanish and that had a lot of translation errors like changing the gender of some characters

>>7957552
Yeah, it's a mix between Zelda and Landstalker, it borrows the same top down point of view of the Zelda games plus a lot of it's elements but it also takes the platforming of Landstalker and makes it a vital part of the game with many puzzles and areas involving heavy platforming, something that Zelda games for the most part didn't feature or to a lesser extend

Also the game has a heavier focus on logic puzzles compared to Zelda, at least the Zelda games around that time, so you will do a lot of puzzles that involves moving platforms or stuff to make a path you can jump on to proceed, this sounds easy said like this but there are a couple of puzzles that are actually hard

>>7950723
Yes, it's fucking great. I'm playing it at the moment. The plot moves along at a quick pace and you'll remember it. The puzzles are great. The combat is a bit sluggish but it grows on you.

>>7958751
I think the problem with Alundra 2 is actually being called Alundra, is a pretty decent game on it's own but it has absolutely no ties with the first Alundra game, I don't think it's even the same universe at all, the main character isn't even called Alundra and all both games have in common are some sound effects being the same

I don't know about the story, but the challenge of the US version is what made the game really good for me

>>7958768
Let me clarify. To me all Zelda games, except from the Oracle/Ages ones, feel like they're giant tutorials that never dare to dwelve deep enough into the mechanics they created. Combat, puzzle and dungeons are bland because always too simple.

Alundra is the only game that made feel like they really did something with the mechanics, and that came from a combination of the original game and what the localization changed.

So if you're like me, you should play the US version; but if for me the gameplay of the main Zelda games is "just right", then you're probably better off playing the original version.

The perfect version would probably be US stats with a translation that's not completely fucked. Even without reading much on the matter there were dialogues that were completely out of place like that guy who talks like a stoned surfer dude.

>>7958768
Let me clarify. To me all Zelda games, except from the Oracle/Ages ones, feel like they're giant tutorials that never dare to dwelve deep enough into the mechanics they created. Combat, puzzle and dungeons are bland because always too simple.

Alundra is the only game that made feel like they really did something with the mechanics, and that came from a combination of the original game and what the localization changed.

So if you're like me, you should play the US version; but if for you the gameplay of the main Zelda games is "just right", then you're probably better off playing the original version.

The perfect version would probably be US stats with a translation that's not completely fucked. Even without reading much on the matter there were dialogues that were completely out of place like that guy who talks like a stoned surfer dude.

>>7958779
I know what Working Designs did with the translation is far from ideal, but I kinda like that each characte had kinda an unique tone to each of them, from what I heard Bonaire in the original script didn't really have anything unique going for him

>>7958767
Yep, that wouldn't have helped either game. I played 2 first and expected something similar when I played 1. I've barely played the original. There was nothing familiar to grab my attention.
When I finish 2, I'll go back and have a better look.

>>7958820
You should experience 1 first, I think it's the better game

>>7945564
the patch only changes the stats? WTF how does this make that much difference?
the difficulty in alundra comes from the puzzles, not the enemies raping you

>>7955119
So are you saying I didn't have a problem with 2 and 3 because they stopped fagging up their localizations?

>>7959925
growlanser 2 and 3*

>>7958938
Well, it's too late for that... I've played 2 a few times now, just never finished it.

>>7959925
>>7959931
Probably.
Can't say for sure for the Arc the Lad series, also released as a compilation because SCEA really wanted to bankrupt them by forcing them to release the games at 1/6th their price (compiling 2-3 full length jrpgs together then selling the compilation at a budget price... some weird pre-2007 rules that led to some Sakura Taisen games and VNs in general getting rejected because they're not "real games", Namco not bothering with Tales, and some MegaTen titles not getting localized on PSP because there's not enough "original content")
Because for Arc the Lad, the localizations were ready years before they were actually out... and before Silhouette Mirage. Growlanser are probably safe but who knows for sure.

Unrelated to the topic at hand, but the best way to play Growlanser 4 is an obscure as fuck undub version floating on some rom sites, for the PSP version. The romhacker who did it went far and beyond fixing it. (Same website used to have Arc Rise Fantasia too, which was far from a low effort undub)