Dragon Quest 4 DS - classic version

[Kosayn]

Just in case anyone's wondering, I'm working on item appraisals now, and in tandem, a brief final cleanup on Chapter 3, which puts me in the right mindset for Taloon.  About halfway done on both. It's not nearly as boring as I thought it would be.

Back to working on endgame stuff this weekend, I hope!

[gotenksten]

i realize you've done ton of work the way it is now. but i am wondering something specific (by the way you won't offend me if you say no):
the japanese ds dragon quest 4 has a cheat code that allows for the game to play in english. it only doesn't have the prologue. i've heard it is completely done. and even weirder is it has party chat. my question is is it possible to either use the japanese english version for party chat to be included, or is it possible to re add party chat into your version? there is a website with all the party chat translated into normal english (no accents)

[Kosayn]

Ah!  That's an interesting idea.  I've been well aware of the multi-language nature of the US release.  I've looked at the Japanese rom now, and it seems that while the overall positions are different, the spacing for dialogue is the same.  So it should be cut and paste friendly for my text.

I also love party chat; I first experienced it in Dragon Warrior 7 and man, there is so much dialogue in that game as a result.  It's like Lunar for Playstation in its extreme verbosity.  And yes, I know about the collaborative Party Chat project for DQ4 DS, and I wish them the best.

For me it would have to be the first way around, to port my dialogue into the Japanese rom - things may have changed since then, but back when I began the project there were very few technical people doing complex hacks on DS games, and I certainly can't do that.  I could work on the party chat itself, which I'm sure is gigantic.

As far as working with the Japanese rom, I'm not afraid of this technically or creatively, but I know it would be a long-term thing to write and test.  I think this would be something to do after I fully finish the US release.  I don't know about collaborating with the party chat people since we probably write differently, and If I recall right, they actually have translators and some handle on the Japanese script.  My goal is to bring all the extra material in line with the simple style of the US-released NES game.

As I get closer to finishing the project, I want to be honest with you guys, I have thought about doing a Patreon or something similar.  I don't know if that's taboo around these parts, and I would never make any of my work on this project anything but totally free and available. It would be strictly for anyone who wants to say thank you.  I figure if that isn't too offensive, I would set it up once I've actually released the beta version and the project nears completion.

Anyway, if working on the Japanese rom turns out to be feasible, that might be something to help justify a tip jar.  In any case, it's interesting, and thanks for sharing the idea.

[gotenksten]

i understand that kind of thing is a lot of work. i honestly don't have any money to give at all. but i legitimately hope that people do support you for this. you are making dragon quest 4 playable again. i appreciate all the hard work you're doing and i always try out people's rom hacks that are improvements. but this one is nearly as good as a complete retranslation from scratch. its as much work as one

[VicVergil]

i realize you've done ton of work the way it is now. but i am wondering something specific (by the way you won't offend me if you say no):
the japanese ds dragon quest 4 has a cheat code that allows for the game to play in english. it only doesn't have the prologue. i've heard it is completely done. and even weirder is it has party chat. my question is is it possible to either use the japanese english version for party chat to be included, or is it possible to re add party chat into your version? there is a website with all the party chat translated into normal english (no accents)

Wrong. Only the Japanese version using the JP language value has the Party Chat feature working at all (in fact, if one tried forcing an overseas version to load the JP language option, otherwise fully working, Party Chat is disabled even there). Game has a folder with text files for each language, and only the JP folder has those files existing.

iOS/Android version has those files translated to English and in the same format. They can be imported back in the JP DS version's JP version and display without problems (it even loads the appropriate font), aside from control codes displaying as weird symbols, and misplaced line breaks. Problems that can be easily fixed considering the ease of modifying the text files to begin with.

However, things didn't go that well for the last one who tried such a thing (DQ7, was it?) so you probably wouldn't see it other than on a warez site, like the ASH/FF Type-0 translation and various Ys/Xanadu patches. So any experiments of similar nature with this or DQM1/2 3DS would be unsafe for sharing.

[Kosayn]

Thanks for the info. I bet working my script into the JP section would be challenging. I can look at that, but I'm eager to focus on the work rather than technical experiments right now!

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of party chat at some point. But of course, not by using other writers' recent work without their permission.

[gotenksten]

Wrong. Only the Japanese version using the JP language value has the Party Chat feature working at al

sorry for that. i just assumed it worked properly. oops.

Kosayn
is it possible that you could have both the modern spell names and old spell names when you release this for download? that'd be great. i know a lot of people can't stand stuff like cock-a-doodle-doo, but i prefer some of the newer spell names and i'm so used to them now that playing with the old names is a bit tough[/color]

[Kosayn]

Yeah, I can do that.  Undoing stuff is just cut and paste.  The spells seem significant enough that I can cater to those who prefer it.  I'll have to remember to hit up the few in-dialogue occurrences of spell names too.

I'm actually working on the post-game dungeon now, somewhat out of sequence since I have lots else to do before I get there.  It's bonkers.  I see no way to treat it seriously, so I've been writing utter nonsense and having fun with it.  Hopefully the end results will be as cathartic for the player as they are for me.

[gotenksten]

awesome. i really can't wait to play this

[Ziko]

awesome. i really can't wait to play this

I'm gonna replay this using this translation when it's done since I beat it a while back using my female lead. This will be what I think the game should've been instead of stupid accents and the modern spell list having silly names instead of the localized names we got during the NES era.

[SpRoUt]

Can't wait to see and play this

[gotenksten]

I'm gonna replay this using this translation when it's done since I beat it a while back using my female lead. This will be what I think the game should've been instead of stupid accents and the modern spell list having silly names instead of the localized names we got during the NES era.

i'll certainly give it a run through as well after it's done. it's aboot time we get a dragon quest 4 that isn't tae hardest game tae uunderstand ever, aye.

[VicVergil]

You could also play the official version using any of the other languages too, French, German, Spanish or even Japanese if you wanted and you understood the language. They're legible enjoyable scripts not suffering from the English version's accent syndrome, and translated directly from the original. Too bad the iOS version dropped them and the English translation is as a result the only way to experience it and the Party Chat.

[Chronosplit]

i realize you've done ton of work the way it is now. but i am wondering something specific (by the way you won't offend me if you say no):
the japanese ds dragon quest 4 has a cheat code that allows for the game to play in english. it only doesn't have the prologue. i've heard it is completely done. and even weirder is it has party chat. my question is is it possible to either use the japanese english version for party chat to be included, or is it possible to re add party chat into your version? there is a website with all the party chat translated into normal english (no accents)

Interesting note: party chat is in the mobile versions of IV if you need a reference of the original localization.  Very odd that it was translated in the Japanese release and still never made it out here though...

[gotenksten]

You could also play the official version using any of the other languages too, French, German, Spanish or even Japanese if you wanted and you understood the language. They're legible enjoyable scripts not suffering from the English version's accent syndrome, and translated directly from the original. Too bad the iOS version dropped them and the English translation is as a result the only way to experience it and the Party Chat.

i don't speak any of those languages so i'm stuck with the lousy english version. and i'm already playing the mobile one for party chat. but it of course has the accents on the party chat too

Interesting note: party chat is in the mobile versions of IV if you need a reference of the original localization.  Very odd that it was translated in the Japanese release and still never made it out here though...

apparently i was wrong about them being in the ds japanese version. oops

[Kosayn]

I've finished my unscheduled revamp of Chapter 3 - thankfully it's the last of the revisits.

Also, went back and put a little oomph on my first post in this thread!

There's some pictures from the World Tree.  I'm continuing with elves and animals being super hostile, as they are elsewhere.   I've also got a really good chunk of item appraisals done, but I don't think there's much need to preview those here.   They're 30% fun facts about weapons and armor, 70% Taloon jokes.

With that stuff out of the way, and Gottside about half done, I'm going to move on to Zenithia and later events and tackle that material all together - since it all relates directly to the main plot of the game.  I had to do this before with Rosaville / Dire Castle, and I feel like I got consistent results with that approach.

Now aiming for beta testing in late September.

Update: Zenithia is going faster than expected, very few extra npcs, no Day/Night cycle, etc.  I should soon be doing the endgame, mop-up, immigrant town, etc.



While there are new books, this guy is actually the only new NPC in all of the DS version's Zenithia.  I've dubbed him the Saro apologist, since the game seriously needs to go into damage control and PR for Saro at this point.  The other undercurrent that I'm pushing in this area (which is subtly there in the NES script) is that despite meaning well, Zenithia has made many mistakes.  Especially regarding the Hero's parents.

So about the final area, I'm calling it The Evil World / Hell / Nadiria interchangeably.  The Hell analogy is obvious and evocative.  I'm not 100% sure if the name Nadiria is a Plus Alpha translations creation, but if that is the case, it's a great name and they should be commended for it.  The area does feature in DQ5 as well under that name.  I was also reluctant to let go of the name Orifiela in favor of Lucia, but I did.  Plenty of their other stuff that I thought was good material, I have carefully tried to avoid using or imitating due to the nature of the project.

Speaking of PR, as I get nearer to releasing this project, I want to put it out there that I didn't work on this out of hate for the new translation, but love for the old NES version.  As such, I don't want people to harass Plus Alpha over the accents on my account.  DQ4 has lots of new fans due to their work. Some of the online info that helped me make this, comes directly from those new fans.

Bottom line is,  absolutely all localization companies deserve our respect, considering the giant amount of text they have to contend with to bring over games like this.  And not all of them would care enough to try something so bold and different.

[gotenksten]

you wont disappoint me at all to say no. but is it possible to apply this to the psx version of the game. i have NO idea how this stuff works. because i'd much rather play the psx version of dq4

[Ziko]

Will you do beta testing for this re-translation and if so, can any of us participate in that process?

[Kosayn]

The PS version is probably a whole different ball of wax, although the design of the games is very similar.  It also has some downsides (limited monster animation).  That said, I will probably look into it again at some point.  It depends on how different the text data storage is.

And, yes, when I release a version for open beta, it will be using this thread.  At the end of September.

I've been working on the books and major dialogue in Zenithia for the last week or so.  All Zenithia dialogue is in now, and just needs a bit more attention.

[gotenksten]

it's been a while. what's your progress looking like?