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G-senjou no Maou LIVE on Steam


Hackrabbits

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I realize that my last post is a bit silly sounding, normally you would assume nothing is happening in the absence of any proof of it happening, rather than the opposite. And I don't begrudge anyone for thinking that way. The one thing we have to go off of is the remark they made during AX or Otakon this year (I forget which) which heavily implied that they want to continue releasing 18+ versions of the games that have them via Denpasoft. For some reason they can't say this outright. But I'm naive and hopelessly optimistic at the strangest things and this is one of those things, so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and will be running under the assumption that we'll get an 18+ release of g-senjou. And of Tenshin Ranman, Wagahigh, Chrono Clock, and everything else. Because ultimately the return is very likely to outweigh the cost of doing so, so why not? They've also been talking about expanding staff in order to promote and support the Denpasoft side of their business better, something they wouldn't do if they were going to give up on it. 

 

If you want to be pessimistic about it, that's okay too. I think I'll stop harping on people for being so until they establish a better track record. We'll see starting with this release, I suppose.

 

 

edit: Also I support the all-ages conversion of any and all VNs for Steam release. Hell, I'd even support that phony all-ages version of Euphoria if it was real. :makina:

Expanding the market is a positive thing. And it's not like it diminishes the 18+ side at all, either, considering the record sales MangaGamer has been seeing on their own site after going big on Steam. 

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The main reason people are salty is because on top of prioritizing the all ages version, SP is just too quiet about the 18+ version, even on the Denpasoft side. Nobody likes being ignored.

They really haven't built costumer trust as far as the 18+ releases go, and that's kind of a problem, but at the same time, they've only recently been releasing big eroge and Grisaia did eventually get a 18+ release after all the turmoil, so I'd rather wait and see if they actually stay consistent with this cycle, if so, even if I think prioritizing only one version is stupid, at the very least I can rest assured I can get muh porn later.

Either way G-Senjou is still shit so I wasn't going to buy it regardless.:Kappa:

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I'd like to see a comparison of the scenes on the 4:3 original version and the 16:9 version screenshots on Steam. 

They're 16:9 cropped images of the original high resolution 4:3 assets. The character sprites are just scaled down to fit the intended resolution. Compare the VNDB screenshots with the ones on the Steam page for a direct comparison without getting spoiled while viewing a CG set.

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I've read G Senjou before, I was just wondering if they were indeed cropped or re-drawn or something like that. A shame, I personally don't mind cropped images, but there are people out there I've seen get into huge flame wars over it concerning TV shows before.

 

 

The comparison with the images currently shown on the steam store would be interesting, just to show how much is cropped out. I mean finding the scenes shown in the VN on Steam's page and the scenes in the original VN, to see how much is cut.

 

I also just noticed it now has a text box when previously it didn't, I hope there is an option to go back to that, if I want to replay it and play the Steam release, it's pointless to be widescreen if 30% of the image is cut off in a giant text box.

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The main reason people are salty is because on top of prioritizing the all ages version, SP is just too quiet about the 18+ version, even on the Denpasoft side. Nobody likes being ignored.

This is the golden quote. If over 80-90% of VNs wasn't 18+ I probably wouldn't mind that much, but when original VN is 18+ and then they're creating some "ports" for age restricted consoles like Vita/PS3, I would prefer to play original one, without any censors/cuts.

Dunno how others feel. If dovac or anyone from SP would openly state "Yes, all of our all-ages Vita ports will also be released as 18+ uncut on Denpa" Or something like that, and I would halt my salt stream. I won't support any crappy all-ages ports... And I don't know why people should do it either. That's not how it should go, they should do their best FOR customers, not the other way around.

 

I stated this on SP forum:

yMQ7Q89.png

 

I think we need to have faith in koestl, sadly he have to translate 2 different versions... and pickup wording for both of them separately.

 

 

@TOPIC

As for G-Senjou, I think we'll have to wait for Steam release and then we may get some infos, for now 18+ versions are treated like "annoying kids in school"

But we already heard that SP got their own strategy for the next years. Maybe it's something like: Let's gather enough VN fanbase through Steam and then leave SP for Manga/All-ages VNs, and release real VNs on Denpa, when fanbase+funds will grow.

 

Time will tell, for now it doesn't look too good.

Who knows...

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The main reason people are salty is because on top of prioritizing the all ages version, SP is just too quiet about the 18+ version, even on the Denpasoft side. Nobody likes being ignored.

They really haven't built costumer trust as far as the 18+ releases go, and that's kind of a problem, but at the same time, they've only recently been releasing big eroge and Grisaia did eventually get a 18+ release after all the turmoil, so I'd rather wait and see if they actually stay consistent with this cycle, if so, even if I think prioritizing only one version is stupid, at the very least I can rest assured I can get muh porn later.

Either way G-Senjou is still shit so I wasn't going to buy it regardless. :Kappa:

 

Lol agreed.

 

But yeah, we all know you can't put porn games on steam. Heck, even with unexposed boobs/genitals rubbing on each other like in a fanservice scene, Steam will flag them and have them removed instantly. But, SP needs to give 18+ versions of VNs just as much attention, or even half the attention of what Alll Ages version get. Like literally, their cycle has been, produce all ages version > focus onto the next game project while we are stuck here going out of our ways to make threads/petitions to have the 18+ version released or pirate some old fanstranslated version of the game.

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Did I told already that I really hate how they did widescreen? Most of event graphics lost part of head (visible clearly in Gonzou case on screenshots), all close-ups would look quite bad in this case (like part of eye not fitting the screen or headless persons or legless guys) - take for example this image for reference (there is much more similar ones, just that's the only one which does not affect the story) - http://psp4real.ru/_tr/ev_other_01.png

 

What would be? Half-headless mobsters or chairless table? :)

 

Anyway, I have my physical box first press release (something with huge artbook for all Akabesoft2 titles), so would not buy that, for sure. Dunno why create widescreen mode this way. For example Regista created PSP port of 4:3 widescreen, and allowed player to scroll image top/bottom/etc., to see whole picture. This is example of how I would like to see that. But... You know what Sekai would do, right? :)

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Did I told already that I really hate how they did widescreen? Most of event graphics lost part of head (visible clearly in Gonzou case on screenshots), all close-ups would look quite bad in this case (like part of eye not fitting the screen or headless persons or legless guys) - take for example this image for reference (there is much more similar ones, just that's the only one which does not affect the story) - http://psp4real.ru/_tr/ev_other_01.png

 

What would be? Half-headless mobsters or chairless table? :)

bruh, that guy looks like japanese yakuza wolverine

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I've seen people whining on steam pages because the game was in 4:3.

People expect games to be 16:9 nowadays, and Steam users usually don't bother checking how old a game is (or any background on the game for that matter), and even if they see it's old, they just expect the publisher to remaster the assets to fit a widescreen aspect ratio anyway.

So that's probably why they did it, although I do agree if they didn't re-do the assets to fit the new proportions, cropping is a pretty cheap cop out.

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I wonder why did they make it widescreen if it required cutting the images

Seems in order to port it to Vita and get more money.

 

Well, as I told, they could do an auto-crop and allow user to look up/down (e.g. scroll) event image. This is exactly how Ever17 PSP works and I am happy with this - they transited it to 16:9 and still kept full image. Having images cropped, half-head lost in the event scenes, or I believe could be moments, like or heroine would loose eyes, or she would loose legs, what to choose.... :) Stupid decision to crop (but really easy to implement).

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Happy to see G-Senjou planned for a Q4 release but we still have quite a few things to wait for. Hopefully it sells well in whatever incarnation it ends up releasing. 

 

edit: rambling ahead sorry you've been warned.

 

Oh it's this issue again and while I am not going to deny people the chance to be upset at other people being upset the simple fact of the matter is that everyone has different opinions on something. Telling people to knock it off is the wrong way to go about it rather they need to continuously speak out against it so they know people still want the 18+ versions or drm-free versions of games. As it stands right now while not having confirmation of an 18+ version is irking not having a DRM-Free version (Steam = DRM) is where my concern lies. I don't trust easily and Steam could easily try implementing a really bad way of releasing games or deciding to charge a service fee for storing games, or a number of other potential issues. It's not that I think this is going to happen but my paranoia and distrust of corporate entities makes me incapable of purchasing a visual novel unless it comes DRM-Free. I will be the first to admit I do not follow this policy with some Steam games (I do tend to only buy on a sale when possible) but I do generally buy more from GoG since their games are DRM-Free. 

 

Sekai Project does not currently sell their games on any platform other than Steam unless it is through Denpasoft or in which case their games do not then have DRM.

 

The Fruit of Grisaia Unrated does not have DRM and is sold on denpasoft so if you want a non-drm-free version of the game the only other place the game sells is Steam so Denpasoft is the best place to buy for those not wanting DRM. I do not buy any sekai project games (or Mangagamer) anymore unless the games are under 3 dollars (which I'm capable of counting as a loss if something happens to Steam) or the games are available via Denpasoft or another entity (J-List physical editions) which currently does not contain DRM for their most recent games. 

 

People complaining about no denpasoft release actually do have concerns one being the 18+ content and the second being an issue of DRM.

 

I am unsure how I feel about the cropping I suppose it will depend on what is cropped out and what type of cropping it is...hopefully they keep everything in frame and they've just redone it to make it work for steam. Who knows though.

 

That being said I have hope and maybe even a bit of confidence that Denpasoft will gradually get better and that Sekai Project is not going to ignore a large percent of their user base. I am perfectly willing to buy G-Senjou no Maou so long as it is DRM-Free and the unrated version would just be icing on top. I've mentioned it in previous threads and while I'm cautiously optimistic I do believe that in order to work even better they have a few things they have to do to to further succeed.

 

DRM-Free Way to Be: Sekai Project needs to offer digital downloads on their own website separate from Steam for those who would prefer drm-free versions. Selling games on their own website means that they would not lose a cut of the profits that steam takes for games selling on steam. Denpasoft is already drm-free and I think there are other people like me who are not overly trusting of Steam that would rather buy a digital download from them directly so long as it were drm-free. I prefer denpasoft right now primarily for this reason...although the 18+ helps a bit as well.

 

Separate Marketing:  Marketing for denpasoft should be different than marketing for sekai project as they are going after two different demographics. I seriously think that at the big conventions they need to have two panels one for sekai project and one for denpasoft. Trying to hint at things coming to denpasoft in sekai project panels just don't really work to get the word around. 

 

Pre-orders and Demos: I hate pre-order culture both denpasoft and sekai project need the ability to allow for pre-orders. Pre-Orders are beneficial to companies so they can see how things sell and what they might need to do to improve sales. Pre-orders also get the names out there ahead of time and give them enough time to add or change things as needed...these pre-orders can go up maybe a month ahead of time just so they can get an idea of how things will sell. At the same time they need demos for both all-age and 18+ titles...assuming their is a content difference in the length of the demo. This helps show how the translation quality is and is not a bad idea at the same time if something is going wrong early on people can notify them. For example they might release a game but find out the game does not work with certain equipment or has issues halfway through on certain computer settings. Sekai Project can't have everyone check all the games so getting demos out there might at least help with a few initial problems. 

 

Lose the Reliance to Kickstarter: Stop having every game be kickstarted...while admittedly they've started doing this. They should not announce games for license if they need to do a kickstarter for them first. Instead they need to announce we're doing a kickstarter for so-so game and if it succeeds we'll be releasing it. It's a very different way of going about it than saying we have the license for this title and it will be coming to the west and then later saying the title is only coming if the kickstarter succeeds. It's a bit dishonest and people are not fond of it. People are also beginning to suffer from kickstarter fatigue and are being a lot more cautious about what they back considering all the projects that went nowhere but took people's money. Even if it hasn't really happened with Sekai Project yet (the grisaia kickstarter was awful though) people are being a bit more choosy about what they decide to back. The failure to communicate if an 18+ version will be released eventually also does not help sales. Muv-Luv's Kickstarter is doing better because we've had confirmation that we will be receiving an 18+ patch for the game...and that is all people want an assurance. Although honestly many people would likely have backed even without this assurance I don't know if it would be quite as much. Adding new in-game content though is the right way to go about doing stretch goals though.

 

Allowance of Let's Plays: Let's Plays are surprisingly quite popular for visual novels and do help sell games. The biggest concern with this is that people simply playthrough the entire game and have nothing left. I believe for let's plays it should be locked to the common route and maybe give them the option of completing a single route. What this would do is give people watch a feel for the characters and the setting and might be able to entice people to purchase the game to see parts of the game that they haven't seen explored. People simply do not have the time or money to pick up a game knowing nothing about it and Let's Plays and demos are good ways of giving people a taste. 

 

Uncensored Mosaics for 18+ Titles: Denpasoft needs to try to eventually get uncensored mosaics for its 18+ titles...I'm thinking that at the moment they are simply not bothering to ask for them as they do not wish to potentially insult business partnerships but I think uncensored mosaics (something both mangagamer and Jast have) is simply something they need to have to compete against the other two companies and the fan-translations. Uncensored Mosaics are one of the potential benefits for buying a game rather than keeping a fan-translation. I'm not expecting it right away but eventually they need to at least attempt it.

 

Update the websites:  I'm assuming both sekai project and the denpasoft websites are in the process of being greatly updated and expanded and that once the new websites are up and operational they will keep people a bit more informed about everything on both sekai project and denpasoft. It does take quite a bit of time to create websites and they have two of them to do so hopefully we will see them soon and they'll be superior to their current ones in every way otherwise they need to add remaking their websites to the list of things they need to do.

 

Physical Edition Option: I would love to see physical editions...maybe partner with J-list for physical edition releases as they seem to be the big ones doing that? I imagine the costs for publishing physical editions beyond a partnership might be a bit out of their reach at the moment.

 

- In the end these are just my opinions as other people will think differently. Having an all-age version of games is not a bad idea as it will help spread the market and I have no issue with them doing this. I do hope they continue with 18+ and DRM-Free versions as that will just expand the market even more and having a wide and large fan-base is never a bad idea.

 

I think the release of Grisaia Unrated and Sakura Swim Club 18+ help to show that Sekai Project is listening to the fans that want 18+ versions. They've also announced a few (to my knowledge) exclusively 18+ games and we are just waiting for confirmation for some of the other games.

 

I for one am appreciative that they are translating a bunch of new games regardless and I think we just have to have faith that Sekai Project does listen to its fans. Time will tell.

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Hmm, maybe the game will contain an optiont o use original CG?  Because it is as I thought, the cropping is hard with this one. They take 20% from the top, 20% from the bottom. They add 10% to the left and 10% to the right, so we're still missing 20% of the image.

 

It's like with DBZ...I am perfectly fine with the widescreen release, but I do notice how much of the image is cut out. That's not even mentioning the new text box blurring even more of the image, you're probably seeing 40% of what you used to see, just to appease widescreen only people. 

 

819WBJPa-vL.png

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Allowance of Let's Plays: Let's Plays are surprisingly quite popular for visual novels and do help sell games. The biggest concern with this is that people simply playthrough the entire game and have nothing left. I believe for let's plays it should be locked to the common route and maybe give them the option of completing a single route. What this would do is give people watch a feel for the characters and the setting and might be able to entice people to purchase the game to see parts of the game that they haven't seen explored. People simply do not have the time or money to pick up a game knowing nothing about it and Let's Plays and demos are good ways of giving people a taste.

 

This is something that is determined by their partners, which is why every game allows for a different amount to be shown. SP doesn't seem to have much control over this and every VN studio has different ideas about how to handle the issue. 

 

Uncensored Mosaics for 18+ Titles: Denpasoft needs to try to eventually get uncensored mosaics for its 18+ titles...I'm thinking that at the moment they are simply not bothering to ask for them as they do not wish to potentially insult business partnerships but I think uncensored mosaics (something both mangagamer and Jast have) is simply something they need to have to compete against the other two companies and the fan-translations. Uncensored Mosaics are one of the potential benefits for buying a game rather than keeping a fan-translation. I'm not expecting it right away but eventually they need to at least attempt it.

 

Why would you even assume this? Asking wouldn't insult anyone, that makes no sense. Sekai Project asked. Frontwing didn't have them for Grisaia, so that put a stop to that. With Nekopara, there was only one multi-language 18+ release and technically that wasn't handled by Denpasoft, but by the original developers. And they obviously had to keep the mosaics in that case due to the nature of the release. 

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That's just bizarre. But I suppose they figure that price is such a huge barrier to entry for VNs, and licensing costs probably means they can't offer a cheaper price than $40 for the voiced edition. But in that case, I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to cut it up into episodes instead. It's already an episodic story. Sell each episode (plus the accompanying heroine route) for $10, $40 for the full package. Instead, they're selling an inferior version of the game for half price. Meh.

Edited by Decay
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I wonder, will they release another version without the cropped backgrounds? background with the Gonzou's head cut for 20 dollars with the head intact 40.
They can even release one version in black and white and another in color, the possibilities are endless!

Jokes aside this could be a good idea if you can add the voices later on which is not possible so you have to buy the game again if you want to add them which doesn't make sense....

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