Legend of Xanadu II Translation Patch announced!

[Arjak]

A guy going by the username SamIAm is currently working on a translation for LoX2 (Why the first one was skipped, we may never know!) with EsperKnight. How do I know? Romhacking.net is your friend.

Along with translating all of the in-game text, they are also endeavoring to dub the game as well...
Link: wayback://voiceactingalliance/?KazeNoDensetsu-Xanadu-II-PC-Engine-CD-Fan-Dub

I am currently in the running for the part of Nuse. (I tried out for several roles, and Nuse was the one that worked best with my unusual voice.)

I'm so excited about all of this! It's always good to see a little love for our favorite system! Hopefully, this will be completed, as I am really wanting to see full translations of all the great PCE games, so I can, you know, fully appreciate them. It really feels to me like the PC Engine is one of the last great, unexplored frontiers of translation hacking. I would definitely like to see more! Who knows? Maybe if this project succeeds, more people will become interested in translating other PCE games...

[ParanoiaDragon]

Already been discussing it here https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=9441.0 

I beatcha to the punch

[TurboXray]

Wasn't SamIam the guy who supposedly was translating Emerald Dragon for Dave Shadoff, then just completely disappeared/abandoned the project? Or is that a different Sam? If Esperknight is working on this, there's hope. One reason for translating this game over the first one, is that this one has MUCH less text and is much shorter game. So on that level, it's an easier project. The game is awesome though.

 And for you guys that think PCE needs more translations - shit... make some damn noise over at RHDN (romhacking.net). There are quite a few very talented translation hackers over there (more important than the translator themselves, IMO). But they're not going to waste time on games that don't have much demand (these translation hacks take a ton of personal time and a lot of skill (well, game dependent) - especially for a CD based system like the PCE. Don't let anyone tell you different).

[SamIAm]

Same SamIAm. You're just going to have to trust me with this one. Progress is going very, very well. By the way, if anyone wants to finish the Emerald Dragon script, they can go for it. Dave and I both have the last drafts.

Whether the hacking or the translating is harder really depends on the game no matter what the system. In this case, Esperknight and I are both fairly lucky in that the script isn't huge and there is no complex menu or battle engine to hack. On the other hand, to say nothing of the hacking, whoever translates Far East of Eden II is pretty much going to have to be a god among translators.

[_Paul]

I wish I had the skills to translate or hack the games to translate. It's one thing I'd love to do on a lot of games (and not just spralling RPGs). I hope this one goes well, very much looking forward to it.

[SamIAm]

I'm taking a break from translating, and I thought I would post this since it's been on my mind for a bit.

If anyone's wondering why the Emerald Dragon project didn't work out, there are a couple of reasons involved. The SNES version patch coming out of nowhere didn't help. Real life got in the way a lot, too. However, the primary reason, frankly speaking, is that the game turned out to be the single worst RPG I've ever played, and working on it ceased to be enjoyable.

I asked Dave for help when I was about 1/3 of the way through playing Emerald Dragon for the first time. At that point, there were still plentiful cutscenes, unique new areas, a nicely developing story, and a simple but fun battle engine. The last 1/3, by contrast, was a disaster. The story stalled a lot, the cutscenes basically vanished, and the environments were mostly rehashes. There wasn't enough music to go around, either. Worst of all, the dungeons became maddening mazes, and the random battles became incredibly boring due to the player being almost uninvolved in them. I never would have made it to the end without Magic Engine's 5x fast-forward feature. For a 2 minute battle, you'd have 10 seconds of inputting and 110 seconds of watching the AI. I can't believe there are Japanese people who have played this more than once, I'll say that much.

Why translate a game I'd warn people against playing? It's easy to see why things stopped. I felt bad for wasting Dave's time and getting people's hopes up, but on the other hand, I'm pretty sure that the lion's share of wasted time was my own. The script was at 60% when I quit, and there hadn't been any substantial work done on reinsertion or hacking any menus.

Finally, I promised myself that I wouldn't ask for help on another game until I had beaten it first. Years passed, I bought a Duo-RX, and I popped Xanadu II in to try it. I practically couldn't stop until I had beaten it, and I knew I had found a winner. Not only that, but I'm on my second playthrough and I'm loving it even more this time around. I'm actually excited to share it with people. I'm even looking forward to play-testing the crap out of it.

So yeah, that's the story with that. Has anyone here ever beaten Emerald Dragon on this system? I'd be curious what you thought of it.

[runinruder]

So yeah, that's the story with that. Has anyone here ever beaten Emerald Dragon on this system? I'd be curious what you thought of it.

Yes, I've played through it twice.  Here's a link to the review I wrote for it:

pcengine-fx.com/reviews/duomazov/emerald-dragon.html

[SamIAm]

Good grief, that other review you linked to was astonishing. It's like reading a review of The Phantom Menace by someone who thinks it's the greatest movie ever made.

To each their own, and I understand why ED would appeal to a certain taste, but sheesh. I'm glad you found a lot of the same problems that I did.

[TurboXray]

Emerald Dragon was the first Japanese RPG I imported for any system back in the day. IIRCC, sometime in '93 (thought it would have been early '94). I knew zero Japanese at the time. I learned while I played that game (well, learned Kana and a lot of Kanji, but not the language itself). I loved that game and beat it. It's the reason why I ordered more JRPGs, although mostly for the Duo. I ordered Legend Of Xanadu I next and beat that. That was tough. Emerald Dragon was very easy in comparison. I almost beat Ys IV, but got stuck near the end of the game and all the broken english translation I had made notes for, didn't help. So yeah, I thought ED was amazingly great game BITD. On a side note, good thing I never did start that new print routine for ED >_>

[SamIAm]

Well, I'll shut up about it, then. I guess I just wasn't born to be the translator for that game.

[SignOfZeta]

A lot of PCE players think of ED as a "top five" game, easily up there with the Tengai and Ys stuff.

I guess the "Holy shit!" stuff in the beginning of the game keeps people going through the boring shit at the end.

[shubibiman]

I cleared this game and enjoyed it.

[TheClash603]

If this were somehow released in a physical format, I would buy to support the PCE/TG16 homebrewers.  However, part of the reason I like the TG16 is the lack of RPGs, which tend to be tedious.  The RPGs that are out, like Ys, are action RPGs, so I am cool with those.

[SamIAm]

I prefer action RPGs as well, and I'm really happy to be working on one of the best ones I've ever found. You know what I like about Xanadu II? There's no bullshit. Pardon my French, but seriously, there's nothing tedious, nothing wasted, no filler and no cheap tricks in Xanadu II. You could say it's short and easy, but that's really to the game's advantage. The pacing is excellent, the graphic/sound/game design is wonderful, and the story is good fun. It's modern and old-school at the same time, so it's very accessible. When we're finished, I'm betting this one's going to be a hit. For now, just writing this makes me want to work on the translation more.

[TheClash603]

I prefer action RPGs as well, and I'm really happy to be working on one of the best ones I've ever found. You know what I like about Xanadu II? There's no bullshit. Pardon my French, but seriously, there's nothing tedious, nothing wasted, no filler and no cheap tricks in Xanadu II. You could say it's short and easy, but that's really to the game's advantage. The pacing is excellent, the graphic/sound/game design is wonderful, and the story is good fun. It's modern and old-school at the same time, so it's very accessible. When we're finished, I'm betting this one's going to be a hit. For now, just writing this makes me want to work on the translation more.

I'm sold.

[SignOfZeta]

If this were somehow released in a physical format, I would buy to support the PCE/TG16 homebrewers.

Well it isn't homebrew, its a translation of a pre-existing high dollar retail release so if you paid for a physical copy you would be supporting, essentially, pirates.

Alternatively you could just buy a retail copy of the Japanese version (or not, it hardly matters now) and donate money to the translation project (if they except donations, many do). Stick your CD-R translation in the case with the retail copy.

However, part of the reason I like the TG16 is the lack of RPGs, which tend to be tedious.  The RPGs that are out, like Ys, are action RPGs, so I am cool with those.

Wow. You are that guy NEC was marketing their stuff to! I knew you liked the cardboard boxes and the shitty coverers, but I didn't know you disliked RPGs too. If only there were about 900,000 more of you, the TG-16 would have been a huge success!

This gives me an idea. Does anyone have a 8 year old kid or perhaps nephew/niece, or perhaps a mentally retarded Janitor, who can do a terrible Xanadu drawing? We can then print up superfluous cardboard boxes to stick our Japanese copies of Xanadu in. The translation would be complete!

[TheClash603]

If this were somehow released in a physical format, I would buy to support the PCE/TG16 homebrewers.

Well it isn't homebrew, its a translation of a pre-existing high dollar retail release so if you paid for a physical copy you would be supporting, essentially, pirates.

Alternatively you could just buy a retail copy of the Japanese version (or not, it hardly matters now) and donate money to the translation project (if they except donations, many do). Stick your CD-R translation in the case with the retail copy.

However, part of the reason I like the TG16 is the lack of RPGs, which tend to be tedious.  The RPGs that are out, like Ys, are action RPGs, so I am cool with those.

Wow. You are that guy NEC was marketing their stuff to! I knew you liked the cardboard boxes and the shitty coverers, but I didn't know you disliked RPGs too. If only there were about 900,000 more of you, the TG-16 would have been a huge success!

This gives me an idea. Does anyone have a 8 year old kid or perhaps nephew/niece, or perhaps a mentally retarded Janitor, who can do a terrible Xanadu drawing? We can then print up superfluous cardboard boxes to stick our Japanese copies of Xanadu in. The translation would be complete!

Not going to lie, I was that guy.  I'd take China Warrior over Dragon Warrior any day of the week, never mind all of those words.

[blueraven]

Audition sent in.

[SignOfZeta]

Not going to lie, I was that guy.  I'd take China Warrior over Dragon Warrior any day of the week, never mind all of those words.

OK, so then I have a question. Did you appreciate the sports games on a non-ironic level? If not, then I guess we can assume nobody does and those things were a waste of time to develop and release.

[TheClash603]

Not going to lie, I was that guy.  I'd take China Warrior over Dragon Warrior any day of the week, never mind all of those words.

OK, so then I have a question. Did you appreciate the sports games on a non-ironic level? If not, then I guess we can assume nobody does and those things were a waste of time to develop and release.

TV Sports games were pretty bad.  I actually enjoy some sports games, but those were just poorly made.  Hit the Ice is a good example of a sports game done right.

[Keranu]

Not going to lie, I was that guy.  I'd take China Warrior over Dragon Warrior any day of the week, never mind all of those words.

OK, so then I have a question. Did you appreciate the sports games on a non-ironic level? If not, then I guess we can assume nobody does and those things were a waste of time to develop and release.

I actually like a lot of sports games on the Turbo, they're generally simplistic and not simulation-based. Have never really been able to appreciate the TV Sports games much yet, but I've been eager to find appreciation for the basketball game ever since a member here praised about it years back.

[SamIAm]

I just want to say, hats off to sunteam_paul for his help ripping the game's visual scenes. Now that dub-recording has started, having something for the actors to watch and get the visual context is invaluable.

Things are moving right along. I have lots of free time these days, so this might get done really quickly. It just depends on how tough the hacking side turns out to be. We're still missing half the script, and reinsertion might be a bit of a pain with this one.

Anyway, we'll keep you all posted!

[SamIAm]

I'm sort of hijacking this thread as a place to post my thoughts on the game and the project as they come to me.

So, the music:

I uploaded the soundtrack to my mp3 player today, and with a bit of bass boost, I came to realize that the PSG songs in this game, which pretty much make up the whole soundtrack, are great. I've heard a healthy share of PCE chiptunes, and this stuff is both well composed and well programmed. The songs compliment the atmosphere of each area and event very well, to the point that they really enrich them. I encourage anyone to try to appreciate this as they play the game.

Some people might be disappointed that there aren't more redbook music tracks. It may be alarming that the final boss fight has the only in-game BGM to come from the CD. However, I think they made the right choice in using the PSG for most of the music. See, there are 52 PSG tracks, totaling to 68 minutes without any looping (based on the soundtrack CD). But wait, between the title screen, intro, ending, voiced cutscene tracks and other stuff, there's 54 minutes of redbook on the game disc already. So, instead of trying to cram in too much and forcing you to listen to the same few songs for the entire game *cough*emeralddragon*cough*, you instead get to enjoy 6 or so unique tracks for each of the games 8 chapters spread over 10 hours. None of it gets old.

[_Paul]

When I first played it I was also a little put off by the lack of CD music - but it wasn't long before I realised how good the chip music was and just forgot about redbook entirely.

[blueraven]

Looking forward to the finished product

Good luck. And let me know where I can get it as soon as it's available!

[runinruder]

The songs compliment the atmosphere of each area and event very well, to the point that they really enrich them.

Indeed.  The tune in the last dungeon is my favorite.  Very dramatic.

[SamIAm]

Those of you who can read Japanese and are playing/will be playing this game should check out this link:
http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~kenmatsu/consumerPCECheats_and_Hints/kazenodensetuzanadolu2Cheats_and_Hints.htm

Dark_Fact's walkthrough, while being very helpful in its own right, totally missed a couple things that you can find on this page. Chapters 1, 3, and 4 all have special story events that can only be accessed by going through long and specific strings of actions. It's not too difficult, but you'd miss them if you were playing quickly. Chapter 1 has Meltina give a singing performance, chapter 3 has Meltina and Pyura singing a duet, and chapter 4 has Sheryl, the rich merchant's daughter, share a special moment with Arios under the stars on her balcony. There are also a few powerful items that you will only find in a similar fashion.

I think I'll be writing up my own small crash-course/hidden stuff FAQ when the translation is released.

Oh, and if anyone finds high-quality scans of the manual, please send them to me. I might consider translating it as well. I actually have it, but I don't have my own scanner.

[CrackTiger]

Here's an updated version of the walkthrough I was working on 6 years ago-

https://www.superpcenginegrafx.net/misc/legend_of_xanadu_ii_walkthrough_2011.txt


It has more details and maps for the first two chapters, plus I've put all three parts into one file since I now have a computer that can handle it.

[Arm]

I've uploaded the manual in pdf format. Hope it's useful.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5OEIJ6VV

[SamIAm]

I've uploaded the manual in pdf format. Hope it's useful.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5OEIJ6VV

Wow, thank you!! This will be nice to have to show people when the time comes. I was kind of thinking of actually going in with a simple editor and replacing the Japanese text with English text. I expect to have a lot of time to kill while the script is being reinserted, and the manual is fairly short and simple. Just curious, but do you happen to have this in higher resolution? I don't want to sound ungrateful, but if I do something like a special manual translation, then that's what I'd need.

Thanks again for sharing!

[Arm]

Alright, I'll rescan it at 300 dpi.
Here you go :

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LMJXNHA0

[SamIAm]

Wonderful. Thank you very much!

[Arm]

You're welcome. Hope it will be useful.

[SamIAm]

Here is most of the stuff from the manual that people will be interested in: the story prologue and the character introductions. Maybe I'll do the boss introductions tomorrow. They're pretty much just strategy, though.

If anyone here knows what they're doing in photoshop, let me know if you'd be interested in helping the project by doing some text inserting with the manual that Arm supplied. Even if it's a bit redundant, I think it would be cool to make an English manual for this game.

-------

A tale of tragedy...

Long ago, those called the Heralders created a world.
When they passed on from existence at last, they left behind two human gods:
The God Rugon, and the Goddess Ishtar.

The Goddess Ishtar, who embodied peace and creation, restricted the growth of mankind to a gentle pace.
The God Rugon, who embodied chaos and destruction, accelerated the growth of mankind such that it would fall to disarray.
The two gods stood in complete opposition, each existing to provocate the other.

Once, a war broke out between them. The Goddess Ishtar could not understand why Rugon was fighting her. She knew, after all, that the death of one of them meant the death of them both.

The world fell into chaos.
Rugon had the power of darkness, however, Ishtar's power of light was stronger. The battle would go on for an eternity, it seemed, until Ishtar's victory finally brought it to an end.

The God of Destruction, his body smashed by the Goddess, came to rest in the southern lands.
With this, the world returned to stability, yet the battle had inflicted unimaginable wounds on it.
Now torn, this world would never return to its former glory even with the help of the Goddess.

The God Rugon, however, was not completely destroyed.
The very existence of the Goddess herself was proof that somewhere, the God of Destruction lived on.
--------------------
Now introducing the charming cast of Xanadu II! Each party member has unique abilities, so be sure to make the most of them during boss fights.
*All character commands assume the character is facing to the right.

Arios
Descendent of the hero Aineas. Formed the fighting group "Liberators of Ishtaria" after defeating the wicked dragon Dardandis. He continues his fight for justice in order to protect his people from monsters and bandits. When his friend Leucos goes missing, he sets out for a new continent to search for him.

Daimos
A knight of dauntless courage who is regarded as the most skillful swordsman in Ishtaria. Out of empathy with Arios, he spends his days in battle fighting alongside the Liberators of Ishtaria.

Leucos
A self-proclaimed "chivalrous thief". With his lighthearted personality, he causes trouble from time to time. However, deep inside, he has a heart of pure gold. While adventuring in a new continent, he was attacked and has since been unheard from.

Pyura
A magician at Arios's side with a bright, energetic personality. Currently undergoing re-training with her master, Enas...supposedly. In her heart, she secretly has a special place for Arios.

Meidia
The sworn protector of Sophia, member of the Temple Guard. An unrivaled beauty, she is also famous for her archery, and is skilled in all areas of battle. At this time, she is at Sophia's service in the Temple of Partia.

Landis
His body cased in a suit of black armor, this knight appears to have been born on the new continent, yet his background and lineage are wrapped in mystery. He appears to be searching for something, but what?

Meltina
A girl from the port town of Razan onn the unexplored continent of Ashnal. It is she who saves the wounded Leucos. A kind, innocent girl, she is always worrying herself over what's going to happen to him next.

[CrackTiger]

Here is most of the stuff from the manual that people will be interested in: the story prologue and the character introductions. Maybe I'll do the boss introductions tomorrow. They're pretty much just strategy, though.

If anyone here knows what they're doing in photoshop, let me know if you'd be interested in helping the project by doing some text inserting with the manual that Arm supplied. Even if it's a bit redundant, I think it would be cool to make an English manual for this game.

I'd be happy to do it. Here's a small sized pic (I'm working at 600dpi) of how far I got with the prologue today-

https://www.superpcenginegrafx.net/misc/x2_story2.png


I'll touch up and redraw in the background next.

[SamIAm]

Hey, that looks really good. I like your choice of font, and the overall result looks quite natural.

There are a couple of typos:
Heralders should probably be capitalized.
Passed is written as "past"
After all needs a space in between the words
There should be comma after "The God Rugon" and before "however" in the last paragraph.


Anyway, one other guy sent me a message saying he would be interested as well. Since you've already done this much, you can have the project if you like. If it's a pain for you, we can ask the other fellow. Let me know what you think!

Thanks for your help. It's much appreciated.

[SamIAm]

Good news! Esperknight says he figured out the key to some undumped script! Hopefully it will turn out to be the key to all the undumped script.

CrackTiger, I've got up through page 11 in the manual translated now. I'll try to knock it out completely before the weekend is up.

edit: Holy crap, I didn't know you could switch characters during boss fights by pressing the run button! Guess I should have read the manual first. 

edit 2: I'm not the most experienced guy in the PCE world. Does anyone know (and hopefully have a digital copy of) an English CD game manual that would serve as a good example of the kind of syntax I should use for writing this? I remember translating a Mega Drive manual years ago, and seeing a similar manual already in English really helped in this regard. The result read a lot more like it was genuine. It's not a big deal, but if you have the Ys manual or something sitting around your hard-drive, now is a good time to bring it out. Thanks!

[geise]

SamIAm I have a question and I'm sorry if it's already been answered.  It's about doing the dubbing for the cut scenes.  Whenever the patch does get finished, are you going to give the option to leave the cut scenes with the original voice acting and have a separate patch or option to add the dub?

[SamIAm]

The voices are all on redbook audio tracks. Swapping the dub with the original voices is as simple as swapping in the original CD tracks. We'll make this easy. Plus, I'm going to release the script for people who want to read it.

I respect that some people will want to enjoy the original voices, especially since our dub is inevitably not going to be quite as polished. On the other hand, I just hope that some people use the dub and enjoy being able to play the whole game without having to look at a long text file to get the story.

[BlueBMW]

edit 2: I'm not the most experienced guy in the PCE world. Does anyone know (and hopefully have a digital copy of) an English CD game manual that would serve as a good example of the kind of syntax I should use for writing this? I remember translating a Mega Drive manual years ago, and seeing a similar manual already in English really helped in this regard. The result read a lot more like it was genuine. It's not a big deal, but if you have the Ys manual or something sitting around your hard-drive, now is a good time to bring it out. Thanks!

I could scan one of my game's manuals for you this afternoon... whats a good game to compare it to?  Beyond Shadowgate? Vasteel?  Ys 1/2?

[SamIAm]

I hate to make you subject your old, precious manuals to the scanner (sorry Arm!). You don't have to rush, just in case one turns up already scanned. If you do go through with it, go ahead and be easy on the spine. All I need is to be able to read it.

I'm thinking another Falcom game like Ys would be a good choice.
Seriously, though, no hurry. I bet SOMEONE out there has already scanned a Ys 1/2 manual.

[Arm]

2 manuals (not falcom games) :

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=91S04M74

2 other manuals (falcom games) :

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DB1BKCRM

[SamIAm]

Damn. I don't have any excuses now, do I? CrackTiger, let's show Arm our gratitude by making a really nice manual.

[Arm]

No problem

[BlueBMW]

And my manuals can stop shaking in their cases   Thanks for posting that Arm!

[SamIAm]

It took me practically all damn day, but the translation is pretty much finished now. Thanks again for letting me look at some other manuals - it was really nice to see how others worked with this kind of stuff.

CrackTiger, are you in? I've got a draft that is polished enough for you to try replacing the Japanese with it. We can talk about any size problems if you run into any. Let me know, and I'll email the file to the address in your profile. Or, if you're busy, I'll get back to the other fellow. 

[esteban]

If B_T is busy, I can also replace your translated text into the original Japanese manual if you need someone to do it.

The manual will be finished and look damn fine, one way or another.

[CrackTiger]

If B_T is busy, I can also replace your translated text into the original Japanese manual if you need someone to do it.

The manual will be finished and look damn fine, one way or another.

esteban would probably do the best job, but I can help with any kind of touch ups that might prove challenging (like the lined art background that I started).

[SamIAm]

Well, if you put it like that, perhaps we should go with esteban? I'm sure you could do a good job as well, though. Judging by your post counts, you're both long-time members here, so maybe I'll just leave it to you two to decide who wants it.

[esteban]

If B_T is busy, I can also replace your translated text into the original Japanese manual if you need someone to do it.

The manual will be finished and look damn fine, one way or another.

esteban would probably do the best job, but I can help with any kind of touch ups that might prove challenging (like the lined art background that I started).

Your sample page was gorgeous!

I don't want to step on your toes, but I will gladly help you/assist if you are busy.

Also: Your source material appears to be of higher quality than the .pdf from Arm. Did you use Arm's scans? Or did you scan the page yourself?