Translation Anyone have any interest in Zoids Saga DS?

[Dave_the_tired]

I've just recently rediscovered my love of Zoids and rewatched the series. That caused me to realize the Zoids saga ds existed and was never released in the Americas.
I took a peek at the old forum that existed relating to this; only to realized it was over a decade old with multiple translators giving up on it. I'm by no means a translator
and would be taking incredibly heavy liberties in translating the story, to the best of my abilities, however, I'm not well versed in ROM hacking and would require someone
to put anything translated back into said ROM, in addition, I would like a proofreader, and anyone else willing to take a shot at translating with me.
What I have is a text file from a user off of the old forum that contains a few translations, that is what I started working with.

So anyone showing any interest in this project, and if so anyone willing to help me out?

 

[Dave_the_tired]

Reserved for updates
----------------------------------
Text line 300, haven't even started actually playing the game yet. Let's go!!!
----------------------------------
text line 500, Official 1/74th through the dialogue
----------------------------------
800/37000. slow day today.
----------------------------------
1130/37000

 

[FAST6191]

Is it a good game or one that a hacker could make reasonably good by fiddling stats, progression or fixing a bug or three?

I have a low bar for tile based combat strategy, RPG type combat, and if in about 30 years I reckon materials, robotics and AI mean I can be hobbling down the street followed by my own organoid which will happen before anything else I build.
However every time I have ever tried to play a zoids game on any platform I am reminded why nobody takes anime/manga games seriously unless proven otherwise and go back to playing https://www.gearheadrpg.com/ if I want mecha robots or something.

 

[Dave_the_tired]

5 hours in and I can finally move the character. Maybe I can actually play for a few minutes.

 

[Dave_the_tired]

Is it a good game or one that a hacker could make reasonably good by fiddling stats, progression or fixing a bug or three?

I have a low bar for tile based combat strategy, RPG type combat, and if in about 30 years I reckon materials, robotics and AI mean I can be hobbling down the street followed by my own organoid which will happen before anything else I build.
However every time I have ever tried to play a zoids game on any platform I am reminded why nobody takes anime/manga games seriously unless proven otherwise and go back to playing https://www.gearheadrpg.com/ if I want mecha robots or something.

I'm not terribly sure, to be honest. I've only ever played the English release of Zoids legacy. As for this one, it is close to the same game as I understand. Legacy offered me a challenge, and as a lover of the Zoids franchise, I frequently find myself coming back to the GBA game. If you haven't played it I highly recommend giving it a try. I would like to add that Zoids Legacy is actually the second installment of Zoids Saga, as the first wasn't released outside of Japan, But the second is a standalone game.

I won't deny that Zoids in general is a very Niche fanbase. People strongly believe the game Zoids should have the same overpowered strength as the anime characters, which simply isn't the case. The games are based around the Anime/Manga stories, jumping about the different eras, but uses the statistics from the actual model lines.

 

[Dave_the_tired]

Progress is being made.

 

[Haytham]

Progress is being made.

Keep up the good work please <3

 

[Amy_Symilton_Gamequeen]

I'm not terribly sure, to be honest. I've only ever played the English release of Zoids legacy. As for this one, it is close to the same game as I understand. Legacy offered me a challenge, and as a lover of the Zoids franchise, I frequently find myself coming back to the GBA game. If you haven't played it I highly recommend giving it a try. I would like to add that Zoids Legacy is actually the second installment of Zoids Saga, as the first wasn't released outside of Japan, But the second is a standalone game.

I won't deny that Zoids in general is a very Niche fanbase. People strongly believe the game Zoids should have the same overpowered strength as the anime characters, which simply isn't the case. The games are based around the Anime/Manga stories, jumping about the different eras, but uses the statistics from the actual model lines.

The game was good. At least fun enough for me to stay until nearly the end and the one thing that makes me love the game is the return of older main characters from the original Zoids Saga trilogy Zeru/Zell and Will/Uiru. These two main characters will join you along with their respective Blitz Tiger for Zeru and Victory Liger VF for Will, both are respective strong to eliminate multiple enemies in a few hits at the 6th floor of the final boss's tower dungeon. For a Zoids fan since childhood, the Zoids Saga trilogy along with VS are my favorite but the one thing I hate about Zoids Saga DS is how the final boss Rose turns out so OP to the point of one hit from her Zoid's plasma attack could one kill one or two character at once that even prince Atory's Trinity Liger upgraded a lot still couldn't defend a lot of hit from Rose's Zoid weapon attack (I remember having Trinity Liger's endless HP grow by 1 point every random encounter of zoid battle with stats of defense above 2000 that renders Atory's Trinity Liger the only one still standing due to most enemies including boss could only deal max damage of 72 point but this Rose suddenly deal 257 damage as if the defense don't have much effect in reducing the damage. The highest damage Rose dealt as final boss was her plasma attack shot from her zoid's mouth which dealt above 500 damage on the Trinity). My Trinity Liger's HP back then was above 1000 but Rose immediately killed Atory's Zoid the only one still standing in just 2 hits. I immediately reacted like WHAT THE HELL? Did the final boss Rose just cheated damage for the entire game against the prince?

 

[Dave_the_tired]

I've hit a snag, I've found dialogue while playing that isn't in the text file I have, which worries me.
I've found an entire part where they are ranting about radars and zi data which I can't locate in the text files I have.

 

[Amy_Symilton_Gamequeen]

I've hit a snag, I've found dialogue while playing that isn't in the text file I have, which worries me.
I've found an entire part where they are ranting about radars and zi data which I can't locate in the text files I have.

It could be an in-game dialogue but the text files don't have those dialogues. Why did I get the feeling that those text files aren't complete themselves?

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

I tried using Tinke utility for editing the DS content of the game but ended up total confused at what I'm trying to do. I will just leave it to someone who is an expert in using this Tinke program

 

[Dave_the_tired]

Posting what's done so far. I'm taking a short break after realizing this wasn't all of the game's text, as I'm feeling a bit defeated. That's not to say I'm giving up, but I have no easy means or idea how to remove additional text from the game, and I'd need assistance injecting the text into the game as well.

If someone could get the remaining text out of this game along with item descriptions and whatnot, I would be greatly appreciative and re-energized to buckle down and continue working on it. I'm by no means adept with Tinke, and I can't figure out how to use this tool properly.

https://github.com/uaa-mach/zoids-ds-translation-base


Another huge reason for this break is due to hitting text I can't translate via a text file, making it hard to gain context clues for the following lines, thus causing a few hick-ups.

My break started yesterday, I will likely try to continue in a couple of days. Thanks for understanding.

 

[Amy_Symilton_Gamequeen]

Posting what's done so far. I'm taking a short break after realizing this wasn't all of the game's text, as I'm feeling a bit defeated. That's not to say I'm giving up, but I have no easy means or idea how to remove additional text from the game, and I'd need assistance injecting the text into the game as well.

If someone could get the remaining text out of this game along with item descriptions and whatnot, I would be greatly appreciative and re-energized to buckle down and continue working on it. I'm by no means adept with Tinke, and I can't figure out how to use this tool properly.

https://github.com/uaa-mach/zoids-ds-translation-base


Another huge reason for this break is due to hitting text I can't translate via a text file, making it hard to gain context clues for the following lines, thus causing a few hick-ups.

My break started yesterday, I will likely try to continue in a couple of days. Thanks for understanding.

I think I can try to help adding a bit more translation from this text file. I will try to see what I can do (Note that I will try to add translation as much as I can while making sure each context in the game makes sense. I will try doing it in my long holidays). Hope I can do this

 

[Dave_the_tired]

I think I can try to help adding a bit more translation from this text file. I will try to see what I can do (Note that I will try to add translation as much as I can while making sure each context in the game makes sense. I will try doing it in my long holidays). Hope I can do this

We'd need to figure out sections that each of us work on then, as it would be pointless to translate the same parts.

 

[Amy_Symilton_Gamequeen]

I think my job is to fix or edit a bit or some of the translation you make since I help fix your translation using what I translated while playing the game. I mean I help your translation so that it has a bit of better translation for the in-game Japanese dialogue. You can give me what you translate into English so far and I will help change the translated text so that it makes more sense for the in-game dialogue translation to anyone who can insert the translated dialogue in the game later (Note that I used a bit of Google Translate several times in translating Japanese characters in the in-game dialogue until it makes sense and doesn't sound cringey). I did early fix of your translation in the beginning and I found that the Japanese characters used for in-game narration can be very hard to translate (Some of them are cringey despite multiple attempts of translation and fix from Google Translate)

 

[Dave_the_tired]

I think my job is to fix or edit a bit or some of the translation you make since I help fix your translation using what I translated while playing the game. I mean I help your translation so that it has a bit of better translation for the in-game Japanese dialogue. You can give me what you translate into English so far and I will help change the translated text so that it makes more sense for the in-game dialogue translation to anyone who can insert the translated dialogue in the game later (Note that I used a bit of Google Translate several times in translating Japanese characters in the in-game dialogue until it makes sense and doesn't sound cringey). I did early fix of your translation in the beginning and I found that the Japanese characters used for in-game narration can be very hard to translate (Some of them are cringey despite multiple attempts of translation and fix from Google Translate)

I've been using DeepL as it provides a closer translation, Obviously, I have to take liberties in what I actually leave in the translation, as a good portion of it is a jumbled mess.

 

[Amy_Symilton_Gamequeen]

I've been using DeepL as it provides a closer translation, Obviously, I have to take liberties in what I actually leave in the translation, as a good portion of it is a jumbled mess.

Yup, I noticed those jumbled mess early in the text file. So far, I managed to arrange and polish the translation up to the narration story after the main character's training with his bodyguard with the time I had yesterday. I will see how far I can polish the rough translations from the text file

 

[Amy_Symilton_Gamequeen]

I rearranged and polished the rough translations you did so far...now I just need to start translating the Japanese texts still written in the text file after the English sentences. Keep note that I ignored some of the translations you made that already make a sense related to the earlier in-game dialogue between characters. I'm not finished yet but getting closer to the raw Japanese (Might as well help translating them a bit too)

 

[Dave_the_tired]

I rearranged and polished the rough translations you did so far...now I just need to start translating the Japanese texts still written in the text file after the English sentences. Keep note that I ignored some of the translations you made that already make a sense related to the earlier in-game dialogue between characters. I'm not finished yet but getting closer to the raw Japanese (Might as well help translating them a bit too)

Why did you change Earth's name to Ace?

https://zoids.fandom.com/wiki/Earth_Kreuz

Canonically, Earth is his name.

If I'm going to be honest, (and this isn't meant to sound rude) I feel parts of the edited dialogue you put in place are counterintuitive to the grand scheme of things.

for example

"A planet beyond the galaxy, Zi... <Feels off
There is a metal lifeform with excellent combat ability <A singular metal life form?
possess superior fighting skill, Zoid exist < to me, this doesn't track.

Zoids have their own will to fight on planet Zi < While correct, comes off as odd.
Reigned as the ultimate weapon in the war <this is ok
The war of the Imperial (Empire) vs the Republic (Republic) <This part feels choppy.
Finally, in the wake of time, the world regained its tranquility...

However, in such a small country, Arcadia <good
The disturbing movements surrounding ancient times were about to surface....< to be fair, I struggled here
Again, the shadow of war begin...<feels off
The hope of the world lies on the hands of a single boy riding a Zoid..." <not bad, but "and his zoid" sound better.

vs.

"In a far reaches of the milkyway


on the planet Zi, They're
exists metallic life forms that
possess superior fighting skill.


These, are the Zoids.
Warriors by nature, Zoids have
been used as the ultimate weapons
in the ongoing wars fought
between the nations.


The Imperial forces and the
Republicans of Planet Zi.
The war was near endless, but <This
finally, A time of peace has come. <and this could use replacing
The world had regained its former calm..."

Now, from this part forward, you completely removed the dialogue up until the first castle scene. I not sure how rom hacking works, but I had assumed we had to keep the lines roughly to the same size,l and if that is the case we would then have 11 lines of blank text.

But then...
In the small country of Arcadia


A disturbance over an ancient legacy.
and the unsettling turmoil that surrounds
it was about to surface.


A new era is about to begin.
In the shadows of war...


I don't know what to do.
All I ever wanted was to ride a Zoid.
The world is in the hands of a single boy
The world will be destroyed...

^^^^^^
I don't like how this came out on my end, to be fair. But would all be blank text, which takes away from the point of translating the game at all.

I'm not saying yours doesn't improve mine in certain spots, but I feel as if this will be counterproductive if we continue like this.

Once again, My translations by any means will not be 100% correct, hell, they may not even be 70% correct. I have to take major liberties to make it sound ok.

The first part of the base game-translated dialogue is just a poorly put-together intro to Zoids: Chaotic Century, so seeing that I took the liberty of changing it to closely sound like the actual intro to Zoids: Chaotic legacy.


TL;DR: While your translation is closer to the original in most regards, Portions of it come off as choppy and even takes portions of the game out.

 

[Amy_Symilton_Gamequeen]

Why did you change Earth's name to Ace?

https://zoids.fandom.com/wiki/Earth_Kreuz

Canonically, Earth is his name.

If I'm going to be honest, (and this isn't meant to sound rude) I feel parts of the edited dialogue you put in place are counterintuitive to the grand scheme of things.

for example

"A planet beyond the galaxy, Zi... <Feels off
There is a metal lifeform with excellent combat ability <A singular metal life form?
possess superior fighting skill, Zoid exist < to me, this doesn't track.

Zoids have their own will to fight on planet Zi < While correct, comes off as odd.
Reigned as the ultimate weapon in the war <this is ok
The war of the Imperial (Empire) vs the Republic (Republic) <This part feels choppy.
Finally, in the wake of time, the world regained its tranquility...

However, in such a small country, Arcadia <good
The disturbing movements surrounding ancient times were about to surface....< to be fair, I struggled here
Again, the shadow of war begin...<feels off
The hope of the world lies on the hands of a single boy riding a Zoid..." <not bad, but "and his zoid" sound better.

vs.

"In a far reaches of the milkyway


on the planet Zi, They're
exists metallic life forms that
possess superior fighting skill.


These, are the Zoids.
Warriors by nature, Zoids have
been used as the ultimate weapons
in the ongoing wars fought
between the nations.


The Imperial forces and the
Republicans of Planet Zi.
The war was near endless, but <This
finally, A time of peace has come. <and this could use replacing
The world had regained its former calm..."

Now, from this part forward, you completely removed the dialogue up until the first castle scene. I not sure how rom hacking works, but I had assumed we had to keep the lines roughly to the same size,l and if that is the case we would then have 11 lines of blank text.

But then...
In the small country of Arcadia


A disturbance over an ancient legacy.
and the unsettling turmoil that surrounds
it was about to surface.


A new era is about to begin.
In the shadows of war...


I don't know what to do.
All I ever wanted was to ride a Zoid.
The world is in the hands of a single boy
The world will be destroyed...

^^^^^^
I don't like how this came out on my end, to be fair. But would all be blank text, which takes away from the point of translating the game at all.

I'm not saying yours doesn't improve mine in certain spots, but I feel as if this will be counterproductive if we continue like this.

Once again, My translations by any means will not be 100% correct, hell, they may not even be 70% correct. I have to take major liberties to make it sound ok.

The first part of the base game-translated dialogue is just a poorly put-together intro to Zoids: Chaotic Century, so seeing that I took the liberty of changing it to closely sound like the actual intro to Zoids: Chaotic legacy.


TL;DR: While your translation is closer to the original in most regards, Portions of it come off as choppy and even takes portions of the game out.

Earth's name in the official English was Ace (His Japanese name was written as A-su because I saw his name while playing the game)

There is a metal lifeform with excellent combat ability <A singular metal life form? (They mention the term metal lifeform for the number of Zoids but also bearing a singular meaning as how they view Zoids so "There is a metal life form" as the term or affiliation for Zoids. Zoid is also the term they used for the mecha animals unless they meant it as plural. Let's arrange that later and focus on translating the rest) because Zoid is a name they called but sometimes it's kinda confusing to how they mentioned there is a metal life form because the same sentence coincidentally used for the narration in the official international version of the second game

It ain't easy doing the rearranging cause when there's a double sentence which wasn't in the the narration in the beginning of the game, I kinda simplify it (The sentence "I want to ride a Zoids" wasn't written like that in the game. Wonder what translation has closer meaning with the sentence part "Sekai o sukueru yui itsu no kibou (Kibou means hope) wa zoido ni notta hitonigiri no shonen tach ni" in the game. Is it like "The hope of the world lies in the hand of single boy"? The Google Translate has worse case in translating the sentences mostly.

I don't know what to do.
All I ever wanted was to ride a Zoid <This parts were rather strange because a narration of third person never used the pronoun "I" for once in the beginning of the game.

The Imperial forces and the
Republicans of Planet Zi < The in-game narration wrote it as The war of Imperial vs the Republic but it can also be translated as The war of Imperial against the Republic or The war among Imperials and Republics

"A planet beyond the galaxy, Zi... <Feels off (The international version of second game also wrote it this way too. Planet Zi was indeed beyond the galaxy that we know similar to how the official version of second game wrote the narration)

Better stick to the original a bit just like how they officially translate Zoids Legacy for the names with the exception of Jamie Hemeros which will be Jamie instead of mistranslation from the official as Jimmy (The spelling is wrong for the translation just like Buraddo Hunter mispelled as Ballad instead of Brad Hunter in the official while Bitto Kuraoudo retains the official Bit Cloud. Zell as Zeru, Uiru as Will). Some story need a closer meaning with the sentences which make it difficult for both of us especially since I was a beginner of Japanese language understanding some terms used in the dialogue between in-game characters. We need more members to help us in fixing the translation mistake both of us made, someone who knows Japanese more than we do.

"Shikkari" as either hang on or hold on but I will edit that later.

Now, I think it's time to split the translation job between us if it's just both of us or if there are more members who wish to help us with multiple translating tasks. Hmm....which part do you want me to translate? I translate while also playing the game myself but I will just leave the decision to you while I do my important tasks first (I'm arranging and polishing the translation while focusing on school too even on long holidays)

 

[Dave_the_tired]

Typically I would play through the game and translate as I go, Right now I'm at that tunnel where there is no dialogue for it in the text file. So, I don't have a clue how to properly split it.