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Q1. Why was Front Mission 5: Scars of the War never localized in English by Square Enix? A1. There are a number of reasons why Front Mission 5: Scars of the War was never localized to English by Square Enix. There is a general belief that Front Mission 4's sales in North America is the main cause of this situation. However, this is merely scapegoating rather than pinpointing the real causes behind the game's lack of a translation. Those causes can be summarized into two main points: 1. Square Enix could not accurately gauge the overseas support for the series. With the first point, this is fairly easy to identify since three installments have been released overseas. The first one, Front Mission 3, was not well known and received little advertising. Despite being a Square Soft (now Square Enix) IP, there was little to no fan support until the release of Front Mission 3. With this in mind, it is quite plausible to believe that the installment received a limited print run. Sales performance is hard to gauge, but various players had a difficult time finding Front Mission 3 a few months after its North American release. Thus, there is a good chance that Front Mission 3 met company sales expectations with regards to the North American release. Nowadays, Front Mission 3 is considered a rare game in the same vein as the much-wanted Sony Playstation 1 RPG Suikoden II from Konami. Presumably, Square Enix likely thought that Front Mission had potential to be a hit with the North American audience and gave Front Mission 4 real advertising. Apart from print advertising, Square Enix gave free demo copies of Front Mission 4 prior to its North American release. While there are no exact numbers on the installment's print run, it is certainly bigger than what Front Mission 3 had. While Front Mission 4 enjoyed the benefits of advertising, the game had a poor showing in the North American market. Some fans who work in retail told stories about how their stores had tons of Front Mission 4 copies that were not sold, even after a price drop months after the North American release. Sales-wise, a fan who used to work at EB Games stated that Front Mission 4 did sell more than Front Mission 3, but fared poorly in terms of a units sold/units shipped ratio. Over 3 years later, Square Enix released Front Mission First for the Nintendo DS in North America as 'Front Mission'. According to an interview with Producer Koichiro Sakamoto at the 2007 Electronic Entertainment Expo (otherwise known as E3), this iteration of Front Mission was released when one of the developers made a strong case for fans overseas to experience the game. This interview can be found at RPG Gamer. The game received no advertising for its North American release and likely had a limited shipment. A month after being released, Front Mission First received a price drop. While this gave fans the impression that the game sold poorly, the price drop was removed in early January. Therefore, it can be argued that Front Mission First met its North American sales expectations. More or less, it's fairly easy to see how the first point is significant in the case of the three localized installments. Front Mission 3 received little attention, but apparently sold well. Front Mission 4 garnered much more attention, but apparently could not sell through most of its print run. Front Mission First received no attention yet it appears to have sold its fair share; not too bad but not exactly a hit either. It is hard to understand why Square Enix could not maximize the IP's success overseas despite having an excellent marketing team. This is where the second point ties in and possibly explains this problem. 2. Square Enix chose the wrong installment to introduce the series overseas. While there are no set rules or guidelines on how companies should introduce long-running IPs to foreign markets, Front Mission is one that should have been introduced from the start. While the installments are not structured as direct continuations of the story like in Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga series, Front Mission retains a sense of continuity. Each installment in the main series, the numbered Front Missions, offers two distinct narratives: a standalone involving a core group of characters and an on-going one that involves events that happen around the world. All long-time fans, mostly the Japanese audience, are well aware of this fact. Most overseas fans likely do not know this and may have the expectation that while set in the same world, the installments are separate from each other. An example of this can be seen in Front Mission First and its connection to Front Mission 4. At the end of Front Mission First on the O.C.U. and U.S.N. scenarios, the true perpetrator behind the game's conflict is revealed. While the standalone narratives for both scenarios end, the on-going narrative continues and further explores the motives of the said perpetrator in Front Mission 4. 2 protagonists from Front Mission First also appear in Front Mission 4, revealing how the conflicts from the former changed them. This takes a backseat to the standalone narratives, but it does help explain some unknowns about Front Mission 4's plot. Plot issues aside, another issue with the second point is how overseas fans define and perceive Front Mission in terms of gameplay. Front Mission, first and foremost, is a strategy game with little RPG elements. Battles take place on large battlefields with the ability to control 6 or more units against dozens of enemies in roughly. The emphasis is more on taking advantage of what is available as opposed to repetitive "grinding" that plagues strategy RPGs. (50/50 between strategy and RPG) Front Mission 3 deviated from this formula, emphasizing skirmishes on small battlefields controlling only 4 units. The game dumbed down strategic elements found in the previous 2 installments, mostly from Front Mission 2, and focused on the new Discharge Battle feature, which allows pilots to eject and board machines on the battlefield. The game's flaws come from the ease of exploiting Discharge Battle mechanics, the lack of strategy needed, too many "filler" missions, and the fact that it is a poor representation of the series. Due to Front Mission 3 being released first, overseas fans expected Front Mission 4 to play in a similar fashion. Since Front Mission 3 was disliked by many long-time fans, the developers went back to the roots for Front Mission 4. While the basic fundamentals remain unchanged, many overseas fans felt that Front Mission 4 was not a good game and believe that it does not represent the series well. Long-time fans have a different outlook, viewing Front Mission 3 as the "black sheep" of the series and Front Mission 4 as a respectable return to series roots. Had Square Enix introduced Front Mission with the first installment, overseas fans would likely view Front Missions 3 and 4 in the same way that long-time fans do. Q2. I want to patch my Front Mission 5: Scars of the War copy using ImageDiff and the patch file - where are the instructions located? A2. http://frontmission.info/upload/patch_instructions.txt Q3. What do I need to play Front Mission 5 on my non-Japanese PS2? A3. There are several methods that can be found via Google but the most common method is via Swap Magic. Another option is to buy a Japanese PS2 from the secondhand market or an auction website. Q4. Will the patch work with the "Ultimate Hits" edition of Front Mission 5: Scars of the War? A4. Currently no. The "Ultimate Hits" edition box cover looks like this and the regular edition looks like this. Q5. Can I help distribute any patches through BitTorrent or other means? A5. The team highly discourages these types of actions. This is basically plagiarism and it's very disrespectful to the people who dedicate their free time into working on the project. The project manager has made it very clear that any attempts at this will be met with a stricter control over the releases of future patches. That means that future patches may not be available through the Downloads section should any form of patch distributing or plagiarism be found online. Respect the team, don't attempt to distribute patches outside of frontmission.info, and all will be well. |
