Translation Ni no Kuni Translation [ENG]

[hmsong]

Agreed. I assumed my preference was because I understand Japanese and am therefore biased... Ha.

I have friends who are voice actors, and I volunteer at an Anime convention and often am assigned to be the guest handler for voice actors... And it is so hard to pretend that I know their work when they are famous and expect everyone at the con to know them and their popular character's catch phrases. I smile along, but I'm always secretly thinking... "Subs not dubs!!" Lol.

I absolutely agree. Seriously, enough of dubs. One of the things I like about subbed game/anime is that it doesn't just bring over the game/mechanic/ideas. It also brings in CULTURE. That's the beauty of foreign language media. But if people replace that with dubs, a lot of the details are lost, whether they are from tones, choice of words, or even accents. And that's not even considering the quality of the voice (many dub voices sound like they're reading off a script, with very monotone voice, with no emotion or context).

And Ghibli works are all about culture. Maybe not Japanese culture, but culture nevertheless. Yeah, I concur that you should keep the Japanese voice.

 

[Anjiera]

Yeah, I concur that you should keep the Japanese voice.

I don't think all dubs are bad, but I know I am biased towards subs. I really enjoyed the dub of Steins:Gate. I watched with some friends that prefer dubs, and it was really well done. But, I know that the lead voice actor was also one of the editors for the script (making the translation more natural) so he was really connected to the script and the characters. There are some excellent dubs, but they are the rarity from my experience. The more we see successful and good dubs, the easier it will be for quality voice actors to earn a real wage for their work, and for production companies to take time to do things right. I dont hate all dubs, but I know the anime translation industry has such tight margins that it is understandable that they still have cardboard voice actors in a lot of shows. Anyway, this feels like a debate / conversation for another venue. Ha ha.

Oh, and it isn't a "should" have Japanese voices in the game. It is the only option, for all the reasons described above. I was just trying to explain why there is no way we would be able to do a grab of the PS3 English voiced segments without the game seeming half-baked. We will be keeping the JP voices because it is the only option for a quality experience in the end.

 

[pleonex]

Hey guys! I would like to give some in-depth technical details about the latest posts here.

I know that some people change bits of mechanics in the original game to better the game (this happens a lot to games with few shortcomings). I see that you're doing that too. Hopefully, things will work out. Really looking forward to it.

You can check all the assembly "hacks"/changes we are doing to the game in this GitHub repo: https://github.com/GradienWords/Ninokuni/tree/english/Assembly
Basically, as @Anjiera said, we are moving text boxes and increasing their size and the same for some images to center the text. But also:

• We fixed a bug which make the game crash (an uninitialized variable).
• We changed a bit how the keyboard works because in English we don't have the concept of dakuten
• Print the imagen codes with ascii chars
• Probably we will apply some anti-piracy patches (like replacing the arm7 with an old game).

This game requires a lot of changes, but they aren't major changes, in most cases is just changing a constant number to shift the text. Since we released the Spanish translation we haven't heard of any issue related to these changes so they seem to be working.

Related to the sound topic, I would like to add that the format of the sound files is unknown. Probably the game is using a proprietary algorithm, which requires a lot of extra-work to figure out and make the decoder and encoder. The only exception are the main themes. Those files are SAD and can be played, exported to WAV (and maybe even import custom files) from Tinke. I really recommend you to listen these files because they are amazing. The files are in data/sound/str

 

[Anjiera]

I really recommend you to listen these files because they are amazing. The files are in data/sound/str

Oh, haha! I haven't ever done that! I'll try that today when I'm working on some editing bugs.

Thanks for that awesome update, and for all of your hard work writing tools and fixing the ROM, @pleonex! Our project literally would not be able to happen without you!

 

[tiencoi1988]

Oh, haha! I haven't ever done that! I'll try that today when I'm working on some editing bugs.

Thanks for that awesome update, and for all of your hard work writing tools and fixing the ROM, @pleonex! Our project literally would not be able to happen without you!

mean so so long continue. okay i can wait. thanks again to u

 

[takechiyo]

@Anjiera big thanks for all of your and team efforts for this project xD, can't be this far without you guys, and we can't wait to see the release ^^. do your best team!!

 

[HighMans]

This is going to sound a bit odd -- but it's because of a personal reason. Is it possible to turn off the voice acting and just read the subtitles?

 

[Anjiera]

This is going to sound a bit odd -- but it's because of a personal reason. Is it possible to turn off the voice acting and just read the subtitles?

This might be about of an odd answer.... But... Yes! That feature is built right in to the DS itself! Amazing!!

...
...
...

There's a volume control that can go all the way down to zero.

You can't shut them off entirely in the game, though. There are some volume sliders in the game options for background music and sound effects. Please take a look at the screenshot.

It would be a decent feature to ask of a game development team working with actual game xode, but we're just changing existing bits so we can't really add anything new easily.

Hopefully you can appreciate my joking answer. I intended it to be funny not as mean sarcasm.

(｡>﹏<｡)

 

[samcambolt270]

I love when games actually put in text speed options. It's pretty much always a dealbreaker when they just assume the player reads at an average speed and hardcodes the text to go that speed, without taking into account people like me who read faster than most games text boxes.

 

[SuitedPanda]

@Anjiera how do i download/apply the patch/rom?

 

[Anjiera]

@Anjiera how do i download/apply the patch/rom?

When we publish the release, it will contain detailed instructions. Have no fear.

 

[Ikaresu]

Is it okay to play this and not play the ps3 one in terms of story? Like, are the games the same, would it ruin to me to play this when i want the best experience?

 

[Anjiera]

Is it okay to play this and not play the ps3 one in terms of story? Like, are the games the same, would it ruin to me to play this when i want the best experience?

That very much depends on what you mean by best.

Do you want full 3D graphics, an active battle system, and a long RPG you can experience on your couch at home? Then play the PS3 game.

Do you want a mix of hand drawn backgrounds and 3D character models, and a long turn-based RPG experience you can play on a portable system (DS via cart or your phone via emulator)? Then play the DS version.

Other than that, though, there are some big differences between the games. Unique locations and monsters exist in both games, as well as unique characters that join your party and can be used in battle. The DS, for example, allows you to have Shizuku /Mr. Drippy as a battle party member at the start of the game, whereas the PS3 allows you to have the Boarg / Hamelin emperor in your party.

It is like asking a friend of the movie or book version of a story is better. Each one was designed for a different presentation style, and each is good in their own way. If you only have time to play one of the games, I'd suggest looking into the differences and asking yourself which thing is more important to you in your game play. Both are good in different ways.

Do have specific questions about the differences? I can certainly help with that. The problem with "best" is that it differs for each person, and each game player type:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_taxonomy_of_player_types

Let me know if there is ant other way I can help you to understand the differences between the two versions of the story of Oliver.

 

[koukous]

hello i thank you all for your efforts, is there an approximate date for the game to be out if it's note rude to ask hh ?

 

[Anjiera]

Hi, I know everyone wants a release date, but all I can say is it will be released when it is done. We are all volunteers, and we all have real jobs and real families outside of the project that deserve our time.

We are making good progress, and I k ow you'll be pleased with the result. I just can tell you when that will be.

You guys here in GBSTemp will be the first to know when it is available.

 

[koukous]

Hi, I know everyone wants a release date, but all I can say is it will be released when it is done. We are all volunteers, and we all have real jobs and real families outside of the project that deserve our time.

We are making good progress, and I k ow you'll be pleased with the result. I just can tell you when that will be.

You guys here in GBSTemp will be the first to know when it is available.

thanks you for your enormous effort's

 

[gfletcher3114]

Ive been watching your project on and off for a few months. Id like to help if I can. Looks like you need help editing. Id like to give it a shot. I am a BI developer, but have never worked with games. I know SQL Java C++ and javascript. Let me know if I can pitch in.

Thanks,

Garrett

 

[Anjiera]

Let me know if I can pitch in.

Thanks for the generous offer, Garrett! I've sent you a PM with a weird idea. We can continue this chat there.

 

[hyprskllz]

Spoiler

I'm readying for the second one. Here's hoping i can finish this one before the DS version.

 

[FireHeart7]

I hope it isn't too terrible a thing to ask about something partially unrelated to the thread, but I really don't know where else to go.

I have a snippet of audio in Japanese that I've been trying to translate for weeks, but with no luck. Could someone please tell me what it's saying? It's only one sentence inside of about 5 seconds audio.

Feel free to delete my post if it's too far off-subject and sorry to have to bug everyone with this. ^^;