Agarest Senki Massacred by Anime Haters
- Author: Artefact
- Categories: Games, H, News
- Date: Aug 30, 2009 12:58 JST
- Tags: 3D CG, Agarest Senki, Censorship, Comparison, Marketing, RPG, Translation
Xbox 360 and PS3 breeding ero-RPG Agarest Senki, to be known as Agarest: Generations of War in its European incarnation, clearly had too much in the way of beautiful anime art for the publisher, who decided to change it to something unrecognisably manly.
The protagonist as he originally appeared:
Fortunately, it appears they eventually relented and selected anime artwork after bothering to consult some of the people intent on purchasing the game, although the mere fact it was considered says it all.
The Japanese version was rated a C (15+) on Cero’s scale, being packed full of banana fellatio and bikini service, whereas the European cover here is given a PEGI “12” rating, raising some interesting questions about the ratings systems involved.
The publisher claims it is uncensored, although the PS3 version is apparently already “Sony checked” in comparison to the Xbox 360 original, so this would appear to be another case of mysterious console rating systems.
A visit to the game’s US homepage reveals that for the past several months they have had this charming image as their header:
“COMING soon” indeed.
It seems nothing will disavow international publishers of the notion that games including creepy Chinese cartoons need to be given manful CG art, as seen recently in CG Tales and international Star Ocean localisations, though it is clear this only serves to alienate actual anime and JRPG fans, whilst having questionable impact on the store-going general public…
Via Hachimaki.
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Er, that makes no sense. Rising Star one of the best favourite publisher for lesser known Japanese games in the UK, if you are referring to the decision of No More Heroes, it was the same version as the Japanese version (which also had no blood), not to mention the US version had the Heavenly Star music video and manga sequence in the manual removed, where Ubisoft published it. Rising Star also allowed games like Little King's Story to reach Europe before America and Japan. I don't associate them with messing about with game content at all, because they have not, neither with boxart.
"change it to something unrecognisably manly."
And somewhat misleading, too.
i dont know which version to get.the european version will be screwed up.the american version isonly for download
With all due respect (I too was enraged when I first saw that cover), this article is based on unaccurate informations that was discussed and explained by Ghostlight many days ago.
The westernized crappy boxart was leaked on NeoGaf more than 20 days ago, and then the problem was discussed in a gamefaqs thread with a Ghostlight employee, evanac.
As he explained, that cover was just one amnong many possibilities, and after some days of debate Ghostlight scrapped it in favour of the original japanese boxart for the Euro Limited Edition and of another japanese anime artwork (suggested by gamefaqs user yaksini) for the regular Euro edition.
You can see both of them here: http://www.ghostlight.uk.com/product_info.php?format=6
Also, as someone mentioned before, the american Agarest site has no links to Ghostlight's european localization, since the publisher for North America's digital-only release is Aksys games, but I see that Artefact has already fixed that issue.
Since this article is based on outdated infos and could damage Ghostlight's localization, it would be nice to rectify the article in order to show the true european boxarts for Agarest instead of one trashed by the company over ten days ago.
So they scrapped it after being told they were idiots for picking it.
I'm not sure why this game has attracted so many desperate apologists, but it is clear they deserve censure for even having it on the table.
They deserve censure for a possible cover leaked by a Gaf user and rejected in a matter of days in favor of two original anime artworks?
It's normal to be apalled by that piece of crap, but to continue issuing false information without changing the opening post even knowing that the whole problem was solved more than ten days ago is not the way to go.
Ghostlight hasn’t got a track record for publishing J-RPGs?
This is the fifth JRPG the are going to publish.
They published Shin Megami Tensei Lucifer's Call (Nocturne), Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 and Shadow Hearts: From The New World
Seems like Sankaku isn't the only one failing to deliver/being misleading/not enough researching
It's called sankaku complex failing to deliver/being misleading/not enough researching for articles. But yes, agreed anonymous, this isn't journalism at all.
Besides, it isn't dribble to change the cover really if the game has been unchanged, surely it is worse to assume the game was changed when it wasn't (imagine the costs involved anyway in changing the game's artstyle)...besides it was the distributor that changed the boxart, that has nothing to do with the translation job.
"Even having it on the table"? Not really, in the Mega Drive days this was incredibly popular, while that is a long time ago, the UK publisher Ghostlight hasn't got a track record for publishing J-RPGs and therefore they must still be learning. Obviously this game will appeal to fans of the genre anyway so there was no need to change the boxart.
It is Ghostlight's first autonomous localization, all the other games they published so far used the english translations made by Atlus or Xseed for the USA version.
That said, the fact that this news is wrong and came out after more than a week that the problem was solved still remains.
It looks like Garo's main hero.
I meant, HE looks like Garo's main hero. Probably the clothes.
They should just stop screwing with games. What's wrong with faithful translations that that's it. None of this changing art work or re-dubbing everything without giving the option of selecting the original voice tracks.
This thread is turning into a disinformation-fest XD
Not only the westernized cover was rejected more than ten days ago, but the game is fully uncensored and came with 100% japanese dub.
It's called "Arte-style game coverage". Lulz
wanna play dis game. don' wanna look at dat ugly dude on the cover.
Then you will be fine, since the european cover won't be like that :D
See here for the actual Ghostlight covers http://www.ghostlight.uk.com/product_info.php?format=6 , the 3d one was thrown away weeks ago even if the article hasn't taken notice.
Is it just me, or does that guy just look like he's cosplaying as Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh?
He looks a lot more like Grima Wormtongue from the LOTR movies to me.
Has it occurred to any of you dipshits that it's got a lighter rating because Europeans don't find cartoon girls licking a banana particularly arousing and/or worthy of censoring?
Just to add to this, if you get a PAL copy of a game, you can see all sort of different age ratings on the DVD for all the different countries it's been released in. You'll rarely see a game that has the same age limits in each country it was released in - UK may say it's 15, France 12, Germany 18. And this is on the same physical copy of the same game.
It has not been censored or turned down for the EU release according to a developer here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=941765&topic=50252970 [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=941765&topic=50252970]
But why was the boxart so massacred? Sort of ruins a game with untouched content (hopefully the title screen isn't ruined).
"2.) The game has had no content removed or toned down. Agarest has been cleared as 12+ by PEGI (the European age rating body)."
"Hi everyone,
As an employee of Ghostlight I thought I could help anyone with details on Agarest's PAL release later this year.
The game is being localised into English only and will contain the original Japanese audio. Unfortunately we simply can't fit audio in other languages on to the disc as it already weighs in at over 15GB (!), most of which is the Japanese audio."
Okay, firstly we have a member of the team here
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=941765&topic=50252970 [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=941765&topic=50252970]
Posting that there are no changes to the game and the Japanese audio track for voices has been included too.
Secondly as has been posted above the actual UK site for the publisher shows boxart that is not pictured in the article http://www.ghostlight.uk.com/product_info.php?prod=32#
Though then again that might be the boxart for the collectors' edition, however bare in mind next to it the price listed is £34.99, this is below or around the RRP for a brand new PS3 game.
That 3D guy looks like some grandpa i've seen somewhere.
Excluding that 3D pig picture, if I may, XBox wins this time with this. PS3 version had a lo~t stuff shaved off on this title; such us turning underwear garters to shorts and well, the bananas. Also XBox one comes with the Live support so, yeah... This battlefield is XBox's.
Also XBox one comes with the RROD support so, yeah... This battlefield is XBot's
Of course a year old port is going to have more content dumbass. Nothing was shaved off, so think to do a bit of research before mouthing off like a pathetic fanboy about a version of the game that is failing to be localized at all.
People can't feel any sarcasm at all these days...
The covers were changed, the collectors edition is the same as the japanese one. The normal edition has been changed to this http://www.ghostlight.uk.com/img/prods/32/pack/pack.jpg
It doesn't look bad, to be honest.
Have actually seen some people in the US saying that they'll buy the EU version over the digital. Wonder how PAL software will work with their TVs...
If its hooked up with a HDMI cable. Then a PAL game will work fine, HD is the same world over. Its only with other video outputs that you have to worry about a 60 hrtz option, like back when, if you wanted to import ps2 games and not have to import a pal tv to play.
That cover was only an hipothesis, the real ones are currently displayed on the Ghostlight site, and both are anime ones:
http://www.ghostlight.uk.com/product_info.php?format=6
All I can get from the European cover is vibes of GARO.
Not that it's bad but GARO's awesomeness is wasted in the wrong place.
I would never buy a game with that kind of cover
If they want to turn it into 3d they can still keep the original character design and make him 3d not turn him into an ugly grown man the whole original character design is destroyed
You know it's funny how I've been bitchin' here all morning about how much I hated the 3D boxart, but now I kinda like it. Now I in no way like the idea of changing the original anime style art into 3D, but the design alone isn't bad in fact I actually think the character looks cool! I don't know if I felt sorry after realizing how much the 3D version was hated or what but I've changed my mind!
That was me I don't know what the hell happened! I was logged in when I clicked to add comment and it posted as an anon!?!?!?!?!
would he really be an ugly old guy in the game itself? how would the eroge play then??
realistic lolicon anyone?
btw i think the old guy is cool, makes him look like a match for kratos and should be in soulcalibur.
I love 3d CG but this is laughable did the hero age 20 years alluva sudden? They didnt keep his style intact.
Now i get what ya'll talking about.
Damn there better be some use of alcohol cuz that is the only way the guy on the cover is getting laid lol.
"who decided to change it to something unrecognisably manly."
manly!? It looks more fucking gay to me...
That cover is cool, but it's a lie.
The cover should reflect what the game is.
This reminds me of SNES game Phalanx, in which an old man playing a banjo is on the cover for no reason at all, the game Phalanx is about a superfighter attacking an alien empire planet.
Oh hey, it's Nariko's next disposable sidekick!
Yuck.
Even though some of the articles might be slightly off a bit, 95% of the information is true. Leave Artefact alone. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't be on this site, more or less, even knowing about the crap going around with Equality Now.
No one is flaming sankakucomplex as a whole, but it is simply improper to give away uncorrect infos that were proven wrong many days ago without even correcting them when people post the facts.
This news would have been welcome around the 10th of august, when the boxart drama started, not on the 30th when the issue has long been settled and Ghostlight has opted for two anime artworks.
euuuuwhhh for 2nd cover
Anon won't give a damn about the cover, the most important is what's the inside? Anime 2D? Or Real Life 3D?
I like the toggle visibility thingy, is obviously about the European cover!
Man, what is up with publishers doing this? The game is a JRPG end of story, disguising it with manly characters that resemble real life people isn’t going to change the game. Unless someone is so obsessed with big aggressive realistic characters in their games I don’t see how this is going to change the audience. Someone who has a problem with cutesy anime characters in their games more than likely wont find interest in the story, characters, or gameplay. And someone interested in the story, characters, and gameplay probably won’t have a problem with anime characters covering the box. If they’re taking a chance by localizing the game they should know who their targeted audience is and try to please them. This goes double for The Last Hope, I didn’t see what the point in removing the anime graphics was, the game played out like a traditional JRPG complete with otaku references. I wish they would at least give you an option to change this with an in-game option or make it an option when you buy the game.
As many have said before, the covers were changed weeks ago, using the japanese boxart for the collector edition and another anime artwork for the regular one.
Moreover, the games hasn't been censored in any way and sports the full japanese dub.
Sincerely, I can't see even a single point in common with Star Ocean 4 with its ugly cg "artworks" and the mono-english dub.
I understand that the boxart was changed, I found out weeks before this article was posted, but it’s just the fact that they considered it as a good idea that I don’t like. Even more so, if they had plans on keeping the in-game graphics and dialogue Japanese why would they even consider that boxart?
The common points with Star Ocean 4 were that the anime-styled graphics were substituted for a more realistic art that made the characters look angry, done with intention of reaching out to a different audience. I didn’t like it with Star Ocean, I didn’t like the idea with this game, and I don’t even like the 3D version of Tales of Hearts.
I don't mind a localization for all the languages of Europe, but why a localization from the UK to the USA?
It doesn't bother me to read colour or color, but if they localize things like a joke about the Tower Bridge to one about Golden Gate... meh!
Yeah, I'm looking for a British retailer that will ship to the US, otherwise I'll have to resort to ebay which I do [NOT] want to do.
And too bad I'll never get the UK DLC if it sells enough. T_T
I fully agree with you regarding the awful nature of those forced westernizations.
Things like Cosmic Fantasy 2's USA cover or Persona 1's localization should be kept as examples of all that is wrong in jrpg publishing, not to mention countless accounts of mistranslations, horrible eng dub, censorship and other poisoned gifts to the western jrpg fanbase.
That said, if the westernization of covers and game contents in the '80 and mid '90 was mainly a consequence of bad american localizations, the current surge sadly seems to be originated in Japan: in the case of Star Ocean 4 the choice of the crappy cg artworks for the western releases was made directly by Tri-Ace, not by Square-Enix of America\Europe (the publisher). The same is valid for Tales of Hearts' CG edition, which remained confined to Japan and thankfully bombed saleswise, showing Namco that trolling their fanbase isn't the wisest thing to do.
Regarding the Agarest matter, no one would be contesting an article titled "Ghostlight considered horrible CG artwork for Agarest", but a title like "Agarest Senki massacred by anime haters" doesn't reflect even in the slightest sense the true situation of that game's Pal release, which is as respectful of the original as one can be (anime boxarts, no censorship, full jap dub, limited edition with artbook and so on).
I fully agree with you regarding the sheer awfulness of this kind of westernization, things like Cosmic Fantasy 2's cover or Persona 1's rehaul should stand as examples of all that's wrong in localizing a jrpg, along with countless mistranslations, revisions and censored features.
That said, if jrpg's westernization in the '80 and mid '90 was originated by gross market analysis of the western publishers, nowadays it seems that some japanese developers are thinking that changing their unique style is the only way to succeed in the west. Star Ocean 4's western "revision" was not done by publisher Square Enix America\Europe as the fanbase thought, but by the Tri-Ace developers in Japan. The same happened for Tales of Hearts, whose CG version wasn't even localized in the USA and remained a Japan exclusive, only to bomb badly saleswise, showing Namco that trolling their fanbase is not the wisest thing to do.
That said, all of this has nothing to do with Agarest: even if the cover was the westernized one the game would not be affected, while Star Ocean 4's problem was not the cover, but the removal of anime artworks and japanese dub.
No one would have opposed an article titled "Ghostlight considered crappy 3d boxart for Agarest", but a piece titled "Agarest massacred by anime haters" is truly offset since we are speaking of a game that is 100% faithful to the japanese version (boxart, dub, contents and even limited edition with artbook).
Yes, I know now that the game is 100% true to the Japanese version. (thank god) But it’s because of that reason that I don’t see why Ghostlight came up the 3D boxart in the first place. I know the issue with Star Ocean wasn’t the boxart but it still had anime art style removed for a more western art which is what I didn’t like. And then again with Tales which is even worst since it was never released outside of Japan.
But I am glad to see they’re releasing this game the right way. For the longest time I’ve been in debate over which version to get, the UK, or the PSN? I was under the impression that the UK version would be censored or screwed up in some way. But seeing how it’s not I would really like a physical copy. However, I also really want the collector’s edition which will be pretty hard to get living in America and I want to wait to see if the PSN release has anything extra, but the longer I wait the harder and more expensive it’ll be to get the collector’s edition. I’ll probably just buy the UK version when it comes and forget the PSN version because I don’t really see anything extra coming with this game unless they were somehow able to add trophy support.
As far as I know the only difference between Aksys'PSN Usa version and Ghostlight's physical Pal release is the revision of the script from the original british one to proper american (there are many little differences).
The Euro version not only sports a physical release (which is definitely a bonus for collectors), but has a budget price tag. The Limited Edition provides you with an artbook, a poster, some cards and a slipcase, and as far as I know is pre-orderable at game.co.uk, play.com and many other british retailers.
As a bonus, Ghostlight employee evanac said that they are considering the localization of the japanese DLC for the Pal version if the sales are good.