Things which are annoying for fans...
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:51 pm
I experienced my first H game in late 2001. I didn't become one of the crazy-dedicated people who learned written Japanese just to understand a few games. Since then, I've experienced an awful lot of letdowns and disappointments as a fan of the weird, neglected category of games which includes visual novels, dating simulations, sim date RPGs, and so on.
Annoyance #1: adaptation displacement. I got that term from tvtropes.org. That opinionated wiki states, "...even sources that were popular at the time can disappear in the shadow of a successful adaptation." In other words, a spinoff which overshadows the original material.
Right now in ren'ai fandom, this is a constant problem. The only example I know of a professionally translated H game with an equivalent pro-translated H anime is Gibo. For almost everything else, the anime/manga have been translated, but the original game is almost unknown to everyone except a select few individuals.
If you look through fan translations, you can now find complete English translations of three H games: Utawarerumono, Wind, and Tsukihime. Two out of those three have anime which has been licensed, and the third has long since been fansubbed. All the other attempts to create game fan translations are either in the works, partially complete, or cancelled.
These days, I rejoice when a fan translation is released to the public. Only a few slightly-crazy fans might be experiencing these, but as long as they're getting made and released, I figure that'll cut back on ignorance among fans.
And somewhat related to this is the "Newgrounds effect." I experienced this while trying to research the untranslated Galaxy Angel games. The fan-made game completely overshadowed any discussions of the originals.
Annoyance #2: the "obscure corner of fandom" effect. There are anime fans out there who like boy x girls stories, girl x boys stories, and so on. But even if their favorite series began as a game, it's almost certainly not in English, and therefore they probably haven't played it. The same applies for licensed spin-off games.
Only a small number of English-speaking gamers have experienced a romance game. And I suspect that only a few of them were impressed at all. You might find the occasional fan who likes RPG-fusion games (Riviera, Thousand Arms), or the individual who still remembers True Love 95. But only a few gamers honestly like visual novels.
Annoyance #3: finding information about an untranslated game *in English* on the company's own site, but knowing there's only a one percent chance the game will be translated. I found an example of this today at http://red-entertainment.co.jp/eng That site discusses the Sakura Taisen series, and if you explore the site a little further, there's mentions of Kita e.
I won't get into licensing just yet. There's a lengthy thread about it at My Neoromance here: http://forum.my-neoromance.com/index.php?showtopic=78
Annoyance #1: adaptation displacement. I got that term from tvtropes.org. That opinionated wiki states, "...even sources that were popular at the time can disappear in the shadow of a successful adaptation." In other words, a spinoff which overshadows the original material.
Right now in ren'ai fandom, this is a constant problem. The only example I know of a professionally translated H game with an equivalent pro-translated H anime is Gibo. For almost everything else, the anime/manga have been translated, but the original game is almost unknown to everyone except a select few individuals.
If you look through fan translations, you can now find complete English translations of three H games: Utawarerumono, Wind, and Tsukihime. Two out of those three have anime which has been licensed, and the third has long since been fansubbed. All the other attempts to create game fan translations are either in the works, partially complete, or cancelled.
These days, I rejoice when a fan translation is released to the public. Only a few slightly-crazy fans might be experiencing these, but as long as they're getting made and released, I figure that'll cut back on ignorance among fans.
And somewhat related to this is the "Newgrounds effect." I experienced this while trying to research the untranslated Galaxy Angel games. The fan-made game completely overshadowed any discussions of the originals.
Annoyance #2: the "obscure corner of fandom" effect. There are anime fans out there who like boy x girls stories, girl x boys stories, and so on. But even if their favorite series began as a game, it's almost certainly not in English, and therefore they probably haven't played it. The same applies for licensed spin-off games.
Only a small number of English-speaking gamers have experienced a romance game. And I suspect that only a few of them were impressed at all. You might find the occasional fan who likes RPG-fusion games (Riviera, Thousand Arms), or the individual who still remembers True Love 95. But only a few gamers honestly like visual novels.
Annoyance #3: finding information about an untranslated game *in English* on the company's own site, but knowing there's only a one percent chance the game will be translated. I found an example of this today at http://red-entertainment.co.jp/eng That site discusses the Sakura Taisen series, and if you explore the site a little further, there's mentions of Kita e.
I won't get into licensing just yet. There's a lengthy thread about it at My Neoromance here: http://forum.my-neoromance.com/index.php?showtopic=78