Nora and the Time Studio: The Witch of the Misty Forest – English Translation

[Blackiris]

Hiya,

it's been a couple of years since I started learning Japanese and a couple of weeks since I started with ROM hacking. Because things went smoother than expected, I've started working on Nora. I've always been interested in this game since its fun, cute and has an awesome soundtrack from Wild ARMs composer Michiko Naruke. Text extraction and insertion is also mostly relatively easy.

About The Game
Noora to Toki no Koubou: Kiri no Mori no Majo, as the game is called in Japanese, is a collaboration work from Atlus and Gust. While the game's art style is reminiscent of Etrian Odyssey, its gameplay is very Atelier-like. A girl called Nora has to live in the forest for three years in order to master something I call "Chrono Magic" in my translation, which is basically a different term for "Alchemy" with a focus on the time aspect of changing and transforming things. Nora has to collect ingredients and use her skills in order to help and win the trust of the people in a nearby town.

The game is very short – probably 10-15 hours per playthrough – and features multiple endings, one for each character and one true ending, which increases the game's replay value. Apart from the item collecting and creating part, it also features a turn-based battle systems, though overall battles are not as important for the gameplay as in other RPGs. There are less then 50 enemies, but more than 500 items.

Current Progress
The game has 1,615 text files that contain the entire main scenario dialogues and NPC conversations.
Add a huge amount of text for 500+ lexicon entries (items, monsters, ...) and character descriptions plus some system text you basically have all the game's text.

Programming
I've written a basic text extractor and inserter that works for all the main text and, with some modifications, for a huge chunk of the system text / additonal text, but not yet for lexicon entries.

Translation
Main Text: 318/1615 files (19,7%)

Images: 20%


Current Issues
- The system text is stored in individual files, some of them are a bit more difficult to extract and insert. I've not yet managed to successfully insert lexicon entries and character descriptions.
- Some hacking is required to increase the windows size of some text boxes.
- The game offers alphabetical ordering for lexicon entries. It probably requires some additional programming to change this feature in a way that it works for English characters.
- The DeSmuME won't play Nora, not even the unmodified version. The No$gba crashes occasionally.

Team
Right now it's just me. ^^

Looking For
- an editor to look over the text (not required yet)
- testers (not required yet) who check the game for bugs, typos etc.
- a more experienced hacker to look into some of the trickier problems (though, honestly, the game doesn't look so diffucult at all)
- a graphic hacker / editor
- more translators are always welcome!

Screenshots

[schtolteheim]

Nora is blonde? Odd choice.

[Pokeytax]

I've had this one on my list for a while. Looks like you're making great progress, congrats!

I don't think I can make the time commitment for bulk translation right now, but if you hit a coding roadblock at some point I'd be happy to take a look.

[BlackDog61]

Very cute-looking game. Nice choice!
You'll probably want a VWF at some point. It should help with the screen real estate problems.

[Lance]

Chrono Magic? How about Chronomancy?

[ninokuni13]

Oh my god !! man i love you !!! plz plz dont drop this project coz i love this game but i dont know japanese . plz plz keep up

[Synnae]

Aww, game looks adorable.

I'd love to see the translation finished. ^^

[Blackiris]

I'm happy to announce that, after a few months of hiatus, I've resumed work and it's progressing very well.

I've done the first graphics edit and conquered some of the issues that popped up.
The (unedited) main scenario translation is now at roughly 11% and I aim to do 5% every week.
I'm pretty motivated right now, many roadblocks are cleared (though there are still some!).

I'll try to post regular updates.

[ninokuni13]

not to sound obsessive but i log in every day to check your progression status man

[Blackiris]

Haha, then maybe I should post updates more often.
I'll try to update the first post whenever I've been some progress.

Anyway, translation has passed the 15% mark today. 15% of the main scenario files, that is, but in terms of total main scenario text it's probably closer to 20%.

I've also done a rough character count. The entire script plus some of the systems files (not all, as I've not extracted all of them yet) are compromised of ~322911 characters.
May 09, 2016, 04:34:03 PM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)
Main scenario translation is now at 300/1615, or 18,5%.
Let's make that 25% by next Monday.

[ninokuni13]

  great job .. keep up the good work .. i wish i could be of some help , but i cant read japanese , nor good in hacking .. but i am waiting eagerly for  the game to be fully translated .. just plz dont drop it