Working Designs....? Crappy? Did you *play* Albert Odyssey? EDIT: So who's going to get all their stuff? Not that they'd have any reason to have anything "unreleased" on hand per se, as they weren't an actual developer, but it might be neat to have partially-translated versions of otherwise Japanese-only games.
Part of my affinity for AO is in regards to the localization, I thought they did a great job with it. I prefer their style of localization where they may put in the effort to play around with it a bit to a more literal approach. I didn't think that they ever bastardized anything, so when they did give games their own little touch, I thought it was generally for the better. Just my opinion.
TERRIBLE NEWS! I liked their localizations and they brought memorable games over here and did good jobs in translating them. They had the balls to release 2d games in this day and age, and ultimately, its what killed them. Their fanbase isnt quite big enough to fully support them, and the rest of the industry is too casual to buy their games. Their games may be expensive and usually 2d, which is too much to bear on some of the 2d haters and stupid reviewers abound on the internet and magazines. This is a dark, dark day in the gaming industry. At least we have official proof that they are now gone. Of course, Im saying this because I have absolutely loved every game they brought out, and even though they didnt actually make the games, they chose great ones. At the end of the day I must say, I'd like the great games more if I played them in English, and WD provided just that and more. Plus their games and Guides will now be more rare than ever before!
Well everything I've heared about WD is very positive. And I'll offer my own opinions after I've played through both Lunars, Popful Mail and Rayearth. But no studio going out of business is good news, whether they make the games or just translate them.
That sux. I wonder if the value of their games will go up....... but thats just wishful thinking. Anyway, i hope Vireland uses his irish charm to get more JRPGs to come out on the 360 here in the USA.
One of the few companies with the balls to translate and release obscure Japanese RPG's has gone under. Yay! Seriously how the fuck could you be happy about this.
Actually I thank WD for getting me hooked on JRPGs and Anime. So their passing is something that should be missed.
Yeah, exactly. Now we get to have even more awesome Ubi-Soft Lunars!!!! RIP Working Designs...This sucks.
Can't say I liked them. The made a mess of Magic Knight Rayearth on the Saturn, changed the game play of the PSX Silhouette Mirage and others. can't say I'm sad to see them go. Yakumo
Always assosiated Working Designes with quality and guts (to bring games over that were too niche or un-trendy for anyone else to dare touch). They will be missed. :-(
This is a really sad loss - Working Designs has been THE company behind English localizations of obscure titles since back in the day of the Turbografx. It's sad to see such a pioneer leave the scene. However, if it weren't for working designs, I doubt companies like Atlus or Natsume would have picked up on game localizations and be as successful as they are now - we have Working Designs to thank for paving the way.
Yeah, even if you think their translations aren't totally hardcore and Japanese enough ::shudder:: it's still sad when any game company goes out of business (yes, yes, I know they didn't make the games).
But would anyone else have even released MKR? I mean not only was it on the Saturn it also was in 1998 when the system was long dead. We are lucky to have any english release at all. Out of curiosity what did they do to Silhouette Mirage? I have the Staurn version so have never bothered trying the PSX version.
Well not all of us played the japanese version, let alone know japanese, so even if working designs did screw something up we wouldn't have been able to tell. I always thought they did a good job with there translations, plus they had a good sense of humor. Lunar had some very funny stuff in it.
Silhouette Mirage is a hotly contested localization, and it basically comes down to this: Working Designs made a few small gameplay changes (such as the addition of an ammunition system and slightly increasing the difficulty) that actually made the game a bit more challenging to play. You've got the Saturn version - it's hard to deny it gets a little easy in some places. The only real fault you can find with the localization is - well, is that it's not Japanese. Which isn't really a legitimate complaint.
What a very misleading topic title. I thought this was news about them coming back (I first heard this days ago). I liked them, and their localisations. Vic Ireland was a good man, and they were certainly "gutsy" in their approach. People complain about the their localisations, saying they'd prefer to import said games. But you'd have had to do that anyway if they didn't exist. I value them for allowing me to play so many great games over the years in English. I also loved their big box sets, and their production notes were a really nice touch. I wish more companies did that. A sad development (especially since I wanted Goemon in English! I wonder how long before a beta surfaces?).
The topic creator seems to have some vendetta against them. He never fully explained why, and is probably deterred from posting in this topic since so many disagree with him.
Well to be honest Working Designs localizations are probably appealing to most members of this board because they are an American company as are many of the members here but to us non Americans the localizations were shite because the jokes they added just aren't funny to us plus the voice acting was last just like many an anime dubbed in to English. As for Silhouette Mirage, they made it impossible to buy the top weapons or all weapons due to their messing about with the play mechanics. You also have to spend ages getting soul power from the enemy since your own drains away too fast. The Saturn version is hard enough as it is as is the Japanese PSX version. Interesting point is that the PSX version of SM has no slowdown unlike the Saturn but is missing a shit load of background detail including stuff the PSX should be able to do with ease unlike the Saturn. Stuff such as transparent reflections. The actual character sprites and animation are the same in both games. So it all depends upon what you want. Saturn version with far superior graphics but suffers from a bit of slowdown or the PSX with no slowdown but blander backgrounds. Yakumo
I Loved the Lunar series and WD's localisation was just beautiful. I have several of their games. They are awesome. However, burned as they may have been by the Saturn, and Bernie Stolar's stupidity, their childish comments about the dreamcast and their wanting it to fail sort of gives this a feeling of "eat some karma, bitches!" So I'm both sad and satisfied over this news. But I'm definitely like 80% Sad.
