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[Column] ArcheAge: Will E3 Deliver?

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

This week's E3 is in full swing and fans of ArcheAge are hopeful that new information will be revealed by Trion Worlds, the Western publisher of the game. At the same time, there is a bit of trepidation as well. In our latest column, we take a look at why players have a mixed bag of emotions roiling inside. Read on and then leave your thoughts in the comments.

I’m really hoping Trion Worlds will provide those interested in ArcheAge with an in-depth look once E3 goes into full swing. At the same time, I’m a bit terrified because, as stated in an earlier piece by Garrett Fuller, E3 will be the first place anyone will really get a look at a western build of ArcheAge.

Since I’m too far away from E3, and I’ll likely wait for the MMORPG.com report on ArcheAge at E3 as well, I’m in the same boat you’re in. That said, I thought it’d be important to go over some nuances that will likely need to be addressed at E3 proper or as soon as E3 closes and media outlets have written about the game.

Read more of Victor Barreiro Jr.'s ArcheAge: Will E3 Deliver?

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Comments

  • guin10guin10 Member Posts: 21

    "Much like Aion before it, ArcheAge will likely have to deal with some kind of delay between what shows up in Korea versus what occurs in the western versions. What needs to be discussed is the schedule of how a Korean update gets turned into a western update, and the timeframe for such changes.

     

    I’d love for the turnover to be really short, but chances are there will be a delay of a few months. Knowing the process they take to make these updates westernized, therefore, will be an excellent development blog piece that would assuage fears given Trion’s recent troubles."

     

    These in one of the reasons I stoped playing oriental mmorpg. They only care about the oriental players and we need to wait months for the release, we need to wait months for patches/updates and they don't listen our feedback.

     

    Of course, we have one exception: Square-Enix . Like FF XI, in FF XIV: A Realm Reborn, all the patches/updates will be released at same time in America, Europe and Japan and the game will have a worldwide release.

     
     
     
     
  • bcbullybcbully Member EpicPosts: 11,838

    "will likely need to address such cultural differences with the way they present the game to players."

    "Will character names or race names be changed for ease of understanding?"

     

    We are not the only people in the world. Maybe we should take the time and learn about some other cultures, instead of "freeing" eeer breaking the game.  Those other cultures take the time to learn about us.

    "We see fundamentals and we ape in"
  • RazeeksterRazeekster Member UncommonPosts: 2,591
    Why do we need to change anything besides making sure that jokes and Korean pop-culture is changed to influence the NA's pop-culture? People will complain about anything and I think it's great that ArcheAge has a way for players to create what they want. Why change that because of a few grumbles? 

    Smile

  • SalengerSalenger Member UncommonPosts: 554

    I have ben waiting for this game to hit the NA market for it seems...forever.  Its going to be competing with so many other good games and sandboxes that are coming out within the next year, e.g. TES, The Repop, Greed Monger etc etc.

    If it makes it out within the next  6 month sill try it but my hype for this game has diminished big time due to the amount of time they have spent getting it to NA.

  • faiyofaiyo Member Posts: 123

    Archeage is a very risky game to release here.. I can only see a hybrid model or a RIFT like model working to their advantage. Giving it a  pure sub would give a very big chance of turning it another Aion, and I would hate that.

    I read that Trion were wanting more "westernized" faces and couldn't help but roll my eyes. Isn't the Nuian enough to satisfy the anime bashers/"afraid of being called gay" gamers? They're the European inspired race.

  • comicguycomicguy Member Posts: 123

    "Oriental" games???

     

    WTH? You still live in the 1900's? I believe they  are now called "Asian" games.

  • VorthanionVorthanion Member RarePosts: 2,749
    Originally posted by bcbully

    "will likely need to address such cultural differences with the way they present the game to players."

    "Will character names or race names be changed for ease of understanding?"

     

    We are not the only people in the world. Maybe we should take the time and learn about some other cultures, instead of "freeing" eeer breaking the game.  Those other cultures take the time to learn about us.

    Really?  World of Warcraft had to make fundamental changes to their game before governments like China and Korea would even let it in the country.  On top of that, they had to make a metric ton of cultural changes as well.  I love how America is always the bully and arrogant, yet it's perfectly acceptable anywhere else.  Pot, meet kettle and he's in a fine fettle.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to ease the language barrier by applying naming policies that our culture can relate to.  When I run up to the auctioneer for the first time, I want to recognize him as the auctioneer or weapon merchant or real estate salesman.

     

    image
  • MondoA2JMondoA2J Member Posts: 258

    To quote a very funny song.... "AMERICA!! *BLEEP* YEAH!!!" Think that wraps up the thought behind this.

    Now that silliness is done... Don't change anything please!

    MMORPG Gamers/Developers need a reality check!

  • itchmonitchmon Member RarePosts: 1,999
    Originally posted by MondoA2J

    To quote a very funny song.... "AMERICA!! *BLEEP* YEAH!!!" Think that wraps up the thought behind this.

    Now that silliness is done... Don't change anything please!

    except for the anachronisms that will keep westerners from playing because it stomps on our immersion like a pair of Docs at a ska festival.

     

    change that.

     

    just not much else :)

    RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.

    Currently Playing EVE, ESO

    Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.

    Dwight D Eisenhower

    My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.

    Henry Rollins

  • redcappredcapp Member Posts: 722
    Personally, I don't want to see coca cola vending machines or starbucks' in my MMORPG.  /shrug
  • shibonoryushibonoryu Member Posts: 23
    Originally posted by comicguy

    "Oriental" games???

    WTH? You still live in the 1900's? I believe they  are now called "Asian" games.

    Oriental refers to inanimate objects.

    Asian refers to the people and culture.

    Educate yourself.

    image
  • OlgarkOlgark Member UncommonPosts: 342
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    Why do we need to change anything besides making sure that jokes and Korean pop-culture is changed to influence the NA's pop-culture? People will complain about anything and I think it's great that ArcheAge has a way for players to create what they want. Why change that because of a few grumbles? 

    And what of Europe pop-culture ?

    image

  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 22,824
    Originally posted by comicguy

    "Oriental" games???

     

    WTH? You still live in the 1900's? I believe they  are now called "Asian" games.

    Indeed that is the politically correct term. But it puts all of these peoples: Chinese, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan, Cambodian and Thai, under one banner. Which is a bit odd considering their ethnic and cultural diversity.

    I do wonder how much we would not understand if the game was just translated into English. It would be interesting to see how much of a problem this actually caused players.

  • BlindchanceBlindchance Member UncommonPosts: 1,112
    I lost interest. The game takes too long to produce and the art style I have seen it puts me off. 
  • TheocritusTheocritus Member LegendaryPosts: 9,739
    I dont know about E3 but the vids on youtube certainly don't deliver for this game......
  • victorbjrvictorbjr Member UncommonPosts: 212
    Originally posted by bcbully

    "will likely need to address such cultural differences with the way they present the game to players."

    "Will character names or race names be changed for ease of understanding?"

     

    We are not the only people in the world. Maybe we should take the time and learn about some other cultures, instead of "freeing" eeer breaking the game.  Those other cultures take the time to learn about us.

     

    Hi bcbully!

     

    FYI, I'm a Filipino, living in the Philippines, so I'm not sure what your frame of reference is. :)

     

    I understand the message you want to impart, and I'm actually of like mind in that I don't think localization should greatly impact translations of names or races.  At the same time, if the Korean implementation of the game uses something that doesn't sound palatable to English-speaking audiences (for instance, if a fantasy name is easy to say in Korean but difficult to pronounce in English, wouldn't altering the name to refer to its context be better than forcing a bad translation out?

     

    That's one of the things I've learned from watching fans sub anime or translators translating books (like Haruki Murakami novels). Balancing accurate translation with maintaining the voice or gravitas of the author or the world setting is difficult, but I'm hoping Trion Worlds can localize the game without sacrificing the "feel" of the world itself. :)

     

    Cheers!

     

    A writer and gamer from the Philippines. Loves his mom dearly. :)

    Can also be found on http://www.gamesandgeekery.com

  • RazeeksterRazeekster Member UncommonPosts: 2,591
    Originally posted by faiyo

    Archeage is a very risky game to release here.. I can only see a hybrid model or a RIFT like model working to their advantage. Giving it a  pure sub would give a very big chance of turning it another Aion, and I would hate that.

    I read that Trion were wanting more "westernized" faces and couldn't help but roll my eyes. Isn't the Nuian enough to satisfy the anime bashers/"afraid of being called gay" gamers? They're the European inspired race.

    What is with the hate with other races appearances... I hope Trion doesn't "Westernise" the appearance of anything else or otherwise it wouldn't be ArcheAge. Plus the character creation videos I've seen show that their are already Western looking options anyways.

    Smile

  • botrytisbotrytis Member RarePosts: 3,363
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    Originally posted by faiyo

    Archeage is a very risky game to release here.. I can only see a hybrid model or a RIFT like model working to their advantage. Giving it a  pure sub would give a very big chance of turning it another Aion, and I would hate that.

    I read that Trion were wanting more "westernized" faces and couldn't help but roll my eyes. Isn't the Nuian enough to satisfy the anime bashers/"afraid of being called gay" gamers? They're the European inspired race.

    What is with the hate with other races appearances... I hope Trion doesn't "Westernise" the appearance of anything else or otherwise it wouldn't be ArcheAge. Plus the character creation videos I've seen show that their are already Western looking options anyways.

    Races were westernized in TERA and will be done in other Asian games to fit the sensibilities of the western market. If you think it doesn't happen, you are fooling yourself.


  • botrytisbotrytis Member RarePosts: 3,363
    Originally posted by Torvaldr

    Originally posted by Scot

    Originally posted by comicguy

    "Oriental" games???

     

    WTH? You still live in the 1900's? I believe they  are now called "Asian" games.

    Indeed that is the politically correct term. But it puts all of these peoples: Chinese, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan, Cambodian and Thai, under one banner. Which is a bit odd considering their ethnic and cultural diversity.

    I do wonder how much we would not understand if the game was just translated into English. It would be interesting to see how much of a problem this actually caused players.

    It can be very difficult.  When I was testing Dragon's Prophet all of the original text had been removed and replaced with placeholders in the database.  It was interesting to see how much I relied on text to provide feedback in the game.  Everything from completing quest goals, to understanding and choosing skills, traits, and powers, to just feeling oriented, became a huge challenge.

    On the other hand my first game, Lineage, had players from around the world and supported Korean, among other language fonts.  Many people didn't speak enough English to chat that way, but we still found ways to communicate via emoticons and our own chat symbols that communicated friendship, hostility, and so on.  This was an open pvp game so that sort of communication was very important.  The interesting this is, despite the language barriers, we had a great community.

    Originally posted by victorbjr

    Originally posted by bcbully

    "will likely need to address such cultural differences with the way they present the game to players."

    "Will character names or race names be changed for ease of understanding?"

    We are not the only people in the world. Maybe we should take the time and learn about some other cultures, instead of "freeing" eeer breaking the game.  Those other cultures take the time to learn about us.

    Hi bcbully!

    FYI, I'm a Filipino, living in the Philippines, so I'm not sure what your frame of reference is. :)

    I understand the message you want to impart, and I'm actually of like mind in that I don't think localization should greatly impact translations of names or races.  At the same time, if the Korean implementation of the game uses something that doesn't sound palatable to English-speaking audiences (for instance, if a fantasy name is easy to say in Korean but difficult to pronounce in English, wouldn't altering the name to refer to its context be better than forcing a bad translation out?

    That's one of the things I've learned from watching fans sub anime or translators translating books (like Haruki Murakami novels). Balancing accurate translation with maintaining the voice or gravitas of the author or the world setting is difficult, but I'm hoping Trion Worlds can localize the game without sacrificing the "feel" of the world itself. :)

    Cheers!

    Good article Victor.  I don't know where bcbully is coming from either, but I do agree with his sentiment.  I think if localization isn't done well you can lose a lot of character and a feel to the game the designers were trying to deliver.

    I'm a casual anime fan so your illustration makes perfect sense to me.  Some anime localization is horrible.  Others, I wouldn't even know it wasn't originally produced in English.  I think Hayao Miyazaki is one of my favorites and I think his movies are always translated so well.

    Trion is a really good publisher and marketer so I think they were a good choice for that reason.  I think EnMasse would have been a better choice because they have experience and their Tera localization is great, especially given the inherent hurdles of that IP.  Still, Trion is probably a better and more powerful marketer and that is a great strength in a publisher.

    Trion basically screwed themselves when they dumped most of the people working on Rift. Defiance is mediocre at best so I don't see Trion having a great or even good track record. EnMasse screwed up TERA but they did have decent translations, etc. 


  • VorthanionVorthanion Member RarePosts: 2,749
    Originally posted by Olgark
    Originally posted by Razeekster
    Why do we need to change anything besides making sure that jokes and Korean pop-culture is changed to influence the NA's pop-culture? People will complain about anything and I think it's great that ArcheAge has a way for players to create what they want. Why change that because of a few grumbles? 

    And what of Europe pop-culture ?

    That's why they call it "localization".  It's the responsibility of the distributor to address that issue.  Don't blame American gaming companies for not addressing these sorts of things for players from other countries.  You want localization, then play on European servers and if they don't localize, then blame whoever distributes there, not the parent company that is leasing the rights to the distributor.

    image
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