Rogue Galaxy is getting closer to release in the US -- GameSpy's got the first exclusive review coming on Friday! It's been in the works for a long time, with quite a few projected ship dates coming and going. But after a long delay, this is more than just a Japanese game with new speech tracks added. Level-5 has taken the liberty of adding a new world, redesigning combat, tossing in hundreds of new items, adding a few new races, cleaning up the game's speed and more. It's the most ridiculously ambitious localization in some time, and we got to talk with Nao Higo, SCEA's U.S. producer for the game, about it.

GameSpy: First off, what led to the decision to not just localize, but to massively change Rogue Galaxy for its US release?
Higo: The decision to not simply localize the text and voiceovers and call it a day but to improve and expand the game came as a result of Level-5's desire to make the game they originally envisioned. Due to time limitations, they weren't able to do everything they wanted in the Japanese version. They had to cut some features to get the product out on time, and they weren't entirely happy with the overall balance of the game. They took all the comments they got back from the Japanese version (from both Japanese gamers and us) and wanted to address them for the US release.


GameSpy: Compared to the effort to "just" localize a game of this scale, how much greater an effort was it to localize and re-imagine so much of Rogue Galaxy?
Higo: Because of the changes that were made to the game; new planet, new chapter, new battle system, completely different weapon synthesis rules, new mini-game mode, etc. The testing process was akin to working on a new game. Typically, when you localize a product, there aren't that many system and functionality bugs to deal with since the game has gone through at least one testing cycle. But since we made so many changes to the game, every nook and cranny had to be debugged all over again. The effort behind this product was way beyond any localization I've seen to date.


And from a localization standpoint, Rogue was a huge game to work on with an insane amount of dialogue to record, as well as all the text to localize. All the additional content for the US version certainly didn't help make things any easier

GameSpy: Regarding just the localization, we heard a decent amount of modern slang in the US version. What is the team's approach for translation issues like slang, topical matters, or references that aren't likely to hold up outside of Japan?
Higo: That's always an issue with localizing games made in other countries as slang and humor are cultural, and some things that work in Japan doesn't necessarily work here. For Rogue, we wanted the humor to sound as natural and not a translation, so there was a lot of rewriting involved to make things funnier in English. One of the scenes that I'm really happy with is when Jaster and crew go to the Galaxy Corporation on Zerard for the first time. The whole exchange between the characters worked out really well in English; I personally think it's funnier in the English version.


GameSpy: Using Dual-layer DVDs is credited with allowing faster load times and superior graphics, thanks to the extra space available. Does the team have high expectations for the possibilities of Blu-ray disks for that reason?
Higo: I think Blu-ray will offer a tremendous advantage in the graphics of the cut scenes. In terms of loading time, while it's much faster, because of the increased amount of data necessary to produce the graphics, I don't think games will load any faster. That being said, the PS3 has the advantage of having a hard drive, which should go a long way to alleviating/eliminating the loading time. It's really dependent on the expertise of the programmers. I know for PS2, a lot of games were plagued with long load times, but take a look at Rogue; besides the initial loading, the game is pretty much seamless. It really helps you get into the world. So it'll be the same thing on the PS3, where programmers will have to figure out how to take advantage of the hardware to extract all the performance out of it.

GameSpy: As more of a general forward looking question, what features of the next-gen systems does the team most look forward to taking advantage of?
Higo: From a processing power standpoint, I'm interested in taking advantage of the power to really sell the emotion of the characters. I want to see better expressions and animations as the characters interact with their environment. The human face has hundreds of expressions, and I want to see more of them reflected in the characters to help show what they're going through. The online aspect is another area that's going to be interesting from a localization standpoint. As games become more global, there's pressure to have simultaneous or near-simultaneous releases of games. While the concept is wonderful, the execution is highly difficult, as the localization process must be done parallel to the development. This will be magnified as gamers will be able to play with each other across different countries.