Sorry I disappeared for 3 days lol. But, I return with some news.
Famitsu released an interview with Producer Sakakibara about Super Danganronpa 2x2. The important information revealed is as followed:
The reason SDR2 was chosen and not DR1 is because, quote, "we realized that Danganronpa 1's story creates the very fundamentals of "Danganronpa", and so altering it would have had way too much of an impact."
The remake (the original game, not the new scenario) will feature re-recorded voice lines for everyone. They got all the original voice actors back with the exception of Monomi and Monokuma, as both VAs have since sadly passed. As of writing, we do not know who the new VAs for either will be.
The 2x2 in the name is officially to be pronounced as "Two by Two" not "Two times Two" or "Two ex Two"
Furthermore, The game is being developed by Gemdrops, who only have 3 other games to their name, along with the newly established Too Kyo Games, which is founded by Kazutaka Kodaka. Kodaka left Spike Chunsoft in 2017 which explains why nobody from the original Danganronpa 2 is on the project.
Because of the company switch-up, Super Danganronpa 2x2 may be the first Danganronpa game not translated by NISA. This remains unconfirmed, but there is a good chance, following the pattern, that XSEED will translate the game (They translated Hundred Yard Line).
This is both good and bad news. Followers of mine will know I have been very critical of NISA for their sub-par translations including extremely literal translations that take away from the meaning of the actual text, as well as an abundant of mistranslations.
XSEED, however, is a bit of a toss-up. They are a polarizing figure when it comes to game translation. Some applaud them for prioritizing localization and a natural feeling in English. Others criticize them for being too lax, and oftentimes making things up that only sort of resemble the Japanese text. Many say XSEED feels like a "fan translation" group, and all the good and bad that comes with it.
I do not know how good or bad Hundred Yard Line's translation was as I did not play the game. If you are a HYL fan and can speak on the translation, please add your thoughts.
But, for example, XSEED translated Trails in the Sky. This translation is somewhat famous for many amusing lines.
I won't pretend that I know the first thing about this game, but I did watch the opening scene in English and in Japanese. Our main character, Estelle, yells at her father when he claims he got her a gift from his travels, only to reveal said "gift" is a little boy.
In Japanese, Estelle says,
Which roughly means,
"What the heck, a child!?" (Or even more literal): "What is up with this child!?"
XSEED's translation choice here obviously prioritizes English sensibilities over Japanese literal text. For what it's worth, here at least, I think it was a good choice. This scene is supposed to be somewhat humorous, so amping it up to conform with English humor makes sense.
Trails in the Sky got a remake so it seems, or at least the Demo is out. This Demo, translated by GungHo, changes all the dialogue to be more faithful. This is the new line:
All things considered, this is more accurate to the Japanese version if you want to be technical. But, if I were a fan who grew up with the original, I would be very upset to see the line changed, I imagine.
Anyways, all this to say that XSEED is a bit polarizing. I can see being attached to the company if you grew up with their entertaining translations, but as someone coming in for the first time, you may be annoyed at their liberties.
While this line in particular I would argue is a fine translation, I hear sometimes they can really go off the mark.
...So, I wonder where this will leave Danganronpa 2x2 if XSEED does get their hands on it. Or, I could be totally wrong and it may just be NISA again. To be honest, I wouldn't mind if we got a new studio to translate the game. I would be curious to see how they go about it, since I'm a little, well, sick of running into so many issues with NISA...
What do you guys think?
