Phantasy Star Generation:1 English translation project

[Missagh]

My apologies! It appears that the file got damaged when uploaded. I have uploaded it again and it works now. Make sure to empty your cache so you don't get the old version.

[xrick]

WOW!!! That may make things much faster and easier to accomplish.

[carlsojos]

That translation's pretty rough... it would take some time to go through and patch it up to make it right for the game.

[Kyence]

An incomplete written translation of Phantasy Star Generation 2 has been submitted by Oliver! You can download the files there. This is great news! Oliver, who signed up here with username Xanafalgue has told me that he would like to share this to Kyence and anyone else that consider to make a downloadable translation of Generation 2!

I know someone who is greatly interested.
As I told Kyence and Missagh, I have made progress in deciphering PSG2 text files, but there's still a problem in my program I must resolve.

That translation's pretty rough... it would take some time to go through and patch it up to make it right for the game.

Thanks, Oliver! This will help out a lot! I was hoping that this would happen, that once I finished G1, the community would help out with G2. With all of these contributions, I don't feel so overwhelmed about working on G2. Granted, I cannot start immediately, but I think I will work on the translation for G2 after all in the upcoming months...unless people thought my translation of G1 stunk. G2 will have a similar style, but an overall darker tone to the tale...it is a dystopian setting. Plus Phantasy Star 2 is my favorite game

@Carlsojos: I took a look at the pdf. It will require some tweaking, but it will be a big time saver. Oliver will definitely get credit for his contribution.

[Paul Jensen]

It looks like I'm a little late to the party here, but I'm gonna jump in anyway.

First of all, congratulations on completing your translation! It looks like it was a big task.

I was the primary translator on the SMSPower! retranslation project, and I also translated the PS1 Gamebook that Orakio Rob posted a few years back. I want to share some things that I discovered during the translation process, in case you want to incorporate them into any future revisions of your translation:

ETA: The names for the main characters should probably be Alisa, Myau (or Myaw, since English words don't usually end in "-au"), Tylon, and Lutz. The name Alisa is an actual Japanese name, which can be written as 亜里沙 among other ways, and it has stress on the first syllable. I've seen it romanized as "Alicer", probably for this reason. Also for this reason, it's not "Alyssa", which is stressed on the second syllable. "Myau" shouldn't need any explanation. The name of the axe-wielding beefcake character is Tylon and -- crucially -- NOT Tyrone. The name タイロン has stress on the first syllable (I've actually asked around about this), whereas "Tyrone" has stress on the second syllable. Finally, I think it's worth mentioning that the name "Lutz" is pronounced the same as the word "loots", and not as a word that rhymes with "butts". If it were intended to rhyme with "butts", it would probably be rendered in kakatana as ラツ or ラッツ. There's also a small chance that the name should be rendered as "Ruth". This is a stretch, but this would match up with the biblical character Ruth, who is believed by some to be a close ancestor of Jesus, which might fit in with Lutz' "divine" lineage in later entries in the PS series. The problem is that Lutz in PS is (arguably?) a man, so the name "Ruth" wouldn't be too fitting, I think. "Luth", maybe?

The name for the healing item ペロリーメイト is a play on the Japanese "diet food" CalorieMate. The picture in the Japanese manual (for the original game) looks just like the real product. Similarly, the name ルオギニン is probably a play on the name of the Japanese energy drink オロナミンC, since that product is from the same company that produces CalorieMate. The names of the products could be translated as something like "PlowerBar" and "Blue Bull", which of course are plays on product names that are more familiar to western audiences.

The monster クライオン should be Cryon, but not for the reason you mentioned in your earlier post. The original game came out in 1987, well before that bat researcher published his paper.

The spell names フレイリ, タンドレ, and ヒューン should probably be Flaeli, Tandre(y), and Hewn. It's hard to deny that フレイリ looks like the word "flare", and I believe that's the intention. The spell has a name that is similar to -- but crucially is not -- a real word that means what the effect of the spell is. Likewise for タンドレ. It's not supposed to be "Thunder", which is usually rendered as サンダー. Also, ヒューン is onomatopoeia (I hate spelling that word) for the sound of blowing wind. So actually, "Hewn" could be replaced with any word that conveys the sound of blowing wind in English.

Some other spell names worth mentioning are ラプット and ラクスタ. ラプット is basically a mixed-up version of the word "trap" (トラップ), which makes sense given that the spell's effect is to mess up traps. I translated the name as "Rapt". ラクスタ is likely a combination of the words 楽(らく), meaning "easy", and スタスタ, which is onomatopoeia (stupid word) for the sound of running away. I think something similar is going on with the spells トルーパ and スルト, but for the life of me I can't figure out what words they're playing on.

ETA: One more note about spell names. ペヤラク is probably a play on the phrase ペラ訳, a combination of ペラペラ (fluent) and 通訳 (interpretation).

One last thing: Could you tell me how you extracted the text from the game? I've got a copy of the game, and I'd be curious to take a look at the script myself.

HTH

[xrick]

Thank you very much for the explanation for the naming theories, not many people tries to solve those "riddles".

[BenoitRen]

Wait, so "Flaeli" is the correct translation after all? Phantasy Star IV's translation keeps looking better and better.

[xrick]

Wait, so "Flaeli" is the correct translation after all? Phantasy Star IV's translation keeps looking better and better.

Why didn't you believe us when we told you that? The pronounciation was on pair with the japanese namings.

[shenmue_masta]

I just created my account to express my gratitude for translating the game. I have been waiting for this moment for years!! I have played it almost all day yesterday, it feels nice to finally understand what's happening.

I don't really understand Japanese, but if I can help in some way for the translation of Phantasy Star Generation 2, I'd love to.

[Tryphon]

One last thing: Could you tell me how you extracted the text from the game? I've got a copy of the game, and I'd be curious to take a look at the script myself.

She used a tool you can find on OrakioRob's website to decompress each file of the EVENT.DAT file, and I think she edited it directly in the ISO.

I wrote a tool that can actually extract all dialogs from the EVENT.DAT file (in fact, it's intended to modify dialogs but I meet an unexpected and nnoying problem. If I can fix it, I'll make the tool available) ; if you want I can get you them.

Oh, and thanks for your explanation it was really interesting.

[xrick]

It looks like I'm a little late to the party here, but I'm gonna jump in anyway.

First of all, congratulations on completing your translation! It looks like it was a big task.

I was the primary translator on the SMSPower! retranslation project, and I also translated the PS1 Gamebook that Orakio Rob posted a few years back. I want to share some things that I discovered during the translation process, in case you want to incorporate them into any future revisions of your translation:

ETA: The names for the main characters should probably be Alisa, Myau (or Myaw, since English words don't usually end in "-au"), Tylon, and Lutz. The name Alisa is an actual Japanese name, which can be written as 亜里沙 among other ways, and it has stress on the first syllable. I've seen it romanized as "Alicer", probably for this reason. Also for this reason, it's not "Alyssa", which is stressed on the second syllable. "Myau" shouldn't need any explanation. The name of the axe-wielding beefcake character is Tylon and -- crucially -- NOT Tyrone. The name タイロン has stress on the first syllable (I've actually asked around about this), whereas "Tyrone" has stress on the second syllable. Finally, I think it's worth mentioning that the name "Lutz" is pronounced the same as the word "loots", and not as a word that rhymes with "butts". If it were intended to rhyme with "butts", it would probably be rendered in kakatana as ラツ or ラッツ. There's also a small chance that the name should be rendered as "Ruth". This is a stretch, but this would match up with the biblical character Ruth, who is believed by some to be a close ancestor of Jesus, which might fit in with Lutz' "divine" lineage in later entries in the PS series. The problem is that Lutz in PS is (arguably?) a man, so the name "Ruth" wouldn't be too fitting, I think. "Luth", maybe?

The name for the healing item ペロリーメイト is a play on the Japanese "diet food" CalorieMate. The picture in the Japanese manual (for the original game) looks just like the real product. Similarly, the name ルオギニン is probably a play on the name of the Japanese energy drink オロナミンC, since that product is from the same company that produces CalorieMate. The names of the products could be translated as something like "PlowerBar" and "Blue Bull", which of course are plays on product names that are more familiar to western audiences.

The monster クライオン should be Cryon, but not for the reason you mentioned in your earlier post. The original game came out in 1987, well before that bat researcher published his paper.

The spell names フレイリ, タンドレ, and ヒューン should probably be Flaeli, Tandre(y), and Hewn. It's hard to deny that フレイリ looks like the word "flare", and I believe that's the intention. The spell has a name that is similar to -- but crucially is not -- a real word that means what the effect of the spell is. Likewise for タンドレ. It's not supposed to be "Thunder", which is usually rendered as サンダー. Also, ヒューン is onomatopoeia (I hate spelling that word) for the sound of blowing wind. So actually, "Hewn" could be replaced with any word that conveys the sound of blowing wind in English.

Some other spell names worth mentioning are ラプット and ラクスタ. ラプット is basically a mixed-up version of the word "trap" (トラップ), which makes sense given that the spell's effect is to mess up traps. I translated the name as "Rapt". ラクスタ is likely a combination of the words 楽(らく), meaning "easy", and スタスタ, which is onomatopoeia (stupid word) for the sound of running away. I think something similar is going on with the spells トルーパ and スルト, but for the life of me I can't figure out what words they're playing on.

One last thing: Could you tell me how you extracted the text from the game? I've got a copy of the game, and I'd be curious to take a look at the script myself.

HTH

Then, what about the other magic namings?
I made a list, quite a while ago, like this:

Flaeli フレエリ Fureeri
GiFlaeli ギフレエリ GiFureeri
Hewn ヒューン Hyuun
GiHewn ギヒューン GiHyuun
Tandle タンドレ Tandore
GiTandle ギタンドレ GiTandore
Froze フローゼ Furooze
RaFroze ラフローゼ RaFurooze
Heal ヒール Hiiru
DoHeal ドヒール DoHiiru
GiHeal ギヒール GiHiiru
RaHeal ラヒール RaHiiru
Cura キュアラ Kyuara
Rebirth リーバス Riibasu
Bindwa ビンドワ Bindowa
Hypnos ヒプノス Hipunosu
Silence サイレンス Sairensu
Telele テルル Teruru
Warla ワーラ Waara
MuWarla ムワーラ MuWaara
Pawma パウマ Pauma
Troopa トルーパ Toruupa
Raksta ラクスタ Rakusuta
Surt スルト Suruto
Rapt ラプット Raputto
MuOrde ムオーデ Muoode
Peyalak ペヤラク Peyaraku
Telepath テレパス Terepasu

[Kyence]

Here's the tricky thing about PS1 katakana...not all of the words are from English. Many of the words and location names are taken from many countries and languages.

For example, the checkpoint at Baya Malay is called Torua in the katakana...which is Finnish for "to scold, rebuke." It makes perfect sense when you think about it being a place to imprison political prisoners of Lassic.Paseo is actually Spanish for "a ride/ stroll." It became part of the English language as well. Meseta is actually a Spanish word for plateau. Palma is a location in Spain and Laerma (as in Laerma tree/nut) is the name of a village on the Greek island of Rhodes.

Here's a fun one...in Esperanto, "Thunder" is translated to "Tondro" [as in "Tandoro", the "ta" as ta-ta!]; thunderous to "Tondran"; thunders to "tondroj." I do know that the "th" sound is hard to represent in Japanese because the compound does not exist in that language. I have seen it as "ta", "sa", and "za." Usually "sa" is used, but I have seen the others in other Japanese stuff over the years.

The truth is, there will always be different interpretations of these. Some onomatopoeia spells will also translate badly simply because different cultures represent these sounds in different ways. I guess that's why Orakio Rob made the distinction of localization vs. translation for his Portuguese localization!

I used Orakio Rob's site, which has a decompression program. Tryphon is working on a script that will allow longer strings in game scripts except for spell/item/people names in the menus. It would be nice to see someone much better at translating Japanese than I give G1 a translation that does not have to constrain itself to fixed lengths. I am looking forward to doing this in G2!

As for Perolimate and Ruoginin, I may be in the minority here, but if I was playing the game and saw Red Bull and Slim Fast references, I think I'd put my controller down and cry When I first played the original, I thought Cola and Burger was stupid enough. However, it is a funny observation that in Japan, the items were weight-loss and health food products, while in the US, they became unhealthy fast food items

[TigerNightmare]

I'd interested in what the origins of Nei and Neifirst are. It's always been weird to me. And then Nei is some sort of goddess in G1, and for some reason, there are Nei weapons all over the place, even on one of the Palman ships, weapons that are apparently unrelated to the Nei weapons on Motavia.

[Kyence]

I'd interested in what the origins of Nei and Neifirst are. It's always been weird to me. And then Nei is some sort of goddess in G1, and for some reason, there are Nei weapons all over the place, even on one of the Palman ships, weapons that are apparently unrelated to the Nei weapons on Motavia.

I was surprised to see Goddess Nei used in G1 myself; I checked the kanji several times and it is the kanji for goddess with Nei's name after it. They reused the story of the Tower of Babel to explain the Corona Tower and Baya Malay. I am curious what Lutz says about it in G2.

The name "Nei" could be an homage to the Egyptian goddess Neith: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neith . At one point she was regarded as a creation goddess. It could be in PSIII and such that even if the original religious aspect of the term was mostly lost, the name became part of Palman language as defining something powerful, especially in a spiritual light.

It could also be a play on the phrase "Nay" as well, since she isn't human. Then again, nei means "in" in Italian, which could refer to the fact she was once inside Neifirst...and that the villain was named after Nei was herself thought up as a character.

My head hurts

[carlsojos]

My head hurts

One of the simplest ways to spin a spiderweb of confusion is to connect dots that weren't supposed to. It would probably take a few questions with the developers to separate truth from conjecture, but I suspect the reasoning that put Goddess Nei in was probably dead simple to the person who made the decision at the time.