DIGITAL_DEVIL_DATABASE Community Forum

Not the most exciting news in the world, but in case you were wondering what Atlus's E3 set-up looked like there's a glimpse of it in N-Sider's E3 newsfeed. Unfortunately I can't permalink to their live blogging posts, but here's a link to the image.

If you've seen any other pictures (or have your own) feel free to share them.

I think this is the picture, but you cant see crap. http://www.n-sider.com/images/liveblog/liveblog-2-268-inline.jpg (http://www.n-sider.com/images/liveblog/liveblog-2-268-inline.jpg)

lol you guys both lose at the internet.

Anyway, Atlus' E3 lineup is terrible.

Tony's link seems to be working now, and the picture is big enough to actually make out the booth.  Unfortunately, this years booth looks pretty miserable when compared to last years.

I don't really see myself buying any Atlus titles after P3 (boycotting them due to FES) so this years poor line-up doesn't bother me all that much.

They have a hotlinking system installed. If you go to the site and just refresh the image link, it works fine. Not something I could easily tell considering I'd already been to the site.

As for FES, eh. It's a lot of content to translate and including it for free with the first release of the title would cut their margins down to nothing, if not make them negative. If it does well enough, maybe they'll bother to... It certainly would make sense. It's not like they're done with the older platforms yet, clearly.

I did not expect Atlus USA to include FES with the original release of P3.  Well not with a $49.99 price tag anyway.  

I feel like Atlus USA really left the fans hanging.  Especially considering the weak showing at this years E3.  

All I really want is for Atlus USA to commit to a concrete stance on the localization of FES.

Well in that case, you and I are in agreement. :silent:

Lame. They have recently hinted at localizing FES if P3 sells well enough. If anything, we should boycott them for not localizing DS PSP and SMT 1&2 on GBA.

I'm starting to wonder if they didn't bother with DS on PSP because they figured it would sell like crap. I mean, even big publishers with well known franchises seem to be doing rather poorly on there... I don't know if I blame them for it.

I believe they did come to a concrete stance. It's not coming here.

^Nah, I was told it was due to technical issues by a former Atlus employee. As far as selling like crap, what Atlus titles burn up the charts? None of them sell that well.

I think we're on totally different wavelengths here. Most of Atlus's games apparently sell within their general expectations or they'd not bother to even be in existence any longer. No one is expecting Atlus games to even usually crack the top ten in any given months, I'm sure even including the company itself.

Devil Summoner on PSP is an RPG, sure. And so are most Atlus games. But it's also of a niche in the genre that is incredibly and utterly unpopular here on a system that is struggling to sell games in general. There's a difference between selling a game like that on the PS2, with god knows how many millions of units in use currently, and the PSP... And even then, I wonder if they'd be that interested in games like Nocturne if they were completely first person dungeon crawlers still.

I'm not saying that that it was the main reason, because I have no problem accepting that it was some technical issue (that's happened before with other smaller companies)... but I find it very hard to think that it wouldn't sell more poorly than pretty much any other Megaten related title they've bothered with so far. I mean, just glancing at it can give you that impression. Sometimes certain things just aren't worth bothering with and I think Devil Summoner, as much as I personally would like to play that, would be a really big example of that.

You aren't the first person to make that comment to me in response to DS PSP. I have the Saturn version, and while it is quite a traditional rpg, it is more pleasant to look at than what screenshots may depict. In fact, one other person that had the same attitude as you regarding this title (if I recall correctly), imported the PSP version and has been quite impressed by it. Let us not forget that there is also a cool story present here as well. I would have liked to see what Atlus USA could have done with a translation.

I'm sorry but DS PSP would have been better than 90-100 percent of the rpgs released on PSP in the U.S. None of them have been that impressive graphically to this point, so you really can't use that as a reason why it shouldn't have been localized. Namco released all three of the LoH titles with completely butchered text. If Astonisha Story can be localized, DS should should have been.  I guarantee you DS would have easily sold better than, or at least on par with, Jewel Summoner. I also have a hard time believing it would have sold worse than the Devil Children titles for GBA. At least DS had a fanbase to build upon. Again, based on what I was told, it was purely a decision based on the technical issue.

It also would have been a nice way to help bridge a gap between those of us who want older Megaten titles, or at least titles that play like older SMT titles, and really haven't been too impressed with the last few releases, especially DDS 1&2 and DS KR.

As far as first person dungeon crawlers, don't dismiss them so easily. I believe Etrian Odyssey has been a mild success for Atlus despite some poor reviews. On several message boards quite a number of people have surfaced that miss that style of rpg and would like more. While a niche rpg on a system that isn't doing particularly well, at least DS offered something different from the typical medieval fantasy based crap with a cliched story.

edit*

Not to be a jerk, but the more I read that statement that I put in bold, the more irritated I get. I wonder if this is why we won't see some of the older titles here. I see the way the SRW community has come together to attempt to show Atlus their support for a localization of SRT OG PS2, and I get a little jealous.

The Megami Tensei community coming together and not getting into a huge flame war = the end of the world.

lol. True.

I don't see anyone flaming anyone. It's a discussion of a topic... we can't even disagree/agree and say why without it being seen as a fight? I'm hardly upset here lol. People don't enjoy the mindless banter on other sites, but when some thing is actually being discussed people act weirded out.  I don't understand it lol.

I never meant to imply the game wasn't good or wasn't pretty. I've played through a good deal of the original (I own the PSX, Saturn and PSP versions of the game -- just like I own a lot of other random Japanese titles from the main franchise). I think graphically it stands up relatively well, even now. I think you're misinterpreting that portion you bolded, which I know I could have phrased better. Basically, I would have loved for it to come out here. I'm a big fan of the type of game Devil Summoner is. Please understand that. They're my favorite type of RPG lol (and coincidentally, Etrian Odyssey is my favorite DS game).

When I say "glancing" at it gives that impression, I meant that glancing at it gives the impression that it's part of an extremely niche genre (for reasons I do not understand, a lot of people would be WAY more accepting of the game if it was 3rd person even). Just like you can tell this just by looking at a screen of Wizardry or Etrian Odyssey or Nightmare of Druaga or whatever else (all games I do personally like). How good it is is not relevant to that, because I know (as you know) it's a good game. That doesn't mean I want them to or would do it if I was in their shoes (in fact, I think if they released it back when it was new they could have gotten decent sales since the market wasn't horribly crowded).

I just think that there's financial reasons that could have added to the list of reasons (including technical issues) we didn't see it. If the hardware problems are the real, number one reason, what's stopping financial reasons for being the second reason? Do you honestly think this wasn't even considered? Personally, I think that if they thought it would do really well, even by their sales standards, they'd get past the "technical problems". I don't know why they couldn't just tell anyone that when they asked instead of telling us all it's for a "variety of secret reasons" (which was basically their exact wording when I asked about it right out).

When Devil Summoner was first announced for PSP in Japan, I hoped for it. I asked about it in interviews. I asked about it on other forums. I remained optimistic about it as time went on. What else could I possibly do about it at the time? Yet, they completely said "no" to it. We already had been coming together in asking for it and other games. I remember asking about the GBA games and other things on their forums and being told no as well. If I was given a less direct answer, you better believe I'd still be asking about it today lol.

But that was over a year ago. I mean, I think it's a fair thing to ask and I don't see why it's not a possibility. I don't think stating this makes me (or anyone) somehow unsupportive or refusing to "come together" over these titles. I'm sure a lot of us felt the way SWR fans feel now when Atlus started their whole SMT campaign here and there was definitely excitement in the air. Every game seemed like a possiblity as time went on, but they've since narrowed things down. I mean, shit, I was one of two people on GAF pushing the hell out of Nocturne before Atlus USA would even comment on it. If another game like Devil Summoner popped up, you better believe I'd be asking them about it and hoping about it all over again. Basically, I'm not sure what else I should be doing differently lol.

So I don't know. Personally I think they should have and wish they would have brought Devil Summoner out here. Something tells me it would have done at least as well as Contact or Jewel Summoner and it'd clearly better than both of those.

I don't know if this clarifies things or not (I hope so), but honestly, in reading what you wrote I think we're both largely on the same page from what I can tell. I apologize for any confusing wording in relation to that.

I don't think he was implying we were flaming each other. I think it was more of a rip on the mayhem at the Haven at times.


No, I don't. I actually spoke with the former Atlus employee last night and I happened to bring up DS PSP. I was told again there is a fatal technical flaw with the title. He wouldn't give me the specifics, but I know it has nothing to do with text issues or screen ratio / aspect. He said Atlus did want to localize it but it was beyond impossible. If you don't want to believe me, that's fine. Stack & Bundles has spoken, and still speaks, to the same individual, and I am sure I can have him confirm it as well.


With the way the industry has been moving over the past few years, there are small, but devoted segments that have been ignored. Just becasue they are small, doesn't mean that can't be profitable. EO is a good example of this. This was another topic this former employee touched on.

edit* I can see what you are saying about others and how they might view it based off of very little info, but I think the same could be applied to the newest SMT titles. Despite looking more acceptable, they still seem to get ripped by the media. What is weird to me, is how well received SMT KR was. IMO it is the ugliest of the newer titles. I mean it uses polygon builds for the static images.....yuck.

Yeah, I was making fun, Tony. Kind of half serious, half making fun.

Also, I vaguely remember the DS issue. It did deal with a pretty big technical issue. But yeah, what Kakizaki says is true.

One more thing, what's with the & in my name, Kakizaki? :razz:

Oh, whoops. My bad.

Did he ever tell you exactly what the issue was?

He was pretty open last night and dropped some heart breaking bombs. At least to me. You might have already been aware of them.

Sorry, I edited it even more since you responded (well, before I knew you guys did anyway heh). Well, if you guys have some "in" with the company and that's the reason, then what more can I say lol. I thought it was a serious possibility, but I concede! :D

Is it kind of in the same vein of what happened with Dragon Warrior IV on the PSX? I remember Enix saying they'd do it, but the Heartbeat disbanded... Enix was claiming that without their help, it'd be almost impossible to work English text into the game. That was depressing lol. I don't know about either of you, but that is one of my favorite NES games. If not the favorite.

Also, I've not been to the Haven since well before I opened this message board, so I apologize for the misunderstanding.

To make this actually relate to the thread topic -- They sure don't get a lot of room at these new booths.

That was harsh, especially considering DQ VII had that advert on the back of the manual for DQ IV coming in 2002.

The thing with DQIV is that the development team is fresh off the project so they're still very familiar with the coding and whatnot. Enix America localizes, sends the text to Enix Japan, and Heartbeat inserts it. With Heartbeat gone, there was no one to do that. Sure, someone else could have, but it probably would have ended being such a task that it just wouldn't have been worth it, what with having to learn the ins and outs of the coding, and THEN take on the task of inserting the mountains of text DQ titles have. Also add on the fact that EoA was not at all a development house, they were strictly localizations, so they had no way of doing it themselves...

Like I said, I don't remember exactly what the problem with DS PSP was. If I remember or get a chance to ask again, I'll let you know.

So, did anyone know that the Snow Queen Quest in Persona was quite literally half of the game?

^I guess I wouldn't call it a half, but it isn't some piddlely tiny side quest either.

I wish EoA was still around, or Enix was a separate entity.


edit* A second employee of Atlus confirmed the issue we were discussing here regarding DS PSP being rejected due to a technical issue. It was actually discussed in an interview that was printed in Play -- for some odd reason, that portion was edited out. It was the issue with Odin Sphere on the cover.

Vyers said he looked at some stuff left over from back then and it was like half the game.