There I said it.
Ok, so why do I hate it so much? I will tell you a story.
Yakuza held a special place in my heart, it was one of those niche Japanese games that you could really get behind and enjoy as it was different from what you expect from Japanese gaming at the time. It was a solid setting with likable characters and a respect for the foreign audience that demonstrates the face driven culture of Japanese society. Unlike it's niche rival compile heart, it didn't insult reviewers with a setting that came straight out of an 16 year old chuuni's basement and instead was a crime drama with enough over the top elements to keep the player entertainment. I loved the series to death.
Then came Yakuza 5 and the refusal to localize the game, I was heartbroken by the announcement. Why does a great Japanese game like Yakuza 5 doesn't get localized while the annual slop that is CH keeps coming over for an audience that cares little for quality and only cares if there are fanservice cheesecake and waifu pandering. Top that with letter writing campaigns for a good JRPG and it seems like it is a shit show where you are actively punished for liking good games.
Then the whole shitstorm between the press and gamers happened and suddenly the tables are turned, Yakuza 5 and Zero finally get their long awaited release while CH suddenly takes a 180 in localization priorities, as if their long rap sheet has finally bit them in the ass with a passive aggressive notice on how they will maintain "quality control" by not localizing games that requires censorship (aka stop giving us panty quests that will get a shitty rating and cost people their jobs for defending it). Suddenly the CH audience comes out of the woodwork crying about how their games are taken away and while I was forced to bite my tongue when I was the one suffering. They only got lashed harder when censorship for Japanese localizations became more common to keep the press pleased and they go and begin asking for Playasia to save them from their wretched situation they had created.
Importing a game does not actively support a series, it is saying you are desperate enough to go to any lengths to get the game.
It is like a customer who had been banned from the restaurant because of a fussy eater causing drama paying the dishwasher to bring a meal to them with them paying a premium for it. You are not supporting the business, you are asking for the grey market to help you. It doesn't help your friends who had been banned from the restaurants who wanted to go to the place so badly but can't. This is the behavior that importers are supporting. They are not supporting a business, they are only making them more likely to isolate potential customers and when they can't get what they want, they leave and look elsewhere.
I am the customer who got alienated and the importers are only making it worse.
Ok, so why do I hate it so much? I will tell you a story.
Yakuza held a special place in my heart, it was one of those niche Japanese games that you could really get behind and enjoy as it was different from what you expect from Japanese gaming at the time. It was a solid setting with likable characters and a respect for the foreign audience that demonstrates the face driven culture of Japanese society. Unlike it's niche rival compile heart, it didn't insult reviewers with a setting that came straight out of an 16 year old chuuni's basement and instead was a crime drama with enough over the top elements to keep the player entertainment. I loved the series to death.
Then came Yakuza 5 and the refusal to localize the game, I was heartbroken by the announcement. Why does a great Japanese game like Yakuza 5 doesn't get localized while the annual slop that is CH keeps coming over for an audience that cares little for quality and only cares if there are fanservice cheesecake and waifu pandering. Top that with letter writing campaigns for a good JRPG and it seems like it is a shit show where you are actively punished for liking good games.
Then the whole shitstorm between the press and gamers happened and suddenly the tables are turned, Yakuza 5 and Zero finally get their long awaited release while CH suddenly takes a 180 in localization priorities, as if their long rap sheet has finally bit them in the ass with a passive aggressive notice on how they will maintain "quality control" by not localizing games that requires censorship (aka stop giving us panty quests that will get a shitty rating and cost people their jobs for defending it). Suddenly the CH audience comes out of the woodwork crying about how their games are taken away and while I was forced to bite my tongue when I was the one suffering. They only got lashed harder when censorship for Japanese localizations became more common to keep the press pleased and they go and begin asking for Playasia to save them from their wretched situation they had created.
Importing a game does not actively support a series, it is saying you are desperate enough to go to any lengths to get the game.
It is like a customer who had been banned from the restaurant because of a fussy eater causing drama paying the dishwasher to bring a meal to them with them paying a premium for it. You are not supporting the business, you are asking for the grey market to help you. It doesn't help your friends who had been banned from the restaurants who wanted to go to the place so badly but can't. This is the behavior that importers are supporting. They are not supporting a business, they are only making them more likely to isolate potential customers and when they can't get what they want, they leave and look elsewhere.
I am the customer who got alienated and the importers are only making it worse.
