New Thracia 776 translation

[bookofholsety]

Shaya did that for a kick of comical relief even though that wasn't the actual translation of Kempf saying that. xD

memes which make no sense whatsoever =/= comic relief

if poorly executed non-sequiturs born solely of terrible memes are your idea of comedy, i have some very bad news for you

[Celice]

However, we need to contextualize these out-of-place jokes. Shaya would litter these non-sequiturs between script/patch updates. They would be removed the next time a public patch were released, and there would probably be a new round of random text to take its place. They were not permanent additions. Shaya and FireLizard's work is unfinished, and it's both uncharitable and ignorant to hold to the standards of a finished translation project.

But we have equal taste to be at ends with: recently NoA has saw it profitable to use memes in their localization and advertising. Good Guy Cranky Kong took over their twitter when the last Donkey Kong game was coming out. In their latest Mario Part and several other titles, ITS OVER 9000 gets textual appearances by Bowser. There's something about a Shark Tornado in some detective game. And we weren't free of such stupid localization earlier, either. Symphony of the Night's localization renames numerous textual contents to reference Lord of the Rings just because, often screwing up an item's explanation of its purpose just for the sake of a reference. Final Fantasy IV on the GBA had several in-house jokes and references to memes from some Neogaf-esque website. Wooseley, for all his interesting choices and time constraints, would often just fuck-up text (in Chrono Trigger, there's a woman who says she hates fairs, an exact opposite of her liking them in the Japanese release). A really popular translation guy in NoE working for Enix would regularly enter late 80s pop culture references just for shits and giggles, as I've heard from some over the seas friends.

Some people seem to have this weird, unfair disposition towards in-house translation and fan translation.

[bookofholsety]

i wasn't aware of that. that said, conversely it's worth keeping in mind that for the final release of the patch in 2008ish, Shaya knew going in that the chances of ever being able to release another version afterward were slim-to-nonexistent, but nonetheless left them in there; i'm not saying this equates it to anything like a final release, but come on, removing the memes before you disappear is just common courtesy. :P in the case of the "IN AMERICA!" one, iirc it was just appended to the actual completed translation of that line (Kempf gloating about being about to spring a trap on Leif), and as such not even having any need to serve as placeholder text

incidentally, i'm under no illusions that doing it in official in-house localisations is in any way more justified, just that they're usually at least slightly smarter about it than screaming "IN AMERICA!" out of nowhere. if anything, it's sadder 99% of the time. but hey, at least NoA isn't anywhere near as bad as Insomniac about it just yet :P

[Celice]

Well, the thing is, Shaya hasn't disappeared. He currently moderates some well-known Super Smash Bros. forum or other, last I checked (a couple years ago I was talking with another community member who was working on an addendum patch to Shaya's FE5 patch--they shared this knowledge and some relevant links with me). He actually explains in one of his posts at said-forum that his work with FE5 ended up being lost in a drive failure, including later versions of the patch everyone currently uses, and similarly complains about. A lack of interest has simply let the project die--a lack of interest on both Shaya's part and the community.

I don't quite understand your "Shaya knew going in that the chances of ever being able to release another version afterward" comment. This kind of stuff has regularly happened across the scene, and it's to be expected, as most people involved are doing this for fun. Their commitment hinges only on that aspect for most projects, and as such, between lack of on-going interest and hardware failures, we've actually lost a good amount of hacks and mods and translations over the past two decades that romhacking has been a major thing. It's simply more amazing that most people put no effort into preserving any of this stuff.

EDIT: Here's said post:

YEAHHHHHHHHHHH found it lol

http://www.smashboards.com/threads/%E3%80%8D%E3%83%BB%CF%89%E3%83%BB-%E3%80%8D-federer-land-2013-feat-power-shielding-and-walk-away-dtilt-%EF%BC%8F%E3%83%BB%CF%89%E3%83%BB-%EF%BC%8F.230017/page-464

Had to use those keywords (all the -.... at the end are to clean all those FE and romhacking websites from the results cause I knew it wasn't one of those websites)

fire emblem translation shaya -serenesforest.net -emuparadise.me -romhacking.net -feshrine.net -grandbell.net -gamefaqs.com -forums.feplanet.net

Enjoy the reading my friend :)

Edited April 7, 2014 by Celice

[Robert Stewart]

Holy crap, he's that Shaya? I had no idea. O_O

[bookofholsety]

huh, i didn't know that. my apologies. the full extent of my knowledge here is the readme for the patch's last release:

This may be one of the last releases.

I may never finish.

Live with it.

But all in all this patch has had the hardest 'part' done. Being all the Chapter Scripts. All that's remaining is the singular character epilogues (even though I've put quite a chunk into them).

The only conceivable bit left is to actually finish the Epilogue. Then I presume I'll be releasing all source file material.

I'm starting University (as in first day) within 49 minutes from me writing this, so I don't know how much to say.

that's what i meant by "the chances of ever being able to release another version afterward were slim-to-nonexistent": that they'd directly acknowledged that in the readme. i didn't do any further research, mostly because i'm not in the habit of trying to track down people on the internet years after the fact :P

anyway, sorry about that. man i'm embarrassing myself in this thread with disturbing regularity, huh

[PuffPuff]

However, we need to contextualize these out-of-place jokes. Shaya would litter these non-sequiturs between script/patch updates. They would be removed the next time a public patch were released, and there would probably be a new round of random text to take its place. They were not permanent additions. Shaya and FireLizard's work is unfinished, and it's both uncharitable and ignorant to hold to the standards of a finished translation project.

But we have equal taste to be at ends with: recently NoA has saw it profitable to use memes in their localization and advertising. Good Guy Cranky Kong took over their twitter when the last Donkey Kong game was coming out. In their latest Mario Part and several other titles, ITS OVER 9000 gets textual appearances by Bowser. There's something about a Shark Tornado in some detective game. And we weren't free of such stupid localization earlier, either. Symphony of the Night's localization renames numerous textual contents to reference Lord of the Rings just because, often screwing up an item's explanation of its purpose just for the sake of a reference. Final Fantasy IV on the GBA had several in-house jokes and references to memes from some Neogaf-esque website. Wooseley, for all his interesting choices and time constraints, would often just fuck-up text (in Chrono Trigger, there's a woman who says she hates fairs, an exact opposite of her liking them in the Japanese release). A really popular translation guy in NoE working for Enix would regularly enter late 80s pop culture references just for shits and giggles, as I've heard from some over the seas friends.

Some people seem to have this weird, unfair disposition towards in-house translation and fan translation.

Ha ha...

Niintendo threw in a line of over 9000 when I've battled with my already EV trained pokes in the X version in the beginning. I laughed when I saw that line. Shows that Dragonball had it's days, eh? =P

[Siuloir]

However, we need to contextualize these out-of-place jokes. Shaya would litter these non-sequiturs between script/patch updates. They would be removed the next time a public patch were released, and there would probably be a new round of random text to take its place. They were not permanent additions. Shaya and FireLizard's work is unfinished, and it's both uncharitable and ignorant to hold to the standards of a finished translation project.

But we have equal taste to be at ends with: recently NoA has saw it profitable to use memes in their localization and advertising. Good Guy Cranky Kong took over their twitter when the last Donkey Kong game was coming out. In their latest Mario Part and several other titles, ITS OVER 9000 gets textual appearances by Bowser. There's something about a Shark Tornado in some detective game. And we weren't free of such stupid localization earlier, either. Symphony of the Night's localization renames numerous textual contents to reference Lord of the Rings just because, often screwing up an item's explanation of its purpose just for the sake of a reference. Final Fantasy IV on the GBA had several in-house jokes and references to memes from some Neogaf-esque website. Wooseley, for all his interesting choices and time constraints, would often just fuck-up text (in Chrono Trigger, there's a woman who says she hates fairs, an exact opposite of her liking them in the Japanese release). A really popular translation guy in NoE working for Enix would regularly enter late 80s pop culture references just for shits and giggles, as I've heard from some over the seas friends.

Some people seem to have this weird, unfair disposition towards in-house translation and fan translation.

In Thracia it is an issue of tone. Making zany fourth wall breaking jokes like Working Designs would do in the late 90s-early 2000s worked for them as they were releasing some fairly lighthearted games. Thracia's plot, by contrast, is much darker, and has the kidnapping, brainwashing and slaughter of children as a key component, along with themes of vengeance and oppression. They really shake up the ambience in this game.

I don't think it is ignorant to expect a quality standard in translations, even unfinished ones. If your line is mistranslated, or absent entirely, the state of the other thousand of lines of text in the script is irrelevant: That particular line is the issue. There are a number of such instances in the Thracia script, and there are even more instances of just plain awkward phrasing.

[Celice]

In Thracia it is an issue of tone. Making zany fourth wall breaking jokes like Working Designs would do in the late 90s-early 2000s worked for them as they were releasing some fairly lighthearted games. Thracia's plot, by contrast, is much darker, and has the kidnapping, brainwashing and slaughter of children as a key component, along with themes of vengeance and oppression. They really shake up the ambience in this game.

I don't think it is ignorant to expect a quality standard in translations, even unfinished ones. If your line is mistranslated, or absent entirely, the state of the other thousand of lines of text in the script is irrelevant: That particular line is the issue. There are a number of such instances in the Thracia script, and there are even more instances of just plain awkward phrasing.

You're right on the last point, which is why fan projects like Gringe's are at best fan fictions when they absolve the original story in favor of their new writer's own creative writing practice and augmentations. But many players don't seem to care about inherent quality of translation, as much as they are in being entertained, and so many would rather sit by so long as something is thrown out and replaced with an audible guffaw. (It reminds me eerily of older English plays where the actors would not try and express emotion or idea, but make gestures like sign-language to tell the audience AND HERE FEEL SORROW or AND HERE COMES LAUGHTER.)

My mentioning of Shaya's tendency however is to explain that this text was never intended to remain in the final version of the patch, and most users following Shaya's work at the time acknowledged this. Its breaking of aesthetics partly is intentional, not in the sense to disrupt the atmosphere, but to firmly show this is an in-progress work. It's happenstance that the unfinished patch, like many other throughout the scene, simply became the lasting one by lack of progress. Your gripe remains charitable only if Shaya had intended this reference to remain throughout all development and to exist still in the final version. Rather, if I remember correctly (this is coming on seven years ago), Shaya would regularly introduce and remove text like IN AMERCA with each patch revision. IN AMERICA would be excised in the next revision and then some new reference would be made somewhere else in the text--acting as a kind of easter egg for all the playtesters of the patch.

Fans who take this out of context are creating their own apprehension with the patch, out of their own misunderstanding of its state. For all the complaint, IN AMERICA is only a few bytes to edit out. I'm surprised the community is as passive and lacking as it were to simply not fix what they dislike in one small brush of a hex editor.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Celice

[Siuloir]

You're right on the last point, which is why fan projects like Gringe's are at best fan fictions when they absolve the original story in favor of their new writer's own creative writing practice and augmentations. But many players don't seem to care about inherent quality of translation, as much as they are in being entertained, and so many would rather sit by so long as something is thrown out and replaced with an audible guffaw. (It reminds me eerily of older English plays where the actors would not try and express emotion or idea, but make gestures like sign-language to tell the audience AND HERE FEEL SORROW or AND HERE COMES LAUGHTER.)

My mentioning of Shaya's tendency however is to explain that this text was never intended to remain in the final version of the patch, and most users following Shaya's work at the time acknowledged this. Its breaking of aesthetics partly is intentional, not in the sense to disrupt the atmosphere, but to firmly show this is an in-progress work. It's happenstance that the unfinished patch, like many other throughout the scene, simply became the lasting one by lack of progress. Your gripe remains charitable only if Shaya had intended this reference to remain throughout all development and to exist still in the final version. Rather, if I remember correctly (this is coming on seven years ago), Shaya would regularly introduce and remove text like IN AMERCA with each patch revision. IN AMERICA would be excised in the next revision and then some new reference would be made somewhere else in the text--acting as a kind of easter egg for all the playtesters of the patch.

Fans who take this out of context are creating their own apprehension with the patch, out of their own misunderstanding of its state. For all the complaint, IN AMERICA is only a few bytes to edit out. I'm surprised the community is as passive and lacking as it were to simply not fix what they dislike in one small brush of a hex editor.

You could say the same thing about major literary translations though. Scholars have fought over the opening lines of Beowulf for decades. Tolkien's now-released translation is claimed to provide 'greater insight' into his background. There really is no objectively pure translation - Translations inject a component of character into all their own. What also, do you say to things like Ezra Pound's work in Chinese poetry, where he managed to translate the intent and themes of pieces while possessing zero linguistic knowledge?

[bookofholsety]

You're right on the last point, which is why fan projects like Gringe's are at best fan fictions when they absolve the original story in favor of their new writer's own creative writing practice and augmentations.

i have no idea how to respond to any claim that gringe is a poor translator other than a derisive ahahahahahahahahahahahaha oh wow

i suspect this claim is borne solely of that time he slightly toned down that cath/geese support, because frankly that's the only conceivable time where gringe actively did anything resembling changing the content of the game's writing, and even then it's so minor as to make the claim laughable

[Celice]

You could say the same thing about major literary translations though. Scholars have fought over the opening lines of Beowulf for decades. Tolkien's now-released translation is claimed to provide 'greater insight' into his background. There really is no objectively pure translation - Translations inject a component of character into all their own. What also, do you say to things like Ezra Pound's work in Chinese poetry, where he managed to translate the intent and themes of pieces while possessing zero linguistic knowledge?

I think there's different messages that are present in a translation, and what we're trying to mark out with Ezra Pound might be different for the original authors, an audience, and whomever else. If we're going to appeal to namesakes, Tolstoy argued that an artistic entity was graspable by a kind of universal humanism. Ezra Pound might have had such a grasp, and though he failed the words, he did not fail the ideation behind them.

I see how one could argue this still applies to basic translation of words, but that's jumping from content to content without being charitable. I would say that the text-itself, if capable of elucidating such feeling, shouldn't need to be revised or altered, as it is self-fulfilling in that regard. When one tries to clarify it is preventing the text-itself from expressing that sense of whatever it might be, and instead is trying to redirect the audience to interpret what the translator believes is such a sense. It gets rather mucky in some ways once we fall out like this. Mostly I think the words being used are not grasping their clear referential senses, and so the muddiness emerges.

i have no idea how to respond to any claim that gringe is a poor translator other than a derisive ahahahahahahahahahahahaha oh wow

i suspect this claim is borne solely of that time he slightly toned down that cath/geese support, because frankly that's the only conceivable time where gringe actively did anything resembling changing the content of the game's writing, and even then it's so minor as to make the claim laughable

I stopped following it after Gringe would confess his errors repeatedly. Last ones I remembered was disavowing much of the Alucard significances but then shoving in Dracula-esque language to describe him, as he found the idea interesting. Another was when Gringe confessed he was rewriting script he thought was flat, and that he didn't go back to consult the original text often unless he was himself perturbed by the translation. I think a good translation would not hinge its audiences interpretations based on the translator's, as it is not the translator that is relevant to the text, but the text-itself. So when Gringe takes upon himself to measure whether the translation currently available is wonky or otherwise worth adjusting, and at times doesn't even consult what the text would be in itself, then the project is no longer interested in translation as a goal, but instead fingers on the edge of eloquence and reader entertainment. Someone once put it as "practicing their creative writing skills."

It's as the original user mentioned: it doesn't matter the quantity done well against the quantity done off if the person in question shows a willingness to ignore the quality for the opportunity of creating their own sense of being "on the mark." But as I mentioned, most of the audience really has no care for what a good or bad translation is. They merely want to be entertained, and a brash whirlwind of text can offer more in this way than to simply show the text itself. All of this talk really doesn't capture what it really is to translate something, as the method is much more nuanced than the arbitrary lines of "strays too far" against "far too conservative/literal".

[Siuloir]

i have no idea how to respond to any claim that gringe is a poor translator other than a derisive ahahahahahahahahahahahaha oh wow

i suspect this claim is borne solely of that time he slightly toned down that cath/geese support, because frankly that's the only conceivable time where gringe actively did anything resembling changing the content of the game's writing, and even then it's so minor as to make the claim laughable

I think people in game fandoms trend toward oft-unreasonably purist in their leanings, as if translating less than literally violates the sanctity of the work. This is often doubly amusing since many of the translations held up as exemplary show a fair hand of the author.

Add my voice to the chorus of those who think Gringe's command of both Japanese and English and the ability to move text between the two is pretty top notch.

[Tamanoir]

I think people in game fandoms trend toward oft-unreasonably purist in their leanings, as if translating less than literally violates the sanctity of the work. This is often doubly amusing since many of the translations held up as exemplary show a fair hand of the author.

Add my voice to the chorus of those who think Gringe's command of both Japanese and English and the ability to move text between the two is pretty top notch.

... Which is missing the point of translation.

As the popular saying goes : "Translating is betraying". Translating literally will most of the time sounding wonky, especially when it's between languages that are as different as Japanese and English.

That's... what I was teached in school. The main goal is to translate the intent of the text.

[Siuloir]

I think there's different messages that are present in a translation, and what we're trying to mark out with Ezra Pound might be different for the original authors, an audience, and whomever else. If we're going to appeal to namesakes, Tolstoy argued that an artistic entity was graspable by a kind of universal humanism. Ezra Pound might have had such a grasp, and though he failed the words, he did not fail the ideation behind them.

I see how one could argue this still applies to basic translation of words, but that's jumping from content to content without being charitable. I would say that the text-itself, if capable of elucidating such feeling, shouldn't need to be revised or altered, as it is self-fulfilling in that regard. When one tries to clarify it is preventing the text-itself from expressing that sense of whatever it might be, and instead is trying to redirect the audience to interpret what the translator believes is such a sense. It gets rather mucky in some ways once we fall out like this. Mostly I think the words being used are not grasping their clear referential senses, and so the muddiness emerges.

I stopped following it after Gringe would confess his errors repeatedly. Last ones I remembered was disavowing much of the Alucard significances but then shoving in Dracula-esque language to describe him, as he found the idea interesting. Another was when Gringe confessed he was rewriting script he thought was flat, and that he didn't go back to consult the original text often unless he was himself perturbed by the translation. I think a good translation would not hinge its audiences interpretations based on the translator's, as it is not the translator that is relevant to the text, but the text-itself. So when Gringe takes upon himself to measure whether the translation currently available is wonky or otherwise worth adjusting, and at times doesn't even consult what the text would be in itself, then the project is no longer interested in translation as a goal, but instead fingers on the edge of eloquence and reader entertainment. Someone once put it as "practicing their creative writing skills."

It's as the original user mentioned: it doesn't matter the quantity done well against the quantity done off if the person in question shows a willingness to ignore the quality for the opportunity of creating their own sense of being "on the mark." But as I mentioned, most of the audience really has no care for what a good or bad translation is. They merely want to be entertained, and a brash whirlwind of text can offer more in this way than to simply show the text itself. All of this talk really doesn't capture what it really is to translate something, as the method is much more nuanced than the arbitrary lines of "strays too far" against "far too conservative/literal".

I don't think you have a very clear understanding of the translation process, or how often things are rewritten or altered in the process by the translators themselves. For an example from Fire Emblem alone - NoA played up Ike and Elincia in PoR, rather than cleave to the original script. Awakening's script also sees several noted differences.

Really, the claim that 'the text shouldn't need to be clarified' evr is flat out ludicrous, especially given the differences between the Japanese and English languages and expressions therein. Certain concepts, internal references, etc. al do not translate well without an author's note at times.

At the risk of sounding rude, Celice, I feel like your view of how translation works is very, very divorced form the way the process occurs, and what the industry itself considers to be standard practice. Additionally, you are sort of snubbing the readerbase by claiming 'Oh, they just want to be entertained, they don't care about the quality of the translation.'

[shadowofchaos]

Awakening's script also sees several noted differences.

Hahahaha. I know that one especially well.

Anyways, as someone who at most times does translate Japanese to English literally (sometimes without even knowing it)... I commend gringe's ability in both languages.

While I'm not the most adamant supporter of woolseyism... he does it quite well.

While I would contest his policies on some specific instances, I fully support his decisions on that translation as a whole.

[Celice]

At the risk of sounding rude, Celice, I feel like your view of how translation works is very, very divorced form the way the process occurs, and what the industry itself considers to be standard practice. Additionally, you are sort of snubbing the readerbase by claiming 'Oh, they just want to be entertained, they don't care about the quality of the translation.'

And at this point, there's not much else to say, as your perspective is almost necessarily divorced, stemming from practical parts of translation, from mine which is more concerned with the act of language and the interpretation/comprehension of such. Most posts so far have simply been guided to different directions within the same sphere of subject. Their distance leads to talking past one another, as has happened so far.

Least to say I am glad that fans like Gringe are taking the steps towards getting their games into forms the community will similarly enjoy. But there is a degree of amateurity in some of these projects, regardless of whether the community recognizes it or not, and the unwillingness to snub out such issue complicates their work as an entirety. The issue comes when those unknowledgeable about the subject have no means to recognize such issues--hell, it's become rampant already with the hostile nods to the last unfinished FE5 patch. The community begins having ill-found conceptions of what then is a good translation or a bad translation, based on content, over actually understanding what it is itself to be a good or bad translation. It's just a different tier of consuming, I suppose.

Hahahaha. I know that one especially well.

Anyways, as someone who at most times does translate Japanese to English literally (sometimes without even knowing it)... I commend gringe's ability in both languages.

While I'm not the most adamant supporter of woolseyism... he does it quite well.

While I would contest his policies on some specific instances, I fully support his decisions on that translation as a whole.

He definitely brought an interesting air to to things he worked on. His distinct style might as well have beget two different Chrono Triggers, each worth experiencing for their own version of the same story. If you didn't know, when Woosely left Square, he formed a dev group and created the game Shadow Madness on the PS1. It's interesting to see his first-hand work on text over translating others' works.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Celice

[Siuloir]

And at this point, there's not much else to say, as your perspective is almost necessarily divorced, stemming from practical parts of translation, from mine which is more concerned with the act of language and the interpretation/comprehension of such. Most posts so far have simply been guided to different directions within the same sphere of subject. Their distance leads to talking past one another, as has happened so far.

Least to say I am glad that fans like Gringe are taking the steps towards getting their games into forms the community will similarly enjoy. But there is a degree of amateurity in some of these projects, regardless of whether the community recognizes it or not, and the unwillingness to snub out such issue complicates their work as an entirety. The issue comes when those unknowledgeable about the subject have no means to recognize such issues--hell, it's become rampant already with the hostile nods to the last unfinished FE5 patch. The community begins having ill-found conceptions of what then is a good translation or a bad translation, based on content, over actually understanding what it is itself to be a good or bad translation. It's just a different tier of consuming, I suppose.

He definitely brought an interesting air to to things he worked on. His distinct style might as well have beget two different Chrono Triggers, each worth experiencing for their own version of the same story. If you didn't know, when Woosely left Square, he formed a dev group and created the game Shadow Madness on the PS1. It's interesting to see his first-hand work on text over translating others' works.

No, at this point you're misrepresenting my position entirely, and being completely smug about it. Nothing you have said 'about the act of language and comprehension of it' has any sort of real substance to it. Your point has been 'Well, the text should make everything clear as it stands and there is no need for any further elucidation, restructuring, etc al. You're throwing around a lot of highfalutin language, but you haven't made any sort of clear point with it. Nor have you delineated what you consider 'amateurish' about these projects.

Also, I don't want to throw credentials around, but consider this - I speak both Japanese and English. I hold a graduate level degree in the latter. Poetic works I have collaborated on the translation of have been published professionally.

But please, do go on to tell me how ill-founded my conceptions of how language and translation works are. You seem to be relishing the opportunity to sneer at the community rather than cogently illustrate any real sort of argument or make for any provision of evidence.

[shadowofchaos]

Least to say I am glad that fans like Gringe are taking the steps towards getting their games into forms the community will similarly enjoy. But there is a degree of amateurity in some of these projects, regardless of whether the community recognizes it or not, and the unwillingness to snub out such issue complicates their work as an entirety. The issue comes when those unknowledgeable about the subject have no means to recognize such issues--hell, it's become rampant already with the hostile nods to the last unfinished FE5 patch. The community begins having ill-found conceptions of what then is a good translation or a bad translation, based on content, over actually understanding what it is itself to be a good or bad translation. It's just a different tier of consuming, I suppose.

While I guess my "tier of consuming" is probably not as scrutinizing as yours... I'd take gringe's translations anyday to General Banzai's former attempts.

[MP2E]

Documentation of the script format is feature-complete. Updates will come as I find new information about the project, but now the main focus is on the text dumper. I have decided to dub it "Resire", for now. I simply like the name, it has no bearing on what the light spell will actually be called. :P

Resire will support FE4 and FE5 text dumping, it will have it's own new script format that will be based off of JTEC(probably very light changes in terms of the actual format, all around). Resire will automatically remove repeat text instead of just flagging it. An 'automatic' dumping mode will be added at some point that will automatically locate all of the text in the ROM and dump it without PPT tables. And finally, no more crappy EUC tables! I found a great library that will re-encode everything into UTF-8 without using that silly table.

Resire is written in Haskell to minimize bugs. I'm building it module by module and heavily case testing before I move on to the next part.

Resire's source will be posted to my github repository as soon as I deem it fit for public release.

EDIT: Ah totally forgot, I used the jtec dumper to dump all of the character names from FE5 using the JTEC Dumper tool and a PPT table provided by joesteve. It seemed to work perfectly! I haven't tested the other PPT tables because I've been working on my text dumper, but things are looking good.

And finally.. I guess Project Naga now encompasses FE4 and FE5? FE4 is the first priority but FE5 seems to be a secret agenda of everyone involved :P

Edited April 8, 2014 by MP2E

[Klokinator]

Awesome, MP2E. I hope this text editor works out well and serves the purpose we need it to serve.

[Celice]

Hey MP2E, how is your program figuring out what duplicate text isn't used by the game? I know there's some unused text in the game in the prologue, dealing with Noishe and Alec and Ethlin, and I'm not sure if this text is included in some pointer array or not. But my big interest is leftover text that isn't included in a pointer array, like we see in games like Chrono Trigger. You have any ideas on an automated way to detect text not in a conventional table?

[General Banzai]

While I guess my "tier of consuming" is probably not as scrutinizing as yours... I'd take gringe's translations anyday to General Banzai's former attempts.

why

I put a lot of time into those

[shadowofchaos]

why

I put a lot of time into those

Again, without any knowledge of the Japanese.

You were "refining" a translation without any reference to the original source material.

For the entire thing.

While gringe is a little more willing to change the script from literal translations, the guy is fluent in both English and Japanese. A hell of a lot more than I am.

That alone puts him at an advantage to your former changes.

I'm not trying to start an argument... but in my mind, what you did was kind of like what ends up happening in the "telephone" game.

Edited April 9, 2014 by shadowofchaos

[General Banzai]

Again, without any knowledge of the Japanese.

You were "refining" a translation without any reference to the original source material.

For the entire thing.

While gringe is a little more willing to change the script from literal translations, the guy is fluent in both English and Japanese. A hell of a lot more than I am.

That alone puts him at an advantage to your former changes.

I'm not trying to start an argument... but in my mind, what you did was kind of like what ends up happening in the "telephone" game.

to be honest I had zero consideration for the source material whatsoever (this is for the translations themselves, not the names, in which source material fidelity was like... number one on my list)

I was always concerned about making a good story

FESD of course always being my idol

You take a trashy hollow lifeless thing and imbue it, golemlike, with a spark

To do that in many cases requires deviations from the source

A kind of phantasmic power has been given to these games in the minds of the fans, but if people saw them as they really were they would be nothing but disappointed