Author Topic: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.  (Read 52273 times)

Spotty Len

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It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« on: April 07, 2015, 07:03:50 PM »

We already had hints before, with ZUN tweeting a picture of an english option menu of the concerned game and DDC being put on digital purchase on Playism JP, but we now have real meat to put on our plates. Playism EN is officially bringing Touhou to the West.
If you don't know Playism, they are the ones who published games like La-Mulana, One-Way Heroics or Astebreed. They generally publish indie games, and do a really good job translating them to bring them outside of Japan. As such, translation, if it ever happen for this game, should be on point and respectful to the original, especially since they are working with Team Shanghai Alice. Also, since they mention this game as the "first" official release of an Touhou game outside of Japan, we may be seeing more in the future.

In other words, PLAYISM HYPE!

Their Twitter is over there.

(Feel free to slice me if I'm not allowed to make such a thread, but I felt it was important enough.)
« Last Edit: May 16, 2015, 08:53:10 AM by Spotty Ren »

LunaWillow

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2015, 07:40:50 PM »
*screams like a fangirl*
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Tamashii Kanjou

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2015, 07:48:40 PM »
I'd say it's very important. This is what a lot of people have been asking for; and for ZUN to be stepping forward and allowing this to happen... it's pretty damn big~ <3

Edible

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2015, 07:50:33 PM »
Very exciting time.  I'm particularly interested in translations overseen by ZUN, if that's actually a thing.  The best translations are without question the ones with input from the author.

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2015, 07:59:03 PM »
We'll see how this turns out....


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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2015, 08:02:29 PM »
Note that the article does not mention anything about it being localized or translated,

Just in case people might be curious as to how an english release would look, it might just be the regular JP version just being allowed to be sold legally in an Western outlet now.

Spotty Len

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2015, 08:14:22 PM »
Note that the article does not mention anything about it being localized or translated,

Just in case people might be curious as to how an english release would look, it might just be the regular JP version just being allowed to be sold legally in an Western outlet now.
They do say "in English speaking territories", so I'm optimistic about it. I did ask them directly on Twitter though, so I'll tell when I get an answer.

Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2015, 08:18:09 PM »
I remember ZUN and his friends mentioning that they'll base/use the translations in the Touhou Wiki in one of their group meeting before.
Either it was just a joke or not, I don't know, but it'll be nice to know how it is actually translated or not.

TTBD

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2015, 08:23:43 PM »
HOLY MOTHER OF.

I don't even. I can't even believe this is happening. I shall do the dance.  :getdown:
Seriously though, I can't wait for this to happen. :D
« Last Edit: April 07, 2015, 08:28:15 PM by auto2112 »
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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2015, 08:41:10 PM »
I don't care if it's translated or not!  This is big news!

Suspicious person

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #10 on: April 07, 2015, 08:43:35 PM »
A digital release for us miserable overseas people ? Magnificent. 'twas long overdue.

Do they plan to extend this initiative to the older touhou games (including PC 98 ones) too ?

Validon98

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #11 on: April 07, 2015, 08:44:30 PM »
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY~
*dances merrily and in the meanwhile probably embarrasses himself to death*
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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2015, 08:49:23 PM »
My danmakucopter goes pew pew pew!

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2015, 09:03:42 PM »
A digital release for us miserable overseas people ? Magnificent. 'twas long overdue.

Do they plan to extend this initiative to the older touhou games (including PC 98 ones) too ?

Most likely, we will get 10-14.3 (main games) first to test the waters.

Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #14 on: April 07, 2015, 09:04:48 PM »
Well I feel like a moron. Made a thread about this but thought it was old news after seeing comments from 7 months ago on the article I saw haha.

But yeah super excited.
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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #15 on: April 07, 2015, 09:36:18 PM »
Curious.

Slightly curious as well as to how it took this long.


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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #16 on: April 07, 2015, 09:41:08 PM »
If anything, I hope this means that people will think twice before pirating the games, now that there's a way to legally purchase and download them.

With that said, I shall vote with my wallet as soon as the games are released. If enough people show their support, we might see some interesting things in the near future.

Also worth mentioning: What would an "official" translation look like? I remember coming across a thread claiming that it's possible that the current unofficial translations we're so used to might be "wrong". It's always interesting to see how things like this would work out...

it might just be the regular JP version just being allowed to be sold legally in an Western outlet now.
I'd be totally okay with that. If they don't translate it we probably will.



Addendum: Whoever manages the front page should probably update it to include this breaking news.
« Last Edit: April 07, 2015, 09:48:47 PM by aUsernameIsFineToo »

Third Eye Lem

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #17 on: April 07, 2015, 09:50:08 PM »
The good What-If: Very strong possibility we'll get at least the Windows Touhou games stateside.
The also good What-If: BRYN4444 accepting Touhou characters into VGCW Women's Division if the series gains enough momentum in the US.

The bad What-If: A possibility ZUN uses the bad translations from one of the less-liked translators (you guys know whom I'm talking about), or the more "recent" ones where most of the humor was removed (IE: Mari/Ali's story from IN).

Regardless, I'm excited for this. Can't wait to see what becomes of the series now that it's spreading!

Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #18 on: April 07, 2015, 10:00:02 PM »
If anything, I hope this means that people will think twice before pirating the games, now that there's a way to legally purchase and download them.

Well in the grand scheme of things buying it in the digital store is a lot easier than pirating.


Firestorm29

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #19 on: April 07, 2015, 10:02:42 PM »
Glad to see this is happening, trying to figure out if it's worth re-buying some titles if the old ones come about.

I'm also betting on translated enough to be playable, or there's some sort of way to import translations into the game. I think he might prefer the fans handling the translations.

Reu

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #20 on: April 07, 2015, 10:08:18 PM »

The bad What-If: A possibility ZUN uses the bad translations from one of the less-liked translators (you guys know whom I'm talking about), or the more "recent" ones where most of the humor was removed (IE: Mari/Ali's story from IN).

I don't think this can happen.
I mean ZUN did say at one point he was practicing his english, I don't think he'd let whoever translating turn things around completely.
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Suspicious person

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #21 on: April 07, 2015, 10:21:51 PM »
The bad What-If: A possibility ZUN uses the bad translations from one of the less-liked translators (you guys know whom I'm talking about), or the more "recent" ones where most of the humor was removed (IE: Mari/Ali's story from IN).
Nah, this shouldn't be an issue : at this point, ZUN might as well let fans deals with the translations themselves, and nothing says that eventuals mistakes in a hypothethical "official" translation cannot be corrected. I think ZUN'll leave the translation to Playism folks, that would be the most simple and reliable way.

I think the eventual issue such "official" translation might bring would be the spelling of the characters's names (Momizi / Momiji ; Kotiya / Kochiya), but this should be a pretty minor issue... compared to the use of new, wholesome names for english / foreign audiences, the bane of localisation, which is very unlikely lol

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #22 on: April 07, 2015, 10:53:55 PM »
Whether and how it's translated is an important topic, but the main thing here is ZUN is expanding his distribution model while still keeping TSA a cottage industry of 1. That, I think, is what's key here. He is both broadening his horizons and staying true to the spirit of things. Something to keep in mind whenever someone grumbles about the guy selling out or whatever. His whole career with Touhou is a living example of what not selling out looks like.

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #23 on: April 07, 2015, 10:55:16 PM »
IN MY LIFETIME? I can hardly contain all this excitement!

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #24 on: April 07, 2015, 11:03:38 PM »
This is actually happening.
I believe it not. Is it April Fool's 2016 already, not?

Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #25 on: April 08, 2015, 12:59:38 AM »
Glad this is happening. Finally I can support Zun directly!

I can't wait to boot up a legit copy of Hisoutensoku. Gonna buy them as soon as they are released onto Playism.

Now if only it were possible to get the PC-98 games other than the method "that which we not speak"...

Third Eye Lem

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #26 on: April 08, 2015, 01:34:35 AM »
Nah, this shouldn't be an issue : at this point, ZUN might as well let fans deals with the translations themselves, and nothing says that eventuals mistakes in a hypothethical "official" translation cannot be corrected. I think ZUN'll leave the translation to Playism folks, that would be the most simple and reliable way.

I think the eventual issue such "official" translation might bring would be the spelling of the characters's names (Momizi / Momiji ; Kotiya / Kochiya), but this should be a pretty minor issue... compared to the use of new, wholesome names for english / foreign audiences, the bane of localisation, which is very unlikely lol
Thanks for reassuring me. ;)

I don't mind the alternate spellings, seeing as characters often have alternate spellings to begin with. Pronunciations on the other hand...Won't be an issue seeing as we don't have voice acting yet. :V Just a nitpick of mine.

N-Forza

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #27 on: April 08, 2015, 01:54:42 AM »
Slightly curious as well as to how it took this long.
A lot of stuff. Zun not sure of overseas reception (which didn't change in any meaningful way until AWA), his desire to give fans the same level of creative freedom while navigating thorny western copyright law, being a one-man video game studio, writing two comic series, etc.

There's definitely a lot of potential behind this announcement, but it's probably best to not jump to conclusions.

And for my two cents on the translations, I would love to see a professional take on this and I'm very confident Playism will do it justice.

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #28 on: April 08, 2015, 02:29:57 AM »
Now if only it were possible to get the PC-98 games other than the method "that which we not speak"...

Spoiler:

And for my two cents on the translations, I would love to see a professional take on this and I'm very confident Playism will do it justice.

I agree. Playism seems like they were a good choice. Hopefully they'll go back and release EoSD and the other older games too. :)

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Re: It's happening, Touhou is coming to the West.
« Reply #29 on: April 08, 2015, 03:03:19 AM »
I'm just screaming like a girl noticed by her senpai <3 <3 <3

IT'S HAPPENING GUYS <3