Translation Ni no Kuni Translation [ENG]

[kosterix]

I'll just buy the flash card that nnk works on, have no interest in emulators, homebrew or otherwise.

 

[cp2]

thanks for doing all the hard work.
Here i'm just trying to understand the dialogs based on my half assed japanese and its really slow having to refer to the walkthrough and translation/dictionary just so that I can be sure of what I understood.

On a side note, I'm running it on R4i RTS 3DS (wifi) flash card with v1.84 firmware, and 3DS (original, US version, the small one, first gen or whatever, and it's black color!!) on (Sys) 11.70-40U with luma3ds and B9S.
I got the flashcart before the console was made into b9s.

Current progress in game is after first town. And it only took me 6 hours due to slow reading, and re-reading of the dialogs.

I volunteer as tribute for your bug test playthrough.

More like.. I'd like to request a transcript... my head hurts every time i try to progress but as long as I have joe hisaishi.....

 

[Darumin]

Created an account to say thank you for working on this. I just bought the DS box recently and am playing the game for the first time. It would be nice if the beautiful book it came with can also be translated.

I would love to play your patch soon. Thanks again, and good luck.

 

[RPGTsukuru]

Created an account to say thank you for working on this. I just bought the DS box recently and am playing the game for the first time. It would be nice if the beautiful book it came with can also be translated.

I would love to play your patch soon. Thanks again, and good luck.

It will be translated as pdf file.

 

[kosterix]

Is the release target summer 2019?

 

[takechiyo]

Is the release target summer 2019?

no one knows keep patience

 

[Mrdx]

I would bet more on a summer 2018 release based on the updates given by the team. These kind of projects don't usually have a perfect release at first, it's more like an iterative process over many corrective versions.

 

[Cyan]

the release target is "when it's good enough".
not when it's perfect, so when everything pass their own checks and there's no bug preventing to play the game.
There will probably be a version 2 later (few months later) to fix all the user's reported problems and make it perfect.

maybe we could get a numeric update ? any percent done since march 2018?

 

[takechiyo]

maybe we could get a numeric update ? any percent done since march 2018?

totally agree with you

 

[hmsong]

Look, the team won't release a patch to the public until they're satisfied. That means, no specific date. No "Summer of 2018" or anything. For all we know, it might be "probably before 2030". This is a fan project, so as far as they're concerned, there is no deadline date.

And if you are aware of what happened to many projects attempted by fans (for other games by other groups), you know that they frequently get dropped out of nowhere without ever releasing any kind of patch. They have various reasons... from critical people quitting (for various reasons), to getting the official cease notice from the devs. Hell, there's even been cases where they release a patch (with lots of bugs, maybe even incomplete), and they never released a second patch. Such was the case for Tales of Hearts DS. ToH was a very ambitious project with lots of support, but when they released a patch (it was incomplete, with only first 10 min translated), they got a cease notice, so the team had to drop it. The team was lamenting about how they had developed so many things for the game, but they couldn't release the third patch because of the cease notice.

I'm sure that's the main reason that Ni No Kuni team isn't releasing a patch prematurely. To work so hard, and then to get a cease notice before the project is completed... that would be heartbreaking, even more to the team.

The point is, don't ask the same question over and over again. You already know the answer -- Unknown. I'm pretty sure that they're quite sick of people nagging on them.

Btw, I can't help but ask. After getting the cease notice, what if the fans continued the project? And then release the patch afterwards? What can the officials actually do? Sue? How? Everyone's anonymous in the internet. Well, I'm sure they can track you down with IP address and stuff, but that would be insanely costly (esp when it's overseas), not to mention getting a solid evidence to prosecute would be almost impossible. Or shut down the site? The fans can just create new sites somewhere else. Very easily.

 

[onibaku]

Look, the team won't release a patch to the public until they're satisfied. That means, no specific date. No "Summer of 2018" or anything. For all we know, it might be "probably before 2030". This is a fan project, so as far as they're concerned, there is no deadline date.

And if you are aware of what happened to many projects attempted by fans (for other games by other groups), you know that they frequently get dropped out of nowhere without ever releasing any kind of patch. They have various reasons... from critical people quitting (for various reasons), to getting the official cease notice from the devs. Hell, there's even been cases where they release a patch (with lots of bugs, maybe even incomplete), and they never released a second patch. Such was the case for Tales of Hearts DS. ToH was a very ambitious project with lots of support, but when they released a patch (it was incomplete, with only first 10 min translated), they got a cease notice, so the team had to drop it. The team was lamenting about how they had developed so many things for the game, but they couldn't release the third patch because of the cease notice.

I'm sure that's the main reason that Ni No Kuni team isn't releasing a patch prematurely. To work so hard, and then to get a cease notice before the project is completed... that would be heartbreaking, even more to the team.

The point is, don't ask the same question over and over again. You already know the answer -- Unknown. I'm pretty sure that they're quite sick of people nagging on them.

Btw, I can't help but ask. After getting the cease notice, what if the fans continued the project? And then release the patch afterwards? What can the officials actually do? Sue? How? Everyone's anonymous in the internet. Well, I'm sure they can track you down with IP address and stuff, but that would be insanely costly (esp when it's overseas), not to mention getting a solid evidence to prosecute would be almost impossible. Or shut down the site? The fans can just create new sites somewhere else. Very easily.

I was thinking the same with the cease notice, would they actually allocate resources in identifying you? Can't really see how they can control what happens after, if everyone has access to the project

 

[Cyan]

I suppose most groups or website just stop by respect, and the right owners expect that too. it's the same with DMCA notice, etc. (gbatemp/filetrip admins delete the files right away when we get one)
I don't know of any case where it ended in conflict in a court. (but I don't know everything)

I know some anime subtitle group got a C&D request, but continued to do it under another group name (fansub resistance!) up until the end of the series. No idea if they escaped it by becoming unofficial (maybe not using a french web host, etc.), or the owner just decided it wasn't worth taking further actions.

 

[hmsong]

There was a case with Metroid 2 Remake. That was not a hack of anything, nor was it translation of any kind. Nope. It was a completely new game, with a ton of contents. Not emulator, but PC game. Some fans decided that it needed a remake (long before the recent Metroid 2 remake), so they made one. It was very ambitious. And so, they almost completed the game, and then suddenly... they got the C&D notice. So, the team decided to release their not-so-complete game to the public. It had few bugs here and there, but playable nevertheless. Truly excellent game (but short, obviously). Anyways, from what I can tell from forums and such, the fan game made the official Metroid 2 remake even MORE popular. People get interested in that stuff.

My point is, C&D for fan projects works against the official devs, unless it is for exactly the same game (ex: The exact replica game of Ni no Kuni DS is about to be released with official translation for same/different console in the West). I don't know if Ni No Kuni DS is released in any other console with official translation, but if it's not, this translation project will only work in official dev's favor. I didn't even know what Ni No Kuni was until I heard about it here. Then I was passing by GameSpot and noticed Ni No Kuni II for PS4. And that got my attention, so I got it a bit afterwards (after reading the reviews in gamefaqs.com). If I didn't know about Ni No Kuni from here, NNKII wouldn't have gotten my attention at all, and therefore, I wouldn't have purchased it.

See there? This project made sold me a NNKII game that otherwise wouldn't have.

 

[RPGTsukuru]

hmsong, AM2R development was stopped because Nintendo pushed it so hard, they just defended their property name. If you google it right, you will fight reason why the do this. Smae thing was with DooMRL

 

[Plattym3!]

Wow! Amazing this is so close! I never knew this game was even a DS game until recently and just popped on here to check on DQM2 and figured I'd take a look.

Carry on and thank you for your hard work!

 

[Adamator]

Hey all. Came to post how excited I am for the projected. This was probably my most ever wanted DS game and I was so sad it never came stateside. Have to give a big thanks for all those working on it. I can’t wait!!

I wanted to ask if there is an option to be a play tester? If so I am very much interested. Who would I contact?

Thanks

 

[Cyan]

the team already has enough play testers, and at this point I think it would take more time explaining what to test, what to report, etc.
for example, if the team needs to test chapter 12 with specific items and imagen in storage to verify a text length, would you have a save ready for that?
maybe other team member could provide one, but they would probably do the job faster, they already know what to do, where to go, what to check, which names to expect for script consistency.

if you want to be a play tester to get the game early, and play it fully from start, I suppose that's not what's needed for the team. it looks more like you expect a patch release before everyone else. if not, sorry for making assumption.

edit:
I edited the first post to add some release date (unknown), and help needed (none). It feels more informative that way.
having a "unreleased" written on first post will hopefully help new users and they won't need to create an account just to ask where the download link is.

 

[CandyIsOk]

Hello, Anjiera. Just wanted to check in and tell you that I'm still here. As soon as I saw the front page change, I nearly jumped right out of my seat. I knew that more progress was made, or even better, it was released. Even though the latter was not the case, I am still very excited. I seem to not be able to thank you enough for making this project, because I know I will play it over, and over again. I am very excited, and I hope to pass some of my enthusiasm to the team.

-CandyIsOk

 

[Anjiera]

Hey, people! It's summer, and given that I live in the frozen wastelands of Soviet Canuckistan and only get like 3 weeks of nice weather a year, I've taken a bit of a mental break from the project the last little while to just enjoy life. Our playtesters are working through the full game on emulators AND ROM carts now that we fixed those crashing issues, and they aren't finding much so I've been able to start to actually just chill and not spend my whole life on the project. I've been away for a while, and there are lots of questions and concerns to address. If I missed your post, please repeat your question and I can answer it on a subsequent post.

@Anjiera are you planning to publish the source code once released a stable version?

The source code is already available on @pleonex's github account for most of our ROM hacks and build tools. As for the actual translated game text, yes. We'll figure out a way to package all the spreadsheets that we used to make this happen and bundle them for other teams working in other languages.

It would be helpful to use the software in which you do not need a flash card!

I think someone already addressed this, but you will be able to play on a flash cart (for the ones we've tested, anyway) and on emulators for PC and iOS/Android.

I'd rear her play it
--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------
Rather play, sorry.

Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhh... I'm just gonna leave that one alone. ROFLMAO.

thanks for doing all the hard work.
Here i'm just trying to understand the dialogs based on my half assed japanese and its really slow having to refer to the walkthrough and translation/dictionary just so that I can be sure of what I understood.
...
Current progress in game is after first town. And it only took me 6 hours due to slow reading, and re-reading of the dialogs.
...
I volunteer as tribute for your bug test playthrough.
...
More like.. I'd like to request a transcript... my head hurts every time i try to progress but as long as I have joe hisaishi.....

Thanks, @cp2 ! Congrats on playing the game in Japanese! When I started playing it in 2010 I spent AGES on each screen, and I still have my notebook of new vocab lying around somewhere. But, as I progressed in the game I gained new language confidence and got faster and faster at figuring out what was going on. This was the first JRPG that I played in Japanese, which is why it is such a special game to me. I had previously played the two Zelda DS games, which have a great kanji->furigana system in them, and a simpler plot. If you want to try something other than NNK in Japanese, I'd recommend those two games. Keep at it! Language learning is a lifelong project, so take it one step at a time! ()

We're good on playtesters right now. It takes a while to ramp up on our processes, and at this point the investment of time for new players doesn't seem worth it to me. Nothing about you, specifically, and thanks for the offer!! As for a script, that's not going to be possible outside of just playing our translated patch. The game's text files have text organized by location that the text is encountered, so end-game stuff in the first town is all bundled in with the first time you get to the town. It was brutal to figure out some of the nuances of what is and isn't known by the player for some of the text, oh and there is text that isn't actually shown in the game also there and unmarked, so we had fun translating stuff that isn't even used. UGH. Anyway, no script. Someone can take that on as their own project if they want when we ship everything, but I'm nope-ing the eff right out of that.

Created an account to say thank you for working on this. I just bought the DS box recently and am playing the game for the first time. It would be nice if the beautiful book it came with can also be translated.

I would love to play your patch soon. Thanks again, and good luck.

Thanks for the support! The JP game is SO GORGEOUS, right? Wow, just stunning. As for the book, we will definitely be providing translations for the minimum amount of content required to play the main plot and all sidequest puzzles. But, the whole book is quite an endeavor and has always been scheduled for a future release.

It will be translated as pdf file.

Yes, there will be a PDF of the minimum amount needed to play everything, as per above.

the release target is "when it's good enough".
not when it's perfect, so when everything pass their own checks and there's no bug preventing to play the game.
There will probably be a version 2 later (few months later) to fix all the user's reported problems and make it perfect.

maybe we could get a numeric update ? any percent done since march 2018?

Yeah, what you said is right. It won't be perfect (nothing is) but it will be as good as we can make it. We anticipate finding issues after the release, but fortunately the ROM hacks have mostly been ironed out already because we are re-using all of @pleonex's tools and knowledge from the Spanish release that built up all the reverse-engineering knowledge about the game.

Percent done is tough, but we're finding fewer bugs for sure. It's the summer, and things are always slower at this time of the year. It's a marathon, not a race, so we're trying to make sure people don't get burnt out.

Look, the team won't release a patch to the public until they're satisfied. That means, no specific date. No "Summer of 2018" or anything. For all we know, it might be "probably before 2030". This is a fan project, so as far as they're concerned, there is no deadline date.
...
I'm sure that's the main reason that Ni No Kuni team isn't releasing a patch prematurely. To work so hard, and then to get a cease notice before the project is completed... that would be heartbreaking, even more to the team.

Exactly. It is hard to get a C&D for something that effectively, to all observers, looks like just a girl posting fake updates forever. (Don't worry, our updates aren't fake, but we're not going to corroborate our progress with a patch or pre-release build or anything).

I suppose most groups or website just stop by respect, and the right owners expect that too. it's the same with DMCA notice, etc. (gbatemp/filetrip admins delete the files right away when we get one)

Yup. With all the manga translations that I've worked on, that's been the approach. The ROM hack / patch community seems to operate on similar principles. Honor among thieves, and all that.

Wow! Amazing this is so close! I never knew this game was even a DS game until recently and just popped on here to check on DQM2 and figured I'd take a look. Carry on and thank you for your hard work!

Thanks for the kind words! We're definitely carrying-on!

Hey all. Came to post how excited I am for the projected. This was probably my most ever wanted DS game and I was so sad it never came stateside. Have to give a big thanks for all those working on it. I can’t wait!!

I wanted to ask if there is an option to be a play tester? If so I am very much interested. Who would I contact?

@Adamator Thanks for the encouragement! I'll pass your kind words and enthusiasm on to the team. Please see above, we're good for testers at this point I think.

I seem to not be able to thank you enough for making this project, because I know I will play it over, and over again. I am very excited, and I hope to pass some of my enthusiasm to the team.

THANK YOU!!!!! *heart eyes*

We hope we get at least as many people to play the game as we had working on it, never mind the number of hours everyone each put in. Ha ha. There are some cheese-y plot points, for sure, and some people don't like Level 5's habit of doing tons of enemy re-colors, but overall it is a great game and I'm sure even if you only play it once you will have a great time.

 

[GamerUnity]

Thank you for your hardwork @Anjiera , have a nice time resting!