I finished the drama CD for Shiori's route of Tokimemo Drama Vol. 3 earlier and it was sweet, but lacking. So, I'm plunging back into the world of Feeling Sad About Shiori! Maybe I'll make this a thread about all the cool ways KojiPro translated a dating sim to an adventure game? pic.twitter.com/SWXLvUwMO1
— Tom James, The Daigo Umehara of Dating Sims (@iiotenki) September 2, 2020
Considering this year I don't have much in the way of game translation to discuss, publicly, I'd say this was a productive year for writing threads on largely neglected and forgotten Japanese games. So if you're looking to learn about some, here's what I wrote about in 2020!
So as I mentioned about a week ago, I've been digging into Fuuraiki, a late PS1 release I've been meaning to check out for years. It's an adventure game where you travel along Hokkaido on motorcycle taking photos of the scenery and writing travelogues and it's pretty rad. pic.twitter.com/uhajPmDrm9
— Tom James, The Daigo Umehara of Dating Sims (@iiotenki) January 27, 2020
It's neat as a historical curiosity and I'm glad I did it to have context for a Fuuraikai route which sees Yumi (the oneesan in purple) return, but I wouldn't call it at all essential. My main takeaways are I suck real bad at hana-awase and a stupendously dumb swan boat chase. pic.twitter.com/aRe1S4yF6o
— Tom James, The Daigo Umehara of Dating Sims (@iiotenki) October 27, 2020
Well.
— Tom James, The Daigo Umehara of Dating Sims (@iiotenki) April 25, 2020
Let's do this again, I guess. pic.twitter.com/pLoef5uHap
Well.
— Tom James, The Daigo Umehara of Dating Sims (@iiotenki) May 19, 2020
Time to go talk to some girls with the power of... *squints* "imaginary air hockey" in Reco Love, or whatever the hell is going on with this game's conversation system.
Let's see how this goes, I guess. pic.twitter.com/2JMJHhXuU4
So as I wrote in Japanese, I've been playing a Vita RPG called Yuusha Shisu, a remake of a flip phone game designed by Shoji Masuda (Tengai Makyo II, Oreshika, etc.) with a unique premise: you play a hero who's been revived after dying in a climactic fight with five days to live. pic.twitter.com/aAKPxUSteH
— Tom James, The Daigo Umehara of Dating Sims (@iiotenki) June 22, 2020
So regular followers know that I've been posting about this lesser known Japanese PS1 game by the name of "Next King." But despite my general gushing, I haven't really gone into what all it actually is, exactly. So, having finished it, I figured it's time for another Tom Thread. pic.twitter.com/T7mckgLgpQ
— Tom James, The Daigo Umehara of Dating Sims (@iiotenki) May 31, 2020
Gunparade March turns 20 in Japan today. A late gen PS1 RPG from Alfa System, arguably one of the most important Japanese RPG developers to have worked on the system, yet not have much of their work localized, GPM is a dense, dense game, but let's explore what makes it special. https://t.co/0oPhbDnsxy
— Tom James, The Daigo Umehara of Dating Sims (@iiotenki) September 28, 2020
Okay, folks. I'm getting antsy and don't wanna wait any longer. So let's make it official: the final arc of the LP thread, Haruka's two main routes, officially kicks off now! Time to rekindle my oldest flame of all in this game and give her story the translation she deserves. c: pic.twitter.com/WgG8x8WnSE
— Tom James, The Daigo Umehara of Dating Sims (@iiotenki) February 26, 2020