Back to work on it soon, really! (January 1st, 2010)

[Sirius9]

I apologize if any of my comments gave the impression that release was imminent, it wasn't my intention.  I'm just very excited to be nearing a complete draft of the main script, I've really had a blast working on it.   Currently I'm just waiting for the final battle script and brushing up some of the files I did earlier on with an eye to continuing to polish Mint's characterization.

Agreed. I don't remember who handled the leaf pun, but it was done well.

That was Cless.  And the coliseum pun, and the juggling pun....seriously, the only pun I can remember that Cless hasn't done the working version of so far is the grotto pun.  I admit trying to forget them though, I fail at puns. 

[Cless]

I'm not responsible for the miasma pun. That one's Cyllya's. nusakan0 gave it more flair (but I may have given him some direction).

[gyozilla]

I like the juggling one, but which file is the coliseum, I don't remember that one.
The miasma and grotto jokes I think still need work; the setup and punchline read a little awkward (because the dialogue still feels "explanatory" rather than "expository", so to me you're still working the joke instead of actually making it). I would definitely like a redirection of the grotto joke because Cless has gone from being totally confused about what Arche said to bewildered that she's so weird, saying weird things. (mm, how do I explain this... It's kinda like the difference between someone confusing "Pens are so delicious!" from "Hens are so delicious!" and "Hens make me think of pens." The original is a confusion that also sounds weird, adding to the confusion, while the change has no genuine misunderstanding to the statement made, just sort of a mindblow like "did she really just say something that ridiculous?")

We do care, gogs. It's good to hear from you again.

Thanks, that means a lot! Anyway yeah, I'm not really religious - it's just the thought, but I took a trip out to the giant Buddha the other day and got a rosewood bracelet, and I'm at about 740 with my senbazuru (talk about dreaming cranes heh OTL).

[Cless]

When was the last time you received a copy of the script files? Chances are, what you have is pretty far out of date. I like the grotto and misama pun in their current forms, though the current grotto one required some thinking out of the box to actually make it amusing.

[gyozilla]

Yeah, it's pretty old, 11/21. But really, it's just me hoping that there has been a redirection.

[Cless]

Yeah, these puns are in files further up the file sequence than I was finished with at that point, so they were still in their third draft state. I agree that they were still crappy at that point. The core of the miasma pun is still the same, but the lines are just plain better now. The grotto one is now something else entirely and had to have quite a few lines rewritten for it to work.

The coliseum pun was ALSO changed this go-around, but I can't say for certain if it was before or after sending those files to you.

[gyozilla]

They're not crappy, just the inner logic behind the joke needed work. Which file is the coliseum; it's still not ringing any bells.

[Cless]

File 126. The fun thing about the coliseum pun is that it's basically the only one that can be translated literally (katakana pun using English words), but it's seriously lame. I managed to come up with a different one with a very similar meaning and nusakan and Sirius appear to have liked it a LOT more.

[Sirius9]

That's because not only does it essentially mean the same thing, but it's actually funny and rhymes to  boot.  Honestly, it's so perfect that I'm astonished no one's thought of it before.

I see while checking over some of these files I did earlier that nusakan came up with the oasis pun, which is another vast improvement over the original.  We seem to be subbing a lot of rhymes for homophones, which I think are much easier to make in Japanese.

The grotto pun...*sigh*...I think that's just one of those cases where some element of the original is going to be lost no matter what.  I'm with Cless on the miasma pun though, it's as good as it can possibly be in English at this point.  Score one for Cyllya.

This is probably giving too much away, but I like the juggling pun mostly because I can think of it as the Zelos Wilder Memorial Gag 

Seriously, what's really killing me right now is the name of that stupid inn in Freezekil.  I just know there's a better way to do it but my brain is drawing a big blank.

[nusakan0]

Seriously, what's really killing me right now is the name of that stupid inn in Freezekil.  I just know there's a better way to do it but my brain is drawing a big blank.

I am in complete agreement with this.  My initial suggestion was mostly just off the cuff and is likely far too esoteric for most to get (not that it was especially clever to begin with).  Some more thought on the subject will be required.

[gyozilla]

Coliseum: If the current edit is about the same, "He is peerless" might be better than "without peer".

Inn: Again, dunno the current, I kinda like Kaji's line of Snow Tears idea myself.

While we're on Freezekeel and I still remember this, I mused about this a while back to Cless. Don't really know what to do with it, if anything at all, though I thought it was interesting:
フリーズキール Freezekiel: I suddenly remembered the reference from reading Majestic Fantasian long ago (http://tales.albion9.com/top/acv/glossdat.html). It lists "Hlidskialf" as the reference, or really Hlidskjálf. And so the spelling can be more like "Hlidskiel" フリーズキール. I don't know if they wanted to pun Freeze or something. But it's kinda like how the official spelling of ミッドガルズ is Mid Galds and we change it back to Midgard. Also since kana spelling varies, they used ミッドガルズ instead of ミズガルズ. Now the problem is the kana of Hlidskjálf is フリズスキャルヴ, and フリーズキール looks close. The ズ can do the job of a D-TH-Z-S sound. リーズ is like "lids". Only the end looks off, so I don't know if they mis-kana-ized Hlidskjálf based on crappy pronunciation or this is only an approximate inspirational pun and they drop the ALF sound to make it sound prettier for the game. So basically, this leads me to think maybe we should do like Hlidskiel or something similar as a compromise, but this throwing off so many years of the indoctrinated spelling might be too much. On the one hand, it's not the first time we go against official spelling as it actually means very little. But on the other is Hlidskiel really the inspiration and is it too different from Freezekiel.

Everything else I'll wait and bring it up in-team. And if it doesn't sound like it, I am impressed with the wordcrafting done!

[Carnivol]

'oy! Good to have you back, Gogs!


I've kinda always found Freeze**** wonky (**** being the part I've previously had my mind bent around... keel/kiel/kil/kill/whatever), but I think you're certainly onto something there with フリーズキール -> フリズスキャールヴ. And, yeah, snooping around, there appears to be a billion ways to spell something like Hliðskjálf.

What I'm curious about is if it's possible if フリーズキール is a legacy term (ToP SFC), either constructed from lacking source content ("How do we spell this shit?" -beats me! "Okay, we're doing it live! WE'RE DOING IT LIVE!") or there might've been some space limitations involved (either permanent or temporarily). I forgot, but on the top of my head, I can't really think of any ToP location name that, in Japanese, has more than 8 chars in it... which would be required for フリズスキャールヴ... meaning フリーズキール might be an imprvsd abbrvtd form of it... maybe? Either way, if "Hlidskjálf/Hliðskjálf/whatever" appears to be more correct than various "Freezekeel/Freezekill" variations, I'd hit the "go for it!" button.

[Sirius9]

"He is peerless" might be better than "without peer".

I disagree, the way it is now flows much better.

I am in complete agreement with this.  My initial suggestion was mostly just off the cuff and is likely far too esoteric for most to get (not that it was especially clever to begin with).

Your suggestion made me think of trying to make it a reference to Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country I mean, you want melancholy?  This novel's got yer melancholy right here bub.  But I thought to myself "Yeah...let's just suggest an even more obscure literary reference. Not a good plan".  Still...the other thing this author is known for in the West are his "Palm of the Hand" stories...

[gyozilla]

I've kinda always found Freeze**** wonky

yeah, you and me both.

What I'm curious about is if it's possible if フリーズキール is a legacy term (ToP SFC), either constructed from lacking source content ("How do we spell this shit?" -beats me! "Okay, we're doing it live! WE'RE DOING IT LIVE!") or there might've been some space limitations involved (either permanent or temporarily).

yeah, basically. Anything along the lines of tweaking the original spelling, whether it be a misspell or 'cause of space limitations (though if that was the case, wouldn't they use フリーズキャール?) In any case, it was the similarity that makes me think they went to work on the name (punning off Hlidskjalf and getting the word "Freeze" in the process. "Freeze" from "Hlids" AND it's a snow town?! PUN+++). I never found it that compelling that they name it Freezewhatever just 'cause it's a snow town anyway.

Edit: Just some more relevant info. I just remembered the Hrodvitnir incident for ToD2. Their kana spelling is フローズヴィトニル. フローズ -> Hroð parallels フリーズ -> Hlið?

[Cignus]

So I was just wondering if there is any eta on the translations finishing up soon. i saw the post saying he was nearing the complete draft of the main script. I'm hoping for the best and i cant w8t any longer T^T  

[throughhim413]

You can't "w8t" any longer? I find that doubtful. If impatience were fatal, most of the internet would be wiped out.