Items of Import: Let's Enroleplaying Games!

by Sachi Coxon { Jul 24th 2008 at 5:05PM }

After a lot of deliberation, Joe Player finally decided to try importing a game from Japan. It was nerve-wracking, clicking through to an online retailer and perusing the list of unusual titles. With fingers poised above the keyboard, he hesitated -- would his credit card information be safe? Should he choose express post? How long would delivery take?

He was worried -- did he make the right choice? Was his Japanese sufficient to play the game? He'd learned hiragana in classes, and picked up some ninja phrases from fansubbed episodes of Naruto. Would it be enough? He would soon find out.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Items of Import, a new weekly feature that will make you feel a little less worried about your import choices. Sometimes playing a game in Japanese can seem like a daunting task. But make no mistake: Items of Import is here to nurture you, guide you, and teach you the ways of Japanese games. Keep checking this space for your dose of import impressions and language lessons.

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Tags: ds, ds lite, dslite, import, imports, japan, japanese, joystiqfeatures, rpg

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

deadlylife @ Jul 24th 2008 5:10PM

Nice feature, I've always wanted to try imports but have been a bit edgy about the nature of international sales.

Muhammad Sabeeh Ali @ Jul 24th 2008 5:37PM

Thanks. This will make life a lot easier.

Kimiko @ Jul 24th 2008 5:55PM

Hmm. I like the idea of this column, but I don't like the slightly condescending tone of 'my readers are ignorami but I, the all-knowing SB, will enlighten them'. I'd rather see a more personal/intimate writing style.

forestsprite @ Jul 24th 2008 6:07PM

Cheers on the new column! I picked up a few games when I was in Japan and am looking to expand my horizons. This should be able to keep me motivated to soldier on in my quest. Keep it coming! 頑張れ！

Kieran @ Jul 24th 2008 6:53PM

Excellent idea for a column. If you're up for doing it, a mini guide for game center cx would be much appreciated...

Sachi Coxon @ Jul 24th 2008 7:05PM

Thank you all for your comments and great feedback: it's a learning experience. Through this column, I hope you all feel encouraged to discover great import titles.

forestsprite>ありがと！これからもマジ頑張るよ！

Kieran>Keep the requests comin'! You never know...

Ashley @ Jul 24th 2008 8:53PM

This is really great, I'm tackling Tales of Innocence in Japanese right now. Will definitely look forward to more.

*bookmarks 2nd page*

aj @ Jul 24th 2008 8:08PM

I too have been thinking about getting into importing. Mostly platformers, you know, things that require no reading at all (I've neither the need for nor an interest in, the Japanese language), and I love the idea of a handy, dandy guide to what's good and not North America bound.

Tacoman @ Jul 24th 2008 9:46PM

If you're going to import games, I'd start with the rhythm genre - specifically the Ouendan series, Daigasso Band Bros. DX, and Rhythm Tengoku Gold. Totally awesome games that are easy to pick up, but we haven't seen yet in the states. Actually, while we're on RPGs, get Mother 3.

Also, I thought the way you romanized a couple of the words was a bit odd, if not misleading. Like "So-ubi" makes it look like the two kanji stand for "So" and "Ubi" when they're actually "Sou" and "Bi". I really like the idea for this column though, especially since these "imports" are my "domestic releases" and I like under-appreciated games to get their due.

Author X @ Jul 24th 2008 10:26PM

First of all, I have to agree with Tacoman on how some of the romanizations are weird (like "i-temu" - are you just trying to emphasize the "mu"? The point of romanization is to be unambiguous, but the "i" doesn't help figure out how it would be pronounced at all ("ai"))

Secondly, why start with RPGs? Sure, there's a few words that always come up in menus but they have more text than any other genre (except perhaps visual novels). Sure, you may be able to play through the game with only a few words, but if you can't read the story, then what's the point of playing?
I learned this myself when I imported Pokemon Pearl months before it came out in the US - even I can pick up or look up enough words to get by in the game, even though it's not a game you would think depends on the story, it wasn't fun at all to walk around and talk to everyone and either have to ignore everything not necessary for gameplay or keep checking my dictionary.

Perhaps next time you should focus on start menu items that will come up in games that don't require much text to enjoy (eg the wonderful Ouendan games, Rhythm Tengoku, vertical scrollers).

Kev @ Jul 25th 2008 12:11AM

I think that, in the spirit of the article, Sachi wasn't trying to show the romanization so much as emphasize the pronounciation. . . though I would have chosen a different "spelling" myself to avoid the confusion.

As for starting with RPGs. . . well, you do have a point there. But if you're one who is playing for the cutscenes and general gameplay and has no background in Japanese whatsoever, then I can see navigating the menus being fairly daunting.

I'm looking forward to articles on the more niche games that--despite my most fervent wishes--would never see the light of day in the US, and don't register as high in popularity as, say, Jump Ultimate Stars (where someone out there would write a translation faq). Something like an mahjong game. . . geared towards a Japanese adult, kanji-heavy, furigana only on the *box art*. . .

Author X @ Jul 25th 2008 12:24AM

Like I said, it was confusing because it didn't do a very good job of showing the pronunciation clearly - I really have no idea what was with the random hyphens ("So-ubi" makes it look there's a break between the so and u - in fact, saying it correctly you don't pronounce the 'u', it just indicates a longer 'o')

Sachi Coxon @ Jul 25th 2008 12:10AM

A note about the romanization issues brought up by a couple of readers.

I'm well aware that my examples are not the regular method of romaji - i chose to write it that way since for people who don't know Japanese, it'd be a clearer emphasis on the actual pronunciation. As an example: the correct romanization of "soubi" may be mistakenly read as "sowbi" or "soobi." I simply wanted to clear up any possible errors.

But yeah, thanks for the notice: definitely something to reconsider for future postings...

Kimiko @ Jul 25th 2008 4:30AM

I too found the non-standard romaji confusing. I'd imagine that people interested in importing from Japan will have at least a little knowledge of romanized Japanese (either from games or anime/manga or self-study), so using the standard would be best I think.

Looking forward to more import/ant tips :)

Jaken @ Jul 25th 2008 3:37AM

"Kieran said...

Excellent idea for a column. If you're up for doing it, a mini guide for game center cx would be much appreciated..."

http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/939911/51726

Great guide for those who can't wait for the localized release to gets their retro challange on. Enjoy.

michael @ Jul 25th 2008 6:26AM

Great job Sachi Coxon. It's so good to see how much effort you put in. Let's hope we see much more of this well needed service. As a person living in Japan I agree entirely with you regarding how inadequate the Hepburn Romaji system is. Whilst people who are familiar with Japanese may have been somewhat confused I think you made a good effort to solve the problem for non Japanese speakers.

LordGek @ Jul 25th 2008 11:32AM

One weird aspect worth noting is how alienating it can feel playing an "obscure" (not one of the big AAA titles practically guaranteed to be ported over into English soon enough) import game. I imported Shiren 3 recently on the Wii and while I was able to fumble through easily enough by my knowledge of the previous Shiren games and some poorly auto web translated Japanese FAQs, I have yet to many other English speaking importers of the game. So as it stands I have nobody to swap tactics or tales with about this game since I don't speak or read Japanese.

Vayne Solidous @ Jul 25th 2008 12:07PM

Quite a helpful article to prepare someone for attempting imports. I remember in 1992 I had just finished FF II (IV) and was so amazed I ordered FF V from an import retailer because I needed more FF. I didn't know japanese, and didn't have any internet. After beating that I pretty much knew Katakana and Hiragana along with a little Kanji. It felt like quite an accomplishment. Kind of like playing some kind of "forbidden" game you weren't supposed to play. Beating this would help prepare me for FF VI-IX which I played all the way through in Japanese.
Nowadays most of the games I want are localized pretty quickly, so I haven't done it in a while. BUT, I am not waiting a year for FF13's localization. So I will be there playing it from day 1 in Japanese. I can't wait!