Leaderboard

VNs were a mistake.

Triggered. Note the 'What you want.'

They ended up employing a number of new translators, 5 I think (including me). I know they're doing LNs, manga and VNs, but I don't really know what the experimental titles are as I've been put on a regular VN translation which suits me perfectly since that's all I'm interested in.

Just listen to what majority of fans want and you have a ttanslation where half of the words are in romaji

That's true, and I find the posts difficult to read and cringe when I see them. Sure if a translation is an edited MTL or doesn't remotely resemble the original text then even for free you shouldn't be happy to get that, but outside of that... the debate shall continue forever on that front. Even the best pros make mistakes is all I can say (and I don't consider myself one of the best pros.) I understand how the armchair experts that have excellent Japanese skills feel when they see a bad translation, but just remember who it was that put the hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of their own time in for free for many people to enjoy some rendition of the original art form. The pool is very shallow to draw upon so you're not going to get translators that translate Murakami's works translating 2D porn for either free, or a few thousand measly sales at best.

See, that's exactly what I was talking about. I can already tell that based on what you said here, you definitely aren't gonna be a fan of either Nukitashi or, for that matter, the VN that's coming out in just a couple of days, Sankaku Renai. I can already tell you right now that both of these are gonna be full of "idiotic humour", "shitty 4chan memes", and maybe some "low class american idiots swearing" (not sure about the third one, but with TBAC being the main TL for both Fureraba and Sankaku Renai, it's quite possible he may have used that style of swearing again... that is, if he considered it appropriate for the VN in question). That's just how comedy VNs work. I don't know how else you could properly localize these. They are pretty much dumb in Japanese, and so I don't see any problem with them sounding dumb in English too (and hence one of the major reasons I avoid moege with accent on comedy like a plague - they are a huge pain in the ass to work on, and whatever you do, someone's always bound to consider your comedy writing "idiotic"). Also, that last piece of advice I marked in your comment... Man, do you even realize what "make it as widely acceptable as possible" even means? I hear that all the time and I am really starting to believe you people have no idea how many disagreements among everyone on this there are. "Widely acceptable" implies that whoever's working on VN translations should go out and always measure how many people want translations to be in one or the other style (I've seen some folks trying to measure this by doing surveys) and then act according to the results. Do you realize how unfeasible doing this all the time really is? First of all, even the fans themselves don't really know what they want. I see so many disagreements between people who want honorifics/no honorifics, who want liberal/non-liberal translations, who want dumb memes/no dumb memes, who want masterful prose writing (LOL at this one!)/no masterful prose necessary... etc, etc. How's one to decide on what to do?! Who's able to satisfy all these contradictory demands?! I don't know anyone who has ever seriously tried to measure what the VN fans want, and it's probably for a good reason. Even if they could, there's just no way you would be able to satisfy everyone, or for that matter "as widely acceptable as possible" size of community. "As widely acceptable" is just a myth. You don't know what's really "widely acceptable" as you're often gonna see complaints from a sizeable portion of community no matter what you do. There's just no way to accurately measure this, especially if you consider the new fans who might be coming in and who aren't necessarily gonna be weebs. And that's one of the major reasons why I believe translators like Arunaru and his ilk do what they do. They don't bother with "as widely as acceptable as possible". There's no such thing to begin with. So... what's a TLer gonna do then? Simple. They judge according to what sounds good to them and how they imagine the VN should read like. This sort of bias in translation... you get it all the fucking time, no matter who's at the helm doing the translation. I can tell you that every TLer out there has his own fucking way of translating something, and that's why no 2 translations are ever the same. No, I don't approve of translators who overlocalize and invent up silly shit just for the sake of novelty (no, I definitely don't approve of random Spanish lines that feel forced and out of the setting at hand), but that's just how things in this industry go. I don't let my "preference on style" cloud my judgement. Otherwise, I'd have to start despising the so-called "rewriting" that so many translators do. In fact, all the translations that we read are in fact nothing more than re-imagining of the Japanese works they are based on. Even the most literal translation you could dig out is still a re-imagining of the original work at hand (just remember that Japanese doesn't really have accurate English equivalents for many of its words and expressions and you'll understand what I mean by this). So you can recognize the inclusion/exclusion of honorifics as a style choice, but not "idiotic humour", "shitty 4chan memes", and "low class american swearing"? Tell me, have you read anything in pure Japanese so far? And if yes, imagine you were a TL. How would you translate this commonly used simple phrase from Japanese "よろしくおねがいします"? I'll tell you... if you have any sanity as a translator, you won't ever TL it as "Please treat me well.", no matter the context (I've yet to see a crazy-enough TLer who would do that). Basically, what all TLers do here is, they "rewrite" it every time they see it, depending on the scene, character, tone, etc. You people have to understand that translation work is more art than science. What you refer to as "rewriting the entire fucking thing" is exactly how all translations in a nutshell are. They are essentially someone's rewriting (I called it "reimagining" earlier in my post) of the VN at hand. Unless you're reading VNs in Japanese, you are always gonna be reading someone's reimagination of the VN based of its original. And while we can criticize a TLer's accuracy of translation, his creativity to carry over the Japanese lines, etc, etc. I would never go and say that TLers are "void of rationality and critical thinking" for just being liberal with their reimagination of the work at hand. In fact, I think totally opposite here. If they didn't do this type of stuff, then I'd question their sanity and rationality. I am in no way endorsing what NekoNyan did with Fureraba. I didn't even read it myself to judge their work yet. That said... if the biggest complaint one can make about a translation work is "swearing", then I don't really believe that translation was as bad as some are making it out to be. We have far, far bigger problems with translations nowadays. Personally, I am more pissed off about poor grammar, typos, and overall QC issues plaguing so many of official releases coming out nowadays. I consider that to be real shoddy work and that's what I am more worried about than some localization choice. Also... "people at large complain about this" - how many people? Did you measure? I am asking you this because I tend to see a lot of pro and anti-sentiments regarding this. I've seen a lot of praise from some of the more casual VN readers, loving Fureraba's localization. And then there are more weeb-oriented fans who absolutely abhor the localization of Fureraba. So which one is the right way? The casuals? The weebs? How do you satisfy all of these people at once? Is it even doable? No, I definitely don't think so.

I suddenly remembered our chat on Discord. And yeah, all your points stand true. Knowing all these things that I've come to realize after following this scene for so long, I dare not to publicly speak ill of any VN translation's quality nowadays, whether it be official or fanTL. The situation has really gone for the worse. It saddens me to say that most English-only VN readers will never understand what it looks like to be the one having to work on this stuff. The stuff you said are things only someone who has worked on visual novel translations can truly understand. All the time, I see VN fans complaining about the minorest of shit that they don't like in some translation works out there (from honorifics inclusion to whether there's too much swearing used in the translation and other types of silly shit), not realizing how difficult it really is to fulfill all of their selfish demands. The people they are looking for to do those "proper translations"... those people don't work on visual novels. I'd really like it if they could stop deluding themselves into expecting amazing translation works done by anyone who's working on VNs nowadays. Only hardcore VN fans and hobbyist type of freelancers work on VNs nowadays. Nobody who has any semblance of self-respect won't come anywhere near VNs. That word you just used in your post... "ungrateful"... that's exactly how I would describe working on VN translations. Ultimately UNGRATEFUL.

No, you're correct. Nukitashi is fucking hard to translate because of its puns and memes. I certainly feel like they've thrown me in the deep end. Ultimately the plan is for there to be more translators working on it though and not just myself partially because of the difficulty but additionally because it's quite big and they had planned for it to be completed sooner. You are right though - there are very few VN translators in general.

Perhaps the most universal complaint of those who read Japanese VNs, regardless of their tastes, is the bland, non-people, average protagonists that make up better than 90% of all VN protagonists. This trend began with the first moege, as a technique to allow people to self-insert more easily, but the tradition has worked against VNs more than it has worked for them, with protagonists with unique quirks turning out to be almost as important to a VN's lasting popularity as heroine quality. Unfortunately for those new to VNs, it is impossible to tell at a glance whether a protagonist will be interesting or not based on the cover, since most protagonists don't have a tachie, voice-acting, or a character description on the official site, lol. So, as a service to my fellow Fuwans, I decided to go ahead and make this list. The greater majority of these games will be untranslated, but I will go ahead and list ones that are translated that I know of. Feel free to help me add to the list, though this one is for Japanese-origin games, not EVNs. The baseline for these protagonists will be that they are either unique, unusual, or capable (intelligent, talented, and/or skilled at something and have something approaching a personality) without deliberate nerfing of their qualities to make heroines stand out more. Harem protagonists who are merely kind to everyone will not count for the purpose of this list, and characters whose personality/capabilities/talents/skills get toned down in the heroine routes will also not qualify. Translated Tokyo Babel Ayakashibito Hello, Lady (soon) Hapymaher Noble Works (yes, he does make the baseline) Dracu-riot (assuming the official release comes out) Nanairo Reincarnation (soon) Tsukihime FSN Comyu (yes, I include this... because even if you hate Akihito's man-whore qualities, he is definitely not a cardboard cut-out character) Rance games (I hate the Rance games, personally, but you can't say he isn't unique) Majikoi Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road (Dai only seems sheeple on the surface... he has enough depth as a character to qualify) Eien no Aselia (while his personality is standard for a jrpg protagonist, it has enough twists and unique qualities to make the list) Seinarukana (similar to above) Fata Morgana no Yakata (I wavered because of the way the game is structured, but I chose to list it anyway) Grisaia series Kikokugai Demonbane 11eyes Rewrite (I hate this protagonist, but he stands out, even if he is a dumbass) Animamundi Baldr SkyDive (whenever it comes out) ChuSinGura (I honestly wavered on this one, both because the protagonist is a moron and because I don't consider this to have been truly translated) Cross Channel Daiteikoku Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai Dies Irae I/O Yumina Kyonyuu Fantasy (yes, I'm serious even as I'm laughing) Planetarian Rose Guns Days Sekien no Inganock Gakthun Sharin no Kuni Shikkoku no Sharnoth Shin Koihime Musou (apparently tl is at 100%, so I'm including it) Sorcery Jokers (Senri!!!) Tears to Tiara Tokeijikake no Leyline series Venus Blood Frontier (whenever it comes out) Wanko to Kurasou Eden* Untranslated Akeiro Kaikitan Ikusa Megami series Soukoku no Arterial Fuukan no Grasesta Madou Koukaku Silverio series Tiny Dungeon series Zero Infinity Electro-Arms Soranica Ele Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier Komorebi no Nostalgica Devils Devel Concept Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana Evolimit Bullet Butlers Tokyo Necro Soukou Akki Muramasa Ou no Mimi ni wa Todokanai Shugo no Tate series Amatsutsumi Floral Flowlove Aoi Tori Mirai Nostalgia Bradyon Veda Draculius Gensou no Avatar Abyss Homicide Club Hyper→Highspeed→Genius Inochi no Spare Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo yori mo Konata yori Kanata Made Kanojo wa Tenshi de Imouto de Jingai Makyou "Hello, World" Natsu no Owari no Nirvana Otome ga Tsumugu Koi no Canvas Rui wa Tomo o Yobu Ryuukishi Bloody Saga Vermilion Bind of Blood Satsukoi Sinclient Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide Suisei Ginka Yurikago yori Tenshi Made Izuna Zanshinken Tasogare no Sinsemilla Valkyrie Runabout Sekai o Sukuu dake no Kantan na Oshigoto Haru to Yuki Semiramis no Tenbin Tsukiakari Lunch Tsuisou no Augment Kamikaze Explorer Prism Recollection Houkago no Futekikakusha Izayoi no Fortuna Natsuzora no Perseus Minamijuujisei Renka Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary Sakura no Mori Dreamers AstralAir no Shiroki Towa Irotoridori no Sekai Senren Banka Reminiscence Akagoei series Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru Harumade Kururu Haruru Minamo ni Kin'iro Loveriche Love Rec. Natsuiro Recipe Shuumatsu Shoujo Gensou Alicematic Sakura Nikagetsu Iroha ~Aki no Yuuhi ni Kagefumi o~ Campus's Uso series World Election (seriously push this one for fantasy charage lovers) Curio Dealer Kami no Ue no Mahoutsukai Lamunation Sora no Tsukurikata Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa Sakura, Sakimashita Amairo Islenauts Blade x Bullet Gouen no Soleil Dekinai Watashi ga, Kurikaesu Doushite, Sonna ni Kurokami ga Suki na no?! (more charage with some plot) Boku ga Tenshi ni Natta Wake Butterfly Seeker Fake Azure Arcology Re:Birth Colony Gekkou no Carnevale Hatsuyuki Sakura Gurenka Hikari no Umi no Apeiria (this guy's personality is so out there you wouldn't even be able to tell if anything effected him, lol) Hotel. (this is also a joke from me that I can share only with those few who have read it, lol) Kamigakari Cross Heart Kimi to Boku to no Kishi no Hibi Witch's Garden Kono Sekai no Mukou de Kouyoku no Soleil Lovesick Puppies (more food for charagamers) Toppara Zashiki Warashi no Hanashi Naka no Hito Nado Inai Natsuiro no Nostalgia Ojou-sama wa Gokigen Naname Onigokko Otomimi Infinity Para-Sol Prima Stella Paradise Lost Kajiri Kamui Kagura Sanzen Sekai Yuugi (only Otomege I know of that fulfills the prime condition) Primal x Hearts Tayutama (original only) Shinigami no Testament Shogun-sama wa Otoshigoro Stellula Eques Codex Tasogare no Himekishi (seriously, the protagonist is subject to some interesting stuff, like akuochi and/or corruption of characters) Toki o Tsumugu Yakusoku Unjou no Fairy Tale Yuganda Uso no Koi to Letter Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou Request includes G-Senjou no Maou Aiyoku no Eustia Watashi no Real wa Juujitsu Shisugiteiru Shirogane no Soleil Root Double Edit: A lot of these characters stand out due to personality traits or quirks, as much as anything else. The key point is that the protagonist is a 'person' instead of a cipher or catalyst. For those who wonder why I didn't include Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou 2, the reason is pretty simple... in every path, the protagonist's individuality vanishes and he becomes enslaved to the heroine's character needs.

Oh, it most definitely was. I thought I even had a screenshot of it, but apparently not. At any rate, it's the sort of think Kyousuke might say, occasionally. Most characters wouldn't say that and don't. BONUS:

Oh, God... oh GOD!!! They... oh my... now that's indeed something that would make me go WTF if I see it in a translation. I definitely need to check out Fureraba when I get the time.

I love how last column (4kids) has even mirrored images On a more serious note, actually, on this image there's no TL-style that I'd fully like. First one is the closest to what we're most used to, I think, but currently to me it sounds a little bit stiff and "overly literal" - but it's still the best of all the options presented, and when translated release is at this level, I certainly won't complain. Second one is ridiculous, it definitely crosses the line for "overly literal" and goes right into "half-translated" territory I don't think I've seen such a thing in VN translations (except some odd instances of leaving "Itadakimasu" untranslated - I think it happened in Kanon). Third one is what I really dislike - it goes absolutely overboard with its "creativity". I think that's what most people are afraid of when they're ranting against "liberal translations" (although in this case, it's not only "liberal", it's just bad Also, I absolutely hate the "Rubadubdubthanksforthegrub" expression - for reasons unknown... I think it was the only thing that actually annoyed me in Fureraba's translation) fourth and fifth are absolute gibberish, and the last one is, well, definitely "overlocalized" So, going by this image alone (I know that it's a joke...), we're stuck with "Learn Japanese" If it accurately portrays the situation in anime subs, then I have to say that we have it better with VNs, as there are numerous translated releases that somehow manage to find a good balance IMO BTW There's a typo in first panel of "What you want"

Bit late, but a belated happy birthday to @Fred the Barber!

Foreword: I played Aya route six years ago, but was left quite confused for the lack of understanding. Anime put its dots, but it deliberately changed the ending. I'm over-enjoyed to finally read all the routes in all the complexity. Title: Interlude Developer: Longshot Date: 2003-03-13 VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v3195 Youtube walkthrough:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE78kKpg5QY&list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv9mjQjlqFFGFu9r_-rNk861 Synopsis: For a close-knit foursome of high school friends, life is all about sleeping in class, strawberry milk, and after-class karaoke. However, our unnamed main protagonist is troubled by nightmares of death and disaster. Only when he begins to realize that his memories of people and events are different from those of Tamaki Maiko (named "Tama-chan" by her friends, "Mai-chan" by herself), Chimu and Harusa, his three female friends, does he begin to wonder. Later, when the waking dreams start.... a short moment of him seeing something that noone else sees....an attractive young lady, who stares back at him in amazement from an empty subway station, does he begin to wonder about his sanity. That evening, the four encounter and follow a shadow with no person, only to encounter a gang of stumbling zombies. And then he wakes up that morning from yet another bad dream, but the threads of reality have become a bit too frayed, and he begins to see a way in which he can travel over to the reality of his nightmares. Length: 20 hours Game type: Parallel universe piercing real world mystery Difficulty: Relatively easy. Avoid Tama and get one of two heroines. Mutsuki is more tricky. Character Design rating: 10/10 Protagonist rating: 8/10 Story rating: 10/10 Game quality: 10/10 Overall rating: 10/10 Rating comments: I love absolutely everything about this game. Well, apart of protagonist. Protagonist: Keichiro is very kind and reliable. He manages to find the right words to support each heroine in the time of need. We get to see his face, but not his eyes. He's easy to sympathize with as any reader can feel in his shoes. We don't get to see his eyes though, so he does not feel like a fleshed out character. Characters: There are four heroines. Tama is our genki childhood friend, and it's easy to get in her friendship root if she is paid a bit of attention during anyone else's route. Her love route is pretty much the same save for kisses as results of right choices helping Tama to start studying. Route is very easy-going yet ordinary. We get to see some strange things, but just ignore them. This route is quite ordinary, but it still is of masterpiece level due to great warm drawing and funny atmosphere. Izumi is our OL here, but she's pretty cute in hiding her breast that's impossible to hide all the time. Her route starts pretty much normally as we just tag along her at pubs etc serving as her bodyguard and helping her find her prince. In this route alternative world finally pierces real world with dreadful consequences. We also get to know a lot about this parallel world since Izumi work deals with it directly. But what this route really shines for is very colorful side-characters we stumble upon. Ending is very intense here. Aya is hands off the main heroine of the game. She is featured at the covers, and she's in the center of attention in every route but Tama. She has become everything I love in visual novels - cynical anti-social beauty with difficult fate and mysterious weapon. Of course, her route is the most powerful. Mutsuki route branches off Aya route and repeats it almost completely. We get to know not only fate of this suicide girl, but also the creation of the parallel world, so route is pretty important for the overall structure. Story: It starts normally, but we get to see abnormal signs with time. It's pretty much up to us and the route to decide whether we start to investigate them. Thoughts: 1) Game tells us the basic things, but a lot of stuff remains unclear and subject to further theorizing. What's the role of this organization? What's their main plan and backup plan? What happens to main characters? Who is actually the Councillor? 2) I like it a lot as after each ending we only get a very short ending filled with anxiety. Only after seeing all the endings we get a full great ending. Overall comments: Interlude was one of my first untranslated visual novels, and it determined my entire visual novel experience. My love for the moon and warrior serious beauties also originate from here. Game atmosphere is quite close to luv wave. Anime made the right steps in rationalizing the game and underlining the things that may have the biggest impact, but original remains the paragon of a great mystery game for me.

Yeah, just the other day I was saying the same thing to someone in private chat. You won't get Jay Rubin to work on 2D porn waifu games, LOL xD That's true. That's why I said that we are forced to trust localization companies' choices for editors. I am not expecting TLers to fight with editors regarding stylistic choices. In fan-translations - yeah, we can fight all we want amongst ourselves. But in pro scene, it's just not gonna happen. Actually, I think in many of these professional localizations, editor and TLer never get to meet each other xD

My guess is that if the TLer wants to get paid they have to work on whatever the next project is. Industry doesn't have time to wait for a TLer to fight for stylistic choice or risk another VN taking even longer to release and there's a chance a TLer won't get paid or worse get laid off entirely for taking up time fighting for a specific stylistic choice.

Fair point. I may be downplaying the issue a bit, but it's generally true that no translation style can ever fulfill everyone's expecations at the same time. For some, the swearing and overlocalizing can indeed make a VN unplayable, depending on the person. On that same note... there are those of us who can read pure garbled messes produced by machine translation too. I'll never understand why they can enjoy reading VNs like that. That type of people falls into the "who approve of literally anything" category, and yes, I'd consider those people dangerous for the industry, especially so if they are even willing to pay for the experience of reading a machine translated work. I am not saying VN translations shouldn't be criticized. That wasn't the point of my post earlier. All I am saying is that some things are allowed when you're localizing a Japanese work. Not everyone has to necessarily like the style someone picked up for the translation of something. There are certain localization choices I despise in localized works too, but I don't let that cloud my judgement of the overall quality of the translation. That's the point I was trying to make earlier. It's perfectly fine, and in fact, very encouraged to criticize translations. On that note... yeah, I agree that some people who work in this industry tend to be rather unwelcoming to criticism. I'll give you that. That's true, and I don't approve of such behaviour. I think every translation work should be judged on its own merits. It slipped my mind earlier, but yeah, sometimes it's the editor who changes the style of the script. That's one of the problems I am aware of. Usually, I'd prefer if the TLer checked the changes done by the editor and approved of them, but... in the pro scene, that seems to not be the case. Or at least, not often. Most of the time, the TLer just finishes the translation and moves on to other things, while the editor is left over with the script and does whatever he wants with it. So yeah... that's kind of a blind spot. I am not a fan of that, but it's just how things go in this industry. That said, the stuff I talked about regarding the style of translations still stand. If the editor has the final say, then we just have to trust his judgement on style. Speaking of it... the situation with editors is even worse than with TLs in this industry. Ugh, not really in the mood to talk about that xD But yeah, if the editor decided to go with overswearing in Fureraba, then we can't really blame TBAC for it. Actually, I don't want to assign blame to anyone. I'll still consider that a style choice, made by the editor instead of the TLer. Well, you say you found reading it "quite funny". I guess the editor made the right call in your opinion then? Fureraba is supposed to be funny and dumb from what I know. This is not really true. Even on this very forum, I've seen lots of criticism directed toward fantranslations. We even have people discouraging fanTLs here (and I can kinda share that sentiment sometimes, depending on who's doing the fanTL). You may have not experienced it with To Heart 2, but some other translators did get bashed pretty hard (and I approve of criticising translations when it's for good reasons, as I've said earlier in the post). I don't really know about the To Heart 2's case, as I've never read it, but I did hear from some random sources where I hang out that the VN is "boring". Some even attributed it to the translation quality, but as I said, I didn't read it and I don't really have an opinion to share on it. Generally, I'm fine with most things in translations (you may remember what I voted for as my bare minimum in that translation quality poll you made here), as long as it's not pure machine TL. I can tell when a translation is lacking in quality, but I certainly don't have any high standards or requirements. And I steer clear from bashing any work done by anyone, be it a pro or fan. I do criticize translations, but I don't engage in flaming like I've seen some folks who do that.

Thanks, everybody! I really appreciate the warm wishes.

Happy birthday, Fred the Barber :D. Hope it's an excellent one :D.

Happy birthday, Fred!

Happy Birthday to @Fred the Barber! Finally someone older than me having one.

Happy 34th birthday to our @Fred the Barber, and once again I hope you'll have a good year ahead.

Trap Shrine: why the fuck did i pick this? i knew it was going to be stupid. have i become so wanton that i cannot repress myself in the face of crossdressers? has my wokeness fallen to such an abysm? SeaBed: heard it was a strong representation of the monotony of depression, which i'm familiar with. i'm still in the early parts, but i think it's okay so far. Sakura no Uta: still playing Abend, but i like the direction it's taking Corpse Party Blood Covered: chapter 2, that ghost kid, that fucking ghost kid, that FUCKING GHOST KID MY GOD...

I definitely wish that Shirokoi would be more popular, although maybe it wouldn't count here seeing that it's still new. So in this case my answer would be Shibuya Scramble, Flowers Summer, Seabed, Enigma, and Pygmalion.

.

Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning and SeaBed are some of my favourites.

Thank you all for the wonderful recommendations! I'll read as many as I can. I have been wondering if I should read these for a long time. I guess that the time has come. I dropped G-senjou no Maou a while ago, but I was probably in the wrong mood at the time, so I'll give it a second chance. I'm glad that someone liked my comments on the list. I'll play SeaBed. Considering the guy is going to jail, that VN may either put a really positive or a really negative effect on him, tbh. I'll take the gamble.

G-senjou no Maou I like to hate on this VN because it's a little bit plot holed, but it is a strong mix of thriller and emotion, the main route is quite the ride, and something about the ending. It was nice reading your comments on your VNDB list. I mostly play untranslated games, so it's hard for me to pick... you've played many of the quality, intriguing games with a translation. Since you've read quite a few experimental works, perhaps SeaBed? It is a sort of unique work, is a lot about the mundane living and coming to terms with the past. It seems to be have been cherished by many who have read it.

Dude you can't even finish Mutiny.

Don't rewrite a vn to fit your idiotic humour, include shitty 4chan memes or make characters swear like low class american idiots etcetcetc It's important to know that the consumer base will be a lot larger and more diverse than the circle of fools you mess around with in your free time so obviously and quite logically the best course of action is to make it as widely acceptable as possible (General statement and not directed at you). The inclusion or exclusion of honorifics does not point to a translators skill as it's just a choice of style. I disagree with the removing them, but that doesn't mean i don't like the translation as a whole. A lot of translators talk about prose and keeping stuff in line with the original text, at the very same time as they're rewriting the entire fucking thing. Where is the logic in this? I'll tell you, there isn't any. A translator can be as skillful as he wants, but if his head is completely void of rationality and critical thinking then it's entirely wasted on everyone. If you find it funny and giigle when making every character swear and talk shit all the time and people at large complain about this, don't stand in your corner crying and making a tantrum like some entitled kid. Fix it and/or don't make the mistake the next time. Accepting mistakes made from faulty judgement and learning from them are not only important in this context, but in life in general. Ignoring complaints and pissing off customers is not exactly the brightest idea either. But expected of young and proud up and comers, just a shame they don't learn until they've made a shitty mistake which makes people refuse to buy a vn translated by them anymore and rather torrent or skip it.

The text is long and presents a lot of unique challenges, the artform is lowbrow, the pay is shitful, the deadlines are punishingly short, and some (not all) of the audience is hypercritical and ungrateful. If you were a half decent translator, of all the translation gigs in the world why would you do it unless you loved VNs? Additionally since the pay is so bad one can only earn a living off it by doing vast chunks of stuff they don't like at all. I know many translators that started out loving VNs and translating them has killed their love of them. Luckily I can afford to just do it for fun and will only work on VNs I find appealing in some way. Not everyone is so lucky.