Translation Ni no Kuni Translation [ENG]

[Anjiera]

Will the patch be in xdelta format and will it be hosted on romhacking.net?

Indeed. I have the same question.

Yes, that's the plan for hosting the patch. We will provide full instructions on how to patch a ROM with an XDelta-based patch.

Don't worry, folks, we *do* want you to be able to play the patched ROM. We will make sure you know how to do it, but posting now is premature and will just require me to post it several more times before we're done. So. Don't worry, we'll make sure you can play it.

 

[FireHeart7]

Can you enjoy both as separate stories for their own, unique, endearing values? Yes, definitely (says the girl who hasn't finished the PS3 one but has played the DS one more than 5 times start to finish. ha ha). Are they the best games ever made? No. Do I have criticisms about some of the design choices in the series? Yes! But, the games all have so much heart, and the art and sound direction just feels like you are playing a Ghibli film, which to me is enough to warrant hundreds of hours playing the games (the DS game is ~45 hours for me with some cheats on and ignoring most sidequests) and working on the project. Hopefully that's enough to convince you to give it a whirl once we release the patch.

Haha, I never needed any convincing, I even tried to play it in the original Japanese (Didn't get very far ). But I can see now why everyone is so eager for it. If it was an exact replica of the PS3 game, everyone would just play that instead. Especially now that RPCS3 can play it all the way through with only a few bugs.

 

[Anjiera]

Haha, I never needed any convincing, I even tried to play it in the original Japanese (Didn't get very far ). But I can see now why everyone is so eager for it. If it was an exact replica of the PS3 game, everyone would just play that instead. Especially now that RPCS3 can play it all the way through with only a few bugs.

I'm bad at keeping up with console emulators - I always just look for games designed for portable systems.

Cool to know that there is something out there able to play the PS3 game! Thanks for letting me know that!

 

[CandyIsOk]

Hello again. I own the Japanese version of Ni No Kuni: Jet Black Mage, and am currently playing it with a friend. I'm not far along, I just got to the Kingdom and are heading back to Earth, so I am deciding whether or not to continue playing the Japanese version and when the English translation comes out switch to that (or I could finish in the Japanese version and play a second time in English), or just stop playing for now, and wait until the English translation comes out and start over in English when it does. I thought I'd ask you because you know your progress is than I do. Thanks so much!

-CandyIsOk

 

[hmsong]

I'm bad at keeping up with console emulators - I always just look for games designed for portable systems.

Yeah, I usually play portables. I don't even have PS3 (or any non-portable consoles). I prefer to play games in my own room on my bed (or outside somewhere), not in front of TV.

 

[Anjiera]

Hello again. I own the Japanese version of Ni No Kuni: Jet Black Mage, and am currently playing it with a friend. I'm not far along, I just got to the Kingdom and are heading back to Earth, so I am deciding whether or not to continue playing the Japanese version and when the English translation comes out switch to that (or I could finish in the Japanese version and play a second time in English), or just stop playing for now, and wait until the English translation comes out and start over in English when it does. I thought I'd ask you because you know your progress is than I do.

[1] We will not commit to a release date.
[2] I don't know how long it takes you to play a game in Japanese, so... I can't really answer this well. I played about 2/3 of the Japanese game before I ran out the game clock at 99h, so I probably played the game for 130 hours or more. This included time looking up words in a dictionary, and doing almost all of the sidequests and generally wandering around a lot.

I played the game in Japanese entirely because I wanted to play a beautiful and unique game in Japanese. It was worth it to me to play it in Japanese, and I'm glad I did. I had no other option, though. BUT, I also have played the Yokai Watch games in Japanese even though there are English versions because I enjoy the puns and the everyday Japanese life-ness of the world in the game.

I don't know if you would prefer to play it in Japanese or in English or both. That's your call. I will say that every playtester that has looked at the game recently has been very happy with our translation quality, and we are fairly confident that people that choose to play the English patch will also be happy with it. But, in the end it is your choice.

Your call, Candy! You'll have a great gaming experience either way!

Yeah, I usually play portables. I don't even have PS3 (or any non-portable consoles). I prefer to play games in my own room on my bed (or outside somewhere), not in front of TV.

I hear ya on that. It helps on my long commute. Also to get some gaming in when a friend is crashing on the couch without waking them up! Portable is super handy (pun I guess intended)... but winter here in my part of Canada is rather long, and I often spend time curled up on the couch under a blanket with a mug of hot tea and my DS (or now Switch! Woo!). Also, if I'm playing a portable system I'm not preventing others from watching TV, and I'm not forcing them to listen to controversial soundtracks as I play (e.g. Xenoblade Chronicles X - which I loved, but not everyone does). My only problem with most portables is that they are too small (even the 3DSXL), and eventually my hands cramp after playing for a few hours. *shrug* You can't win them all... Ha ha.

 

[hmsong]

I played the game in Japanese entirely because I wanted to play a beautiful and unique game in Japanese. It was worth it to me to play it in Japanese, and I'm glad I did. I had no other option, though. BUT, I also have played the Yokai Watch games in Japanese even though there are English versions because I enjoy the puns and the everyday Japanese life-ness of the world in the game.

I don't know if you would prefer to play it in Japanese or in English or both. That's your call. I will say that every playtester that has looked at the game recently has been very happy with our translation quality, and we are fairly confident that people that choose to play the English patch will also be happy with it. But, in the end it is your choice.

Yeah, I sometimes play Japanese games, although only because I don't have English version. The biggest example is Keroro RPG for NDS (I already told you about it). That thing is really Japanese-beginner-friendly. Lots of Hiragana/Katakana, and all Kanjis have Furigana. I took 1 year of Japanese, so I can at least look up the stuff I don't understand online.

I hear ya on that. It helps on my long commute. Also to get some gaming in when a friend is crashing on the couch without waking them up! Portable is super handy (pun I guess intended)... but winter here in my part of Canada is rather long, and I often spend time curled up on the couch under a blanket with a mug of hot tea and my DS (or now Switch! Woo!). Also, if I'm playing a portable system I'm not preventing others from watching TV, and I'm not forcing them to listen to controversial soundtracks as I play (e.g. Xenoblade Chronicles X - which I loved, but not everyone does). My only problem with most portables is that they are too small (even the 3DSXL), and eventually my hands cramp after playing for a few hours. *shrug* You can't win them all... Ha ha.

Fully agreed. I live in Korea, so I have to use a lot of public transportation. And portable games are great. I know there's cell phone games, and I play them too, but I just like physical buttons instead of virtual buttons. And the convenience of playing games on your bed in whichever position you want is great too.

 

[CandyIsOk]

Thanks so much for the response. I think I'm going to wait for the English release, because I am a deep story person, and like to get all the details of the story, and in Japanese, that is hard (I do not speak fluent Japanese... I'm teaching myself a bit of Kanji, though). Right now I'm using Google Translate, which has a feature where it can use the camera to see and translate other languages, but the quality of the translation is not optimal, and at times, not playable. I got stuck outside the castle in the Kingdom for a while because I could not understand what the Guard wanted me to do. Also, It's a running joke that Google Translate is cursed by Shaadar (Or whatever his name is in the DS version) because One, it calls him Bruno, and Two, when the camera is not even pointed at any words in any languages, it just says "BRUNO" in big letters right in the middle of the screen. Sorry for rambling on for a while, but I'm really excited, and wish the team all the best. Thanks so much for all your help!

-CandyIsOk

 

[Anjiera]

It's a running joke that Google Translate is cursed by Shaadar (Or whatever his name is in the DS version) because One, it calls him Bruno, and Two, when the camera is not even pointed at any words in any languages, it just says "BRUNO" in big letters right in the middle of the screen. Sorry for rambling on for a while, but I'm really excited, and wish the team all the best.

WOW! That is HILARIOUS! Lol. Can you post a couple of photos of anything in the game with just the japanese and then the google translate? That sounds really amusing.

We've had a few people over the years come to the forum to complain about how long our translation was taking, and a lot of times they suggest that we just take all of the text in the game and dump it into Google translate and consider that "good enough". I've tried to explain the problems with that by using examples from other games that received that treatment (LegendsOfLocalization is a great site to read those sorts of things) but I've never done side-by-side comparisons of Google translated screens from Ni No Kuni.

If you have time to post a few examples, *especially* ones with BRUNO, I'd love that.

No worries on rambling - we have 45 page of people chatting about this game over 4+ years. This WHOLE THREAD is one big long ramble.

 

[CandyIsOk]

Of course! I'd love to show you. I'll play through a little more and see if I can get anything of Bruno. I know there are also times when in the Magic Master book, we see Bruno as well. It makes me happy to see that you find Bruno's Curse funny. I'll get back to you as soon as I get some pictures!

-CandyIsOk

 

[DarthDub]

WOW! That is HILARIOUS! Lol. Can you post a couple of photos of anything in the game with just the japanese and then the google translate? That sounds really amusing.

We've had a few people over the years come to the forum to complain about how long our translation was taking, and a lot of times they suggest that we just take all of the text in the game and dump it into Google translate and consider that "good enough". I've tried to explain the problems with that by using examples from other games that received that treatment (LegendsOfLocalization is a great site to read those sorts of things) but I've never done side-by-side comparisons of Google translated screens from Ni No Kuni.

If you have time to post a few examples, *especially* ones with BRUNO, I'd love that.

No worries on rambling - we have 45 page of people chatting about this game over 4+ years. This WHOLE THREAD is one big long ramble.

Makes me think of the machine translated Final Fantasy IV. You should look it up.

 

[CandyIsOk]

I found some stuff. The first two are google translate and the normal game, and the third and fourth are Bruno.



Tell me if you'd like them any bigger, I don't want them taking up too much space.

-CandyIsOk

 

[Anjiera]

I found some stuff. The first two are google translate and the normal game, and the third and fourth are Bruno.

Wow... I like how the Magic Menu got translated into Magic Beans. LOL. Those are all awesome. Thank you! I can't stop laughing about Bruno.

Bruuuunoooo! (>_<)

How absurd.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Makes me think of the machine translated Final Fantasy IV. You should look it up.

Yeah, I've seen bits of it. Unbelievable.

The biggest reason why you can ask Google to live-translate something like a video or a sentence into another language is context. Game scripts are often just reams and reams of context-less XML files, which is why I often watched scenes on YouTube Let's Play videos as I translated them to make sure I got the gender and numbers of people referred to correct, as those things are not always easy to know from just the text alone in Japanese.

Also, with multiple lines of text it is easy as a human translator to be consistent with word usage, but when stuffing individual lines at Google translate, I can absolutely guarantee that there would be words translated as A in one sentence and SimilarToAButStillDifferent in a different sentence. We have a massive glossary that we used when translating this game to ensure we translated key words consistently.

From what I can tell, it would cost a bit of money to throw all 36,000 lines of text from this game at Google translate, and that doesn't include doing any graphics work for the presumably also bizarre translations of all the 1600 image files. So, I doubt that we'll be doing a Google Translate version of the game any time soon. Funny business, though.

Oh, Bruno.

 

[hmsong]

Bruno sounds like a good name. Hmm...

 

[CandyIsOk]

Bruno is amazing. I'll sent you more (probably better) pictures of Bruno if I come by any. I also saw you played through Yo Kai Watch. I recently finished the second one -- I chose to play through Bony Spirits (as opposed to Fleshy Souls or Psychic Specters). I wanted to have Venoct in it, because Venoct was my favorite from the original game. I also liked Jibanyan, Mirapo, and Tattletell. That was my main team that I used in almost all fights (The rest were just there, and if I saw one had a Soultimate, I spun around to them, used it, and then went back). Anyway, thanks for appreciating Bruno. It feels good to have someone else who understands it.

-CandyIsOk

 

[trevo92]

Bruno sounds like a good name. Hmm...

It's an italian name

 

[kosterix]

Bruno the dark skinned wizard.
Pretty edgy if you ask me.

 

[Anjiera]

Maybe we should rename the game "Ni No Kuni: The Jet-Black Bruno" lol.

 

[RPGTsukuru]

Maybe we should rename the game "Ni No Kuni: The Jet-Black Bruno" lol.

Maybe, someone will do special fun retranslation of the game, someday

 

[CandyIsOk]

Ni No Kuni: The Jet Black Bruno sounds like a great game! I wanna play it!