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Darklord Rooke

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  1. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Darbury in Saying sayonara to Japanese quotation marks (「」) in VN translations   
    What I want to know is why Japanese quotation marks are still evident in VNs with ADV format. You know, the ones with the text box and the name of the person speaking. The quotation marks are replaced by the dialogue text box, Japanese quotations should only be used in NVL format.
    Also, I disagree with Zaka. Nothing pretty about corners of a box. They're functional, cause they're corners of a box and it's like they're enclosing the quotes ... in a box, but I wouldn't say they're pretty. Just my opinion there  
  2. Like
    Darklord Rooke reacted to Darbury in Saying sayonara to Japanese quotation marks (「」) in VN translations   
    Darbury
    "Ïf prëtty wërë äll thät mättërëd, Ï'd püt ümläüts övër ëvëry vöwël. Bëcäüsë ït mäkës thëm löök lïkë thëy'vë göt lïttlë Mïckëy Möüsë ëärs."
  3. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Rose in A Working Definition of the Visual Novel (v1)   
    Nice. 
    I'm actually talking about the hallucinogenic effect that red text has on me. I feel like I'm tripping out. Wheeeeee.
    ... But the definition is tops, too   
  4. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Darbury in A Working Definition of the Visual Novel (v1)   
    Nice. 
    I'm actually talking about the hallucinogenic effect that red text has on me. I feel like I'm tripping out. Wheeeeee.
    ... But the definition is tops, too   
  5. Like
    Darklord Rooke reacted to Darbury in Killing the ellipsis (“...”) in VN translations   
    I’ll agree with you and disagree with you. The first line is not 100% identical to the second. An ellipsis can be (ab)used to slightly alter the tone of a sentence, but only when it appears sparingly in a text. When every other sentence ends in an ellipsis, however, you lose that ability.
    When you highlight 80% of the lines in a textbook, you’ve done the opposite of highlight. 
    Building off Rooke’s point, that ellipsis then needs to be paired with tight writing to achieve a desired effect. Throwing an ellipsis at the end of a line is like putting glass to a furnace. You’ve loosened the voice and created something pliable, but unless you rework it with a craftsman’s eye, all you end up with is a directionless inflection — and a shapeless lump of glass. (Which I suppose would be useful for hucking at Rooke’s head, but not much else.)
  6. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Rose in Killing the ellipsis (“...”) in VN translations   
    That is fricken comprehensive. Brilliant job! 
    One of everybody's pet peeves ... SHOULD be one of everybody's pet peeves!
  7. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Darbury in Killing the ellipsis (“...”) in VN translations   
    That is fricken comprehensive. Brilliant job! 
    One of everybody's pet peeves ... SHOULD be one of everybody's pet peeves!
  8. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Darbury in Gone Home is a visual novel. Deal with it.   
    Man, it's much too early in the morning for such heavy reading. I haven't even had a cup of coffee yet, nor a cup of tea ... and now my brain is fried already  
    Mental note: Drink coffee first before reading anything Palas writes.
  9. Like
    Darklord Rooke reacted to Zakamutt in Gone Home is a visual novel. Deal with it.   
    I can personally recommend Gone Home, if only to see what everyone is/was talking about (well, apart from that it's quite good). Pretty much everything is delivered either through text or voiceover (voiceovers are triggered by finding and reading text on objects), with some context given by the 3d environment (such as a certain hidden whiskey (I can't actually remember the type of liquor) bottle you can spot in a room; interesting touch that one). As an amusing touch to show you what the focus of the game is, there's actually a key that makes you lean in a bit for a closer look at something.
    I don't think it'd hold up that well if you actually were to publish it as an epistolary novel, but that comes with the territory; if the digital part isn't part of the story's power, why have it present at all?
  10. Like
    Darklord Rooke reacted to Darbury in Gone Home is a visual novel. Deal with it.   
    Thanks for some very thoughtful points made by some very thoughtful folks — Palas, Zakamutt, maefdomn, Decay, etc. (But not Rooke. Never Rooke. )
    If it wasn’t already clear, the above blog post was 70% me playing devil’s advocate, 10% me being serious, and 20% me just wanting to talk about hot dogs. I’ll happily admit I have Gone Home tagged as adventure in my personal games database, and that’s exactly the genre I’d expect to find it under were I looking for it in a store.
    But after I finally got around to playing Gone Home — backlog ahoy! — it occurred to me to ask, “Well, why couldn’t this be considered a visual novel?” The meat of it was inherently literary, and the extratextual gameplay almost non-existent. Then I realized almost all the obvious counter-arguments I could think of stemmed not from a positive definition of what VNs are, but from a negative definition of what VNs shouldn’t be. “Gone Home lets me explore in a way that VNs don’t.” “Gone Home gives me a sense of immersion and agency that VNs don’t.” It’s akin to arguing that tomatoes must be vegetables because fruit stands don’t sell tomatoes. 
    And that’s the part that really interests me. There’s a pervasive sameyness among VNs; maefdomn does a good job addressing some of the reasons why. The answer to “What’s a visual novel?” ends up being, “It’s something that’s like the visual novels I’ve played,” rather than a more useful discussion about what the essential elements of a VN are and aren’t. (Chronopolis’s VNBD definition is a good start, but only a start.)
    Without knowing where the outer edges of the art form are, both mechanically and creatively, we can’t fruitfully explore those edges. And that leaves us with wave after wave of lookalike kickstarted VNs whose main selling points are the number of romanceable characters they have and whether or not they feature imoutos. There will always be a place for that, of course, but there's room for so much more.
  11. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Chronopolis in Weaboos and Otakus: Top Eight most Annoying Questions (Clephas version)   
    Broadswords being made to 'smash or cut' is as incorrect as the myths about the katana. Actually, most broadswords were light compared to katanas (unless they were ceremonial). They were double bladed, compared to katanas which had a wedge (obviously heavy), and so two handed longswords were longer and weighed about the same as a 2 handed katana (speaking in generalities.) 
    Broadswords were made to cut and thrust. There's a whole bunch of European one handed swords named 'cut and thrust' swords, for a specific reason. Armour was heavy, and people wouldn't wear it unless it was effective. There were a few ways to bypass full bodied armour 1 - thrust at the joints. This is why a lot of European swords have a nice taper compared to Japanese swords. There's even some swords made only for thrusting, including a massive 2 handed one. 2 - Bash and crush bones underneath the armour. You don't do these with swords. You do these with maces, or halberds, or blunt weapons. Pole arms. 3 - Take them to the ground and finish them off there, polearms sorta combined reason number 2 with reason number 3.
    Hollywood likes to have people walking around with 'heavy' 2 handed swords, bludgeoning people. This didn't happen  I prefer European cut and thrust swords mainly because of the versatility, but katanas are obviously far superior in cutting flesh.
  12. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Darbury in A Few Thoughts on Cheese   
    Heh, that's nice piece of satire there. Most amusing article I've read all week :3
  13. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Rose in POLL: To San or Not to San (Honorifics in VNs)   
    There isn't a magical ‘one-word’ solution that can be applied to all situations. Context would have to be taken into account in each instance, and one of the myriad tools available in the English language applied. Everything from ‘sir’ to full use of name, to use of only a surname, to a more respectful/formal/polite wording of the sentence, to nothing at all.
    You will on occasion find words which don’t translate into another language, this is due to languages being different from one another. That being said, different techniques in each language produce similar effects, in this instance the job of a translator would be to find the effect most fitting in the language they're translating into and applying that. But this takes good knowledge of both the languages in question, not just one. 
    To be honest, if you understand Japanese then the translation isn’t meant to be pleasing on your ears. Japanese and English are incredibly different languages, so of course there’s going to be jarring moments in most translations. The idea of a  translation is to get the audience to understand the relationship of those characters, not to keep ‘senpai’ solely for notions of cultural or linguistic purity. 
    Bloody cliches.
  14. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Rose in POLL: To San or Not to San (Honorifics in VNs)   
    Leaving 'san' in is a perfectly fine translation philosophy only when the term and the cultural significance is explained in footnotes (or explained in the game.) If you'll note, more literal translations in literature are accompanied by hundreds of footnotes at the end, and more liberal translations in genre fiction usually aren't. This is because assuming the audience has prior knowledge of another culture while translating is an incredibly flawed translation philosophy. The idea that 'these words are incredibly common, the audience will know what they mean', which is an idea commonly floated, is weird logic that I don't subscribe to -> you translate for those who don't know the language, and thus during that process you don't assume that they already do, in fact, know the language.
    If footnotes are incorporated, or explanations, sure, feel free to keep honorifics in. But if not, then under no situation is keeping honorifics a satisfactory translation philosophy and I really don't give a toss what culture seekers think on the matter. Because you're translating for ALL non-Japanese speakers, not just a select portion of them.
  15. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Darbury in POLL: To San or Not to San (Honorifics in VNs)   
    Leaving 'san' in is a perfectly fine translation philosophy only when the term and the cultural significance is explained in footnotes (or explained in the game.) If you'll note, more literal translations in literature are accompanied by hundreds of footnotes at the end, and more liberal translations in genre fiction usually aren't. This is because assuming the audience has prior knowledge of another culture while translating is an incredibly flawed translation philosophy. The idea that 'these words are incredibly common, the audience will know what they mean', which is an idea commonly floated, is weird logic that I don't subscribe to -> you translate for those who don't know the language, and thus during that process you don't assume that they already do, in fact, know the language.
    If footnotes are incorporated, or explanations, sure, feel free to keep honorifics in. But if not, then under no situation is keeping honorifics a satisfactory translation philosophy and I really don't give a toss what culture seekers think on the matter. Because you're translating for ALL non-Japanese speakers, not just a select portion of them.
  16. Like
    Darklord Rooke reacted to Clephas in News   
    *Clephas looks up briefly from where he is implanting a loli's brain with a lolicon-seeking device and a pocket nuke*
    ... you didn't see anything.
  17. Like
    Darklord Rooke reacted to Eclipsed in News   
    Question! 
    Was Rooke always this awesome
    For some reason I have memories of him being an old handed mr. grumpy grump
    Even though I've never actually seen him be grumpy grump
  18. Like
    Darklord Rooke reacted to storyteller in News   
    True as it may be, the fact remains most people wouldn't be comfortable with it, and it seems silly to have to pay for something you wouldn't be comfortable using when there are alternatives.
    Besides, I've seen "well-tested code" fail a little too often (especially when it involves networking, which this surely will. Watch out for that DDoS attack around the corner; it could be fatal!) to put my entire trust in such a thing.
  19. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Mr Poltroon in News   
    That's definitely true, there is a certain ‘if I’m going to die from a cock-up, then it darn well better be my cock-up’ aspect to those fears, a decent dollop of 'I don't trust Terminators' going on. But at the moment, not at this very moment but a fairly general sort of moment, I’m driving a car where one of the windows no longer goes down because the electrics are screwed, every so often my dear vehicle will choose to remain locked for a couple of days due to a problem with the electronic unlocking mechanism the mechanic has no explanation for (‘it just doesn’t like you, mate,’ isn’t a valid explanation,) and not too long ago the computer chip was telling the car to change gears at the wrong speed (I drive an automatic.) I really don’t want to add complex decision making and navigational tasks to its responsibilities. And if the mechanic is right and my car actually doesn’t like me, it will be a very cold day in hell before…
    But anyway, I’m sure you're right and one day it will be an incredibly safe way to travel, but I’m going to wait at least a decade or two after it's introduced before I go anywhere near it. Because seeing facts and figures is all well and good, but certain real world experiences indicate there's some significant problems to overcome first. And if this does become a ‘thing’ in the near future, and all cars become driverless, I swear to God I’ll bike everywhere. And I’ll do so in really tight and inappropriate shorts. Because if I have to be inconvenienced, then I’m going to try my darndest to ruin everybody else’s day also.
    Oh I see, a glass-half-full fellow. Your optimism and good faith will have no impact on my stubborn and irrational pessimism, good sir  
  20. Like
    Darklord Rooke reacted to Darbury in News   
    I'm on way too many cold meds right now to know if this post is real or a fever dream. In either case — bravo, good sir (or diphenhydramine-induced hallucination, as the case may be)! Bravo!
  21. Like
    Darklord Rooke reacted to Mr Poltroon in News   
    I actually do agree. I'd be much more likely to distrust the drunk driver in front of me than machine that's currently driving itself. I don't really know he's drunk until it's too late, you see, when he ends up in a face-to-lightpost situation and I end up in a face-to-trunk phenomenon.
    If he wants to talk about glitches, the other day my friend's fuel gauge broke and he ended up stuck smack dab in the middle of Australia, never to be seen again. I know this 'cause a little birdie told me. It was also a vulture, though that's probably not a good sign.
    It's not the newfangled machinery that's going to make this phenomenon much worse than it already is. I'm going to be at risk either way. Might as well be the thoroughly tested and bug-fixed machinery than to make a point of never driving at night lest I run into the next national car race championship candidate.
    And then somehow still run into someone who's driving out there without a wink of sleep, simultaneously on his cellphone; which is good, it'll be that much easier to phone the hospital that way.

  22. Like
    Darklord Rooke reacted to sanahtlig in News   
    I can't wait for self-driving cars.  Travel will be a lot safer without humans in control.  People blow the dangers of automation out of proportion.  What they're complaining about isn't risk; we take calculated risks every day that could cause us harm.  What they're complaining about is the feeling of powerlessness of entrusting their safety to a machine.  The machine could be safer, but they'll feel less safe because they're not in control.
  23. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Rose in Save the Visual Novels! Eat the Whales!   
    Uncommon word usage, in comparison to other VN translations, is actually a good thing. This is because most VN translations use incredibly basic and rudimentary language, to the extent that it sounds like it was written by somebody still in school. I've heard people complain about complex language usage in VN translations before, but when I had a look the language use was quite normal. 
    When something's bad the first place to jump on it is 4chan. ESPECIALLY when the 'bad' thing originated from Fuwanovel, because they love to put the boot into Fuwa. But not even 4chan complained about the editing found in this game. And (imo) there's been far worse translations than this *shudders*
    Also, you're free to complain, I do it all the time. You should keep in mind though that a lot of people (not on 4chan) will get ticked if you complain without providing reasons. So if you don't provide any, you should expect one of the first questions thrown back at you to be 'how so'?
  24. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from bigfatround0 in Save the Visual Novels! Eat the Whales!   
    Uncommon word usage, in comparison to other VN translations, is actually a good thing. This is because most VN translations use incredibly basic and rudimentary language, to the extent that it sounds like it was written by somebody still in school. I've heard people complain about complex language usage in VN translations before, but when I had a look the language use was quite normal. 
    When something's bad the first place to jump on it is 4chan. ESPECIALLY when the 'bad' thing originated from Fuwanovel, because they love to put the boot into Fuwa. But not even 4chan complained about the editing found in this game. And (imo) there's been far worse translations than this *shudders*
    Also, you're free to complain, I do it all the time. You should keep in mind though that a lot of people (not on 4chan) will get ticked if you complain without providing reasons. So if you don't provide any, you should expect one of the first questions thrown back at you to be 'how so'?
  25. Like
    Darklord Rooke got a reaction from Darbury in Save the Visual Novels! Eat the Whales!   
    Sensible advice, Darbury. I like the 'coefficient of slacktitude' you came up with, it's an accurate representation of an incredibly annoying, real world factor.
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