werewolfgold

While it wouldn't be a deal breaker by any means (they already have my money): It'd just be a tick against them when other fighting games...even some of their own...have it as a matter of course at this point in time. As a fan, I'd want as few reasons as possible for people in general to raise their eyebrow at the game. Some people just aren't fans of having to pay attention to subtitles when they could just be listening. An American dude and a French dude galavanting around in a game with mostly western music references, featuring the opening and ending theme in English, speaking Japanese when in-game the country of origin had been canonically annihilated awhile ago...it's just kind of funny or odd when you think about it. I'm just personally curious to see how it'd sound. But, if they honestly don't have the money for it, I understand.

I'm sure it's cheaper that way...

To be fair, I don't think the Japanese version has English story voices available. It's probably just a space thing.

3 audio discs. It'd be easy to convert them upon ripping them to a computer.

Ticket officially bought. And, now I'm broke. v_v But, I didn't really enjoy Revenger and Go in Soul as much as I thought I would. Some instrumentals work as image songs in terms of how the melody and flow works, but others...not as much. Those two feel kind of forced in some way. I'm kind of hoping that Millia's, Potemkin's, and/or Venom's new themes makes it into the concert. We need some live love thrown their way.

Finally got my hands on the game (my proxy in America was super slow in sending it to me). Time to see how bad the damage really is... The first thing that I noticed was in the main menu, the last two tabs have the options in all caps while all the rest don't. I dunno why they would choose to do that. And the gallery info talks about music when there is none. This doesn't bode well. lol

I dunno... He sounded kinda drunk/ill at the last concert...

Heavy Day is dealing with abstract concepts. Childish Killer is supposed to be straightforward and I'm still to figure out what it means to "fill blissfully" and "save mind so wrong", personally.

With some tweaks, these songs could actually kind of work out. This is nowhere near Childish Killer tier. You must be joking. lol

Basically, it doesn't break out into a fight if people can accept that sometimes there can be a lot of factors involved. Sometimes, English dubs are terrible. Sometimes they're not. Even though Japanese is the "original", sometimes the English voice clicks more. It happens. Depending on how lines are delivered, etc. Sometimes, the Japanese voice has a spark that the English voice doesn't. Sometimes, it's the other way around. If people don't get all absolutist about it, then people probably don't really have to fight about it. I think English dubs in general can have a tougher time because if it's an awkward, sucky translation in the first place, then it's not going to sound right no matter what. For me, personally, I tend to use the English dub for Blazblue. Reason being, many of the move names in fight that are called out are not in Japanese. And because English covers far more of a range of sounds than Japanese does, it sounds less awkward having a native English speaker pronounce something in say, Japanese (if they have some sense of how it works [pretty much all of the VAs in this game do]), than it does for a Japanese native to say something in English (if they haven't been practicing for years). It just requires mouth muscles that need to be built up. And sometimes, even if they could pronounce it in English, they're probably just reading the Japanese characters which are as limited in sounds as the Japanese language itself. Example: "Gauntlet Hades" becomes by necessity "Ga-n-to-re-t-to Ha-a-de-zu" and "Spark Bolt" becomes "Su-pa-a-ku Bo-ru-to" and "Nemesis Stabilizer" becomes "Ne-me-shi-su Su-te-bi-ra-i-za-a" when you write it in Japanese characters. The VA's pronunciation usually reflects this. I think we've all heard what happens when you get the native Japanese VAs doing the general announcing for the game (Ka-ru-ru Ku-ro-ba-a). lol There are things in the Japanese language that don't kind of work in English, and I get that in the grand scheme of things. But, in general, the English voices end up sounding less awkward mid match and beyond for me.

This is kind of small potatoes, but what's up with the bootleg capitalization that seems to be going on recently with some of these song titles? "Black aggression" as opposed to "Black Aggression". "Give me a break" as opposed to "Give Me A Break". "magnolia eclair" and not "Magnolia Eclair". It might be "stylization" but it just kind of makes it look like they don't know what they're doing when it comes to English titles...

The thing I'm most angry about is that I don't even know if raging at ArcSys is gonna cause them to actually fix anything in the game or cause them to add the Library or anything back. It might be a "that ship has sailed" situation. I mean, I hope it'll cause them to reevaluate future decisions, but...

I listened to the VS. themes again. Sol v. Ky: So...why does that opening part have nothing to do with the rest of the song. It seemed like it should've been incorporated throughout. And, I feel like it needs a keyboard or something. But, still good. Millia v. Zato: It's not Still in the Dark. But, I don't think they should really be compared like that anyway. It's a nice song filled with...longing, I suppose. It perhaps fits because it's Zato in control now. Assassins: I like it. It feels...overly dramatic, though. The relationship between them all doesn't seemed as strained anymore like the song would imply. Same Character: Eh. It works. I also figured out what I don't like about Chipp's theme. It doesn't seem like the chorus leads back into the refrain very well. It's just kind of there. And, I think I like Zato's theme a little more now.

Wut? It's no more "light-hearted" than Holy Orders or Pillars of the Underworld are. They both have the same feel in terms of many of the chord progressions even. I don't really see anyone else but Ky having this new theme. Dude's a hero king that's all JUSTICE and MORALS and HONOR and stuff. How does it not fit? It totally fits. We doing song impressions now? I wanna play. Sol: Sounds more rough and tumble than KYA3. But, I almost thought that KYA3 sounded a little too light anyway. I think it works. Maybe the melody could stick out a little more. Ky: This song makes me want to do heroic things. May: Good stuff. Definitely works. Millia: YESSSSSSSSS. Really captures that melancholy. Zato: I kind of like it. I feel like it needs more...direction...? Potemkin: I like it. It's groovy. The constant pulse is a nice change from Burly Heart. The chorus is a little unexpected. Chipp: A little too busy, I think. Suck a Sage is kind of easy to "get" straight away. This new one I had to listen to a few times before I could figure it out. Faust: I personally would like a little more dynamic chord progression throughout, but I think it works for the most part. Axl: I think the chorus needs a little more movement. But, it's a good nod to his previous themes. Venom: At first, I was like, huh? But, I feel like this kind of captures the WTF-ness of a dude like Venom showing up to kick your ass. It also kind of captures that Egyptian crypt feel. Slayer: Nothing needs to be said. It's just understood. I-No: I like the playfulness of the base rhythm. I would add some kind of melody to the bridge before the chorus, however. Bedman: I like the sadness of this theme. The music box and piano fail is kind of funny. Gives it that nightmare feel. I should probably listen to the other themes again before I say anything. I think overall, the music seems less...conventional? Straight-laced? I think it doesn't always do what you expect it to do. But, maybe that's a good thing...

That's basically what it comes down to for me. Welp, if people get pissed off enough, then it might really end up badly for them reputation wise. I kind of don't want to support them financially anymore, and I love GG and BB. And, if some crazy dude does smack them with a lawsuit then... I mean, honestly, if they're delayed for a non-stupid reason, then whatever. It'd have to be a really good reason seeing as there wouldn't be a lot of coding or translation involved. But, at least SAY SOMETHING even if it's not a good reason. If we don't even deserve that much, then I don't see why they even bother with the western market.

There. I cut it down. Happy? Turn that frown upside down, mister. Your second option was given before as "Stay free" and I could see how people would consider that to be acting like a dick. Just saying. And while it is relatively easy to get the Japanese version, a. it's not completely without hassle, b. people who already bought the game should not have to buy it a second time when, c. they had every reason to expect the update before now and perhaps Arcsys should not be "rewarded" with more of their money by buying it another time. Not to mention, d. for those that still don't have it, "importing" as opposed to buying it in their region does have unfortunate implications for Western sales numbers. No official western support would have an impact. It just would. You can claim that you can still find people online and that people still show up for tournaments. I say there'd likely be even more if we weren't going through this nonsense. "Entitlement"? I think this is rather justifiable given the current situation of who has the update and who doesn't. How many hoops should people really have to jump through in order to "support" the game? And while Arcsys JP can say that "Oh, we don't have developers on hand to work on it/get it out more quickly", that still says that they didn't see fit to follow through and give people what they were owed before moving their people on to the next/a different project.

Wait... Are we having a Big Brother/Borg moment, right here...? But, it's not like the songs are terrible, but if one were to really break the songs down, Catus Carnival II, Oriental Flower II, Marionette Purple II, and a few others definitely lost something in translation that wasn't really made up for (I think MOTOR HEAD II is also one of them, but...). However, I think that there are a couple clear instances of the new versions overtaking the originals in terms of pushing the envelope and building upon the idea, like UHD II, Lust SIN II, Rebellion II, and a few others. I think a lot of the remaining ones are really up to varying song preferences (not that they ALL aren't, but I think some more than others, like whether you prefer the rave-y style of Alexandrite to the more hard rock style of Alexandrite II).

I actually live in Japan right now, so I went OUT OF MY WAY to get the US version because I wanted to show my "western" support. I suppose the universe has trolled me. lol But, if they are trying to release an updated patch and that's why they didn't release the current one...eh, that's still kind of smarmy, but I could accept it. Because there is no good reason why the X360 and Japanese PSN has the patch in all of the languages required, but US PSN doesn't. As for Europe...well...

And henceforth, Hazama shall be known as Evil, Anime Michael Jackson. But, anyway, yeah. It really doesn't make that much sense. Nah. They need to just go back and re-do that hot mess of this first season before anything. I'd give it a 5.5/10. I feel more confused after watching that show even though I've played the games. And even if the Blu-Rays are improved, I ain't about to shell out Japanese Blu-Ray money for them. Plus, they'd have to add about another 3 episodes. But, the show had its moments.

If I were to guess, I think that they might have held it back to put on that character album that's going to be released to entice people to buy it perhaps. Because it seems like there would totally be room for it on the 3rd disc of the soundtrack. For instance the first disc clocks in at 77:24 and the third only clocks in at 72:00. Some times file sizes for songs can vary, but...the file sizes seem comparable to the length the discs take up. I dunno. They may have zapped us on that one...

Litchi: I'mma cut you. Hazama: No, wait. Look behind you. Litchi: ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! Me: lololololol

I like how if you look closely, the arm turns into his face.

Poor Noel...

I chuckled. Tsubaki's been keeping something from everyone...

Aw, I forgot one. Bang: "No, for the final blow... I CANNOT DO IT!!!!" Tony Oliver... v_v