What the smurf is a Symphonia anyway?

[LunarWeaver]

Are there any game titles that make you kinda laugh? Ones you find sort of find funny even if you do like the game?

I'm talking about the games where somebody asks, "Hey, whatcha playin'?" and when you tell them they stare at you like you're a freak.

I love the Xenosaga series, but damn they put a lotta words on a box. I mean, I know where the titles come from, but to my brother I think "Xenosaga Episode Numeral: Nietsche German Reference" was probably a bit much.

Some game titles I got used to after a while but are still odd to me if I think about them. Super Mario Bros. Sure, it's a Japan thing to slap words like Super on a title when it's elevated to a new level, but those three words together are still...unique to me.

Metal Gear Solid. When I first heard it, I thought "A gear that's metal...of course it's solid." Sure, now I know "Metal Gear" is not a metal gear and "Solid" refers to both Solid Snake and the idea that the game is in 3-D, but back when it came out...not so much. And if you're really immature (like I am) there's plenty of jokes to be had with Snake Eater. Especially since they put him on a plane. "Naked Snake on a Plane", of course.

When I bought Tales of Symphonia, one of my favorite games, I had to repeat it to the Toys R' Us clerk about 3 times before she could even say it. On the way out, I got asked by my friend if it was embarassing for me to ask for games with titles like those. Not really, not for me, but I can still see her point.

Final Fantasy isn't exactly super normal either.

Anyway, I love all these games...but for some reason I still find their titles funny on occassion. Hmm, maybe it's just me. :jess:

[~SapphireStar~]

Some do make me laugh, I mean PoPoLoCrois still puzzles me. And Grandia. It may have been explained in the game, but I cant recall cause its been so long since i played it.

[black orb]

>>> I asked for Valkyrie Profile Silmeria and the guys from the store were WTF!? is that a game for ps2?..
Im surprised people like that is able to work in a videogame store, even my little brother would make a better work..

[Bunny]

I love the Xenosaga series, but damn they put a lotta words on a box. I mean, I know where the titles come from, but to my brother I think "Xenosaga Episode Numeral: Nietsche German Reference" was probably a bit much.

The names are titles and philosophical ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche. Many of the ideas are instilled inside each of the Xenosaga games, usually corresponding with the subtitle chosen for each respective game. Generally they are just known as Xenosaga 1/2/3, the subtitles just give a little hint as to what each game will deal with.

And yeah, I realize you stated that you knew this.


When I bought Tales of Symphonia, one of my favorite games, I had to repeat it to the Toys R' Us clerk about 3 times before she could even say it. On the way out, I got asked by my friend if it was embarassing for me to ask for games with titles like those. Not really, not for me, but I can still see her point.

The English word "symphony" comes from the Latin word "symphonia".


Final Fantasy isn't exactly super normal either.

Square was on the verge of bankrupty due to the lack of interest in the Famicon Disk System. Sakaguchi was going to retire completely after making one last game inspired by Dragon Warrior, so he named the game "Final Fantasy". It was to be Square's final game as well. It was highly successful and he decided against retirement. But, uh, the chances of everyone not already knowing that story is extremely slim. Just putting it in writing one more time.

Game titles don't really confuse me. If one interests me, I research the name while going through the game. Usually there are themes that mirror history, sometimes it's just a name taken from a location in the game.

I don't really ask questions about titles.

[Jowy]

Most people who work at video game stores, or video game departments know absolutely nothing outside of non-mainstream gaming. Sucks to be uncultured.

[Vermachtnis]

Megaman, I know it's Rockman in Japan. But I still have no idea why they went against that and changed it.

[Zeromus_X]

"Hello. When does Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria ship?"

"Valkyrie what now?"

"Valkyrie Profile 2..."

"Oh. Oh! Yeah, it gets here on the 27th, Wendesday."

"Thanks."

"Don't forget, at Gamestop, you can reserve your-"

*click*

[LunarWeaver]

I love the Xenosaga series, but damn they put a lotta words on a box. I mean, I know where the titles come from, but to my brother I think "Xenosaga Episode Numeral: Nietsche German Reference" was probably a bit much.

The names are titles and philosophical ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche. Many of the ideas are instilled inside each of the Xenosaga games, usually corresponding with the subtitle chosen for each respective game. Generally they are just known as Xenosaga 1/2/3, the subtitles just give a little hint as to what each game will deal with.

And yeah, I realize you stated that you knew this.


When I bought Tales of Symphonia, one of my favorite games, I had to repeat it to the Toys R' Us clerk about 3 times before she could even say it. On the way out, I got asked by my friend if it was embarassing for me to ask for games with titles like those. Not really, not for me, but I can still see her point.

The English word "symphony" comes from the Latin word "symphonia".


Final Fantasy isn't exactly super normal either.

Square was on the verge of bankrupty due to the lack of interest in the Famicon Disk System. Sakaguchi was going to retire completely after making one last game inspired by Dragon Warrior, so he named the game "Final Fantasy". It was to be Square's final game as well. It was highly successful and he decided against retirement. But, uh, the chances of everyone not already knowing that story is extremely slim. Just putting it in writing one more time.

Game titles don't really confuse me. If one interests me, I research the name while going through the game. Usually there are themes that mirror history, sometimes it's just a name taken from a location in the game.

I don't really ask questions about titles.

You're right, I did know all of that. But thanks for the refresher course.

But as I said, even knowing where the names come from they still strike me as funny. I tend to find everything funny in some capacity though because that's just...how I function. :jess:

I forgot to mention Devil May Cry. It always makes me laugh for some reason. I do know why it is named that, but what can I say :greenie:

[Pete for President]

It's funnier when parents are involved;

(you should know I'm from the Netherlands and my mom isn't that good with foreign languages, except for German)

Mom; How was your day today?
Me; It was allright, been to the shops.
Mom; What did you get?
Me; SoulCalibur3
Mom; Uhh.. ok.. SoulKalibou 3?

Something like that, I gave up on trying to explain and translate the titles a while ago.

[Slicksword45]

Kingdom Hearts :)

Everyone looks at me funnie when ever I buy that :)

[Reine]

Ive never had the problem of weird game names and people going "huh?" at any of the shops I go to :D

However, when I got my mum to ask her friend in Australia to see if she could buy me a copy of Drakengard 2, as it somehow was released there, but not here, she was like Drakawhat? XD

[ValkyrieWing]

Katamari Damashii!

[vorpal blade]

As cool as the series is, I still think Castlevania is an odd name and wonder where the hell it came from (the Japanese title is Akumajo Dorakyura- Demon Castle Dracula).

I like Me and my Katamari's japanese title, bokuno watashino katamari.

Boktai!! how could I forget that title!?

[Raven Nox]

I really need to stop mentioning the game so much, but Baten Kaitos is seriously an odd name. I know the game is named after a star and that it means "belly of the whale" is arabic, which fits the game, but it's still odd. I kinda like the name though, even if only my mom can remember it.

I've also had awkward conversations with Drakengard. I asked my grandma for the game on my birthday one time, and she was having trouble just remembering it. xD It's happened with other games as well. I think she only knows Final Fantasy because both me and my mom have played the series for a while, and she just learned over time.

[Vermachtnis]

As cool as the series is, I still think Castlevania is an odd name and wonder where the hell it came from (the Japanese title is Akumajo Dorakyura- Demon Castle Dracula).

I like Me and my Katamari's japanese title, bokuno watashino katamari.

Boktai!! how could I forget that title!?

Oh yea Boktai. I went and asked for that game and the cashier knew what it was and was messing with me. She kept asking me to say the whole name. And finally I said "Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hands" and she said something Smart alecky like "Nope I dropped it, it was kinda hot."

So you see, not all Gamestoppers are ignorant. Just the majority.

[JKTrix]

Games I've had slight problems asking for:

Steambot Chronicles
Disgaea
Makai Kingdom
Mortal Combat (i forgot to tell them it's a 'K')
Yakuza
Okami

Anything that doesn't *sound* or *spell* like a normal english word, the clueless folks in my little country will have a problem.

Castlevania is a play on words. It retains 'Castle' from the Japanese game title, and since most of the games are situated in a castle. 'Vania' comes from 'Transylvania', which is linked with the whole Dracula mythos.

[Griff]

The Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion always gets weird looks.

[Roto13]

Viewtiful Joe sounds fruity. :P

Segagaga is my favourite. The actual game itself is actually 100 times weirder and cooler than the name.

[Freya]

I love the Xenosaga series, but damn they put a lotta words on a box. I mean, I know where the titles come from, but to my brother I think "Xenosaga Episode Numeral: Nietsche German Reference" was probably a bit much.

The names are titles and philosophical ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche. Many of the ideas are instilled inside each of the Xenosaga games, usually corresponding with the subtitle chosen for each respective game. Generally they are just known as Xenosaga 1/2/3, the subtitles just give a little hint as to what each game will deal with.

And yeah, I realize you stated that you knew this.


When I bought Tales of Symphonia, one of my favorite games, I had to repeat it to the Toys R' Us clerk about 3 times before she could even say it. On the way out, I got asked by my friend if it was embarassing for me to ask for games with titles like those. Not really, not for me, but I can still see her point.

The English word "symphony" comes from the Latin word "symphonia".


Final Fantasy isn't exactly super normal either.

Square was on the verge of bankrupty due to the lack of interest in the Famicon Disk System. Sakaguchi was going to retire completely after making one last game inspired by Dragon Warrior, so he named the game "Final Fantasy". It was to be Square's final game as well. It was highly successful and he decided against retirement. But, uh, the chances of everyone not already knowing that story is extremely slim. Just putting it in writing one more time.

Game titles don't really confuse me. If one interests me, I research the name while going through the game. Usually there are themes that mirror history, sometimes it's just a name taken from a location in the game.

I don't really ask questions about titles.

You just so ruined that..... Fun sucker...

People think i'm talking about porn when I say "Final fantasy"

[Sephex]

This reminds me that adults still pronounce Pokemon as "Poke-E-Man" to this day. I don't even like the series all that much and it angers me a lot.

[UltimaMasamune]

Tactical Espionage Action : Metal Gear Solid 2 : Sons of Liberty

saying it is a mouthful

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

"Tactical Espionage Action" isn't really part of the title.

[Fire_Emblem776]

Think people, Final Fantasy XXX.
When that game gets released, and square is still around, think of the horror when you try to look it up online. *shudder*

[Ryushikaze]

What horror? It'll just come up with some porn attached. Just like any other time I type Final Fantasy into a search engine.

[Ryth]

What horror? It'll just come up with some porn attached. Just like any other time I type Final Fantasy into a search engine.

Quoted for truth.


I really need to stop mentioning the game so much, but Baten Kaitos is seriously an odd name. I know the game is named after a star and that it means "belly of the whale" is arabic, which fits the game, but it's still odd. I kinda like the name though, even if only my mom can remember it.

You get even more weird looks when you add "Eternal Wings And The Lost Ocean" to it.

Shin Megami Tensei, Katamari Damacy, La Pucelle, Disagaea, .hack//, and I haven't played this game, but Largo Winch.// Commando Sar should get some pretty odd looks.

[mooglebunni608]

I still can't pronounce Dirge of Cerebrus. Or spell it. And I had trouble asking the lady at EBGames for it. Then I saw the reservation boxes, and so I just pointed XD XD

[Polnareff]

Disgaea

"Disgaea" is actually supposed to mean "not earth;" dis=not and gaia/gaea=earth. Basically it's supposed to mean in the non-literal sense, "netherworld."

I struggled with that as well. :p Had to do some research for that one.


Megaman, I know it's Rockman in Japan. But I still have no idea why they went against that and changed it.

They changed it because back in 1988 when the game came out here, there was a company in the US called Rockman that made guitar amps and accessories, apparently Capcom couldn't get them to let them use the name "Rockman" so they changed it to Megaman.

There were some people saying that Capcom just changed it because the name "Rockman" would indicate to Americans that Megaman shoots rocks or has some kinda power relating to rocks, but that's not entirely the case. Some other names were changed because they apparently sounded too out-there to be normal names (but changing "Forte" to "Bass" is supposed to make it a normal name? Riiiiiiiiiii-iiiight. :rolleyes2 )


Viewtiful Joe sounds fruity.

Clover Studios may have gotten the name for that game from the film "Beautiful Joe." Even so, yeah, it does sound kinda fruity, but Capcom are pretty damn good at puns when they use them (which is not very often, except for in recent years, y halo thar Rockman EXE 6).
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The only game name that puzzles me is "Linkle Liver Story." What the hell? I've heard many possible explanations for the game's name, none of which fit.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Linkle Liver = Wrinkle River. As in ripples in a river. They just chose to romanize it in an unintuitive way because they're bastards.

[Shoeberto]

Quake always struck me as a strange game name. Its predecessor, Doom, made sense, because the game was very... doomful. Quake, however, had nothing to do with the word "quake." I guess the world was called Quake? Or one of the demons was, or something, but it wasn't even the main demon.

Then they reused the franchise in a separate game arc that involved cyborg aliens, which took it away from its already iffy foundations.

It's a real arbitrary title.

[Moon Rabbits]

Doki Doki Panic. If Doki means something, I don't know what it is, as such the title makes to sense to me.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Doki Doki Panic. If Doki means something, I don't know what it is, as such the title makes to sense to me."Doki doki" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of a heartbeat. It's used to imply nervousness.

[Sephex]

It's actually one of those words in japanese that describes a sound. "Doki Doki" is supposed to be the sound of a heart beating. The title is supposed to imply that your heart will race if you play the game because it's just that exciting.

EDIT: damn it Damn it DAMN IT I THOUGHT I WOULD BEAT KISHI TO IT FOR A CHANGE.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

:aimsun: