DS Daily: Tales of Deciphering

by JC Fletcher { Sep 6th 2008 at 10:30AM }

Sachi's compilation of basic Japanese for RPGs is designed to help you get through the interfaces in imported menu-driven games. But the prospect of playing the textiest of all genres in an unfamiliar language can still be pretty daunting, as can the possibility of paying 50 bucks or so for something you won't end up being able to play.

Have any of you taken the plunge? Have you, before or since the publication of these columns, attempted to play an RPG in Japanese? We're asking non-native Japanese speakers, of course.

Tags: japan, rpg

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

xcdjy @ Sep 6th 2008 10:49AM

I tried once to play Jump: Ultimate Stars in Japanese, shortly before realising there is a translated rom out. It was... funny XD

Very Metal @ Sep 6th 2008 11:03AM

I tried Mother 2 for the gba,but didn't have the patience, even though I'd already played Earthbound about 8 years ago...

Gewurztraminer says: R.O.B. is the last Cylon! @ Sep 6th 2008 11:44AM

I have a hard enough time trying to understand the convoluted plots of some RPGs when they're in English! And since my main reason for playing RPGs is to enjoy the plot, having it be in any foreign language would leave me disinterested. No imports for me thanks.

Kia @ Sep 6th 2008 11:44AM

I own Summon Night EX on PS2 and a couple Tales imports, and a large number of Super Robot Taisen titles.

I don't know much Japanese, but I know enough to read most in-game menus.

Dan @ Sep 6th 2008 12:01PM

Mother 1+2 and Mother 3 for the GBA. I completed Mother 2 and Mother 3 but not Mother 1. I usually figure out what is what by seeing their characters. At first I had to play around to figure out what did what but after seeing them again and again I would know what they did.

Gary @ Sep 6th 2008 12:11PM

Even though I used to play LOTS of JRPG in Japanese (FF7,8, the real Tales of Destiny 2, Wild Arms 2nd, to name a few), I kinda gave up in recent years. It's just too tedious and not worth the effort, partly too cause of developers' unwillingness to innovate in the genre.

There are only so many times I will play a game where you and your enemies take turns to hit each other, with only bigger numbers and shinier effects as motivation for progression. But one of my fondest memories was Popolocrois on PS1, great music, great characters, and since I'm a Chinese, it's easier to understand Kanji and get a rough idea of where the plot's going.

Even though I fully get Katakana now, language difference is still a huge obstacle for me. I did try Inazuma Eleven for a while too, but I'd rather wait for the translation, if it ever comes.

Akas @ Sep 6th 2008 1:02PM

Hmm, more likely to play things like TBS than RPG's in Japanese (ASH, Fire Emblem, etc.) It's really not that hard once you know the basics, and I usually like their voice actors more. But as for RPG's...eh, it's 50/50 for me. I played Twewy and FFIV in Japanese, those were okay, Dungeon Explorer was FUN, and my friend's copy of Sigma Harmonics was IMPOSSIBLE to decipher after the first chapter or so. I'll also say that the Ys games are worth it and easy to play even if you don't know the language, but the DS ones aren't that great. If you have a chance, play ones on the PC/PS2?

iofthestorm @ Sep 6th 2008 4:14PM

Man, TWEWY had a pretty good storyline too. I guess you kind of missed out, although to each his own. I bet some people just skipped through all the text in TWEWY anyway, because there was a pretty large amount of it.

bizarrorollins @ Sep 6th 2008 1:28PM

Well I have a deep love for FFIV so when they decided to release that game several months before any english translation was even promised, i decided to download the rom and try out the new game. I even went so far as to play the game simultaneously on the GBA and DS just so I didn't get lost in the story line. It worked for a while (probably about 4-5 hours into the game), but was a bit tiring so as soon as they gave a US release date I held off on trying to get any further.

istrasci @ Sep 6th 2008 1:57PM

My first real Japanese challenge was playing "Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow" in Japanese... I understood most of it pretty well... I'm now playing "Summon Night Twin Edge" (bought it in Japan before it was localized) and am doing fairly well understanding the plot... It's quite tasking mentally though; takes a long time to read and understand some of the dialog...

ssrgc @ Sep 6th 2008 1:59PM

I've finally gotten into a Japanese language class. While it's basic, the class teaches the alphabets and a small number of Kanji.

I'm looking forward to the prospect of keeping my newly found language skills honed by translating(for myself) import games.

nil @ Sep 6th 2008 1:59PM

I have never tried a traditional RPG in Japanese but I've successfully played several SRPGs in Japanese, including the SD G Generation series and Front Mission First. I actually own Front Mission in both Japanese and English.

Jacksons @ Sep 6th 2008 2:34PM

Hahaha, what? Why would I ever play an RPG in a language I can't understand? For some sweet, menu based combat? Sorry, but an RPG without a story makes about as much sense to me as watching a movie without sound.

chibi_wings @ Sep 7th 2008 12:03AM

I whole hardly agree with that comparison. It's just pointless.

chibi_wings @ Sep 7th 2008 12:04AM

*heartly >__

Donald @ Sep 6th 2008 3:50PM

I did it with the Pokemon games at the start of the 3rd generation due to a potential job requirement that fell through, and I'm writing a guide for GameFAQs for Platinum.

It should be a little easier because I know what all the Pokemon can do (for the most part) and the new games have numbers indicating what attack is where.

EdZ @ Sep 6th 2008 8:04PM

Though not strictly an RPG, I'd love to tackle the Muv-Luv saga. Though it'd definitely be diving into the deep end: Unlimited and Alternative especially are infamous for their prodigious use of long strings of highly complex Kanji for the numerous technical terms (the plot involes multiple dimensions, timeloops, and heavy military jargon, along with puns on 'common' phrasing due to aforementioned dimension-hopping. Plus oodles of theoretical physics). I'd be surviving off of the vocalised dialogue and liberal use of the AGTH (Grabs text from memory and machine-translates it).

I'd hardly classify We Love Katamari (Minna no Daisuke Katamari Damashi) as an RPG, but I did play it to completion prior to the english release.

PlatSajack @ Sep 6th 2008 8:12PM

I've certainly taken the plunge. I remember playing Front Mission on the SNES in pure Japanese back in the day. I didn't understand a lick of what was going on, but the game play was like nothing I had ever experienced so I endured the language barrier. Since then, though, I've pretty much stuck with English games or Japanese games with English community-based translations.

Now, with Dragon Quest V released and VI, XI on the way to my favorite handled, I'll once again be taking the plunge.

Oh, I almost forgot... I remember playing and completing that Japanese Pokemon Card game for the GBC. My love for Pokemon(at that time ^^;)helped me get through the language barrier and I found the game to be quite enjoyable.

aj @ Sep 7th 2008 12:31AM

I played an RPG ONCE in Japanese. It was not fun, and anyone who both (a) does not speak/read Japanese and (b) plays Japanese RPGs is either lying or is a masochist and hates themselves.

It becomes more of a logic problem than an RPG. You try everything once, see what it does, and take note. And on, and on, and on. You can't have fun doing it, and there is no pleasure or reward or anything worthwhile in it.

And it's not like there aren't any RPGs in English or anything......

MarkShark @ Sep 7th 2008 4:58PM

In more recent times I like to test my RPGs when they come out in japanese, though I know I won't be able to read them. Examples being TWEWY, Tales of Innocence, Fire Emblem DS and Sigma Harmonics.

I did try to play through Tales of the Tempest without a translation for some reason.
Though it's not an RPG, I am going through the Gurren Lagann DS game still.

リッキー @ Sep 8th 2008 1:50PM

日本語を分かる....so yeah not a problem

sleet01 @ Sep 8th 2008 5:50PM

I was able to tackle Phantom Hourglass, Front Mission, Super Robot Wars W, and Chou Soujuu Mecha MG (not an RPG, but super-text heavy) with just a couple years of Japanese classes under my belt. I wish more games used Zelda's in-game kanji/kana system - it lets you select any kanji you can't read and get the yomigana right there - but I can do without for the most part. It doesn't take too many repetitions to figure out 'pirates' or 'fairy'.

Kyoton @ Sep 11th 2008 12:49AM

I know this will seem kinda weak but.. When I was about...98 or 99, I had a copy of pokemon yellow. I played through it mainly on the knowledge of red and blue at the time. Being 7 or 8 years old at the time, it seemed like quiet a feat. The same thing with gold and silver versions. All before their localization.

Lex @ Sep 12th 2008 1:25PM

I have been importing game since the 90's. Understanding them is near impossible, but learning what certain characters mean and result in is doable. Games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest were a pain to play through because you have to guess what to do next, but shooters were easy.

neko @ Sep 14th 2008 8:20AM

Japanese games that I've played (on the DS):
-Tales of the Tempest
-Tales of Innocence
-Xenosaga I&II
-Gyakuten Saiban 1-4 (that'd be Phoenix Wright for the rest of the world)
-Bangai-O Spirits
-Izuna 1&2
-Doki Doki Majo Shinpan
-FF games
-Nobunaga no Yabou
-Spectral Force Genesis
-Front Mission 1st and 2089
-Rockman ZX and ZXA

The hardest games thus far would be the Gyakuten Saiban series, mostly because you're looking for inconsistencies between the witness's testimony and the evidence available to you. And sometimes, it's really the details that matter whether you can use something or not. Since I DO own the Gyakuten Saiban series, I was not particularly happy with how they've translated things in English for Apollo Justice.

The rest of the games are fairly straight-forward. Just read once and store it somewhere in the brain. I mostly play Japanese games because I hate the American localizations, especially the English dubbing. The other reason is obviously because Japanese phrases and idioms don't translate well into English, especially when you have a character limit for the text boxes.