Discussion Seinarukana is (probably) coming out very soon, not that you'd know

[Decay]

 

From the creators of Aselia the Eternal and Yumina the Ethereal comes Seinarukana, the sequel to Aselia. Set in the same world but with an all-new cast, Seinarukana is a highly rated and respected H-RPG/VN hybrid. The gameplay resembles Ogre Battle a little where you order multiple parties around to fight for control over a larger map, capturing towns and harvesting resources. From what I know, playing Aselia first is optional. Description gracelessly stolen from VNDB (thanks sanahtlig!):

Seinarukana follows the dimension-traveling adventures of Nozomu and his band of friends. The story opens in a typical high school in Japan. Nozomu's everyday life is shattered when the school is suddenly attacked by strange invaders from another world wielding medieval weapons and fantastic magics. Amidst the chaos he and others awake to supernatural powers that had long lied dormant--powers inherited from a previous life. When the dust settles the entire campus has dimension shifted, and the students find themselves stranded in an alien world. While at first they simply seek to return to their own world, they gradually become entangled in a dimension-spanning intrigue that threatens the entire multiverse. In the process, Nozomu and friends discover the nature of their powers, and memories of their former lives begin to awaken.

 

This game's translation has been in the works for a very long time, and after years of delays and poorly scheduled development, it's finally releasing. When? This month! Maybe early next! But it's really soon! Seriously, its release is actually imminent. Not that you'd know this unless you were REALLY closely paying attention. But at AX JAST announced that it would be released this September. And, well, it's September! When Shiny Days was delayed, someone asked JAST if Seinarukana was still on track for September, and they basically reaffirmed it. Their project status page says that all they have left to do is produce some of the Limited Edition goodies and they'll be ready to ship. I'm still not fully confident that it will be out this month just because it's JAST and you never know with them, but it's seriously not going to take much longer. 

 

So where are the preorders? The PR push? Any marketing at all, even simple tweets? You've got me. Shiny Days and Starless were preceded by months of promotional tweeting, which isn't that big of a deal but at least it's something. JAST is taking the bold strategy of "release the game and tell no one about it until it happens." Ask Sega how well that worked with the Saturn. I wonder how salty the translator Aroduc will get over this, considering his reaction to Romanesque's release. My guess is that they don't want to get hopes up with pre-release hype and then get hit by even more backlash if something unexpected happens and they're forced to delay. But that doesn't really explain the complete radio silence. They really ought to be telling people about this game. Because it's good! And people deserve to know about it, and it deserves to sell well! Aroduc is a solid translator and his work should be rewarded! So I guess I'm here to do the job JAST won't.

 

And yes, yes, you can unleash all of your jokes about how this game is never getting released, JAST time, etc. But also feel free to actually talk about the game. These dark times are finally coming to an end.

[Decay]

I dislike gameplay elements in VN so I will probably skip this one 

thank you for making this the first post in this thread

[Kawasumi]

Think I might give this a chance even though I dont find Aselia that appealing (but this has h-scenes :^) )

[sanahtlig]

I wrote an entire article pleading with JAST to not make the same mistakes with Seinarukana that they made with Yumina the Ethereal.  And yet here we are months later--with Seinarukana in even worse condition marketing-wise than Yumina the Ethereal was.

JAST’s failure to market Seinarukana as an RPG could doom English H-RPGs

Yumina the Ethereal: The first high-profile official H-RPG release in English…but will JAST drop the ball and forget to market it?

 

Notable quote: 

Peter Payne, owner of VN publisher JAST and the J-List empire, made the following comment in their official forums:

  ... it's a challenge when games are big and expensive. One thing we're not too happy about is the way RPGs take 2-3x the resources yet sell about as well as any other game. While we've released some nice ones, and have an amazing game coming out soon (Seinarukana is nearly ready to start promotion on), unless we can see increased interest by fans it'll be hard to choose another one in the near future.

 

 

I created a thread on JAST's forums to gather marketing suggestions for Seinarukana, and I bumped it again today.  I hope they're listening.

[Mr Poltroon]

This popped into my head, is there any particular reason promotion of a product is supposed to start before that product is released?

Wouldn't the effect be the same if they started promotion/marketing after release?

[SilverLi]

Not a single word about this game. Complains about the expensive localization cost. I don't get it JAST. 

 

But I am hyped. I want to play H-RPG games. The past 2 - 3 months were so terrible I did play a couple of games with only the menus translated and replayed a couple of the Rance games. 

 

I really wish this is a success but it is a niche market. I am definitely buying it.

[sanahtlig]

This popped into my head, is there any particular reason promotion of a product is supposed to start before that product is released?

Wouldn't the effect be the same if they started promotion/marketing after release?

No, because buzz is time-sensitive and has to be concentrated within a window of time to be most effective--this is because buzz is essentially a communal affair, a sort of social gathering to celebrate shared interests.  It's a lot like organizing a party; success of the party depends on gathering a sufficient number of people in the right place at the right time--spread out the party over several days or weeks and it'll fail to draw an audience.  The window of opportunity for any game is right at its release.  If the pre-orders aren't primed, if people aren't already excited about the game when it releases, then that opportunity is squandered.  People following the game will buy it, play it, and won't talk about it.  People who weren't actively following the game will never hear about it.  Sufficient buzz won't be generated to garner the attention of the casual players the game has to reach to succeed.

 

Not to mention piracy will corrode at sales over time.  Some casuals will get the game from the first source they notice.  If that source is JAST USA, that results in a sale.  If it's a pirate site, that potential sale is lost.

[Decay]

This popped into my head, is there any particular reason promotion of a product is supposed to start before that product is released?

Wouldn't the effect be the same if they started promotion/marketing after release?

 

Before a product's release, excitement levels rarely drop, ideally it keeps building up as you go through your PR cycle, as the customers have no release for their excitement. When done correctly, hype reaches critical mass just prior to the game's release. When this happens, the hype goes viral, people tell their friends about the game, etc. Your customers do the lion's share of the work for you at that point. Then you release, everyone who was excited for it plays it, they talk about it for a couple weeks, and then are forever silent. If you do your marketing after release, it is substantially less effective because you can't build up those hype levels among people who are already playing it, and it doesn't spread as widely. 

 

edit: And Sanah just barely beats me to the punch. There's also the factor that money now is better than money later. Even if you could get an equal number of sales by marketing post release (you can't), you want that money as soon as possible so you can invest it back into your company.

[Mr Poltroon]

I see, that makes sense. Indeed.

[AaronIsCrunchy]

This looks really promising. I find the whole thing surrounding lack of publicising kinda amusing in a way - granted, without them doing so it may struggle to achieve widespread interest, but all the while threads like this are made it's still able to be advertised (not that this is a bad thing). Is it perhaps arrogance on their part that they believe themselves to be large enough that the community will hype their products for them? Either way, keep up the good work

 

EDIT: Took me so long to type this out that more or less the same was said twice (I think). Eh well.

[SilverLi]

@Sanah

I bet you already played Seinarukana. What is your opinion on the game compared to other translated titles? I have a philosophy not watching gameplays/trailers but it is alright if I read some reviews or thoughts about games. Don't even ask why that's how I am.

 

I read your blog about "JAST failure could doom the market" and you praise it compared to other translated games. Is it one of the better translated H-RPG games when it is released?

[sanahtlig]

@Sanah

I bet you already played Seinarukana. What is your opinion on the game compared to other translated titles? I have a philosophy not watching gameplays/trailers but it is alright if I read some reviews or thoughts about games. Don't even ask why that's how I am.

 

I read your blog about "JAST failure could doom the market" and you praise it compared to other translated games. Is it one of the better translated H-RPG games when it is released?

[Crayten]

There are 2 possible scenarios. They start the marketing after Shiny Days release or its getting delayed a few months.

And yes there could be a third option aka jast is dumb and dont marketing the game at all but i rule that scenario out for now.

[Josephl64]

I love h-rpgs so I'm definitely going to get this, however at this rate...I fear that JAST may not release many more eroge rpgs if this fails. In that case it'd be more JAST's fault than any fault of the game seeing as how they're treating this title. Hope I'm wrong and the do go full out advertising it after Shiny Days releases.

[Helvetica Standard]

Shiny Days release will likely eclipse any marketing campaign planned for this game.

My guess is that they are keeping quiet because they might be expecting delays or

are more focused on releasing SD. It could be a number of things but in the end it 

boils down to priorities and sales potential.

[TheFantasm]

I'm expecting some "delay" to pop out of nowhere and push it back to Octember.

[Eclipsed]

i swear that bottom left heroine looks like Grisaia's Amane to me

 

I enjoyed Yumina the Ethereal so I'm looking forward to this

[Kaguya]

i swear that bottom left heroine looks like Grisaia's Amane to me

 

I enjoyed Yumina the Ethereal so I'm looking forward to this

[Eclipsed]

Yumina hater.

[Suzu Fanatic]

My personal concern is if the combat is similar to Aselia - it would make multiple playthroughs pretty tedious after a while. Though this looks a lot newer, so hopefully it's a needless worry.

 

Enjoyed Yumina as well as Aselia (first 4 playthroughs ), so I'm looking forward to it.

[OriginalRen]

I dislike gameplay elements in VN so I will probably skip this one 

 

Fucking Mashiro avatar. 55% complete on that game, best in the world. Finally, some good taste.

[sanahtlig]

My personal concern is if the combat is similar to Aselia - it would make multiple playthroughs pretty tedious after a while. Though this looks a lot newer, so hopefully it's a needless worry.

[Suzu Fanatic]

Aselia was released in 2003.  Seinarukana was released in 2007.  I'm kind of amused how you're judging the gameplay by its graphics.

 

Like Aselia, the game is designed to be played three times with ramping difficulty.  A new route unlocks after you beat the game once, as I recall.

[kyrt]

The one thing to make mention of seinarukana I actually think that JAST is purposely not giving these games a whole lot of marketing/attention/etc...simply because of the amount of money and work required for them. Admittedly JAST has also gone on record saying that they do not want pre-orders up for a game until there's like a month or two left before release. The problem with JAST is that a lot of their games get pushed back in their release and in order to keep interest in these games that have been delayed they make no mention of other upcoming games. There is a reason you don't see video game companies releasing games and promoting games around the same time as another of their releases...it's bad marketing. I fully expect that after Shiny Days ships we'll likely see pre-orders go up for Seinarukana (October/November release).

 

As happy as I am for Seinarukana (and I'm really looking forward to it) I couldn't help but also notice that JAST has apparently (after Shiny Days releases) at least 4 games that should be coming in the next 6 or so months....the real question though is which game are they going to hold back for con season next year. 

 

Game Progress

This is a placeholder for now, Hopefully we’ll get a nicer page to replace it soon. Feel free to post in the Ask if we’re missing anything and we’ll try to add it. We’ll try to keep this updated as often as possible.

Late updated: September 7th

Sonicomi —> Translation done, editing.

Sumaga —> Translation done, editing.

Trample on Schatten —> Main scenario 100% translated and edited. Extra content 33% done.

Flowers —> Translation 75% (If I'm not wrong this actually I believe was confirmed for this year?)

Seinarukana —> Translation and coding finished, waiting on LE materials.

Bitch na Ichinichi —> translation 90%

[Decay]

The one thing to make mention of seinarukana I actually think that JAST is purposely not giving these games a whole lot of marketing/attention/etc...simply because of the amount of money and work required for them. Admittedly JAST has also gone on record saying that they do not want pre-orders up for a game until there's like a month or two left before release. The problem with JAST is that a lot of their games get pushed back in their release and in order to keep interest in these games that have been delayed they make no mention of other upcoming games. There is a reason you don't see video game companies releasing games and promoting games around the same time as another of their releases...it's bad marketing. I fully expect that after Shiny Days ships we'll likely see pre-orders go up for Seinarukana (October/November release).

 

As happy as I am for Seinarukana (and I'm really looking forward to it) I couldn't help but also notice that JAST has apparently (after Shiny Days releases) at least 4 games that should be coming in the next 6 or so months....the real question though is which game are they going to hold back for con season next year. 

 

Game Progress

This is a placeholder for now, Hopefully we’ll get a nicer page to replace it soon. Feel free to post in the Ask if we’re missing anything and we’ll try to add it. We’ll try to keep this updated as often as possible.

Late updated: September 7th

Sonicomi —> Translation done, editing.

Sumaga —> Translation done, editing.

Trample on Schatten —> Main scenario 100% translated and edited. Extra content 33% done.

Flowers —> Translation 75% (If I'm not wrong this actually I believe was confirmed for this year?)

Seinarukana —> Translation and coding finished, waiting on LE materials.

Bitch na Ichinichi —> translation 90%