Looking For Some Fan Translations

[Nidstang]

Since we can't post requests in the Fan Translation section, I'm asking here. I've been unable to find them for these. Anyone know of any fan translation patches or mods for:
•Valkyria Chronicles
•Valkyria Chronicles 4
(The official translations have been proven inaccurate and bad. I'd prefer mods for PC if they exist)

•Legend Of Heroes Trails In The Sky
•Legend Of Heroes Trails In The Sky SC
•Legend Of Heroes Trails In The Sky 3
(Same as Valkyria Chronicles, the official translations are inaccurate and bad. I'd prefer mods to PC if they exist, but will be ok with hacks for the PSP versions)

•Final Fantasy Tactics (Preferably one more accurate than the original, without the censorship, but also without the obnoxious flowery dialogue from WOTL)
•Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (mainly to remove the censorship)

•Unicorn Overlord (probably slim chance given this is a Switch game, but the official translation has proven to be inaccurate and overly flowery)

Thanks in advance

 

[goznog]

I don't believe any of these exist unfortunately. I think you and I are in the minority when it comes to this sort of thing. usually when a game is "in English" that's considered enough for most people, and they don't actually care about whether the script conveys the same "literary spirit". the only exceptions are the occasional useless twitter spats where people tediously argue about what "censorship" means or whatever.

FWIW there is a backport of the WOTL FFT script into the PSX game that also unlocks the little book adventure stories and gives them a fan translation. it was originally "FFT Complete", then forked by someone else into "FFT Prime" with a bunch of updates and some gameplay tweaks. not really what you're asking for but you might find it interesting.

edit: also not a game you actually mentioned here but the original Dragon Quest NES trilogy and the first Monsters game on GBC have a series of hacks called Dragon Quest Delocalized, which are in the spirit of what you're asking for. I think DQ1 was especially great there, has a fantastic script and I appreciate the pseudo-Famicom version style graphics.

 

[powahdunk]

I'm just gonna squeeze in here and ask if anyone knows if there is a King of Fighters: Kyo english translation on the horizon? seems to be one of the white whales that gets announced then dies a death, bit like SamSho RPG only that finally came to light.

 

[Nidstang]

I don't believe any of these exist unfortunately. I think you and I are in the minority when it comes to this sort of thing. usually when a game is "in English" that's considered enough for most people, and they don't actually care about whether the script conveys the same "literary spirit". the only exceptions are the occasional useless twitter spats where people tediously argue about what "censorship" means or whatever.

FWIW there is a backport of the WOTL FFT script into the PSX game that also unlocks the little book adventure stories and gives them a fan translation. it was originally "FFT Complete", then forked by someone else into "FFT Prime" with a bunch of updates and some gameplay tweaks. not really what you're asking for but you might find it interesting.

edit: also not a game you actually mentioned here but the original Dragon Quest NES trilogy and the first Monsters game on GBC have a series of hacks called Dragon Quest Delocalized, which are in the spirit of what you're asking for. I think DQ1 was especially great there, has a fantastic script and I appreciate the pseudo-Famicom version style graphics.

Yea, it's the biggest reason I'm starting to teach myself Japanese. I'm sick of relying on bad localizers and official English ports to give me accurate, uncensored content, because it's just been getting worse and worse. I'd rather just get games/anime straight from the source and not have to worry.

 

[freebie#47]

There is a fan Rewrite of Final Fantasy Tactics, but its not an accurate translation. Most games aren't, in fact MOST actually even screw up the english words. My Japanese is very terrible, but i know a few words and phrases that pop everywhere in most scripts when listening to the japanese audio. It it actually easier to learn than wait for a fan translation....I say this as some fan games can take more than a decade...summon night gba 3

Also want to mention this. Xuan Yaun Sword Gate of Firmament game is a google translated and contains gamebreaking bugs...and that is an official release hehehe. Still a fun game though

 

[goznog]

Yea, it's the biggest reason I'm starting to teach myself Japanese. I'm sick of relying on bad localizers and official English ports to give me accurate, uncensored content, because it's just been getting worse and worse. I'd rather just get games/anime straight from the source and not have to worry.

good luck to you on your studies! it's also something I've been doing on and off for a long time. wanikani is great for someone chronically lazy like me lol.
honestly, I think you'll gain a deeper appreciation for Japanese games you've already played in English too. learning a language in general is great no matter the reason, and you can expose yourself to a bunch more things you'll like that you probably wouldn't have been aware of otherwise

 

[Mopeybloke]

I hadn't heard Trails in the Sky was poorly translated. Actually I assumed otherwise since they seemed to take forever to translate games back then. The community seems to like the localisation quite a bit too from what I remember.

 

[Nidstang]

I hadn't heard Trails in the Sky was poorly translated. Actually I assumed otherwise since they seemed to take forever to translate games back then. The community seems to like the localisation quite a bit too from what I remember.

For some weird reason the Trails games attract the pro-localization "it doesn't matter if things are changed, thats the point of localization" type crowd, and people who point out how inaccurate the games are, are often shouted down and buried. But you can find examples all over Reddit, Steam, and Twitter.

Estelle especially is the victim of a lot of it. She's a lot more rude and angsty, and has a weird obsession with "hitting people with her stick" in the localized versions, not present in the Japanese.

 

[otogirisou]

I think you and I are in the minority when it comes to this sort of thing. usually when a game is "in English" that's considered enough for most people

Basically this. Even those "retranslation that's faithful to the japanese" has their own trade offs. Your best bet is to just learn the language.

 

[Tengu Plant]

What gets me about the general translation issue is the absurdity of it all.
We're all asking for something relatively straightforward and reasonable (especially if we're paying for it) and yet there exists an entire class (for lack of a better word) of people who are dedicated to making sure you can't get that and shouting down any one who asks for it.
I'll also add that Japanese really isn't that unique for a non-European language. Sure it's a little context sensitive but still, translating it into English is not the impossible task certain people say it is.

 

[Nidstang]

What gets me about the general translation issue is the absurdity of it all.
We're all asking for something relatively straightforward and reasonable (especially if we're paying for it) and yet there exists an entire class (for lack of a better word) of people who are dedicated to making sure you can't get that and shouting down any one who asks for it.
I'll also add that Japanese really isn't that unique for a non-European language. Sure it's a little context sensitive but still, translating it into English is not the impossible task certain people say it is.

Yea it definitely feels done out of spite.

 

[Tengu Plant]

Yea it definitely feels done out of spite.

Oh they absolutely do, some have even admitted it.
I may post some examples later on if I can find the discord screenshots and/or Q&A streams.

 

[goznog]

What gets me about the general translation issue is the absurdity of it all.
We're all asking for something relatively straightforward and reasonable (especially if we're paying for it) and yet there exists an entire class (for lack of a better word) of people who are dedicated to making sure you can't get that and shouting down any one who asks for it.
I'll also add that Japanese really isn't that unique for a non-European language. Sure it's a little context sensitive but still, translating it into English is not the impossible task certain people say it is.

turning the process of a video game localisation into a cult thing (and having "localisation" replace "translation" in the gamer consciousness) is a whole business. Working Designs were the innovators of this: the "translation notes" sections of their manuals puffing themselves up and being full of embellishments, luxury packaging, limited print runs, etc. I'm pretty sure it's why Sony wanted to kill them off. their legacy can be seen in stuff like the Dragon Quest localisations with the redone voice/music/menu gimmicks and the crafted narrative regarding the wacky accents and over-editing. this marketing crap being seen as somehow necessary, or at all representative of the developers' original intent, is deeply frustrating and sad to me.

 

[RageBurner]

I will say that I absolutely detest when liberties are taken with scripts. I want to play a game as close to how it was intended as possible, not partake on borderline fanfic material, egomaniacal self inserts or dated pop culture references.

 

[Patches]

Just want to add for you guys if you can put the scripts in japanese from the games into chat gpt or deep seek it is actually very precise with translations I hear. I also want to learn japanese and drink water from the source, but unfortunately is too big of a commitment on my already busy schedule.

 

[Ezri_Muldoon]

I might as well ass in a tangental question.
Does any one have access to the Segagaga translation that was rumoured to be 50% complete or is that still confided to the hard drive of the faithful fan translator who look on a little too much work?

 

[powahdunk]

I might as well ass in a tangental question.
Does any one have access to the Segagaga translation that was rumoured to be 50% complete or is that still confided to the hard drive of the faithful fan translator who look on a little too much work?

God I keep forgetting about how much I'd love to play Segagaga!

 

[trangdc]

•Legend Of Heroes Trails In The Sky
•Legend Of Heroes Trails In The Sky SC
•Legend Of Heroes Trails In The Sky 3
(Same as Valkyria Chronicles, the official translations are inaccurate and bad. I'd prefer mods to PC if they exist, but will be ok with hacks for the PSP versions)

Haha, and I thought I was minority of gamer who didn't like Trails localization, specifically Sky games. I used to translate this game and man, no words can describe how tired, frustrated when I encoutered those 'localization texts' that not related or have exact meaning as the original Jp.

Anyway, I was a part of a small project that translate Trails in the Sky into Vietnamese (Huyền Thoại Anh Hùng: Con đường trên Bầu trời). It's not much, but I was able to translate it after 4 years (quit a job to finish this project, end up jobless, have no money left and need to sold some collections for living.)

I translated this game mostly based on JP original version, and no AI, so it end up very long to complete. I also try to compare two ver (JP and Xseed) so that I don't translate wrong infors.

Sadly, the patch is not English so it's not what you find. I can translate them to English but English is not my main language, and I still hesitate to touch the project again.

Trails in the Sky Remake will be release this year, so I think I might give it a chance to import the texts of original game into the new one.

 

[starman271]

Since we can't post requests in the Fan Translation section, I'm asking here. I've been unable to find them for these. Anyone know of any fan translation patches or mods for:
•Valkyria Chronicles
•Valkyria Chronicles 4
(The official translations have been proven inaccurate and bad. I'd prefer mods for PC if they exist)

•Legend Of Heroes Trails In The Sky
•Legend Of Heroes Trails In The Sky SC
•Legend Of Heroes Trails In The Sky 3
(Same as Valkyria Chronicles, the official translations are inaccurate and bad. I'd prefer mods to PC if they exist, but will be ok with hacks for the PSP versions)

•Final Fantasy Tactics (Preferably one more accurate than the original, without the censorship, but also without the obnoxious flowery dialogue from WOTL)
•Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (mainly to remove the censorship)

•Unicorn Overlord (probably slim chance given this is a Switch game, but the official translation has proven to be inaccurate and overly flowery)

Thanks in advance

I super disagree what you are saying because I just you who don’t like woke translation from real people don’t lie to me got it

 

[Patches]

I super disagree what you are saying because I just you who don’t like woke translation from real people don’t lie to me got it

Goats are like mushrooms, if you shoot a duck, I'm scared of toasters.

 

[Nidstang]

I super disagree what you are saying because I just you who don’t like woke translation from real people don’t lie to me got it

Wot

 

[Leon]

I hadn't heard Trails in the Sky was poorly translated. Actually I assumed otherwise since they seemed to take forever to translate games back then. The community seems to like the localisation quite a bit too from what I remember.

The translation takes a few liberties to make it function better in english, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is a fair deviation from the feel of the original, the most contentious one is estelle's personality is a bit changed, making her a bit more airheaded, but it's debatable if that's justifiable or not due to how difficult the game was known to translate.

Basically the sky games were localized for english speakers, which means they changed things to make a bit more sense in english, what Nidstang is asking for is one as true to the japanese script is possible.
Which side your on this argument depends highly on your own perspective, this isn't the same as say, the changes to eiyuuten chronicles hundred heroes script that was "gen-z'd".
The worst translation i know of for the trails series was trails through daybreak 1, but that has a fan translation.

 

[mistymermaid]

I hadn't heard Trails in the Sky was poorly translated. Actually I assumed otherwise since they seemed to take forever to translate games back then. The community seems to like the localisation quite a bit too from what I remember.

Trails in the Sky is somewhat atypical. The localization is, for the most part, an enjoyable script which clearly took considerable effort to make.

It's appreciated for what it DOES offer. Rather than necessarily for its accuracy.

 

[Nidstang]

The translation takes a few liberties to make it function better in english, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is a fair deviation from the feel of the original, the most contentious one is estelle's personality is a bit changed, making her a bit more airheaded, but it's debatable if that's justifiable or not due to how difficult the game was known to translate.

Basically the sky games were localized for english speakers, which means they changed things to make a bit more sense in english, what Nidstang is asking for is one as true to the japanese script is possible.
Which side your on this argument depends highly on your own perspective, this isn't the same as say, the changes to eiyuuten chronicles hundred heroes script that was "gen-z'd".
The worst translation i know of for the trails series was trails through daybreak 1, but that has a fan translation.

Trails in the Sky is somewhat atypical. The localization is, for the most part, an enjoyable script which clearly took considerable effort to make.

It's appreciated for what it DOES offer. Rather than necessarily for its accuracy.

I shared these examples in another thread, but it is really bad. They completely change and ruin Estelle's character. And do add in gen-z slang. These games are basically ground zero for the localization debate.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1889698476625371213

https://twitter.com/x/status/1870304334627688678

https://twitter.com/x/status/1892025809067516237

https://twitter.com/x/status/1892069165969621209

 

[mistymermaid]

My stance is somewhere in between. Dialogue changes can be measured and identified. Flagrantly unethical practices are obvious when they happen.

However, as an individual I have no particular attachment to the author. Like any other modding project or fanfiction, I'd prefer to play the version that most entertains me.