The Japan Expo held in Paris, France has come and gone and of the many games that were playable at the event, perhaps the most eyebrow-raising title was Pandora's Tower.
Developed by Ganbarion, the action adventure game is one of three major titles that western gamers have been vocal about in light of Nintendo of America having no plans to bring them to its own continent. As well as Pandora's Tower, Mistwalker's The Last Story and Xenoblade Chronicles from Monolith Soft are the three focal points of Operation Rainfall, an online effort by gamers to get Nintendo's attention.
Even though the game was playable at Japan Expo, it is not proof that the game will make it to Europe all nicely translated, although the Livegen team at LiveWii reports that the game will see release in Europe in 2012. Fingers crossed then, eh?
[source livewii.fr]
Comments 75
So they're all confirmed for Europe now, I guess? Well, that's cool. I doubt it means anything for Americans, though.
I hope so, I've been following this game and it looks amazing.
You know, this reminds me of another case. A popular Japanese title that was demoed at the Japan Expo leading to the speculation that it would be translated...what game was that? Oh yeah, SOLATOROBO: RED THE HUNTER! And that game got a European release and a planned US release as well! I guess there is still hope!
just kill me now.
Nintendo of America's Checklist
1: Pandora's Tower
2: The Last Story
3: Xenoblade Chronicles
4: Earth Seeker
5: Tales of Graces
6: Fatal Frame IV
EDIT 1 Additions:
7: Dragon Quest 1-3 Trilogy (That Anniversary Edition coming out)
8: Disaster: Day of Crisis
9: ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat (DS)
10: New Play Control: PIkmin 2
11: New Play Control: Chibi-Chibi Robo
12: Another Code: R
EDIT 2 Additions:
13: Fire Emblem 12 (DS)
14: Captain Rainbow
Anyone else care to add to this list for North American release? Anyone from Europe wanna do an EU checklist? Australians for Austrailia?
I dont get the big hype over these three games. They will probably be beatable in less than 10hrs, and for me an action adventure RPG game 10hrs is meh i like games that are difficult and are long keeping with new events happening (Kingdom Of Hearts). Not quite sure why everyones fighting for these games. As much as i would like XenoBlade Chronicles, if it doesnt get a release i can live without it, find another game/genre to play.
Beatable in less than 10 hours? Xenoblade? What gave you that impression? The fact that people who have played it said it was arguably the largest Wii game? All the great reviews?
I had already made a thread about this but its still an great news that Europe will be getting all three of these awesome looking games.
I meant pandoras tower, sorry shouldve clarified that.
I swear I will scream if Dragon's Quest Collection won't be localised
Heh, Nintendo's trolling. They've had plans to bring the games over this whole time, but they wanted to get some lulz out of what people would do if they said that they wouldn't.
Your subtitle was misleading. I thought you told us to settle down because you actually had news for us. There is still no news and there will still be no settling down.
Don't tell us to calm down! We Americans have a right to be upset about this you know. I just can't believe Nintendo is being so thick headed about these games. Can't they see it's actually severely tarnishing their image to even the most faithful of Nintendo fans? How can they seriously expect us to be on board with the upcoming Wii U system when they can't even acknowledge what we want now? Nintendo has a hell of a battle ahead of them because without those fans, the very same that sustained the company through the N64 and GCN years, and with the fickle nature of the casuals, the company has pretty much nothing to hang onto this time. I'll be heartbroken to see Nintendo as a developer go down, but I'll truly enjoy seeing Nintendo as a company fail as a result of decisions like this.
I'd guess the subtititle is more to try and immediately prevent people seeing the headline and jumping to the conclusions... It's a nice and interesting fact but for americans in particular, but also europeans, this story alone doesn't proove anything
I feel so battered and bruised
@NSBlueLighing I heard that the game is at least 50 hours of gameplay. If you haven't seen the exploration videos of the field maps on youtube, you should check them out now. The landscapes are huge, and there are a ton of areas too. The game is massive.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure the game you mention is called "Kingdom Hearts".
This game looks amazing!
Well there's always hope that this never happens, X3.
But besides the point, there's still hope that it's coming to America, if European Sales are good
@12, 13: the evidence was for EU, not NA... that 'settle down' was tongue-in-cheek (e.g. waitasec, don't get your hopes up yet Americans, this story isn't really for you). lighten up, plz :3
@Marvelousmoo I've heard that Xenoblade chronicles is around 70 hours and over 100 if you plan on doing absolutely everything in the game.
At the risk of trivialising the deep hurt some of you are feeling - IT'S JUST A COMPUTER GAME. You won't doe if you don't play it. Go outdoors and get some sunshine.
I have lost all faith. Nintendo has abandoned us.
@Amorous_Badger The reason they are getting upset is because games are meant to cause entertainment, and these three games look very entertaining. And whether or not we get these games, I don't know how to "female deer" o.O
I say remove the games from the store shelves of Japan and make everyone equally miserable.
Europe Checklist.
Now that we have
out of the way...
...we still want these ones to be released in Europe:
1. Captain Rainbow
2. Earth Seeker
3. Fatal Frame IV: The Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
4. Zangeki no Reginleiv
5. New Play Control! Chibi-Robo!
6. Excitebots: Trick Racing
7. Takt of Magic
8. Monster Hunter G
9. Tales of Graces
10. Dragon Quest I~III Trilogy
11. Trauma Team
12. Arc Rise Fantasia
13. Mario Super Sluggers
14. You don't know Jack?
Any important imports I forgot? (Future releases not counted.)
Americans want to add definately some of these:
Oh yeah! you guys got Excitebots, so us getting these games now is only fair really.
"although the Livegen team at LiveWii reports that the game will see release in Europe in 2012"
Oh, let that be true!! It's late. But better late then never!!!
@MasterGraveheart all European and American gamers can erase Tales of Graces on Wii from wishlist: http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/118/1180450p1.html that's pissing me off(especially because Tales of Graces was created for Wii not for PS3), and this is a simple excuse since the Wii version was very buggy(i read that Tales Studio didn't even care for a long time to make a patch that repairs these bugs), and with actual situation with Nintendo of America that don't want to publish Japanese RPGs so Namco Bandai isn't that kind of Publisher and developer to bring to west a big title only for Europe(count how many there are Tales of games in Europe and you'll understand what i mean).
"Settle down, North America"
The hell does this mean? We aren't getting it.
as I've written before on previous articles I am still optimistic that NOA will release at least Xenoblade and Last Story for early 2012.....
I personally would buy Xenoblade, Last story, and Pandora's Tower if they all came out instead of a Wii U... the Wii U can wait...
Yippie Ki Yay, mo-fo, another game gets translated into English!
@MrDanger88 It means settle down as in don't start raging at Nintendo.
Quoted from SKTTR, #25
"1. Captain Rainbow - The name alone will keep most people from buying it
2. Earth Seeker - Agreed, but I don't think It's even out yet in Japan
3. Fatal Frame IV: The Mask of the Lunar Eclipse - Glitchy
4. Zangeki no Reginleiv - Agreed, but it sold horribly in Japan and probably wouldn't fair better in the west
5. New Play Control! Chibi-Robo! - I don't think Nintendo wants to invest anymore into the New Play Control series
6. Excitebots: Trick Racing - I still say you're not missing much, but most would say I'm wrong
7. Takt of Magic - You're not missing anything
8. Monster Hunter G - It's a port, get over it, you already have Monster Hunter Tri which was designed for the Wii
9. Tales of Graces - Won't happen, Namdai's already localizing the improved sequel. If you want it so badly, as I do, just get a PS3
10. Dragon Quest I~III Trilogy - This should be top of the list. A budget title that contains 6 games? Heck yeah! And the remakes drastically improve the experience, yet the old school games are still worth playing. I certainly hope it get's localized, and I'd be surprised if it didn't
11. Trauma Team - It's an Atlus game
12. Arc Rise Fantasia - You're not missing much
13. Mario Super Sluggers - You guys didn't get this?
14. You don't know Jack? - Is the Wii version even worth it with the lack of online MP and DLC?"
@Mickeymac Earth seeker came out two weeks ago in Japan.
I see that and I also see that it sold Pitifully. Less than $5000 on week one. We're so not getting it. If we do it'll be hard to find.
@Mickeymac If we don't get it I won't be too bothered as it was only a maybe for me after seeing the first hour of the game.
@Mickeymac: I don't know a lot about some of those games, but I agree with you on a lot of points. Some people seem to want EVERY game that hasn't yet been released, regardless of whether or not they are any good.
Having said that, doesn't being so negative all the time get tiring? Seriously, I haven't seen you say a positive thing on here.
I've said 5+ positive things just today. Two of them were in this very comment section.
come on, guys, let's not make it personal.
Remember that time when NintendoLife's members didn't complain constantly?
uuh, I remember a while back I read xenblade would be 60-70 hours to finish first time around or something like that.
not short at all
@Godot
Obviously you've never read the comments in every single Nintendo Download update.
Pandora's Tomorrow is a... not good game. You're not missing out on anything.
What was the point of this article/tagline? It said nothing about anything of a NA release.
@WaltzElf
What about Pandora's Tower? I mean, it's nice to know a Tom Clancy game isn't very good, but it's kind of off-topic, you know?
@Objection_Blaster
To quote TBD:
"the evidence was for EU, not NA... that 'settle down' was tongue-in-cheek (e.g. waitasec, don't get your hopes up yet Americans, this story isn't really for you). lighten up, plz :3"
Oh i see. Apologies for not getting the humour.
See what I did there? Cuz its not funny for us lol
LOL - thanks for the pick up @Mickeymac
Pandora's Tower. That one. Skip it.
"Settle Down, North America" probably means avoiding negative comments like the ones above
Anyways this game really doesn't appeal to me at all, so no loss for me
My apologies, to the author, for not getting your joke to NA, but it probably wasn't the best choice of words for us riled up North Americans.
@Marvelous: Honestly I don't think the outcome would have differed without the joke
@Izbirdboy Nope. We're still as mad as ever.
I think it's best we all ignore each others comments (includng this comment) and make decisions based on our own opinions.
I think having an informed opinion is very important, and sometimes that means analyzing the opinions of others.
@Waltzelf While I don't think it looks like the best of the three I've seen impressions of people who have played all three and some even have Pandora's tower as their favourite of the three. I've seen more say that Xenoblade chronicles but than the other two but there are still quite a few people who have The last story and Pandora's tower as their favourite of the three.
No one would complain if Wii didn't have a region code. As long as Nintendo makes stupid decisions like that we have every right to complain. It's ridiculous that European or American gamers are missing games which are already translated into English because imports won't play on Wii consoles. Unfortunately even Nintendo handhelds are region locked nowadays. Really great job, Nintendo!
@NSbluelightning I've seen quite a variety of play times for this game. Some people have completed it in around 10 hours but others took up to 20 or in between 20 and 30 hours.
@MarioFanatic - I assumed that Pandora wasn't going to get a translation, but the other two would, so I went ahead and imported the Japanese version of the game.
It's bad. Anyone who has ever dismissed a Warriors game as a "button masher" is going to have a nightmare of a time with this game. And even I wasn't able to enjoy this one.
I dont understand either why they hesitate with bringing games into the US market that are already translated and available in English (through EU release). The effort must be minimal. What is the reasoning behind it?
@Waltzelf I have heard far more positive impressions on the game than negative so I'm still going to get it.
@WaltzElf: It looks to me (as far as I can tell) to be similar to the Prince of Persia Sands of Time trilogy. Have you played any of those, and if so, what do you think of them and Pandora's Tower in comparison?
I'm still thinking Nintendo will release these games in America but not until 2012 and around/ after the Wii U launch.
@MasterGraveheart As for the DS, Fire Emblem 12 still hasn't seen a launch outside of Japan. I think it was mentioned on both this site and in Nintendo Power magazine once, but I haven't heard anything since about an English localization.
Yay more games that NoA won't bring out here!
Well, to me this game looks awful. But then there's the attractive cover art...
I know this might sound crazy, but what if, what if! they are holding back on these releases so they can make them in high-def and release them on the WiiU?!?! Wouldn't that be awesome. God I hope this turns out to be an "I Told You So!" moment.
@spoonybard 66-I rather doubt it, although it'd be interesting and better than nothing, I suppose. But I think some people, including myself, aren't going to hold out and buy the next console to maybe get games we expected on this one.
@67-"It'll just cost more." That would be true and doable and I would not complain at all if the Wii was region-free. Which it's not, unless you mod it. So either I do something illegal or I have to buy another Wii. Neither is happening any time soon.
I definitely agree that Nintendo is super secretive about game releases... the problem is they are equally as stubborn about releasing games, so I'm not gonna get my hopes up for a 2012 release for any of these games, though that would be the most likely scenario since there was 0 showing at this years E3. I just find it hard to believe we can't even get a tease even if any of these games are coming. I will say one thing though... a couple of E3's ago, did we in the west get shown "Monado"? I never say never, but I can't recall too many games Nintendo has shown at an E3 that didn't come to the west, so if we truly aren't getting Xenoblade at least, then this truly will be a travesty on Nintendo's part.
@61 - I guess in a way. I like to think about it more like it's Nintendo's attempt to boil down the God of War formula for the Wii, though - it's too button mashy for the Prince of Persia formula, really.
Release in Europe does not equal release in North America, as recent history has made PAINFULLY clear. The subline for this article is therefore meaningless. If anything, I'd say Europe getting it while we still hear nothing is reason to get MORE upset!
^See theblackdragon, #19
Nintendo knows they can tick off their customer base, & get away w/ it, since their fan-base is so loyal. Any co. that acknowledges that they legitimately have a very loyal customer base knows this. It only encourages them to try more obscene-esque practices business-wise.
@SpoonyBard comment #66: Possible, but I agree w/ what Objection_Blaster said about that: "But I think some people, including myself, aren't going to hold out and buy the next console to maybe get games we expected on this one."
I just wanted ExiteBots... :-/
@Mickeymac: Ah, I see. I don't usually post without reading the comments, but I was short on time and did so in this instance. Go figure that the result was such as this.
Yeah Excite Truck is one of my absolute favourite Wii games, we've been waiting 2 years for Excite Bots but I don't think it's coming.
I would happily trade all three of these games for it, but then I hate RPGs...
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