"This game only supports Japanese interface/voice for customers in Japan."

[General Schweiger]

Waht a waste of time ill skip this one.

[AnHonestSoul]

JFYI you can live in Japan without being able to speak their language. German or not. In this regard such complaints make perfect sense.

[๖ۣۜGrimm]

probably a workaround will be found out when its released i you are keen enough.

[[SCZ]Celestrian]

Originally posted by AnHonestSoul:

JFYI you can live in Japan without being able to speak their language. German or not. In this regard such complaints make perfect sense.

very likely that someone who lives in japan and doesnt speak the language is able to get a non-japanese version gifted via steam or any other key-shop. using a VPN is a bad idea bc steam is steam.
yes, that´s an extra "unnecessary" step, however living in japan without being able to speak the japanese is heavily discouraged afaik.
a developer who supports this is pretty based.
japan belongs to the japanese. simple as.

also i´ve yet to see someone who understands japanese, but demands an english version because it´s "higher quality", while the opposite is very common.

[AnHonestSoul]

Originally posted by SCZCelestrian:

Originally posted by AnHonestSoul:

JFYI you can live in Japan without being able to speak their language. German or not. In this regard such complaints make perfect sense.

very likely that someone who lives in japan and doesnt speak the language is able to get a non-japanese version gifted via steam or any other key-shop. using a VPN is a bad idea bc steam is steam.
yes, that´s an extra "unnecessary" step, however living in japan without being able to speak the japanese is heavily discouraged afaik.
a developer who supports this is pretty based.
japan belongs to the japanese. simple as.

also i´ve yet to see someone who understands japanese, but demands an english version because it´s "higher quality", while the opposite is very common.

This is actually the case in Germany. People prefer to play with an english interface/sub for quality reasons. Wether or not Germany belongs to the germans.

Japan makes an exception in many ways though. Lots of Japan exclusive games (and even toys for kids) you can play/purchase with a japanese citizen ID as requirement.

[[SCZ]Celestrian]

Originally posted by AnHonestSoul:

This is actually the case in Germany. People prefer to play with an english interface/sub for quality reasons.

really depends on the generation and/or level of english skills.
i know quite a few people that "learned english" but when given the option, they will choose german (even tho the quality is worse).
going back 25-30 years, those more old text based games were quite decent to "learn" similar languages like english & german.
i was talking about japanese version, or to be specific japanese VA.
cancer like idiologically motivated misstranlations are a major factor, how japanese VAs are simply on a another level.

Originally posted by AnHonestSoul:

Wether or not Germany belongs to the germans.

hatespeech detected... or maybe not.

Originally posted by AnHonestSoul:

Japan makes an exception in many ways though. Lots of Japan exclusive games (and even toys for kids) you can play/purchase with a japanese citizen ID as requirement.

closing oneself up to a smaller market while having access to a global one isnt really smart business-wise, however this is a whole other story.
the game is sold worldwide, while japanese IPs can only aquire a japanese version.

the amount of potential customers they cut out with this is absolutely minimal.
total population of ~125 million (2021) with only ~2.75% foreigners (2023). (minimal effort googling, add salt).

i can imagine that this stance brings quite a lot of positive (and some negative) press in japan itself.
also now that i think about it, i guess the developer is based in japan... either that or they´re extremly based beyond borders.

[AnHonestSoul]

Originally posted by SCZCelestrian:

Originally posted by AnHonestSoul:

This is actually the case in Germany. People prefer to play with an english interface/sub for quality reasons.

really depends on the generation and/or level of english skills.
i know quite a few people that "learned english" but when given the option, they will choose german (even tho the quality is worse).
going back 25-30 years, those more old text based games were quite decent to "learn" similar languages like english & german.
i was talking about japanese version, or to be specific japanese VA.
cancer like idiologically motivated misstranlations are a major factor, how japanese VAs are simply on a another level.

Originally posted by AnHonestSoul:

Wether or not Germany belongs to the germans.

hatespeech detected... or maybe not.

Originally posted by AnHonestSoul:

Japan makes an exception in many ways though. Lots of Japan exclusive games (and even toys for kids) you can play/purchase with a japanese citizen ID as requirement.

closing oneself up to a smaller market while having access to a global one isnt really smart business-wise, however this is a whole other story.
the game is sold worldwide, while japanese IPs can only aquire a japanese version.

the amount of potential customers they cut out with this is absolutely minimal.
total population of ~125 million (2021) with only ~2.75% foreigners (2023). (minimal effort googling, add salt).

i can imagine that this stance brings quite a lot of positive (and some negative) press in japan itself.
also now that i think about it, i guess the developer is based in japan... either that or they´re extremly based beyond borders.

Japan has always been very restrictive in and outside its borders, focused heavily on their own citizens. Its nothing new.

On the other hand, in the west not a single country is comparable. No other country goes as hard on excslusivity/restrictions as Japan/japanese companies while still being active on the global market.

The main reason why people here fail to see that the OP actually brought up a legit complaint.

[[SCZ]Celestrian]

as said, the solution is obvious. get a non japanese version gifted or buy a non japanese code from some other side.

clear cut case of "bringing politics into gaming", or at least i cant think of another reason to do this.
in general, that´s usually a bad thing, but at this point in the game, that´s an extremly minor thing, compared to the sh_t we´ve seen over the years. also we are speaking about a "targeted group of people" that migrated to place while not fulfilling the required "specs", which they knew in advance.
at the end of the day, this really boils down to whether or not you like having 15 different languages on a box of cereals in your local supermarket.


to bring a somewhat similar comparison:
sniper elite - zombie army. the german version
vs
sniper elite - nazi zombie army. the rest of the world version.

the first is not purchaseable in germany bc of swastikas, which must have mindaltering powers some central europeans.
difference is, about 99.999% of potential customers of germany (~82 million population at the time) had nothing to do with ww2 and they also didnt decide to move to a place where they knew in advance that this "discrimination" might happen.

somewhat similar, however the german version and the rest-of-the-world version ran on 2 different clients. germans arent able to play with non-germans and vice versa, meaning the german version made it a singleplayergame very fast (something PD3 could learn from).

the solution to this was and still is the exact same as mentioned above.
not sure if the swastika thing is still around. probably.
however the story gets more crazy.
having swastikas in a videogame isnt even illegal germany. you simply have to state your case to whatever bureacrat is responsible and they cant really do anything against it, meaning it´s just additional paperwork.
prove for this is raid:ww2.
the devs released a changed version with no swastikas and a non-mustached hitler in a different outfit (the game has funny hitler videosequences after each mission. pretty cool) for the german-speaking market, but also went the extra mile to do the paperwork so they can give the german-speaking customer the version they very likely prefered.
based.
even tho the game was probably sh_t at release, but for 2€ during a sale, it´s major steal right now. (bought 20 copies and sent them around my friendslist during xmas). sadly the money goes straight to the f_ckers at starbreeze, not the devs. also ~7 years later, the game gets a major overhaul of everything. cool and maybe even good.


anyway, while this is still "bringing politics into gaming", this is pretty much the least-affected-people case i´ve seen so far, while also taking a stance against japan turning into a sh_thole, like we in the west are working really hard on... or at least if my interpretation of this move is correct.

so yeah, less sh_tholes. sounds like good politics to me.

[krieglich]

Till Schweiger as profile pic, you don't need to know more.

[MacroX]

it's been a while since i had a good laught

[Anaturn]

Originally posted by Celery Man:

Originally posted by General Schweiger:

Waht a waste of time ill skip this one.

...are you even Japanese?

So him not being japanese is good enought reason for game to artificaly restric which voice acting you can use?

[Anaturn]

Originally posted by ONSEmanouche:

What a weird post... the game is not even made by a Japanese studio.

What a wierd post... Would you also argue that wanting eng dub is stupid becase game is from germany?

[Linblum]

Why are people getting upset over his preference in voice acting

[Beef]

This is the first game I've ever seen a warning like this on and it doesn't make any sense.

I'm holding off getting it because of this too. I'm trying to learn the language and try to set it to Japanese when I can to help, but a fake restriction like this is just ridiculous.

[curselove]

Originally posted by General Schweiger:

Waht a waste of time ill skip this one.

i am in japan right now in sasebo :) going to sailor town to hang out at the kings bar this saturday i will save firday of helldiver 2 :) if u are in the area meet me at the bar

[AnHonestSoul]

Originally posted by SCZCelestrian:

as said, the solution is obvious. get a non japanese version gifted or buy a non japanese code from some other side.

clear cut case of "bringing politics into gaming", or at least i cant think of another reason to do this.
in general, that´s usually a bad thing, but at this point in the game, that´s an extremly minor thing, compared to the sh_t we´ve seen over the years. also we are speaking about a "targeted group of people" that migrated to place while not fulfilling the required "specs", which they knew in advance.
at the end of the day, this really boils down to whether or not you like having 15 different languages on a box of cereals in your local supermarket.


to bring a somewhat similar comparison:
sniper elite - zombie army. the german version
vs
sniper elite - nazi zombie army. the rest of the world version.

the first is not purchaseable in germany bc of swastikas, which must have mindaltering powers some central europeans.
difference is, about 99.999% of potential customers of germany (~82 million population at the time) had nothing to do with ww2 and they also didnt decide to move to a place where they knew in advance that this "discrimination" might happen.

somewhat similar, however the german version and the rest-of-the-world version ran on 2 different clients. germans arent able to play with non-germans and vice versa, meaning the german version made it a singleplayergame very fast (something PD3 could learn from).

the solution to this was and still is the exact same as mentioned above.
not sure if the swastika thing is still around. probably.
however the story gets more crazy.
having swastikas in a videogame isnt even illegal germany. you simply have to state your case to whatever bureacrat is responsible and they cant really do anything against it, meaning it´s just additional paperwork.
prove for this is raid:ww2.
the devs released a changed version with no swastikas and a non-mustached hitler in a different outfit (the game has funny hitler videosequences after each mission. pretty cool) for the german-speaking market, but also went the extra mile to do the paperwork so they can give the german-speaking customer the version they very likely prefered.
based.
even tho the game was probably sh_t at release, but for 2€ during a sale, it´s major steal right now. (bought 20 copies and sent them around my friendslist during xmas). sadly the money goes straight to the f_ckers at starbreeze, not the devs. also ~7 years later, the game gets a major overhaul of everything. cool and maybe even good.


anyway, while this is still "bringing politics into gaming", this is pretty much the least-affected-people case i´ve seen so far, while also taking a stance against japan turning into a sh_thole, like we in the west are working really hard on... or at least if my interpretation of this move is correct.

so yeah, less sh_tholes. sounds like good politics to me.

Yes and no. In Germany, not just swastikas were forbidden. Nearly every game, music and movie that contained a certain amount of blood, gore, insults, drugs and sexuality got censored or blacklisted and put onto the so called "Index". That was long before Sniper Elite. Resident Evil got censored. GTA got censored. Wolfenstein got censored first, but blacklisted afterwards. Everything the bible considers as a sin was forbidden for germans to see, hear or play.

This fits the restriction category. But Germany never went the "german only" exclusives route, like Japan does for decades. On top, Germany never required its citizens to register their citizen ID to be able to make an account for a game, let alone being able to purchase toys for kids.

No swastikas for germans compared to no multi-language for japanese is a comparison that equals in two things: They are both restrictions. Yes. And such restrictions are a political thing, too. Indeed. Problems that always feel minor to the unaffected. Nonetheless, companies can't simply workaround the law. They can only cater their games to the customers as long as they stay within the range of what they are allowed to do, depending on the individual country.

In this regard, germans often act like the unloved child of the world getting restricted for "no reason" for every generation after the crimes of our anchestors plus all the generations to come. But that's not the case. Special treatment to get us in line with the rest of the world makes perfect sense. Acting like the crimes never happened is plain wrong. The restrictions for us from back then got lifted anyways. In terms of music and movies, the law here changed to a 180°. Something japanese can only dream of. In Japan, they still ask for citizen ID's for a lot of things. VPN, gitfting keys, using cracks, whatever works for germans as a workaround usually does not work for the japanese without extra effort/risk.

Japan gets nice exclusives for everything to somewhat make up for their restrictions. On the other hand, this of course becomes a restriction for the rest of the world in turn.