Xanadu I and II - General Translation Project(s) Thread

[SamIAm]

I'm looking forward to getting to the top level(s) of the tower and seeing the final scenes of the game in their English glory!

I'm really missing all the story-telling from the previous levels.

Uh-oh. The stuff at the top is all done in voice-overs. You're going to have to wait until the dub is finished!

(Or I could PM you that section of the script) 

[elmer]

Uh-oh. The stuff at the top is all done in voice-overs. You're going to have to wait until the dub is finished!

(Or I could PM you that section of the script) 

After many, many, many hours, I've finally finished it ... and with 23 Elixirs, so by the time that I got to the end of the 31st floor of the tower, all that I had to do was button-mash and wait for the bad guys to die. 

And the payoff is a darned cutscene with a Japanese voice-over that I can't understand!!! 

We either need to get that dub done, or I've got to figure out how to implement subtitles ... or else people that play the game are going to be roaming the streets with firearms and a crazed-look in their eyes! 

But apart from that ... It's one heck of an epic game, and I'm glad to have had the chance to play it in English and understand what the gameplay and story is basically all about. 

Now I just want to see those cutscenes and see how they fill out the blanks in the story, and end it off.

But even with the missing bits, it's the most interesting story and characters that I've seen in a game for years.

[SamIAm]

After many, many, many hours, I've finally finished it ... and with 23 Elixirs, so by the time that I got to the end of the 31st floor of the tower, all that I had to do was button-mash and wait for the bad guys to die. 

And the payoff is a darned cutscene with a Japanese voice-over that I can't understand!!! 

We either need to get that dub done, or I've got to figure out how to implement subtitles ... or else people that play the game are going to be roaming the streets with firearms and a crazed-look in their eyes! 

But apart from that ... It's one heck of an epic game, and I'm glad to have had the chance to play it in English and understand what the gameplay and story is basically all about. 

Now I just want to see those cutscenes and see how they fill out the blanks in the story, and end it off.

But even with the missing bits, it's the most interesting story and characters that I've seen in a game for years.

Congratulations! Completing Xanadu 1, final dungeon and all, truly puts a feather in the cap of any PCE player.

Also, 23 elixers? Holy crap. I think you only arrive at the last chapter with about 10 if you picked up every one along the way. Did you buy some of those, or did you find all of them?

Sorry about that last language barrier. We'll get it down soon enough. 

I'm glad you liked the characters. I really don't want to spoil anything for people, but I think that the complete cast of characters in this game, both playable and non-playable, is probably its most charming feature.

Now it's on to Xanadu 2! Being able to talk to you (and eventually everyone else!) about the differences between the two games is one of the things I'm looking forward to most about completing this project. Again, I don't want to spoil anything, but I think you'll be surprised at just how deep the differences run. It makes complete sense that they were directed by different people.

-----------------------------

By the way, general news update time: I have finished the second pass of Xanadu 2 up to the start of Chapter 3, aka the fourth chapter.

Except for one five-day period that I have off, I'm going to continue to be busy as hell at work until the end of the month. I still think I can finish Xanadu 2 by that time, but making whatever progress I can on that is going to consume all of the free time I have.

Anyway, it's coming right along.

[Vimtoman]

Subs sounds great.

It's easy to mishear what being said.

[SamIAm]

Subs would be nice...they're certainly easier for me, and the fact of the matter is, we're just not going to get top acting talent with top recording equipment for every part for a dub...but there just don't seem to be resources for a subtitle system.

Elmer and I once talked about setting up subs to work on a SuperGrafx/CD combo, because the extra video processor and RAM should make it much easier, but even then, it might turn out to be a total pain.

Chances are, the only way this is going to be fully experience-able in English on a Duo is with a dub.

[NightWolve]

Chances are, the only way this is going to be fully experience-able in English on a Duo is with a dub.

Yeah, that's pretty much the most feasible way given the technical issues. 1:1 byte replacement of audio streams is easiest if you can get it all recorded. But then recruitment/management of voice actors is the grunt work that presents another type of obstacle/challenge.

[spenoza]

I was tapped to be the narrator on a short documentary about pulp magazines recently. Eventually it will make it to YouTube, and I'll share so you can decide if I have a voice for video games (but maybe not a face for radio?)

[elmer]

Also, 23 elixers? Holy crap. I think you only arrive at the last chapter with about 10 if you picked up every one along the way. Did you buy some of those, or did you find all of them?

I think that I found 1 or 2, but the rest were purchases.

I was frugal throughout the game and still had lots of Wings and all-but-one Elixir.

So all my money went into buying more Elixirs when I had some ... I didn't need to buy anything else in the last level.

Because I was trying to visit every single treasure-chest, I ended up doing a lot more back-and-forth than an experienced player-wth-a-map might have done.

Don't tell anyone ... but I *might* admit to doing a bit of grinding on the 23rd floor since it had a couple of spots that were perfect for that (if you have the Bell). 

Subs would be nice...they're certainly easier for me, and the fact of the matter is, we're just not going to get top acting talent with top recording equipment for every part for a dub...but there just don't seem to be resources for a subtitle system.

Elmer and I once talked about setting up subs to work on a SuperGrafx/CD combo, because the extra video processor and RAM should make it much easier, but even then, it might turn out to be a total pain.

Yeah, that's pretty much the most feasible way given the technical issues. 1:1 byte replacement of audio streams is easiest if you can get it all recorded. But then recruitment/management of voice actors is the grunt work that presents another type of obstacle/challenge.

While *technically* I'd like to see if it's possible to get SuperGrafx subtitles working ... it would be one heck of a lot of work to try it, and it might not work anyway.

The dub is by-far the safest solution.

[elmer]

I guess that most people already know this, but some guy has been uploading a ton of Falcom's music CDs onto YouTube under Falcom's "fair use" policy. 

It was fun to compare the game's final version of the Xanadu 1 theme ...

The Legend of Xanadu OST - Legend of the Wind

With what was probably the composer's original PC-98 version before it got recorded by the full live band ...

The Legend of Xanadu J.D.K. Special - Legend of the Wind

And then the crazy "extended" rock version ...

The Legend of Xanadu Super Arrange Version - Legend of the Wind

[Vimtoman]

Subs would be nice...they're certainly easier for me, and the fact of the matter is, we're just not going to get top acting talent with top recording equipment for every part for a dub...but there just don't seem to be resources for a subtitle system.

Elmer and I once talked about setting up subs to work on a SuperGrafx/CD combo, because the extra video processor and RAM should make it much easier, but even then, it might turn out to be a total pain.

Chances are, the only way this is going to be fully experience-able in English on a Duo is with a dub.

Maybe you should ask all applicants to say " 1 2 3" . Would be an easy quick test

[NightWolve]

I guess that most people already know this, but some guy has been uploading a ton of Falcom's music CDs onto YouTube under Falcom's "fair use" policy. 

Yeah, that's Josep ( https://twitter.com/jdkluv ), I uploaded audio rips from my Ys IV CD to help him some months back. He's been a Falcom fanboy machine, on track to damn near uploading everything Falcom ever made on there... Somehow I don't think "fair use" technically covers full rips of CDs, but whatevers, you say legal, others say illegal, much like the raging tomato versus tamoto debate, who's to say who's wrong or right these days, ya know ? 

[A Black Falcon]

A voiced translation would be great, but I'm sure it'd also be hard to make happen, particularly for two games at the same time.  The absolute minimum would be to have a text file script saying what they're saying in all the cutscenes, so at least you can follow along with what's going on in that part.  It'd spoil the game of course, but that's better than not knowing what's being said at all...

On a related note, is there any such file for Xak III?  It'd be nice to know what they're saying in the cutscenes in that game...

[Necromancer]

Somehow I don't think "fair use" technically covers full rips of CDs...

Falcom is a bit different than other companies, as they specifically allow their music to be freely used in all sorts of usually protected ways.  About the only thing they don't allow is its use in other games or to charge money for it.

[NightWolve]

Somehow I don't think "fair use" technically covers full rips of CDs...

Falcom is a bit different than other companies, as they specifically allow their music to be freely used in all sorts of usually protected ways.  About the only thing they don't allow is its use in other games or to charge money for it.

That would be interesting if they really do allow full rips to be shared everywhere but then I could swear they joined some iTunes thingy (or itself) to sell tracks at .99 cents a pop some time back.

[SamIAm]

Small update:

After a month of hell at work, I had a full week off, which I used mostly to relax and play around with my new baby. Now I've got another 10 days of rough seas to get through, including a literal trip on an overnight ferry (long story). After that, things will settle down again.

I did manage to get through Chapter 3 and make a dent in Chapter 4 of Xanadu 2. Once that's finished, the rest will be a breeze.

Elmer is going to busy until the end of the month anyway, so I'm not in a rush.