pQube has finally announced an official release date for the English version of Steins;Gate 0, which will be November 25th in Europe and November 29th in North America (same date as Final Fantasy XV). Along with the announcement there is also a new post on the PlayStation Blog where the translator for Steins;Gate 0, Adam Lensenmayer, discusses the process of localizing the title.

Anyone else excited?

I can't imagine a scenario where I like it as much as the original which has me hesitant to even try it.

I never knew this existed. The concept sounds both interesting and depressive.

@alistercat: I really liked the first Steins;Gate but it was still far from perfect in my eyes. I've heard a lot of people, that were huge fans of the original, say that Zero is much better than the first game, so that has me excited to play it. It is also just exciting to have the sequel come out so soon after its Japanese release, we had to wait 5 years to get Stiens;Gate 1 in English and now we are getting Zero a little less than a year after Japan.

I've only seen the anime, but I have multiple copies of the first game. I immediately preordered the Rice collector's edition of Zero when that went up. I'm really stoked for this. I do wanna play through the first game first though.

A lot of people even say that Zero is better than the original so. I am really excited its coming so quickly.

@atwa: @lentfilms: That's what the blog said but the first one really got me. I was in tears by the end. Happens so rarely that i can't see a sequel doing that but I blindly bought steins gate on a whim not knowing anything about it so I will do the same here I suspect.

@alistercat: Well it is hard to have a surprise like that when you play a sequel but, besides the PlayStation Blog, I've heard many other fans say they got pretty emotional when they played Zero. Either way, it seems that Zero will definitely be worth playing if you love the series.

@alistercat:I've muddled through parts of 0 in Japanese, and just jumping back into that story/world pulled me back in immediately. Coupled with what I gleaned of the story, I can definitely see it matching up to the original. I also went in pretty much blind (I'd screwed around the Japanese 360 version and read the deck on the GB wiki, but that was about it), and it now sits alongside Persona 4 The Golden as one of my favourite games.

Do it if you can (this guide is handy if you want to get through as quickly as possible). Even if you know the basic plot from the anime, there are some incredibly powerful moments in the VN. IIRC, the Suzuha ending isn't covered in the anime, and it really underscores how twisted Okabe's world is becoming. The True End is also perfectly paced, and has possible one of my favourite uses of music in any game (vague spoilers):

Another interesting bit of information is that one of the translators for the first Steins;Gate, Reading Steiner, has tweeted that he thinks that Zero's translation seem solid.

This is great news since I had been worried about Zero's translation quality since hearing that 5pd was doing their own in-house localization instead of using the original team. It is also good to see that 5pd can make quality translations since it is currently rumored that the company might also be bringing out Chaos;Child in the West.

Even if the localisation was questionable, I doubt I'd mind too much (I've been working through Hiyoku Renri no Darlin recently, and the fan translation is pretty rough in places), but definitely good to hear.

Bringing Chaos;Child over is interesting, given how that game ties into Chaos;Head. It'd be nice if that made its way (officially at least) to the west.

@alistercat / @lentfilms et al.: I've been lucky enough to receive a review copy (PS4) of Steins;Gate 0 (review to be posted November 22 if it's ready by then; few days before the EU launch). If there are any specific concerns/parts of the game you'd like me to address/comment on, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Steins Gate was alright but it didn't leave any lasting impression. The story was confusing, the choices were unclear what they led to and there was not enough romance for my taste. I didn't feel anything for any of the girls you could end up with which for me is the essential part of a Visual Novel. It was still alright but I don't know if I will be playing 0 unless it is on sale.

@dagas: One of the main reasons I liked it was because it was not focused on romance. It falls in to that trope a little bit with each ending but I even thought that was too much. Luckily there are plenty of others out there in that genre for you.

@stordoff: Great! The only thing I'm curious about is whether it takes 20 hours to really start like the original did. I expect I'll buy it anyway.

@stordoff: Cool, how is the translation quality so far and is the spacing for cell phone text all messed up like it was in the console versions of the first Steins;Gate? Since the game is pretty much all text, readability is super important to me. Also, in a general sense, how are you enjoying the game so far?

oh my god I totally didn't know this was getting a translation! Steins;Gate is probably one of my favorite game/anime experiences ever. The fact that people say 0 is even better???

MANNNNNNNNNNNN

I really want to wait for the anime first but it seems a long way off... Either way, I should really finish the first VN before this.

I'll comment on the pacing in the review (personally I love the slow start in the original, but from where this picks up in the story it really needs to get going a little faster). From what I remember of the Japanese version, it gets going much faster (I'm under embargo until the review hits on the 22nd, so can't say much more just yet)

I'll keep an eye out on spacing issues (I've been replaying the original game recently and I'd forgotten how iffy some of the message were in that regard). I can't really give a specific answer until the embargo lifts on the 22nd (and until I've played more - I'm not too far into the game yet; next few days/week is pretty much reserved for me to continue playing)

I'm reluctant to answer this before the embargo (this is my first time dealing with pQube stuff pre-release and I'm not sure how strict their embargoes are), but I can't wait to discuss it with more people ;)

I'll post a link in this thread to the review when it's up (it'll on on my GB user reviews page, so easy enough to find), and I'll be happy to give more specific answers at that point if people are still curious.

Yeah, I played the PC version of Steins;Gate that was released by JAST USA back in 2014 and I was a bit shocked at how sloppy the text looked in the console versions. Here is an image I found online that compares the two versions:

@lentfilms: The steam version uses the same localisation unfortunately. I played it on Vita so I didn't know any better at the time but at worst it felt a little sloppy. Still readable.

@alistercat: Strangely enough, the iPhone version seems to have better text spacing from what I can tell from screenshots. Anyone play that version?

Review embargo just lifted, so I can talk about the game more now (full review coming in a couple of days - been ill so not quite finished with it yet). Note I haven't seen the full ending of the game yet, so take these opinions with a pinch of salt!

It's not a fast start, but definitely gets going quicker than the original game. It starts immediately _during_ the True End of the original game, then there is a lull for about 2 hours as new characters/tech. is introduced. After that, there is a perfectly timed late credit sequence, and the pacing from there is impeccable IMO. It ebbs and flows, and just as things are starting to seem normal and mundane, it hits you with the next "event" (which I won't spoil, but boy it goes places). The story is also told from multiple perspectives, rather than just Okabe's POV throughout, and the way it teases out information and swerves the obvious is pretty much perfect for a Steins;Gate follow-up (I have a list of "Open plot threads" currently, and the way they are coming together so far is very satisfying).

I've had a few minor quibbles with the translation - it uses GivenName FamilyName rather than FamilyName GivenName as in the original ("Kyouma Hououin" looks all the way wrong after seeing/hearing "Hououin Kyouma" so often), and a couple of lines are slightly ambiguous where the original Japanese wasn't (names are used in the VO, but the text just uses the same pronouns to refer to different people). It's also _slightly_ more "westernised" than the original - e.g. "kawaii" and "moe" are both translated as "cute", where I suspect the original would have maintained the distinction, and "Akiba" seems to be always to written out as "Akihabara". Oddly though, the Japanese brackets (「and」) are retained. It also often translates "<sentence>, Name" as "Name, <sentence>" which feels a little weird at times.

Overall though, it's a very good localisation job - the only thing that really stands out (so far) is a character saying "Not at all" in English but the text says "It was nothing". The spacing of the RINE messenger seem fine - no weird cutoffs like the original text messages. The only place the text looks a little weird is in the Tips section, where the kerning isn't always consistent, but the main story text has all been fine as far as I can remember. (The Destructoid reviewer noted a couple of text issues I must have missed, and I haven't reached the True End yet so can't comment on that issue. A patch was put out yesterday with the note "Untranslated text fixes." so may have been fixed - I'll certainly raise it in my review if it isn't)

Again, I haven't finished yet, so the ending could be a huge letdown for all I know, but so far it's every bit as good as the original, possibly slightly better in terms of pacing and flow. They've managed to do what I thought would be damn near impossible - making a story where you have already seen the ending feel as tense as the original game did. What various characters go through to get to that ending is astonishing, and it makes me appreciate the original game even more.

The only thing that I think is worse than the original is the art style. It's still great overall, but I feel like the original game stuck to its unique look more consistently. 0 seems to stray a little closer to what I'd call stereotypical anime (for lack of a better term) at times (image below borrowed from Destructoid, but it's the same one I was going to put in my review anyway).

Overall, it'll take a MASSIVE drop in quality in the latter parts of the game for this to not be in the running for my game of the year. Writing this up, I've realised I've sat for the last eight hours playing, and it feels like it went by in an instant.

@stordoff: Thank you for the detailed response! Glad to hear that you are so positive about the title and I'm happy to hear that they releasing a patch to fix the untranslated dialogue, I was worried that it would just be left the way it was and it is good to see that 5pd will be supporting their games post release.

@stordoff: I just ordered a physical copy for Vita because it's not even on the PSN store.

@lentfilms: @stordoff: My copy just arrived, got a pretty big discount on a physical copy. Weirdly, the patch notes state it has "Game balance changes". What the hell does that mean in the context of a visual novel?

@stordoff: Thanks for the lengthy post, but I have one more question - I experienced Steins;Gate first as an anime, and am now playing through the game for the first time. I really, really want to find out what happens in Zero, but am unsure how I should experience it for the first time. Should I just play the VN right now, or wait for the anime adaptation (let's just assume the adaptation will be as good as the original).

@bollard: As somebody who played the game first, I felt short changed by the anime. It's good, but there is a lot more detail and you get to know the characters so much better. Compromises had to be made for the time. I guess it's a question of pacing and detail, which one is more right for you? I got a much better sense of Okabe's delusions and his relationship with Myushi from the game that didn't really come across that well in the anime. Also the extra time spent explaining time travel was great, whereas the anime barely touches on it. On the other hand it is stretched out so long, whereas the anime is snappy.

Just my perspective. I can't speak to how it feels to find out what happens through the anime. I just watched it as a fun take on the events from the game.

This is a good point, from what I've played so far of the original VN one of the first things I noticed was how interesting it was to see Okabe's internal thought processes, and realising what he actually believes and not just what he says. And the longer sections of the time travel lectures were excellent.

But yeah, it's definitely a lot slower paced. The anime left me cold for a while wondering why anything at all mattered, but I really liked the way it moved by the end. I guess I'll just have to decide for myself, eh!

@bollard: Oh there was definitely a long period in the game too where it feels like you don't know what the point is, but because you know where the story goes it would make sense having seen the anime. You feel that character development after, and if I hadn't forced myself through absolutely hating Okabe it wouldn't have paid off so well as he develops. He doesn't seem that bad in the anime, just boistorus and arrogant, but in the game his thoughts really explain his delusions and insecurities. Makes the pay off of him becoming a selfish hero much stronger.

That's why I asked stordoff about the pacing. This is a sequel though so I'm guessing the point of it all will be much more clear. I jumped in to the original blind.

Oh, and you must do all the alternative endings. They are the best and tragically not in the anime at all. Two of them in particular are really heavy.

I also played through the VN first and I totally agree with you about how the game goes into more detail with certain characters as well as the specifics on how the time travel works. However, I actually thought the anime was more enjoyable. Maybe that just had to do with the strong English dub making certain characters more likable to me, I think Daru's English version is much better than the Japanese, but the pacing was just a lot quicker and got the meat of the story a lot faster, even though it still took about 12 episodes. But yeah, again both versions have their own strengths and weakness, which makes experiencing them both more enjoyable :)

Anyway hope you are enjoying 0! I'll hopefully get my copy around the 29th, or whenever I get my next paycheck.

@alistercat: @lentfilms: So I just finished the True End. I really need to do some thinking about the overall plot before I can write the review though. Everything before that ending, including the five normal ends, is as close to perfect as it could be - the pacing is great, the new characters are interesting, and the drip feed of information across multiple worldlines is amazing.

The True End, though, I'm going to need some time to think about. It's either very subtly crafted, and ties back into the original game's True End remarkably well OR it leaves way too many plot points of 0 unanswered, to the point that the whole thing would fall apart if I looked at it too closely. My gut reaction, having finished the game about an hour ago, is that there are just too many points in the game that are obviously set up to be answered later (e.g. why are so many people suddenly experiencing Reading Steiner?, who is changing the worldline and how?, who shot the parking garage assassin?, who was the assassin working for?, what is the relation between SERN/Stratfor/DARPA?, where did the chimp bodies come from?, did Suzuha stop the Y2K problem?, Daru receives a crucial map at a crucial time from "an unknown sender") that are never addressed (including some that would potentially be an issue in the fabled Steins;Gate worldline). I'm probably going to replay some sections of the game before reviewing to make sure I didn't miss the explanation, or whether it reveals itself on a second playthrough with the new information. It's certainly not a bad ending, and does tie back into the original game properly, but it lacks the punch that the original game had (though two moments leading up to it come close). You can write it off as "we are switching worldlines all over the place, and who knows who has what time travel technology and motives in any given line", but given how precise the original game was with that sort of thing, it's a little unsatisfying.

Also, the short cutscene that plays after the True End is only subtitled in Japanese, as Destrutoid noted. AFAICT, it's nothing important (My Japanese is all but non-existent, but I think it's just a callback to the opening of the first game and something perseverance), but it's a pretty poor way to cap the game off. As I noted in my previous post, the translation isn't quite as good (e.g. "Mayu-shi" gets translated as "Ms. Mayu" or "Mayu-shi" seemingly randomly, and there are a few typos, such as "K?chel" where I think the game couldn't render an umlaut), but it's mostly fine. Certainly readable, and conveys the surprising amount of humour well.

Overall though, it's probably about on par with the original game. The first 90% or so of the game is probably better paced and written, though the worldline changes happening as the plot demands rather than as a reason of the plot makes a little harder to follow at times. I'll have more to say on the ending once I've had a bit more time to process it (and possibly read some breakdowns of it online).

0 really delves into the Okabe/Hououin personalities, and the payoff is wonderful - really made me appreciate the character so much more.

Absolutely. Not sure which other one you mean offhand, but the Suzuha ending is tough going.

@stordoff: The endings I was talking about are Braun's daughter, though the game doesn't really 'end' there, but it's her ending, and whatever the one where Okabe groundhog days himself until he think about raping and killing everyone, which was my first ending

The inconsistencies in the localisation between games is bugging me, especially when it comes to names. Also that they didn't get An american to voice the american guy, because it's really bad.

@stordoff: can you answer some questions? Do they ever treat lukkako as more than a punchline? I'm guessing no. Is Chie part of an archetype in Japanese culture? Because that girl might as well be Chie.

A lot of things are bothering me so far but they're minor. Mostly the art being really bland and the consistency with the names being weird. Also a lot of the light hearted sections feel like they are just fan service on a fan disk. I'm only on chapter 4 and I'm enjoying it so far but there's a real lack of direction at the moment. Much like the first game.

@alistercat:

Do they ever treat lukkako as more than a punchline? I'm guessing no.

Yes, but not as much as I would have liked. There are two scenes in particular with Lukako that really stand out, and redeem the rest of the game to some extent. I'll be vague, but spoiler tagged in case you want to go in completely blind: Lukako comments on more or less the same thing you did, and the explanation given as to why he seemingly is left out of all the time travel etc. nonsense is quite touching, a scene in 2036 really demonstrates how strong a character he is, and how much he means to Okabe and the rest of the group even if it doesn't necessarily come across in the rest of the game.

Is Chie part of an archetype in Japanese culture? Because that girl might as well be Chie.

I'm fairly sure the character traits are (tomboy-ish looks/interests, more traditionally feminine traits hidden to some degree, etc.), as I can think of other characters that have a very similar attitude in other games. I'm not sure about the character design though; the similarity between the two is uncanny.

Also that they didn't get An american to voice the american guy, because it's really bad.

He speaks Japanese for most of the game, so if they got an American voice actor it might have been even worse (I suspect not many voice actors are fluent in English and Japanese), but I agree it's not great. It'd be better if he never spoke English at all IMO - at least then it wouldn't stand out as much. There's another character later on who has an even worse American accent, so definitely one of the lower points of the game.

Also a lot of the light hearted sections feel like they are just fan service on a fan disk.

Ordinarily I agree with you, and it's certainly something Steins;Gate has done frequently enough (see, e.g., Hiyoku Renri no Darlin), but here I think they are necessary to some degree. They help establish why this worldline matters (because the player knows going in that the whole idea to avoid any of this ever happening), and how Okabe gets from the pits of despair and more or less giving up to sending the video D-mail we see at the end of the original game. It's those light hearted moments, contrasted with the events that he knows are inevitable, that finally snaps him out of it and forces him to act.

I'm only on chapter 4

Depending on which path you are on (there is a branch after two chapters IIRC), I can see why you might find it a little directionless. Some of the longer paths have more of the light hearted scenes, and don't appear to have much to do with the main plot. On the other hand, once you've seen one of the endings (there is one that ends after just four chapters) and seen what's going on behind the scenes, it's a little easier to connect the dots and see why things matter a little more.

Mostly the art being really bland and the consistency with the names being weird.

I don't know if I'd call it bland, but the art certainly isn't as strong or consistent to its own style as the first game. The names also bug me as well - I don't think the translation is necessarily bad, but it really should be more consistent with the first game (name order, leaving concepts like moe/kawaii/chuunibyou in and explaining them in the Tips rather than avoiding them or collapsing both moe and kawaii into "cute"). The closing cutscene being untranslated is especially disappointing.

I still think this is a very strong game overall, and that establishing a level of tension despite knowing both the ending and that the ending is a big reset button is no mean feat. It's certainly not as strong as the original though - the minor flaws (art, translation) start to add up, and there are a few too plot points or scenes that could have been cut to make it a tighter experience.

Also, now that I've had some time to think about it, and started to write my review, the True End is a little disappointing. The number of dangling threads really made me hope that there was some intricate master plan from the future unfolding, but a lot of things just get glossed over and not addressed. At the end of the original game, everything fell into place, and you knew _exactly_ what happened. 0 lacks that feeling - there's a lot of "Well, I guess that could have happened" or "Maybe that wasn't important, but I'd still like it explained" instead, especially when it comes to things that would still be problematic in the Steins;Gate worldline (Fubuki and many other people are experiencing Reading Steiner. Surely that would be investigated in the Steins;Gate worldline and still potentially trigger a time travel arms race?)

There are certainly aspects of it that I like (2036!Okabe sending 2025!Okabe a D-RINE saying that the world can be deceived without changed established events, thus setting up the actions of 2011!Okabe is a twist I did not expect, and is definitely a fitting end to a game involving time manipulation).

@stordoff: I'll have to come back to this post when I'm done with the game. I meant the art is more generic rather than bland. It just feels very standard. It contrasts really badly since there are so many flashbacks to the first game using the original art, and new art overlayed on old backgrounds. It's a question of preference so there may be many people who prefer the new style but I don't like it. Mostly Daru and Kirisu and Myuri. They look weird. Regarding the fan service, I definitely appreciate the character building moments but I don't think that making everyone dress in skimpy santa outfits has to be one of them. In general there is way more sexual, typical visual novel crap in this game which annoys me at times but then I remember Okabe molesting Luka and walking in on them in the shower. Japanese games.

@stordoff: I just hit my first ending and it may be the most unsatisfying experience of my life. Please tell me there is more to the game. I'm on mobile so I can't post spoilers but it ended very abruptly after only 9 hours or so.