KINGDOM HEARTS χ[chi] Localization In Progress?
- Details
- Published on November 8, 2013 @ 02:45 am
- Written by Sign
It's been over a year since KINGDOM HEARTS χ[chi] was revealed for the first time. Debuting at Tokyo Game Show 2012, χ[chi] was greeted by response of general understanding and annoyance. For such a successful franchise like Kingdom Hearts, a social application should only be expected. Kingdom Hearts Mobile had originally served the purpose to an extent, but with its termination on April 30, a new title would need to rise to the occasion. In comes KINGDOM HEARTS χ[chi] - bright and unassuming, eager to take its place within this beloved series.
It's a social game based on the Keyblade War, or more specifically, of the all-too-familiar fairytale told on various occasions by Kairi's grandmother.
"Far, far away, in a fairy-tale realm...
The realm was filled with light.
That light gave birth to many worlds, enveloping them.
The source of the light, Kingdom Hearts, and the key that protected it, the χblade...
As long as they existed, it was believed that the realm would be in eternal light.
However, just as strong light will form a shadow, darkness was born.
The darkness called up fear, unease and craving.
Darkness, hidden deep in hearts, began to spread throughout the realm as chaos.
In order to drive back the spreading darkness, those who wished for light created Keyblades in imitation of the χblade, and embarked on adventures that spanned the realm."
That seemed simple enough. The Keyblade War was an event that many have dreamt of experiencing for themselves, and while there are those who feel this event would be better suited if it weren't through PC browsers, it was a story that was available to tell. Despite that, a small community began to grow specifically for this title.
For those who had restricted means of gaming and difficulties experiencing the other titles, being set on browsers offered a grand opportunity before them. Players could play this at their leisure without a care in the world with others scattered across the globe. The art style is appealing and faithful to the original source material, gameplay is simple and easy to jump into, and updates were made to greet players as often as every other week. At the time of posting, the game has been live for almost 5 months, and the quality has remained consistent to this day. It seemed to be as good as social games could get, except for one problem:
It is still only in Japanese.
While players worldwide could join the game at any given moment, the language barrier was a major factor in turning many right back around. You didn't need to know the language in order to play it, but not knowing led to troubled and disjointed experiences, whether you had difficulty locating specific items or understanding what exactly you had to do to progress in the story, although many guides have been and are being created in order to ease the process.
Speaking of the story - it's worth mentioning that three months ago on August 28, 2013, Series Director Tetsuya Nomura spoke briefly about KINGDOM HEARTS χ[chi], revealing that a story that leads into the main series will be implemented in the near future. But if χ[chi] were to become relevant to the main story, then even more fans would want to play the game for themselves in order to discover this connection. What could be done in order to make this as community-friendly as possible without making sacrifices?
The answer would be to localize the game. There were many discussions about how this could be done, as Square Enix's browser-based social games that were originally exclusive to Japan rarely make it overseas. Some fans even started a petition in order to raise awareness for the title in the hopes that it'd someday be available to them. The game's localization is a topic that has never been officially addressed, but perhaps that may be changing.
As stated previously, the game typically receives updates every other week or so, and one took place yesterday to remove remaining assets left over from the Halloween event and add new content for the Trident Anchor event. As curious as we are, it's simple work to load up the game and see what new files and codes can be detected. 2 pages of code caught our eye by content and name, featuring one key word: "localization".
Click to enlarge!
Although the code is still incompete, could it be that preparations have begun for an upcoming English release? Are the development staff just getting things prepared should a localization go through? Only time will tell.
COMMENTS
[PLAIN]Re: KINGDOM HEARTS ?[chi] Localization In Progress?[/PLAIN]
Oh my God please please please~
Also if it could be an option in-game so I don't need a new account or something that'd be dope.
[PLAIN]Re: KINGDOM HEARTS ?[chi] Localization In Progress?[/PLAIN]
Here's to hoping that localisation is truly on its way. Probably they could make it possible for us to use several kinds of social media to connext to the server, like our Facebook or Google account. If I remember correctly, it's Yahoo! for the current Japanese version.
[PLAIN]Re: KINGDOM HEARTS ?[chi] Localization In Progress?[/PLAIN]
Ha ha! Take that, people who continuously told me that an English release of this would be impossible and that Square would never do it every time I said "I'll just wait for them to do an English version"!
Yes, I know it's not an official confirmation... but I'm just not at all worried about us not getting an English/international release. I would be legitimately surprised if it never happened. And this post pretty much adds to the whole, "Reasons I'm not worried" list.
I'd like to be able to keep using my account and just change the language while they add availability to places like FB and non-JP Yahoo! Games.
Also I feel like if they decide to add us non-JP players, aren't we all at a disadvantage in comparison to the fans who had a few months to play chi before us? There have already been so many events with special cards and outfits that people might miss out on. How will they deal with that?
Also I feel like if they decide to add us non-JP players, aren't we all at a disadvantage in comparison to the fans who had a few months to play chi before us? There have already been so many events with special cards and outfits that people might miss out on. How will they deal with that?
They can always create internationally available future events, I believe. Otherwise, a more immediate "fix" is to present special new sign-up bonuses for newcomers who sign up within a specified window of time.
Also I feel like if they decide to add us non-JP players, aren't we all at a disadvantage in comparison to the fans who had a few months to play chi before us? There have already been so many events with special cards and outfits that people might miss out on. How will they deal with that?
Well this is a problem fairly intrinsic to any MMO-esque game.
If you come in late, you're gonna miss out on something. I don't think there really is a "fix," unless new players were just given all the cool event stuff for no effort. Which I don't see as a good idea.
Well this is a problem fairly intrinsic to any MMO-esque game.
If you come in late, you're gonna miss out on something. I don't think there really is a "fix," unless new players were just given all the cool event stuff for no effort. Which I don't see as a good idea.
But it isn't like a person starting the game after it has launched. That is something controlled by the player. When it is the company that is late on releasing a game worldwide and has an entire region leagues ahead of the game, that is when it shouldn't be an "oh well" thing...But it probably will be.
They'll probably just offer the special event items as premium purchases down the line...
They'll probably just offer the special event items as premium purchases down the line...
Sadly this is what I think. You'll have to pay to catch up, which I certainly won't <_< but I'm okay with that. I'm almost torn if it gets localized, I want to be able to pick up where I left off with my Japanese account BUT I want to be able to replay all the stories I've done in Japanese that I didn't understand...now that I can understand them, I definitely want to.
Also I feel like if they decide to add us non-JP players, aren't we all at a disadvantage in comparison to the fans who had a few months to play chi before us? There have already been so many events with special cards and outfits that people might miss out on. How will they deal with that?
That's true of course, but during the last weeks SE offered some of those special cards as part of the Mog Trade. Now that there is a card album with a completion score maybe they will offer every card again over time. Maybe they will also add the costumes again, but as they are only rare cosmetic items I think players are not entitled to them (like it's the case with every other online game out there).
That's true of course, but during the last weeks SE offered some of those special cards as part of the Mog Trade. Now that there is a card album with a completion score maybe they will offer every card again over time. Maybe they will also add the costumes again, but as they are only rare cosmetic items I think players are not entitled to them (like it's the case with every other online game out there).
I find it likely they will add currently unobtainable cards, from prior card packs or events, to the mog shop from time to time, but I highly doubt the costumes. I am pretty sure the costumes won't come back unless if they decide to run an updated version of an old event.
They'll probably just offer the special event items as premium purchases down the line...
Maybe event cards will run on a cycle?
Like that CG promo art card, maybe that'll make a return a few months from now or something.
OMG really!!!
This would end my days of translation and guessing in the Japanese game! Although I just hope that we can get it for free!
Since our accounts are tied to our Yahoo accounts, I imagine all current Japanese Yahoo accounts will remain tied to the Japanese version of chi, though maybe there's away to make that work.
I will also have to decide if I want to replay just for the story.
EDIT: Oh geeze, it just occurred to me that adding English support will create a massive influx of players... and this game still has no player search feature besides page through the Top 10 000 players, 15 at a time. C'mon Square Enix, that's been a problem since day 1, you've gotta fix it now!
Yeah, I really hope this gets localized. I've been waiting a long while for them to so I could read all the stories. I havn't been completing many of them so the scenes wouldn't entirely spoil it. Been holding off on giving money too due to my distrust of how the currency system is being translated etc. I really do hope it's done soon. Would make one heck of a Christmas gift....
Chi getting localized within the next year would be great! That and 2.5 will tide me over until KH3. I hope.
hm...That would be awesome, even more if we could continue with our avatars
Yeah, if they localized it that would more than double their players I'd imagine since you'd be opening it up to a lot of other countries that at least learn English so I really hope they are prepared with at least a player search system cause that is going to be impossible to find other people (at least in the beginning).
A localization would be awesome, but I'm not going to get my hopes up yet given how SE has made it very clear that to them a complete localization does not necessarily mean that they will release a game.
A localization would be awesome, but I'm not going to get my hopes up yet given how SE has made it very clear that to them a complete localization does not necessarily mean that they will release a game.
You sting me right in the Type-0 shaped hole in my heart.
A localization would be awesome, but I'm not going to get my hopes up yet given how SE has made it very clear that to them a complete localization does not necessarily mean that they will release a game.
Haha...ha... :c The dream still lives on with Tabata's dreams of getting the game to us one day...
hm...That would be awesome, even more if we could continue with our avatars
This would be great. I'm fine with it caring over or not, if it dose then I keep everything but if it doesn't, oh well I get a second account and I can finally read the stories and redo events (I could get the other clothes if I play as a girl avatar) I'm fine with either way. Did anyone else notice the front most characters leg was replaced with a girls.
Zephyr
November 8, 2013 @ 04:48 amOffline