Hakuouki (confirmed for translation)

Aksys Games stated in their Anime Expo 2011 panel that they will be translating the PSP version of Idea Factory's visual novel Hakuouki. It will be released on UMD as well as the Playstation Store. It will still have the original Japanese voiced dialogue, and add optional dubbed dialogue. More news may be revealed during the July 3 panel with Idea Factory staff.

A while ago, fans were working on an unofficial translation of Hakuouki for DS. It's apparently been on hiatus since March 2011, when the translator said she didn't have time to work on it.

Anyway, what do you think? Is the PSP the right platform, or is it far too late? Should Aksys have chosen a game with complex gameplay instead? Are there more than a few established fans who will buy a localized reverse harem story about Japanese history... and too many copies will sit on the shelves?

Fans of RP Gs and Japanese games have been pretty much the only people keeping the PSP alive, and Trails in the Sky didn't sell to badly even though it only came out a couple months ago, so it probably won't do as badly as some people might predict.

I'm looking forward to it at least!

I might have to try this out once it comes out. On a side note, I did always find the art pretty...

The deluxe edition of Hakuouki is about $40 US, and includes a soundtrack CD (twelve tracks) and a softbound artbook. Ordering just a UMD will cost $30. Either way, there is no dub track, just the original Japanese voices, along with English text. Like nearly all PSP games, it's region free. So as long as you have a PSP which has a disc drive and current firmware, it will work.

The version sold on the Playstation Store is $25. You get a data file around 750 MB, and you get a manual which can be viewed on the PSP system. No matter where you live, as long as you can access the US version of the store, you should have no trouble purchasing it and getting it to run.

I was originally worried that since this a niche game, I'd end up seeing a much of copies sitting on the shelves of retailers. (Almost two years after its release, I still notice some brand-new and reduced-price copies of Sakura Wars 5 for PS 2 in some nearby stores.) I did not see a single physical copy of Hakuouki until yesterday. Perhaps that's because I did not reserve one...

This game piqued my interest, so I picked up a copy of it recently. It's surprisingly heavy on history, much more than I'd have expected from a romance game... in fact, my first play through, I somehow managed to skillfully avoid almost all of the romance and ended up with The Tragic History Of The Shinsengumi (with some liberties taken): The Visual Novel.

This may have had something to do with the fact that for the first three chapters I had the feeling the game was trying to throw me together with Okita Souji and I resisted it stubbornly, not feeling that it was a good idea to get romantically attached to a guy who's so obviously doomed to either die of the tuberculosis or possibly become a vampire and try to kill me. (One of the liberties taken I mentioned.)

Have started again; we'll see if I do any better by abusing the convenient quicksave, quickload, and rewind options.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2012-10-30/aksys-to-release-hakuoki/warriors-of-the-shinsengumi-psp-game

I expected the Hakuouki TV anime would be licensed (it was released on region 1 DVD in September), but I did not expect any other games from the franchise would be licensed. So this is a surprise.

Somehow, Hakuouki has sold over 58000 copies. How many of those were on UMD? How many were Playstation Store official downloads? I wish I knew.

It's even more surprising to see that Warriors of the Shinsengumi is a Playstation Portable game. I get the impression that most publishers consider selling games in English on PSP to be unprofitable. So many UMD games show up in used-media stores for bargain bin prices. That said, will there be a limited print run? Or will this be a Playstation Store exclusive?

Aksys and Xseed are still supporting the PSP. I think it's mostly because a large chunk of their fanbases own PS Ps. Even NISA and Atlus are still supporting it to a degree. Natsume (with Carnage Heart EXA) and UFO Interactive (with Elminage Original) also seem to think there's a market.

They don't say anything about the release method, but NISA's Generations of Chaos 6 and Xseed's Ragnarok Tactics are both getting a UMD release, so I guess there's no way to know about it right now.

On a side note, I love how this game was made by Idea Factory, and Design Factory. Lot of imagination there.

edited 3rd Nov '12 8:19:25 PM by Zendervai

now Aksyss will bring a PS 3 game of Hakuouki,is it a Visual Novel too?

It's basically the same game, with a ton of extras. Including a bunch of high school side stories.

does it also include the 3DS port extras?I was planning to check the PSP one,and then the 3DS port was released with some extra side stories,so I changed my mind and was thinking to get the 3DS one,but if the PS 3 one will have everything,then I will wait for it.

I'm not sure. The PS 3 version definitely has the original, plus the "fan disc", which I think is a bunch of little side stories, and the 3DS version came out after in Japan. I'm guessing (and I may be way off the mark) that the 3DS version borrows some of the extra bits from the PS 3 version.

At the very least, the PS 3 version has a lot more content period.

edited 24th Oct '13 11:02:22 AM by Zendervai