Much of what we do at MonkeyPaw Games centers on bringing Japanese games to life in Western markets. It is a difficult job as Japanese publishers often lack the confidence to localize their game and think others can’t do it either. We convince them that there is a market and that we can localize well. For the creator and publisher, they should be flattered! But that is rarely the case.
Risk dominates the equation. Proper localization must preserve a game’s integrity while weaving the intricacies of crossing cultures. Add the risks associated with submission, translation, quality assurance, marketing, and publishing…you can understand publishers’ aversion. Of course, the biggest risk is financial and the heavy exposure of bringing a foreign game to a competitive market.
It needn’t be this way. We need to remove some risk. First, let’s eliminate retail! No shops, no overhead, no wasted inventory, no returned product. Ship the product direct to users.
Still, much risk. If we could know how many users and how much they are willing to pay, the math becomes much, much easier.
Enter Kickstarter. By allowing users to vote on a game with a pledge to buy, we can focus on design and creativity. The model so well fits gaming that you’re sure to see once inaccessible titles now come into play.
And so we offer you Class of Heroes II for the PSP® system. Developed by Acquire Corp. of Japan, this quintessential RPG has a great pedigree and a strong following in Japan. By using an experienced and renown translation team to produce a culturally-sensitive and quality-assured localization, we know we have a winning hand.
But we won’t stop there. The offer includes not just a beautifully boxed Deluxe Version of a prime J-RPG with embossed leather hand-crafted guidebook, but also a surfeit of swag that will make your collectible goodie shelf come to life. Dig even deeper into the rewards and you might find yourself in Tokyo meeting the actual dev team, or even having your likeness in the game.
So you can see why we’re pretty excited about the opportunities. Kickstarter and the J-games will meet and Class of Heroes II will be the first born. Take a look at our pledge drive here and join the team of faithful.
Make sure you check out the Class of Heroes II – Extended Kickstarter Rewards.
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Well I’m in.
I am a 500 dollar donator and even I see than 500k will never be reached
This makes so much sense. I will support this 100% of the way, I really hope this works out.
what it someone donate the full amount ?
It’s not doing that bad at all, just needs to keep the pace. I supported in hopes of bringing back more Japanese RPGs over. This is the Kickstarter to support if you want to see any movement in the quest for more consistent localization of forgotten Japanese games, especially JRPGs.
Awesome project, but it’s too bad that there are SO many not too bright people who are knocking this hard as if they want it to fail. They don’t understand that this will be a truly LIMITED edition game and the cost for a physical copy and any bonuses MORE than justifies the $59 cost for what you’ll be getting. If they don’t want to pny up that sixty, they can still support the project (and future MonkeyPaw releases) by donating as JRPG fans who want to see some of the cool stuff coming in the future.
Between that and those who didn’t like the original COH and are somehow thinking this will be the same game with no fixes (despite the Kickstarter saying it WOULD be), it’s looking like an uphill climb. I REALLY hope this makes its goal just to silence those who somehow SAY they’re JRPG fans, but aren’t willing to put their money where their mouths are (then complain all over the Internet that they games they want aren’t being localized!)…
g.
i miss jrpg’s and every publisher should work to bring them stateside
You know, I love class of Heroes and would kill for this, but the sheer fact is that there’s no way this can hit 500 Thousand. That’s insane. If it does, I will be surprised, but I’m not donating more than $20 on the chance. I’m also not going to donate more for a game I can’t Digital Download.
The collectors edition stuff is meaningless to me (Though I did donate $20 for the CD I would have probably pirated anyway), and the only thing I’m interested in is the game itself. Guarantee that the game IS coming out (This looks fantastically similar to the Megaman Legends 3 stream of promises to me), and I’ll toss in another 20 somewhere down the line in good faith.
I also dislike the idea of this being hard copy only, as it seems to be so. Digital releases would be preferred in some fashion. Specifically off of the PSN. It still eliminates the sacrifice of expensive physical production while giving people a chance to just stumble on and buying the game on a whim. That’s how I fell in love with the original.
Hrm… I seem to be very mistaken about what I said before, and I do apologize for acting like an uninformed prick. I was doing quick scans and everything seemed to tell me that this looked like Megaman Legends 3 level of promises (“You guys donate x, or you won’t see the game!”)
However, it seems I was mistaken. This was less a Megaman Legends 3 affair and more of a “Donate x and you get swag and more finishing touches to the game; Don’t, and the game might not be super polished, but you’ll still get it.” Which is amazing.. Plus the fact that it’s digital and physical is also nice.
As I said before, though, I plan to get the digital download version, since I’m eventually going to move to the VITA and want my games for that. Some of the stuff I was seeing does make me a little giddy, though. I was wondering; could you perhaps make a version of the deluxe packaging that includes a code for the digital version? Maybe a plush doll instead of the physical game and case, as well as whatever extras there were going to be planned?
I dunno, just thinking. You’ve got my $20 reguardless. Keep rocking on.
Heee. That makes me smile. I liked the old Working Designs projects and the Arc the Lad games. I wonder if I can scratch up a $100 or so…
As interesting as this is, but what about people with a Vita? I take it CoH2 will be just for psp? I noticed the 20 dollar tier talking about the digital and physical copy. If I donate for the 60 dollar tier can I opt for a digital copy along with the goodies or will I be forced to buy the game twice (once through kickstart and once for the vita)?
I wish someday we’ll be allowed to reboot Totomono, since there are a handful of western pessemists who are against to this kind of genre, and find it iffy…
BTW, I’m interested to play as an US-exclusive Erdgeist NPC.
Not sure if you have heard this a lot already or not, but….. I would love to donate for the le lv on kickstarter, but I will be honest with you. I don’t have a handheld, I don’t plan on having a handheld, and if I do, it will be a DS or a 3DS because most of the jrpg’s I really want to play are on that system. The psp just doesn’t interest me personally. Now that isn’t the real reason I won’t be donating though….
The real reason is this, I don’t want to fund games for handhelds. I sent you guys a message, which you answered, about this on kickstarter, and while I understand you can’t say anything about other games because they aren’t licensed yet, or anything like that, but I get nothing out of buying Class of Heroes 2 with no promise of any games I would actually play on the horizon. I own an xbox 360, a playstaion 3 and a Nintendo Wii, but I am being asked to donate to an obscure psp jrpg whose first game bombed. That is just asking too much.
You are asking me to pin my hopes that Monkeypaw Games and Victor Ireland won’t release their next 5 titles as handhelds, and leave me high and dry for console games. I just can’t do that.
I hope you guys do another kickstarter, and hopefully you do it for a non PSP game, or at least offer the ps3 equivalent of the psp game you are trying to kickstart. I just remembered you guys said you were going to release the ps3 version, and if that had been given as incentive as a choice between it or psp, you would of had the bait to make me bite.
Lastly, and I am sure you didn’t mean it literally, but I don’t really appreciate the sentence “Prove your jrpg fan power.” I have proven my fan power for around 24 years now, owning all of working designs games, save Vay. I am a collector and currently own all but maybe 2 or 3 of the jrpg’s on ps1 and ps2. I own most to all on xbox 360 and ps3 as well. I own rare ones for saturn and dreamcast and even have the original Lunars on Sega CD. I don’t feel I need to prove my fan power anymore. I think what you need to do, if this kickstarter doesnt work is rework your numbers, see what you can do to sweeten the pot, and come back. First and foremost I would highly recommend adding the PS3 version of Class of Heroes to the pot. Then I would be willing to prove my jrpg fan power once again and add another game to my ever growing collection.
Sorry for the book, but I am just so frustrated with this kickstarter and its lack of information regarding what those of us who don’t do the handheld gaming circuit would have to look forwards to if this kickstarter passes. I know this is the first time you folks have done this, and I hope this post can give a little feedback on why a lot of people are so put off with the idea. Anyway, good luck with it, and have a good night.
Hi everybody!
We thank everyone for their support throughout this Kickstarter campaign. We believe many of the confusion for people is that the Kickstarter is to localize this game. That isn’t the case. The Kickstarter serves as a way to create a physical Deluxe Pack of the game and also allow Gaijinworks to improve the game’s presentation, gameplay, content a la Working Designs style. Most of you know that Working Designs pioneered the “collector’s edition” for packaged games and did some great work making JRPGs look even more appealing to English-speaking gamers.
But we still need your help as we have a long way to go. Keep spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, anyway possible to help us reach our goal. Funding the project will go a long way in opening doors for even more JRPGs we’re in discussions for, with many of these titles on lots of gamers’ wishlists.
Ray Almeda
Marketing & PR Manager
http://twitter.com/monkeypawgames
A few websites are reporting the entire project is canceled now:
http://playstationlifestyle.net/2012/05/02/class-of-heroes-2-kickstarter-fails-game-wont-see-localization/
But Kotaku has an interview with Mr. Greiner saying it’s still going:
http://kotaku.com/5907482/when-a-kickstarter-fails/
Which is true?