According to a press release issued by Atlus today, its Playstation 2 game Odin Sphere - releasing in just over a month - will feature both English and Japanese voice-overs.
"Atlus has spared no expense on the localization," reads the Press Release. "Odin Sphere offers players their choice of fully voiced dialogue: English or the original Japanese! Lose yourself in this intricately spun tale, performed by some of Japan’s top voice talent and brought to life by an impressive English voice cast!"
Why the move to bilingual voice acting for this release? In an email response to our questions, Atlus USA's Quality Assurance manager and Senior Editor Bill Alexander said, "Odin Sphere is a game that we believe will appeal to a wide audience, so we wanted to try and have something there for everyone. For those gamers who are fans of Japanese voice actors and anime, we thought they would really appreciate having the original voices included. And for the more casual gamer that wants to play Odin Sphere, we’d thought they’d prefer to experience it in English."
Bilingual voice acting options aren't entirely new. Sony Computer Entertainment of America's Genji: Dawn of the Samurai for the Playstation 2, Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox, and, more recently, Ubisoft's Enchanted Arms for the Xbox 360 (and Playstation 3) offer the original Japanese voice recordings. This isn't Atlus' first foray into bilingual RPGs, either. Alexander told Trigames.NET that "this is not the first bilingual game we have published. Disgaea and SkyGunner are two examples ... Riviera, which is coming out this year for the PSP [ed.: and was also previously released for the Gameboy Advance], will feature a language option."
However, as something that seems to appeal mostly to hardcore and niche gamers, it's somewhat uncommon to see both English and Japanese tracks available, and fans of Final Fantasy petitioned to see included in Final Fantasy XII.
"There are a number of reasons that previous games may not have been released with a bilingual option," offers Alexander. "Disc space limitations, target audience, contractual restrictions, availability of the development team to implement such changes..."
Typically, many gaming enthusiasts value a game that has voice acting in its native tongue as a selectable choice. As such, Odin Sphere's bilingual perks probably won't be there for Japanese audiences, Alexander informed us. "I wonder if that is something gamers in Japan would be interested in," he mused.
Odin Sphere is scheduled for release on the Playstation 2 on May 22nd, a week after its Japanese release. It is published by Atlus USA and developed by Vanilla Ware.
For the curious, below is the transcript of our brief e-mail conversation:
1) Is this the first game published by Atlus USA that features both English and Japanese voice overs?
No, this is not the first bilingual game we have published. Disgaea and SkyGunner are two examples of other titles we have published that include both the original Japanese voices as well as the English ones. Furthermore, Riviera, which is coming out this year for the PSP, will feature a language option.
2) What caused Atlus USA to go the route of providing both voice tracks?
Odin Sphere is a game that we believe will appeal to a wide audience, so we wanted to try and have something there for everyone. For those gamers who are fans of Japanese voice actors and anime, we thought they would really appreciate having the original voices included. And for the more casual gamer that wants to play Odin Sphere, we’d thought they’d prefer to experience it in English. This is a AAA title, and we tried to do everything we could to give people a reason to buy it.
3) What prevented the use of both voice tracks in the past? Were there technical limitations, business-related limitations, etc., and what were they?
There are a number of reasons that previous games may not have been released with a bilingual option: disc space limitations, target audience, contractual restrictions, availability of the development team to implement such changes, etc. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose the details of any particular products.
4) Finally, is the Japanese release also featuring English voice overs (for whatever reason)?
As far as I know, they are not planning on including the English voice track in the Japanese release, but that is certainly an interesting idea. I wonder if that is something gamers in Japan would be interested in...
Trigames.NET would like to thank Bill Alexander for his time.
<< Back |
