Will Xseed dub the songs or just subtitle them?

[dairugger]

im kinda curious whether Xseed will dub the songs, or do like alot of other companies do and leave the japanese songs in but add subtitles.. has anyone heard how theyll proceed?

[Nobiyuki77]

This far I don't think I've played an XSEED game where the songs were dubbed, but I admit I haven't played them all.

[Kizyr]

We've had no indication yet either way...

On one hand, they're likely to dub the rest of the dialogue, so it'd be out of step not to also dub the songs. On the other hand, there's a lot of work on the Japanese end being put into the remastered music, so re-doing the songs instead of subtitling them might not make a lot of sense.

Now I'm curious which direction they'll go... KF

[phyco126]

subtitleing = the CEO getting on my bad side. So he has to ask himself this... are you feeling lucky, punk? Are ya?

[GhaleonOne]

Likely a dub, but personally, I don't care either way. I've never cared all that much about vocal songs. Actual voice acting has been more important to me. They're nice, and sure they add to the game, but if I listen to a game soundtrack and a vocal song comes up, I skip it 9 times out of 10.

[Kizyr]

I'm actually the opposite. I love vocal songs, and vocal tracks in video games. Wind's Nocturne was the highlight of the entire SSS soundtrack, and the main Eternal Blue theme was the highlight of the EB soundtrack. KF

[Shiva Indis]

Working Designs was in a rather unique position where they were able to leverage their ballsiness on re-recording songs into skill over the years. It's unlikely that Xseed could do better - since it seems that re-recording songs is more rare now. If they can't use WD's songs I would favor not touching them at all.

[cj iwakura]

I kind of miss the days of dubbed songs. It seems to have died with Working Designs.

[Silver Phoenix]

WD was a poorly run company, regardless of how fanatic people are about their former glory. One major bonus point for them was the Star Dragon Tower music, and they couldn't even get that into the Eternal Blue remake. Just another reason the Sega CD version is actually better than the remake.

My Phoenix sense feels as though we're going to get the original Japanese songs with subtitles, but American voice-overs for the characters. That will be extremely weird when the boat song occurs. However, if XSEED does put in the effort to secure a vocalist I hope she is stellar.

[Alunissage]

They would have had to re-sequence the Star Dragon Tower music into whatever format the PlayStation uses. It's not one of those things that converts easily, and they may not have even had the original source for the music available.

And you know that if they had been able to get it into EBC the same people complaining about its absence would instead be complaining about the poor sound quality, just as with every comparison between the PS and Saturn music.

[Silver Phoenix]

Yes, you're probably right. ...And we all know that the Sega CD soundtrack actually has a better sound quality in most aspects compared to the remake of EB. It irked me how such a minor change to the Pentagulia music could bother me so much. The backing vocal that sounded like chanting to the music wasn't in the remake. Unless you listen to them side by side you won't notice, and I wouldn't exactly say chanting. It was more like holding a note to the sound of the music.

[PottleElf]

I really hope they dub the songs. We're already going to hear the Japanese versions, so why not give us two songs for the price of one? I happen to like hearing other songs reimagined with new lyrics.

[dairugger]

having seen the demo online am i correct in assuming that the cinemas are not fullscreen? can anyone confirm this?

[Silver Phoenix]

Yeah, and in the demo thread you can view videos that show the cutscenes in the center of the screen. It's a shame, and it was either done to retain the aspect ratio of the characters and background animation or to save space on the disc.

[Aaron]

I bet it was done so that nobody had to redraw all those scenes. I mean why reinvent the wheel? Thats a lot of effort considering the return they're going to get from remaking this game again.

[Shiva Indis]

I don't think JAM/GameArts/etc could beat the production values and aesthetic merit of the cutscenes they already had. (HoSS doesn't strike me as a game with a big production budget.) Better to leave them alone at 4:3 aspect than stretch or crop them to fit widescreen.

I can't remember, did the Making of mention that the SSS cutscenes are a bit noteworthy in the history of Japanese animation? I read recently on the the HoSS site that it was the biggest digital animation project undertaken in Japan at the time it was made.

[Aaron]

yes, it was Luna's Boat Song. They used 3d imagry. It was cutting edge at the time but now it just kinda looks funky. But better versions of that technique have shown up in other anime and the result is gorgeous.

[Shiva Indis]

The use of 3D modeling is a small part of what I'm talking about. The whole project used digital ink and paint as well, and in 1996 that was still cutting edge. (In Japan at least - Disney had been using the technique since 1989.)

But anyway, the animation is still well done, occasional funkiness aside. I'd rather stick with more of the same than take chances on Gungho/GameArts/etc. spending enough on this little game to get something new that compares favorably to the production values of what we already have. Call me cautious, but after the Lunar 2 remake I want to hold on to what I know is good.

[Temzin]

Phew, Shiva, I'm glad to see it wasn't just me and the LunarHope kids who had gripes about the terrifying drop in art quality for the Eternal Blue remake's cinemas, made all the more glaring given the high quality of the character portraits by the text boxes. Not that this is the place for that discussion, but still, it does put a damper on the idea of PSP Lunar 2 even though HSS seems to be looking nice...

[Pluvius]

It's gonna suck without the old Ghaleon. There won't be any clowns to send in.