Gift (Moonstone) - Official English Version released on iTunes App Store

[relentlessflame]

I caught this news on AkibaBlog today (Japanese link, may contain NSFW advertisements). The Visual Novel Gift, by Moonstone, is now available in English as an App on the iTunes App Store. Of course it's the all-ages version.

The iTunes Store link is here, and the price seems to be USD $9.99 (price may perhaps vary in other local markets).

I'm planning on picking up an iPhone in the not too distant future (hopefully next week), so I bought the game. The description in the App Store is extremely Engrish-y, but the screenshots don't look too horrible. For $9.99, I think it's definitely worth a shot. I think it should work on any iPhone or iPod Touch (it says it's iPhone 3.0 software enabled, but I don't know if that means it's required). Download size is 1.08 GB.

Anyone else picked this up already that can comment on the quality of the release? I think it'd be really neat to see more visual novels released in English on this medium, as it has the potential to open it up to an all-new audience (plus it's sort of nifty to have a visual novel on the go).

[izmosmolnar]

Meh I can't even access the shop despite however I try... Is it just Apple only?

[SageGaiGar]

Originally Posted by izmosmolnar

Meh I can't even access the shop despite however I try... Is it just Apple only?

You'd need Itunes installed so you can search the Store on the software. (the link will send you to the 'site' on the Itunes store)

[Jze0]

Are you %@#!ing me, thats awesome... I've been wanting to play that game but no translations are available (at least I don't think there is). Its too bad I don't have an iPhone or iPod, this really sucks. Makes me want to cry...

[izmosmolnar]

Zalas did an article about it on gemot encubed. He actually bought it and said " The translation has typos and is not very smooth, although it is not terribly difficult to understand for the most part."

Gemot

[Proto]

Actually, if they leep releasing this kind of title it may be the deciding factor compelling me to buy that overpriced gimmick.

[Micchi]

I saw this news too and was quite surprised that they translated it to relatively OK English. Especially since they had blocked foreigners for a bit. More reason for me to like MoonStone now ^^

This reminds me... I really should finish Gift...

[plmko]

They told foreginers to keep out, that doesn't mean they want foreginers to stop buying.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by plmko

They told foreginers to keep out, that doesn't mean they want foreginers to stop buying.

To be fair, we don't really know the whole story about what was behind that, whose idea it was, what caused the change to be reverted and so on. They did have it blocked for a while, but they changed their mind. We can presume that they realized it wasn't a good idea and/or wasn't worth their while. I don't think we should keep on holding it against them indefinitely.

[relentlessflame]

Okay, so I was able to pick up an iPhone today (works great!!), and am giving the game a try.

The translation is... well, let's just say it was certainly not edited. Many common idioms are translated in bizarre ways, and this can lead to some misunderstandings of what's being said. For example, in one of the early scenes, they translated "sunao" (素直) as "smart", but actually the whole conversation is referring him being stubborn (so he's not being meek/obedient) so pretty much the whole conversation makes no sense. A little while later, they mistranslate manga as "animation" -- how can you mess those up? And then later it was an "animation book"... huh? And finally, when it was called "shoujo manga", it was "lady comic" -- close enough? And then back to "animation" later... who knows... I think it would be fine for someone who can understand enough spoken Japanese to clarify what's being said... but that sort of defies the point of a translation in a way. Then again, it is only $9.99 for the full game, so it's probably a bit unfair to be too harsh about it. It's playable, and I bet it's one of those things I'll get used to over time.

Some UI tips...

• To open the menu, tap the screen with two fingers (you can dismiss it in the same way).
• To hide the text box, place your finger on the box and drag up
• To show the backlog, place your finger on the right side of the screen and drag down
• To fast forward, drag left
• To switch auto mode on and off, tap and hold for a second then let go
• You can also do a little flick of the unit to rotate the display 180 degrees

If you close the application, it will remember your current location (though I suppose that won't last through a cold boot). There are still plenty of save slots and quick save/load as well, so you shouldn't be at a huge risk there.

Anyway, will keep working my way through it -- I never finished all of the game paths myself when I played Gift back in the day.


Edit:
Here's an actual sample conversation for you...

???: "you? Denkai!" (She actually says "Hey, Amamiya-kun!")
Haruhiko: "where are you? I only hear you."
Rinka: "sorry, Chisa is under your sight."
Haruhiko: "where?"
Rinka: "where are you looking at?"
Chisa: "making a visor of hand?"
Haruhiko: "The end of Jinta."
Jinta: "Piki?"
Chisa: "damn of you!"
Haruhiko: "this is the classical gag."
Rinka: "classical?"
Haruhiko: "returning home?"
[...]

What in the world are they talking about?


Edit 2:
You know, I think spotting the bad Engrish could almost be just as entertaining...

Riko: "but, sorry..."
Haruhiko: "tell me."
Riko: "very sorry, but no one material for food."
Haruhiko: "what you say?"
Riko: "I haven't no idea because I was seeing the film..."

All we need now is "we get signal" or "for great justice" and the experience will be complete.


Edit 3:
So now I've encountered a fatal crash bug in the script about half-way through Riko's path (on 5/3, after returning from the Monitor meeting). Am submitting a bug report; hope they fix it (and can understand enough English to understand what I am saying). I may just re-install the PC version or boot up the PS2 version to finish the path in the meantime.