Localizing Touhou fangames: What you want and What to expect

[Shadowlupus]

*WARNING* Long paragraphs and rants below.


I still remember that day, September 1, 2014, when I came home, surprised by the big news of Touhou games, albeit fan-made, came to Playstation. At that time, numerous clouds of fulfilling dreams form over my head; Touhou is going worldwide! Touhou is going to be known by everyone! Touhou is going to be popular by a new level!

According to this video, if you still remember it Sony wants to bring an appeal of Japanese indie game to a wider range of audience and the best way to do that would be inviting ZUN and Touhou fans to join too. There is a reason for to be excited and optimistic.

Then fast forward to Feb 2016 and came the news of NIS America and XSEED localization, I was overflowed with joy, thinking that Touhou is finally going to the west, which would be a great place to start.

Days after days, I have been waiting for the release date so that I could see websites and Youtube videos of people commenting on the games. Those days have arrived and I saw a lot of comments, whether it is positive or negative, which is fine because they are opinions.

Now came the reviews that I have been reading days after days ever since the games were out which, honestly for the past two games, had been mediocre at best and all of my fervor and optimism have been receding and nearly die out. Thus, I expect the worst from Touhou reviews from now on. No, not the score that made me feel pessimistic but how people could be stupid and ignorant.

Genso Rondo is criticized for its sluggish control, lack of voice acting, lack of contents worth 30$, pointless Story mode, forgettable soundtrack and (for some) paywalls. I think this is fair and I have expected those prior to the release so I do not expect much from Genso Rondo, thinking it only as an introductory game. However, the only criticism I do not like is lengthy tutorial. I only think that people just plain hate reading and hate gaining more info. All in all, I expect Scarlet Curiosity to be better game for people to enjoy.

Then came the infuriating reviews that spark my curiosity of whether people are truly ignorant or being a troll. Scarlet Curiosity also receives an aggregate review of mediocrity; numerous reviewers say something along the line of: Lack of voice acting, repetitive combat and poor loot system, and easy boss fights, PS2 era visuals, too expensive (20$) and to top it all of...drum rolls please... FREAKING forgettable soundtrack!!!???

I?m sorry but I?m going to rebut all of this ignorant criticism and sink them all into oblivion. Lack of voice acting? Guess people likes Mighty no.9 and Sonic Boom?s marvelous voice acting and are like TL;DR. Repetition and easiness? So people like extremely hardcore game and dislike casual games. PS2 era visuals? I guess they dislike soothing visuals and want everything realistic because that is what video games are supposed to be nowadays. Steeping price? I guess they like an unfinished 60$ AAA game with pre-order bonuses and microtransactions. Forgettable soundtrack? Guess they like only Doom metal music and anything else gets zero.

You could argue that reviews should not always be taken into accounted. You might be right because reviews could easily be influenced in many ways; Reviewers could be biased from the start (IGN and Call of Duty for example), they are ignorant and are not willing to learn and change, or they are just a troll. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that nowadays people can easily be influenced by media, believing just about everything they say. Poor feedbacks could result in abandoned further localization.

But that?s not all why I feel pessimistic. The facts that since even a well-made fan games get a mediocre score, wouldn?t ZUN?s main game be worse? I can imagine the review and criticism be like:
-   Poor visuals/characters, like a PS1/SNES game
-   Pointless dialogues. You have to read the lores all on websites instead to get the whole story.
-   Impossibly hard
-   Music is annoying. Due to its unfair difficulty, it forces players to listen to the same music over and over again
-    No other modes aside from shooting and more shooting.
1/10

I have ranted enough. All in all, I have a feeling that localizing Touhou fangames might not be a good idea and ZUN might be right to not localize his main game. Anyhow, my opinion might change if the review of Genso Wanderer turns out to be mostly positive.

Thank you for reading all of these and have a good day everyone.

Kageshirou

[the old guy]

It's toehoe, it SHOULD be hard.

[Leon゠Helsing]

I would advise the publishers to try and get the rights to Koumajou Densetsu 2. Production value-wise it's one of the top tier fangames out there.

[nyttyn]

Genso Rondo and Scarlet Curiosity were really poor choices to pick to localize as initial salvos. The former you can already agree was just a bad choice, and the later is...

Look. Scarlet Curiosity is, by fangame standards, a decent game. Not as good as the heavy hitters (Examples: Labryinth of Touhou 2, Fantasy Maiden Wars Eternal, Puppet Dance Performance), but it's head and shoulders above most of them. The problem is that most Touhou fangames are, frankly, either awful or B-movie tier at best, so the competition is not exactly fierce. The thing is, we live in a vastly different day and age now for critical review secores, so averaging a 60 isn't that bad for a decidedly average game, and the fact that Scarlet Curosity even got the scores it got is frankly surprising to me. I feel that your love of the game is blinding you to the fact that, by the standards of other games released within the past few years, it really isn't all that great, was overpriced, and was rated accordingly.

I expect Genso Wanderer to fare better in some fronts, but being priced at a 49.99$ point may very well be a death kneel for it. I can't say for certain to its quality though, which may override that, as I've never had a chance to play it. I'll probably grab a copy after the price drops though.

[Chill Observer]

Even among several Touhou communities I've talked to, opinions of Genso Rondo ranged from mediocre to absolutely terrible, and is definitely not worth its current price tag. There are definitely better fangame choices for a western release out there.

As a side note, even though this will never happen, I hope that ZUN's official games will get a Steam and/or English release soon!  :ohdear:

[game2011]

It seems to me that the Mystery Dungeon-style games get the most focus and advertising.  At least they're the ones I come across most whenever I find Touhou-related news on gaming sites...

One problem I have with them is that they seem to be overhyped.  Have you seen the CGI animations that accompany those games?  They're very well done and action-packed, which totally contradicts its somewhat slow paced and turn-based gameplay.  I remember seeing people who are hyped by the cutscenes, but are disappointed when they saw what the actual gameplay.  But then, I'm not a fan of MD-style games in the first place...

[Shadowlupus]

Since I have cooled my head down and thought that the rant thread is preventing further meaningful discussion, I have changed topic the accordingly. (I still can't over the fact of Scarlet Curiosity being criticized for its music in several reviews though.)

Basically, what fangames you want to be localized and how you want it be handled (trailers, advertisement, Limited Edition, etc.) or how you want the game to be changed to be worth the money spent (gameplay, more playable characters, game options, reduced price tag, etc.) These factors are what I have seen so far in recent reviews.

For Koumajou Densetsu, I want it to be localized as a 2 in 1 package with the price of one so it won't be criticized for its rather short length. The other content I want it to be added is the manual and the game control. I can't see how this game trailer could be overhyped.

So, any other idea, guys?

[N-Forza]

I've only seen a few reviews for Scarlet Curiosity, but they were largely favorable, albeit from smaller/niche outfits. I do kind of think the music was a little lacking, or they should have at least gone with Sound Sepher like for their first game. It was fair for the price. The original packaged PC version was also $20 (2000 yen) but what was saved in not producing physical copies was taken by localization costs, I imagine.

I actually ordered the deluxe edition of Genso Rondo through my brother, but he's taking his time delivering it so I won't receive it until next month. However, I do think a completely unskippable, uninteractive tutorial is not the best of ideas. Then there's the fact that even the original Senko no Ronde was a divisive game, so I didn't have particularly high hopes for it to take the gaming press by storm. Wanderer has a good chance of gaining the best foothold, even with its high price, since it at least looks polished and non-amateurish.

As for what I'd like to see localized. Skydrift might be nice as well as Touhou Attorney (cough), but I've actually been able to talk with some of the people involved with PlayDoujin and they say that the prime factor in whether or not a game gets put on their system is if the dev shows interest first. That's how that random Rumia game got in.

[Your Everyday NEET]

I never played Genso Rondo, so I can't say anything about the game. For Scarlet Curiosity, I think the reviewers have a point about their cons, well, except for bad graphics. Only those who lives during the early generation of gaming (and those who can't afford high-end PC) can appreciate lower-end graphics. I only died once during my game time, and that is against the final boss herself.

I wanted to buy Vita after Genso Wanderer has been released. But now, after seeing its price, I don't know if I should do that.

For the fangames, I think they should localize Twilight Frontier's fangames like Megamari, Super Marisa Land, Shoot Shoot Nitori and many more. They could be 5-15$ of pure fun.

Despite me hating it with passion, I could say with no bias that they should localize Strawberry Bose' RPG (Genius of Sappheiros, Devil of Decline, Nightmare of Rebellion). I'm sure their game could appeal to SMT fan or even Dark Souls fan. Heck, I would've actually played Vita version of GoS if they localize it. Or maybe Labyrinth of Touhou 1 & 2? They have bigger fanbase than Gos did. But then again, lack of story and voice acting.

[wyldstrykr]

what about some desunoya touhou fan game, or utg software?
idk about touhou kouboutou tho

[Leon゠Helsing]

If they want to bring in Koumajou Densetsu 1 as well, I feel the game should at the very least be tweaked a bit to rebalance the difficulty better.

[Drake]

But Koumajou Densetsu was already being sold as a combo pack for not even 30 bucks. I'm also pretty sure there's a translated version of the manual somewhere.

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

My thoughts on all this is that in addition to the PS4 they should release localized versions of the games on PC, where the original Touhou fanbase is. I guess releasing them on PlayStation was a move to widen the fanbase, but from what I've seen the games fail to compete with AAA titles that are often synonymous with console gaming. In addition, reviews for console games are often biased, which further leads to what might be perceived as a failure. For many of us, getting official legal copies of fangames can be difficult or even impossible, so if localized versions are released on PC, whether physical or digital, developers can see potential sales and customer satisfaction.