International vs U.S. versions.

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Alucard1191
Posts: 476
Joined: November 16th, 2016, 12:55 pm

International vs U.S. versions.

Postby Alucard1191 » December 11th, 2017, 2:39 pm

So... it is a well known fact that the Japanese didn't release everything to Americans. International versions of games will often be different than U.S. versions, and many times they are watered down.

I have encountered one of these things currently. I'm playing Final Fantasy Origins at the moment, using the 8-bit theater party.

https://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/03/02/episode-001-were-going-where/

(Side note, if you haven't read this long but amazing web comic... DO IT.)

I'm having a great time with it. I've beaten it before, both on the NES when I had it, and on the PS version that I still own. Now, the game has an Easy mode and a Normal mode. And normal mode is hard, it is a hard game.

But it looks like there is space under it for a 'Hard' mode. I do a little digging and I find out that the international version has a hard mode with increased monster stats. I would LOVE for that to be the case on the U.S. version. Once you've beaten the game two or three times over the years, you yearn for a greater challenge. Why the hell didn't Squaresoft include that in the U.S. version?

This brings me to my question: Are there any other games that have well known differences between the international and U.S. versions that you would like to experience/wish they didn't water down?

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Stalvern
Posts: 1952
Joined: June 18th, 2016, 7:15 pm

Re: International vs U.S. versions.

Postby Stalvern » December 12th, 2017, 3:19 am

Be thankful that they didn't go the other way, like with Contra: Hard Corps. You die in three hits in the Japanese version, but only one in the American. It makes the game unplayable. This was supposedly done to encourage repeat rentals. :roll:

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LoganRuckman
Posts: 647
Joined: April 10th, 2015, 1:04 am

Re: International vs U.S. versions.

Postby LoganRuckman » December 12th, 2017, 7:45 am

You die from only one hit in the original Contra too.

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Stalvern
Posts: 1952
Joined: June 18th, 2016, 7:15 pm

Re: International vs U.S. versions.

Postby Stalvern » December 12th, 2017, 10:28 am

That would be a valid point if they weren't different games designed around completely different balances of difficulty.


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