If you are interested in games that get creative with language barriers, "Chants of Sennaar" is a game with exactly this theme. You explore areas with unfamiliar signs and hear unfamiliar languages and through deduction and experimentation you slowly learn different vocabulary, beliefs and even connections betweet the languages while going through the games areas while slowly understanding what happened in the game world and why nobody understands each other anymore, even though they used to. And the art style is gorgeous, the color palettes are very Moebius-like.
@@dmeepinteresting thought, Edutainment games have often tried to teach language through games, though with how Chants of Sennaar is structured, you wouldn't learn the intricacies of an language, just some basic words and language structures. But it would be an enganging and interesting learning tool, at least better than many of the simplified and child-centric games that exist right now.
they may not be stable, but those tectonic plates are consistent. We can accurately assume there will be one minor shake every month and a big one every year with chances for a very big one every decade.
As an Argentinian, we love our Meruzian neighbors! It's funny to me because I have many friends from Mendoza (where the Aconcagua is) and we joke saying that Mendoza is an independent republic haha
Hey Ragnar! I'm Brazilian and I'm very happy to see a video so well research about Aconcagua like yours. I have a lot to say about the PS2 and the cultural and artistic impact of its legacy in Brazil due to priracy. PS2 still is The Console that people remember or talk about in majority of our country. The impact of bringing access to video games to peripheral communities, the countryside of Brazil and favelas is something that no other home console has been able to repeat here! If for some reason you want to know more about this I myself have a text in portuguese about this relationship between piracy, GTA and videogame culture in Brazil and the Global South in general, and also a great friend of mine called André Alcantara has very good production about popular video game culture in Brazil! If you like to reach any of us let me know!
Ragnar, this is an amazing piece of history and one of the rarest games I've ever heard, thanks! Once I noticed the title I was curious to see if it related to our Argentinean neighbours, but oh boy it had a lot more to do with our historic affairs with geopolitics, cold war regimes, and our indigenous people, game development is wild 😅. Please keep up the good work! ✌🏼
Those visuals really pushed the ps1 to its limits. It's astounding how much they got out of it. The protest scenes look incredible, almost ps2 territory.
The presentation being this good on the PS1 is unbelievable -- little but HUGE touches like depicting rope physics and nicely grounded character designs make such a difference
Oh man, this looks so gorgeous. There's just something about the game's style or texture choices. I am not sure what it is, it looks realistic, but not too much. Also damn, that soundtrack is pretty epic?!
Lets also not forget the CIA's and U.S LOnnnnnggg history of meddling with latin American affairs. U.S History books barely mention it, but man, once you read about it, or know people who lived it (my dad) you can see why Latin America in general is not so friendly to the U.S
I guess it's hard for people to imagine how awesome that must have looked, back in the days on CRT TVs. The systems did not create such crisp images, they were more washed out and made graphics like these look a lot better than our high definition screens today make you believe.
Yeah, pixel art and pixelated games look a lot different on the CRT screens they were designed for. I have been on the lookout for a decent CRT TV for future episodes to showcase this more accurately. (But it's not easy to come by where I live, thrifting scene here is abysmal, especially in regards to electronics)
Same here, pretty bad thrifting scene unfortunately. I just got the only CRT I could find. It cost me like 15 bucks and I've been using it weekly for over a year now. I'd say just go for whatever you can get.
For real. This looks like an early PS2 game or something created in 2024 to look like a PS1 game. At a time when Gran Turismo 2 “looked like real life” (I specifically remember using those exact words as a kid) a game looking as good as this one is almost unreal to me. Anything that comes close to this has an art style that does a lot of the heavy lifting. I can’t imagine what it would look like on a CRT. The scene when the girl was standing in front of the fire, the protest scene, and the guy repelling down a rope look almost too good to be true as-is. I don’t know how I’ve never heard of it until today.
25:10 And if you consider that during the PS1 and PS2 eras the only way to play games in Spanish was by playing Pal games despite that we used the NTSC format on our TV so we were kinda forced to mod the consoles and get patched games to play the Pal games that didn't have a 60 hz option in colors just to experience the games in spanish. Things got better in the 360/PS3 days with multi language games and even proper Latin American Spanish dubs instead of Spain dubs which was the rule during those days. Cheers from Chile to you and our Meruzian neighbors
If you're looking for a good translation barrier puzzle game, you should try Chants Of Sennaar! You climb the tower of babel, where every floor speaks its own language and you have to translate it, kind of like the return of obra dinn but instead of linking deaths to people its linking words to meaning and definition!
19:06 Long Gone Days is a modern indie jrpg exactly about language barriers and more! Since it's about war in our modern world and different countries your party is from all over and speak different languages I can hardly do the game justice but it's pretty good
Something else to add about the LOD of these characters; their mouths MOVED during cutscenes. I don't know about you, but that was the kind of revolutionary shit we only saw in multi-million-dollar, next-gen colossi like Shenmue or some very high-end PC games around that time. To see it executed at this level in a PS1 game is brain-melting. Also, hi from Argentina. It's funny how the developers seemed to fall back on tropes about Latin/South America to develop Meruza (Mendoza?) -- dark-skinned, neutral accent, indigenous. I could, for the life, of me, bet that the actor playing the dying male character was an Argentinian doing his best neutral Spanish impression. Still, there is remarkable attention to detail for 2000, especially for what essentially is a pastiche of non-white Peru and Bolivia (5.9 and 5% white) and Argentina and Chile (97 and 88.9% white). Small edit: I see your grammatically correct "¡Hasta la revolución!" Even hit the accent there!
29:05 "In the context and parlance of programming simplified, a “pointer” is a variable in the underlying code that records where certain values are stored in the game’s memory. The devs can then call these pointers as essentially a shortcut to easily retrieve the stored value whenever needed." "The use of this text-pointer system meant that individual text characters and words were not stored contiguously, or in their alphabetical order, but rather in a seemingly random “pool” that needed to be called up via these pointers in order to display text on-screen." Wow! You explained pointers sufficiently and succinctly unlike my professors at college.
I love your channel because every video you release is usually about a game I never heard of and by the time I get halfway through the video I end up thinking to myself "I have to play this!"
Props to you for putting out such a great video about Aconcagua despite the struggles that you've been trudging through. I'd never heard of it, but now it's fascinating to me. Good luck and take your time with the Fear and Hunger video. If you enjoy the process and find your groove, I'm sure it will turn out great.
Thank you for informing of this game. Channels like yours have opened my eyes and introduced me to many games i would've missed out on and never known about. I'll definitely be putting in the effort to acquire and play this game
¡Saludos desde Argentina! Se cuenta por estos lados que Aconcagua fue un intento de Sony por introducirse en el mercado del país, no solo con la idea de vender más consolas de PS1 antes de la salida de PS2. En la trama, la revolución crea un nuevo país llamado Meruza y se separa de Argentina. Bien, Meruza vendría a ser Mendoza, la provincia donde se encuentra la montaña Aconcagua. ¡Abrazo para todos! Y uno muy especial para ti, RagnarRox, para desearte que tu situación personal y familiar mejore pronto.
Its very minor in comparison, but in the SOCOM US Navy SEAL games one of your Fireteam acts as Translator and can overhear enemy conversations for your team and translate for them, giving the player more information on their mission. If they go down, the rest of the team can no longer get the information. You mentioned what other games have language barrier and translation as a feature so thought Id mention!
I grew up somewhat poor. So I have fond memories of a strange man entering my home with a duffel bag of knock off VHSs, cartridges for various consoles and ripped CD Roms of PS1 titles. He’d turn up ecery couple of month, my bros and I were allowed to select something and then the man would leave. Well one year my oldest bro selected a region locked edition of Parasite Eve. One of the more well known titles that mostly could onky be played in Japan. Well the region lock meant my bros and I only got a black screen. But then, knowing we would ave nothing new to ppay if we did not figure it out, one of the 3 bros randomly put the TV on black and white mode. This somehow bypassed the region lock and I got to play Parasite Eve back in the day as a proper kid. I consider myself lucky to have experienced that and enjoy having this little gaming annecdote about a Japanese game I managed to play back in the late 90s via a silly hack that probably not even the devs could explain.
I have played this recently on my PSvita (I converted as a “PS1 Classics” game, if you know-you know!) and as a point-click adventure game, it’s really a well-made game for the PS1. The face animations for its time are quite impressive, and the cheesy and f-bomb littered dialogue certainly made it a very b-movie action thriller flick. And yes, It does suffer in the usual clunk that point-click games in this era are known for; like putting your character in a VERY SPECIFIC spot to interact something with and the “where and what tf do I next?” dilemma can frustrate you at times. But overall, it is a very unique experience to play this obscure gem from the PS1 that has finally been translated and accessible to the a wider global audience. SHOUT OUT to Team Hilltop Translations for this AMAZING English Translation patch! Those guys are really doing God’s work, bringing once-forgotten Japanese only games into a more significant retro resurgence! P.S: The game DOES look so GORGEOUS on a PSVita OLED 😁👌
Wow right after you mentioned the game play mechanics are similar to classic point n click adventure games you played one of the best tracks from Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of darkness, didnt think anyone except die hard Sierra fans even knew about QFG cuz its an rpg/adventure game hybrid and people only ever mentioned sucky Kings Quest and sometimes SQ, LSL etc
I would like to give shoutout to RU-vidr iconoclast187, who did Let's Plays (and translation via captions) of both Aconcagua and Mizzurna Falls, before they got "official unofficial" translation; as well as several "played before it was cool" PS1 games. If you want to experience those two games and learn a bit extra about them, please give that man some views!
As a rare games hunter out there im happy that there's still games like this that i haven't play yet and thanks to you for actually show us this peace of this gem in it's time. Also thanks to legendary Hilltop for patching this in English.
I was watching your video and was thinking to myself: "say, this game reminds me a lot of the Disaster games". Right up until you mentioned them yourself! Brilliant!
I absolutely love your channel. I have adhd and struggle to keep focused on tasks, even my art, but listening to your channel really helps me stay in the moment and learn about games I'm incredibly curious of but can't/couldn't play either because of obscurity or because I get scared very easily and struggle to play horror games despite my love of the genre. I'm sure you have a backlog of games you want to cover but if you get the chance I recommend Obscure on the ps2 if you havent already! It was one of the few horror games I managed to beat and got the best ending for!
Obscure has been on my list of "wanna definitely cover one day!" Also happy to hear I can keep you glued to the screen, maybe it's because it's written by a fellow ADHD brain :)
@RagnarRoxShow thanks for the reply and that's awesome to hear! Even in my nerdy friend group I'm the only person I've met who's even heard of, never mind played, Obscure so it's really cool to me that it's already on your list! I also forgot to mention that listening to your videos help me keep focused on my art too. I hope things slow down enough for you to catch your breath and thanks again for all your awesome videos!
A few days ago I was thinking how games of the 9th generation don't feel like they try to exceed the last generation and push the new systems to the limits. Most of the AAA games you see for the PS5 are just the games you could have played on the ps4 and it wasn't like that with older generations (of course I might be wrong) And now I see this game which is something that you wouldn't believe it was even possible to play on the humble PS1 and it's such a cinematic and beautifully crafted game that truly amazes me Such a shame it didn't get the attention it deserved from it's publishers. P.s: Hope you are feeling and doing well Ragnar
Always happy to see a new video from you! Take as much time as you need for the funger vid, i know it’ll be fantastic when it’s fully baked and ready to serve!
As someone who's also going through some rough stuff, I wish you all the best Ragnar and things are bound to get better. Take the time you need and see you back with another video.
That’s the game. The dialogue-and particularly the Spanish dialogue-of Aconcagua is mixed way too quiet relative to the music and sound effects. One of my few substantial criticisms when I played it because of this video!
Famicom Detective Club got a release on Switch E-Shops, finally getting localized. And despite being visual novel like Detective games, both Famicom Detective Club Missing Heir and its prequel The Girl Who Stands Behind are both good games.
You have no idea how thrilled I get when you cover a game that I can actually download and play (and which looks so interesting!), as always, love your work buddy PD: That lil bit of spanish you spoke, right on point ✨
Surprisingly at the time of the release south america was actually doing so well that all the cable TV you get even in México you'd expect to see usual north american centric ads you'd get stuff from south america which had food, shows and promotions only applicable there
A friend of mine was playing this, I have to tell him to continue it some day... 12:41 Being spanish my main language, the voice acting in Spanish *is* a bit weird, but not in a bad way. Asides of the clear problems with the volume of the recording, I think they're actually native spanish speakers. Which is kind of incredible in a japanese game now that I think about it. BUT I have the feeling they didn't have much direction about the context of the scene. Mostly, they don't sound as the guy is actually dying lmao, they're too calm and relaxed Edit: Ragnar you asked for games that play with a language barrier, and I remember one! Is called A Date in the Park. Super short click and point style, so is also quite simple, but it certainly plays with the idea really well.
Hey Ragnar. Another great video game analysis! Your analysis gave me not only gave me a look at a retro game that not only looks really cool (i grew up playing the disaster report games, so this kinda games really interests me), but kinda gave me new perspective and an insight of what really goes behind the scenes of fan translations and the "piracy" of roms and all that (i still think it is a piracy, but it is way more than that). After knowing what happens behind the scenes, i really respect it. Btw, i hope life gets more manageble for you, may there are resolutions and closure and comfort in your life after the hardships you're going through now.
25:03 I'm pretty sure most of South American people just pirated their games in the psx-ps2 era, regional pricing and digital distribution are what made the south american videogame market really grow. The ps2 was very popular in LATAM, but I literally know no one that actually bought a legal copy of a ps2 game. Nowadays the latinoamerican market is still pretty underestimated, videogame spanish localization is still led by Spain and some companies such as SEGA dont support a fair regional pricing for the region.
"A region that didn't have any appetite for video games." that is an absolute lie, we didn't have teh means to get video games, at least in argentina, things were getting more nad more expensive, and the impending devaluation was not helping. But lord we wanted games, console and pc. It's just that finding legal copies was not too easy, and instead you had a flood of bootlegs and just pirated copies on most stores.
Venezuelan here. Being a "Japan only" entusiast I remember hearing about Aconcagua around the mid 2000, what little information I could get did not do much to get me interested, it sounded like a boring Game that just happened to be set in Los Andes. Learning more about it now i'm surprised to see it was a super production pointed towards an international public. An interesting Game victim to circumstances indeed
Thank you for the great video ! I had never heard of this game but now i am pumped to try it ! And i am sorry you had so much on your plate lately, sending you tons of love and support ! We will wait for Fear and Hunger, don't worry !
been following the channel for a few years and i didnt expect to see aconcagua here :D i havent played it myself but ive been aware of it for several years, so much that last year while working with high school freshmen (im a esl teacher in latam) i gave them fictional countries for a 'traditions & festivities' assignment and among them was meruza haha also, super looking forward to the funger video(s)!!!!
One small note on the voice acting: I'm fluent in Italian and understand Spanish as well, especially inflections and I gotta say, the voice acting in Spanish is about the same level as the English parts but when we don't understand a language too well we tend to be a lot more forgiving with the acting, maybe because we don't pick up on smaller details. Which is why I presume a lot of people prefer the Japanese voice acting in JRPGs. It's not that it's necessarily better, but not understanding it makes us cringe less. My 2 cents.
No views? I'm glad to be first to a ragnar video. As always, love your stuff. Been interested in playing Aconcagua for while on my PS Classic, it's a shame we missed things like this in the west. The only one I'd like to see more is Kowloon
Very cool game. Though add this to the list of "Games that make me sad because they never saw wider release." Seriously, I wonder how the shape of modern gaming would look if certain gems were more mainstream.
Rangar, thank you for another epic video. I love your work so much, always like a gift for me, like a holiday. Keep it up! Sharing your love with us and your knowledge of obscure horror and not only horror games.
In 2003, I was part of a small group in my High School that tried to decompile the code of this game, translate the text, and remove the wobble grove encryption so the game could be played on unmodded PS1s and PS2s. This game not getting an international release was a crime against art.
It’s SO rare to see South America portrayed in videogames, the only example that comes to my mind is Max Payne 3. Thanks for digging up this game. I love the grounded visuals and the attempt of a political commentary from a Japanese perspective. It looks like something from Kojima. I’ll give it a try, although I don’t like point and click games.
34:29 And you might be suprised, that we "pirates" even are asked sometimes to share our knowledge in obscure games, believe me, i gave a guy some information and directions on some of those, this one i gave the Assault Suit Valken translation and Terranigma insight of where and in what emulator play them.
Take your time with the fear and hunger video it is a heavy and stressful game series and especially after a bad mental health time you defiantly need that break!
I thought of this, too! Vagrant Story used some mind-boggling trickery to achieve visual effects that the PS1 simply isn't capable to producing out of the box. Things like colored lighting reflecting on animated character models -- and they do that in Aconcagua, too, you can see it in the shot of Julia in front of the fire. For this for instance, they actually duplicate the player model in an orange tint and place it in a way that makes it look like it's being lit from behind. Marvelous use of smoke and mirrors at work.
It's a beautiful aesthetic that is largely the product of clever attempts at obfuscating the limitations of the PS1 hardware. I'll be excited to see if it sees a renaissance the way that pixel art did a decade or so ago with indie developers. If I had any talent for game dev I'd absolutely love to make a game that looks like this or Vagrant Story or Koudelka's cutscenes.
That scene at 12:48 is so peculiar, that's either an Argentinian voice actor or someone who's pretty decent at imitating the accent, but with the wrong dialect. I wonder if it was done just to distance itself from reality since this happens in an alternative world where Argentina doesn't control those territories (wouldn't make that much sense since the dialects of the region would still retain the same characteristics) or if it was just an unintentional omission on the part of a dev team that wasn't aware that the Spanish dialects of the South Cone are noticeably different to those of the rest of Latin America. On a side note I also have a suspicion that Sony's higher ups were probably hesitant about putting a lot of marketing money behind a console-exclusive point and click in the year 2000, right around when the genre was starting to struggle even on PC. I bet this game would have been given a chance if it had a different control scheme that was more controller-friendly.
That, plus the PS2 was out, and usually the suits want to not divert a single bit of attention away from their new consoles. I genuinely think that was the main reason. Maybe the game was aimed for an earlier launch before the PS2 came out but had to be mildly postponed... hard to say because there's very little documentation about it to find (at least without being able to read Japanese)
Ragnar, I would definitely look at Kavernackle's recent video mentioning Hello Fresh if I were you. Cause i know how you feel about worker's rights, and might have a few disagreements with them... For one example, workers described it as worse than Amazon.
Another great video! I finished Aconcagua just recently, thanks to emulation and the hack comunity. All I can say is I that had a very good time with it!
Yeah, this needs more attention and it's a shame people downvoted you. I know Ragnar needs the bucks as everybody but I'm sure someone as good at what they do as him can easily find a better sponsor
14:20 I could be remembering it wrong, but I think Mario 64 also did lod for atleast Mario's model if the camera was far away. I remember hearing that a few more first party N64 games also did that but nothing else comes to mind.
N64 basically is another gen. It also supported mipmaps in hardware. In PS1 devs had to do this in the software code itself, and it had to fit in the RAM.
