What happens when your QA testers are too good at the game they're testing? They end up missing slips in the localization, apparently, which is what happened to Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. While it's not a huge deal and only a fraction of players will encounter it, some untranslated Japanese text was unintentionally kept in the English build of the RPG.
Atlus is cool enough about the situation to be totally transparent. If you search for footage of the lines yourself you're going to run into some spoilers, so instead you might want to turn to Atlus' blog post for the details.
According to Atlus' John Hardin, very specific conditions are required to trigger these lines, and the members of their QA team were good enough at the late game battle that they never even saw them. Check out the full explanation below.
First, we’re human. This is important, so before you start writing that angry comment down below, please remember this point.
Second, and this is the funny part, it turns out our QA department is actually too good. The two instances of Japanese text left in the game happen during a boss battle near the end of the game. As you may know, SMTIV:A has partners that are permanently with you throughout the game, and you can select the partner based on what abilities they have that complement your play style. (No more worrying about a randomly chosen Walter casting Agi on demons that resist fire. WALTEERRRRRR!)
Anyhow, just like in SMTIV, partners can get attacked and knocked out. In this particular battle, partners will return after 3 turns, and the errant Japanese text only shows up if you get to a point where the boss gives you a dialogue option WHILE your partner is KO’d. Our testers, who have been with the company for quite awhile, and who are well-versed in all things SMT (I think a few of them also were QA for the original SMTIV) were so good, they never ran into the situation of having an unconscious partner during the fight, and henceforth the dialogue in question.
We never realized that there was a specific set of circumstances for the text to appear in-game, and so it never got localized. And unfortunately, it will still be in there by the time the game hits shelves tomorrow. BUT! As our QA testers and reviewers in the media have shown, it’s a relatively rare set of circumstances that will lead players to encounter the aberrant text, and hopefully won’t even be discovered by the vast majority of players. (Of course, now that I told you how to find it, you’re probably all going to go out and test it, aren’t you?)
And thus ends another great lesson in localization, OR why it might not hurt to hire a few testers who are VERY bad at games.
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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his webcomic, BIG DUMB FIGHTING IDIOTS, every week at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox.
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