Hoping to make your life's design a bit more dynamic!

Regarding Slayers specifically, Filler and I recently discussed honorifics. It's interesting that someone would bring up this same subject so soon and this early in the project, but my translated script had Connie addressing Lina as Lina-san at their initial meeting in the goblin pit. Filler concurred with my suggested localization treatment of this purely Japanese style, so now the first draft of the script has Connie referring to the heroine as Miss Lina. If any avid Slayers fans out there who are intimately familiar with the precise relationship between these two women wants to guide us toward a more specific language that Connie might employ to pay deference to Lina, I'm all ears (read: fingers).

I saw the pics great so far

Hello! Regarding this, while I am not intimately familiar with Connie and Lina's relationship (if memory serves, Connie only appears in one of the (untranslated) novels) I think 'Miss Lina' would work as a good title to defer to Lina.

As I recall from the Japanese version of the anime, however (and please take into account that I've watched it mostly in English, so correct me where wrong), honorifics are seldom used. This may be because of Lina, whose manners aren't exactly, uh, great... but I believe only Amelia and Xelloss make extensive use of honorifics─the former is a Princess, and a little meek... the latter is said to be "polite towards everyone at all times", so him addressing everyone as 'Sir' and 'Miss' doesn't seem too far-fetched.

Uh, that aside for a moment, the Slayers world hardly seems one based around Japanese culture, so the -san seemed to me to be mostly employed to denote a title as 'miss' or 'sir'; clearly only for people you would address as such. In Revolution, there's an 'Inspector Wizer', who (almost) all characters address as Wizer-san. This is an older character with a rather important title.

I ramble now.

Mostly signed up to say I am looking forward to this project.

Personally, I have no problem with changing cultural references, provided they are not related to the plot, themes and setting of the game. But when a game (or show) is clearly set in Japan, with Japanese characters, and they localize it to America specifically... I don't know, it bothers me. It's not like America is the only English speaking country thats going to be playing the game! Why not keep the Japanese cultural references and give us all a chance to learn something? (I watch my sailor moon with subtitles... )

Having said that, there is a balance, and sometimes jokes just don't translate at all, and sometimes to capture the spirit of the script is far more important than accuracy... for example, the Phoenix Wright games had excellent localisation, because so many of the jokes were based around pop culture and puns that just don't work unless you know a lot about Japan (or are Japanese), but they still kept the spirit of the original game.

/twocents


Regarding Slayers it's a fantasy setting, go nuts

One of the towns in Slayers appears to feature Japanese names and other cultural trappings. With that one, I am inclined to follow the Japanese style if everything I've mentioned and have yet to discover seem to make it prudent to do so. The advice of member and hollytron is well-taken.

IIRC, the English translators of the anime had Amelia use "Miss Lina" frequently to show respect so I'd recommend doing the same thing. I'd highly recommend against using Japanese honorifics in an English translation unless Japan & the Japanese language is a focal point of the story.

Also, I have to say that I'm thrilled that a reliable group is finally tackling this game. The one and only translation hack I have ever done was for Slayers (translating menus & the like) so this game holds a special place in my heart. And hey, if you want another beta tester, I'd be thrilled to help out (I'm a big Slayers fan & I've played through the Japanese version of the game already).

Hi Robert I tested your patch for Slayers but now we can test this new patch with this great good

Hi Robert,

Welcome to D-D! Hey, since you have already done some menu work and because Filler is tied up with a benefit this weekend, would you possibly help me with some Slayers menu files I am struggling to translate 100% accurately? If so, I will upload them into a zip file and provide a link, then I can return to writing more early dialogue.

BTW, ChrisRPG has also done some brilliant work with Slayers. And he DID lead a competent group, but unfortunately, he died. Bongo` is confident that he can crack the mysteries of Slayers, a process that would enable our team to build an English patch to a professional level in due time. However, nothing is ever guaranteed. Bongo` is truly amazing at reverse-engineering a game without source code, but not even he can crack the system in some works, such as Albert Odyssey. Therefore, in a sense, every attempt we make to create a patch on the level of the amazing work Bongo` did in Mystic Ark is a crap shoot until we actually reach that certain magic moment that puts us over the top.

Also, for those of you who don't particularly enjoy the Slayers anime, manga, or novels - for whatever reasons, be it personal or related to Lina's sociopathic traits - let me report that this game appears to be put together brilliantly. Hey, any RPG can still be a good play, whether you admire certain characters or not.

I'm happy I was on track with the Slayers community in my usage of Miss Lina, but I see it more as a term based on fear rather than respect - which may be the same thing!

Well, Lina is volatile, rash, and has a short fuse- add her ability to cast Dragon Slave to it, and it might as well be fear, yes.

Let me tell you I am excited enough about this that I am already checking back daily just to see if progress reports are released. I had seen this game earlier, but since there were no translation projects that seemed as though they would finish, I had thought it a lost cause. Words cannot express how happy I was to see this update on Dynamic-Designs.us. (initially, I checked for Hourai High)

I make no promises (my Japanese is pretty rusty, though I'm fluent in Chinese), but I'd be willing to take a look at it, assuming there's not too much and you don't need it immediately (my weekend's pretty busy what with Halloween and 3 small daughters). And hey, if I can't figure it out, I could ask my students next week (I'm an ESL teacher of 50+ college-aged Japanese exchange students).