Japanese dialogue in PS3 Blu-ray Last Remnant teased

NewsPosted 18/11/2008 - 2:14pm GMT

Square Enix says: 'We'll see!'

Square Enix has teased fans over the possibility of including the original Japanese dialogue in the PS3 version of inbound JRPG The Last Remnant.

The Xbox 360 version of the game, described by Square Enix president as "the cornerstone" of its worldwide strategy, is due out on Thursday, with PS3 and PC versions planned but without a release date.

Speaking to VideoGamer.com during an interview with the development team in Tokyo, dialogue editor Yuji Isogawa said "we'll see" in response to a question about the possibility of including the original Japanese voice over work in the PS3 version.

A 360 game is stored on a standard 8.5GB dual layer DVD. PS3 games, however, are stored on Blu-ray discs, which can store up to 50GB.

Isogawa-san said that the development team weren't able to include the original Japanese voice over on the 360 version because of space restrictions, but said "it would be cool" if Square Enix was able to include it in the PS3 version.

He said: "Because this is the 360 version and it's just a DVD we didn't end up with enough room on the DVD to have two languages worth of voice. There's a lot of voice in this game. It would be cool if we can do that for a Blu-ray release. We'll see!"

One of the chief 'wants' of fans of Japanese role-playing games is to have the option of switching from English voice over to the original Japanese with English subtitles to provide a more authentic experience.

Due to the amount of memory required to fit multiple languages onto a single game disc, this hasn't been possible in the past. However, with the extra capacity provided by the Blu-ray disc, this is now theoretically possible.

Look for our exclusive interview with the sound team behind The Last Remnant tomorrow.

The Last Remnant is due out for Xbox 360 on Thursday November 20 2008.

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Anonymous

I wonder why Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata contain Japanese Audio though, especially since Eternal Sonata only has 1 disc. Very Suspicious....

Posted 04:44 on 09 December 2008

Marink@ m1tsu

English voice-overs are normally quite horrific compared to the Japanese speech, in my opinion. It's a shame the 360 version won't have the option of the original Japanese dialogue.

Posted 20:09 on 20 November 2008

m1tsu

I think it would be a great idea. Most American voices actors don't understand the true feelings that go behind Japanese voice acting. Take for an example; Gurren Lagann, one of the biggest animes to come around for years was completely ruined by American voice overs. I couldn't help but laugh. It's almost as if the American voice overs change the entire attitude of a character... I think it would be worth the wait IF they were to add the Japanese voice overs.

Posted 17:47 on 20 November 2008

FantasyMeister@ Pete

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

Chief 'wants' ?
I can't claim to speak for all fans of Japanese role-playing games but i personally can't see the point in reading subtitles rather than hearing it in english.
Unless they are using third rate 70's kung fu voice-over actors, in which case the issue would be with the choice of voice talent not the choice of languages.

I was going to say the same thing. I think I'd have rephrased it as:

"One of the chief 'wants' of fans of Japanese role-playing games is to have the option of switching from English voice over to the original Japanese with English subtitles because most JRPGs always manage to use really bad Western voice actors."

Having said that, they've been getting better recently.

My personal chief want is not to have to play as an emo teen. I appreciate that's probably the biggest JRPG demographic so maybe asking for a 40-year old lead is asking a bit much. Works out ok in other genres though (Snake, Niko Bellic, etc.)

Posted 07:27 on 19 November 2008