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| PSN: zonepharaoh
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|  "Re(1):Linda^3 fan translation patch released" , posted Sun 4 Feb 00:07:  
Oh man, Linda Cube! I never played it but remember how it was around. The official art is amazing, of course, and always stood out on the shelves or wherever else I saw it...did a friend own it? I can't quite recall.
I'm surprised by how many articles seem to exist on this forgotten game in English. In any event, the designer, Masuda Shouji, is one of those interesting guys like Yokou Tarou who's questioning RPG orthodoxy or maybe just thinking about social issues in general. He started out with more orthodox games like the Tengai Makyou/Far East of Eden series, so maybe a frightening, thoughtful, disturbing game like Linda Cube as well as later works with unique scenarios like Ore No Shikabane O Koete Yuke (surpass my corpse) or Yuusha Shisu (the hero dies) are reactions to that.
Thinking back, there's a long line of games like this using orthodox systems for challenging or difficult stories, some more pleasant/unpleasant that others: on the cheerier end, Itoi Shigesato's Mother/Earthbound comes to mind, or reactions to Zelda-style RPGs of stealing stuff and the heroic violence in the form of Moon's theme of love and picking up after the nominal hero, or even the moral ambiguity of the hero of Wander and the Colossus. Reading the full scenario of Linda Cube, though, reminds me most of all of the increasingly grim grind of Nier Automata's weighty story that slowly gives you something to hope for if you can somehow survive its Eva-like depression until the end.
Maybe it was easier to make a game like Linda Cube with simpler technology, so that the abstraction provides a slight layer of insulation from pretty disturbing stories.
On the fan translation side, interesting to note this is the second multi-platform classic game where, like with Tokimeki Memorial, people for some reason chose the inferior or censored version of the game, but on the opposite platform! It took Sega's more freewheeling Saturn to undo the PS1's censorship of the PCE original, yet the patch seems to be for the PS1 version. Conversely, the inferior SFC version of Tokimemo was chosen over the PCE original or the lavish PS1 versions---huh? I guess everyone has their reasons, technical or otherwise, for choosing, but if you're emulating old technology anyway, I'm not sure why wouldn't chose the definitive or at least original version.
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Sun 4 Feb 00:34] |
| | "Re(2):Linda^3 fan translation patch released" , posted Mon 5 Feb 02:29
quote:
Oh man, Linda Cube! I never played it but remember how it was around. The official art is amazing, of course, and always stood out on the shelves or wherever else I saw it...did a friend own it? I can't quite recall.
I'm surprised by how many articles seem to exist on this forgotten game in English. In any event, the designer, Masuda Shouji, is one of those interesting guys like Yokou Tarou who's questioning RPG orthodoxy or maybe just thinking about social issues in general. He started out with more orthodox games like the Tengai Makyou/Far East of Eden series, so maybe a frightening, thoughtful, disturbing game like Linda Cube as well as later works with unique scenarios like Ore No Shikabane O Koete Yuke (surpass my corpse) or Yuusha Shisu (the hero dies) are reactions to that.
I've read a few articles about Linda Cube (as you mentioned there's a surprising amount out there in English). I'll play this if I ever get laid off.
Yuusha Shisu (the hero dies) seems interesting too, but also like maybe the traditional gameplay systems don't really serve the game all that well in the end. And Kenji Ito did the soundtrack (though I hear it's not one of his best). Looks like it's on Steam.
At a different time in my life I'd be playing both of these.
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| | "The "dark" side of fan translation" , posted Tue 6 Feb 10:12:
quote:
I sort of remember this game? It certainly looks like the sort of game Diehard Gamefan would have posted colorful, barely legible articles about. Good grief, I feel like I bumped into someone that attended my high school that I don't remember.
That said, I like the work behind this translation. A small, dedicated group of people decided that more people needed to play this old oddity of a game and created a translation. Now that's impressive.
Speaking of noble efforts, I would also recommend people check out the English fan translation of the SNES RPG Dark Half, a kind-of-innovative game with a dual campaign you play from two alternating, opposing perspectives (angel and devil). Pretty flavorful localization. You start playing as the eponymous dark half/evil guy, and spend the first part of the game dispatching villagers with your malevolent touch to gather soul energy (or somesuch). The guy seemingly isn't all bad though, he doesn't kill kids or cats. Perhaps they are too innocent, or maybe their souls simply aren't ripe enough yet.
There is a brief exchange with every townsperson, including an initial reaction, a taunt from the Dark Lord (e.g., "Begone!", "Thou shalt become mine blood.", "Pray."), and the response from the victim who typically has trouble understanding or accepting that their final moment has arrived. It's pretty fucking excellent.
Typical interactions are as follows:
OLD MAN: Where are you from sonny? Ain't never seen you around these parts before!
DARK LORD: I have just awoken... from the Darkness.
OLD MAN: Eh? What was that?
DARK LORD raises his hand and the victim crumbles into a friendly pile of bones
...
BARTENDER: Hey there, what are ya havin'?
DARK LORD: Thy soul.
BARTENDER: Huh?
DARK LORD raises his hand and the victim crumbles into a perplexed pile of bones
...
DARK LORD: I shall grant thee life's only certainty.
TAVERN PATRON: Oh yeah? You the tax man or something?
DARK LORD: Consider thyself audited.
DARK LORD raises his hand and the victim crumbles into a bled-dry pile of bones
...
VILLAGE IDIOT: Garsh, what a lovely night! I'm gonna go see my darlin' Matilda! Hyuck!
DARK LORD: Dead-man-says-what?
VILLAGE IDIOT: Uh, what?
DARK LORD raises his hand and the victim crumbles into a humiliated pile of bones
...
DARK LORD: My dear HazZan. Thou hath finally returned from football camp.
HAZZAN:  MESSASTU
DARK LORD: MESSATSU
DARK LORD raises his hand and the kanji 'TEN' flashes before the victim crumbles into an annihilated pile of bones
(Spoiler: the last few aren't actually in the game)
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[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Tue 6 Feb 10:43] |
| | "Re(1):The "dark" side of fan translation" , posted Wed 7 Feb 04:51
quote:
Speaking of noble efforts, I would also recommend people check out the English fan translation of the SNES RPG Dark Half, a kind-of-innovative game with a dual campaign you play from two alternating, opposing perspectives (angel and devil).
I did play some of this and the way in which you go and wipe out villages as the villain was quite surprising to me! It made me wonder if the game was going to have more of a mystery game structure to it where you personally perform part of the crime, get told about the other part of the crime, and then chase after and fix the crimes.
What really drew me to the game, though, was the shockingly high quality "cutscene" art the game seemed to have. I have no idea how many such images are in the game, though.
All told, there are an enormous number of high-quality games with high-quality translations at Aeon Genesis and I highly recommend checking them out! For many people, I think their knowledge of AGTP stems from Cave Story.
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