working designs ?

[CHOCOBO77]

when working designs released games in the u.s, did they change the story,dialogue, from the original? because at the moment, i'm playing vay, and some of the dialogue, just doesn't seem right. ("once the bet was lost and i received the course of eternal seismic flatulence")wtf i don't think there's even a word for seismic flatulence in japanese... so if they changed bits like that, then why not the story? that suck's, i want the original story...

[ReddMcKnight]

They kept the original stories, but they added some of they're own lines in the game to be funny. That's all.

[Gamerforlife]

Working Designs pretty much changed anything they wanted to in the games they released. Could be story, could be gameplay(like Silhouette Mirage)

They had no real respect for the titles they brought over

[noiseredux]

Working Designs pretty much changed anything they wanted to in the games they released. Could be story, could be gameplay(like Silhouette Mirage)

They had no real respect for the titles they brought over

you really think that? I feel like the fact that they exposed US audiences to so many awesome Japanese games (Lunar... seriously) shows quite a bit of respect when many other publishers figured the East was just too weird for the rest of us.

[flamepanther]

They definitely changed whatever they felt like. The liberties taken with translations didn't bother me terribly compared to gameplay changes made to Silhouette Mirage and various shoot'em-ups.

[chuckbanzai]

Yea I am going to have to agree with Noise. I don't know where all the hate for Working Designs came from. If the Japanese publishers were so appalled by content changed by Working Designs don't you think they would have stopped letting them publish their games? Not to mention the edits were most likely in place of cultural jokes, or topical interests.

I for one applaud them for their efforts, and have yet to see a publisher of their style match them. (I know Xseed has done well with the Ys games, but that's about it.)

Not to mention think about the era they were in. Heck many Nintendo titles were translated by the Nintendo Power team. With such abominations as I feel asleep, a winner is you, and Item Get, to name a few, the fact that we got mostly correct grammar is a god send. (Here is a funny typo video for reference

[weasels]

naw i felt that working designs in the long run really did well. sure they changed a bit, and silhouette mirage is a big example (although i actually liked it on the ps1), and i realize they took liberties (a lot actually) but without them i would of been missing out on some of my now favorite games.

[flamepanther]

I think part of any resentment there might be is that we're in a different era now when it comes to translations--one where games and anime, once seen as a sort of throwaway commodity, are now starting to be viewed by consumers more as a type of art and are revered as such. Whether that's appropriate should probably be a different conversation.

As stated before, I myself don't have too much trouble with their translations, all things considered. They're certainly not any worse than a Ted Woolsey translation. What I do have a problem with, is deciding that a Treasure game is too easy and needs the core gameplay mechanics monkeyed into a much bigger pain in the ass in order to compensate. That I do not appreciate.

Overall though, I'm not feeling a lot of hate in this thread. Just an acknowledgment that they changed things as they saw fit, which is what was being asked.

[Hatta]

I for one applaud them for their efforts, and have yet to see a publisher of their style match them. (I know Xseed has done well with the Ys games, but that's about it.)

Don't care for Atlus?

[MrPopo]

Well, there's two sides to it. On the one hand, Working Designs was bringing over a lot of interesting games we would not have received otherwise. On the other hand, they were extremely liberal with the localization and might even mess with the gameplay balance. Personally, I think Atlus has been doing a phenominal job of releasing interesting Japanese titles while still maintaining a translation that is as close as possible to the original. Sometimes they change stuff to better suit a western audience but not nearly to the degree that WD did.