Kingdom Hearts II Why even bother....

...to incoperate english voices at all. I mean it's never coming to the US or anywhere else that speaks english so why even bother?

I can understand maybe for business or something, but if the english voices are gona play such a minor role in the game since the cutscenes and everything else is in Japanese, it doesn't even matter anymore if they have english in there anymore. Besides, it's not like the Japanese voices were bad in any way. -_-

Thoughts?

 

I believe they made it English so that Japanese players of Kingdom Hearts can experience the game in a brand new way.

This is how it is with other remakes of Square Enix games as well, like "Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System", the remake of Final Fantasy XII.

 

The Japanese (I won't say the entire nation, because that'd be incorrect) in general have somewhat of a fascination with the English language. Much how there are Japanophiles in North America, there is a large sect of the Japanese gaming community that have an affinity for English voice-acting.

Final Mix versions (sometimes called Director's Cuts) are made because there are times when high requests come from the Japanese gaming community to 'experience the English/NA version' of a certain video game. This is usually because the NA versions are often extensions (have extra features/additions) in them that didn't make it for JP release. Since these are made to appeal to the Japanese community, us North Americans rarely hear about such versions being made unless we purposely look for them.

Final Mixes/Director's Cuts are not uncommon and have happened for years. And just to reiterate my previous point, part of this 'experiencing the NA version of the game' is partly the NA voice-acting. Many Japanese gamers prefer English voice-acting if they had the option. In fact, even Nomura stated that he and his team collectively thought KH was a game meant to be done in English as opposed to Japanese. Of course this could be because Disney characters are natively American so the voice-acting, but that's still independent of the fact that there is a high appeal for English voice-acting within the Japanese community.

Ever been to Japan? Many love hearing 'Americans'* speak English.


* - by 'American' I mean anyone who speaks with the typical North American accent. Just most of the time, a Japanese person will usually assume you're from the United States if you speak in such a way.

EDIT: Some games that have seen Director's Cuts/Final mixes:

- Shadow Hearts II: Covenant Director's Cut
- Star Ocean 3: Director's Cut
- Rogue Galaxy: Director's Cut
- Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix
- Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix+
- Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System
- Final Fantasy X International

 

0.o Soushirei, I'm amazed at your patience to go out of your way to clarify your point. What you said is basically what I said but more detailed.

To add what I said before, I think since Square continuously uses this technique to sell their remakes is proof that they sell more units afterward.

 

Maybe one day - they plan to sell it overseas... we dont know

 

Nup, the rest of the world won't really give a damn. If you think about it, it really is just the same game except with just 'bonus' and 'special' features. As Soush said, the Japanese prefer English voice-acting. As a result, that is one of the main reasons why we have a Director's Cut (Final Mix) of Kingdom Hearts. If you think about it really, it doesn't seem reasonable to buy the 'same' game unless you happen to be completely and utterly obessesed with the franchise.

 

Exactly what Soushirei said...so, put shortly, some Japanese enjoy hearing the English voices, so they keep it like that...

 

I don't care much on the voices, if they at least put sub titles(if they were to ever bring it to US, Europe). It would also be very enjoyable to have the japanese text turned into english text.

 

so they enjoy hearing american voices? i think i get what they mean. megara's japanese voice sounded cool, but it sounds more authentic in english.

but they shouldve sold it in the states! all they have to do is overhype it, appeal to new ppl and attract the fans and it would sell. 3 games in 1 rite? (it is all the final mixes, rite?)

 

thats one way of looking at it but it is in english because it is what we call an International version of the game...
let me explain what this is
An internation version is like what Soushirei said a directors cut only instead of releasing it to the US UK and Austrailia
it simply uses the english language so anyone could use it...
so instead of makeing copies for the US UK and Australia they put it in one and make the other countrys version nonexistant...
Then it is only released in the local area this is very populare in japan...
Get It?