Topic: Level-5 Ships 600,000 Copies of Ni no Kuni

[NWR_Karlie]

Level-5 is expecting their Studio Ghlibi collaboration to perform well at retail in Japan.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/24519

Level-5 announced that the initial shipment to Japanese stores for the Nintendo DS game Ni no Kuni is around 600,000 units in total.

The fantasy RPG comes with a magical book that is used while playing the game to look up spells and monsters. The game, which is released in Japan on December 9, is the first game where the animation company Studio Ghlibi have been involved with development.

[famicomplicated]

The book I used at TGS this year was pretty massive.
The mock-up box I saw in the shops the other day reminded me of the old style PC boxes!

This really is the "biggest" DS game ever in both physical and megabyte senses.


If this isn't translated into English officially, I can easily see a fan-translation project going ahead with this game - it needs to happen!

[Mop it up]

So wait, this game comes with an actual, physical book? That seems like a really strange idea... but also pointless and cumbersome. Why would you want to have to read a book when you're playing a game?

[Sundoulos]

I think, if anything, the book is for spell and monster references.  The book is referenced to draw the runes for magic spells.
 
It does seem like a throwback to the excesses of the PS1-era JRPGs.
 
Still, even if there is a high-level barrier of entry, I plan to eventually import this game if it begins to look as if no western release is planned.

[Caliban]

I would get this game if it were ever to be released here, and I would hope the book would be included too.

[LittleIrves]

This is super-awesome.  And I'm not prone to excessive and slightly infantile adjective-use.  Just the sheer audacity of including a huge spell book would be enough...  but the fact that Studio Ghibli's involved pushes this game over the top.  No way it comes over in its ideal, pure form.  But please, give the American audience a chance.  I'll go and watch Howl's Moving Castle if you do, honest.

[Sundoulos]

That's what scares me about this game.  If the book is integral to the game, there would be a significant effort involved in the area of localization for a game that probably has a lot of translation work, anyway. 

I'm not sure that would appeal to anyone outside of a very niche audience; I wonder if the conclusion will be that it just isn't cost-efficient to port it here.

[Mop it up]

Still, even if there is a high-level barrier of entry, I plan to eventually import this game if it begins to look as if no western release is planned.

Can you read Japanese? How can you play and enjoy a game as text-heavy as this one if you can't read anything?

[Sundoulos]

Still, even if there is a high-level barrier of entry, I plan to eventually import this game if it begins to look as if no western release is planned.

Can you read Japanese? How can you play and enjoy a game as text-heavy as this one if you can't read anything?

I've taken some courses in Japanese, but it has been a while.  I've been planning to pick it up again, anyway.

[famicomplicated]

If you guys read my impressions from this year's TGS I mentioned how I used the book.


Also, the book is entirely in Japanese and would require a hefty translation effort, making it very unlikely.

[Stratos]

Unless the author is fluently bilingual!...yeah, I can dream.