Japanese Alpha | Forums

[Dez_troi_aR]

There is an alpha going on in Japan (as everybody has already noticed because there is an subforum for it).

Can the Ubi-Forum Management or perhaps a gamer who speaks both japanese and english give us an impression of what the general feedback is ? How is the game received over there? Are the critique-points the same as ours (matchmaking, orochi, gear-stats) ? Are they playing the same alpha as NA/EU did or were changes made ? Is everyone playing Samurai ?

I am asking that because i am curious about the games progress and excited for the release but i also would like to state that i find it strange that i even have to ask. I would like to get a little more input from the Ubisoft team.

I dont want to be too critical but imo its no surprise that among the most discussed things in the forum are such thoughtful topics as "remove female characters". What about that "world tour" ubisoft announced? If there are no news, then there are no news, i of course understand that, but the alpha in japan could be something worth a note at least. I am sure a lot of japanese gamers are fluent enough in english to give us some interesting impressions. You could at least encourage them to do so.

[DBLxxShotz]

There is an alpha going on in Japan (as everybody has already noticed because there is an subforum for it).

Can the Ubi-Forum Management or perhaps a gamer who speaks both japanese and english give us an impression of what the general feedback is ? How is the game received over there? Are the critique-points the same as ours (matchmaking, orochi, gear-stats) ? Are they playing the same alpha as NA/EU did or were changes made ? Is everyone playing Samurai ?

I am asking that because i am curious about the games progress and excited for the release but i also would like to state that i find it strange that i even have to ask. I would like to get a little more input from the Ubisoft team.

I dont want to be too critical but imo its no surprise that among the most discussed things in the forum are such thoughtful topics as "remove female characters". What about that "world tour" ubisoft announced? If there are no news, then there are no news, i of course understand that, but the alpha in japan could be something worth a note at least. I am sure a lot of japanese gamers are fluent enough in english to give us some interesting impressions. You could at least encourage them to do so.

Why arent any of them streaming gameplay on twitch?

[Desperaato]

Been checking out the Japan alpha forums and just google translating them. There are very few topics and posts in there generally,
maybe the japanese just dont like giving feedback who knows.

To be fair this game seems to be gathering way less excitement than even Evolve was when it was coming out or its a ubisoft issue on giving out news.
Reddit "For honor" is also dead just like these forums seem to be.

[DBLxxShotz]

Been checking out the Japan alpha forums and just google translating them. There are very few topics and posts in there generally,
maybe the japanese just dont like giving feedback who knows.

To be fair this game seems to be gathering way less excitement than even Evolve was when it was coming out or its a ubisoft issue on giving out news.
Reddit "For honor" is also dead just like these forums seem to be.

Yeah this forum is pretty dead and i find it pretty odd. Every single person ive told about this game has the same reaction when i tell them about the Samurai vs Viking vs Knight premise and that is "what game is that? That sounds awesome!". Some say theyve heard of it but most dont know about it never mind played it. Hopefully they do a public beta before release because this game is very different and could pull in a lot of people if word gets out.

[FHL.Maryjane]

You guys should come check out the community at Forhonorlegends.enjin.com ! Were pretty active and all members are serious players! Also some of the members from the Hall Of Heroes post, also the Hall of Heroes discord is active everyday talking For Honor, im sure theres a link here on their guides at the top!

[Shinkirou_]

Japanese people don't like Western-style forums.
They prefer anonymous 4-chan-like forums.

From reading comments on Youtube and NicoNico Douga, I have been able to garner the following:
The reactions so far to For Honor from the Japanese have mostly been complaints that the Samurai, and the Samurai-themed maps feel too Chinese.
One of the most frequently posted comments on Youtube from Otoja (famous Japanese Youtuber)'s let's play of it is "Why does the European Castle look so normal and serene while the Japanese map looks nothing like Japan?" and "Oh, this is going to be another Western game where they mix up Japan and China" is a frequently reoccurring comment from all videos posted on For Honor thus far.
But, overall, comments about the combat/gameplay seem positive and filled with interest.

In short: Japanese people think the combat looks fun but can't take this game seriously due to the way the Samurai are portrayed, some even feeling insulted at the China-Japan mingling.

This game started off pretty bad reputation-wise this year. During the E3 Viking Campaign trailer, the Japanese found that the English voice actors' attempt at speaking Japanese was cringeworthy and found themselves unable to take the trailer seriously. Other comments were all about how stupid it was to have a Samurai named "Saburo" (would be like having a medieval Knight called "Bob").

So, you can see that this game did not start off well, reputation-wise, in Japan
It will take a lot of effort to turn it around.
Having famous Let's Players like Otoja play it and express how fun it is has been the best thing to happen to For Honor Japan (IMO).

Edit:
Here's the links of the videos I took these comments from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjGSxg85pvQ
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2904...ef=top_history
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2965...ef=top_history

[Dez_troi_aR]

Thank you Shinkirou, that was very interesting !

If i could speak and read japanese i would love to rage around a little bit because by now everyone should have heard the shot that this is not meant to be an authentic simulation of anything. There are no viking ships built into riverforts in scandinavia and the citadel's gate has antique elements in it and is of course generally over the top. Nobody cares but in Japan it's an insult because you mingled the whole asia-theme together :/ ?

I get the cringe about the voice actor. Must be weird hearing someone faking your accent

[Shinkirou_]

Nobody cares but in Japan it's an insult because you mingled the whole asia-theme together :/ ?

I believe people around the world don't like having their culture confused with another culture, not just Japan.
I'm sure if you walked around talking about "Japanese Kung-Fu" or "Chinese Karate", nobody would take you seriously.
And if you told an Englishman or a Frenchman that "England and France are the same thing", they would not respond positively.
Generally, mixing up cultures when it's not explicitly stated to be intentional, is seen as a mark of ignorance and insensitivity.

From what I'm reading in the comments, they also seems to feel a sense of disparity when it comes to the realism for respective factions.
I think the Japanese audience feels that there is a difference in treatment between the knight and samurai.
They feel that, sure, the knight is ridiculous, especially the Conqueror, but not as ridiculous when compared to the samurai.
For example, European knight and samurai both had steel armour in real life.
If you gave wooden armour to a European Knight in this game, it would be unacceptable.
But, somehow, in this game it is acceptable for Samurai to have wooden armour.
And they feel this is because the devs put a lot more research into knights than they did with samurai.

Of course, as always, people will complain about realism.
The balance of realism in this game is a hard and complicated subject.
On one hand, you could say that artistic license is part of what makes video games art, and the content creators should not let their imaginations be shackled by realism.
However, you also have to think about it this way:
I think the main issue, and the reason why this game has so many complaints about accuracy, is that people are drawn into this game because it's a game about Knights vs Vikings vs Samurai.
However, if you stray too much from reality, it no longer becomes a game about Knights vs Vikings vs Samurai, and instead becomes Fantasy warrior vs Fantasy warrior vs Fantasy warrior.

You also have to remember that when you go too deep into popular images of warriors, it seeps into stereotypes, and people generally find stereotypes to be annoying or insulting.


Anyways, I hope I managed to convey their point of view.

[Shinkirou_]

Another common complaint is about the censorship in the Japanese version.
The Japanese version has no decapitation or dismemberment, which makes a lot of the execution moves look pretty silly

[MisterWillow]

I believe people around the world don't like having their culture confused with another culture, not just Japan.
I'm sure if you walked around talking about "Japanese Kung-Fu" or "Chinese Karate", nobody would take you seriously.
And if you told an Englishman or a Frenchman that "England and France are the same thing", they would not respond positively.
Generally, mixing up cultures when it's not explicitly stated to be intentional, is seen as a mark of ignorance and insensitivity.

From what I'm reading in the comments, they also seems to feel a sense of disparity when it comes to the realism for respective factions.
I think the Japanese audience feels that there is a difference in treatment between the knight and samurai.
They feel that, sure, the knight is ridiculous, especially the Conqueror, but not as ridiculous when compared to the samurai.
For example, European knight and samurai both had steel armour in real life.
If you gave wooden armour to a European Knight in this game, it would be unacceptable.
But, somehow, in this game it is acceptable for Samurai to have wooden armour.
And they feel this is because the devs put a lot more research into knights than they did with samurai.

Of course, as always, people will complain about realism.
The balance of realism in this game is a hard and complicated subject.
On one hand, you could say that artistic license is part of what makes video games art, and the content creators should not let their imaginations be shackled by realism.
However, you also have to think about it this way:
I think the main issue, and the reason why this game has so many complaints about accuracy, is that people are drawn into this game because it's a game about Knights vs Vikings vs Samurai.
However, if you stray too much from reality, it no longer becomes a game about Knights vs Vikings vs Samurai, and instead becomes Fantasy warrior vs Fantasy warrior vs Fantasy warrior.

You also have to remember that when you go too deep into popular images of warriors, it seeps into stereotypes, and people generally find stereotypes to be annoying or insulting.


Anyways, I hope I managed to convey their point of view.

Very well said.

Another common complaint is about the censorship in the Japanese version.
The Japanese version has no decapitation or dismemberment, which makes a lot of the execution moves look pretty silly

Are they sure it's not the helmet bug? I know a lot of people noted that certain helmets would negate the decapitation animation.