Frontwing announces the next VN they're localizing, and it's... Sharin no Kuni?

[RikiSanic]

You can bet this whole arrangement is because both Frontwing and Akabeisoft2 stand to gain more money. Frontwing gets to publish and manage the Kickstarter, and Akabeisoft2 probably has more control and a bigger cut.

And despite all of Akabeisoft2's meddling with the G-senjou Steam release, it got lukewarm sales. Now that they're crowdfunding, they'll have guaranteed money (as long as it succeeds).

[Chuee]

4 minutes ago, DarkZedge said:

Maybe because they believe SnK and G-Senjou will do better than their other/newer stuff? I mean G-Senjou is damn well known and maybe that's what they're looking to exploit before moving on to their newer vn's? 

I don't think any of their newer titles are worth noting, which is probably why they're hoping to cash in on their two hits with the western market. Specifically, that Boku no Hitori Sensou was hyped as the new Looseboy game, yet it kind of flopped big time. 

[DarkZedge]

5 minutes ago, Chuee said:

I don't think any of their newer titles are worth noting, which is probably why they're hoping to cash in on their two hits with the western market. Specifically, that Boku no Hitori Sensou was hyped as the new Looseboy game, yet it kind of flopped big time. 

I wouldn't say they're worth nothing but I'm completely certain that they'd stand no chance against G-Senjou or SnK, which is why I think they're gonna try to milk those two and exploit them as much as they can before risking to localize their newer / lesser known stuff

[DarkZedge]

12 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

Except you have to factor in that those two are the only AKBS2 VNs that western VN fans have ever known.  If something as popular as G-senjou is selling poorly, imagine how poorly something like Boku no Hitori Sensou, which apparently even flopped in Japan, would go over in the west.  All it would have going for it would be looseboy's name as the writer, and the Akabei Soft2 brand name, and your average Steam dude probably doesn't give a shit about either of those.

Yeah I do get what you're saying, it's true that for them it isn't worth it to localize them. Be it financially or popularity wise.

Which is why they'll be more than likely to focus on their two golden eggs and neglect the other ones. If we look at it in that way it makes total sense that they'd localize SnK before their newer stuff

[Suzu Fanatic]

I always saw it as them wanting to make money back from the games that were heavily pirated, before moving onto anything else.

[Nerathim]

I'm personally very happy of this announcement. Relocalization for titles that are famous for their not-so-good translations is a good thing, really. I just hope the translation will be up to good standards. 

I'm eagerly waiting for it in order to experience the very best of Kenichi. And I guess chances are pretty high that the next localization will be Akatsuki No Goei, but I don't know if AkabeiSoft3 editing it changes something.

[OriginalRen]

What upsets me the most is that all this is doing is asking for money that is not needed whatsoever. Frontwing already earns money in Japan and is a very rich company when it comes to the games they make each year. With anime royalties, a VN market, and other products, why the fuck do they need to run a Kickstarter? If they really want to localize the game all they need to do is buy the rights in Japan, therefore allowing a Western release.

There is absolutely no reason a Kickstarter needs to throw another 400,000 dollars their way. It's shameful as a company and a disgusting practice for an already AAA company that doesn't need the money at all. Why feed them money early, then have to pay 40-50 dollars for the game in the future a second time? We all know the price of the game is going to be expensive, considering a new VN in Japan already sells for 8,800 yen or more.

It's a cash grab and the same kind of bullshit Sunshine pulls with Love Live. This is almost as bad people who preorder games that have no added bonus material whatsoever. It isn't even about the fans at this point...

Doesn't matter I guess as people will still blindly toss money at it no matter what they ask for. Popular games will always, and have always been funded. To give you an example, I bet that if TM launched a Fate Kickstarter asking for 5 million dollars, it would be funded in less than a day. I promise you that.

[solidbatman]

This whole arrangement is dodgy, and Frontwing has been pretty shitty so far in the West. Really would be cautious with this. 

[OriginalRen]

13 minutes ago, solidbatman said:

This whole arrangement is dodgy, and Frontwing has been pretty shitty so far in the West. Really would be cautious with this. 

Honestly, the more I think about it, I believe the only reason they are doing this is to avoid the rules set in place by the ECOJ for selling media in Japan. The "Japan Sales Only" label means that they cannot sell their games outside of the country themselves, so by circumnavigating the issue with a Kickstarter, all they are doing is creating a loophole in order to not only earn extra money they don't need but also avoid being banned from selling their games in the Japanese market. In other words, by going through a 3rd party group, they are hiding their earnings and essentially "dodging" the ECOJ. As long as they aren't the ones selling the game, it's fine. Shady stuff.

[XReaper]

21 minutes ago, OriginalRen said:

What upsets me the most is that all this is doing is asking for money that is not needed whatsoever. Frontwing already earns money in Japan and is a very rich company when it comes to the games they make each year. With anime royalties, a VN market, and other products, why the fuck do they need to run a Kickstarter? If they really want to localize the game all they need to do is buy the rights in Japan, therefore allowing a Western release.

There is absolutely no reason a Kickstarter needs to throw another 400,000 dollars their way. It's shameful as a company and a disgusting practice for an already AAA company that doesn't need the money at all. Why feed them money early, then have to pay 40-50 dollars for the game in the future a second time? We all know the price of the game is going to be expensive, considering a new VN in Japan already sells for 8,800 yen or more.

It's a cash grab and the same kind of bullshit Sunshine pulls with Love Live. This is almost as bad people who preorder games that have no added bonus material whatsoever. It isn't even about the fans at this point...

Doesn't matter I guess as people will still blindly toss money at it no matter what they ask for. Popular games will always, and have always been funded. To give you an example, I bet that if TM launched a Fate Kickstarter asking for 5 million dollars, it would be funded in less than a day. I promise you that.

pretty much the very same with degica if i were to be asked. everything stays in the house & yet they´ve managed to gather a huge shitton of bucks. welcome to hypercapitalism, i guess...?!

[VirginSmasher]

1 hour ago, Nashetania said:

Why would they bother re-translating it? Why not just pick completely different VN to translate?

Because Sharin No Kuni already has a fanbase behind it and translating a new VN that doesn't have a guaranteed fanbase is a big risk for Frontwing. I hate the fact that already translated VNs are getting released but we're gonna have to deal with it because it's the safest option.

My opinion on the matter is I don't care about this release because I've already played Sharin No Kuni and I'll probably get to reading it in Japanese at some point. Plus, I don't trust Frontwing fully on any English release currently.

[the_dive]

Spoiler

 

 

Hope they have a set a low goal.

[sanahtlig]

1 hour ago, OriginalRen said:

Honestly, the more I think about it, I believe the only reason they are doing this is to avoid the rules set in place by the ECOJ for selling media in Japan. The "Japan Sales Only" label means that they cannot sell their games outside of the country themselves, so by circumnavigating the issue with a Kickstarter, all they are doing is creating a loophole in order to not only earn extra money they don't need but also avoid being banned from selling their games in the Japanese market. In other words, by going through a 3rd party group, they are hiding their earnings and essentially "dodging" the ECOJ. As long as they aren't the ones selling the game, it's fine. Shady stuff.

I think you're confused on this matter.  "For sale in Japan only" only applies to eroge.  They're not launching a Kickstarter campaign to release an eroge overseas.

I'm not exactly a fan of Sekai Project, but FrontWing makes Sekai Project look quality-oriented and responsive to fans by comparison.  I don't even need to think hard about this or "wait and see".  There's no way I'm giving Frontwing my money to continue the march towards all-ageification and to treat the Western fanbase like targets for exploitation.  If Sekai Project were releasing it I'd at least give them a fair hearing.

[Chuee]

48 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

You're assuming that there will be a retranslation.  Looking at Frontwing's past actions, I'd say it's a safe guess that they'll just buy the existing fan TL with the Kickstarter money; they've already shown they don't give a shit about translation quality with the ChiruChiru debacle.  Looking at it from a purely business standpoint, it'd be insane to not even consider using the fan TL, as long as it's legible.  The problem is, the fan TL is pretty bad, like, ixrec levels of bad, which was why I thought he was the one that did it.  I'd be surprised if they even did any sort of QC'ing, since at least some people will be guaranteed to buy it even if it's just the bad fan TL and absolutely nothing new.

If that is indeed what they do, then I'd really hope that they fail, because then they'll really deserve it.

I don't think the main game is that badly done. The translator is the same person who did G-Senjou at least, so there shouldn't be any sort of Ixrec-level mistranslations in it. The editing could use work, but that's not enough of a problem in and of itself to require retranslation. 

[Nerathim]

46 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

You're assuming that there will be a retranslation.  Looking at Frontwing's past actions, I'd say it's a safe guess that they'll just buy the existing fan TL with the Kickstarter money; they've already shown they don't give a shit about translation quality with the ChiruChiru debacle.  Looking at it from a purely business standpoint, it'd be insane to not even consider using the fan TL, as long as it's legible.  The problem is, the fan TL is pretty bad, like, ixrec levels of bad, which was why I thought he was the one that did it.  I'd be surprised if they even did any sort of QC'ing, since at least some people will be guaranteed to buy it even if it's just the bad fan TL and absolutely nothing new.

If that is indeed what they do, then I'd really hope that they fail, because then they'll really deserve it.

 

They won't be able to keep on going that way forever though. I mean, they must be conscious of their past failures to some extent, I can't see people buying the exact same so-so localization, much less backing it. This is going to hit them back at one point anyway.

And poor Ixrec don't deserve all that hate, most of his translations certainly have great room for improvement but he's able to pull off decent stuff. He did a good job on Inganock and Sharnoth (even bothering to use British english in the latter, he's trying at least) and given how fast he translated Rewrite I was personally impressed by how readable it was. It's still far from being as bad as Clannad's first TL.

[sanahtlig]

The sample I saw of an Ixrec translation was a brutally efficient literal translation--the sort of translation a highly evolved machine translator that understood context would produce.  I wish I could translate like that, because sometimes quantity > quality.  Instead I'm stuck rewriting sentences because I don't know any better.  I know if I were bound to English releases only, I'd likely prefer 3-5 Ixrec translations over 1 superior translation.

[jetpack003]

So is there anything new in this version. Anything extra like CGs or something?

[Maxel]

They do realize that they're asking visual novel fans for sponsoring this visual novel, right?

If they exepct people to fund censored all-ages release with not exactly good fan translation...

Good luck, they will need it.  

[sanahtlig]

26 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

As far as I know, that applies to all-ages Japanese VNs, though.  I had to get my copy of Rose Guns Days re-shipped, and there's no h-scenes in that one.  I'm pretty sure most places that sell Japanese VNs won't sell them to you if you live in the west, regardless of the content.  Not sure if they're just doing it to be safe and there's no rules against it, or it's a blanket ban on VNs themselves.

What's this?

Or this?

Or for that matter, this?

[Decay]

32 minutes ago, sanahtlig said:

The sample I saw of an Ixrec translation was a brutally efficient literal translation--the sort of translation a highly evolved machine translator that understood context would produce.  I wish I could translate like that, because sometimes quantity > quality.  Instead I'm stuck rewriting sentences because I don't know any better.  I know if I were bound to English releases only, I'd likely prefer 3-5 Ixrec translations over 1 superior translation.

I sure as hell wouldn't. I don't have enough time to read every new release as it is. Why would I need even more, faster? And if I could read them all in time, there's always a life outside of eroge/VNs. I don't want a life full of mediocre experiences. Give me quality over quantity literally every single time, please.

[sanahtlig]

1 minute ago, Decay said:

I sure as hell wouldn't. I don't have enough time to read every new release as it is. Why would I need even more, faster?

Because maybe only 1 out of 20 games are worth reading in the first place, regardless of how well translated they are.  It doesn't matter if the game is good if it doesn't appeal to your specific interests (e.g., loli, NTR, gameplay).

[Decay]

4 hours ago, Rooke said:

They've already released a localised VN, if you recall. Also, according to Herkz Frontwing is just using the already existing fan-tl for this.

As a little followup to this, the game's translator posted on VNDB just recently that he was initially contacted a while back about this, told them that his fan translation wasn't good enough and shouldn't be used, then seemingly never heard from them again. So it seems unlikely that they're going to be using it. FW wanting to cover the localization costs ahead of time might be the reason for the kickstarter.

[Scorp]

Frontwing retranslating Sharin? Wtf. It would be better than fan translation? Like hell it would. Frontwing seems even worse than SP, indeed.

Who told that Ixrec translated Sharin? Why Sharin translation is "quite literal"? o_O I played this one - http://tlwiki.org/index.php?title=Sharin_no_Kuni,_Himawari_no_Shoujo and there is the_n00b_avenger and Moogy all the way. These guys did a bad translation? Where is proofs then, like the ones I saw for Cross+Channel (and that's why I really waiting for C+C retranslation if it ever occurs)?

[OriginalRen]

3 hours ago, sanahtlig said:

I think you're confused on this matter.  "For sale in Japan only" only applies to eroge.  They're not launching a Kickstarter campaign to release an eroge overseas.

I'm not exactly a fan of Sekai Project, but FrontWing makes Sekai Project look quality-oriented and responsive to fans by comparison.  I don't even need to think hard about this or "wait and see".  There's no way I'm giving Frontwing my money to continue the march towards all-ageification and to treat the Western fanbase like targets for exploitation.  If Sekai Project were releasing it I'd at least give them a fair hearing.

I never said the Japan sales were for all video games, merely that the group is responsible for managing all digital media aspects. I also completely disagree with your comment about the loophole being exploited, because the way it's setup, Frontwing has no reason to launch a Kickstarter.

[Decay]

22 minutes ago, Scorp said:

Frontwing retranslating Sharin? Wtf. It would be better than fan translation? Like hell it would. Frontwing seems even worse than SP, indeed.

Who told that Ixrec translated Sharin? Why Sharin translation is "quite literal"? o_O I played this one - http://tlwiki.org/index.php?title=Sharin_no_Kuni,_Himawari_no_Shoujo and there is the_n00b_avenger and Moogy all the way. These guys did a bad translation? Where is proofs then, like the ones I saw for Cross+Channel (and that's why I really waiting for retranslation if it ever occurs)?

Pretty much everyone involved with that translation has said they don't think they did a good job, moogy and the n00b avenger included. The translator even told frontwing they shouldn't use the translation because it wasn't good enough. 

But now Moogy is saying on irc that it's a revised version of the fan translation. He isn't involved, this one is all FW.