ROM Hack [Project] The Great Ace Attorney (Dai Gyakuten Saiban) Fan Translation

[Jubash]

Why the fuck do you need a Japanese physics game? Not every country can import a game.



If I had bought a Japanese 3DS with the digital game, I would not accept an apology, since you are forcing me to buy a game that I already have. Also antipiracy is no excuse, since you are already doing something illegal under the terms of the contract of Nintendo.

Additionally, I think the project is unfair than when it is not for everyone. All games translated here in GBATemp do not require physical original game

That train have sailed my dude

 

[Uwabami]

Why the fuck do you need a Japanese physics game? Not every country can import a game.

How did you get your 3DS then?

If I had bought a Japanese 3DS with the digital game, I would not accept an apology, since you are forcing me to buy a game that I already have.

I think you're confused here - we're not forcing anyone to do anything. This is a free volunteer project you do not have to use. We've been telling people about this requirement for a year now. We're also not selling you anything, so I'm having trouble understanding were your entitled attitude is coming from...

Also antipiracy is no excuse, since you are already doing something illegal under the terms of the contract of Nintendo.

No, what we're doing is not illegal - idk about your country, but it's not in mine. I didn't sign a contract with Nintendo and not everything an EULA contains is legally enforcible or even relevant.

Additionally, I think the project is unfair than when it is not for everyone. All games translated here in GBATemp do not require physical original game

Why is it unfair if we don't support pirating a game? Do you think you have a right to get free stuff you didn't give anything in return for? We're releasing our work for free, but CAPCOM does not. Your argument about us being the only project also doesn't make much sense to me - so what?

 

[animefreak55]

I apologize if this has been asked but does the 1&2 pack work with this translation?

 

[Uwabami]

I apologize if this has been asked but does the 1&2 pack work with this translation?

Yes, all physical versions do. The 1&2 pack contains 2 game cards.

 

[1x2x4x1]

Is the trabslation team still alive?

 

[johnny-sasaki]

The game has been released for iOS and Android early this month.Do you guys intend to make a patch for those too?I believe it will be easier than having us hacking and modding a 3DS(especially when it is still getting firmware updates)and importing a japanese physical copy...

 

[Uwabami]

Is the trabslation team still alive?

Yep, as I said, we're more active on Discord.

The game has been released for iOS and Android early this month.Do you guys intend to make a patch for those too?I believe it will be easier than having us hacking and modding a 3DS(especially when it is still getting firmware updates)and importing a japanese physical copy...

Has already been asked/answered

We're looking into that, but it's low priority and we can't make any promises. Supporting Android would be more likely than iOS I guess, since iOS would require a jailbreak. Don't expect it any time soon, though.

 

[d9nam1c]

So, why does this require a physical copy again? Game companies clearly don't consider fan translations piracy (see: Mother 3, Captain Rainbow, Policenauts, countless others), so all you're really doing is making the game harder for most people to play.

 

[linkenski]

So, why does this require a physical copy again? Game companies clearly don't consider fan translations piracy (see: Mother 3, Captain Rainbow, Policenauts, countless others), so all you're really doing is making the game harder for most people to play.

DGS is still very recent, and not guaranteed to not be translated in the near future (by which I mean within the next 5 years). I'm not speaking behalf of the team which I'm not a part of, just making a guess, but the fact of the matter is, you can play the game if you own it on your European or American 3DS because even applying the patch requires your 3DS to be hacked anyway.

 

[d9nam1c]

I mean, the Mother 3 fan translation started in 2007, which was only a year after the game's Japanese release.

 

[Uwabami]

So, why does this require a physical copy again? Game companies clearly don't consider fan translations piracy (see: Mother 3, Captain Rainbow, Policenauts, countless others), so all you're really doing is making the game harder for most people to play.

Correct, the fan translation itself is not, as long as it is used with a legit copy of the game. The Mother 3 project (as well as most fan translation projects I'm aware of) also asks all users to buy a legit copy of the game and not pirate it. We urge everyone to do the same for DGS, as sales even in Japan were pretty disappointing (some further info from our friends at Court Records: http://forums.court-records.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&p=1399872).

If you like the AA series, you should support it, since Visual Novels always struggle to find an audience (also see 999 and its sequels - the fan support was vital for the decision to make the final part). It's not the same as pirating some random Mario/Pokemon game that will sell anyways (you should still buy any game you like). There's a reason even the main series Ace Attorney games are digital-only.

To get the fans of Ace Attorney to at least think about the issue, we implemented a simple anti-piracy mechanism. It was never about being perfect and really stopping anyone from pirating, since that's impossible. It kinda worked, we did have a shitstorm and some abuse from people who considered this "virtue signalling" and any suggestion of their behaviour to be detrimental to a game series they love to be some sort of a mortal sin. But we also got a lot of positive feedback, questions about where to order (we also helped some people with ordering from Japanese sites) and even people outright thanking us for doing this. Obviously not on GBAtemp

Ultimately, it's up to you to decide. Just asking people to do the right thing would've been ignored, this at least got everyone to think about it.

 

[d9nam1c]

If you like the AA series, you should support it, since Visual Novels always struggle to find an audience (also see 999 and its sequels - the fan support was vital for the decision to make the final part). It's not the same as pirating some random Mario/Pokemon game that will sell anyways (you should still buy any game you like). There's a reason even the main series Ace Attorney games are digital-only.

If a game's not released in your country, pirating it has literally no effect on its sales. Capcom doesn't lose money when people pirate Japan-exclusive AA games, seeing as how the US isn't even included in its sales figures. As for the main series games being digital-only, there's no reason to assume pirating foreign games is somehow the cause.

To get the fans of Ace Attorney to at least think about the issue, we implemented a simple anti-piracy mechanism. It was never about being perfect and really stopping anyone from pirating, since that's impossible. It kinda worked, we did have a shitstorm and some abuse from people who considered this "virtue signalling" and any suggestion of their behaviour to be detrimental to a game series they love to be some sort of a mortal sin. But we also got a lot of positive feedback, questions about where to order (we also helped some people with ordering from Japanese sites) and even people outright thanking us for doing this. Obviously not on GBAtemp

I can't believe people in 2017 still think anti-piracy measures in games accomplish anything other than pissing people off. And again, explain how pirating a foreign game is "detrimental" in any way. If anything, it'd make Capcom realize how much demand there is for the game outside of Japan.

 

[Uwabami]

If a game's not released in your country, pirating it has literally no effect on its sales. Capcom doesn't lose money when people pirate Japan-exclusive AA games, seeing as how the US isn't even included in its sales figures. As for the main series games being digital-only, there's no reason to assume pirating foreign games is somehow the cause.

"no effect"? Shortly after our release DGS1 was sold out in some places like play asia / yes asia for a time. You can still get them on Amazon Japan or eBay at their normal price. Seeing as DGS also struggled in Japan to find large enough audience (I posted a link to sales figures for DGS2 in my previous post), buying the Japanese version does help.

I don't claim that the game was sold out because of us, by the way - it might have been a coincidence.

As for the western releases of the main series being digital-only: I didn't claim that pirating DGS was the reason for that, but people should consider buying/supporting niche games like the Ace Attorney series, because they don't have an audience the size of Mario/Pokemon games. Them being digital-only is an indicator for that. Fans in the west supporting 999 / Virtue's Last Reward was the reason Zero Time Dilemma was even made.

So for Visual Novels, sales have a direct impact. If people pirate them too much, we won't get more of them and the spin-offs (like DGS1&2 / AAI2) won't get localized.

I can't believe people in 2017 still think anti-piracy measures in games accomplish anything other than pissing people off. And again, explain how pirating a foreign game is "detrimental" in any way. If anything, it'd make Capcom realize how much demand there is for the game outside of Japan.

Again: the AP was never able to effectively stop people from pirating the game. It was meant to force people to think about the issue, because any plea to fans to buy the game in the Release Notes or even the boot splash screen would've been largely ignored. And yes, it did have an effect: we got feedback from many people that our patch made them buy the game, some of them even thanking us - I'm not kidding! There is a world outside GBAtemp

I already explained how importing the game could help DGS and I also claim that this is the best way to let CAPCOM know there is a demand for it in the west. They certainly know who buys the game from them to sell it to foreigners - if a significant amount goes to play-asia / yes-asia / whatever, they'll know. I'm also pretty sure that Amazon keeps track of its customers, I wouldn't be surprised if they share that information as well.

Like I said, it's your decision what you're going to do. But you thought about it, that's all we wanted you to do. Well, that and supporting the game series we all love, if at all possible.

 

[Ev1l0rd]

@d9nam1c This discussion has already been gone over several times. Repeating it will not bring to light any new facts and quite honestly is just annoying to anyone who is interested in the progress of the translation. If you don't have anything meaningful to add to this subject (and you don't, this drama has already been gone over several times with the same arguments) please either don't do it or take it to PMs.

@Uwabami just ignore these people from now on. Quite honestly, I think your efforts are better put into translating the game rather than wasting time with the average annoying Temper who seems to want to keep having the same discussion with no new arguments to the table.

These discussions have already been gone over several times. There's nothing new to add: The translation team has made it clear that they won't change their standpoint, the average shacker's standpoint just doesn't align with it. Unless you have something actually meaningful to add to these discussions that hasn't already been said, don't say anything.

I think both parties in this discusison should just take a look at this:

Duty Calls

Title text: What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!

 

[Uwabami]

@d9nam1c This discussion has already been gone over several times. Repeating it will not bring to light any new facts and quite honestly is just annoying to anyone who is interested in the progress of the translation. If you don't have anything meaningful to add to this subject (and you don't, this drama has already been gone over several times with the same arguments) please either don't do it or take it to PMs.

@Uwabami just ignore these people from now on. Quite honestly, I think your efforts are better put into translating the game rather than wasting time with the average annoying Temper who seems to want to keep having the same discussion with no new arguments to the table.

These discussions have already been gone over several times. There's nothing new to add: The translation team has made it clear that they won't change their standpoint, the average shacker's standpoint just doesn't align with it. Unless you have something actually meaningful to add to these discussions that hasn't already been said, don't say anything.

I think both parties in this discusison should just take a look at this:

I don't mind discussing this with people who are civil about this. @d9nam1c was curious and asked in a friendly manner, I feel that deserves an answer in the same way - even though we may not agree. And it doesn't take long to write a short reply.

We are still thinking about this issue and we're trying to find ways to enable more people to enjoy the game. We haven't forgotten about any issues with our patch.

Also, if you're interested in talking to other AA fans and some of our members: we hang out at the Ace Attorney Discord server. Link is in the OP.

 

[d9nam1c]

"no effect"? Shortly after our release DGS1 was sold out in some places like play asia / yes asia for a time. You can still get them on Amazon Japan or eBay at their normal price. Seeing as DGS also struggled in Japan to find large enough audience (I posted a link to sales figures for DGS2 in my previous post), buying the Japanese version does help.

You're missing my point. Your argument was that pirating DGS harms Capcom, and my point is that it literally can't. Piracy's only harmful because of pirated copies representing lost sales. If a game wasn't released in your country, there are no "lost sales" in the first place.

 

[1x2x4x1]

Dai gyakuten is doing fine in Japan. It even got a sequal. Unless Capcom knows a lot of sales are coming from other countries, it wont have effect. I think the main reason is just to support them I guess.

 

[linkenski]

You're missing my point. Your argument was that pirating DGS harms Capcom, and my point is that it literally can't. Piracy's only harmful because of pirated copies representing lost sales. If a game wasn't released in your country, there are no "lost sales" in the first place.

Alternatively, the release of the full patch could give a notable surge in import sales, sending a message to Capcom that if they aren't gonna the fans are, and that there is a demand. That's a bit sunshine and rainbows here though.

No doubt there'll be a bit of media coverage too. DGS is a bigger deal than GK2 on the market I think. At least, sites like Kotaku gave it more time in the spotlight.

 

[d9nam1c]

Alternatively, the release of the full patch could give a notable surge in import sales, sending a message to Capcom that if they aren't gonna the fans are, and that there is a demand. That's a bit sunshine and rainbows here though.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that'd just be counted as Japanese sales.

Also, @Uwabami, have you tried pitching the fan translation to Capcom? Considering the whole thing with Street Fighter X Mega Man, they'd probably be cool with making it an official localization.

 

[linkenski]

"Hey Capcom, here's this fan-project we've worked on!"
Capcom: "DMCA these idiots."