Sekai Project's new licenses

[Darklord Rooke]

34 minutes ago, Crayten said:

It took them over a year to send me my grisaia backer rewards....

Still not slow compared to JAST. I think this is 5 years or so since they started promoting Outlaw Django, and JAST has been sitting on the completed Seinarukana for how long now?

I'm also getting a good chuckle from those mocking Sekai's line up. I'm hoping these people are not supporting ANY localiser then (and are reading games in native JP,) considering the best part of the line up of all 3 big localising companies is shit. 

[ChaosRaven]

34 minutes ago, Valmore said:

So what I get from reading this thread is:

Sekai Project is the George RR Martin of VN translations?

If you were referring to my post where I was joking about the release date - just ignore it! I actually mistook Sekai Project for Jast. In my defense, it was very early in the morning and my mind needs at least one hour more to wake up than my body... 

[Soulless Watcher]

Just now, ChaosRaven said:

If you were referring to my post where I was joking about the release date - just ignore it! I actually mistook Sekai Project for Jast. In my defense, it was very early in the morning and my mind needs at least one hour more to wake up than my body... 

Haha, don't feel too bad. I estimate about half of my posts are garbage that has been produced by a sleep deprived mind.

[hitoribocchi]

It'd be swell if a different Favorite title got licensed instead (I'm looking at you, Irohika).

KARAKARA looks cute though, guess that's something for me to look forward to.

[Darklord Rooke]

3 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

Everything in the description of Sakura Dungeon screams Demon Master Chris 2, so I'll keep an eye on that one since I liked the first one.

You should hold off until there's more information, and be prepared to just ignore it. One of the biggest and hardest jobs in creating an RPG is the balance, it can take years to get the balance in difficulty both correct and consistent throughout the game. Nothing that Winged Cloud has done provides any evidence that they're familiar with RPG design, and so you shouldn't really go leaping in until you see more information imo  

[solidbatman]

After Sakura Santa, I have absolutely no faith in Winged Cloud to do anything other than take a giant runny dump all over everyone and sleep on pillows of money from dumb ass horny 13 years olds/ weeb trash.

 

[Mr Poltroon]

3 minutes ago, solidbatman said:

After Sakura Santa, I have absolutely no faith in Winged Cloud to do anything other than take a giant runny dump all over everyone and sleep on pillows of money from dumb ass horny 13 years olds/ weeb trash.

 

Sensible people who enjoyed Sakura Santa do exist. I'm sure some people will enjoy Sakura Dungeon, too.

[Deep Blue]

I'm sure youtubers are really glad to see another winged cloud game because those are the ones who profit the most with those types of novels.  
I would bet that they even make more money than winged cloud itself.

[solidbatman]

2 hours ago, Tiagofvarela said:

Sensible people who enjoyed Sakura Santa do exist. I'm sure some people will enjoy Sakura Dungeon, too.

Well in my completely objective, and correct opinion, they are all wrong, and are terrible people. 

[VirginSmasher]

I think that Sekai Project needs to release more untranslated visual novels because the bigger titles they have released so far are already translated titles and basically making money off of previously translated visual novels. They need to introduce more titles like Root Double to the West that haven't been translated prior to the official release. I'm not saying to stop releasing already translated visual novels because fan TLs promote piracy. I mean, look at how Fuwanovel used to be. It's just that I feel people would want unTLed VNs over the fan translated one's they've probably already played prior.

[Decay]

Well, Wagamama High Spec is supposedly coming out close to the Japanese release date in late march. There's also Tenshin Ranman and Chrono Clock for other "big" titles in their pipeline, and the Grisaia sequels (although admittedly they were in the process of being fan translated). They've also been releasing a lot of new translations for a whole boatload of smaller stuff, like their yuri titles, this newly announced KARAKARA, the Fault series, etc.

~~~

Insem says that he isn't aware of the Staircase translation being used. And it's his translation, so...

 

edit: This begs the question, if this isn't going to be an "easy" fan patch adaption, then why pick an already translated title? Even if this comes from Favorite, I have to wonder about this. Wouldn't everyone profit more if they release a newly translated title instead?

[VirginSmasher]

1 hour ago, Decay said:

Well, Wagamama High Spec is supposedly coming out close to the Japanese release date in late march. There's also Tenshin Ranman and Chrono Clock for other "big" titles in their pipeline, and the Grisaia sequels (although admittedly they were in the process of being fan translated). They've also been releasing a lot of new translations for a whole boatload of smaller stuff, like their yuri titles, this newly announced KARAKARA, the Fault series, etc.

I'm not asking for a translation of Dies Irae or something like that (although I'm pretty sure it would do well with a Kickstarter, which Sekai Project has a fetish for) but more titles on the level of Grisaia and G Senjou No Maou that aren't translated. Although I am looking forward to Chrono Clock, whenever they finish it.

[banas002]

Can I hope they will translating other titles from FAVORITE after this?

I mean Hoshimemo is 9 years old and had fan translation already.

[Arcadeotic]

4 minutes ago, banas002 said:

Can I hope they will translating other titles from FAVORITE after this?

I mean Hoshimemo is 9 years old and had fan translation already.

There is a possibility of such an event happening, but it's not a given by no stretch of the imagination

[Darklord Rooke]

To be honest, the role of 'Publisher' in the digital age is becoming a task more and more people can do by themselves. Publishers help make a product ready to market, then they market and advertise, then they distribute, but if all you're doing is releasing something on Steam then the distribution part is can be handled themselves. Sekai have never been VERY big on marketing, and I'm sure the bigger studios is Japan think they can hire an English marketer who can do that job adequately. The only question is whether they can translate and edit a product for the Western audience adequately, and I suppose a few VN studios, like Key who seem to like having a good deal of control over its products, have thought "we can do that!"

[sanahtlig]

2 hours ago, Decay said:

This begs the question, if this isn't going to be an "easy" fan patch adaption, then why pick an already translated title? Even if this comes from Favorite, I have to wonder about this. Wouldn't everyone profit more if they release a newly translated title instead?

Not necessarily.  Sekai Project has suggested in the past that they like to pick up titles with name recognition in the West (source).  Most of these happen to be titles that have been fan-translated or had a popular anime adapation.  It's a mistake to assume that the crowd that buys VNs on Steam is the same crowd that plays fan-translated VNs.  It's not a mistake to assume that these people are influenced by the crowd that plays fan-translated VNs.

Everyone has to keep in mind that Sekai Project has a marketing budget of zero or close to it.  They want titles they can sell to people (not necessarily us) with no marketing effort on their part.  Fan-translated titles are good for that.

 

[Stormwolf]

3 hours ago, Decay said:

Well, Wagamama High Spec is supposedly coming out close to the Japanese release date in late march. There's also Tenshin Ranman and Chrono Clock for other "big" titles in their pipeline, and the Grisaia sequels (although admittedly they were in the process of being fan translated). They've also been releasing a lot of new translations for a whole boatload of smaller stuff, like their yuri titles, this newly announced KARAKARA, the Fault series, etc.

~~~

Insem says that he isn't aware of the Staircase translation being used. And it's his translation, so...

 

edit: This begs the question, if this isn't going to be an "easy" fan patch adaption, then why pick an already translated title? Even if this comes from Favorite, I have to wonder about this. Wouldn't everyone profit more if they release a newly translated title instead?

Sekai strikes me as a bunch of morons. I completely agree, they should not release a already translated title. People who are interested in it have probably already read it anyway.

[Darklord Rooke]

4 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

I completely agree, they should not release a already translated title. People who are interested in it have probably already read it anyway.

It’s not the black or white scenario you try and paint. Muv Luv, G-Senjou, Clannad, all saw fans clamoring for an official release.

[sanahtlig]

25 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

 

[Maxel]

I wonder how many people would be mad if Fate Stay Night get official release  And if it won't use existing translation(s).

[CeruleanGamer]

4 hours ago, sanahtlig said:

Not necessarily.  Sekai Project has suggested in the past that they like to pick up titles with name recognition in the West (source).  Most of these happen to be titles that have been fan-translated or had a popular anime adapation.  It's a mistake to assume that the crowd that buys VNs on Steam is the same crowd that plays fan-translated VNs.  It's not a mistake to assume that these people are influenced by the crowd that plays fan-translated VNs.

Everyone has to keep in mind that Sekai Project has a marketing budget of zero or close to it.  They want titles they can sell to people (not necessarily us) with no marketing effort on their part.  Fan-translated titles are good for that.

As someone who works with marketing, I would have done the same. You have way more success selling a product that already has built a reputation even if it's bad than something that is foreign, new, and obscure. Can't blame them for wanting to get some easy money from it. Heck, you know what guys? We can make our own company and do the same thing as what Sekai Project is doing. Bet we have 50 different people in here that could make dovac a sorry ass of a CEO when compared to our awesome Fuwanovel personnel and if we combine all our talented fantranslators to coordinate and work together, we can translate White Album 2, Dies Irae, and Baldr Sky in less than a year. Hehehe.... yeah right...  

But the only difference is, these guys are do-ers, not people just waiting for something to happen. They don't care what we think, what other haters think, and just execute. It's something I admire from Sekai Project even if what they are doing is destroying the loyalty and trust they built with their long time fans and VN fans in general. 

[Funnerific]

5 minutes ago, CeruleanGamer said:

But the only difference is, these guys are do-ers, not people just waiting for something to happen. They don't care what we think, what other haters think, and just execute. It's something I admire from Sekai Project even if what they are doing is destroying the loyalty and trust they built with their long time fans and VN fans in general. 

And that's exactly why people call Sekai the Hitler of visual novels.

[sanahtlig]

I more or less view Sekai Project as the company trying to bring visual novels to the masses.  They do this by focusing on non-adult titles they can sell on Steam and fund on Kickstarter, sidestepping adult content as necessary to achieve this.  From a political standpoint, that puts me at ideological odds with Sekai Project, since I'm a "special interest" that wants to see eroge succeed in a hostile environment that systematically discriminates against the genre.  As a result I view SP and all their activities through a lens of suspicion, and I suspect I will continue to do so for the forseeable future.

This is a fight that SP will constantly have to wage.  It's difficult to appeal both to eroge fans and Steam users at the same time.  You get cozy with one audience at the risk of alienating the other.  Until I see SP make a commitment to championing the type of content I care about, I'll likely continue to regard them with apathy.  There really is an element of ideology to it, and MiKandi Japan and even Winged Cloud (to some extent) have leveraged that to their benefit.

[Okarin]

I'd like to play Hoshimemo. IIRC the game I had crashed on me after some time into the novel, so if I can fully play it, I'll support it.

[Darklord Rooke]

7 hours ago, Funnerific said:

And that's exactly why people call Sekai the Hitler of visual novels.

Your typical internet denizen would call Sekai the 'Hitler' of VNs more out of ignorance and their desire for dramatics than anything Sekai is doing. Hitler was actually quite popular for the majority of his time in power, and many historians believe he still had the support of the public behind him in July 1944. You have to remember the crippling sanctions imposed on Germany after WW1 (by France for example) were strangling them as a nation. He stabalised the economy, unemployment sank under his rule, and he ripped up the hateful treaties enforced on Germany by the rest of the world. He was something of a hero at one point. Historians point to this situation as one of the main reasons the EU should wipe Greece’s debt away, they say we've been through this situation before.

To then say “oh, Sekai don’t care what others think. They must be Hitler” is just ignorant and dramatic:

“I will trawl through history and try and compare this situation to the most evil one I can find, because I am young and emo and nothing but the most extreme example can justify my youthful angst. I don’t care if the example is relevant or not, GIVE ME AN EXAMPLE TO COMPARE THIS SITUATION TO! Oh woe, nobody understands me, if I were to kill myself now would there be a Juliet to grieve for me …" is what I envisage these people are like.