Ben-DutkaAlthough all the Yakuza titles eventually find their way to North America (despite the typical one-year delay), they don't come with an English voiceover option. Well, that changes with Yakuza 3 .
Towards the end of last year, it was announced that Sega would bring the third entry in the critically acclaimed franchise to the US, much to the delight of series fans. Remember, this is the first Yakuza title designed for the PlayStation 3 and it currently sports the best review scores of the series. But some people just don't like the Japanese voices and being forced to read the English subtitles (yes, that kind of laziness sadly does exist), even though many prefer it this way. Most of us just assumed this would all remain the same for Yakuza 3 but as PS3Center noted, Sega of America studio director Constantine Hantzopoulos has apparently confirmed that North American/European localization will feature English voices. This info came from the latest 4 Guys 1 Up podcast, which you can listen to through that link, where Hantzopoulos mentions the higher costs of bringing the game to the US and hiring new voice actors:
"The bulk of the cost is actually the [voice overs]. A lot of lines in [Yakuza 3] so obviously the more expensive it gets, you wanna land the right actors, voice the right parts. Whenever Sega brings a game over [to the US] and makes the investment, the heavy investment, into localization, we're talking over 500, 600, 700K to localize this game. Lot of voices, lot of different peeps, lot of different characters."
Yakuza 3 is slated to arrive on North American shores in March, and it seems a wider audience will now be satisfied with the production. Personally, I think a game like this requires the Japanese voices in order to give us the appropriate atmosphere (I mean, we're talking about the Yakuza, here), but I understand that's a matter of opinion.
Related Game(s): Yakuza 3
Yakuza is a game with strong Japanese culture. I hope we get good sales so we see Yakuza 4. I can't afford to buy it day 1 though. It's just too pricy to do so 1st quarter.
Last edited by godsman on 1/3/2010 10:06:30 PM
I don't mind, leave it as it is, I agree with Ben, stick with the authentic japanese culture, it gives you that overall atmosphere in the game. Just another addition to the overall experience on the game you could say.
I mean imagine having Mario with a French accent as supposed to an Italian accent right?
ah bonjour madamoiselle oh la la ca va
hm, i don't think many people would be convinced with that hahaha
I wouldn't call it laziness, it's just f^cking annoying to me.After this news though I might give the game a chance seeing as people are comparing it to Shenmue.
Hey man, it's not lazy to want to focus your eyes on the visuals instead of text. And if one more person who can't speak Japanese says their voice acting is better I will thump them upside the head.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 1/3/2010 10:17:21 PM
Exactly, subtitles distract from what's happening on screen. It's the only real reason I dislike quick time events, I'm so focused on watching to see what buttons to hit that I'm missing the action.
There's thousands of those people you speak of who don't know one word in Japanese yet say it's galaxy's beyond the English dubs.It really confuses and irritates me at the same time.
Oh dear.
Who ever says reading subtitles can distract you from the visuals? As far as I remember, reading subs and watching the picture melds naturally to me; I bet the same goes for many other people.
As for people hating on the Jap voice-overs: sometimes there is humour which would only be funny in a Japanese accent, or approach. Infact it works for the whole culture of their conversations and because of that do you know how much anime, how many films and how many games have been differed in English voice dubbing? Character tone and outlook have probably been comprimised from the original and you probably never knew it happened. Not that it's much of a problem anyway tbh [except anime, where it's distinctive].
Not entirely bashing dubs though, as sometimes they are decent [with games: mostly], sometimes so bad & cheesy that it's healthy to laugh at [e.g. Tenchu: Shadow Assassins].
Thumping people isn't nice =P
I get all of that, but you lose the same things in a subtitled title. They compromise certain cultural implications in order to have it make more sense to us. I'm just talking about the voice acting, someone who doesn't speak the language should by default have little to say in the realm of whether or not it is quality or cheesy. If I popped in a french film I would have nothing to say about whether they did a good job of acting or sounded flat.
There is no way text on the bottom of a screen and animated action in the middle of a screen meld together.
I guess you guys aren't big on foreign films.
Yeah I used to like/love subtitles but not anymore. And I agree with you World.
Sad face.
I understand where the distraction of subtitles can be. Typically you want to slow down and read at the speed of the character's dialogue. This becomes a problem when you have large TV where your eyes jump 2 feet from the bottom to center of the screen to catch the actions. It's harder to get into the "zone", but not impossible.
I'm Mexican and we usually get subs with the games/movies(and not always on my own language) but its okay now thanks to that I'm decent on english..Yes Ben some people are really lazy.
Ok Ben, you're confusing me now.
Is it Yakuza 3 or Yakuza Kenzan? Pictures and info leads toward Yakuza 3 but you have used a Kenzan picture in the past and you also mention "this is the first Yakuza title designed for the PlayStation 3". As far as I remember, Kenzan is that game.
Actually y'know what'll be cooler? If both get released here.
If they do that, they should give us the option of choosing between English and Japanese, so that if you don't like Japanese, you can play it in English. But I will be pissed if they only bring it in English.
I don't really mind reading subs, since I'm Bolivian, and sometimes English is so confusing (with all the slangs) =)
Last edited by hellish_devil on 1/3/2010 10:47:11 PM
You got us there, English can be one of the most confusing languages around.
English IMO is tied with German for the worst sounding language out there. I don't like the French for their politics but my ex gf spoke French and ohh lala.
Well then pull down my trousers, brand my bottom and call me Frenchy!
This game is actually coming out? Hmm…
Subtitles can be a detriment to the on-screen action in some cases. If there is a lot of action on screen and someone is speaking through subtitles, your eye is "forced" to choose between the action and dialogue. So one either misses the dialogue or they only catch some snippet of it (same goes for action moments).
Thing about Japanese voice acting is the fact that I don't speak Japanese. It's harder for me to pick up on the emotional delivery in Japanese voices. So if I have to focus on an actor's voice, I run into a similar situation from above.
im seriously starting to believe developers are either the dumbest human beings in the world.
or they live in a cave working on their games and never look out the window to see whats happening in their industry.
yakuza came out, and they did not want to release it outside JP because they thought it would not sell well.
yakuza 2 came out, and they did not want to release outside JP because yakuza sold poorly.
yakuza 3 came out, and they did not want to release it outside JP because yakuza 2 sold poorly.
so they finally decide to release yakuza 3 here, but to solve the original problem they release the game in march.
the busiest month for next year.
the year that has final fantasy XIII, gran turismo 5 (JP), god of war 3, battlefield bad company 2, tony hawk ride (outside US), singularity, LEGO harry pothead 1-4.
there just a few games off EBs website due to release in march.
so let me get this straight.
the sequels have always sold poorly in Japan, so to solve that problem instead of releasing it in a quiet month there releasing it in a month with at least 7 other titles, 3 of them being big name hits.
yea, that should solve the problem LMAFO!
ok so which one is it?
are developers the dumbest human beings on earth?
or are they just stuck in their cave never looking out the window?
common seance looks like a word not in the developers dictionary.
nor is the word organization.
Publishers choose the release dates. And yes, they're retarded.
you mean they're always sold poorly in the west. in japan it sales like hotcakes, also this game came out last year, the 4th one is about to come out over there tho =)
facepalm!
yea in the west, yukuza 3 in Japan is the wests GTA.
i know the developers hate that comparison, but its inevitable.
any open world gang game is going to get compared with it, just like dantes inferno getting compared with GOW, or bayonetta being compared to DMC.
i hope my local blockbuster gets this game in because i want to play it, but im not dropping 100+ bucks on it.
annoying, for some reason all my local vid stores only get 2 or 3 games in per month, same with bluray movies.
they still do not have assassins creed 2, the saboteur or the avatar.
they are nothing alike seriously if Kiryu wasn't a Yakuza people would never come with that absurd comparative.
I've heard many things about this game, is it any good?
The only one being lazy is the publisher who doesn't want to localize their software.
I will fuckin kill SEGA if they include crappy english voices in the game!
You're too late. SEGA died a long time ago.
*Thump*
i would like the option to have both english an japanese voice acting and everybody will be happy. I just hope people go out and get this game It got a nice story I love the first and second yakuza and it is better then shenmue
Last edited by rell on 1/4/2010 12:46:34 PM
I hope they give us the option of Japanese voices with subs.
It looks like like the interview was misunderstood. They reassured people that there will be no English dub.
Last edited by Oyashiro on 1/4/2010 11:46:06 PM