games in other languages (C)

[Shotski]

Just wondering how many of ye have compleated a game in a different language that you haven't learned. Because i have beaten half life and populous in german when i was eleven or twelve and i had no idea of any plot. Oh and in half life the marines were robots, and the part where they capture freeman and take his weapons it sounds like a bad german techno song

[Tom Salter]

Shenmue in Japanese.

In fact, I've finished so many Japanese games now, I must have missed so much :\

[Concept]

Yup. Shenmue I & II in Japanese, along with Jet Set Radio were among the first heavy Japanese text games I ever played.

I liked not knowing what I was doing... Being flung into a world where I had to get to grips with it, not the other way around. Sometimes despite missing out on a large chunks of what the narrative can do in a game, not having everything explicitly spelled out for you does wonders for immersion.

I read similar reports for Super Mario 64 too. That the wonder of discovering everything the game had to offer (without an overbearing help system) worked brilliantly for the sense of exploration.

Come to think of it, I've had an idea for a topic which slightly deviates from the theme of this.

[Shotski]

I tried to play one of the first final fantasy games i think it was 6 i got to the part in figaro castle and i just said **** it got the us version and played that and compleated
it

[johnjwaters]

i played through max payne in italian, and um, it was like max payne but felt EVEN MORE FILM NOIR. Still didnt like it though.

[buster_broon]

most of the resident evils (bio hazard's)

on the original on the ps1 it was a fecker trying to get those paintings in the correct order

but hey i did it and i was around 21

[darkangel]

All 4 disks of D2 on the JP Dreamcast, JP Ico.

Playing D2 in jp is mental though

[Eight Rooks]

I don't know about completed, but I've played a significant portion of several Japanese games and completed a fair few of them. Started with Shenmue on the DC and went on to buy 30-40 imports or more while I had the machine, several of which were RPGs and such (Eldorado Gate, Sakura Wars and so on). Sometimes I'd play with a walkthrough, sometimes not; I played through most of Sakura Wars 3 and all of 4 with no translation to hand.

The most recent import I've finished was Ys 6, which was maybe 70-30 without walkthrough/with walkthrough. Hell of a lot of fun. I must go back to Legend Of Heroes 6, too, give that another go and hopefully finish it in the end. I've never been that bothered by playing through games in another language - there's a fair bit you can still pick up on what with knowing how things usually go in RPGs plus listening to the tone of any voiceacting, looking at facial expressions, emoticons, studying a cutscene carefully, stuff like that. And if you get stuck, nowadays GameFAQs carries a surprising amount of information on even the most obscure Asian import titles, so it's never been any real biggie IMO.

[Lurch]

This is interesting - I've only ever bought import games that I know will have very little text to confuse me, like shooters most of the time. It never even entered my head to try out an RPG or similarly text heavy Japanese game. Like going on an adventure in a foreign country...hmm.

[Mr Sands]

Well I've completed Sakura Wars 1-3 but used translations, does that count?
Oh and Space Channel 5 part 2 as well.

[Bleeders]

Shenmue, Code Veronica & Michigan, all Japanese versions and all completed.

[iangilroy]

Loads of SNES/MD games, Mario 64, Biohazard, Blast Corps, 2/3 of FFVII, Pikmin 1 and 2 and quite a few others. I used to find it impossible to wait for a game to get released in the west and in some cases - Mario 64, for example - it was probably better without the handholding. This generation the only import machine I have is the GC so I've ended up playing far fewer Japanese games.

[anephric]

i played through max payne in italian, and um, it was like max payne but felt EVEN MORE FILM NOIR. Still didnt like it though.

It might feel more "giallo" in Italian, but not film noir...

[anephric]

Muddled my way thru a load of fighters, that's about it: got massively confused in the board game bit of DC Project Justice.

Hmph.

[Kubrick]

Some games like Luigi's Mansion are better experiences when you aren't being spoon-fed where to go/what to do etc.