Messages

541

Script Help and Language Discussion / Re: What's wrong with official translations?

« on: August 01, 2012, 05:20:33 pm »

I would have prefered the corect French spelling, D'Lacroix

wut

542

General Discussion / Re: What were your favorite childhood cartoons/shows?

« on: August 01, 2012, 05:16:38 pm »

I don’t actually recall that many shows that I watched back then. I saw a few episodes of quite a few, but never many episodes of any.

Thinking back, I think it’s because after I was too old for Sesame Street, my parents cut me off after like 20 minutes >_>

543

Gaming Discussion / Re: Easiest and hardest RPG you've ever played?

« on: August 01, 2012, 05:10:15 pm »

I've been watching Zipang lately, and I keep wondering why the Japanese Navy adopted western style uniforms and decorative medals and such.  And why also in that era they took on western business suits as well.  I have zero idea why those things happened, but it saddens me in a way.  As xenophobic as the Japanese seem in that show, why then would they take on the clothing formats of those whom they despise?  I should read books about it, I know.  The lazy.

A subtle irony, to be sure, but like many matters of history, it’s complicated. The short of it is that they had been winning all sorts of battles and wars in Western uniforms for several decades at that point, so the thought that it was a Western fashion probably didn’t cross anyone’s mind very often. Even then, the practical considerations of using Western uniforms would have made a convincing case on their own (such as being tested in battle, the potential for industrial manufacturing, being made of machine-harvestable material available in bulk...), just like when adopting technologies such as rifles and steamships on their own merits.

That’s not to say nobody thinks of these things, but Osama bin Laden didn’t seem uncomfortable wearing camo fatigues and a Timex watch in his infamous October 2001 video, and I suppose if you play through FF7 and begin wondering why you’re using materia even though almost all of it manufactured by Shin-Ra, you might understand a little bit about why. Why an anti-corporate environmental activist uses corporate-made polluting laptops and electricity. Why someone might wear clothes whose presence weakens the possibility of a textile industry ever existing in their country. Even if they understand what’s wrong with the picture and don’t rationalize it away, the alternative just sucks more.

544

Gaming Discussion / Re: Easiest and hardest RPG you've ever played?

« on: August 01, 2012, 04:13:00 am »

I once encountered an anime with a devil worshipping scene in which they tried (and succeeded) to summon a demon with the star of david instead of a pentagram. I dunno maybe it was hidden political commentary.

Well... that’s probably not a mistake, actually. Pentacles from many sources prior to the 20th century (most notably in “The Key of Solomon” and “The Lesser Key of Solomon”) were often hexagrams when they did have stars.

Oh, but it’s kind of offensive outside Japan, yes.

I have often wondered what the deal is with Japanese games and anime having German names.

Japan has had a strange fascination with things German over the years, that’s for sure. For instance, the Meiji era government was modeled heavily on Prussia/The German Empire (the process of putting the constitution together didn’t happen overnight...), and while English gets the lion’s share of Western loan words used in Japanese today, words of German provenance do find their way in.

545

General Discussion / Re: Favorite kind of beer?

« on: August 01, 2012, 02:45:13 am »

Just steer clear of Milwaukee's Best. At the barracks when it neared the end of the pay period, that's what people got due to its cheapness. We called it "The Beast" for a reason. It'll tear you up later.

My old man regaled me with tales of his first USAF career in aircraft maintenance... so apparently, when you were stationed in the actual middle of nowhere back in the 1970s, the entire whatever-the-guys-with-you-was would be supplied with the creature comforts from home in that isolated spot that the host country was comfortable loaning to Uncle Sam you were in likely didn’t have available, pallet by pallet. Things like tobacco, beer, and food rations. And bear in mind this was a different era of logistics, so towards the end of shipments, what tended to be left (pooled together) was apparently a lot of PBR that most guys preferred the other brands to and a lot of fruitcake that most guys preferred the other desserts to... anyway, that’s why Dad can eat fruitcake and stand it

546

Gaming Discussion / Re: Recommended hacks/translations?

« on: August 01, 2012, 02:29:05 am »

Fist bump.

MIJET is the strongest romhacking group in the world. Seriously brings a tear to my eye.

saikyo 4 lyfe

547

Gaming Discussion / Re: OUYA - A damn good idea.

« on: July 31, 2012, 02:01:40 pm »

Okay wise guy, my point was, is there a player like Media Player Classic for Droid OS that can handle MKVs and the like?  Is there a good MAME emulator for the platform?  You see where I'm going with this, no?

I don’t have an Android device, so I could only say that yes there are video players, and yes there are emulators. If I had a better answer I wouldn’t be playing it close to my chest.

548

Script Help and Language Discussion / Re: What's wrong with official translations?

« on: July 31, 2012, 01:54:48 pm »

Sorry, what I meant was:  Do you use other people's (other gamers) opinions of your translations to refine your translation style in any way?

Although the opinions of others have certainly influenced my translation style, it’s only rarely been a conscious decision (e.g. matters of grammar and rhetoric, or in the debate on dynamic/functional and formal equivalence). To my knowledge, I don’t think anyone’s really gone and critically evaluated my translations (all of which are Japanese to English, and the only major work that’s been released is a rough first draft intended for double translation) in a very long time, and I don’t put out a whole lot for anyone to work with should they wish to do so.

And if so, how would you filter through the range of (contradictory) opinions to decide which ones to pay attention to (or maybe you treat them all equally)?

But you say that knowing a person makes you more likely to pay attention to their opinion? Does that apply to people you know better on forums like this, too?

Yes, and yes. When you look at Aristotle’s discussion of the three appeals (logos, ethos, and pathos), he’s right on the money for my tastes. I’d prefer to be swayed by logic, but for convenience’ sake I must defer to authorities or loyalties many times, and only occasionally for serious matters but often for entertainment matters I would be swayed by feelings.

(again, sorry to bombard with questions, I hope I'm not being considered rude).

Nah, it’s okay. It feeds my ego like a plant that appears from a green lightning bolt during an eclipse.

549

Gaming Discussion / Re: OUYA - A damn good idea.

« on: July 31, 2012, 12:38:11 pm »

CCCP gets most of its codecs from the same place almost all Linux video players most of their codecs (libavcodec*), so the question is a bit like asking whether there are video players at all.

* It got harder to explain after that blasted fork, though.

550

Script Help and Language Discussion / Re: What's wrong with official translations?

« on: July 31, 2012, 12:02:59 pm »

When you get a mix of opinions from people like these, how do you decide which ones to take on board/ignore and how do they affect the way you translate (if at all)?

I don’t really get this question... opinions are opinions. I might take particular stock in an opinion if it’s well-stated or it’s from a good friend, but for the most part I couldn’t even tell you whose opinions form my own, besides me. Past grade school courses, I’ve never had to have someone beat their opinion into me as far as translation goes; I apply the beatings to myself just fine.

Do you also find that Dutch gamers are unaware that the games are originally in Japanese?

No, absolutely not. But again, it’s a small sample space and I don’t really “live in” that community, so I couldn’t say that the way LostTemplar could say that about German-speaking gamers. The people I’ve played with are kind of hardcore, going to that effort to play video games in a foreign language (maybe that doesn’t seem that amazing in places where this is a commonplace behavior for gamers, but by the standards of the monolingual culture that surrounds me it sure is).

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Script Help and Language Discussion / Re: What's wrong with official translations?

« on: July 31, 2012, 10:44:52 am »

I can attest to some of these attitudes among the Dutch gamers I’ve had the pleasure of playing with. Might be a biased selection, what with the fellows I’ve played with being very good at English (as opposed to just good).

To some extent I can sympathize with the nit-picking, though. I for one try to avoid side-by-side comparisons unless it’s an actual project I’m working on; it’s a bit aggravating to get the mixed messages.

552

Gaming Discussion / Re: OUYA - A damn good idea.

« on: July 31, 2012, 10:20:30 am »

You heard it here, folks. Square-Enix is backing Ouya with Final Fantasy III. Which, I know, is already available for Android, but still. We've officially transcended "neat idea that probably won't go anywhere" and reached the threshold of relevance.

Yeah, just like NGPC and WonderSwan

553

General Discussion / Re: What do you guys know about SAP requirements and student loans?

« on: July 30, 2012, 03:23:58 pm »

That sounds like a pretty compelling case, but only insiders could really tell you what the committee reviewing your case would really want to know. Though if they’re going to hear you out, they’d probably want to know things like why you’re pursuing both majors, exactly how long it’s going to take to finish, why they don’t have to worry that you won’t pass the remaining classes... those kinds of things.

And if that earthquake last year screwed your schedule over, it’s probably worth mentioning how.

554

Gaming Discussion / Re: British english in games ?

« on: July 30, 2012, 03:02:01 pm »

Truth be told, though, the tourism industry makes a pretty penny off the idea that a typical town in the British Isles looks like Hobbiton.

555

General Discussion / Re: What do you guys know about SAP requirements and student loans?

« on: July 30, 2012, 02:51:25 pm »

I have contacted the Financial Aid department multiple times. I'm told it's a federal requirement, and that it would be the same at every school (I personally don't believe them).

The SAP is a federal requirement, yes, but the way it is evaluated can and does vary a little between schools (it has to, what with not every program being the same number of credit hours over the same timespan). I looked around more, and it seems any more hours allowed for double majors is often an appeal-required thing; at some schools this is actually what the financial aid FAQs say you should do in this situation (a single data point with MSU actually allowing more hours for a “second undergraduate degree” was throwing off my assessment... turns out having that spelled out in print is rare, and since it’s in the same state, I’m going to conjecture that this is a possible source of the misinformation you received).

So it sounds like you’re kind of screwed, man. But you might want to see if you can’t appeal it anyway. If you’re completely on track they might grant it. Every school’s different, but some places all you need to prove is that you’re not doing anything that could remotely be considered dicking around (truth be told, I’m not sure how I’m not already bumping into the limit myself... going to hit it next year, though. That’s going to suck). Not sure how that’s going to work for you... that form is really limited.

And at my current school, I only found out too late that I really should have argued for a reevaluation of my transfer credits. It would have saved me a semester’s worth of classes. Too late now.

556

General Discussion / Re: What do you guys know about SAP requirements and student loans?

« on: July 30, 2012, 12:38:40 pm »

Look up the SAP requirement policy at where you are now. That’s the one that applies to you—it’s different depending on the school, and schools have different policies for things like double majoring. If it isn’t anywhere you can find, contact the financial aid department.

Many universities have ridiculous bureaucracies and make ridiculous screw-ups, so if you think you might be misfiled, you need to contact whoever has you misfiled. And sometimes they’ll get around to it but they do it late enough that those notices fire off automatically. Either way, you need to make sure. Come prepared to play the “wrong window” game.

557

General Discussion / Re: Ryuji Sasai (and other lesser-known composers) appreciation thread

« on: July 29, 2012, 10:59:14 pm »

It’s kind of why I questioned who we’re going to call “lesser-known”. What do you know about who is known besides you knowing it? And Google hits aren’t everything; if you have an interest in shmup music, you almost certainly know Namiki.

Or as the interview question with the inventor of the SID chip put it

Q: Have you heard the tunes by Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway, Tim Follin, Jeroen Tel, and all the other composers?

A: I'm afraid not, are recordings available in the US?

Koji Kondo’s Mario theme is well known around the world, but who knows about him aside from a relatively small contingent of game fans? Game composers aren’t really famous. They aren’t really even Internet famous. I think all of them are worthy of consideration, as long as nobody’s clogging up the entire discussion.

Hosoe, Shinji (Ridge Racer, SFEX2)

558

Script Help and Language Discussion / Re: 幻獣

« on: July 29, 2012, 07:48:14 pm »

Most of my research into it points straight to Borges’ book still. It is a calque of “imaginary beings”. So if you want a one word solution, you might as well go for a word that doesn’t imply that they don’t exist when they clearly do in that context. The choice is yours.

(I got really sick of “ones” in a couple of translations I worked on / am working on, I must say. It’s not as invisible a word as I was hoping. And I had nobody to blame for that decision but me.)

559

General Discussion / Re: Favorite kind of beer?

« on: July 29, 2012, 02:21:32 pm »

And sorry if this is personal, but are your parents teetotalers or something? Both my parents (and in-laws) drink at least semi-regularly.

It’s just my mother. She isn’t exactly a teetotaler... just judgmental

It’s a Korean Protestant thing, if that explains it enough.

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General Discussion / Re: Favorite kind of beer?

« on: July 29, 2012, 07:30:59 am »

I’ll admit I have hardly any experience with alcohol (a side effect of living with your parents if one or more of your parents always has something negative to say about or a dirty look to shoot at anyone drinking anything), but I’ll throw in another word for Sam Adams Boston Lager.

The real Samuel Adams (1722–1803), of course, was quite a character.