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Old 2014-08-05, 12:43   Link #1
Student no.0
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Sekai Project Gauging Interest In Localization Of Visual Novels By Key

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/08/04...al-novels-key/

So yeah, if you want to raise the chances of more Key VNs getting localized in the West, now's the best time to get your voice heard. Hope they pick up Angel Beats though, since that's the only Key VN I'm interested in personally right now.
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Old 2014-08-05, 14:09   Link #2
Tyabann
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But Angel Beats is indefinitely delayed.

I'd rather Clannad get a serviceable translation, personally. It's also one of the most popular KEY titles by far, so...
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Old 2014-08-05, 18:38   Link #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon View Post
But Angel Beats is indefinitely delayed.

I'd rather Clannad get a serviceable translation, personally. It's also one of the most popular KEY titles by far, so...
I know, but I don't mind waiting (considering my backlog of reading I've got to do). I'd be especially relieved if these guys can get the license ahead of time (like, while different mediums, how Yen On got the license to Reki Kawahara's Absolute Solitude before it was even released in Japan iirc) so I don't have to worry as much about never being able to properly play it in the long-run.

I think Clannad's already got a fan translation, so perhaps Sekai could do what JAST did with Steins;Gate and make tweeks for the release, meaning less waiting thankfully.
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Old 2014-08-05, 18:38   Link #4
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Not a huge fan of Key, but if Sekai Project were to get it, that would be good.
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Old 2014-08-05, 18:50   Link #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Student no.0 View Post
I think Clannad's already got a fan translation, so perhaps Sekai could do what JAST did with Steins;Gate and make tweeks for the release, meaning less waiting thankfully.
Tweeks? Doing it from scratch you mean.
No offense for anyone who took part of the wiki on BT, but Clannad had a very very crappy translation with a lot of portion that either don't make sense or were machine translated.

It is probably the one key game that severely need a proper translation.
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Old 2014-08-05, 19:20   Link #6
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Originally Posted by Klashikari View Post
Tweeks? Doing it from scratch you mean.
No offense for anyone who took part of the wiki on BT, but Clannad had a very very crappy translation with a lot of portion that either don't make sense or were machine translated.

It is probably the one key game that severely need a proper translation.
lol If it's as bad as you say, then from scratch is definitely preferred (which is why I'm looking forward to Absolute Solitude localized Yen On).
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Old 2014-08-05, 19:36   Link #7
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Well the Clannad translation was fine. There were problems here and there, but nothing too egregious....

But then it hit After Story and holy hell did it plummet! You can totally tell they were just rushing through it just to get a translation out. It was pretty damn annoying when lines were left untranslated and were blank.

Last edited by MCAL; 2014-08-05 at 19:49.
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Old 2014-08-05, 22:53   Link #8
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I may be remembering things wrong, but wasn't Key blocking any attempts at localization? Or am I confusing it with something else?
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Old 2014-08-07, 23:50   Link #9
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I just selected Clannad, because I don't want them just ripping fan translations and releasing them. Unless they properly pay the fan translators, which they won't.

If they tried to release Clannad as-is, they'd only get rage instead of money.
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Old 2014-08-08, 00:23   Link #10
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I selected rewrite, I'm so willingly to throw my wallet to support that game.
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Old 2014-08-08, 02:06   Link #11
Tyabann
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mcfart View Post
I just selected Clannad, because I don't want them just ripping fan translations and releasing them. Unless they properly pay the fan translators, which they won't.
...I don't think there's a single point in VN localization history where fan translations have been "ripped and sold" without the fan translators being involved -and- paid for their work.
Sekai Project in particular has a damn good track record.

If they were to release LB or Rewrite they would almost certainly be getting retranslations.
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Old 2014-08-08, 04:04   Link #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon View Post
...I don't think there's a single point in VN localization history where fan translations have been "ripped and sold" without the fan translators being involved -and- paid for their work.
Sekai Project in particular has a damn good track record.

If they were to release LB or Rewrite they would almost certainly be getting retranslations.
I'm mostly thinking about Stein's Gate, which 1 guy signed the deal and got paid. Don't think the rest of the fan translators got anything.


But JAST USA at least retranslated Danganrompa. That's good.

Anyways I've read Clannad, Rewrite, and LB, and altohugh I love all 3, I'd love to read a proper translation for Clannad.

I read the whole thing with its broken translation
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Old 2014-08-08, 06:52   Link #13
Tyabann
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mcfart View Post
I'm mostly thinking about Stein's Gate, which 1 guy signed the deal and got paid. Don't think the rest of the fan translators got anything.
Well, IIRC they used a (heavily redone) version of Blick Winkel's translation for the official release and he did get paid for that, from what I know.
It was Reading Steiner who signed the original deal, dunno if he ended up getting any money out of it.
Steins;Gate is a pretty unusual example though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mcfart View Post
I read the whole thing with its broken translation
Yeah, all the other KEY games that actually matter (ie. not Kanon) have reasonably serviceable translations, but Clannad... Clannad deserves better than the mess it got.
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Old 2014-08-08, 11:23   Link #14
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Originally Posted by xizro345 View Post
I may be remembering things wrong, but wasn't Key blocking any attempts at localization? Or am I confusing it with something else?
Maybe a possible change of heart? I'd find it really weird why some game companies wouldn't want some of their games localized (see Muv-Luv).
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Old 2014-08-10, 08:42   Link #15
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Well I finished and survived through the translation Clannad got so...
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Old 2014-08-12, 03:50   Link #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Student no.0 View Post
Maybe a possible change of heart? I'd find it really weird why some game companies wouldn't want some of their games localized (see Muv-Luv).
Certain contents in the trilogy especially in Alternative can caused a shitstorm in the West, though some Muv Luv titles such as Total Eclipse should be good enough for localizing without any backlashes.
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Old 2014-08-12, 05:57   Link #17
Tyabann
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DevilHighDxD View Post
Certain contents in the trilogy especially in Alternative can caused a shitstorm in the West
Happy BETA Funtime is pretty bad and all but I wouldn't say it's any worse than some titles already in JAST and MangaGamer's libraries, and no moral guardians have freaked out about those.
The problem is more an irrational fear of another RapeLay and subsequent government censorship, really.
The more localizations that are successful, the more eroge companies will want to bring their games over... I really hope these recent deals work out for Frontwing, KEY, Liar-Soft etc.
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Old 2014-08-12, 13:06   Link #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon View Post
Happy BETA Funtime is pretty bad and all but I wouldn't say it's any worse than some titles already in JAST and MangaGamer's libraries, and no moral guardians have freaked out about those.
The problem is more an irrational fear of another RapeLay and subsequent government censorship, really.
The more localizations that are successful, the more eroge companies will want to bring their games over... I really hope these recent deals work out for Frontwing, KEY, Liar-Soft etc.
I don't want to bring up that game but yet that what it mainly about, they probably think that "scene" might caused another shitstorm like that game.
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Last edited by DevilHighDxD; 2014-08-12 at 19:44.
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Old 2014-08-12, 13:52   Link #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon View Post
But Angel Beats is indefinitely delayed.
Clannad was also planned for release in 2001. (It was eventually released in 2004.) Key games taking far longer than they planned isn't exactly a new thing.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MCAL View Post
Well the Clannad translation was fine. There were problems here and there, but nothing too egregious....

But then it hit After Story and holy hell did it plummet! You can totally tell they were just rushing through it just to get a translation out. It was pretty damn annoying when lines were left untranslated and were blank.
The rest is also pretty bad translation-wise, but it got covered up by editing and/or just not being noticeable. It can look and read fine but still be completely different from what was originally written.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xizro345 View Post
I may be remembering things wrong, but wasn't Key blocking any attempts at localization? Or am I confusing it with something else?
You are not mistaken, but it's very outdated information. Back in...2005 probably? Key was approached for official localizations, and they stated they wanted $1,000,000 USD for the license to Kanon, which is a ridiculous amount for a small market like VNs (and back then, the Western VN market was even much, much smaller than it is now). Over time since then, companies have tried negotiating with Key but without results, but we don't know how exactly those negotiations went.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mcfart View Post
But JAST USA at least retranslated Danganrompa. That's good.
Uh...no they didn't. NIS America did the official release of Danganronpa, and it was entirely unrelated to JAST USA. Furthermore, the fan translation was excellent and the main reason NISA retranslated it was because they weren't aware of the existence of the fan translation until they were already very far in.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon View Post
Well, IIRC they used a (heavily redone) version of Blick Winkel's translation for the official release and he did get paid for that, from what I know.
To be more precise, Blick Winkel retranslated the entire thing from scratch because he was dissatisfied with his first translation, meaning none of the original work from the fan translation was left.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon View Post
Yeah, all the other KEY games that actually matter (ie. not Kanon) have reasonably serviceable translations, but Clannad... Clannad deserves better than the mess it got.
How does Kanon not matter? It's the Key game that can be called a classic with the most certainty and was what initially made Key truly notable (though admittedly before Kanon's success they were at least known as 'the guys that made One'), and it's the game that has had the most influence on the medium out of all Key's games. Also, Kanon has a serviceable translation (quite well-edited, especially).

In addition to Clannad's translation, Tomoyo After's translation is also very questionable (though not as much of a mess as Clannad's). Though I guess you could say Tomoyo After doesn't really matter, being a spin-off game.
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Old 2014-08-12, 14:14   Link #20
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Originally Posted by Student no.0 View Post
Maybe a possible change of heart? I'd find it really weird why some game companies wouldn't want some of their games localized (see Muv-Luv).
The situation around Muv-Luv is a tad more complicated. Age (creator of Muv-Luv) has reluctantly showed interest in the Western VN market since at least 2010. However, Age is notoriously bad/incompetent/unlucky/whatever you make of it business-wise, and they've been in financial trouble more than once. (Fun fact: Muv-Luv consists of two games because their budget ran out after Unlimited.) This has to be kept in mind when considering Age's position on official localizations.

While Amaterasu was translating Muv-Luv Alternative (2010), MangaGamer was negotiating with Age about official releases of their games (they were also negotiating with Liar-soft at the time). Eventually, the decision was made to work with Amaterasu translations to use their fan translations. Amaterasu decided not to release their patches and to cooperate with MangaGamer to use their translations in the official releases. However, for a very long time after that, things were quiet on the official side of things - Amaterasu barely heard anything from MangaGamer other than that negotiations were still ongoing. Meanwhile, previous efforts to cooperate with fan translators, mainly by JAST USA, were leading to absolutely nothing. (JAST started cooperating with fan translators in July 2009, and it wasn't until May 2011 that the cooperations finally led to their first results with the release of Demonbane (of which the fan translation was near completion in 2009). Even to this day, more official cooperation fan translations remain in limbo than have been released.)

Amaterasu lost faith in the cooperation, and this happened:
Quote:
Originally Posted by novelnews
Amaterasu deal falls apart, two patches released

Amaterasu has announced the release of an English translation patch for âge’s MuvLuv Alternative as well as Liar-soft’s Shikkoku no Sharnoth, stating that they are giving up on the licensing deal with MangaGamer and citing, amongst other things, disappointment with âge deciding to offer MangaGamer Kimi ga Nozomu Eien instead. They will now proceed to translate AKABEiSOFT2’s remade version of A Profile and Liar-soft’s Forest after that. A representative of Katahane’s fan translation team also chimed in to say that disappointment in their dealings with MangaGamer also led them to releasing their patch. In response, MangaGamer has sent us a bilingual official statement regarding the matter, which is reproduced in the last section of this article. In short, they express disappointment in the turn of events and outline possible fallout from Amaterasu’s decision.
Ever since then, there's been no news regarding any official localizations of Age games. Liar-soft remained interested in the Western market and it looks like the incident didn't prevent them from cooperating with MangaGamer again several years later, and an official release of Ourai no Gahkthun was announced last Anime Expo.
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