Ghostlight Blog

JRPGs on PC

Thu, 19th Jul 2012 | Posted by Ross

Hi everyone.  Thanks for all your feedback on last week’s blog about bringing console JRPGs to PC.  I was very excited to see just how popular the idea was with the vast majority of you :)  While we have already been talking to a few of our contacts in Japan, it’s still going to take a little while to get the wheels in motion but I’ll make sure to keep informed with any updates as soon as I hear anything.  One thing I can say is that the level of interest that you have all shown has really helped to push the process along that little bit quicker.

While our original plan was for the PC games to be released digitally, after reading the huge amount of feedback from you all, we’re now looking into the added possibility of offering a limited number of physical collector’s editions as well.  Where possible, we may also (for gamers who prefer to get their PC games digitally) offer the collector’s edition items separately from the game.

We’re still very interested in hearing your thoughts on the games you’d like us to look in to as well as your continued thoughts on PC ports in general. We do already have one or two particular target products in mind, and if they work out then we’d definitely be interested in bringing more products to the PC platform.

Moving back towards consoles now, I can tell you that Agarest: Generations of War 2 is still currently in manufacture at the moment.  As soon as the stock hits our warehouse, I’ll put up some photos on the blog so that those of you who’ve already ordered it will be able to see just what you’ll be getting.  And if you haven’t joined that happy band of people then you can head over here to pre-order your copy.

Finally I would like to assure all of you who are still awaiting the appearance of Fate/EXTRA on their local PSN store that we are pulling out all the stops to fix the issue with the metadata that has caused the hold ups.  It won’t be long now…

One thing that has come up from this is that a few of you have commented on the quality of translations for the Metadata of some of our games.  I was thinking that it would be really helpful if you could let us know if you notice any mistakes in our metadata and we’ll do our best to put them right.  So, if you’re interested in helping us out in any way, please let me know.

That’s all for now.  I’ll be back next week, but until then you can follow Ghostlight on our Twitter and Facebook pages, our Youtube Channel and our  Google + account, where we’ll be posting all the latest news from Ghostlight. You can also follow me on Twitter for a more personal take on all things Ghostlight.

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Comments:

rokuso3 says:

Well, about JRPGs in PC, Tales of Vesperia or NieR would be great. Ehh, Shin Megami Tensei titles would also be nice, but less interesting since we haven't had any console title for years (although I'm sure most of us would love Nocturne on our PCs) and it would be less impressive.
IloveTitS says:

Argh, sorry if I cannot express my thoughts correctly cause my limited skills in a foreign language xD I love the idea as I said earlier. Especially STEAM might be a great way and I think XSEED's success shows that there is much potential. Even though they've 'just' released two YS titles which are more the action type of game. If I had just one wish for a series bringing over to the West for PC it would be the Trails in the Sky Trilogy In the past you've licensed only games that had been already translated, correct? Beside those games and that XSEED might bring TitS over I would like to know: Would you also translate games inhouse? And could you port games? Let's say you want to bring over a PSP JRPG game which doesn't exist for PC yet. Would this be possible? And besides all the PC JRPG thingy: What are your plans if XSEED is bringing TitS SC and 3rd Chapter to STEAM? Could you also port games to Vita? Or could you start translating Zero and Ao no Kiseki while they translate the two other ones? :D I'm sure you can't talk about this which is absolutely ok and I can't express myself enough here. I'm sitting on this small text about 10 minutes hoping you can understand it. I'm just glad that you guys are looking for different ways to bring great JRPG games here. And maybe we'll get all those great Falcom games in the West, too :D Maybe one last question: Why havn't you licensed any YS game? Well that's it and good luck with your plans, Ross!!
Veleskola says:

Ross you're such a tease! Regardless I can't wait for any announcements regarding JRPG's on PC.
pokey says:

cool
eclipsezero says:

Just wondering, but would it be possible to bring Atlus games to PC? Such as Persona 1 to 4? Of course, these are old games now, so the best thing to do(I think, correct me if wrong) would be to do a HD PC collection or something. Also Catherine, that would be brilliant! Also, I hope you go the Steam route, its the best there is IMHO. I hope everything goes well :3
Axel says:

Oh god f**** yeah, how do I support you guys?
Zodd says:

Hope you guys can get Xanadu Next and Zweii II from Falcom. Also Gurumin PC version if the license is available for the PC version. Not sure if XSEED has all the rights for Ys games and Legend of Heroes, you should check that. Either way go and get in contact with Falcom to publish some of their games on steam!
JRPGing says:

Couldn't you give us a clue? :$ At least, is it an Action JRPG or a Turn based one? I'd be interesting to know!
eclipsezero says:

Just wanted to say one more thing, whatever you do bring to PC, please don't rush it. Take your time porting it and stuff, many PC gamers(AFAIK) will not like a simple bad port. Time won't matter, as long as the end product is worth it. Of course, I doubt you are the kind of company who would ever make this mistake, but I just wanted to express this even then. Also, call me a creep, but if I could marry a company, I would marry Ghostlight, for trying this, that is all :V
Geo says:

I heard that some sequels to Trails in the Sky were released in PC. Are those the ones you are looking for since it seems that a PSP version will be hard to be localized?
Skelletonike says:

Pretty exciting, also, if I may ask, how come only the PS3 Agarest War games are localised and the 360 ones aren't? (Kinda makes me curious since in the US PS3 only got Agarest Wars 2 digital and the 360 got the perverted edition set).
Poulpe says:

Hey ghost ! thank you very much for bringing sqome good rpg into our country, it's very cool ! I'm wondering if you have stared on Sol Trigger, a jrpg coming from psp soon and looking awesome ! please think about it, i'm sure it will interest some gamers to have this great game translated.
love jrpgs says:

If you do digital PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE USE STEAM there isnt enough jrpgs on the pc and some of your games ive been interested in some time now. if they come to the pc ill be more then happy to give you my money ( providing its on steam) -mack
LordRed91 says:

Any news on the DDS games yet? We need some decent PS2 Classics on the EU PSN, most of them are rather naff titles...
Sins says:

I just saw Fate/Extra in the store, I bought your original UMD release from your store when it was released but I have a question, the description in the PSN says IN GAME SPEECH english. Does this mean this game was english dubbed?
Mixobarbaros says:

"We're still very interested in hearing your thoughts on the games you'd like us to look in to as well as your continued thoughts on PC ports in general." PS2 SMT games. All of them, in the same order they originally came out in for the system. They are all of very high quality, have a devoted fanbase that will build up the hype on various forums, and you already have the publishing rights for three of them. When you get to Devil Summoner 2, make sure the collector's edition includes the legendary Raiho plushie.
Kevin says:

If you were to work something out with Level5 and bring Ni No Kuni to the PC I'd die. I'd also love to see some Atlas jrpg games on the PC. Japanese games are the one reason I keep buying consoles and if there was a possibility that the PC would start getting Japanese support I'd drop consoles in an instant.
J says:

Would you consider digital collectors editions as well? Some games on STEAM have them where the soundtrack and artbook are delivered digitally. Often they can even be bought separately. I always liked this idea for those who missed out on the physical collectors editions. What games do you guys have in mind? Current gen or PS2 classics as well?
Dan says:

Atlus games would be the big ones for me. Preferably the mainline Shin Megami Tensei series and Persona series.
[GL] Ross says:

Thanks for the suggestions everyone :) @IloveTitS Thanks. While we have in the past licensed games without an English translation such as the first Agarest title at the moment we're going to be restricting it to games that already have an English translation however if the first few games do well enough we may be willing to look beyond that. We're not to worried if the game already has a PC version though while that would be nice we are more than willing to port or a arrange for a port ourselves. I can't really talk about future Trails games at the moment I'm afraid as for why we haven't brought over any Ys games it just hasn't happened for various reasons. Would like to work on one someday though as they are very cool games. @JRPGing I can't give any clues at the moment as we're still talking to people in Japan. @Geo I believe XSEED have publicly stated they're working on the next one at the moment. Not sure which platform it will be for though. @LordRed91 Still waiting for news from Sony on that one :( @Sins I'm pretty sure the audio is in Japanese.
[GL] Ross says:

@J We'll look into it.
KoolZoid says:

I've been a crazy JRPG-buyer on the consoles for 15 years now, so personally speaking if something's coming to the PC I'd like it to be something I haven't been able to get before (Devil Summoner 2 springs to mind! Also Tales of Legendia). I'd be interested in just about anything, though, just to support the idea and to see how it's implemented. But let's not lose sight of the Big Picture here!! Any news on Persona 4: The Golden??? I'd much rather give my money to you guys than some US Importer...
[GL] Ross says:

@KoolZoid I've no more news on that
sakiu says:

Hi! How about Xenosaga 1/2/3? the second one was the only game that came to Europe. Would it be possible to get the license? But I am guessing Namco would be very hard to persuade on that? :E Growlanser Generations would be also cool ;) As for the Fate/Extra, well I can't wait to see it popping on our PS Store, and as I said earlier I am willing to help you out with the translations. There is a good number of JRPG fans here in Poland and it would be sad if have to pass on the games you bring to us just because Sony makes it more complicated to release stuff! :O
sakiu says:

Oh and I forgot about Shadow Hearts series :)
eclipsezero says:

You could also look into getting the Rune Factory series onto PC, specifically Tides of Destiny, seems like the kind of title which might be easy to put on the PC, then again I have no coding knowledge >>; You should also consider Shadow of the Colossus, its not an RPG, but it would be perfect on the PC, and seeing the reputation it has you may have good sales as well :V Then there's Dragon's Dogma, though I guess that's more of a JRPG. Then there's Ar Tonelico series. And my final suggestions, Xenoblade and The Last Story. They are Wii RPG's, and both are amazing AFAIK. I would mention Nier but someone else already did so :V And yeah I am done with suggestions >>; Seriously, you don't even know how much I love you guys for attempting this, I hope and will pray for your efforts to succeed D:
rokuso3 says:

Wow, sakiu mentioned Xenosaga, and I couldn't agree more!! I always wanted to play them, but Europe only got the second one. It would be great on PC!! Also, .hack series (specially G.U., also not in Europe) would be lovely, even more considering this year is the 10th anniversary. Some HD collection on PC regarding older games... It would be great!!
PonSquared says:

1) I second STEAM as the platform for your games. It protects your IP without being annoying, and it has a HUGE install base so you'll make more money! (Always a plus.) 2) Please have support for game pads, or more specifically, the XBox 360 controller. It has great drivers and is supported my many games these days. I'm looking forward to some JRPGs on PC. Thanks and best of luck!
Doppler says:

Hello! I just want to chime in here to show support because I have always been a PC gamer and have always wanted more JRPGs on my PC. I would love to see games like White Knight Chronicles 2, Tales of Graces f, Lost Odyssey and Valkyria chronicles on my PC.
Stuart says:

If you guys can get Atlus games on the PC I will love you forever.
Cellophane says:

Wait, you're talking about not just localizing/publishing but porting too? I'd love you forever if you got Xenosaga and pretty much any current-gen JRPG on the PC (I only own a wii...). As said earlier in the thread, consider Steam and/or Gog. I don't know how it works on the publishing side but they're great consumer services.
MotS says:

Cute girls saving the world while being cute, now in HD and with 16x AA and AS. I'll buy 20. No, 30.
Vask says:

i think this is an amazing idea, we dont really get enough jrpgs on PC i completely support the idea, maybe tales games (any of them even graces,vesparia,xillia), valkyria chronicles, perhaps some PS2 games like wild arms 5 or persona games.
Zastai says:

If by metadata you mean the name, short description and long description shown on the PSN Store, I'll have a look. In the Belgian (Flemish/Dutch) store, I've already encountered stuff in wrong languages (Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese, Polish, ...) as well as some VERY dodgy translations, so I suppose it's good that Sony are apparently starting to do at least some basic QA there then.
Poulpe says:

Hi ghostlight ! thank you very much for bringing some awesome games on Europa/USA, you have balls and i love that ! I would like to know if you glance at Sol Trigger, a jrpg coming soon in Japan and looking awesome, i'm pretty sure it would interst some gamers !
ガメラ says:

I would pretty much love the old fashioned turn based RPG's to see on my Laptop. This way I can enjoy these while my girlfriend is on the television and I am unable to play a PS3 game. I second PonSquared ideas. 1) Steam would be a nice platform. 2) Having a controller would give me a better experience to the game I'm playing. I would like to add my own point as well. 3) Please give us Dual Audio support if a game has a voice track. If it's to expensive to publish it, it's okay to play it in English. However the ability to set the voices to traditional Japanese voices add more to the feel for me. I'm a great fan of Ghostlight's published games, please continue on bringing us these great games. (Ps. any Miku Hatsune games to the PSP, PS3 or PS:Vita would be awesome too)
Ben says:

As much as I support getting various JRPGs out to as many people as possible by releasing PC version of them, I just though I'd point out some of the suggestions that are... less than likely. First of all, @eclipsezero, Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story - I can say with absolute certainty that this will never happen. This is becuase both games are part-owned by Nintendo (Xenoblade is owned wholesale by Nintendo, in fact), and Nintendo would sooner burn all their money than release any of their games on anything other than a Nintendo consoles. Next, Rune Factory - this is also very unlikely. The European publisher, Rising Star, are affiliates with Marvelous (the Japanese publisher and franchise owner) so I believe they have exclusivity on the games. Finally, @Doppler, Tales of Graces f. This is also very unlikely. Namco Bandai are quite possessive over their IPs, and they of course already have a European branch and are already publishing the game in Europe (albeit not on PC). They are very unlikely to allow some other publisher to share the licence and muscle in on their profit. I think, realistically, we should be looking at games that either 1)have never been released in Europe, 2)are at least one generation old, or 3)are quite niche titles (and by 'quite' I mean very; not part of long-running series that have previously been published in the West, and not made or published by big-name company), and ideally some combination of the three.
Mithrot says:

Hello, I'd like to chime in on my opinions as a frequent buyer of PC Gamers on the Steam platform. Prepare for a gigantic post. If you want to create a successful PC game, then it needs to be done in such a way that it plays to the platform's strengths. Full stop. No excuses. If not, then the likelihood of the game selling well drops and the vocal minority's dissatisfaction of the game will likely influence the purchasing behavior of those seeking to learn more about the game before buying, which happens more often then most publishers/developers underestimate for. More often then not, good games die on the PC because of bad ports, just look at the dire situation Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition has found itself in (and it hasn't even been released yet). Here are some basic things PC Gamers would either expect (or be very grateful for): 1. Widescreen/FoV suppourt. An absolute must. Recent Steam/jRPG games like Ys Origin have issues where even if they do support high resolutions, the FoV (Field of View) doesn't scale accordingly, making things stretch with "tunnel vision" when PC gamers play the game closer to the monitor than those on a console. This causes actual nausea/motion sickness for many users and was something that existed for PC games since 1996 (Quake 1, 14 years ago!). This is a major problem with alot of ports and a source for alot of blacklash from gamers, a simple google search reveals this. This also extends to the proper display of 2D elements in a way that they don't stretch awkwardly across the screen and do not alias or cut at higher resolutions. While not COMPLETELY necessary, it shows that actual effort was put into the game to make it look like a proper release in 2012 rather than what seems like a "lazy" port. There are several dirty solutions to overcome this problem, such as using rendering filters (hqn2x) on only 2D elements to smooth over the image as an option for higher display settings. This problem is usually ignored for many ports on the PC because of the difficulty of re-arranging or even re-doing game assets to overcome the limitations of game engines being able to do this easily. Objects that were meant to be shown/disappear offscreen at 4:3 aspect ratios or at specific angles can now be seen when the size of the viewable area of the game increases on the PC. However this is pretty much the most basic advantage that a PC release has over for example, a PSP emulator running Persona 2/3 at higher resolutions. I apologize for appearing to be rude, but I am making a big deal out of this because I honestly do not think many developers understand why this is important and skip it, leaving users having to resort to using widescreen hacks (Like for Ys Origin) just to make the game playable without making their eyes bleed. 2. Proper Keyboard/Mouse Controls & Controller options. This one is pretty simple. People buy a game on the PC. People expect to play the game on the PC. The average PC has a mouse and keyboard and even though controllers are preferred for ports, not everyone has them, let alone at all times. So it would be nice if the games supported KB/M input that was actually playable, however lets be honest, noone expects a developer/publisher to do mouse support well without smoothing/acceleration issues or at all for a PC port. This is not a insult directed at your abilities as a publisher/developer, but a general consensus of what I PERSONALLY see when people talk about games like Recettear where it only supports keyboard input and the game still works well whereas implementing mouse input for a game that was never designed to be played with it would take alot of effort to do right. This also extends for suppourt of a variety of gamepads beyond the 360 pad officially supported by Microsoft, such as PS3 and Logitech devices that could be customized in an external config. Talking about configs... 3. Proper gfx options and general stability for a basic variety of PCs. You would wonder why this is #3, this is simply because even the worst of ports like Resident Evil 4 on the PC have been fixed by users with modified patches with the developer/publisher was too incompetent to ensure the game worked properly in the first place, PCGamingWiki.com shows this. This along with the fact that most PCs these days are alot more powerful than handhelds/consoles can make up for the lack of optimization, not that its acceptable to do so or anything. General stability for a variety of machines is pretty straight-forward, make sure that the game can run on ATi/Nvidia GPUS, Intel/AMD CPUs, runs alright on integrated graphics cards and low-end laptops while showing no problems with beefy high-end rigs with different video drivers. "Piper Graphics Options" means that the game has atleast an external launcher that can change a variety of graphical effects to either make the game run better for laptops/low-end PCs so more people can buy the game, or have the game look better on powerful PCs to have the game (which is always a plus). This can also help by disabling certain effects that causes compatibility problems for certain PC hardware. Anti-aliasing, Anisotropic filtering, Billinear/Trilinear texture filtering, LoD models, Bloom, Depth of Field, Internal Resolution/Screen percentage/Upscaling, and of course resolutions for 4:3, 16:9 and 16:10 aspect ratios are all basic examples of such options. 4. Steam integration/ Other digital distribution methods. I'll make this one short. GFWL is cancer, do NOT use it. EVER. Google Alan Wake and it's success to using Steamworks despite previously being a 360 exclusive and compare that to Bulletstorm which used GFWL, the software is terrible and many PC gamers even avoid buying games if it has it. Seriously, take a look at Twisted Shadow Planet on the Steam forums which was being sold for a measly 3.74 and people were dropping out form purchasing the game because of GFWL's infamous nature of being horrible and inconvenient. Google this if you don't believe me. Steam is pretty much the largest distribution client on the PC with millions of gamers online at any time, so its a no-brainer to go to it, however its usually a good idea to make the game available for a variety of other platforms such as Gamer's gate or GoG if they wish to purchase it DRM-free without havign the game be locked onto Steam. So there, 4 major points for helping your jRPG ports to be successful. If you had no idea what I was talking about at any point in this giant mammoth of the post, I highly suggest that its a good time to do some homework and google/ask users on the Steam forums what they want to see for the game and you'll quickly understand the situation on the PC platform. The PC is not a console and gamers have different expectations, so watch out for that. It seems like alot of work, so I hope that I didn't insult you or your team while writing this. I promise if done right, the outcome will be worth it, as even obscure jRPGs like the ones from Carpe Fulgar has seen success on Steam. This comes right off of their blog: "Recettear Life-To-Date Sales: 170,000 units Chantelise LTD Sales: 50,000 units Let's just say it's been an excellent year, and 2012 is looking like it'll be even better." Considering that noone knew of these games or publisher and that jRPGs were almost non-existent on Steam beforehand, I'd say theres a good chance that the ports you'll make will garner alot more attention from the momentum of this untapped audience on the PC. If you read everything from this post, all I have to say is thank you for surviving through it. Best of luck to you. Cheers.
mundox says:

Just make sure they make it to steam, and I'll make sure to buy them.
P. says:

PC collector's editions sound like a good idea. DRM free please! And please no hentai games (dating games okay).
Kosakai says:

just asking but is the physical copy are pre-order only? cause i rather have a physical copy rather then a digital copy so i know it for keeps. maybe is because i like to put my video games on my shelf cause it look nice but that just me though or is you guy ran out of physical copy will you make more or is it a no go for you guys?
Remy says:

Hi Ross, Sorry if this is a little off-topic, but I just HAVE to ask this, since I only just noticed it. The release for Agarest: Generations of War 2 is nearing, and I am very excited to buy the game at my local gamestore. However, I just noticed that the only way to receive the Official Soundtrack with the Collector's Edition, is by ordering it through the Ghostlight Store. I have not the ability to do so, since I am not so fancy as to have PayPal and everything. Even so, I am a very big fan of the series, and currently own all the games at least twice. I can prove this to you, if you do not believe me. One of the reasons I always opt for the Collector's Editions of Ghostlight's games is because of the soundtracks, but this time, it seems it will not happen. Is there any way you can help me obtain this soundtrack? I am really interested in it, and it would be a shame if a big fan like myself would miss out on this wonderful piece... Please reply to me? Thank you in advance! Sincerely, Remy
Gibbeynator says:

Would these hypothetical games be made available outside the UK?
G1i1ch says:

I'm in! I love gaming on my pc. And as a game developer myself I can say the pc is really fitted to the play style of JRPGs. Someday I'd love to be able to make the style myself even though I'm from the western area. And lastly, if this happens, get these games on steam! Steam players will gobble these up.
[GL] Ross says:

Thanks for the suggestions everyone :) @Mithrot Thanks for the feedback. That's great stuff. While I've been a PC gamer for quite a while there's a lot of food for thought there and I will be passing it on. @Kosakai We'll announce more details closer to the time. It's still pretty early days. @Remy You don't actually need to have a PayPal account as you can check out as a guest on PayPal however if that is still a problem please contact shop at ghostlight.uk.com and we'll try and work out an alternative. @Gibbeynator Yes they would :)
sakiu says:

I also don't recommend GFWL, I bought Bioshock 2 long time ago and was unable to finish it thanks to this menace. Took me 40 min to just install 1 silly update and after that it was hell anyway :( @Remy - you can check out as guest and I believe even as Guest you do not need Credit Card anymore, just a bank account.
Miku says:

I'm interested as long as there's no DRM.
KoolZoid says:

I'm still an advocate of GOG.com as a digital distribution channel, but I'm fairly certain the guys and gals at Ghostlight are aware of the pros and cons of the popular download merchants out there so I'll just trust them on this one :D As for games, the sheer wealth of JRPGs over the past decade limits the usefulness of individual suggestions without more specific parameters - so I'll just say that I support the idea of JRPGs on PC. Ghostlight games purchased to date: 8 (P3P twice!).
BigFan692 says:

I just noticed that shopto.net also has the agarest 2 deluxe
axel says:

Bring ps3 games to pc like Nier.
Tom says:

If you ever re release the original Agarest Generations of War on PC, would you release a port of the PS3 version, or attempt to bring over the original games enhanced edition (Known as Agarest Senki Reappearence in Japan, I think) which had extra game content/CG's like what the US got on Xbox 360 and PSN? Also way back when Agarest Generations of War was a pre order was the games OST ever an exclusive Ghostlight store bonus, or have Ghostlight never brought over the original games OST?
[GL] Ross says:

@Tom It's something we'd have to consider if we ever did bring Agarest to PC. Also I don't think we did bring over the soundtrack for the first game.
Maverick says:

almost no JRPG on PC only Falcom released much of their successful titles such as saga zwei 2 or 2 ys zwei I buy I would love to do more JRPG for PC are rare this kind of games pc
Maverick says:

ZWEI 2 the best title jrpg for pc
Zastai says:

Checked the Belgian store. Found EA selling a game called "na - french stores only" for €19.99; great QA there :-) As for ghostlight games: TitS is only ever referred to using that title, but is listed under L (so the sortname seems to include the Legend of Heroes bit). Its description is also longer than the non-scrolling window can display. International Athletics' long description gets some of the event names wrong in Dutch. Spectral Souls also has a description that's too long for the side window in the store.
ked006 says:

i would like to see some good JRPGS on pc developers at this point shouldn't ignore pc at ALL it the best platform for RPGS
Haru says:

I second the vote for GOG. Out of online distributors, it's my favorite. They've also started to release indie games full force recently. There's definitely a lot of interesting stuff for the PC, and not just from japan. How about Korean games?
[GL] Ross says:

@Haru Well if the right Korean game was made available to us at the right price we'd have to consider it. However certainly our first few PC titles will need to have an English translation after that if it works well then who knows :)
Remy says:

Hello Ross, Thank you for your information. I have sent a message to you through the CONTACT-page about two days ago. I hope to get a reply soon. :) Sincerely, Remy
[GL] Ross says:

@Remy Thanks I'll chase it up and see if I can find out where the email has got to.
[GL] Ross says:

@Remy As a further update I've been sent and replied to all the emails that were in the Ghostlight inbox. If you didn't get a reply let me know and I'll look into it further.
Remy says:

Hi Ross, Thank you for the quick message. However, I have not received a reply. Perhaps my e-mail never reached you? If so, that would be unfortunate. I could send another one, if you would like... Sincerely, Remy
Remy says:

Hi Ross, I have just sent another message through the CONTACT-page. I hope you will receive it this time! Sincerely, Remy
[GL] Ross says:

@Remy Could you tell me what name you've used or what the email is about and I'll chase it up again.
[GL] Ross says:

@Remy Thanks. It's just shown up :). I'll get right back to you.
dgnfly says:

is this all going into pc Jrpg mean we can expect less games for ps3 or psp?
[GL] Ross says:

@dgnfly We're not abandoning the consoles and handhelds. We still have some games we're looking at. In fact we're going to be announcing a new 3DS title this week :)(The surprising non-jrpg one)
eclipsezero says:

Just wondering, but if and when you announce any JRPG's for PC, where can I get the news fastest? Should I just refer to the blog, or is there somewhere else I should look first? Speaking of announcements, while I am not expecting anything in a week or so(I am assuming these talks and stuff take a ton of time, dunno if that's correct), but when do you feel you can announce news related to JRPG's on PC? Late next year(2013), or within 2012?
[GL] Ross says:

@eclipsezero We tend to make our announcements here on the blog. As for an ETA I'd expect it late this year but it would depend on how quickly our talks conclude.
eclipsezero says:

Thanks for the quick reply! That helps a ton :3 I am pretty sure I am pushing it here, and this is probably a question that cannot be answered, in that case feel free to ignore it: If Persona 4 is chosen to appear on PC, will it be the Golden(Vita) version, or the original PS2 version? Feel free to ignore as I said if its impossible to answer, and once again, thanks for the quick responses, you peeps are freaking awesome <3
Seishoujyo says:

I don't really care, PC and JRPG ? No, you play JRPG on console that's all. Please give us a date for Devil Survivor...
Paula says:

I'd be more interested in seeing non-RPG asian titles for the PC. They do have some interesting sims, time management games and visual novels, don't they? I do hope you keep releasing 3DS games in the future. I haven't bought a lot of your stuff because I have usually already imported what I want, but the region lock on 3DS makes this impossible.
[GL] Ross says:

@eclipsezero Your right I can't answer that one. @Seishoujyo Having played quite a few on PC now I think they tend to work pretty well on PC. @Paula I suppose if it works well we might broaden our horizons. As for 3DS games well keep an eye on the blog this afternoon.
sakiu says:

Oh how about .Hack series? :)
eclipsezero says:

Been wondering, do you think you could bring JP fighters to PC as well? Such as P4 Arena or one of the Naruto fighters? Or will this strictly be limited to JRPG's?
[GL] Ross says:

@eclipsezero At the moment we're mainly looking at JRPG's however should the first few go well we may llok to broaden our horizons.
D says:

Check out the Generation Xth series: it's basically Wizardry meets Shin Megami Tensei. If that isn't a perfect fit for release, I don't know what is.
Plenaxis says:

I would be overtly happy, and give you anything you desired as a company just to see goods JRPG's come to PC. My life's dream has been to be able to enjoy some of my favorite games on PC, and if you were even able to bring over 6 year old ps2 titles, I'd be more than content. Alternatively, a lot of these Wii titles (Last Story, Pandora's Tower, Xenoblade) seem like they would be amazing on pc. As well as things like NieR, Tales of..., Record of..., etc. I appreciate what you guys and girls are doing, keep it up!
laharl says:

disgaea 4¡¡disgaea 4¡¡disgaea 4¡¡¡ if you port the game,buy 999.999.999 copies :D
eclipsezero says:

I just got done listening to Atelier Ayesha's OST, and holy shit it would be amazing to have this game on PC, so yeah, that's my final suggestion, I actually didn't realize how many I made holy shit >>;
Rasmus says:

Hi, I would LOVE if perona 3 fes came to europe on the psn store (denmark included please!) Or on pc of course, there is absolutely NO WAY to get it here in Denmark. i've tried everything and its not here, and i would do anything to get ;-)
Draz says:

Think the best idea would be selling them digital. Personally I'm very fond of steam. They got their sales, offer me a fast service and getting a new game is a few clicks away. Bit of a long wall of text but here is my idea. I'm focusing on RPG's here but you can take more games into account. Take a long good look at old PS2/Dreamcast/PS3 and maybe PS1 titles and keep the future RPG titles in mind. Though I would think about PSP/PS2/PS3 and up. Reason being would be this. Piracy and the emulator scene. We all know this is happening so I might as well toss it in. A few things to point out. - Most people don't have a PC that can handle emulators. -It's a lot of work to get a game to work on an emulator. A lot of pc users aren't up for this. - People rather have a smooth working PC port with the proper resolution then a semi working emulator. - PSX games run decent on most rigs but again it's a lot of wrestling with settings. - A lot of older gamers are very rare and expensive to buy. --------------------------------------- Basically your list should contain titles that have not been released outside of japan and titles for the the consoles I named above. Before giving my list of games I would like to see I would give a word of advice. 1: Don't bother with the English voice acting. If you want to port an old game or even the new ones just use subtitles with the Japanese voices. A lot of old ports have atrocious voice acting up to the point where people mute their sound. It's cheaper to just use the Japanese version with English text and usually it sounds better. At this point I think JRPG fans just want their games, Xenoblade chronicles sold pretty decent for one. I honestly don't think the JRPG fans want to have bad English voice acting. 2: Support the current resolutions and make sure the technical side isn't a mess. In don't buy console ports for the reason that most are terrible. - No AA support (not all engines support AA but some do) - No option to enable vysync (do I really have to force it or mod the ini. - Buggy - No effort in optimizing textures. - Ridiculous ideas like only allowing me to congig a game outside of the game it self. - No keyboard support Simply put if you release a PC game don't do it in a way that people need to spend a good hour messing in the ini files. Lot's of PC users in the West if they can install their console JRPG and play it with out problem it just means it will become more appealing to the masses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Right so let's talk games. For one publishing expensive titles is a bit of a gamble you can release disgaea or final fantasy,tales series for one. But the price to publish it (if even possible) is high and you risking it. While I would think releasing one big title is a good idea I would not be banking on them. I think the biggest focus should be on older games and 2d sprite games. No one will expect a lot visual wise from a PS2 game , 2d sprite games age a lot better. Higher resolution a bit more colours and it looks good. Using the ports that are available or just subbing the japanese games means you can offer them for a lower price. Releasing games that have only been out in Japan with English subs means a lot of JRPG fans will buy it, and most PC's can run it. Right so let's talk about a few old titles. Just tossing in some ideas, Lunar 1 Lunar 2 eternal blue Classic oldschool RPG's that don't look at that well. The charm is the English voice acting is decent and it's a classic game. I think the lunar series would be something to sell for not to expensive next to the bigger titles, a toss back to the old days. Square has been selling their old good games on all kind of apps and they sold very well. I don't see why these titles won't sell on the PC here. Grandia Grandia 1 is another one of those games, keep the Japanese voices translate it and just release it. It is not going to sell a lot but enough to make profit I think. You might want to allow people to move the camera if possible. Skies of Arcadia (keep the Japanese voices here) Xenosaga (Both voice acting is great and this game is a one of a kind, I am not sure how good this will do but in my eyes this game is a piece of art regardless of the plot holes) Mana Khemia 2 Star ocean series Final fantasy 10-13 Persona series Final fantasy tactics (The PSP version) Shadow hearts Rogue galaxy Aterlier series (they aren't that great if you ask me but they are translated and it's one of those nice play away RPG's) My personal view would be to get old successful titles and port them to the PC along with old Japanese games that have never been released in the west. Indi games sells quite well, even the rpg's for this is a market on the PC. From there you can look at the better PC titles and release them. I really hope you will manage to release these games in the West and I will be buying them right away. I rather play my games on a nice PC screen with a good resolution then on a console, that and well I'm not going to pay 120 Euro for some games because they are rare.
[GL] Ross says:

@Draz Thanks for the advice.
eclipsezero says:

Just curious, but what does the recent startup of Steam Greenlight mean for JRPG's? Will it help or make it harder for JRPG's to come to Steam? Or am I misunderstanding the purpose and the workings of Greenlight here? >>;
[GL] Ross says:

@eclipsezero I don't think it will. The success of any Greenlight project will of course depend on the response from the community but I like to think that while it might not be as large as the FPS fanbase that there is a large & fairly vocal JRPG fanbase out there.
JRPGs Rules says:

Damn, after seeing this blog, i feel absolutely happy. JRPGs for the PC are very rare. From the nineties till this year, not much JRPG have been officially released for the PC.
Joshua N. says:

I am an American, and hearing about this sent me over here. I don't know how you could convince anybody to put their games on the PC or what games already for the PC you could possibly be looking at. But it's a godsend. I've been wanting jRPGs on the PC since the 90s. You'll make this American very happy if you can make headway in this idea at all.
JRPGandPCfan says:

Ooh, im so happy that i heard about this on some random forum post, This is a great idea! I would purchase every single jrpg that comes from you, would be great to see great jrpg's on steam or somewhere else! Will it be ports of 360 and PS3 games or more some PS2 - PS1 - SNES ports?
[GL] Ross says:

@JRPGandPCfan The first one is probably going to be from the current generation but depending on how it goes I think we would be prepared to look at older games too.


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