Deathsmiles is a shmup being brought over to the states later this June by Aksys. It was originally developed by Cave, who are known for classics like DoDonPachi, Mushihimesama, and ESPgaluda.
Granted, most people play these sorts of games for the gameplay, but the screenshots from this game are enough to make anyone cringe. It’s nowhere near as bad as Castle Shikigami II, but Aksys did localize Castle Shikigami III with intentions of keeping the tradition alive with a weird translation.
I am confused as to why they would do something like this with Deathsmiles. It’s obviously a conscious choice on behalf of Aksys, and there has to be a reason for it. I just can’t seem to figure out what their intended target market is.
Hardcore fans of Cave will eat this right up. People who don’t like shmups might be attracted to the Gothic-Lolita aesthetic. Perhaps it’s trying to appeal to Chrono Cross fans with all of it’s double-language usage? I know all my friends who are into Lolita fashion talk like this, and I am certain they will buy this game because of the localization.
It might not be a big deal, but it is somewhat embarrassing for an overseas company with such a big local demographic to see it head in this direction.
fenix
June 8, 2010
meh, I think they grabbed the only cave shooter with any possible crossover appeal in its aesthetic. unless you wanted to appeal to chubby-chasers with muchi muchi pork lol. it made sense to me, I don’t see how this is any more embarrassing than agarest senki.
Andrew Eidson
June 8, 2010
Agarest Senki is pretty lols too, but at least its translation isn’t as dumb as this.
fenix
June 8, 2010
yeah but that would get annoying in a game that’s practically a visual novel. in a cave shooter all the dialog is throwaway anyway, anyone playing it for the story or writing needs to reconsider their gaming options.
fenix
June 8, 2010
actually that dialog is not all that bad. it would be 100x worse if it was full of internet memes. it’s worth noting the back of the box has the word “lolis” on it so i’m glad the dialog in the real game didn’t follow suit.
Andrew Eidson
June 8, 2010
I know some people are quite upset about this (they need to get over it). To me, it’s like it’s almost not bad enough of a translation. It’s like… it wants to be silly, but it’s just dumb.
I can deal with it, because it’s not really a big deal. I just wonder who exactly they’re trying to appeal to by doing it like this. Either way, it’s not like it’s going to fly off store shelves, so I don’t see the point in taking this sort of direction. It’s not like the anime kids who this kind of dialog might appeal to will run out and go buy it.
fenix
June 8, 2010
I doubt the dialog is localized in any way to appeal to any crowd. It’s just not part of the marketing. The box and stuff yes, that is part of the marketing designed to appeal to a demographic who doesn’t already know what Deathsmiles is (most everyone) and it certain goes toward whatever crowd knows what gothic lolita or whatever is.
This dialog really doesn’t seem bad at all I don’t get what the deal is anyway. Is this not a reasonable representation of the japanese dialog? Do the girls not have regional/national dialects in the japanese? This is like Chrono Cross stuff here.
fenix
June 8, 2010
so is there some forum somewhere that people are nerdraging over something? is it shmups or neogaf? I doubt shmups gives a shit but who knows. mind giving me a link?
Andrew Eidson
June 8, 2010
I agree, I felt like it was Chrono Cross type stuff. It didn’t seem out of place in CC because they put some effort into it. This just seems kinda meh, but I’m sure it won’t bother people as much as they think.
Starts at the bottom of this page: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14101&start=2910
fenix
June 8, 2010
oh okay. I guess I’ve only ever seen the strategy sections of shmups which are reasonable and helpful and populated mostly by people who know what they’re talking about and play the games.
i haven’t ventured onto the part of the site where everyone is an elitist asshole and bitches and moans sarcastically and has a persecution complex. makes a lot more sense now.
fenix
June 8, 2010
also seems like a lot of concern trolling
fenix
June 8, 2010
like “oh no man, now that the dialog in this shoot ‘em up is terrible, no one will buy the cheap english version of this game I paid a bunch of money for in japanese a year ago/the pcb 4 years ago and therefore invalidate my purchase!”