Topic: SOM website moved/finally trying to obtain a copy myself. (Read 13870 times)

Holey Moley · « **on:** March 05, 2015, 05:00:14 PM »

I've been meaning to buy a copy of SOM (through a second party escrow/courier service of some kind) for a while now. I've just been distracted by an unexpectedly extended development cycle of late. After yesterday's release I felt like doing something different, so I wracked my brain to think of what.

I thought, oh yeah, damn I haven't looked into getting a copy of SOM yet. I first looked for a service, no idea if I found the best one, I wasn't able to find any guides online, much less an authoritative one. Although maybe I should look for the word "proxy", I don't know.

Anyway, most of the services are setup for online stores/auction sites instead of SOM's kind of unique situation, so I sent an email to a service asking for a quote just now. First I had to go to the SOM website, but it wasn't there, for a second I was worried. It had been down for a while a little while back, but came back, although in a slightly altered form.

It's now here (http://www.fromsoftware.jp/pc/product/detail_93.html) which I found after searching for Sword of Moonlight. The price has actually gone down I think, and the artwork seems to be new. The search page even turned up some unique artwork I think:

Which doesn't have a proper webpage as near as I can tell. It looks like the add-on jump page is here (http://www.fromsoftware.jp/pc/product/download_swordofmoonlight_eula.html) which is easy to miss on the main page. I didn't see it at first, dwarfed by the generic support link above it.

Anyway, I hope everything goes smoothly. I've asked for two copies for myself and don't really care what the cut is for the finders fee. I would probably have requested more copies but I didn't want to raise eyebrows. I'm just glad the offer is on the table. It certainly seems like something that could potentially disappear at any time.

Holey Moley · « **Reply #1 on:** March 27, 2015, 07:22:57 AM »

For the record, I never received a response to the contact form I filled at at mailorderjapan.com.

I guess I'll have to redouble my efforts and not recommend that website/service. I just wanted to clear the slightly unorthodox arrangement before diving into website account registration or anything like that.

Holey Moley · « **Reply #2 on:** May 04, 2015, 11:05:06 PM »

I just sent the second and last payment to sutocorp.com. The process was pretty straightforward, I initiated it sometime last weekend, or it being Monday today, the weekend before last.

The total for two copies of SOM (presuming that's what I'm getting; presumably in the original trappings as in 2000 if not materials that are actually 15 yeas old; one wonders if the CDs haven't melted since then) ended up being 18,802 yen. Which if my memory serves me from what PayPal said is about $160.

There is a chunk of money that I can't account for that I'm thinking must be taxes that aren't included on the price point quoted on the From Software website. The seller says there was no local shipping fee anyway.

The company takes a flat 8% cut. Good for them I guess the more valuable something is. In this case that's $12+ which doesn't seem like too much to ask for everything entailed. PayPal itself takes a flat 4% cut, which seems criminal really considering it's just shuffling numbers around...

Still credit card fees I think are in that ballpark although not usually so high, but the seller swallows that. It doesn't seem like a good deal to the sellers really. They used to encourage people to buy with cash.

So all told, it was like $80 apiece, which is I think roughly the price point people would use when describing its original retail price off the shelf in Japan. It's the price I would tell people too I think when they ask how much it costs, like in comparison to "game engines" software.

PS: Don't ask me how I settled on SutoCorp. There really are no guides or anything as far as I could find. I just did a few searches and uncovered some makeshift guides, usually in forum threads. One recommended a few different services for importing boutique clothes, so I thought at the very least their system must be fairly open-ended. Just make sure the service you use uses PayPal, because while 4% seems like a lot, I'm pretty sure PayPal does reimbursements, or that is requires its clients to have good reputations.

Holey Moley · « **Reply #3 on:** May 18, 2015, 04:16:17 AM »

Here's a photo of the two copies of SOM still in shrink wrap. There are lots of pantyhose like holes in in the shrink wrap so probably it's the original wrapping.

Pictured in the background is a large freezer like box I made last night for keeping bags of horse feed. I have to say I'm a fan of the package design, it's very fetching. You can tell that the new graphic from the From website's search results page was made by cropping this cover and putting sword logo in the middle with some additional work to make the blending around the border work.

Holey Moley · « **Reply #4 on:** May 19, 2015, 10:21:11 AM »

Oh WOW. I just noticed that the border around the front of the box is the same or similar to the ones used on the tools. That means that probably since the background is black it can be isolated and used to clean up the tools so to make new and improved skins!

Especially the border around the 3D map editor screen is really stretched out and generally unprofessional looking. Really I think if there is a half-decent graphic artist among us the skins could all use a more polished overhaul (except for the SOM_MAIN and SOM_EDIT menu backgrounds; those would be hard to improve upon)

Holey Moley · « **Reply #5 on:** March 05, 2018, 10:04:50 PM »

Seems it moved again... and the current pictures on the product page looks like an early/internal version of SOM.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SwordOfMoonlight/comments/81pytg/what_is_this/

http://www.fromsoftware.jp/jp/detail.html?csm=013

Now I wish I'd backed up the graphics on the earlier page. They may be identical to the current ones. I don't know. I put these really weird images in the WEB folder for their curiosity alone:

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Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

Holey Moley

Holey Moley says,

simple machines forum

News:

Sword of Moonlight| Archive (pre 2023)| Beginner and other Nonsense| SOM website moved/finally trying to obtain a copy myself.

Author Topic: SOM website moved/finally trying to obtain a copy myself. (Read 13870 times)

Sword of Moonlight|

Archive (pre 2023)|

Beginner and other Nonsense|

SOM website moved/finally trying to obtain a copy myself.