I heard that DQ4 NES Japan was playful but most of it got lost in the translation.
I can't speak with any real confidence on this until we begin working on it, so as of now, my main frame of reference is the Legends of Localization article I linked.
I also read a bit about the DQ7 translation and it surprised me some bit. Loved that game for each mini-story, and that it's so impossibly filled with never-ending text. Never tried any of the modern remakes though.
This is certainly an interesting article. I took an initial look at it, as did nejimakipiyo, and it would seem that the contemporary localization fares rather well here. I look forward to studying it in greater depth.
Are the MSX versions of DQ1+2 worth dissecting? And I know that the SNES series was translated (DQ1+2 remix, DQ3 remix, DQ5, most of DQ6, Torneko) but any chance of a revisit? Hearsay told me that #3 could use a better rewrite.
My impression of the MSX versions is that the main difference is jerky scrolling, along with some questionable new content involving the young Princess of Moonbrooke in DQ2. Working with these games isn't a priority for me, and I don't consider them definitive in any way, but they are an interesting curiosity.
I really should replay the NES (and maybe GBC) vanilla versions once more so I can submit a fair on-site review with judgment in your favor.
That's very kind of you. Reviews are much appreciated. To make it easier for you to do direct comparisons, I'm willing to send extracted copies of the original scripts along with copies of our finished insert scripts, allowing you to make a very direct & comprehensive comparison. You'd have to filter through a bit of technical gobble-de-gook in the documents, but it should be mostly workable. Let me know if you want me to pm you some links.
Okay. One extra question. I'm assuming nothing got cut out from your work so far (1,2) in terms of space or visual limitations and it's basically done and dusted, ready to archive for posterity? Otherwise I'd like to hold off on finishing DQ2; don't want to miss anything extra.
I'd say that, as of the recent big text revision published a couple updates back, I don't believe that there is anything left that is missing from the Japanese version. The same holds true for DQ3, which will be published shortly. The initial release of DQ3 will reflect the same volume of editing and overall refinement that it took us a couple years of revisions and updates to achieve with DQ1 & DQ2. In fact, of the two, the one I need to update again now is DQ1, where we determined that Elven Flute is a much better translation than Fairy Flute. But I also want a new bug fix to an issue in the existing game to be included in that update.