Infernoplex

I didn't back Iroseka KS, so I have no horse in this race, but I just wanted to share the following image as I found the subject relevant xD I know Sekai is not a saint either, but in this case, I found it funny how they compare to Sol Press in this "asking for refund" case.

I see. Well, I wish you luck in finding someone who'd be interested in doing VNs.

Oh, thanks! Never played that one, so didn't know. I need to check that VN out. That character design is top notch Wait. Does that mean you have a JP -> ENG TLer after all? Or is that person only interested in TLing manga?

Ah, no thanks. I can't read Spanish, so it'd be of no use to me, sorry xD That's primarily why I asked. I was confused, wondering if I am at the right place. I don't know many fanTL groups who are trying to translate from Japanese into 2 foreign languages at the same time. Anyway, this question may be off topic, but... who's that in your avatar? I don't recognize her. Character from which VN? I assume it's a VN

This your site?

Thanks, and I hope so too I'm not as involved in that project as I should be, but I know the other folks are motivated to finish it. We talked the other day about maybe doing a patch for the second Noratoto, but that depends on TLer's motivations and other things. While I'd love for both of these to happen, I don't want to get anyone's hopes high just yet. I don't know what they are doing right now, but I pray to God they are not butchering my dear Cocoro Function

There's one other thing about them to have in mind too. They let JAST license one of their older games back in the day. Or at least, JAST's subsidiary. So they definitely knew about one of the localizers at the time they released their first butchered translation (IMHHW). We can't say they didn't know at least something about the English side of localization business. Harukaze, maybe, but PULLTOP definitely wasn't completely ignorant on the matters of localization with their first western release. Actually... scratch that. Considering in what a poor state IMHHW came out, I guess their one partnership with JAST was for nothing. Definitely true, and I wish it wasn't like this. Noratoto deserved more than a lackluster translation and a butchered all-ages release. Fair, I can agree on them partially being at fault for that. I just feel more angry at Harukaze than Fruitbat regarding all of this. I see them as the main party at fault here.

Yeah, of course, there are companies that can be convinced to mend their ways. But for every such example, there's another counterexample. To this day, nobody managed to convince PULLTOP/Moenovel to give us 18+ releases of their VNs, and it's widely speculated that Sekai didn't manage to convince Giga to give them a license for the 18+ release of Baldr Sky. There are likely more examples that I can't recall right now. What stopped Harukaze from reaching out to the fans and asking directly? Nothing. If a company like Nexton can do it, I don't see any reason why other companies can't do it too. Also, I am quite confused as to why Harukaze picked up Fruitbat of all to advise them. We clearly have more established companies than them, and yet they specifically wanted Fruitbat. It's like they were purposefully trying to avoid localizers who deal with 18+ content (and therefore seeking only companies that won't bother them about it). Oh, that's definitely true, but it doesn't make Fruitbat the most responsible party for the lack of 18+ in my eyes. There are things I'd blame them a lot for, but the lack of an 18+ release isn't one.

Not every JP dev is the same. Just because JAST managed to convince one doesn't mean anybody else can manage to convince any other JP dev. Granted, it's likely that Fruitbat doesn't have this negotiating power like JAST does (nor does Fruitbat look like they would care enough to bother that hard to get that 18+), but the final decision still lies at the JP side. If Harukaze had wanted it, they would've went a different route and got someone else to advise them. I mean... how did they even turn to Fruitbat of all in the first place :face_palm: Not necessarily true at all. While Fruitbat indeed has no real incentive to bother Harukaze about it, that doesn't necessarily mean we would have 18+ version had some other company like Sekai or JAST taken the role of the advisor. You're saying this as if it would be easy to convince Harukaze to do something they may be very reluctant to do, no matter who bothered them about it. JP devs can be both easy and difficult to deal with. Who knows what's in these people's minds over there...

Thank for the voice of sanity @Inflatable Lemon.

I've looked at this project on and off, and I have to say that I admire your persistence. I don't know if you're still active, but judging by the amount of years that went by since the start of the project, it's amazing to see your last post is still from this year. I think 3 or 4 months have passed since your last update. How are things going? You still genki?

Forgive Shogun, he's not the best when it comes to announcing new information. I didn't bother to correct him, as I am too tired to say it every time.

Didn't read it yet, but yeah, for those kinds of protagonists, it's super disappointing when they are not voiced.

Oh, I see. Yeah, I agree. Japanese developers do this for "self-insert" purposes (as well as to save costs on hiring one more VA), but I'm more fond of VNs that have all characters voiced, including protagonists. It's a shame, but the way of the industry is such that the VNs featuring voices for the whole cast are in minority.

I heard pretty bad things about Ryuusei World Actor, so I am not sure that one is worth a localization just yet. But, Iwaihime and other DiGination titles look interesting enough. As for whether we are drifting away from those possibilities... yeah, I kinda feel like that too. This model doesn't seem like a good one to me. Who knows, maybe they prove us wrong in a year or two when it comes out completely, and people buy it in droves, but I wouldn't put my bets on it. Strange you say that. If I recall correctly, you were fine with no voices in Rance and Evenicle. Or is it only something you are fine with when the title has good gameplay, lore, and story? xD

I'm not so sure about that. I think they decided to do Noratoto 2 before they were even done with Noratoto 1. They picked this one up so quickly that I don't believe it was a decision based on how well the first one sold. It was likely in the process of localization right after they released the first one or at least sometime before they even finished putting it up on Steam.

I've never seen or heard of a freelancer being the one doing the exploiting. I'm sorry Ange, but I call bullshit on it. There are definitely bad people here and there, but in this tightly knit community, I believe we would have already heard of those "evil freelancers" who screw over companies by now. And even if there were such cases, they are in minority compared to what companies are doing to freelancers.

Already got US$79,974. Yeah, it's already going better than the Iroseka KS did xD

Good luck. You're gonna need it. Most worthwhile TLers/editors already work only officially, so finding fresh blood for any kind of fanTL project is incredibly difficult. But, if you manage to polish ittaku's work and release that as a patch, it's still gonna be a great success. This was a beast of a project to pick up, so managing to finish even a half of it is amazing.

That's a different matter. For one, most people hate Activision. We desire their and similar companies' demise. I don't have such strong feelings for VN developers or localization companies (except SakuraGame and their ilk).

That's fair. Don't know about ALcot's titles, but I'd be grieving over PULLTOP, even though some of their newer titles seem to be on a downward trend in quality.

Oh, sorry. Didn't realize you were talking about the number of VN devs, not titles. Yeah, now that you mention it, that seems true. Actually, on that note, we did have some companies that came out of the blue lately... but I have an impression they are not gonna stay in the industry for long.

Actually, from what I heard, it's the opposite. The Japanese VN market is apparently shrinking. This is why companies like minori and sprite ceased VN development. That's why I'm not sure about the oversaturation you mentioned. I have an impression less and less VNs are made each year now. I think the problem is something else. Oversaturation may be playing a part in it, but not entirely. If you ask me, I think the real oversaturated market is here, not in Japan. We're having so many localizations now that some titles are bombing hard due to so many releases being pumped out quickly. That's at least the impression I have, and I may be wrong. That's the only saving grace here. The staff can move on to different companies and still develop VNs. So the death of one company doesn't necessarily mean the end of career for these people. I was waiting for your post, Mr. Kokoro

This is why I said "never mind" xD I may be wording myself poorly, but... no, I don't have any personal feelings for Feng. I never read any works by them and I am not really a fan of theirs (yet). I only know them by a couple of their old titles that got anime adaptations, and that's about it. I definitely agree that any VN dev that fans don't want to support should go under. That was never the point of contention for me. I'm now hearing that they were selling their newest game for a price many Japanese eroge fans didn't feel comfortable with, so even if the game may or may not have been shit, the price would've always been an issue. They made some poor business choices and went under. At least, that's what I gather. I'm not really knowledgable about their titles, how good they were or not, or how good their decision-making was, and I am certainly not gonna judge a company based on things I know little about. With all of that said... I am not happy about a random VN dev going under. I am sad for some of them, and for some of them I am indifferent. But one thing I am not... I am not happy about it. I don't jump out in joy at every VN dev's death. I've been observing the fandom lately, and I've seen some folks who are very happy every time a VN dev dies. I'm not saying anybody here is in that crowd of folks I am talking about. I don't think a VN dev failure is necessarily a cause for celebration. That's what I meant by my earlier posts. It's natural for companies to die all the time, and I certainly am not arguing that a poor business should stay afloat. Sorry if I made it seem that way earlier.

You're missing my point again, but it doesn't matter. Never mind.