Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Even More Ace Attorney Investigations 2 Names Revealed

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , ,
Aug 022024
 

With Ace Attorney Investigations 2 being officially localized for the first time, one point of particular interest is how the names will be changed compared to the fan translation names.

(This post is spoiler-free, but you may want to avoid it if you don’t want any idea about the characters in the first two cases.)

Shortly after the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection came out, we came up with a list of names that had been revealed through the trailer and website: Eddie Fender, Verity Gavèlle, Eustace Winner, and Di-Jun Wang, as well as the partial names Knight, Lloyd, and Rook.

New previews went live yesterday, and I scoured them all searching for new names, only to find none… but then fans discovered that the French website Nintendo Difference had posted a ton of screenshots in both English and French that revealed more localized names.

First, we now have full names for two of those partials. The popular theory that Lloyd would be Tabby Lloyd turned out to be true, and I love it.

And Knight’s full name is Bronco Knight, which is… funny-sounding, but apparently Bronco really is a name. This is probably the one I’ll struggle to get used to the most (alongside good old Eddie Fender, of course).

Now, onto some characters from case 2.

Sōta Sarushiro, called Simon Keyes in the fan translation, is officially Simeon Saint. This name made me tilt my head when I first saw it, but after thinking about it, I like it a lot. The similarity between first names is amusing, but both translations were clearly going for a monkey pun and just took it in different directions.

Marie Miwa, whose name was Patricia Roland in the fan translation, is Fifi Laguarde. I think that’s a fantastic one. Ace Attorney has used the “patrol” pun so many times now that it pretty much had to change, and I can see her being a Fifi.

Shuuji Orinaka was known in the fan translation as Jay Elbird, and he will now be called Rocco Carcerato. If anyone tries to claim “Carcerato” is too on-the-nose, I repeat that his fan translation name was Jay Elbird. Subtlety was never involved here.

(Though I’m now really curious about what they’ll call his pet, since it’s unlikely to be Rocky if his name is Rocco.)

Finally, Ryōken Hōinbō was named Sirhan Dogen by the fan translation and now has the official name of Bodhidharma Kanis. Now, I have no idea how to pronounce that first name, but it’s the real name of a legendary monk. To be honest, I was never sure how to pronounce Sirhan Dogen either, so I’m on board with Bodhidharma Kanis.

I know there was some doubt about the new names when the first batch came out, but I really love some of the ideas they’ve gone with here.

Meanwhile, the screenshots confirm that Verity’s interjection is still “Overruled!” though no longer broken up onto two lines. The French screenshots also show that Eddie (though he’s Freddie Lapointe in French) called Edgeworth (Benjamin Hunter) “Benny,” and I love that too.

The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is out on September 6, which means I’m just a little over a month away from holding an officially translated Ace Attorney Investigations 2 in my hands after all these years. I can’t wait!

Is Fairy Tail 2 Turn-Based or Action?

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Jul 312024
 

We’ve got a bit of an odd post today.

When we discussed the insane Nintendo Direct that included tons of exciting game announcements, one I only mentioned in passing was Fairy Tail 2.

At the time, I mentioned that I was interested in it because I enjoy Gust’s turn-based RPGs.

So you can imagine how surprised I was today when the latest Fairy Tail 2 screenshots were described by news sites as being from the upcoming action RPG. I thought it was a mistake until I visited Steam and saw its genre listed as both “Action” and “RPG.”

The description also says, “The battle system has been completely redesigned from the previous game, implementing real-time battles that are even more flashy and impactful.”

Now that I look back at the trailer, the narrator does say “engage in real-time battles” when combat is shown, but that section looks like turn-based combat to me. All the enemies are standing still as if it’s the player’s turn!

At the time, I think I just assumed it was a fast-paced ATB system along the lines of the one in Atelier Ryza. For the record, none of the Ryza games have “Action” listed as their genre on Steam. On the other hand, neither does Nights of Azure, despite that being an action RPG.

So in short, I have no idea. It looks like a turn-based RPG to me, it’s being called an action RPG, the specific mention of real-time battles seems to support that, and yet its combat system hasn’t been shown or described in enough detail to make it clear. Of all the “is this upcoming RPG turn-based or action” debates we’ve had, this might be the funniest.

Here’s hoping the next look at Fairy Tail 2 will show enough combat to clear up the confusion!

Katawa Shoujo is Coming to Steam and itch.io

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Jul 292024
 

It’s been over 3 years since we talked about Katawa Shoujo, a romance visual novel that was many people’s first introduction to the genre.

I praised Katawa Shoujo for its heartfelt storytelling, not to mention the fact that it’s a decently long visual novel available for free.

Well, it’s soon to be easier than ever for new players to try it, because it was announced that Katawa Shoujo is coming to both Steam and itch.io on August 16.

This is not a remaster or enhanced version, but the same game that’s been available all this time – and yes, it’s still going to be free. This just provides players with more options for how to get it.

The one change is that the Steam version has the 18+ content removed in order to get it onto Steam. If you want to get it from Steam but have those scenes intact, there is a patch available from the itch.io page to restore the adult content to the Steam version. An FAQ answers the most common questions about the new release.

(For the record, I feel the 18+ scenes add to the characterization at times, but it would still be a great visual novel without them.)

Katawa Shoujo might not have huge, world-changing stakes, but it’s a heartfelt romance visual novel that I enjoyed a lot, and I’m happy to see it getting more attention. If you’ve been wanting to play it but prefer to get it from an established storefront, you’ll get your wish on August 16!

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