Translations: Cless' Tales of Phantasia translation reaches beta testing stage

[LostTemplar]

I'm sure someone will prove me wrong.

Because you asked for it:

12 years in the making, this unofficial translation makes Energy Breaker available in English for the first time.

[Carnivol]

Phantasian Production's Tales of Phantasia translation officially started sometime early 2000. Seem to recall the first signs of progress (monster book - or was it the menu?) came out in the summer or something that year.  So ... yeah ... it's been a while 

[butane bob]

I guess nobody told them this is already in English on the SNES, GBA and PS1 already huh. 

[KingMike]

He's aware. Cless feels the PS1 version is the definitive version (at least over the SNES), and the GBA was the worst (even before Nintendo got their hands on it). And his goal is different than Absolute Zero's. (Cless wanted consistency with official localizations whereas Absolute Zero wanted to localize it however they felt was right, regardless of Namco's works.)

[Bregalad]

He's aware. Cless feels the PS1 version is the definitive version (at least over the SNES), and the GBA was the worst (even before Nintendo got their hands on it). And his goal is different than Absolute Zero's.

I can't say about the game, but when it comes to the music this is definitely true.

I also remember clearly trying the GBA version with a friend's console and I vaguely remember the combat system was horrible / unworkable, and that the character sprites were weird. This from the point of view of someone who has beaten the SNES version.

[Carnivol]

The GBA version is an odd beast.
And it's so slooooooooow.

The curious part about the GBA version is the added scenario stuff.
(The continuing trend of ToP getting altered for every single rerelease/port it's had)

[Zoel]

Tales of Phantasia is one of my favorite games of all time, well the PS1 version of course.

But I can't even play the GBA version for more then 5 mins. If that was bad.

[FlamePurge]

Someone should probably make a news post about this.

And that someone... shouldn't be me, since I'm lazy. :p

[Chpexo]

.

[SargeSmash]

The thing is, the GBA version gets a bit faster as you progress.  It's still slow-ish, but it does become bearable.  Or maybe I just got used to it, but I don't think so.  I actually beat that version.  Don't judge me.

[Chpexo]

.

[ze10]

Oh boy! I already know what I'll do when I finish writing my dissertation. =D

[patuli]

As for which TOP is the best, my vote is for Tales of Phantasia X Edition, the problem is that they keep rehashing the game, with improvements here and there,and each new rehash is better than the last one.
My taste will be from worst to best:
GBA
Snes
PSX
PSP Full voice edition
PSP X edition

[Carnivol]

A little "late" on the this one, but being the hatemonger that I am when it comes to all things fun, I must say that not nearly enough people are openly criticizing what Namco did with the two PSP versions of Tales of Phantasia ... so here's my main "hatelist" for them 

~Full Voice Edition~ (aka. "Look who's talking" Edition)
Living up to its name
-Them shoehorning in voice acting for any and all dialog, regardless of whether or not the dialog or scene was written with voice acting in mind at all, comes off as lazy, forced, and somewhat annoying in a pacing type of sense.
-While the battle engine update to the Eternia "standard" is a nice thought, the effort is half-hearted and it borks the balance. Bla bla grade shop, blablabla; basically a boredom trainwreck or joykill for anyone who doesn't give a damn about replays, combos 'n' grade, and constantly tweaking your difficulty settings as you go.
-Their updated sprite job is unfinished. Only SOME humanoid characters are given the Eternia sprite design style, while most retain their SD style from the PS1 version -- stylistic crash ahoy.
-Their UI is ugly as sin. Looks like fan game nonsense.

Tales of Phantasia X (aka. "She has a Swordwhip" Edition)
Bringin' moe shit to the table
-Basically anything that was wrong with FVE carries over
-New cutscenes stand out like sore thumbs 'cause they feature characters doing stuff in ways that they never did in legacy cutscenes. Stylistic crash ahoy.
-New character (or pair of tits; if marketing's your thing) brings her own flavor to the already unfinished hackjob of a graphical update by adding her own graphical style -- making FVE, X, and legacy sprites and portraits all stand out from one another like some sort of Mugen mess.
-New battle system is even more broken than FVE's


It sucks to see Namco treat ToP like this. And I'd much rather take another solid remake (ala. SFC->PSX) than a series of hastily compiled and incomplete hack jobs every fourth year...

[Bregalad]

OK after playing the game for 10 mins or so I have to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to the translator !

It really looks fine and professional, and also, as opposed to most SNES -> PS1 remakes, this one was actually well done, and isn't just an emulation of the SNES version with added slow loading times.

It's also cool you used the SNES font, it adds this "Tales of Phantasia" feel.

However as someone who already took time to beat the SNES game I doubt I'll do a complete playthrough a second time even though I enjoyed the game - because there is so many other games I haven't played. But if I ever do a second playthough it will definitely be this version.