|
The topic of Shining Force III is near and dear to me, but it is probably a
vague memory at best for any RPGamers who never owned a Saturn. I am
willing to uncategorically call Shining Force III's treatment by Sega of
America the greatest disservice ever rendered to RPGamers, and quite
probably to video gamers as a whole. My reasoning behind this declaration
is rather simple: Sega of America punished Camelot, the title's developer,
for trying a new method of storytelling by denying the entire story to
English-speaking audiences. Imagine if then-Squaresoft had released Final
Fantasy Tactics in three parts instead of one, with each part telling one
side of the story (imagine also that the game had been given a good
translation). Also imagine that Squaresoft, for whatever reason, only had
the first part of the game released in English. What would the reaction
have been?
Shining Force III was conceived by Camelot as one gigantic story told in
three parts to be released separately. This was dubbed by Camelot as the
Synchonicity System, for actions taken in earlier parts would affect events
in the rest of the game. While sold separately, Shining Force III's
constituent parts were conceived simultaneously. Camelot never made any
prevarications regarding this, and the Japanese gaming public knew what was
happening. Scenario 1 was given a Japanese release date in late 1997,
Scenario 2 followed in the spring of 1998, and Scenario 3 concluded things
in the fall of 1998.
Understanding Sega of America's thought processes in the year of 1998 is an
exercise in frustration, but the attempt can be made. The Saturn existed
outside of Japan in a near-comatose state, with only whatever titles Sega
chose to bring across the Pacific and Working Designs' repeatedly delayed
Magic Knight Rayearth to bridge the gap until Sega's next system was
unveiled. Somewhat understandably, Sega of America fired roughly 30% of its
staff in an effort to not hemorrhage so much money. I have already devoted
sufficient time to Sega's idiotic decision to strand Sega loyalists without
any software during the year-long wait for would become known as Dreamcast.
This decision was doubtless made to placate stockholders in the
corporation, for it is true that Saturn loyalists by mid-1998 were thin on
the ground, and any titles released to them would not have sold in large
numbers. The public relations aspect of Sega's decision is entirely
negative, however; it showed that the company did not care enough about
those who had supported the Saturn this far to give them any reason for
standing by Sega in the future. It is into this void that the tale of
Shining Force III's bastardization enters.
Sega of America made the decision to release four titles in spring and
summer of 1998 as their final bequeathing to Saturn diehards. These titles
were The House of the Dead, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Burning Rangers, and
Shining Force III. What Sega of America deliberately neglected to clear up
was its transliteration of Shining Force III not being entirely accurate, as
only Scenario 1 received an English version. If the press Sega released at
the time was to be believed, the company had brought the entirety of the
game over, when this was clearly a falsehood. Sega's translation of
Scenario 1 is quite good until the very end, at which point the text is
altered in order to pander towards Sega's decision to make Scenario 1 the
only part of the game granted an English translation (although by not
translating the credits sequence, which is in English anyway, Sega foolishly
let stand the declaration 'Scenario 1 End').
Why did Sega of America make this decision? Certainly it was not from a
lack of demand on the consumer front for further Saturn product - the frenzy
over Panzer Dragoon Saga's limited release has never really abated. In
retrospect especially it is obvious that Sega wanted to concentrate upon the
Dreamcast's launch, which is certainly understandable given the failure of
the Saturn vis a vis PlayStation by this point in time. Yet Sega made the
wrong move with releasing 1/3 of Shining Force III to English-speaking
audiences, because despite the alterations in the epilogue of Scenario 1
there is clearly more story to be told. Sega of America's decision to make
this its final Saturn release either needed to be rethought, or the company
needed to bring over another RPG instead of 1/3 of a title. I stand by the
assertion that Sega could easily have found the resources to translate
Scenarios 2 and 3 along with several other titles to make the time spent
waiting for Dreamcast less empty, but failing that option Sega ought to have
brought a single title (Grandia usually being the suggestion here, though
Japanese-proficient Saturn consumers had no shortage of quality RPGs to pore
over in the Saturn's lifespan).
The lasting effects of this slap in the face to Shining Force lovers in
particular and enthusiasts of quality titles in general have not been
earth-shaking. Camelot had already taken offense at its perception of
Sega's touting the Dreamcast prior to Shining Force III's completion; it was
this perceived affront that drove Camelot away from the Dreamcast and led to
its continuing association with Nintendo. Sega's actions certainly proved
it no friend to RPG lovers, and the comparatively lackluster release of RPGs
on Dreamcast (remembering what titles could have been brought over from
Japan) continued this legacy. Whether Sega is currently a friend to
RPGamers I will leave to readers to determine, although the evidence in its
favor on this account is not extensive (Skies of Arcadia [Legends] and the
Phantasy Star Online series being exceptions to prove the rule). The single
greatest aftereffect of Sega of America's decision in this matter, however,
has to be the utter contempt it shows for Camelot's vision in the eyes of
Sega's localization team. Given the paucity of similar efforts from RPG
makers it is difficult to tell whether such a public relations disaster
could occur again, but the precedent has been established. Should Monolith
Soft go on with the Xenosaga series, composing a gigantic tale for Episode 4
that it believes best served via multiple perspectives released on separate
discs: should Intelligent Systems desire a balanced story in its next Fire
Emblem title with multiple viewpoints coming under the control of the
player: if Square Enix wants to release Dragon Quest IX in separate parts to
better develop the story: there is a potential propensity on the part of
English-language distributors to remove the entirety of the game from the
non-Japanese market. Alarmist? Fairly. But the possibility must be
recognized as having a precedent which was equally nonsensical. As the
Saturn was dying, so too will modern systems all die. And it is at the
death of a system that the risk of its software being restricted is
greatest.
|
RSS feed
iTunes