Ben wrote: Let me say this is in no particular order:
1. Lunar 2. Lunar 2 3. Policenauts 4. Snatcher 5. Burning Rangers 6. Shining Force III 7. Deep Fear (I know that was technically U.K. also) 8. Grandia (PSX port in the U.S., I realize) 9. Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers 10. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
Devil Summoner might be your best bet then, since the other games have translations in some form which likely means less demand for them.
I also agree that you should likely contact the guys who were supposed to do Dragon Force 2 and see what the deal is with that.
o.pwuaioc wrote:I may be in the minority, but I would love a Grandia translation.
See, I'm torn on that, if I go by my inclination I'd love to do that, but if no one uses the translation to make a patch I don't know that it's a really good use of my time if the goal here is to keep the Saturn alive and provide a way for people to play new games (where just a GameFAQs .txt translation at least would let someone play a game like Snatcher). I'll keep it in mind though, since both of those Lunar games are two of my all time favorites and I HATE the Working Designs translation with all of their inserted pop culture references.
I would play a patched Grandia. And Lunar, as well. I detest bad or stilted translations, and much rather play a patched version of the superior Saturn version than the official PS1 version. Since those exist, though, it might mean that it's lower on the pile, but hey, FFIV got a retranslation.
Sorry for not explaining myself better, but what I meant to say was that I've actually played the PSX Lunar games so I can vouch for their translation, but if Grandia is anything like them I can see why it would be worthwhile to do again.
Also, as for the suggestion of:
My personal advice would be to find a project that is already in the works and see if they need help, like I was hinting at with the DF II part of my post. Being a one man team with this stuff almost never works out. Most active fansubbers tend to take a year plus at very least to complete a project, and that's with a full team of people.
I really appreciate your thoughts, but when I was in college about 10 years ago I was involved with a group like that and ended up getting fired for taking too long (granted I was also learning Japanese in school at the time) and it was just a really frustrating experience for me. That's why I think just putting a translation out there in the ether, when I feel like it's done, would work better for me on this go round. Also I appreciate the heads up on Dragon Force II, I'll look into that but I'm guessing it might not be the best project to take on. I'm starting to think the more obscure the better really, that way there's less chance of me stepping on anyone else's toes.
SMT might be a good thing to get into. Atlus seems to be the cool thing with in gaming circles, and they're more relevant than ever with the release of SMT4, Persona 4 Golden and the upcoming Fire Emblem crossover. Not to mention the press from them getting bought out.
I barely know anything about Japanese Saturn games that are not playable to English players because well..no one bothers to mention them.
Ben wrote:I really appreciate your thoughts, but when I was in college about 10 years ago I was involved with a group like that and ended up getting fired for taking too long (granted I was also learning Japanese in school at the time) and it was just a really frustrating experience for me. That's why I think just putting a translation out there in the ether, when I feel like it's done, would work better for me on this go round.
Yeah I know what you mean. Another thought is that you don't necessarily have to produce an entire script, many people simply make GFAQs guides that give a basic translation of what's going on story wise and people find those just as helpful. It's more work for the player, but chances are, if they are digging this deep in the obscure bucket they aren't going to mind following a guide. It would also be much easier and less time consuming to complete.
o.pwuaioc wrote:I may be in the minority, but I would love a Grandia translation.
See, I'm torn on that, if I go by my inclination I'd love to do that, but if no one uses the translation to make a patch I don't know that it's a really good use of my time if the goal here is to keep the Saturn alive and provide a way for people to play new games (where just a GameFAQs .txt translation at least would let someone play a game like Snatcher). I'll keep it in mind though, since both of those Lunar games are two of my all time favorites and I HATE the Working Designs translation with all of their inserted pop culture references.
I would play a patched Grandia. And Lunar, as well. I detest bad or stilted translations, and much rather play a patched version of the superior Saturn version than the official PS1 version. Since those exist, though, it might mean that it's lower on the pile, but hey, FFIV got a retranslation.
I'm playing through the Saturn version of Grandia for the Summer Challenge, and this game is insanely text heavy. I'm sure a lot of people would enjoy a translation of it, but it's not a one person job without being able to dump the text.
@Ben - I've kicked around the idea of translating some stuff that was Japan only, as well, and even thought of asking the community about what would be most the most desired translations. Ultimately, I am also very sporadic and inconsistent with translating. What I would recommend to make a priority is figuring how to, or finding someone who can dump all of the text from the game. Otherwise, the time spent playing through the game, and transcribing the text (not to mention scrolling text, or exposition/dialogue that doesn't wait for user input) I could imagine being very disheartening. I lent some of my time to an open fan translation project for a DQ IV party chat translation where someone had dumped all of the text for those segments into a google spreadsheet document, with the Japanese text in one column, and English translation text in another. I'm not sure how translation projects normally do it, but the spreadsheet thing certainly seemed to be a very approachable method, to me.
GSZX1337 wrote:Perhaps as an introductory project to get into motion could be Assault Suits Leynos 2?
I'll be honest, the idea I've been kicking around recently is that I would like to eventually get every non-dating/horse racing sim game for the Saturn translated, as well as create a website that preserves a lot of info related to the Saturn and its various games (plus provides reviews of these imports) to preserve the system's history, so I really want to do it at some point. But, here's the thing: I SUCK at 2D shooters, and rarely play them, even though I appreciate them. Someone would have to dump the text of that game for me, no way am I ever beating it on my own, I don't think anyway.
What I'm thinking about right now is starting small with the SMT: Devil Summoner official guide book (which I already have) and then beginning to work on my own translation and walkthrough as I play through the game. But that said, feel free to throw out more suggestions, because I'd like to know what to do next when/if I get SMT:DS done in case it's a game I don't have, or if there's a title people just really want I'd put it ahead of Devil Summoner anyway. Another game I thought I'd throw out there is Black Matrix, but it had an improved remake on the Dreamcast (the translation would more or less apply to both, though).
Now I feel like translating something; but what? I think I really prefer translating literature though. It get's a lot less stale and repetitive for me.
I found a few things that might be beneficial to you, to a certain degree:
