Greetings all! I'm new here, but I'm no stranger to Japanese fan-translation. I'm pretty near fluent in Japanese, and have been putting my skills to use outside of work for these last few years by translating the two PoPoLoCrois anime series as part of the fansub group Anime-BT (www.anime-bt.com). It's been an awesome experience (one which I apparently don't want to end, since I've been putting off working on these last three episodes for a very long time now!), and has been a great way to keep up on my Japanese now that I'm back in the States... but sadly, my time with PoPoLoCrois is nearing its completion, and I'm very much in the market for a new translation project to keep my mind sharp once it's done!

And this time around, I'd like to do a game. Specifically, I'd like to translate Falcom's underrated PC masterpiece, Xanadu Next! In addition to being a hugely fun game, it's also not nearly as text-heavy as a full turn-based RPG would be (i.e. if I were to attempt to translate, say, a Legend of Heroes title!), and all of the dialogue that does exist is written in a decidedly stylistic, medieval voice, which is EXACTLY the kind of thing I LOVE working with. (: Seems like the perfect starting point!

Obviously, though, I wouldn't be posting this if I could do the whole thing myself. The fact of the matter is, I'm pretty technically retarded when it comes to anything beyond the very narrow scope of my daily computing activities, and I don't know the first thing about hacking or patching or what-not. I can translate, to be sure, but it's kinda tough translating to any useful extent when I don't even know how to access the game's text. (:

So what I'm looking for is someone with l33t h4x0r sk1llz! Someone who can rip all the text from Xanadu Next, and supply it to me in a form that I can edit, and thus translate to English... then patch my eventual English translation back into the game, and get it to work! I'm NOT looking to illegally distribute the game, but rather do what Nightwolve has done in the past with his Ys translations: create a patch that English-speakers who already own Xanadu Next can download and apply to their copies of the game, allowing them to play it in their native language.

I've already spoken with Nightwolve and Gideon Zhi on the matter (the two most obvious candidates for help, given their histories), but to no avail. I *know* there are others out there with the skills to do this, though... and while I know you guys have never met me before, and probably have no reason to trust me, I swear I am committed to this, and I promise I will not let you down!

So if you or anyone you know might have some interest in helping a poor ol' translator supply you with Falcom goodness, please drop me a line, and I'll totally be your friend.

Thanks, and I look forward to working with you all in the future! Please be kind to the greenhorn. (:

-Tom

Revolve and Mirror Moon, eh? Is this the place you're talking about?

http://forums.mirrormoon.org/index.php

If so, do you think this post would qualify as a "project request," meaning I couldn't post it in their Game Hack Chat forum? I'm assuming by "project request," they're more referring to somebody going in there and being like, "hey, I really like this game... can somebody here translate it for me?" - but I don't want to piss anyone off with my first post, y'know?

Either way, thanks for the tip!

-Tom

That should be no problem in this case, as Xanadu Next is fairly easy to legally acquire (you can even purchase it from Falcom directly!)... and if the person or people helping me didn't have the money or the ability to import it, I'd be happy to buy them a copy myself, if they could convince me that they'd actually see the project through to the end. (:

I'll be sure to mention that in my post on the Mirror Moon forum, as added incentive.

Thanks again for the info!

-Tom

Against my better judgment, I'm rethinking my statement. Depending on a couple of ifs, and they're -big- ifs, I might decide to help. I'll send you an email...

You bet! I still have to PLAY those, though. I would've played them already, except that the emulation is kind of wonky, and causes the games to start running in slo-mo after a half-hour or so on my computer. And that's not something I can deal with. (:

-Tom

The PC Engine Legend of Xanadu and Legend of Xanadu 2 are run under emulation, so they should be considered as completely separate works, even though they are included in the retail package.

There would be a completely different approaches to the technical approach between the PC game and the PC Engine emulated games.  And what's more is, the original PC Engine games would likely be less technically challenging than the emulated versions - although one might expect that the differences are minor, you would still need to search for the original code somewhere inside of a binary.

I'm not sure how I could help on the Xanadu Next project, but I'd also be interested in assisting (not leading), if my assistance could be helpful.

I should stress that if my CRAZY IDEA pans out well enough, LoX 1+2 would likely not be included in the package, for exactly the reasons Mr. Shadoff spoke of.

I'm offering because all of these games are near and dear to me.

I'm a big fan of Falcom's stuff in general, and I helped out NightWolve on his various translations whenever possible... it seems that I was more helpful on the PC Engine side of the house than the PC, but ultimately I'd like to see Xanadu Next translated, and I'll do whatever I can to make that happen.

Legend of Xanadu 1 & 2 on the PC Engine are on the "top 10" list of games I'd like to get translated, but they have large scripts and are somewhat technically challenging - in other words, I feel strongly that they're possible, but they will be time-consuming, so don't expect them to be done in a short time.  But my main limitation is usually in needing a translator - I've lost contact with several translators on incomplete projects over the years, sadly.  So much so, that I started to learn Japanese for myself a couple of years ago.

So... Tomaitheous and I don't need any bribes in order to get the PC Engine side of the project running... well, except perhaps a translator with a long and famous track record of quickly-completed translations... (say, what's Deuce up to after Samurai Showdown RPG ?)