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XSEED Bringing The Last Story to North America

by Neal Ronaghan - February 22, 2012, 6:14 am EST
Total comments: 55 Source: (Nintendo Direct)

The Last Story is coming to North America!

The Last Story is coming to North America courtesy of XSEED Games, according to the Nintendo Direct presentation.

No release date was given, though Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime did say it will be on store shelves by the end of the year. 

The Last Story, developed by Mistwalker, is coming out in Europe later this week, and came out in Japan last year. It is the second of three Wii RPGs that Operation Rainfall has been pushing to get localized in North America.

Xenoblade Chronicles Hits Wii on April 6 with The Last Story Soon to Follow

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 22, 2012 - Nintendo is loading 2012 with surprises for all kinds of gamers. Today Nintendo can confirm that the acclaimed role-playing game The Last Story™ will come to North America for the Wii™ console in 2012, published by XSEED Games. Nintendo also can reveal that Xenoblade Chronicles™ will launch on April 6, complete with fan-chosen artwork that will be featured in the game's packaging.

"Together, these two games level up the excitement for RPG fans in America," said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "Whether roaming the vast landscape of Xenoblade Chronicles or choosing crossbows to battle with or against companions in The Last Story, gamers will recognize these titles as benchmarks for the genre."

Remember also that Rhythm Heaven™ Fever for Wii launched Feb. 13, while PokéPark™ 2: Wonders Beyond launches Feb. 27 and Mario Party™ 9 launches March 11.

On the portable gaming side, a sporty new Mario™ game for the Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system is on the way, and you don't need to be a pro athlete to jump into the action. Mario Tennis™ Open, which launches May 20, offers immersive tennis action featuring everyone's favorite characters from the Mushroom Kingdom in classic Mario style. With its intuitive game play, even novice tennis players can enjoy playing the game with friends and family. Mario Tennis Open also supports comprehensive online play, a first for the series. Players with a broadband Internet connection can play singles or doubles matches with friends near and far, or compete against single opponents of similar skill levels in Open Match mode. The game also supports leader boards and victory medals.

The parade of great games for Nintendo 3DS continues, particularly from third-party publishers. Games that launched during the past two weeks alone include Resident Evil® Revelations from CAPCOM, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games™ published by SEGA, TEKKEN® 3D Prime Edition™ from NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. and METAL GEAR SOLID® Snake Eater 3D from Konami Digital Entertainment. For more information and to see a listing of upcoming third-party games for Nintendo systems, visit http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew.

On March 23, Kid Icarus™: Uprising joins the Nintendo 3DS party, complete with online multiplayer battles. The 3D horror of Spirit Camera™: The Cursed Memoir ominously follows on Friday the 13th of April.

Lately the Nintendo eShop also has been on a roll, and today Nintendo unleashes Dillon's Rolling Western™. Players take on the role of an armadillo ranger named Dillon who must defend Old West villages against mysterious rock-like enemies using strategy and his own unique fighting skills. This original action tower defense game is available for $9.99. Nintendo 3DS owners can find many exciting games in the Nintendo eShop, including the critically acclaimed Pushmo™, the stylish swordplay of Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword™ and Mutant Mudds™, a classic 2D platformer with a 3D twist.

Remember that Wii and Nintendo 3DS feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/wii or http://www.nintendo.com/3ds.

To watch a Nintendo Direct video of Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime discussing today's announcements, visit http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo_direct. The video is also available at http://www.youtube.com/nintendo for viewing and embedding on other sites.

Talkback

SorenFebruary 22, 2012

It's weird hearing Reggie trying to hype himself up for these games when we know he didn't want them in the first place.

Still, Day 1 purchase.

AdrockFebruary 22, 2012

Better late than never. Way to step up to the plate, XSeed.

motangFebruary 22, 2012

Such an awesome news! Thanks Xseed!

FZeroBoyoFebruary 22, 2012

Woohoo!

EnnerFebruary 22, 2012

Hurray! The begging and shouting worked.

BlackNMild2k1February 22, 2012

I had a feeling that TLS had a high probability of coming over if Xeno got a release date.
But I hope all of you OpRainfallers out there don't continue to hold your breath for Pandora's Tower, because I'm pretty sure it ain't happenin'.

2 out of three was the best you really could have expected anyway.

I just hope it comes out atleast 2 months before the Wii U and gets promoted at E3 even if it came out just before that event too.

StogiFebruary 22, 2012

Maybe they should wait and release dual versions for Wii U and Wii.

Bman87301February 22, 2012

Quote from: Soren

It's weird hearing Reggie trying to hype himself up for these games when we know he didn't want them in the first place.

Still, Day 1 purchase.

*face palm*

People actually believe Reggie didn't want these games?  There's no reason for Reggie not to want these games especially knowing the cult demand. The idea that they weren't announced sooner simply because Reggie personally didn't want them is ridiculous and just plain childish.

The weakness of the Dollar compared to the Pound and Euro is why they couldn't be as quick to commit as NOE could-- it was far riskier to take a major loss in the NA market.

It's far more likely that Reggie did want them and was probably a key player in working to ensure they did come here.

AdrockFebruary 22, 2012

And it starts... I'll sit this one out. I'm just happy to get the game. The Last Story was the one I really wanted. I hope it comes out well before November. I can't be bothered when there's Wii U (probably) and Resident Evil 6 to be played.

ejamerFebruary 22, 2012

Great news for North American gamers!  Props to Xseed Games for stepping up to make this game available - hopefully people will be willing to actually buy a copy.

BeautifulShyFebruary 22, 2012

I feel asleep a few hours ago and couldn't cover the NA live stream properly so I came in here refreshed the blog real quick and scrolled down and my reaction was basicaly this when I got to the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpgy21r_dRE

Anyway I already have Xenoblade Chronicles preordered down at Gamestop so I guess XSeed just has to direct me to where I can throw my money at them. This is being bought.

Fatty The HuttFebruary 22, 2012

Yay! Last Story!!
Now, about that DQX...

CericFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: Fatty_The_Hutt

Yay! Last Story!!
Now, about that DQX...

I have little doubt that DQX will be coming Stateside.  Thought I expect it to be the Wii U version only and about 6 month to a year after Japaneses launch.

Kytim89February 22, 2012

There is still a chance we could get Pandora's Tower. If Xseed were to release Last Story in say may or june of this year then we could get Pandora's Tower in maybe july or august of this year. Of course I do not think that Xessed or Nintendo will publish this game in North America due to its content. There is always Atlus. Atlus releases games in limited quantities, so even if the demand for the game is low, Atlus would still have the capacity to satisfy the people who want this game. So, we very well could have all three games by the time the Wii U is launched.

Edit:

Even if 50,000 people buy Pandora's Tower in North America, Atlus is good at publishing games in small enough quantities that 50,000 would still be a good margin for profits for them to handle.

We will not get Pandora's Tower. I guarantee you that you can walk into a store on day one and buy a Wii that game is not coming to North America. The Last Story has a western design aesthetic and was made by the creator of Final Fantasy, so I can see why XSEED might give it a shot. Pandora's tower has neither the broad appeal nor the strong pedigree, and would be a much tougher sell.

broodwarsFebruary 22, 2012

While it's really great that Nintendo finally saw common sense and allowed a company that wanted one of the Rainfall games to actually bring them over here, I won't be buying the NA version of this game.  It's nothing against XSEED, but this deal simply took too long.  Months ago, I asked for the import version for my Birthday in April.  I've seen some folks on my Twitter feed estimate the NA release as sometime in the Summer, and that's simply too late.  If the game was releasing earlier I'd get it wholeheartedly, but I'm not buying a version of the game I don't need so XSEED will just have to manage without my sale.

AdrockFebruary 22, 2012

Xseed can shut up and take my money.

Ian SaneFebruary 22, 2012

I'm glad to see this coming out.  However, like with Xenoblade, I'm not too thrilled with how this has come about.  NOA didn't want anything to do with these games and only way we got them was with someone else's involvement.  The best NOA did was permit Xseed and GameStop to localize them.  Does NOA think they're doing us a favour?  They're doing the absolute bare minimum and I truly believe that if these other parties didn't get involved we would not get these at all and NOA would be fine with months and months of jack shit nothing until the Wii U came out.  My negative feelings towards NOA have not changed at all.  They might have if NOA localized these completely themselves in a "better late than never" scenario.  At least then we would know NOA gave a damn.

Nintendo talks about how they want core gamers to buy the Wii U and the whole Operation Rainfall thing has suggested the exact opposite.  Yes, we now get these games which is good but the way we're getting them doesn't make NOA look like they're at the pulse of core gaming.  If anything it proves the exact opposite.  So is this how it will work on the Wii U?  Will we only get the more obscure core games if someone else offers to foot the bill?  Nintendo should not want core gamers thinking that.  No one should be iffy about a Wii U because they're wondering if the "good" games will get localized.

broodwarsFebruary 22, 2012

Well, as it turns out the person who was supposed to gift me the game...forgot to order it months ago when I gave them the link.  So I guess I will be getting the NA release after all.  -_-'

Luigi DudeFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

We will not get Pandora's Tower. I guarantee you that you can walk into a store on day one and buy a Wii that game is not coming to North America. The Last Story has a western design aesthetic and was made by the creator of Final Fantasy, so I can see why XSEED might give it a shot. Pandora's tower has neither the broad appeal nor the strong pedigree, and would be a much tougher sell.

It also doesn't help that even among Operation Rainfall supporters, hardly anyone cares about Pandora's Tower either.  Xenoblade and The Last Story were the two games everyone wanted and were demanding to come over.  Pandora's Tower was just thrown in because it was lucky to be released right before Operation Rainfall started and the creators of the campaign were like "Oh what the hell, might as well just put it in there anyway if we're demanding Japan/Europe only games".

BeautifulShyFebruary 22, 2012

Don't really agree with that Luigi Dude. I just think it had to do with lack of info. Anyway XSeed has a Facebook page up for the info and a section on their forums. I went and posted both in the topic in the games section.

SuperTrainStationHFebruary 22, 2012

I seriously can't believe that they are people who are still convinced that "Reggie hates the Rainfall gamess" or that "Reggie is trying to stop the Rainfall games from reaching North America" and that Reggie is somehow putting on an act by being excited that The Last Story is coming to North America.

It started with MOTHER 3 fans, but Reggie has become this boogieman scapegoat to blame for whenever North American Nintendo fans don't get their way exactly when and how they demand it.

Seriously, Reggie isn't some dictator who was keeping Xenoblade and The Last Story in a vault because he hates Nintendo fans, nor can he push a button and magically have them instantly localized, debuged, test played, manufactured, advertised, and shipped to store shelves.


The idea that Nintendo in any way, screwed, mistreated, or betrayed the trust of their customers in regards to the localization of these games is LAUGHABLE.

If anything, North American gamers should feel outraged about Disaster: Day of Crisis and Project: HAMMER being used to promote the Wii at the E3 2006 Wii reveal only for them to never see the light of day.

Reggie knew they were good games, but he doesn't have the luxury of making decisions based on that. If he didn't think they would be profitable, it didn't matter how great they were; he would be doing his job badly to release them despite that. Now GameStop and XSEED are taking on the risk, so NOA's in a more favorable position for these games to come out, and he can talk about how great they are.

broodwarsFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: SuperTrainStationH

Seriously, Reggie isn't some dictator who was keeping Xenoblade and The Last Story in a vault because he hates Nintendo fans, nor can he push a button and magically have them instantly localized, debuged, test played, manufactured, advertised, and shipped to store shelves.

He doesn't need such a button to have the games localized; debugged; and play-tested, because these games are already localized into English.  As for having them manufactured; advertised; and shipped, he absolutely can "push a button" and have that done.  That's part of being the head of NoA and having the authority to decide what NoA does and does not pick up (unless given specific orders from Nintendo Corporate).  He just didn't think these games could turn a massive profit in NA, so he decided that NoA would not release them.

I think the only reason Reggie even agreed to let XSEED pick The Last Story up was because of Nintendo Corporate's recent abysmal earnings report.  He probably got orders from Nintendo Corporate to allow other companies to pick up the rights so Nintendo Corporate would see some extra cash for the next earnings report.

BeautifulShyFebruary 22, 2012

I just want to note that this is great news and should be celebrated. People are just being downers just because they can. It really doesn't matter much why we are getting this. I mean can't we just not read to much into things about the games and just play them?

AdrockFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: Maxi

I just want to note that this is great news and should be celebrated. People are just being downers just because they can. It really doesn't matter much why we are getting this. I mean can't we just not read to much into things and just play them?

Uh... NO! What kind of bizarro world are you living in? Celebrate when good things happen... That's hippie nonsense.

Luigi DudeFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: Maxi

I just want to note that this is great news and should be celebrated. People are just being downers just because they can. It really doesn't matter much why we are getting this. I mean can't we just not read to much into things and just play them?

This is the internet where people will complain about this news no matter what unless Reggie personally comes to their house with a free copy of The Last Story tonight, some high quality hookers and a truck full of weed.

GoldenPhoenixFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: Maxi

I just want to note that this is great news and should be celebrated. People are just being downers just because they can. It really doesn't matter much why we are getting this. I mean can't we just not read to much into things and just play them?

Exactly. People wanted these games to come out, after showing there may be buyers through Operation Rainfall they allowed the games to come stateside. I thought that is what people wanted? Yet everyone is still complaining. People seem to have the need to complain no matter what, instead of "We want these games to come out" it has now evolved to "It has taken too long, let's whine some more". The fact is that NOA didn't do this out of malice, they were extremely uncertain if it would be profitable, and people have shown that it may in fact be. This news should be positive, not just because they are coming out here, but that campaigns for a product to be released is not always in vain.

Let's just hope people put their money where their mouth is, though I still have a feeling neither game is going to do well, I hope I am wrong.

I don't think there's anyone in this thread who isn't happy that this game is coming to North America. The thing is, though, that doesn't produce much discussion. The discussion is coming from an analysis of how it came to be, which Maxi is right to say doesn't really matter, but some people still find that interesting, and there are reasons to be less than thrilled with the circumstances that led us here.

SuperTrainStationHFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: broodwars

Quote from: SuperTrainStationH

Seriously, Reggie isn't some dictator who was keeping Xenoblade and The Last Story in a vault because he hates Nintendo fans, nor can he push a button and magically have them instantly localized, debuged, test played, manufactured, advertised, and shipped to store shelves.

...he absolutely can "push a button" and have that done.... ...He just didn't think these games could turn a massive profit in NA, so he decided that NoA would not release them.

You simply don't have a realistic conception of the role Reggie plays within Nintendo and how Nintendo operates.

If you want to cling to your baseless story that Reggie was actually trying to actively PREVENT the Rainfall games from coming to North America and that he was ordered by NCL to allow Xseed to localize The Last Story, feel free to do so.

The reality is, NCL has had a documented history of preventing and hindering NOA from bringing over fan favorite Japanese titles to the Americas, not the other way around.

The reality is that Nintendo is a very secretive company, and we will most likely never know exactly how this went down, so singling out broodwars' comment as being baseless is pretty silly. Also, NCL hindering a North American release doesn't really make sense when you consider that NOE, which is more of a puppet of NCL than NOA is, released the games itself without third party help.

SuperTrainStationHFebruary 22, 2012

Yes, we don't know exactly how things went down behind the scenes within Nintendo.

Therefore, saying that Reggie was actively trying to prevent the Rainfall games from coming to North America without some sort of memo or credible primary source is just as baseless as if I were to say that Reggie was passionately crusading behind the scenes and was being knocked down at every corner by NCL.

The reality of course likely has nothing in resemblance between these two extremes.

On the other hand, we do have specific cases on file of NOA actually APPEALING to NCL to bring over games such as MOTHER and EarthBound and being shut down by NCL themselves.


It being NCL's fault makes zero sense. The president of Nintendo isn't batshit crazy Yamauchi stepped down years ago, so why the hell would he have NOE translate it into English and release it themselves but take active steps to prevent NOA from releasing the same thing? The only thing that makes any sense is this being NOA's, and by extension Reggie's, call. As I've said, I doubt there was any malice in it, it was all business, but I don't think there's any explanation that makes sense that doesn't involve NOA being responsible for what happened.

broodwarsFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: SuperTrainStationH

Therefore, saying that Reggie was actively trying to prevent the Rainfall games from coming to North America without some sort of memo or credible primary source is just as baseless as if I were to say that Reggie was passionately crusading behind the scenes and was being knocked down at every corner by NCL.

There's a difference between "actively trying to prevent the Rainfall games from coming to North America" (which is what you're saying I'm saying), and "not the least bit interested in the Rainfall games coming to North America", which is what I'm saying.  It's the difference between outright dislike and apathy, and I'm putting Reggie in the latter camp.  I just don't think Reggie ever cared about these games, as evidenced by Gamestop having to make a special deal w/ NoA to release Xenoblade in NA when it was already 99.9% localized and ready to go.  Also, NoA does not have a good history of selling the publishing rights to titles they own to other companies, which is why XSEED having The Last Story is so unusual.  RFN covered this a while back when they pointed out that the last Nintendo title to get picked up in NoA was a GBA title I can't remember the name of, and before that Cubivore on the N64.

I don't think NoA and Reggie "hate" the fans when it comes to these titles.  I just don't think they care about these titles since they won't be multi-million unit sellers, so I'm happy to see The Last Story in the hands of XSEED, a company that does look out for the smaller titles.

Ian SaneFebruary 22, 2012

If NOA wanted to release these games they would have done it themselves already.  The fact that it took this long for them to get announced and that both of them involve another party footing the bill strongly suggests that NOA was never going to publish these alone.

We get the games in the end and that's great.  But what happens next time Nintendo makes a good game but NOA is iffy about releasing it and no third party comes out of the woodwork to help foot the bill?  Do we just not get it then?  It's a good thing we got them but the way we got them is not encouraging for the future.  I'm still complaining because there is a potential issue here regarding future releases.

I think the Xseed side of this is likely the more interesting story. It's been a long time in coming. First they got in good with Namco Bandai with Retro Game Challenge, which enabled them to localize four Wii games and eventually Solatorobo. They used the NOE translation, which probably got them an in with Nintendo to do the same for The Last Story.

Fatty The HuttFebruary 22, 2012

I've been meaning to make this pont for awhile, now seems as good a time as any.

Nintendo works like most other multi-nationals, in that each "division" is a separate company. What I think this means on a practical level is that, though NoA and NoE take direction from "head office" in Japan, they each have their own business targets for the year and, more importantly, their own budgets and financial accountings. Bear with me here, I'm going somewher with this.

During the past fiscal year, which ends shortly at the end of March, NoE spent some of its operating budget on localizing and releasing the Op. Rainfall games. NoE has to pay for that activity out of its own budget and account financially for whether or not that business direction was ultimately profitable. It is its own little (or not so little) company. Its financials roll up into the parent company's financials, but NoE also wants to be profitable independently, on its own balance sheets. Same with NoA.

So NoE expends funds and effort and comes out with 3 localizations. Those are NoE's assets. I'd be willing to bet that NoE would not (could not, by accounting rules) just hand over those assets to NoA free of charge. NoA has to pay for those assets (localizations) and probably at "fair market value". So Reggie et al. have to use their budget to obtain the localized versions of the games and, as others have pointed out, spend NoA money to press the discs, advertise, distribute, etc.

NoA assesses the likely North American market and decides the games have a risk of being not profitable, or maybe only marginally profitable. So, it shares the risk by cutting deals with Gamestop and XSEED. Probably a sound business decision and one based on expenditures solely from NoA's budget. Not NoE's nor head office.

This consideration of what NoA has to do to release the games has been missing from every commentary I have seen. Almost all criticism of NoA's decisions includes something along the lines of "NoE has already done the work, why doesn't NoA just release the damn games? NoA doesn't have to pay for the localisation." Well, I am pretty sure they do. And they make autonomous decisions about their market and their bottom line.

I also think NoA was particularly concerned to do two other things:
1. give Skyward Sword breathing room in the market; and
2. stretch out the few remaining Wii releases available throughout calendar year 2012.

joshnickersonFebruary 22, 2012

Fatty, that was a rational and well thought out argument.

What's it doing on the internet?  ;)

Fatty The HuttFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: joshnickerson

Fatty, that was a rational and well thought out argument.

What's it doing on the internet?  ;)

sorry, let me re-phrase
NineTendoo of UsandA are suckkZors looS3rs!!11!

Ian SaneFebruary 22, 2012

Does NOA actually have to pay NOE for the translation, though?  90% of NOA's games were developed in Japan by NCL.  Do they buy that code from NCL or are they just given it?  I would assume NCL just sends it to them.  Why would they charge them for it?

I'm not an accountant.  Is there some legal technicality I'm not understanding?

The problem with that argument is that it's built on a faulty premise. He vastly overestimated the amount of independence NOA and especially NOE have. NOA and NOE are separate companies in name only; they are both very much under the control of NCL. Based on what we've seen, it seems like they, or at least NOA, have begun to get a bit more autonomy, but more often than not NCL is calling the shots. I guarantee you that NOE does not have the authority to refuse to let NOA use their translation.

BeautifulShyFebruary 22, 2012

I have to agree with josh if I could give you +1 again right now I would do so.Have to wait another hour. Its actually well thought out.

Mop it upFebruary 22, 2012

Nice, I wasn't expecting this today.

Now I have to go research this game and see what it's all about.

Fatty The HuttFebruary 22, 2012

Well, I dunno how it works for Nintendo exactly and, yes, I am theorizing to a degree. But, think of NoE and NoA as little fiefdoms. They would never refuse anything NCL told them to do, yes. But as between themselves, they may not be happy, sharing siblings.

It all comes down to money,. The more sinister and cynical side of being in charge of NoE or NoA (Reggie) is that your compensation is based in part (possibly large part) on your fiscal performance. In other words, if NoA turns profit or meets specific business targets, Reggie gets paid more. Same with the NoE folks. So, I am willing to bet that the "cost" of localizing the games is treated as an arms-length transaction vis-vis NoE and NoA. As between the two subsidiaries and NCL, I am not sure it is the same. So, the cost of code from NCL may not be "charged" to NoA, but localizing is treated on the books as strictly a NoA (or NoE) cost that comes out of the subsidiary company's budget. Unless NoE and NoA agreed upfront to share that cost, I think NoE would "charge" NoA for use of the localization "assets".

edit, for stupid spelling mistakes

YmeegodFebruary 22, 2012

"The weakness of the Dollar compared to the Pound and Euro is why they couldn't be as quick to commit as NOE could-- it was far riskier to take a major loss in the NA market."

But that's wouldn't matter since the US outsells the Europe market by 33%+.  Also your markup is wrong, just because the game sells more in europe doesn't mean the publisher gains more.  No, the retailers are taking a bigger cut, same with Japan/Aussie ect.  US retailers take a good chunk for themsleves but in other markets that markup is double+.

If you add both those facts then the US (NA) market is quite more profitable then the Europe market when it comes to RPGs most of the time.

------------------------------

Glad to see Last Story coming and have to agree with others about PT--that game wasn't reviewed all that well and it barely broke 20K which is reasonable why the wouldn't translate the game for the US. 

I don't know if you've seen the Euro lately, but it's not that.

Fatty makes a good point. Companies can use this to their advantage to avoid taxes and autonomy's beneficial for getting stuff done when it works, but there are also plenty of dysfunctional companies out there (e.g. Sony). In this case, there could be an issue of pride/awkwardness. Normally, Treehouse does (excellent) localization, and if they don't, they farm it out to a company like 8-4. It's a tricky position not wanting to spend to put the effort into your own localization, and yet have one already out there.

Kytim89February 22, 2012

The big question remaining is whether Operation Rainfall has been sucessful and should cease opertions today with just these few titles or should we still support Pandora's Tower despite the likelyhood of it appearing in North America being a whole lot slimmer than the other games? Honestly, despite all the draw backs pertaining to Pandora's Tower, I still want that game in my collection, but without the trouble of importing it.

broodwarsFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: Kytim89

The big question remaining is whether Operation Rainfall has been sucessful and should cease opertions today with just these few titles or should we still support Pandora's Tower despite the likelyhood of it appearing in North America being a whole lot slimmer than the other games? Honestly, despite all the draw backs pertaining to Pandora's Tower, I still want that game in my collection, but without the trouble of importing it.

Pandora's Tower is a lost cause unless The Last Story sells well, which might coax XSEED to pick up the license for NA.  There was no way Pandora's Tower would ever see the light of day in NA if NoA was the only company who could publish it, but now that NoA's opened the floodgates on 3rd party involvement it's certainly possible.

I think the folks behind Operation Rainfall would make better use of their time if they spent it trying to encourage NoA or other interested parties in picking up the Fatal Frame 2 remake that just got announced for EU, though.

Bman87301February 22, 2012

Quote from: MegaByte

I don't know if you've seen the Euro lately, but it's not that.

Just to clarify, I was referring to the Euro's value a year and a half ago (when NOE made the decision to release the game). Even despite its current troubles though, the Euro is still higher than the US Dollar anyway. And there's still the British Pound on top of that. Trust me, the currency exchange is definitely the reason.

Mop it upFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: broodwars

and before that Cubivore on the N64.

Cubivore is a GameCube game.

BeautifulShyFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: Kytim89

The big question remaining is whether Operation Rainfall has been sucessful and should cease opertions today with just these few titles or should we still support Pandora's Tower despite the likelyhood of it appearing in North America being a whole lot slimmer than the other games? Honestly, despite all the draw backs pertaining to Pandora's Tower, I still want that game in my collection, but without the trouble of importing it.

I can already answer that Kytim. They are not going to stop with these two titles. They posted on their Facebook I believe that they are going to working on getting as much exposure and make sure Xenoblade and The Last Story sell well and then focus on Pandora's Tower. I'm quite excited for Pandora's Tower just because of the combat system.

broodwarsFebruary 22, 2012

Quote from: Mop

Quote from: broodwars

and before that Cubivore on the N64.

Cubivore is a GameCube game.

Yeah, my mistake.  It only looks like an N64 game, much like Animal Crossing.

Quote from: MegaByte

I think the Xseed side of this is likely the more interesting story. It's been a long time in coming. First they got in good with Namco Bandai with Retro Game Challenge, which enabled them to localize four Wii games and eventually Solatorobo. They used the NOE translation, which probably got them an in with Nintendo to do the same for The Last Story.

I have to say, I don't always think their taste in games to localize is spot on, but I know a lot of it is a matter of opportunity. They have to take what they can get.


If you go back and look at their history it does look much more deliberate though. They really worked with Namco Bandai a lot, and recently with NoE, as you noted, on a Namco Bandai game.


I'm happy for them. I hope this is a big success.

I mean, obviously they weren't planning several years ago to localize The Last Story, but when I talked to them back then, they said they didn't even know how to approach Nintendo (with respect to Mother 3). This was how.

StogiFebruary 23, 2012

Quote from: Luigi

Quote from: Maxi

I just want to note that this is great news and should be celebrated. People are just being downers just because they can. It really doesn't matter much why we are getting this. I mean can't we just not read to much into things and just play them?

This is the internet where people will complain about this news no matter what unless Reggie personally comes to their house with a free copy of The Last Story tonight, some high quality hookers and a truck full of weed.

I'd complain if I had to play 'The Last Story' in that situation.

All I can say is you assholes who took part in Op.Rain. better go out and buy it. I'm not a big fan of RPGs (though I've played many, I've only beaten one or two...I think), so don't expect me to foot the bill.

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