Popful Mail

[echo forum]

I don’t know , those jokes don’t fit at all in this Japanese magical environment . I don’t like that kind of stuff. I wish there was a more faithful translation .

[queen knot]

should they have said tokyo disney

I would've imagined the 20 minute long bad Arnold Schwarzenegger impression would've been the sore thumb

that was the one that made me go "ok I get it"

[copper nest]

That's the difference between localization and translation. WD definitely takes liberties, but their writing is fun

[echo forum]

They just didn’t do the localization right. No need to refer to Michael Jackson and the beetles lol. That kind of heavy localization could work if they changed the sprites and landscapes but in this case it just obviously takes place in Japan so the dialogues just don’t fit the visual vibe .

[tulip raven]

I rolled my eyes at the jokes. Not my humor

They needed to hire seth McFarlan for this

[wooden lotus]

Hot take Seth McFarlane overrated vulgar chump

[solar zealot]

I enjoyed Orville and his musical numbers are really good but other than that it's just based on fart jokes

[obsidian fjord]

I am actually curious what the actually Japanese script was. How much of the story was changed, basically?

[severe ridge]

We don't know what type of jokes are in the Japanese version, maybe they refer to pop culture as well. There are different translation techniques such as domestication and foreignization. In domestication you take the cultural elements from the source culture that you expect the target audience to not understand, and substitute them with something similar from their own culture. It can work really well, to the point of the translation being better than the original. You don't see domestication that often nowadays though, only in children stuff I think.

I don't really like domestication myself, a) feels disrespectful to the source culture and makes it look less important; b) you can google things now, so if you don't understand something just google it; c) it eliminates the opportunity to learn about other cultures, like say I want to learn more about Japan, I read a book about it, but if they change all references I won't learn shit

[solar zealot]

I guess that they only changed the cultural jokes. Things that would not make sense in this side of the globe. The core of the story itself I think that it remains the same

[echo forum]

I think domestication is the way to go for pragmatic translations like business or legal documentation, but for fiction I agree that foreignization can be better if it’s well done. If the reader just don’t understand anything it’s poorly done. They need to find a way to make the foreign cultural elements accessible to the domestic readers .

[echo forum]

Yeah I wish we knew .

I can’t believe that it’s just random pop culture references in the original. If it actually is , my criticisms should be aimed toward the original .

[copper nest]

Phoenix Wright takes place in America, damnit!

[echo forum]

I’m not a fan of « breaking the 4th wall » in general .

[solar zealot]

Not even related to games but DragonBall series does that a lot

[buoyant saddle]

It’s a 90s joke about Euro Disney being a failure

[solar zealot]

They improvise some random culture jokes because otherwise it wouldn't make sense in X country

[obsidian fjord]

I mean, how universal was Arnold Schwarzenegger in Japan in the early 90s? Or did the Japanese joke there have some other Japan specific cultural reference?

[buoyant saddle]

You want dick and fart jokes

[solar zealot]

Same thing with American shows / movies / stuff. When it comes to other countries, they change some jokes about famous American people, politicians or random American things because otherwise it would not have impact in that country.

[solar zealot]

If you search for the gameplay of Popful Mail in the Japanese version, you'll see that the nutcracker loses his accent completely right at the beginning of the game. That's a good exemple of localization

[echo forum]

And another joke was about France in general being a failure. For me this is the laziest kind of jokes.

[echo forum]

Yes that’s the way to go . But in this case the jokes are just not funny to me. It all comes back to Rusty’s question : were there really random cultural references in the original Japanese version ? A part of me want to do this research today instead of my work .

[solar zealot]

https://tenor.com/view/do-it-lucy-disenchantment-luci-gif-15571760

[echo forum]

Like if the Japanese version included jokes about Chinese people I guess it makes sense to translate them to jokes about French people , but I really can’t imagine that the original was like that . Everything is so great in this game they didn’t need those easy out of place jokes .

[buoyant saddle]

The Disney joke hits hard. The rest of the jokes are mid.

[obsidian fjord]

Okay just watched some gameplay in Japanese. Sven T. Uncommon is definitely not Arnold.

[solar zealot]

The one joke I was not expecting was ||when you fight against the sisters with gaw and he asks about king lips. When she says that he's with her sister, gaw says " well if she have lips then we still have a chance" || 💀

[obsidian fjord]

The Gaw character voice is interesting. It's like the "gaw" occurs more naturally in Japanese, so it is weaved into his dialogue better, rather than tracked on at the end in English...gaw.

[spring panther]

it's definetly an affection that makes more sense elsewhere dood

[crisp radish]

I don't know about the beetles but mj was pretty popular in Japan. those jokes might have been in the original.

[modest blade]

I think I laughed out loud when Gaw called somebody a “turd smoker.” Some combination of the 90sness of that plus Gaw’s delivery just got me right in the junior high school sense of humor.

[buoyant saddle]

Beetles are poplar enough for MJ to buy all their songs.

[crisp radish]

oh yeah forgot about yoko ono. I'm a little too young for the beetles.

[solar zealot]

Fuck yoko

And fuck Courtney love as well

[old apex]

Courtney gets a bad rap

[buoyant saddle]

What did Courtney do? Raise a daughter on her own, or steal the mountain song?

[solar zealot]

Courtney is a very controversy on her own. Some say she was the sole culprit for cobains death, some say that she was innocent all along. Maybe we can discuss this in #749875816174714891

[old apex]

I think I'm missing something. I may be blind but I can't figure out where to go in the room with the invisible staircases

[solar zealot]

Yes you are missing something. The stairs. They are invisible

Now seriously ||just go right||

[old apex]

I'm stupid I just found it lol.

Didn't realize you could go down through the floor lol

[solar zealot]

You have to imagine the stairs and they will be there

[wooden lotus]

https://tenor.com/view/waynes-no-stairway-denied-gif-12113830

[echo forum]

Same thing for me . It’s just weird that you can’t go down the stairs directly .

[echo forum]

I imagined that they weren’t there and strangely they were still there .

[modern wadi]

The music in this game is cold

[queen knot]

may play through this again on HARDCORE MODE, minimise save staw scumming now that im not beholden to NO DAMAGE fights

[uneven tundra]

https://tenor.com/view/the-powerpuff-girls-ppg-bubbles-gif-20136876

[queen knot]

i already proved it when i stomped the Working Designs version

so im proving it even harder

[uneven tundra]

can't take 4x damage if you don't get hit!

great work

[queen knot]

also if i had realised earlier just how powerful Gaw was...

[uneven tundra]

Are they supposed to be the glass cannon? I find them to be made of paper, does it get better later on?

[queen knot]

id say with better equipment Gaw can take more hits than Mail or Tatt - idk when that point is, because by the time I was using him more he already had really good equipment

and his claws are stupid powerful at a point when Mail and Tatt have yet to really deal good damage

[uneven tundra]

Highest Jump, high damage ranged and Melee options, Tanky AF, and a movment speed that makes ure you dont run into enemies accidentally like Mail thanks to 2/3 screen scroll? Dayum Gaw, you crazy

[queen knot]

also his interactions are really funny, he is like abnormally rude to half the miners in that first area

[queen knot]

https://open.spotify.com/track/2Po7CnIbgp4Y3jZ05Np86N

btw if you wanna hear what Slick's VA was up to after his time with WorkingDesigns

alright lets see if i can no damage this godforsaken golem

[queen knot]

LETS FUCKING GO CLOVER IS A REAL GAMER

area 1 in 37 mins aint too bad, no?

[rugged heath]

Looks like mine.

When I had time to play this month. 😆

Congrats @queen knot Beating the golem that way does indeed feel good.

[queen knot]

ive been making some good progress since, hoping to clear up most of this area before i head to bed

[rugged heath]

https://tenor.com/view/the-office-rainn-wilson-slow-clap-gif-13906736

[queen knot]

Gaw is too precious

[solid peak]

Gawllible

[queen knot]

mythril guardian is proving to be a difficult one, been needing to reload my save a lot once it starts going apeshit

nvm that was actually really easy teehee

ill stop live broadcasting every step i take now

just know im gunning for that sub-5 hour achievement

[echo forum]

Good luck on that !

[uneven tundra]

Dayum, great work, clover is indeed a real gamer

[queen knot]

huh, Gaw is apparently a pretty good pick for the ice levels - 80% of the time you can just gain some speed and fly off an incline and skip an entire screen

only had a head on collision with an enemy once or twice

[queen knot]

goddamn game didnt give me the Draguin EX achievement even though I most certainly did defeat him withoujt taking damage

anyways less than 2 hours to clear the castle stages, we shall see how that goes tomorrow (assuming im not playing bomb rush cyberfunk instead)

[buoyant saddle]

Made it to the maze and I am so burnt out on this game. Zero Motivation.

[tulip raven]

I finally beat this game last night, but i hurt my arm and back sleeping and i cant get the photos done this morning

[tulip raven]

You’re so close to the end, literally at like mile 25 of a marathon, just finish it

The guide can get you through the maze in 15 minutes, and then there’s just like two more quick levels

And then you’re done

[copper nest]

I'm really surprised how many people needed guides. I only needed one in the wind cave or whatever because I didn't think about going back to Slick after first encountering Gaw. That cave had way too much back and forth

[spring panther]

the game starts maze like, gets moreso, then drops mazes all together

[uneven tundra]

ugh, my save file is gone again on both ROM and internal, anyone know where SEGA CD Save files are kept? Retroarch Android

Save state is all 4 orbs back REEEEEE

https://tenor.com/view/rare-reeeeee-dank-meme-triggered-gif-24062717

[solar zealot]

Internal storage - retroatch - look for the folders save and state. One of those is for rom savestates, the other is for retroatch saves

[uneven tundra]

Thanks boo 😘

Ok there's no Sega CD saves here, even snatcher doesn't exist, wth.

I'll resign myself.... again...

[solar zealot]

In the retroatch settings look for directories and see where it is saving the files

[short jay]

Awe yiss ||thanks mummies!||

[queen knot]

popful mail on hold cuz im playing bomb rush cyberfunk

[solar zealot]

https://tenor.com/view/hay-money-sleep-gif-14635828

[mystic holly]

im on the stage where ||slick bombed the cave and he is trapped. met the blue flying creature and went back to slick for him to give me a bomb but its not happening. he just keeps on asking for help.|| any idea what i may have missed?

[solar zealot]

|| you have to go back were you saw gaw for the first time and blow up that wall. Then you will go after an hammer to free Slick ||

[mystic holly]

shouldnt Slick give me a ||bomb after meeting Gaw to blow up the wall? i keept talking to slick but his dialogues didnt change.||

[solar zealot]

|| First you see slick trapped and he asks for help, next you go left and see gaw and talk to him. Then you go to slick and he gives you a bomb and then you go back to gaw and blow up that wall where gaw was. Then you find the hammer and them you free slick||

[mystic holly]

yeah, im stuck on the part where ||slick is supposed to give me a bomb but it wont trigger it. not sure if its a bug or what.||

ill play it again and see if something changed

[solar zealot]

Did you follow gaw at the wall?

[mystic holly]

yup, finished all my dialogues with gaw. also watched a walkthrough and i did the same thing they did. just no prompt dialogue when i go back to slick.

i just started a previous save slate and it suddenly worked.

[solar zealot]

Go figure right? 😂

[mystic holly]

how many times do you have to go to him and back on that map geez

[echo forum]

Not more than twice from what I remember .

[queen knot]

after you retrieve the hammer and meet up with slick again you're good to go

[buoyant saddle]

Finished! Insert “In living color meme”

[wooden lotus]

https://tenor.com/view/homie-dont-think-so-dont-play-that-gif-13054278

[buoyant saddle]

https://tenor.com/view/in-living-color-snap-hated-it-goodbye-gif-24693611

This one

[rugged heath]

Beat nuts cracker today. That was like the easiest fight yet. Actually, all the bosses seem to be getting a lot easier for some reason.

[short jay]

I'm glad to hear they get easier. I'm trying to get out of the Zoth Shrine, currently fighting Sven.

[uneven tundra]

I feel like Sven was done dirty by the localisation but also made endearing; I'm conflicted on the character. Like I feel like he was supposed to be much more intimidating and threatening.

[short jay]

He reminds me of the vegan actor ex-boyfriend from Scott Pilgrim.

[uneven tundra]

That is pretty apt 😄

[rugged heath]

I’m behind you. Haven’t been to zoth yet. But so far, the wood golem guy has been the hardest boss, imo. I just beat Goradus. He wasn’t hard, but the fight was slow and just kind of annoying.

[short jay]

Oh, right. I just forgot about Nuts Cracker. Wood Golum was definitely the toughest pre-Zoth.

[wintry grail]

Just beat the Thunder Dragon. I'm coming back to the game as I have a little bit of free time. I don't quite know what to think of it. It has some charm but I'm not entirely taken in.

[queen knot]

I've developed a stim where I'll occasionally just say "gaw" to myself when it's quiet

[echo forum]

Soon you will just be called Gaw like everyone .

[rugged heath]

I cant can’t find the 8th treasure in the woods. I want to finish that achievement, but I don’t want to run around in the woods anymore.

[buoyant saddle]

Is that the ring mission?

[rugged heath]

I did that at the same time. i'm just missing one of the 8 treasure chests you can find in the wodds. I had 5 before going back with gaw (but I already wasted a stupid amount of time getting that one obvious chest on a platform right the start of the area by jumping from the tower at the top), and I only found the 2 on the roof of one of the building things in the area before that. Not sure what I'm missing.

[wintry ivy]

there are maps in the official guide (see pinned post)

[mystic holly]

are all the stages like ||stage 3? bosses every 5 mins .||

[echo forum]

I would say no for stage 4 and yes for stages 5 and 6

[wintry grail]

I do not like the ice level.

[old apex]

The retro achievement for beating wraph isnt triggering

[echo forum]

I seem to be the only one who liked it . But I’m just a fan of ice levels in general. And a hater of water levels .

[wintry grail]

The water early on in the game is weird. You can just walk in it and jump on it.

[short jay]

I’ve just arrived at the ice stage, but so far I really don’t like the excessive amount of sliding.

[copper nest]

I hated that if you fell in the water in one level, you had to just know you could jump on the jellyfish or there's no way out. Why would you jump on an enemy when most hurt you in touch?

Great game overall though. Lots of charm

[echo forum]

I liked this : it’s like a punishment for falling in the water .

[rugged heath]

You need to watch finding nemo. 😆

https://youtu.be/EsJ-Ac7cLyM?t=46

[old apex]

Ayyyy

[wintry grail]

I'm already well past the 5 hour mark and not near the end.

[echo forum]

I easily spent 15 hours on this game . I don’t know how you could do it under 5 hours in the first playthrough .

[cyan sun]

Sigh as is the norm I start a gotm and never get close to finishing it.

[obsidian fjord]

Follow the guide and you can finish it in 5-6 mildly painless hours!

[cyan sun]

Yeah I should. I’ve been just kinda mulling around collecting gold.

[obsidian fjord]

Farm all the bullion you can in the mines, and buy all the best equipment for everyone, and ALL the fruit.

[uneven tundra]

Fuck me, sorry guys, pocket posts

[old apex]

Lots of resetting lol. I probably spent close to what you did. I would get a section down, figure out the layout, then reload my save and do it quicker

Once I had figured out where I needed to go

[echo forum]

Yeah I got you but it’s a huge accomplishment . Good job!

[wintry grail]

I finished it but the end is not much fun. It's boss after boss and I had enough of those. The only way I could do it is with slow motion and rewind.

I enjoyed some parts of the game and others left me cold.

[echo forum]

Slow motion? I didn’t even know that was a thing!

[wintry grail]

I don't really like using it but I'm not as fast I used to be and sometimes I really need it. It's an option in RetroArch. Set a hotkey for it and you're ready for the ultimate cheat. There is also a setting for the slow motion speed, lost somewhere in the RA config tree.

[echo forum]

Why you’re not as fast as you used to be ? Do you mean we lose speed as we get older ?

[wintry grail]

I can't generalise on it but my reactions are slower than they used to be and my thumbs are not moving as quickly. But I was always a bit rubbish at games requiring precision and speed.

[rugged heath]

Beat Sven tonight. How much further do I have to go? Hoping I can make it.

[echo forum]

You definitely can make it but you’re not close to done . I would say you are at 3/4 of the game .

[short jay]

I got the dragon orb yesterday. I have a travel day on the 31st, so I’m hoping I can wrap it up in the nick of time.

[rugged heath]

I'm going to give it a good effort anyway, but I don't know if I'll get this one done.

[modest blade]

https://tenor.com/view/a-for-effort-gif-12107341

[final forge]

I'm with Liquid on this one... Just beat Sven and giving my effort. I made poor choices and started with tennis this month

[echo forum]

You both can do it ! Still have 3 days !!!!

[final forge]

I'm hopeful!

[echo forum]

Popful you mean

[rugged heath]

This is the most slippery ice I’ve ever experienced in a game before. 😂

[modest blade]

I guess there are boots to help. I never found them, but used Gaw most of the ice levels because he is slower

[wooden lotus]

Problem with the boots is they're consumables and have to buy a few and have to keep putting them on.

[wintry grail]

I used the boots and amulets only a couple of times. They last such a short time that I gave up on them.

[echo forum]

No I don’t think you need to put them on one by one. You just select the item and as soon as one is consumed the next one is automatically equipped .

[echo forum]

But at the same time they are very cheap . I started to use the amulet more near the end . Like to go behind the bosses !

[short jay]

It’s infuriating! I spent the smallest amount of time possible in the ice stage. So silly to send you completely out of control.

[uneven tundra]

The fact that it requires menu juggling is the worst, combined with the short life span it's just not worth it. Just switch to Gaw and jump through

[queen knot]

this is Gaw's world and we're living in it.. gaw

[shy flicker]

ive backtracked to get the coffee, and I'm talking to the miner who keeps going on about coffee... but he's not giving me anything.

what do i do?

[queen knot]

did you

a. try to break the ice again after freeing Slick's head and torso

b. acquire the first coffee pot

slick should screech at you that you're going to kill him

[shy flicker]

the guide didnt mention a first coffee pot iirc

ill go bash the slicksicle tho, thanks

[queen knot]

it's just the pot the miner gives you, if you ask him for more again he will lecture you

[shy flicker]

oh yea no i entered the stage, talked to the guy, and he just said "man i love coffee i could really use a coffee right now im so tired a little coffee would really perk me up yeah love my coffee" as per usual

ok yeah that worked, thanks

lol

[plucky oak]

look, boots IRL are consumable too

they just operate on a different time scale than this game

[wooden lotus]

https://tenor.com/view/cops-911-police-in-boots-walking-cat-walk-gif-13480032

[rugged heath]

Alright. Two nights to finish this… I don’t think I’m gonna make it, but here goes nothing.

[rugged heath]

Beat icycal. Never used boots. Not too bad, really.

[uneven tundra]

You'll get there tonight I reckon

[queen knot]

I had some freakish luck in the ice levels with just dashing full speed and jumping

[rugged heath]

I just took it kinda slow with gaw.

And the bosses still just seem to be getting easier and easier.

Draguin was a little more challenging I guess.

[copper nest]

Some in the final chapter get difficult I think. Once you get into the groove, all the bosses through the midgame to mid-lategame indeed get easier and easier

[short jay]

I found ||the final Nuts Cracker|| difficult to beat while saving a potion. Finally managed that and I’m stoked to face the final gauntlet today!

[rugged heath]

I'm hoping I can finish this one.

coming down to the wire for sure.

[echo forum]

Buy fruits and amulets and power through the end-game!

[rugged heath]

I think I have 6 apples at the moment... I havent bought any fruit, or even used it, really. and apple here or there. I still have all the elixir's I've found too.

[short jay]

I have one elixir. Really hoping I don’t need to farm gold to get more.

[echo forum]

You will because elixir cost 10,000$. But you can just use fruits instead .

[echo forum]

I always forget how good you are at video games lol.

Hardcore mode again?

[rugged heath]

Yes.

hardcore again.

although, I haven't been redoing the bosses to get the EX achievements now. No time. But I've beat them all first try now, so way fast.

[echo forum]

Man that’s amazing

[rugged heath]

draguin got me down to 10 health, so there's that.

[echo forum]

Yeah it is always some time to understand its pattern

[short jay]

Finished. Lackluster finale IMO. This game had so much charm with great visuals and audio. But the gameplay was just never interesting or even fun, really.

||Necros|| is like the easiest enemy in the whole game. What a silly choice to place him where they did in the game.

[short jay]

Also, joined the mile high gotx club

[rugged heath]

Heyo! That was Rocket Knight adventures and super mario land 2: 6 golden coins for me.

[solid peak]

best game this month

[rugged heath]

I definitely liked it more than tennis, and if fishing 2 was similar to the first, I’m sure this was the best.

Good ol’ falcom.

[echo forum]

Yeah it felt like the same game . That’s the reason why I’m not 3/3 this month .

[rugged heath]

Tennis gets a 2/5 from me. Fishing likely a 2 as well if I’d had time to play it. This gets 3/5.

I say that without having finished it.

[echo forum]

I doubt the end-game will make you change your mind .

[mental mauve]

yeah im not finishing this this month but might finish it after the fact tbh. it kind of has its ups and downs lol but some parts have been pretty fun

[uneven tundra]

The dialogue was delightfully cheesy but actually gameplay was hit or miss. Like a more refined Wonder Boy in Monster Land

It needed a boots slot for equips to make it feel a little better or a way to increase your actual health instead of just effective health

[mental mauve]

yeah definite wonder boy vibes

[rugged heath]

And done. Whew. Glad I got through it, but not sure if I’ll ever revisit it.

[uneven tundra]

Well done!

Agreed, it's nice to be able to say " I played it" but the only reason to replay it would be to get other dialogue

[queen knot]

alright, only got an hour and a half left to try and get the sub 5 hour on hardcore

lets see how this goes

[echo forum]

Good luck! Too bad this thread will be closed by then !

[queen knot]

ill make it #🔮│gotm-discussion 's problem

[queen knot]

final update: i didnt make it.

[rugged heath]

We don't close them anymore, with forums instead of threads...

[plucky oak]

Popful Mid

[echo forum]

So if we want to discuss a past gotm winner do we use the old thread or we open a flashback thread?

[rugged heath]

Flashback probably is better.

If you’re playing it.

[buoyant saddle]

@steady rivet here is the place. I think many of us played this when it won

[steady rivet]

aye aye ty

[uneven tundra]

Highly recommended the "Unworking Designs" Patch.

[crystal heart]

I have started playing this game, beaten the first boss, and stopped so many times. I'm finally going to try to sneak this in as my final GotM

[buoyant saddle]

It's a okish game. Losts of stuff is broken in the game.

[cold sable]

Yeah by Working Designs lmao, the patch basically reverts it to the Japanese settings which make it a great game

[buoyant saddle]

The 2/3 positioning doesn't get fixed. You still have to make blind jumps and the bosses aren't great either||just stand in one place.|| I would never call this game great.

[echo forum]

Me neither . I call it outstanding.

[crystal heart]

I REALLY enjoy the art style. I'm going at it raw english release right now. The bosses are definitely spongey, so yeah working designs made em harded, but idk spamming save states the game isn't so bad

I think its a pretty good game so far. Idk how i'll feel when I actually complete it. I think with the Un-Worked designs version I'd probably enjoy it as a fun little breezy saturday morning cartoon type of game

[echo forum]

Yeah so much better with the patch

[uneven tundra]

The bosses tankiness is so unnecessary, they were well designed, I feel. the extra health and damage just marred the experience until I restarted with Unworking Patch

[buoyant saddle]

You just find the correct spot snd spam the boss with attacks. Kind basic to me.

[echo forum]

Basic but so satisfying !

I love to use the 1/3 view against the boss . It’s almost like a puzzle