Mato Projects (mostly FF4/6 stuff)

[Tomato]

FF6 T-Edition English Translation

I released this in November 2021, including the tools, etc. here: http://tomato.fobby.net/ff6-t-edition . Afterward, I passed it on to Kain Stryder et al to maintain so I won't have to.



Download the latest files, etc. here: http://ff6t.net

FF4 Machine translation using DeepL



I previously machine-translated FF4 using Google translate (and even wrote a book about the experience). A supposedly more sophisticated machine translation engine named DeepL recently added Japanese support, so I gave it a shot. The result is still pretty bad, but it's not as wacky as the previous Google one. I started making a patch for this DeepL translation but ran out of time/energy about 80% in. The game should be beatable, just the main menus will look barfy.

This patch also includes some small improvement hacks that I had previously created for the FF2c project below.

Download: http://tomato.fobby.net/junk/funky%20fantasy%20iv%20deepl%202020%20machine%20translation%20patch%20v1.ips (needs FF4 (J) v1.1 unheadered ROM)



FF2c Translation



Some years back, a Japanese fan did a small remake of FF2 using the FF4 engine. Most of the original assets are still the same as FF4 too - all the town layouts, music, enemy sprites, etc. It's a pretty cool patch though, so I've been slowly translating it + hacking stuff just as a side hobby. Anyway, I just thought I'd share some pics of it here for now. I'm pulling a lot of the translated text from FF2 GBA's English translation, but there's still a lot I need to translate from scratch too.

The Japanese site is long gone but I've uploaded a copy of the final Japanese patch here: http://tomato.fobby.net/junk/FFC2_v1.01.zip

UPDATE: The patch is out now! http://tomato.fobby.net/ffc2/

[Vanya]

Oo!! That FF2c hack sounds really intriguing.
That's the kind of thing I'd love to do for FF1 and FF3 using FF5 as a base.
But if I could rig a class system in FF4, that could be pretty swank too.
Anyway, I look forward to trying out your translation of it!

[ArkthePieKing]

Oh that's so nifty! Does it use a traditional leveling system or FF2's proto-SaGa style leveling?

[Tomato]

It uses the same battle system, experience system, etc. as FF4. The original hack uses very little (if any) assembly reprogramming, it's more like the sort of game you could make if you used the usual FF4 hacking tools.

[Vanya]

Sounds great to me!
I always found it to be an odd game.
Of course, knowing that much of it was designed by the creator of Mana series puts it into perspective.
On the other hand that just makes me want to see what a more traditional version of the game would have been like.

[Grimoire LD]

This is a really cool topic and idea Mato. I really enjoyed your playthrough of Funky Fantasy IV and treasured the book just as much. Perhaps these sorts of machine learning programs can make untranslated games a bit more understandable in various ways.

[Rodimus Primal]

I find these projects are REALLY interesting. I know you said in your notes that your custom tools are still being worked on. Any chance they could be used to let's say port an existing script into it?

[Celice]

I tweeted to you about that FF2c hack a year or two ago, and it's super cool to see you've been messing around with it on the side! It's definitely no T-edition kind of hack, but I love the idea of recreating one game in another game engine so it was a treat to discover it

[Tomato]

I know you said in your notes that your custom tools are still being worked on. Any chance they could be used to let's say port an existing script into it?

Yeah, although for that purpose they're probably not particularly any better than Atlas, etc. stuff. I think the only thing my toolset has is some ASM that allows the three banks of text to be expanded + relocated. Everything else is standard stuff.

[8.bit.fan]

Just want to quickly drop in and say that I've never seen this before and this is amazing stuff!

The FF2c Translation looks very interesting as well! How much of FF2 has been recreated in this?

I look forward to checking these out and keep up the good work! 

Cheers! 

8-bit fan

[Rodimus Primal]

Yeah, although for that purpose they're probably not particularly any better than Atlas, etc. stuff. I think the only thing my toolset has is some ASM that allows the three banks of text to be expanded + relocated. Everything else is standard stuff.

That would actually perfect if it works properly enough. I ask because I would love to find an easier way to port Namingway Edition to a Japanese ROM but expanding the text in places sounds fantastic.

Just want to quickly drop in and say that I've never seen this before and this is amazing stuff!

The FF2c Translation looks very interesting as well! How much of FF2 has been recreated in this?

I look forward to checking these out and keep up the good work! 

Cheers! 

8-bit fan

I want to try out FF2C as well. I have a soft spot for that game despite it getting a lot of flak for its leveling system.

[8.bit.fan]

I want to try out FF2C as well. I have a soft spot for that game despite it getting a lot of flak for its leveling system.

Same here. I've always 'liked' FF2 despite all that. So it's great to see a recreation using another FF game's engine!

[Tomato]

The FF2c Translation looks very interesting as well! How much of FF2 has been recreated in this?

As far as I can tell, it's got the entire story, script, and world map from FF2.

Town layouts, dungeons, etc. are all still from FF4. Music, enemy graphics, etc. are all the same as FF4 too.

There's extra content too, like you can fight Cecil as a secret boss, for example.

The FF2 game with FF4's battle system really clicked with me when I tried it out, which made me want to share it in English.

[Bregalad]

It's funny the DeepL translation is so bad, because DeepL is actually very good at doing translations between French and English, it's nothing like the old machine language translation who sucked, it's almost perfect; the only exception being ambiguous words or grammar who can't be guessed from the context.

So I suppose jap->en translation is more difficult to do than en<->fr for a computer.

[akualung]

It's funny the DeepL translation is so bad, because DeepL is actually very good at doing translations between French and English, it's nothing like the old machine language translation who sucked, it's almost perfect; the only exception being ambiguous words or grammar who can't be guessed from the context.

So I suppose jap->en translation is more difficult to do than en<->fr for a computer.

DeepL is actually fairly accurate with Japanese as well, provided the text is rich in kanji. An example (which may not be the best one, but some of the testings I've made have made my jaw drop at how accurate they looked): https://www.deepl.com/translator#ja/en/%E6%96%B0%E5%9E%8B%E3%82%B3%E3%83%AD%E3%83%8A%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B9%E9%96%A2%E9%80%A3%E3%81%AE%E5%A0%B1%E9%81%93%E3%81%A7%E3%81%AF%E3%80%81%E6%95%B0%E5%A4%9A%E3%81%8F%E3%81%AE%E5%8C%BB%E5%B8%AB%E3%81%8C%E3%83%A1%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%A2%E3%81%AB%E7%99%BB%E5%A0%B4%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%80%81%E8%87%AA%E8%BA%AB%E3%81%AE%E7%9F%A5%E8%A6%8B%E3%82%92%E8%BF%B0%E3%81%B9%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B%E3%80%82%E3%81%97%E3%81%8B%E3%81%97%E3%80%81%E6%9C%80%E5%89%8D%E7%B7%9A%E3%81%A7%E6%84%9F%E6%9F%93%E8%80%85%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A1%E3%81%A8%E6%8E%A5%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B%E5%8C%BB%E5%B8%AB%E3%81%AE%E8%A9%B1%E3%82%92%E3%81%98%E3%81%A3%E3%81%8F%E3%82%8A%E3%81%A8%E8%81%9E%E3%81%8F%E6%A9%9F%E4%BC%9A%E3%81%AF%E6%84%8F%E5%A4%96%E3%81%A8%E5%B0%91%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%80%82%E5%AE%9F%E9%9A%9B%E3%81%AB%E3%81%AF%E3%81%9D%E3%81%AE%E6%82%A3%E8%80%85%E3%82%92%E8%A8%BA%E3%81%9F%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%81%8C%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%80%8C%E5%B0%82%E9%96%80%E5%AE%B6%E3%80%8D%EF%BC%88%E4%B8%AD%E3%81%AB%E3%81%AF%E5%8C%BB%E5%B8%AB%E3%81%A7%E3%81%AF%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E8%80%85%E3%82%82%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B%EF%BC%89%E3%81%AE%E3%82%AA%E3%83%94%E3%83%8B%E3%82%AA%E3%83%B3%E3%81%AE%E3%81%BB%E3%81%86%E3%81%8C%E5%A4%9A%E3%81%8F%E6%B5%81%E5%B8%83%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B%E3%80%82%E7%8F%BE%E5%A0%B4%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%81%AE%E5%A3%B0%E3%81%A8%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E7%B4%B9%E4%BB%8B%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B%E5%A4%9A%E3%81%8F%E3%81%AF%E3%80%81%E6%B2%BB%E7%99%82%E7%8F%BE%E5%A0%B4%E3%81%AE%E8%8B%A6%E5%A2%83%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A8%E3%81%93%E3%82%8D%E3%81%AB%E9%99%90%E5%AE%9A%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB%E3%82%82%E3%81%82%E3%82%8B%E3%80%82

If FFIV's translation is so weird, it's mostly because of the lack of kanji to provide context and eliminate ambiguity.

PD: here's another one. These are all things that pop up on my twitter from time to time:

https://www.deepl.com/translator#ja/en/%E6%9C%80%E8%BF%91%E3%80%81%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E6%B2%B3%E5%8D%97%E7%9C%81%E9%84%AD%E5%B7%9E%E3%81%AE%E7%97%85%E9%99%A2%E3%81%AB%E5%A5%B3%E6%80%A7%EF%BC%92%E4%BA%BA%E3%81%8C%E3%82%81%E3%81%BE%E3%81%84%E3%82%84%E8%84%B1%E5%8A%9B%E6%84%9F%E3%81%AA%E3%81%A9%E3%82%92%E8%A8%B4%E3%81%88%E5%85%A5%E9%99%A2%E3%81%97%E3%81%9F%E3%80%82%E6%96%B0%E5%9E%8B%E3%82%B3%E3%83%AD%E3%83%8A%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B9%E3%81%B8%E3%81%AE%E8%AD%A6%E6%88%92%E3%81%8C%E7%B6%9A%E3%81%8F%E4%B8%AD%E3%80%81%E7%97%85%E9%99%A2%E3%81%AFCT%E3%82%B9%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%81%AB%E3%82%88%E3%82%8B%E6%A4%9C%E6%9F%BB%E3%82%92%E8%A1%8C%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A8%E3%81%93%E3%82%8D%E3%80%81%E6%82%A3%E8%80%85%E3%81%AE%E8%82%BA%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%81%99%E3%82%8A%E3%82%AC%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B9%E7%8A%B6%E3%81%AE%E7%99%BD%E3%81%84%E5%BD%B1%E3%81%8C%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%A4%E3%81%8B%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E3%80%82%E3%81%9D%E3%82%8C%E3%81%AF%E3%81%BE%E3%81%95%E3%81%AB%E6%96%B0%E5%9E%8B%E3%82%B3%E3%83%AD%E3%83%8A%E8%82%BA%E7%82%8E%E3%81%AE%E7%89%B9%E5%BE%B4%E3%81%A8%E4%B8%80%E8%87%B4%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E3%82%82%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A0%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E3%80%822%E4%BA%BA%E3%81%AF%E7%99%BA%E7%86%B1%E3%82%84%E3%80%81%E3%81%9B%E3%81%8D%E3%80%81%E5%91%BC%E5%90%B8%E5%9B%B0%E9%9B%A3%E3%81%AA%E3%81%A9%E3%81%AE%E7%97%87%E7%8A%B6%E3%81%8C%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8B%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E3%81%9F%E3%82%81%E3%80%81%E8%A8%BA%E5%AF%9F%E3%82%92%E5%8F%97%E3%81%91%E3%81%9F%E3%81%AE%E3%81%AF%E7%99%BA%E7%86%B1%E5%A4%96%E6%9D%A5%E3%81%A7%E3%81%AF%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%80%81%E4%B8%80%E8%88%AC%E3%81%AE%E5%A4%96%E6%9D%A5%E3%80%82%E5%8C%BB%E5%B8%AB%E3%82%89%E3%81%AF%E9%A9%9A%E3%81%8D%E3%80%81%E7%97%85%E9%99%A2%E5%86%85%E3%81%AB%E7%B7%8A%E5%BC%B5%E3%81%8C%E8%B5%B0%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E3%80%82

[Tomato]

I want to add an 8x8 crystal icon to this hack, but I'm terrible at art, as seen here. Can anyone come up with a better 8x8 crystal icon? The only colors available are white, gray, and black.

[Spooniest]

Oh my gosh, I needed a good laugh.



Of course, DeepL! Who could forget the intrepid crewman of the Red Wings, He!



Anarchy in the UK, huh? Rough, innit



Certainly, not the dogs and cats you originally thought had done it. Intrigue!



Sometimes, in life, you gotta just say what the hell, and unlock the wind farm cave.



What is it with DeepL translating Japanese into what sounds like English Punk Rock Lyrics?



... No, I can get with DeepL here. It's probably what I said when I first saw it.



Hey, we've been looking for that! Must've been those anarchists in the UK that took it...

The port of FF2's story into FF4's world looks quite interesting too. If some additional work can be done to it, that sounds like a corking good time.

I'm gonna go ahead and be that guy, by saying that I don't think anyone is gonna miss Kawazu's leveling system, all that much, though... 

[Polinym]

I want to add an 8x8 crystal icon to this hack, but I'm terrible at art, as seen here. Can anyone come up with a better 8x8 crystal icon? The only colors available are white, gray, and black.

How's this?

[Tomato]

Wow, that's amazing! I didn't think it would even be possible, you're a wizard 

[Tomato]

I just noticed that when you start out the game (this hack, not vanilla FF4) everyone has "0x" listed as part of their defense stat:



Does this mean that armor has no helpful effect until it eventually reaches 1x? And how does that number increase anyway?

I checked the original FF4 and you start out with 1x there.