I want to support Cave but I can't.

[Jitterbug]

Today the postman brought me my japanese import of Mushihimesama Futari v1.5. Next week I will get Espgaluda 2 and Akai Katana. Mushi and Esp 2 are region free (thanks to the great spaghetti monster). Akai got a official release in germany but I have to wait for it a little more because the german publisher dtp entertainment is going bankrupt sadly (they say I will get Akai early June).

Okay so I bought Deathsmiles 1, Dodonpachi Resurrection, Guwange, Akai Katana, Mushihimesama Futari v1.5, Espgaluda 2 Black Label. Although I officially, completely and utterly suck at these games (except in novice modes), they are simply a freaking lot of fun. They have the promise of potential progress inside them. One day, after hours of practice I will eventually 1cc all of them. Maybe in 6 months maybe in 2 years? So I really do like cave games. There are some thinks I do not understand:

- Why has cave not translated the region free games they released so far. English is the international language. If you translate your game in english you can sell it everywhere worldwide. English is no big deal. A simple trainee working at Cave could translate a game in under 3 days. It does not have to be accurate, its not an epic RPG or something. Just allow the non- Japanese speaking fans enjoy the storyline of the game. So, why do they not translate their region free games, it takes virtually no effort to do. I read in Cave interviews that Mushi Futari was made Region Free to test how it would sell world wide. So if you are releasing it with the whole world in mind why not translating it?

- Why is Cave releasing Deathsmiles 2X on the US but not the european xbox live marketplace? I really want to buy DS2 with my european msp. Now I have to create a fake US account and buy US msp in order to buy it. Come on, its just DLC, there are no marketing costs. So why?

- Why can?t I download the Ketsui dlc for Dodonpachi Resurrection on xbl?

- Why cant?t I buy Ketsui X for my european xbox?

- What is this talk about Cave being shut down (article on destructoid: http://www.destructoid.com/things-aren-t-looking-so-good-for-cave-interactive-227581.phtml)? Are we going to see Deathsmiles 3 and a Dodonpachi Saidaioujou european xbox release?

I tasted Cave Shmups and as a forum member responded to me. Yes I have finally seen the light Cave Shmups are simply not comparable to other xbox360 game gernes. Yes I finished Batman Arkham City. Yes it was great an all but an the end of the day its just meh, no replay value. Cave delivers something else, a special kind of magic that I thought was dead long ago.

I hope this forum is internet meme savvy enough, so I dare to say it:
Cave, please continue to release new games on xbox 360, shut up and take my money!

[TimingTripod40]

I tasted Cave Shmups and as a forum member responded to me. Yes I have finally seen the light Cave Shmups are simply not comparable to other xbox360 game gernes. Yes I finished Batman Arkham City. Yes it was great an all but an the end of the day its just meh, no replay value. Cave delivers something else, a special kind of magic that I thought was dead long ago.

Good that you have seen the light. Now just take the extra step and stop playing anything that isn't a shmup and focus on 1 game, watch replays, practice regularly, all that good stuff. Your 1ccs will come in no time.

As for you story question I think you should just start learning Japanese and I'm not saying to try to be smart. I mean the menus are already in English and to most people that's all they really need to enjoy these types of games. If you want to take things a step further, then yeah you should learn Japanese. Even a little bit of knowledge of the language can be very useful in a lot of ways outside of figuring out these stories.

Also if you're serious about going full shmup then I'd suggest just selling the PAL 360 and buying a J360 or just saving up the cash to buy one. To a shmup-only player the PAL 360 really doesn't have any advantages while there's a few exclusives to the J360 left, that DFK BL Ketsui Arrange mode being one of them.

[lam47]

Hey mate. Mr Brownground here.
I'm really poor at these games too but it never stops me from wanting to play.
I love big numbers and crazy crap all over the screen. Deathsmiles MBL 1.1 is probably my favourite.

Release in game in the west is much more complex than simply translating he text.
It costs a lot of money to put a western release together. Publishers have to do a lot of work to get a game to the shop shelves. Rising star is doing just that here in the UK. But to justify the outlay a game needs to make a decent amount back. Cave shooters are just too obscure for the majority of western audiences so releases are few and far between.
Still, you should make as much noise as you can about cave! RS have done well so far. Let's hope they get some more releases from Cave.

[Softdrink 117]

Although I officially, completely and utterly suck at these games (except in novice modes), they are simply a freaking lot of fun. One day, after hours of practice I will eventually 1cc all of them. Maybe in 6 months maybe in 2 years?

I'm in the exact same position. I absolutely love shmups of all kinds, CAVE shmps more so than any other developer. And right now I totally, totally suck at their games (Not counting the iOS ports, which don't really apply). But they are damn fun to play. 

Practice is really all it takes. After a week of an hour a day of DDP DOJ, I've more than doubled my score, and if I were playing solely to survive would probably make it reasonably close to a 1CC. I actually come from a background in speedrunning, which requires a lot of the same skill and memorization as shmupping, and looking back on it the only reason I was really decent at that is because I was placed in a situation where I was forced to play the same games over and over.

- Why has cave not translated the region free games they released so far. English is the international language. If you translate your game in english you can sell it everywhere worldwide. English is no big deal. A simple trainee working at Cave could translate a game in under 3 days. It does not have to be accurate, its not an epic RPG or something. Just allow the non- Japanese speaking fans enjoy the storyline of the game. So, why do they not translate their region free games, it takes virtually no effort to do. I read in Cave interviews that Mushi Futari was made Region Free to test how it would sell world wide. So if you are releasing it with the whole world in mind why not translating it?

Iam47 has a point. Release is much more complicated than just a translation. Although I understand your point, given it's region free and all, the amount of effort it would take is disproportionate to the profit it would generate. When designing for a large audience, something as simple as changing a font can have a huge impact on presentation and layout, and can take hours of work to integrate. As much as I'd like to see more translated CAVE games, it's really just not likely to happen. Most of their audience is in Japan, and even then they're a very niche company.

- What is this talk about Cave being shut down (article on destructoid: http://www.destructoid.com/things-aren-t-looking-so-good-for-cave-interactive-227581.phtml)? Are we going to see Deathsmiles 3 and a Dodonpachi Saidaioujou european xbox release?

Nice article. I wasn't aware that their stock had also taken a dive, though the rest of the info I'm familiar with. Some of the comments there are also really informative (one in particular that discusses licensing fees and dev kit prices really helped me understand why shmup developers would enjoy the 360 as a platform despite it's poor sales record in Japan).

I hope this forum is internet meme savvy enough, so I dare to say it:
Cave, please continue to release new games on xbox 360, shut up and take my money!

QFT.

[EOJ]

No more threads like this, please. We don't know the answers to your questions, ask Cave. Buy a JP X360 if you want to enjoy all their games. Thread locked.