Why Dog of Bay Just Makes Sense

[@biancasenisi3900]

Unison mentioned!! I am fascinated by Dog of Bay and need to play it now

[@OneControllerPort]

Lol Yeah I still need to sit down and play Unison through, but I was having some trouble with it. I hope you enjoy Dog of Bay!

[@Burppo]

It was great of Hilltop and the rest of the team to translate this game! Its a rhythm game so it wasnt totally necessary for the gameplay but it helps with further understanding the game rather than just shrugging it off as weird, which as you mentioned happens far too often. Fan translation allows for very unique games like this to be played by more people and better understood!

[@OneControllerPort]

Yeah, they're doing great work! Hoping people keep looking at these more unique experiences and lovin' 'em.

[@YokoChanAdventures]

Thank you SO much for covering this video and explaining more about the plot. I got the original Japanese Game in 2021 because I remembered the x-play clips. Man I love this rhythm game. And the music! Now that I know there is a translation I can finally understand what I was missing. My friends and I were creating backstories for each character and redesigning them for fun!!

[@OneControllerPort]

No problem! Although definitely send your thanks over to the people who translated it. They did all the hard work lol. I think they also translated the lyrics for all the songs too. If you need help finding that, let me know and I can poke around. Thanks for watching the video and glad you enjoyed it!

[@YokoChanAdventures]

@@OneControllerPort THANK YOU!!! I actually have been working on some character re-designs for this game. I'd love to work with some people to just do a fun refresh remake! Its just fun.

[@yabuki2923]

This video was really nice!! Thank you for making it. I'm always saddened with how games like these are passed over due to their initial "weirdness". Ahh... The uncanniness is really interesting, it helps emphasize the depressing in between the characters have found themselves lost in. The voice cast is stacked for this as well! I instantly recognized the one guy as the voice actor for Carlos Riveria/Frieza, so it became a must-play. The gamplay style is troubling at first...but the story and music itself pushes me onwards ^_^

[@OneControllerPort]

Thanks for watching! Glad you liked it! Yeah I heard the voice cast are some pretty big names. I don't know any of them lol But at least from their performances here, I can say they're top notch lol. I do think one thing I maybe pushed a little too hard with the depressiveness of the Dogs. They do have baggage and are sort of lost in life, but I do feel like they're often realistically optimistic in the face of that. Like one of them seeming to settle for the roughness of life to be a desirable thing rather than a perfect life. And that's something I do really appreciate.

[@OldGameBox]

I lol'd a bit at 7:52 not gonna lie.

[@OneControllerPort]

Originally they were just all going to vibrate up and down, but I realized Cargodin's dog wouldn't make sense doing that, then just had fun with the rest of the line up lol. Thanks for watching and your hard work!

[@Sloth-Machine]

Ah yes, the secret spin-off of Planet Laika :^

[@OneControllerPort]

Lol Does it have a similar feel? I know basically 0 about planet Laika.

[@Sloth-Machine]

@@OneControllerPort I don't own it so I haven't had the pleasure to try it yet (I'm a bit of a purist with physical games, nowadays), but the character design is very similar as both Dog of Bay and Planet Laika feature anthro (not furry) visuals. The gameplay is in no way comparable, though: Dog of Bay is a rhythm game, while Planet Laika is a sci-fi RPG with a pseudo-nightmarish plot and the typical RE camera view (out of battle).

[@OneControllerPort]

@@Sloth-Machine I tend to like physical too, though in this case, I had to run the builds of the game over the network since I don't have a modded PS2. I did end up buying a copy of Dog of Bay though since I really enjoyed it. Thankfully they seemed cheap, but will be a couple of weeks until it gets here still lol. Interesting! I'm not sure if I'll ever play Laika, but I had forgotten they were also animal people lol. Sounds like people really enjoyed it though.

[@Sloth-Machine]

@@OneControllerPort I know because It's been 2-3 years since I discovered your channel, but I lurked in shadows until now ahah Ah, that's a pity. I'm from Italy and had to mod mine to play original NTSC and NTSC-J copies. I repair and mod consoles as a hobby/job so it's natural for me, but I can understand it's not the norm for others. Oh, that's nice. I'm happy for you, then! I know too well what you mean: on 1 August I finally ordered a copy of Arc Rise Fantasia, a game that never landed on EU shores (alas), and it should be here on 25 August. It's a long wait, but it adds flavor to the catch ;) By the way, yes, a lot of obscure games are known only by experts at the moment and who knows usually remain silent, so the prices keep staying low; sharing would be better, but I must admit this is optimal for collectors. I can't wait to make another order from Japan and to see what you will choose next! :) Yeah, Planet Laika was really appreciated by the few who played it. It's surely an interesting idea and as far as I know it hides a good plot twist. Sorry if I write so much, I'm very talkative ahah

[@damaralam9361]

Me personally? I would have killed for a four legged dog dancing for two hours in a rhythm Game

[@OneControllerPort]

Maybe Won!Tertainment Music Channel on the DS is for you lol

[@stormysoup1083]

This is only a ""OMG JAPAN IS SO WIERD THING!?"", until you realize that this is basically just Cats and it looks a lot less uncanny than the film does

[@OneControllerPort]

Yeah, someone mentioned Cats to me in the context of this game. I've never seen it, but I do remember most of what I heard around the time the most recent movie came out was people kind of freaking out about how the characters look in there too. I think there's probably a great video out there for someone to do that talks about the Cats inspiration/connection, but I kind of like to keep things in the context of games when possible since that's the space I know best. Though hopefully nothing I'm saying in the video seems like it's undermining that possible/probably Cats inspiration lol. Thanks for watching!

[@stormysoup1083]

​@@OneControllerPort It seems very possible from what I've seen and how you described it thematically (Cats has somewhat similar themes), not that I'm calling you out for not bringing it up, it's just the first comparison that came to mind

[@OneControllerPort]

@@stormysoup1083 Oh yeah no it's fine lol. It's kind of one of those weird things where I hear that stuff and have to make a decision if like it's better for me to watch it or stay ignorant. Usually, I like picking the latter since it can be fun to do things like play a Wizard of Oz JRPG but know nothing about the source material. I don't know how many people would play that game and not be exposed to that original movie lol.

[@stormysoup1083]

@@OneControllerPort you'd probably be better off watching the stage show for something like that since the movie didn't exist yet but it definitely wasn't necessary to be able to talk about the game, especially since there's still a chance it could be a really odd coincidence

[@LunaBoy_096]

This game needs a remake in Unreal Engine 5, the character models are highly detailed and with physics, more dynamic environments, gameplay improvements, a multiplayer mode and use of real music, imagine that the first part sounds Just Dance by lady gaga...

[@OneControllerPort]

I'd be curious if there's any indie game that more or less fits the role of a game like this today.

[@JLCL01]

I feel like the whole "lol Japan sure is wacky and kooky" has kinda diminished over the past 20 years. Mainly due to the rising familiarity of anime/manga and all the tropes and cultural context, especially with the sudden popularity since the late teens. That and, well, how much weird shit most have seen thanks to the internet (those weird-ass misleading mobile ads, memes, brainrot humor, etc). Having grown up with X-Play, its kinda nostalgic just vibing with it alongside the other G4/TechTV shows circa 2000-2006. However, its interesting watching it with modern context. Mainly just the way they go "lol wacky Japan" while having "skibbidy gyatt sigma Hero Wars Poop emoji" in the back of my mind as I watch those. Honestly while theres a certain charm experiencing a title without knowing the language (partially due to how our minds fill in the blanks without much context), I prefer having either an English translation or just learning Japanese to get a full experience.

[@OneControllerPort]

Yeah, sometimes I don't know how much of this stuff has more to do with the age range of people I'm around. I kind of felt like seeing the game talked about online again kind of re-ignited some my feelings of "oh we're just going to laugh at the silly dog game again." kind of thing lol. But in some ways this video was planned from before I play tested Dog of Bay. Funnily enough, the original thingthat got my brain going on this was a Japanese snack company who launched a metaverse for some reason lol. But yeah, mid 2010s I think really shifted a lot of conversations back into the favor of Japanese games and maybe culture as a whole. I do feel like there are still some challenges regarding certain perceptions of them, but I worry that the echo chambers I'm in online distort my view of how the wider audience view them as much.

[@Lan957]

1:53 I'm pretty sure the average player will struggle with this game. I can say I'm good at rhythm game and STILL struggled while playing this game and most of the time I had to guess how much note there are with how fast the song and its beat! (I'm looking at you Lilian and Vivian).

[@OneControllerPort]

Maybe I beat myself up more than I give myself credit for lol. The only one I really struggled with was the last song (on Normal or Easy, I can't remember how it presents itself). But even though after about 5 or so attempts I was able to bet it. But yeah I'm typically awful at rhythm games. I never finished Drakengard 3 thanks to its final boss fight lol. I haven't completed Hard playthrough (I'm not sure if there's a special ending given "The End?" included after the credits.) But I felt like, after Easy, I was much better equipped going into some of those songs later on. Either way, hopefully, you can get the hang of it! I still struggle sometimes for sure lol.

[@Lan957]

@@OneControllerPort I'll try my self on Hard later on, and what I mean by struggle is missing a few note here and there, but still passed every single song. Probably making it hard on my self because I didn't really pay attention to the tutorial about there being "6 notes" instead of 4 and only paying attention to the gems.

[@OneControllerPort]

@@Lan957 As far as I can tell, the game doesn't actually tell you about the other 2 notes you need to grab so yeah lol. Can't blame you or any one else for missing that. Though I'm guessing it probably mentions it in the manual or something.

[@Lan957]

@@OneControllerPort I was so confused while checking this game's achievement in retroA because it has "Pick Up"!. Just checked the manual in Archive, I don't speak Japanese but I don't think there's any mention of the other notes.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

its so weird because why make fun of a game that noone watching x-play could actually play

[@JLCL01]

Its like most of the other games G4 overall showed that was Japan-only: mainly for content. Back then, it was alot harder to get a hold and play Japan-only games so this allowed viewers a glimpse at these games theyd otherwise would only be able to see as still images either in a magazine or on a website. That and, well, for entertainment/comedy reasons.