Absolute Zero Translations is a relatively high-profile group of dedicated and talented individuals who create and release translation patches for titles in the "Tales of" franchise which have never seen a localization. Their team is comprised of throughhim413 (translator), Gemini (programmer for Tales of Phantasia), Kingcom (programmer for Tales of Innocence/Tempest), StorMyu (programmer), and Kajitani-Eizan (translator). They had multiple projects in progress up until now, but had been focusing mainly on Tales of Destiny DC (PS2). They post monthly updates for the progress made on their projects, sometimes including screenshots, with particularly good progress being made as of the last few updates. They had also recently created a Discord server for their fans and those interested in their projects, as well as started to stream their translation efforts/showcase their progress on their Twitch channel.
From the team's "about" page:
Absolute Zero started in August 2006. Originally throughhim413’s personal blog, it quickly became the home of a text translation for Tales of Phantasia PSX. The text translation was an overly ambitious project by a student of the Japanese language who wanted to expand his horizons and was completed in April 2007. That same year, throughhim413 met Gemini on romhacking.net and worked on a retranslation of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX) that was eventually released in 2009. In August 2007, we began work on Tales of Phantasia (PSX), which would become Absolute Zero’s first full release on December 25th, 2007. Several months later, Phantasian Productions and Absolute Zero began working on the Tales of Destiny: Director’s Cut (PS2) behind the scenes. On July 9th, 2008, Kingcom contacted throughhim413 on the romhacking.net forums and proposed a translation of Tales of Innocence (NDS). Tales of Innocence (NDS) was released June 29th 2010. Tales of the Tempest (NDS) was translated in secret and released on April 1st 2013.
The lead translator and project manager, throughhim413, has released a rather lengthy post on the team's webpage detailing the end of their work on all their projects as well as an attempt to explain the decision. In short, they began translating those Tales games which only ever saw a release in Japan, not only to benefit the fans who wouldn't be able to play and understand them otherwise, but to drum up attention and interest for the franchise in western audiences as a means to try and support the series. He reasons that, as the series has now taken off in the west, with each new iteration seeing a localization and distribution on Steam, the team's efforts to draw interest to the Tales franchise are much less important, if not entirely rendered moot. Furthermore, he says he worries that any translation projects his team releases now might be disincentives for Bandai Namco when/if they ever consider localizing older titles, so in the best interests of the franchise, he has chosen to halt all work.
throughhim413 said:
I believe these games still have the potential to make a splash in the West if Bamco decides to port them to PC or release some kind of anthology collection on consoles. The same fantastic games that seemed likely to be neglected forever just a few years ago look increasingly ripe for the picking given recent trends in gaming. When the time comes for Bamco to crunch the numbers and consider releasing any of them in the West, the last thing I want is for them to think hesitate because a fan translation exists ... So that brings me once again to the question of how I can help make the Tales series a success in the West. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it lately and discussing it with friends and the only answer that I can come up with is that it’s time for us to exit stage left.
This means that their work on Tales of Phantasia X (PSP), Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X (PSP), and Tales of Destiny: Director’s Cut (PS2), has halted permanently effective immediately. Additionally, he states clearly and definitively that "Absolute Zero will not be releasing any future translation patches, nor will old patches be available for download
". He does, however, promise to donate all work done so far on their projects to Bandai Namco, should they ever request it of him.
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