Japanese Audio Option For Future Square-Enix Software

For the Consideration of Square-Enixs USA localisation Department

History has shown that when customers do get something they want from their product they respond favourably to the company that provided it. We hope you will take this into consideration and read our request below with an open mind as we believe it would be beneficial to both the Consumer and Square-Enixs future sales of its software.
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Following the release of Advent Children in the West there was much discussion over which was preferred English or Japanese audio track. The divide it caused was almost straight down the middle with varying feelings on the quality of the English track from they thought it was great to markedly less so.

This debate lead to the thought of the forthcoming games in the Final Fantasy VII compilation and indeed future Square-Enix games in general on both current generation hardware and the forthcoming Playstation 3.

As the viewers who preferred the Japanese track on Advent Children we feel it would be much more to our liking if we could have the same dual language option for games such as the forthcoming Dirge of Cerberus and further down the line Crisis Core and future Square Enix games.

In Japan Dirge of Cerberus was voiced by the same cast from the Advent Children. As such this would add a feeling of continuity for those of us that loved Advent Children and therefore create even more desire in the customer to purchase the game and others from the Final Fantasy VII compilation to continue their experience.

The fact that Square-Enix games seem to universally be subtitled in English even when they are dubbed into English would make the implementation of the Japanese track even easier.

With the Japanese Audio already existing on the disc when it is completed in Japan, it would seem it is merely removed during the localisation process as redundant when it could be easily incorporated into the cutscenes if selected.

With the English subtitles already in place it would be a simple case of having a Japanese/English option on the Options screen, much like the Audio option on Advent Childrens DVD and some other companies games.

As mentioned a few Videogame Companies have seen how little effort is required and left the Japanese audio track in alongside its newer created English counterpart. This has universally been accepted as a nice touch and a smart idea by those that have played those games, even if they preferred the English version having the choice to have the Japanese track was always a nice option to have.

As the work is already done and merely needs one extra option on the menu we see this as a way to increase your sales for little effort.

By having the Japanese Audio Track present you will encourage those who strongly dislike English dubbed tracks (a large amount of people) to purchase a game they might otherwise leave on the shelf or instead import from Japan.

The amount of copies of import games on eBay shows this happens regularly and could be avoided by simply having the option there. This would of course increase your sales and inspire people to purchase more Square-Enix games in future.

We request that where possible the original Japanese Audio track be left in alongside its redubbed English Counterpart. This feature has been present in foreign films on DVD for years and with the advent of Blue Ray on the horizon and the extra Disc volume it provides it would be even easier to incorporate both Audio tracks.

This would further narrow the gap between Film and Games, a goal Square-Enix seems to be gradually working towards with their presentation and unparalleled CG work.

Please understand that we do not do this to undermine the efforts you have gone to in selecting actors for the English version, but as with all things there are a sizeable amount of people who would like to have the Japanese option due to personal preference

We ask if possible that you incorporate such an option into the Forthcoming Dirge of Cerberus due August 22nd. You have already stated you are improving the game over its Japanese Counterpart content wise and it would be seen as a truly great localisation effort if the team behind it would also leave the Japanese track alongside the English one for the first time in a Square-Enix game.

And with it being part of the Final Fantasy VII Compilation it would seemingly make sense with Advent Children already letting you select the Japanese dialogue for it to carry through into the game that directly follows it in the storys timeline.

On that note we leave this in your hands in the hope that for once a Online petition will not just merely be ignored as worthless, but as a genuine insight into the wants of its potential customers and fanbase.

As the request itself would require minimal effort to leave in (as the Audio track already exists) it would be seen as a sincere effort on behalf of Square-Enix to listen to its customers.

Thank you for your time.