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Xseed Not Involved With Legend Of The Heroes: Trails In The Sky Smartphone Ports

By Spencer . December 30, 2011 . 1:28pm

Xseed Not Involved With Legend Of The Heroes: Trails In The Sky Smartphone PortsAeria Games, the company that released Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine stateside and made a Sorcerian remake, announced they are going to bring The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky games to smartphones. While the news was made in Japan, Aeria plans to release Falcom’s RPG series in English for Western markets too.

 

Xseed localized and released The Legend of the Heroes: Trails in the Sky on PSP. In an e-mail to Siliconera we confirmed Xseed is not involved with the smartphone releases or Aeria Games’ partnership with Falcom. This means Aeria will have to re-localize Trails in the Sky and the smartphone versions will be independent from Xseed’s work.

 

Release dates for Trails in the Sky on smartphones and The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter for PSP have not been announced by either company.


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  • http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kuronoa Kuronoa

    I’m scared. :(

    • cj_iwakura

      It’s okay, Aeria has their fans to license the localization out to. (See the SMT Imagine boards. Seriously.)

      • Ryos

        Considering all the walls of text, I assume that will be their preferred option.

  • http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

    Thats odd, I wonder whom will translate it fastest?  Though with that company Im now more tempted to not buy the first game and wait for the smartphone release of both since it seems they will actually bring it out, while the psp one still sits in a state of insecurity. 

    • http://twitter.com/InfinityAge11 InfinityAge11

       You might want to wait on finding out about the translation quality first. I played Aeria’s Megaten game when that came out and the translation was terrible in every way; most of the speech bubbles even contained random bits of text that were untranslated. I don’t think I’ve had much experience with the other stuff they’ve done, but that Megaten MMO was enough to make me scared about them handling Trails in the Sky.

    • Ladius

      As Infinity said below, Aeria is known for some really atrocious, almost machine-translation quality localizations, and trust me when I say that Trails in the Sky is a series you don’t want to play without a great localization like the one XSees was able to provide for the first chapter.

      Regarding the speed… consider at least six months before they are able to release anything in Japan (and, as another user pointed out, it still isn’t sure this agreement is about the original trilogy instead of an iOS spinoff), and then the time it would take to localize Trails 1 before they can even start on 2 (again, not considering the translation’s quality). Meanwhile, XSeed has already localized Trails 1 and has been working on Trails 2 at least for six months as of now.

  • Draparde

    if i actually had a smart phone this might make me a Tad excited. beefy games like this i’d much prefer on my psp/other handheld gaming device. 

    either way i hope it sells Trillions. :P 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leonard-Norwood-Jr/100001685317322 Leonard Norwood Jr.

    Hmm.. this is a bit awkward, while I’m relived with Xseed is not involved with Aeria with smartphones, it is still worrisome that no matter what the english version of LOH Sora No Kiseki SC and TC is still in that big loophole slowly trying to get out of it and make sure its out on PSP at the very times that Vita will be out in NA soon. I pray that there is some good news on this that should prove some points that the game is getting out of that loophole, but it’s still hanging by a thread.

    Right now, this kind of craziness pushes fans getting the imported games or hope for the next two games to be sent to Vita, either way, this is a doozy of sorts caused by various anomolies that has always been plaguing the minority of JRPGs for some time. I’m thankful for Xseeds other games such as Solatorobo, so all i can do is give them support for them still and pray.

  • http://twitter.com/VasiliiHellsing Vasilii Hellsing

    Why would they translate it again, when there’s already an amazing translation for this amazing game. Is it all bout money?

    • Ryos

      It’s always possible Aeria could license the translation from XSEED but right now there’s no knowing.  They do some very…interesting things in terms of translation choices, so it’s entirely possible we get some sort of Engrish translation for the FC smartphone game.

  • http://twitter.com/endlesshistory Endless History

    The blurb posted on Falcom’s site seems to imply that Aeria Games might be doing an ‘original title’ that is part of the Sora no Kiseki series. …so maybe XSEED’s translation isn’t even needed?

    Not only have both Falcom and Aeria been incredibly vague about this, but I’m also going to wager that it will be at least six months before we see anything come from this. The announcement seems to be more that they got the agreement finalized.

    When they did this with Sorcerian, it was back in April… the teaser site for it came up about a week ago.

    (I’m done editing my comment. I promise.)

  • neo_firenze

    I’m happy to see the Trails in the Sky triology getting an English language release in any format, by any publisher.  Fansub quality script is fine with me, it’s better than the alternative of no English version at all.  Of course I would ideally like to see PSP or Vita ports with the level of polished localization that Xseed gave the first game, but if Xseed isn’t going to step up and release SC and 3rd (and it looks pretty unlikely at this point), I’ll happily accept a somewhat lower quality script on my iPhone/Android.   

    I’m glad we got the Gagharv trilogy from Namco-Bandai, and this is much the same.  Not the best quality script, but better for someone who isn’t fluent in Japanese than having the only option be to struggle through the original Japanese version and missing a lot more.  And honestly, the hate the Gagharv English localizations get is often unfounded.  Tear of Vermillion was pretty sloppy, but the other two releases were a LOT better.  And the script doesn’t hurt Falcom’s beautiful art and music, the pacing and structure of the game, and the battle system.

    Now, Xseed… for the love of god please get working on localizing Zero no Kiseki Vita.  I don’t care if there are dubbed voices (most true Falcom fans won’t, and it’s not as if English voices are the one factor holding this game back from Western mainstream popularity), just get us the freaking game somehow.  Then we can turn our attention to Ao and Nayuta no Kiseki (which I hope will also get Vita ports to follow Zero).     

    • PoweredByHentai

      Except that Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki reference a lot of things that happened in Sora no Kiseki.  >_>

      It really is better to just wait for Second Chapter and The Third to be localized properly before jumping into Zero or Ao.

      • neo_firenze

        Waiting for something that looks like it might never happen is not a very good option for me.  I’ll happily take what I can get in English – a mediocre English script that actually exists is better than what we would assume would be a great English script (by Xseed) that looks like it may never be released.  That would be enough to bring me through SC/3rd and be ready for Zero, which looks like it has a more reasonable shot at being localized due to the Vita port.

        And hey, maybe Aeria will surprise us and deliver a quality localization.

        • Skyrius

          Translating 3.5 million japanese characters doesn’t seem like it’d be a walk in the park. Have you actually been on Xseed’s forums before you thought that the SC isn’t coming over? They discuss various issues with translating certain parts of the script, examples from the games, and scenarios there. Maybe I’m just optimistic, but if they’ve already gone into that much detail over cutscenes in the middle of the game (plot twists ahoy) and are considering solutions and problems with translating such a large script, isn’t it alright to assume that they’re still strongly considering bringing SC over? I’d rather wait for their release (or confirmation of a non-release) before relying on Aeria. I can honestly say I have quite a few issues with some of their releases.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594742092 Robert M Fenner

      I wish Namco-Bandai were translating/porting. What great efforts those were.

      lolol

      • Ryos

        As far as great translations go, LoH was at the bottom of the heap.  But they were top of the heap for Engrish!  Such glorious incomprehensible language has never been sighted in another professional endeavor!

        • neo_firenze

          Honestly, that kind of talk is distorting the truth.  White Witch had a pretty good translation, and what I played of Song of the Ocean (the only one of the trilogy I didn’t finish) was solid too.  At the very least, we’re talking comparable to an “average” quality SNES or PSX era JRPG translation, and better than some of those games (say, Final Fantasy Tactics).  Tear of Vermillion was easily the worst localization of the three, but since it was released first I think the other two games in the trilogy got a bad rap and people just assumed they were equal in translation quality.  Not the case though, Namco really did give a better effort after their first LOH release.

          In any case, the localization certainly didn’t ruin the Gagharv trilogy.  A step up in translation may have been an improvement and made the world a bit more vibrant and engaging, but it wouldn’t have made the games substantially different.  At any rate, despite complaints about the script I was never confused or unable to follow the rather straightforward plots.   Not something I would be able to say had Namco-Bandai never made the localizations and my only option was the original Japanese…

          I personally like the Gagharv games primarily for the charming sprite work and great character art, and the fact that they were comfortable being “classic” style JRPGs in an era where everything else seemed to be trying so hard to be new and revolutionary.  They were kind of like JRPG comfort food (much the same way I think of the DS Dragon Quest IV-VI remakes, actually). 

    • Ladius

      I fear Aeria isn’t even able to do what Namco did with the Gagharv trilogy. So far they have worked only on mmorpgs, apparently machine-translating them with a little of editing. They even asked SMT Online’s fans to help fixing the translations… Considering how central texts are in the Trails series, I think they would be destroyed by this kind of localization.

  • Ereek

    I’d say an ideal situation here would be Aeria localizing SC and then XSEED licensing the script and then editing it for their own release (either on PSP or Steam or whatever they chose).  That would take less manpower.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Farid-Belkacemi/1073052585 Farid Belkacemi

    I’m waiting for XSEED releases. PERIOD

    • BK0000

      Never happening, unfortunately.

      • Luzzy Fool

        wait, didn’t xseed said they were in the process of translating the sc?

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Farid-Belkacemi/1073052585 Farid Belkacemi

          Indeed, I think he’s just pessimistic :o

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594742092 Robert M Fenner

        That’s a bit presumptuous, no?

      • Ladius

        They are translating it, and they talk about the problems they face and the various solutions they could adopt to release it practically daily on their forum. So no, you’re wrong.

  • Sergio Pinheiro

    “Release dates for Trails in the Sky on smartphones and The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter for PSP have not been announced by either company.”

    The sad truth.

    But i still BELIEVE!!!
    MAKE IT HAPPEN Xseed.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Morandi/100000837836996 Daniel Morandi

    Did xseed said something else? I mean do they actually said that they weren’t involved and nothing more? because It should be easy to say something like “we are still working on SC” to be able to calm the fandom down.

    • Ladius

      If you follow their board you will see that they “confirm” Trails SC practically every day by talking about it with their fans.

      I don’t think they need to re-confirm it every week just because people are overly anxious and can’t understand how localizing 3.5 millions of Japanese characters (the biggest jrpg script ever translated, more than two times the first Trails and almost seven times FF12) is an extremely time consuming job, especially when you consider how little XSeed is and how they need to translate other games at the same time.

  • Sal

    Suddenly, all interest is lost.

  • Phlo

    No XSeed, no sale.

  • Go2hell66

    don’t care who’s localising what, just get it done

    • Ladius

      Except XSeed is one of the best localizers in the west, while Aeria wasn’t even able to fully translate SMT Online (a mmorpg) without the help of its players.

      If Trails was a dungeon crawler with little to no plot I could understand this stance, but considering it’s the most text-heavy series in jrpg history knowing who is localizing it is probably the most important thing of all.

      • Go2hell66

        obviously i don’t want a crappy translation, but aeria games knows they can’t half ass this job, i’m sure they’ll do it just fine, and just the fact its one of the most text heavy jrpg’s of all time is even more of a reason that they should just get on with it

        • Phlo

          If you think that Aeria Games isn’t going to half-ass it…you don’t know Aeria Games, the company that got fans to do their translation for them…in exchange for in-game currency.

  • Xerain

    So does this game have less text than the original? The idea of all that text being localized a second time amuses me to no end.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Schwarz/100002325567790 Kevin Schwarz

    Let’s see how the localization works, they have a good job nice and cleverly done by XSEED.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jan-Daryll-Palanca/100000250304791 Jan Daryll Palanca

    well the “The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter for PSP have not been announced.” was expected. well on other news, has anyone saw the anime adaptation for TITS? if anyone’s interested, it covers the first half of the second chapter!! a great way to promote the series indeed!

  • Darren M

    It would only make sense that XSEED at least offered to license Aeria their translation for the first game…and if they didn’t (or don’t want to), why? Even if Aeria wasn’t willing to pay much as their translators are cheaper, it’s basically free(ish) dough for XSEED if they made a better offer…

  • Solomon_Kano

    Dilemma. I want to support Falcom, BUT I don’t want to do so in a way that would go against XSEED. It wouldn’t be directly, of course, as this is no competition, but still.

    I also don’t want to support the idea of text heavy RPGs being localized on phones to get around whatever other platform they may have come to otherwise. There’s gotta be a better solution. Plus, I’ve not heard good things about Aeria’s ability when it comes to localizing. So… yea, no dice. Sorry, Falcom but I’ll wait on XSEED.

  • http://www.ukanime.com abigsmurf

    Xseed can’t be terribly happy about this port. They lost a reasonable chunk of money spreading the word about the series and now another company has come in and will take advantage of this.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ivanir-Ignacchitti/100002728780712 Ivanir Ignacchitti

    What was originally a “Ok, it might be good” news, just became a “Ok, it is probably terrible” news for me now. :(

  • http://twitter.com/AceOfCakez Ace

    Hoping for that second chapter of TITS. Really enjoyed the first one.

    • Daniel13789

      Wow, this is embarasing… At first glance I… well… I’m not sure if “TITS” is the best abbreviation choice to use.

      • malek86

        I don’t see the problem. There is nothing better than going out and grabbing a nice pair of TITS. One copy is not enough, you’ll want to keep that second copy wrapped for collection purposes.

        Just don’t let your girlfriend spot you looking at other girls’ TITS. You are supposed to play with hers. You did gift her the game, after all, so you must help her complete it now. I told you it was a genre aimed at guys… I guess male players are more likely to enjoy TITS.

        • Daniel13789

          Hmm… You do make a great point!

  • Gatchaman1

    Someone just give me a translated Y’s vs Legend of Heroes

    • Daniel13789

      That would be a great gift! I don’t see it happening any time soon though…

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