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

[RHDNBot]

Update By: dr-nix

Cless and his Phantasian Productions are finally starting to get close to the finish line with their long running Tales of Phantasia translation.

The project has finally reached the Beta testing stage and Cless is still aiming for a 2012 release.

For more info check out the Phantasian Productions site.

Relevant Link: (http://www.tales-cless.org/)

[MathUser2929]

That looks a bit like a SNES game in some parts. Looks like this took a long time. The news on his site dates back to 2001. Good to hear the translation is almost done anyway.

[Spinner 8]

oh boy

[fireball]

I admire anyone with such a strong endurance. I really mean it in a positive way, this is true commitment.

[dr-nix]

That looks a bit like a SNES game in some parts. Looks like this took a long time. The news on his site dates back to 2001. Good to hear the translation is almost done anyway.

Yes Tales of  Phantasia was originally a SNES game but it was ported to PSX.

[Sinthet]

As someone who played through the DeJap translation, are there any major differences between the two versions? I'm guessing there's probably some smoother graphics, but are there many major differences that would warrant a replay? (Just asking for opinions here, I'm not a die-hard Tales fan, but I really enjoyed some of the games).

[Carnivol]

Besides the graphical/audio changes and so forth, I guess the biggest/most noticable "surface" change and game changer is the addition of an extra party member (Suzu).

[Chpexo]

.

[Square711]

At this point, I'm only hoping they get finished with ToP so they can tackle the PS2 Destiny games next. Still, it's good to see such an old project nearing its completion... let's hope beta testing goes smoothly and the next ToP-related news we see is the release announcement.

[arromdee]

Never mind the Dejap translation, are there any major differences between this and the Absolute Zero translation?  That translated the PSX version as well.

[cobaltex]

Never mind the Dejap translation, are there any major differences between this and the Absolute Zero translation?  That translated the PSX version as well.

From the screenshots I'd assume font (which looks much better in this one as far as I'm concerned), and battles quotes seem to be subbed as well. I could be wrong though.

[Carnivol]

Never mind the Dejap translation, are there any major differences between this and the Absolute Zero translation?  That translated the PSX version as well.

Fear I might oversell things right now (or build INSANE MIND BLOWING expectations) by saying this, but if you wanna get really super technical and have an actual list of a few things from the top of my mind ... here are "some" things I guess people might pick up on;

-Script translated by seasoned translators. Absolute Zero's ToP was throughhim's first time undertaking a big script translation for a language he was still learning.

-Script gone through a lengthy proofreading and editing phase handled by people with a solid grasp of the English language. Absolute Zero's ToP can at times feel a bit rough around the edges.

-Some really neat technical hacks to various things (my favorite being grammar specific variables for various things such as plurals, singulars and apostrophy management based on names.)

-In-game Customize menu settings for terminology settings (3 settings - preference saved to your savedate)

-In-game Customize menu settings for battle subtitle preferences ( saved to your savedata)

-"New" subtitle routine, rather than just "borrowing" the one from regular dialog boxes (so no odd "scrolling" effect when printing new lines and stuff)

-If memory serves me right, think there were some adjustments done to some skits/scenes to allow for easier reading of subtitles.

-Various cosmetic changes (menus and such) to better suit the target language.

-A good few legacy bugs in the game have been fixed (Monster Book % counter comes to mind - along with a few text issues, iirc.)


-Lots of research was put into unearthing the origin/source inspiration of pretty much all sorts of wonky terminology, skill names, item names and so forth - in order to provide accurate treatment of it and avoid guesstimation.

-Uses partially shared terminology with official localizations and other fan-translation efforts (not just PP's own Destiny project, but also with certain other group efforts). Consistency <3

-Stuff has a very localization-esque approach. I know that during the past few years "Localization" has become everyone's favorite idiot term for "LOOK MOM! I MADE UP MY OWN TEXT," but what I really mean right now is: When it comes to text writing and translation approach; it's treated as a piece of entertainment, intended for a specific type of target audience, and not as if the original game was a piece of nonfiction (ie. educational text). Accuracy and staying true to the source material has of course been important all the way, so there's a complete absence of "liberties" taken, but the text and dialog approach has been with an English speaking audience in mind (character dialog has also been approached with emphasis put on better promoting the various cast members' established and canon personalities, as the original script does a poor job at reflecting the personalities of "some" characters every now and then) - as for expressions, puns and pop-culture references; they are appropriately adjusted to be more relatable to the previously mentione. English speaking audience. Think of it like how Namco Bandai and 8-4 "might" have done, but without the dubs and just the Japanese audio as some sort of audio placeholder.


In short; while there have been distractions and technical hurdles to overcome, a lot of time was spent polishing and fixing other problems.

And, oh, stylistically there shouldn't be any females with supernatural powers, fornicating like ferocious felines in the vicious minds of young wizards. ('Cause it's always just a matter of time before someone brings up "that" scene). Also, there should be no "changes" that'll retroactively make you have had any less fun with the game, should you somehow later discover that something wasn't exactly worded the same way it was in the original text.

"...while translations cannot, as a rule, be superior to the source material, localizations most certainly can."
— Tim Rogers

[Thanatos-Zero]

One question... has this translation kept the adult humor from the DeJap translation of the SNES version? While it wasn't part of the original script, it was hilarious. 

[KingMike]

I'm sure he said "no" somewhere in that wall of text.

[Bregalad]

One question... has this translation kept the adult humor from the DeJap translation of the SNES version? While it wasn't part of the original script, it was hilarious. 

Oh wait... you mean this was not in the original game ?!? They MADE THIS up ?

[Thanatos-Zero]

Oh wait... you mean this was not in the original game ?!? They MADE THIS up ?

Yes, DeJap made this up.

Why not creating a poll, so that the translator sees, that we want the adult humor to stay?^^

[KingMike]

I believe Cless' goal is to create a patch closer to what an official localization might have been, which definitely would not include sex humor.

[Chpexo]

.

[Carnivol]

If anyone wants to play a very accurate translation, done by a veteran industry translator; by all means knock yourself out with the GBA translation. It's stiff as a stick, but it should be spot on and accurate. Only real "issue" other than it being very boring to read is that funny spellchecker error everybody knows of (The word "Ragnarok" not being in the office 2003 spellchecker and someone for some reason having managed to approved the "DID YOU MEAN 'KANGAROO'?" suggestion)

As for DeJap's "liberties" - nothing that really ruined anything or were "out of line" if you ask me. Would've probably been nice with a second consistency and terminology check, but the end result was still by far better than many other retail efforts from both the game's original release period and the patch's release period.

[Stabwound]

I remember when this project first started, and it's hard to believe it was over 10 years ago, and even harder to believe that Cless stuck to it for this long despite another group coming out with a complete translation in the meantime as well. Is this the longest running translation that (will most likely) reached completion? I can't think of anything else that even comes close, although I'm sure someone will prove me wrong.