Tom

@iiotenki

The Tony Hawk of Tokimeki Memorial

He/him
freelansations.com/

A most of the time Japanese>English game translator and writer and all the time dating sim wonk.

❓ Ask Archive

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Tom @iiotenki9/5/2023, 2:34 PM

Tom @iiotenki

Tom @iiotenki8/25/2023, 5:06 PM

It's 2 AM on a Saturday and instead of finishing my work and playing the new robot game like a good boy, I'm mourning this game again.

It genuinely hurts me that this game is now 12 years old and we're not a minute closer to giving the best story this series had to offer by a mile a proper localization and especially a proper rebuild for consoles with bespoke maps.

4 plays fantastically, the maps are stellar, and the mechanical additions are enthralling. It is such a sublime return to form in so many ways. But it has nothing on 3's story and that this game continues to be left in the dust paints the series' narrative chops in an unfair light. You will never hear me decry the work of a well-intended fan translation effort. But there really is something to be said for a production with proper institutional backing and god, if there's a game in Sega's library that deserves a second chance to make its case properly (ie: not when its platform is on its last legs even in Japan), this is definitely one of them.

Sega folks know how I feel about this game, but I reckon they're due for a proper reminder next month if I run into any of them. 🤔

#Valkyria Chronicles #valkyria chronicles 3 #PSP

Tom @iiotenki9/5/2023, 2:34 PM

Sometimes you must be the change you want to see

After my earlier sadchosting about Only One of My Favorite Games of All Time, I realized I was long overdue to add some powerful friends to my office showcase and have no rectified that. These two were especially fiddly to put together by Figma standards (I didn't know the really old ones actually attach to the head with just a magnet, which is both kinda inspired but also terrible in practice), but it's good to finally have them after all these years. I'm also eyeing a couple of pretty lady Selvaria statues because if there's one series I'd fork over that sort of money for, it's probably this one. It's probably this one. 😩

#god can i not get figmas to stand on their two feet properly even if my life depended on it though

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in reply to @iiotenki's post:

kuraine @kuraine8/25/2023, 5:36 PM

god, please haha... i've listened to the 3 soundtrack more times than i can count, i really want to play it one day

Tom @iiotenki8/25/2023, 5:51 PM

It's super killer! I feel even more vindicated knowing you've listened to it so much! It's definitely not an exaggeration to say that there are certain songs on there I turn on when I need to write certain types of scenes in my work. The flamenco guitar is a real inspired choice for that game and its setting! Still gets me good to this day. :eggbug-relieved:

SilverNozzle @SilverNozzle8/25/2023, 6:53 PM

I never had a PSP in its time, but I bought a semi-broken one a few years ago specifically so I could play this game and BOY was it worth it. the mechanical complexity, the soundtrack, the characters, the style, it all just really clicked

there are some things I like less about 3, but I think it also has higher highs than the other games. I'd love to play it again without having to carefully hold a PSP at a specific angle and with a translation that doesn't occasionally get cut off by character limits

Tom @iiotenki8/25/2023, 7:22 PM

Yeah, there are a handful of things about 3 that I would hope they'd do a little nipping and tucking on if they were to do a full-on remake. But I agree, when it swings for the fences, it swings hard and swings good. I still think about that whole ending sequence even a decade later. Like yeah, they kinda wrote themselves into a canonical corner and had to do it, but the way they handled it was still a super poetic note to end that game on.

It does upscale quite beautifully in emulation, I will say. But I agree, ultimately it deserves to be on a platform whose controls and specs aren't going to shackle its design, as bravely as they managed to tackle those things.

@Nbisbo8/26/2023, 4:14 AM

I do hope a remake is one of the 4 things media vision is working on

in reply to @iiotenki's post:

Fy @fyscuit9/5/2023, 3:02 PM

I didn’t know there was a fan translation! VC is one of my favourite series and I’ve always wanted to play 3, but being PSP only and Japanese only is a dreadful combo. Might have to check that out soon

Also, the Nendoroid magnet base isn’t something of older ones, it was a experiment for a short while and I think it was mostly for Nendoroids with long hair that makes connecting to the back socket complicated. Panty and Stocking had that too. It makes sense for the valkyria-protag girl, but does the Lancer also have it? Doesn’t make a lot of sense for a short hair Nendoroid….

Tom @iiotenki9/5/2023, 4:01 PM

The fan translation from what I've seen leaves a lot to be desired in terms of the actual writing quality, but my impression is that it's at least functional enough and gets the general point of things across, if at the expense of characterization. I've never played it myself since obviously I don't have much of a need for it, but if you go in with your expectations in check, hopefully it still treats you well if you make the dive!

And thanks for clarifying all that! Yeah, I can definitely see the logic for longer haired characters for sure; I just wish they would've gone for a bit stronger of a magnet to hold things in place a little better, ahaha. And yeah, Imca, the lancer, has it as well. She actually has a ponytail in the back, that you can't see from the photo, which maybe has something to do with it, but yeah.