Tales of Graces

[Cless]

At this point it's more a matter of when, not if.

At least, that's what common sense says. You never know, with Namco.

[Deck]

Y halo thar possible US release

I'm more interested in a localization of Vesperia for PS3 but if Graces gets localized I'd be happy as well. Having a localization team mentioned in the staff roll does seem like a good sign.

[Joseph]

I would be shocked if Graces wasn't picked up for localization.

[Cless Aileron]

Scans from a European Nintendo Magazine is pretty much saying high possibility of Europe getting Tales of Graces.

http://abyssalchronicles.com/?fn_mode=comments&fn_id=426

Localization is looking more possible.  Though it'll be too damn weird if North America is the one screwed over for once.

[Takel]

Don't have the screenshot with me, but the 'Localise Team'　(ローカライズチーム) in ToG has only two names listed. One japanese and one english/anglican name.

There's a bit of english titling throughout ToG. All the city names have the subtitling in english (and not in pseudo-english font) and there's of course the technical smashes being given in truncated english.

Not too much work for anyone with a dictionary, but the city subtitles at the very least read very naturally. I wouldn't hold too much significance in the mysterious two man localise team due to how companies churn out random titles and department names, but who knows?

[Carnivol]

To my understanding, Jeremy Clark's job (the guy who's name is in the credits) is localization coordinator (studio side). Which in most causes means that his job is to make sure the game is (from ground up) designed in a way that easily allows for the implementation of translated/localized assets - making the game easier to translate/localize without relying on heavy redesigns of the game's internal structure and with minimal assistance from the studio itself, should the localization work be done at a time when the studio is either partly or fully unavailable as far as providing loc support goes.

Not having someone on the studio side of things that makes sure the game actually is designed with other languages in mind is a trap many companies fall into (in this day and age; if they're Asian,  anyway.)

[Dimentionalist]

Anyone worried this title won't get localized? I'll give them till E3, and then I'm giving up hope.

[Carnivol]

Yeah. E3's pretty much when I'd say the deadline falls for when we can expect an official NAMCO localization of this one... I was kinda expecting to hear something March/April-ish (change of fiscal year). Of course, unless Namco keeps holding a tight grip on things, it's always a possibility that someone else might jump it... but we all know (from experience, anyway) that Namco would rather not see a game reach US/EU stores than let someone else (than Namco and/or Nintendo) take the credit for it. 

[ForceCube]

Anyone certain this title won't get localized?

*raises hand*

[BassForever]

It's pretty much E3 or bust

[Dimentionalist]

This hits pretty much all the marks that would seemingly guarantee a localization... I mean, it's teh 3D, on a Nintendo home console, probably had a pretty nice budget behind it, has an English version of the theme song available, and a localization team in the credits. But with Namco getting bit in the ass financially... yeah...

[Yetika]

The only thing really going against it is the fashion choices of the protagonists and their uh... very Japanese behaviour. That aspect will be a very hard sell overseas, especially in the "masculine & mature" US (except to niche demographics like us, haha). I mean, the battle system and the like look really great and a heck of a lot of fun, so I'm fairly confident that the technical structure isn't what's letting the game down.

Then again, I haven't seen a whole lot of the game outside of a video stream from back when it came out in Japan; and, hahaha, the player was trying to rush through the game and got frequently utterly thrashed by normal enemies due to not having learned the skills to perform better (or just grind). So many game over screens~

[Kajitani-Eizan]

MAMORE... NAKATTA

retry?

MAMORE... NAKATTA

[Kogahazan]

The only thing really going against it is the fashion choices of the protagonists and their uh... very Japanese behaviour. That aspect will be a very hard sell overseas, especially in the "masculine & mature" US (except to niche demographics like us, haha).

Maybe it's just a coincidence and probably not a factor in choosing which Tales to localize but I notice that all post-PS1 Tales that made it over were all Fujishima games, except Legendia. I'm sure everyone's noticed it but I guess disregarded it since I've never heard someone formally mention it. In support of Yetika's idea, it could possibly be that Fujishima's character designs are more "attractive" to Western audiences because they look more "masculine" than Inomata's?

And I notice the "Japaneseness" of Graces in things like the opening theme. Like, the English version's lyrics' concept of being there for someone makes more sense in Western culture than the Japanese lyrics' concept of becoming stronger to protect someone. One could argue they are the same thing but reworded and could be equated to "having someone's back." Regardless, I find it awkward to state it the Japanese way. Of course, reworking concepts that aren't as oft mentioned in Western culture is the localizer's job and not impossible. But I can see it being somewhat problematic in Graces where the turning point of the first part of the game is unmistakably about Asbel's desire to grow stronger and protect.

Either way, the gameplay is engaging and it would be a shame to not have it localized.

[Datschge]

But with Namco Hometek getting bit in the ass financially (and burning up all the earing by Bandai Namco in Japan and Europe while at it)... yeah...

Fixed. The international handling of the Tales series should be done from France or something.

Also US/NA does not equal Western.

[Kogahazan]

Also US/NA does not equal Western.

I'm assuming that was directed at me. Fair enough. I was making an apparently incorrect assumption that all Western cultures, being traditionally far removed from Japanese culture, does not phrase their feelings/values in such a way as the Japanese. But out of curiosity, show me a non-US/NA Western culture where someone would explicitly and undeniably say, for instance, "I want to go to the gym and work out in order to get stronger so I can protect my loved one" using exactly those words, or the equivalent of those words in said culture's language.