Translations: Kaze No Densetsu Xanadu II (PCE-CD) - Announced!

[Ryusui]

A bit of Googling (and research into Tales of Vesperia) suggests Krene Jewel.

[SamIAm]

Thanks for your help and your reply. It's good to know that another series has it like that.

Hmmm...

See, I just don't think that that sounds very good. No matter how I try to bend the name, nothing strikes me as being appropriately close to the original yet unawkwardly sounding like a menacing sorcerer. Krene is OK. But Jewel? Juel? I don't know.

[BRPXQZME]

"Kleene" is unescapably official (it's the title of the AST). It's a Germanic word/name in origin, but it's a none too common variation (there is a well-known computer scientist Kleene who pronounced his name idiosyncratically, and there are a number of Dutch folk by this name as far as I care to check google); the most common form is Klein, and this is in fact how the word is spelled in modern Dutch and German. (It means "small"... from what is known of the origins of Western names, it is likely that some huge people were given this name in jest).

As for the surname, the 'j' sound is not native to languages where "Kleene" comes from and there doesn't appear to be any official romanization. Normally, ジュエル is "jewel", but if you don't like it at all (yeah, it is kinda fruity), you could make up, oh, "Jwer" or something.

[cpt. Misumaru Tenchi]

Keep in mind, the alternative is picking up a paper script or looking at a text document on your computer whenever there's a cutscene. On a strictly functional level at least, this will be a good thing.

Personally I would prefer something like that. Dub is the ultimate evil for me, it destroys the original concept of the game. I even dare to compare it to censorship, because some part of the author's original concept is lost with new voices. Western games should stay in english and japanese ones should have the option to turn on the subtitles. So I've got one big, big request to you guys: please, please, PLEASE give people a choice - a dub or an original voices even with paper script with the rest of the game translated normally.

[Ryusui]

I'll admit that the prospect of a fandub project is a little iffy for me, but if they can pull it off...

BTW: You're not one of those who seriously thinks a game like Catherine should remain in Japanese, even though the characters are Americans in an American setting, are you? (And for that matter, the characters here all have Greek-themed names. 'Cept for that guy from the first game we've been talking about, whose name is Germanic in origin.)

Back on subject: if Kleene is Germanic, why not render his last name similarly? Juwel/Juweel?

[cpt. Misumaru Tenchi]

If it was originally a japanese game (and I think it was) and the voices also were japanese, then yes - it should stay like this. If the producers wanted for the characters to speak in english, they should have done it by themselves.
I know - I can be pretty insane when it comes to keeping the game as much original as possible, but that's the life goes.

[BRPXQZME]

The VAA peoples are, as a rule, as allergic to crappy effortless dubbing as the rest of us

Back on subject: if Kleene is Germanic, why not render his last name similarly? Juwel/Juweel?

What I was getting at was that the only extant Germanic language that has a naturally-occurring (i.e. non-imported) /d͡ʒ/ sound is... (drumroll) English. The Normans are the most likely suspect.

[SamIAm]

Thanks very much for the help with the name, guys. Kleene Juwel looks and sounds good enough for me. 

If you don't want to use the dub, you don't have to. Just swap in the CD audio tracks from the original game (actually, it will probably be more like "Just don't swap in the dub"). I'll upload a text file to gamefaqs with all the dialogue, and there you go.

My goal is for an English-speaking person to be able to put this game in their Duo and sit down to play it like they would with most any other official release - without any necessary supplements. A dub is the only way that's possible. There are a lot of games out there like this, so I think the community should be positive toward fan-dubbing. I've gotten a lot of good auditions, and I think we can do a good job. This is pretty much the end of what I have to say on the matter.

[cpt. Misumaru Tenchi]

Well, I don't know neither you guys nor your work, so why should I have anything against you? It's just that I hate dubs from the bottom of my heart. I was forced to play Popful Mail, Snatcher and Lunar (they've cut off Megumi Hayashibara from the second part, an inexcusable crime - I love her) for Sega CD this way and I almost puked. I was very, very happy when it occurred that cinematics for fan translated Pia Carrot e Youkoso!! was untouched, and script for them was added. So if only you will give people a choice and won't force them to listen to a dub, then everything's allright. I wish for every translator to be so agreeable and fair. It's understandable that you goal is to make this game as much hardware friendly as possible, but I don't care - I'm going to play on emulator anyway, so the script won't get into my way.

[Ryusui]

I hate dubs from the bottom of my heart.

I can see you've never watched Cowboy Bebop.

[cpt. Misumaru Tenchi]

Well, watched it a lot of times, always fansubbed version. Why?

[Ryusui]

Because the English dub is legendary, and even the creators prefer it to the original Japanese version.

BANG.

[cpt. Misumaru Tenchi]

Everybody has its own tastes. I will always prefer the original versions, even if it's strange for other people.

[FlamePurge]

I feel ashamed that I used to be a person like that. Now I can't stand Japanese voice acting--all of it sounds the same to me. You get the effeminate hero voice, the high-pitched female voice, the deep manly voice, the badass chick voice, and that's it. No variation whatsoever.

Shit, what was the last Japanese subtitled thing I watched? Clannad? And that was only so it wouldn't be weird switching from the dub to the Japanese original at After Story.

For instance, FFXII. Listen to Balthier's voice in the English version, then hear how it is in the Japanese version. Terrible. He sounds like Nagisa Furukawa's dad.

[SamIAm]

I'll stick my neck out and say that I think the Sega-CD US version of Popful Mail was better written and performed than the original. The humor was funnier, and the characters were much more memorable. At the same time, it was still quite faithful to the original. If only they hadn't also screwed with the gameplay, it would definitely be the superior version.

Working Designs haters, don't worry, there will be no jokes about Euro-Disney in Xanadu II.

[cpt. Misumaru Tenchi]

As I said before, everybody has its own tastes. Original version is always better because it's original. Besides, I like Akio's (Ryotaro Okiayu's) voice, he's a very famous seiyuu. He (or that Baltier of yours) sounds awful as her father to you? It means that was the case - the author wanted him to sounds awful. Clannad generally has few great seiyuu on its paylist, like Nakahara Mai, Tamura Yukari, Nonaka Ai, Noto Mamiko. I'm sorry for harsh words, but only a madman would prefer some crappy english fakes with no emotions at all over the original sweet ones. And that's the main reason why I hate dubs: western dubbers rarely are able to really feel the story and play as good as japanese cast. And there's the english voices which sounds all the same for me.
I won't convince anybody to watch anime in japanese anymore, but in return I would like not to read what kind of a "person" I am, because of my preferences. I've said my lines, we have an agreement with translation case. Is it acceptable?
I've listened a little of original voices in Popful Mail, and sorry - Mail's original voice is much, much nicer and cuter for my ear. Besides, original will always be better because it's the original. Why don't we dub songs? We do it with films, games, cartoons, why not with songs? Stupid idea? For me it's all the same - dubbing kills the originality. I want to taste (in this case by listening) the culture of a foreign country in a language it was made in and personally I don't see anything bad in it. Please note that I'm also against english->japanese dubbing.

[SamIAm]

Basically, I agree, and I respect everyone's tastes. I'll also say that standards are a bit higher for voice actors in Japan. However, I don't buy that Japanese voices are inherently better; if you were to compare a Japanese and an English dub of an Indian movie, there's no real reason that one would be better than the other. Finally, I do think there's something to be said for dubs allowing people to focus on the visuals more. I tell my Japanese friends to watch movies with subs most of the time, but for Citizen Kane, I would insist on a dub.

Why don't we dub songs?

We do. It's just usually not very practical. There has to be a separate vocal track that you can remove, and reworking the lyrics so that they still fit is tough.

People translate poetry all the time, though. It's imperfect, but unless you learn the language, it's all you're going to get.

[FlamePurge]

Besides, I like Akio's (Ryotaro Okiayu's) voice, he's a very famous seiyuu. He (or that Baltier of yours) sounds awful as her father to you?

I meant the voice "type" that Ryotaro Okiayu--thank you for supplying the name, by the way--uses for Akio Furukawa doesn't fit coming out of Balthier of FFXII's mouth. I thought, actually, he was a perfect fit as Nagisa's father. And as a side note, I'm pretty sure Ryotaro Okiayu doesn't actually voice Balthier in FFXII's Japanese original release, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

I suppose I should go on to mention that Japanese voice acting, as well as all other voice acting, is like everything else in the world: there's a lot of grimy stuff, but there are some gems in between the grout. This can be applied to JRPGs, good food, toys, live-action TV shows, manga, anime--hell, even people.

[tomaitheous]

cpt. Misumaru Tenchi: All you're doing is repeating yourself. Your first or second post pretty much sums up your position on dubbing.

As for dubbing, I'll never understand zero tolerance on matters like this. Sure, I don't care for a crappy dub. But crappy is relative. And if you never heard the Japanese originals, then you don't have a bias towards it. I watched all of BGC back in the day subbed. The english dub is horrible. And even if it was great, I was exposed to the original so much that an English one will never compare. That's unfortunate IMO. Because I don't actually understand Japanese (yes, I can read subs without problems just fone. But if you can't understand the language, even if you can hear the emotional infliction in the spoken language, you're still not getting the full experience). Many other shows I watched in English dub first and have no problem not watching them in Japanese original dialogue. Cowboy Bebop, Ghost In the Shell series, Paranoia Agent, Mushishi, etc. Not only do I prefer the English dub, I can also put the series on and just listen to it while doing other stuff (like coding, etc). I don't even have to watch it (or always be looking at it). That and my sons can at least enjoy the shows/movies too.

That said, hey SamIam. Hope this works out. I think the PCE community would be fairly open to this (at least the original gamers that had Turbo CDs back in the day. There were plenty of bad dubs in CD games, be endured anyway. It has charm nowadays). Plus, it's not like one is forced to used the dub. As long as it doesn't sound like Final Zone 2. And hell, even if it does sound exactly like FZ2 I'd still play through it at least once with the dub and then decide for myself afterwards

Really wish the best of luck on this. Many have tried to pull together a dub crew for some PCE CD games (Ys IV being the most infamous in attempts).

For the record, my younger son beat this game. He was 7 (almost when he beat it. I only had to help him out a few times (via a walk through we had to look up). At his age at the time, he was just learning to read English words. So he actually was able to remember and recognize some of the japanese kana words. As in what they corresponded to, without my help. I was impressed. The young learn fast.

[SamIAm]

That said, hey SamIam. Hope this works out. I think the PCE community would be fairly open to this (at least the original gamers that had Turbo CDs back in the day. There were plenty of bad dubs in CD games, be endured anyway. It has charm nowadays). Plus, it's not like one is forced to used the dub. As long as it doesn't sound like Final Zone 2. And hell, even if it does sound exactly like FZ2 I'd still play through it at least once with the dub and then decide for myself afterwards

Really wish the best of luck on this. Many have tried to pull together a dub crew for some PCE CD games (Ys IV being the most infamous in attempts).

For the record, my younger son beat this game. He was 7 (almost when he beat it. I only had to help him out a few times (via a walk through we had to look up). At his age at the time, he was just learning to read English words. So he actually was able to remember and recognize some of the japanese kana words. As in what they corresponded to, without my help. I was impressed. The young learn fast.

Thanks! We're having a good time, and I think we'll make something cool.

It's cool that your son played this. With no disrespect for his gaming skills, let me just put it out there that this is quite an easy game. I think it works in its favor, since it's virtually never frustrating, but people looking for a challenge will probably be disappointed.