Do you plan to support Japanese?

[Renga]

Hello.

I am interested in this game.

When I looked at the Steam store, the description and summary were translated into Japanese and I considered buying it. However, I found out that the game does not have Japanese language support.

I would like to play this game, but it is a game with a lot of information and I would like to have a translation.

Is there any possibility of Japanese language support?

[Remi1987]

I assume that's not on the roadmap. Hasn't been in the past and I think it's an incredible endeavor to enter the Japanese market. If there is a translation of JA3 on the horizon I expect it to be to Spanish.

[Solaris_Wave]

Out of curiosity, are there any East Asian languages planned for translation? If so, would Japanese be much harder?

[D13]

On Steam it says Chinese (2x) and Indonesian. I'm a bit surprised by Indonesian (and on GOG they do not mention Indonesian)

[Solaris_Wave]

So why do Japanese people not count? Do they not think there will be a big enough market for squad strategy games in Japan?

If they don't try, there never will be a market. Then, people like @Renga who are interested, will have to miss out.

Edited June 19, 2023 by Solaris_Wave

[D13]

I can only guess, but they probably prioritize languages based on reaching people they would not reach otherwise. So they pick languages not because many people understand them, but because they are understood by many people who do not understand the other supported languages. Do Japanese gamers usually understand English? I don't know. But for example, in the Netherlands almost everybody understands either English or German or both, so there would be little to gain from a Dutch translation (even if the market were larger).

Anyway, I hope they externalize all text, then the community can translate.

[Solaris_Wave]

English is one of the most common languages in the world and Europe is so close, it makes sense that English would be a secondary or tertiary language for some. Far East Asia it would be less so. I don't know anywhere near enough about modern Japan to give an educated opinion on this but I am aware that in terms of gaming, Japan can have completely different tastes to many other nations. It still seems a shame though that for a nation where computer entertainment has made a huge cultural impact (and Japan has played a massive role in spreading that throughout the world), some game genres can be shut off to them. China is now seen as more important to many games publishers.

[Renga]

Hello. I am glad to hear someone else's thoughts on this topic.

It is a difficult environment to learn because we don't have to use English to spend time in Japan.

English education has been adopted in Japan, but that is not education to study using English...

All you have to do is memorize the formatted sentences from the textbooks and answer the questions given in Japanese in English.

To learn English, you need to specialize at a university or take an English conversation class for a fee.

There has long been a lot of popularity in Japan for strategy games, like Valkyria Chronicles and Fire Emblem.

This has more of a Japanese anime culture to it, and the character interactions and storylines make strategic games fun. But it doesn't mean that games with realistic style don't fit.

Challenging games are fun and I like the style of this game.

Sad to say, but I guess it's not profitable to translate it to Japan to market it as a strategy game...

[Zwolf]

@Renga I hope that no matter what happens, you will be able to enjoy the game nonetheless. Perhaps (if there are subtitles?) playing the game in English will even give you the opportunity to practice your English a bit.

Edited June 20, 2023 by Zwolf

[Solaris_Wave]

I have never played Valkyria Chronicles because the art style wasn't my thing (although there is a lot of anime and manga I really like. Usually sci-fi) but I have seen it get consistently high ratings.

I wasn't sure what genres are currently popular in Japan. I grew up during the golden age of arcade machines and I loved so many of the games (even if my parents' money didn't. Those games were expensive in the long run). I played Final Fight in its original form (and Poison always was a biological female. None of that she-male business).

I haven't really followed Japanese games in the home entertainment market but other than the JRPG genre, such as Final Fantasy, you don't see a lot of strategy games from Japan (hopefully someone can enlighten me). The problem is, like I said earlier, if you don't attempt to create a market and a desire for it, it will never grow in popularity. It might have a risky start and it might even fail. However, if it gains fans of the genre, it should only increase from there.

If JA3 gets distributed in Japan, it could gain an audience that the publishers never thought possible. If the Japanese language can't be translated and you can only play it in English, hopefully there will be something like an option that only lets cutscenes and dialogue continue every time you press the mouse button. That will hopefully give Japanese gamers time to understand or translate the English writing.

Edited June 20, 2023 by Solaris_Wave

[Carmine]

Does JA2 have a Japanese version by unoffical translation Team ?

[Renga]

I checked and found no unofficial translation.

[Solaris_Wave]

Let's hope that it can be something done officially or unofficially in the future. Sooner rather than later as well. If it gets done, I am sure it will encourage new Japanese players that might have otherwise avoided JA3.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Solaris_Wave