stormwyrm

Got another one, this time it's Grandi's ending. Context is that Caprese has lain down on the side of the road one night while hungry and has lost consciousness. Grandi's soldiers find him and bring him to her. When he comes to, she asks him: Grandi: 体は大丈夫か?何か持ってこさせよう That last verb 持ってこさせよう is in an unfamiliar form. According to my references it is a 'causative volitional' or 'causative potential volitional' form of 持ってくる. I gather it might mean something like 'trying to bring something' but I am not certain of this. Any hints on how to translate it?

It's been over a year since I started my project to translate Arcana and so far I've only managed to get half of it done, and I've probably made a lot of mistakes while doing it. There's a whole second arc of the game which I'm probably not going to bother with, at least not for a long time, unless someone else wants to join the project to do the translation work. Hacking the VN and getting at the scripts took perhaps a few weeks. Translating the scripts, more than a year, and Arcana is a fairly short work. My estimate is that the common part is something like 60,000 words, and the light arc is also around the same length, and given the length of the untranslated scripts for the dark arc is in that range as well, I estimate that the whole script would be 180,000-200,000 words. That's about the length of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. To give an example of a long visual novel, once I tried extracting the text from Mirror Moon's Fate/Stay Night translation and found that the Fate Route is in the 330,000 word range, UBW is in the 244,000 word range, and Heaven's feel is in the 314,000 word range. The whole VN is 916,000 words or so, making it nearly twice as long as Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace (580,000 words), and close in length to the entire Harry Potter series (1,084,170 words). I'll let that sink in for a bit to give an idea of the enormity of the task.

Yes, that sounds about right given the wider context of the story, which I really can't fully expound on here, other than to say that being in that position forced her to make the difficult decision to send Caprese into to war against his will after she realised what he was. Thanks for the clarification!

So now I'm nearly at the finish line, at least for the Light Arc, but judging from what I can see of the Dark arc I don't know if I have the heart to work on it myself. In any case I'm about to make a beta public release of the game, and would like guidance on how to do this. I'm also interested in making all my source files, including the scripts I wrote to extract and convert data and such, public, so that anyone who wants to pick up the translation work in the future can build on what I've done so far. Obviously I can't just export the Git repository I've got up on Github or a similar place. Maybe I'll just publish a tarball of the bare repository for download every now and then, and accept patches from people who clone from it.

I am presently working on a translation of Arcana, another Ciel game with Tony's artwork, and it's good to see someone else also working on another such VN.

So now I've finally finished the main Light Arc of Arcana, and am getting around to translating the endings. Since there are a total of 15 heroines, and 14 of which have endings in the Light Arc (only Dominante, the demonic fairy, doesn't have an ending in the Light Arc), there's quite a bit to go. I've finished two of them so far, Primo the Fairy and Princess Harp, and now I'm taking the other twelve in turn. I'm translating Analiese's ending at the moment, who is a scholar and librarian whom Caprese first meets while he is researching some lore. After realising that he is the one with no Icon of legend, she sends him off to fight in a war with infidels, and in this ending Caprese decides to see her again. She apologises for forcibly sending him off to war like that, and their conversation continues: Analiese: あなたは望んでイコンを持たなかったわけじゃないもの… Caprese: …でもさ… Analiese: え? Caprese: 確かに望んでそうなったわけじゃないけど…それはそれで運命だし、生まれたときからそうだったんだから、今の俺があるのはイコンを持たなかったからだよ。それはアナリーゼも同じだろ?望んだわけじゃないけど、法王の姪だから、今みたいな考えになって、\nここにいる。それを否定することはないよ The last portion I don't quite get. Here's a rough translation I've made of the rest. Analiese: You didn't wish to be the one with no Icon in the first place... Caprese: But you know... Analiese: Eh? Caprese: Certainly, I didn't wish it it but... Then that was destiny, decided from the day I was born, so being the one without an Icon is part of who I am now. Isn't it the same with you, Analiese? You didn't wish to become the niece of the Hierophant... (I struggle to make sense of the rest)

Well, in the current route he is indeed a very gentle person. There is, unfortunately, an evil route where he is completely corrupted by the Dark Side... I don't know if I have the heart to translate all of that by myself. Yes, Caprese is the guy. I was even considering using Capriccio as the translation of his name (カプリス）, given how the almost all of the names of other characters in the game are based on musical terms, e.g. Vivace, Animato, Grave, Amoroso, Marcato, Risoluto, etc., but that is a bit too far from the original katakana pronunciation. Caprice is also possible, but even more liable to misconception as a feminine name. But then again, the cute fairy girl who follows him around for most of the game is named Primo, and similarly many of the names are used without modification to feminine stems. It's worth considering whether to change the names so the female characters also have feminine-stem names (e.g. Animata, Risolutia, Prima, etc.) where required.

I've been continuing with the translation of Caprese and Risoluto's conversation in the final Light Chapter of Arcana, and now I run across another bit of strangeness. Further in their conversation, Caprese encourages Risoluto to try living not just as the Hierophant's Inquisitor, but as Risoluto, the person, as well, and she asks how she can do that. He suggests that she try to laugh (笑う), but she says she has nothing to laugh about. So he invites her to try to dance, and they are very clumsy at it: Caprese: ほら、そこで足は後ろに…あ痛っ!! Risoluto: あ、ごめんなさい… Caprese: 謝らないで、あなたがミスったのって顔してればいいの、女の子は Risoluto: あっ…また… I don't get the highlighted portion that well. It seems to be using 顔 as a する-verb, which I'm uncertain how to interpret. Here's my attempt: Caprese: Look, put your foot behind... ouch!! Risoluto: Ah, I'm sorry... Caprese: No need to apologise, you made a mistake, it is enough to just face it, as a girl. (???) Risoluto: Ah...I did it again...

My translation of the final Light chapter of Arcana continues, and now I'm running into something odd. Context this time is that after rescuing Princess Harp, he was brought before Risoluto to be judged whether he is worthy or not of the princess. One branch of this arc has Caprese found unworthy, because Risoluto's judgement using her special powers has found that his deeds for the Light are unsatisfactory. Caprese is dissatisfied with this outcome and that evening he goes to Risoluto's room and asks her to explain about her ability to see what Caprese has done. They have a bit of conversation: Caprese: …グランディに言われた…いや…いろんな人に言われたな… お前は光の使者、光の戦士だって…でも、ただの何にも考えずに嫁さん探ししてたんだぜ? いきなりそんなこといわれても…だけど…いろいろ…ヘンなこともしたかもしれないけど…俺はリソルートの前に立った…審判を受けるところまでは辿り着いた…光の使者として…認められはしなかったけど…俺にしては上出来だなって思ったんだ. Risoluto: すまない… Caprese: どうしてリソルートが謝る?だって、俺は満足してるんだ。結果はどうでもいいよ。俺は精一杯やった、それでいいんだ Risoluto: 精一杯… Caprese: そうだ、俺はそれだけでいい…だから…泣かないで… Risoluto: カプリス…お前の言葉…なんだか懐かしい… Caprese: 懐かしい…か…そうかもしれない… ずっと昔に…お互い記憶にないくらい昔…会っていたのかもな… Risoluto: では…なぜ、いままた出会った? The highlighted portions are a bit of a puzzle, not because I don't understand the meanings of the words, but because they don't seem to make sense in the context. Translation of mos of the rest: Caprese: It was Grandi [the reverse trap commander from Part II, Chapter 8] who said it... No, many people told me so. 'You are the Messenger of the Light, Warrior of the Light' they said... But without really thinking, wasn't I just an ordinary guy looking for a wife? And then all of a sudden, so to speak, I found myself embroiled in all sorts of strange things it seems. I stood before you, Risoluto, and received your judgement after many long struggles. As the Messenger of the Light... You won't recognise me as such but I don't think I really did so badly. Risoluto: I am sorry. Caprese: Why are you apologising, Risoluto? After all, I am satisfied. The final outcome doesn't matter. I did my best, and that is all. Risoluto: Thy best... Caprese: Yes, that was my all. So I won't cry over it... Risoluto: Caprese, thy words somehow are nostalgic... Caprese: Nostalgic huh? I suppose you might say that. Of my childhood... just like you I have no memories of my childhood. Maybe if I had met... Risoluto: Then why, now you meet? (????) '会っていたのかもな' sort of means 'If I might have met...' but from the context it doesn't seem clear who it was he was supposed to meet. I was originally thinking that it might be if he had met someone of authority the way Risoluto had met the Hierophant, but Risoluto's subsequent statement becomes nonsensical as well. Or perhaps there is a sense of 会っていたのかも that I am unaware of?

If you need aids with translation there is Translation Aggregator: http://www.hongfire.com/forum/showthread.php/94395-Translation-Aggregator?p=3648894#post3648894 This has been indispensable for me, mainly for the JParser support, which has helped remove a lot of the tedium when looking up unfamiliar words in a passage of text. You can use it to send text to machine translators if you want.

And so after sporadic work on it over the past several months, I've finally gotten to what I think should be the last of the Light chapters of Arcana. Anyhow, after Caprese manages to rescue Princess Harp after her abduction by Tombeau, her father the Hierophant Hymnus and the nun Risoluto have the following conversation: Narrator: 誘拐されたハープ姫の生還に\n法王は喜びを隠せなかった。そしてカプリスは… Risoluto: 法王…あなたは人の親である前に光の使者でもあるのです。そのお立場をお忘れなきように Hymnus: リソルート…お前が言うことはわかる…しかし…いまさら試すなどと… Risoluto: あなたはお年を召されてしまったようですね…いま、この世に届いている光…それはまだわずかなものです… あなたは、いえあなたの血族は法王として…ミトラ神の意志に従い、この世を光で満たさねばならないのです Hymnus: だから…あの若者が光の使者としてふさわしいか判断すると言うのか? I'm having difficulty translating the portion highlighted in yellow above. I am not so sure what Risoluto means by お年を召されてしまった above. Does it mean the Hierophant seems to be so overjoyed at the safe return of his daughter that it looks as though he has declared a new year? Also, she says something あなたは、いえあなたの血族は法王として, which I am not certain of. It seems she is trying to say that he and not his blood relation (Princess Harp) is acting as Hierophant. I think the rest sort of goes: Narrator: The Hierophant was unable to hide his joy at the safe return of the abducted Princess Harp. Meanwhile, Caprese... Risoluto: Holiness... Before you are the Father of the People you are the Messenger of the Light. Please do not forget your place. Hymnus: Risoluto... I know what you are saying, but is it too late to try... Risoluto: 「It seems as though you have declared a New Year.」? The Light has arrived in this world. But there is only a little as yet. 「You, not your blood relative as the Hierophant, must do the will of the Lord Mithras and fill the world with Light.」? Hymnus: And so, do you think it fitting that we recognise that young man as a Messenger of the Light?

Well, I'm back after a bit of a hiatus. Just finished Light Chapter 13. I've seen a new instance of the typing game in Chapter 14 (incompletely translated), and indeed it seems like random choices of words from the typing files in the game archive. Almost at the finish line for the light chapters. Then next the dark chapters, which look like they're full of rape and violence and such, judging from the game art...

And so I've finally gotten off my ass and resumed translation and conversion of Arcana after taking a break for several months, and now I've gotten to Light Chapter 14, one more chapter before I reach the end of one of the game's two major branches. Now I've run into a very strange verb form I cannot decipher. Here it is, with some immediate context: Meister: お前も…もう少し心に闇があればな…われらの眷属の一人になれたものを…わかっているのか…お前はどちらの道も選べたのだ… Caprese: そんなこと… Meister: まぁ、いまさら遅いわ… お前は既に我らの憎むべき光の眷属… これ以上… 力を付ける前に消えて貰わねばならぬ Larger context here is that Caprese and Primo are on their way back to the Hierophant's Palace after their long journey, and run into the Meister, who seems to be leading Marcato and his army to an assault on the Palace. The portion I highlighted seems to be a form of 貰う, but what does it actually mean? This -ぬ ending verb form seems to be rather strange. Googling for this form gives contradictory answers as to its meaning. It looks like some sort of conditional negative and I can't make sense of it.

Just curious as to what tools are widely used by the community for reverse engineering games and such. I haven't done serious reverse engineering in years and am wondering what debuggers, disassemblers, and similar tools are widely used these days as I'm looking to try doing this for various games here and there. I've heard of tools like ollydbg (http://www.ollydbg.de/), SoftICE (a rather old tool I think), GoVest (http://www.oocities.com/govest/), IDA, and Tracer (http://yurichev.com/tracer-en.html). What do you folks use here?

For some reason Arcana's Light §3.11.2 is much longer than most of the others I've seen so far, and I feel it should have been broken into at least three or four sections, given that it has at least four scenes. Anyhow, I've got another perplexing sentence here. Context is that the Hierophant Hymnus is explaining to his daughter Harp about how he and his elder brother (the father of Harp's cousin Analiese whom Caprese encounters in a previous chapter) received revelations from the god Mithras giving divine revelations that order them to slay a pair of twins who are prophesied to bring chaos and destruction to the world. A portion of their conversation goes like this: Hymnus: だが…兄が…双子を助けていた… Harp: お父様の…わたしのおじさまが? Hymnus: そうだ…いくらミトラ神のお告げでも…幼子を殺すに忍びないとな…それを機会に兄は…法王家と袂を別った My translation: Hymnus: However, my elder brother rescued the twins... Harp: Father, you mean my uncle? Hymnus: That's right... However many revelations from Lord Mithras, he could not bring himself to slay a child. So when the opportunity came, he separated himself from the House of the Hierophant and (袂 == ???). That seems to be more or less the gist of it, but what is this 袂 (たもと) that he says along with 法王家 (the Hierophant's Noble House)? My dictionary says 袂 means 'sleeve', 'pocket of a sleeve', 'vicinity', or 'foot of a mountain' but I can't think of any of these meanings that would make sense within the context.

I took a short break from work on Arcana and have found myself at the next chapter with more oddities that my Japanese language ability is unable to decipher. Brief context is that somehow Caprese has finally broken free from the spell that Tombeau and Dominante put him under (which caused him to hallucinate) in an attempt to steal the Icons he has obtained, and now he wanders aimlessly through the forest trying to find a way out. Along the way he slips down a slope and is finally reunited with the fairy Primo who had been his long-time companion: Caprese: プリモ…なんで、こんなとこに…?また、幻じゃ…? Primo: 違うよぉ…ほんものだよぉ… Caprese: 確かに痛かった…で、なんでここに? Primo: あ、あのね、なんだかびゅわぁーんんってなって、どろーってなって、ぐるーんってなって、どしってなったら、ここにいたの。 My rough translation: Caprese: Primo... why are you here...? Are you another illusion...? Primo: Of course not... I'm the real thing! Caprese: This really hurts though... So, why are you here? Primo: ???... and so I wound up here. I cannot parse most of the rest of Primo's explanation of what happened to her since either Caprese abandoned her after rescuing Grandi at the end of the battle with Marcato's forces or the Meister banished her with a spell and gave Caprese the choice to follow the Light or Darkness. Any help here? I really can't deal with stuff like this yet, it's sorta similar to the last one I asked.

Well, I've managed to putter through the next chapter, where Caprese meets a woman named Passepied who seems to have lost her husband in a battle with the infidels, and cannot accept this fact. After Caprese figures out part of the mystery, he has a conversation with the demonic fairy Dominante: Dominante: あのまま死霊と一緒になっても良かったんじゃない? Caprese: …かもしれないな… Dominante: あったまきた! What in the world is this last thing Dominante said?

So now I've managed to convert and translate the last mini-game, although there are still some quirks in the card and typing games that need to be looked at when they appear in future chapters (there's more typing games in §L4.14.1, §L4.15.1, §D4.13.2, §D4.15.2, and §D4.16.2, and more card games in §L4.13.3, §L4.14.1, §L4.15.2, §D4.14.2, §D4.15.3, and §D4.16.2). The Chinchirorin/Cee-lo game with Litania is the last distinct one I think: Still on the lookout for people willing to at least help test the game out as it is right now. I've tested it most extensively on Linux and Android, hardly on Windows, and not at all on OS X. It should be possible to make an iOS port as Ren'Py supposedly supports iOS, but I won't do it.

Thanks, that makes sense and clears up a lot of the rest of the conversation besides. The immediate previous topic of their conversation was about Caprese's reluctance to take liquor or any alcoholic beverages. Further relevant context is that in §1.3.3 Caprese runs into a gang of brigands running a protection racket on a village who have been given a girl named Animato as tribute. He plays a drinking game with the brigands in an attempt to save her, and it seems ever since that incident (whether he succeeded in saving Animato or not) he would never drink liquor again. Evidently it seems she's trying to get him to tell her about that incident. Here's some more of the previous context: Caprese: どうして、そんなに俺のことを聞くんだ? Litania: どうしてかしらねぇ?お酒でも飲んで考えれば? Caprese: だから酒は… Litania: 飲めないと言うよりも、飲まない、でしょ?これも図星だ Caprese: なんで… Litania: そんな顔してれば、何かあったんだろうなくらいわかるわよ。 My rough translation: Caprese: Why do you want to know about me so much? Litania: Why indeed? If you think of drinking liquor— Caprese: But liquor... Litania: I see, rather than can't drink, it's more like won't drink, no? It seems I guessed right. Caprese: Why... Litania: If you make such a face, something is bound to happen, you know. I suppose it's because Caprese came to the tavern looking so depressed that he caught Litania's attention. So the rest of the text would then translate like this perhaps? Litania: I spend my nights at the bar shaking my ass in front of drunkards, see? Is something troubling you? Caprese: Why are you bargirls so blunt... Litania: Are we? You might feel a little better just by talking about it, and besides, don't you know that acting despondent in front of others is like sending a sign that you want them to care?

I'm translating the conversation between the exotic dancer Litania and the vagabond Caprese in Arcana (§3.9.2 Light Arc) and I'm running into grammatical structures that are rather unfamiliar to my JLPT3-level Japanese (or maybe I should be ashamed of myself for having forgotten so much). Context is basically that Litania has encouraged him to enter her bar after seeing him slumped and exhausted at the entrance, and after her she's done dancing, she takes him up to her room. Oddly enough, unlike the other dancers at her bar she doesn't engage in prostitution. They have the following conversation: Litania: これでも酒場で酔っぱらいの前で腰振ってるのよ?なにか、辛いことがあったんだ? Caprese: なんで、酒場の女はこうずけずけと… Litania: そう?話せば楽になることもあるし、人前で落ち込んでみせるのって、かまって欲しいってサインでもあるのよ? In the first part it seems Litania is saying something to the effect that she spends her nights shaking her ass in front of drunkards in the bar, and sometimes it's hurtful. Caprese then seems to be wondering why a bargirl would speak so bluntly about such things. Her reply though completely defies all my efforts to parse it.

Thanks, that seems to be right, as the same word appears again with that meaning. Later, when the show starts the girl he met (named Litania) is on stage, and that guy Caprese is talking to says the following: ほう、リタニアを知ってるのかい?\nさては彼女がお目当てか?やめとけよ、忠告するぜ "Oh, so you know Litania? She's the one you had your eye on? Word of advice, don't go near her."

Some more translation advice... Here's the context. So this time Caprese has abandoned Primo (either because the Meister banished her or he left her behind), and has entered a red light district although he doesn't realise it's that sort of place as he is exhausted and weary after leaving the battlefield in the previous chapter. A kind-hearted stripper encourages him to enter her tavern and a man strikes up a conversation with him: Man: 兄さん、見ない顔だね Caprese: ああ…今日この街に来た Man: そうかい?お目当ては決まってるのかい? Caprese: お目当て? Man: とぼけるなって。どこの店だ? Caprese: いや、ほんとにわからないんだけど… I'm not quite sure how to properly translate お目当て in this case. I know it means a sort of purpose, intention, or sight, and so it seems to me that the man is making a sort of euphemism, obliquely hinting at Caprese's interest in the sort of entertainment the tavern provides. My rough translation: Man: My man, haven't seen you around here before. Caprese: yeah.. I just came into this quarter today. Man: Oh really, so your interests swing this way, huh? Caprese: My interests? Man: Don't play dumb. You know what sort of establishment this is? Caprese: No, I really don't know but... Not so sure if that's the best way to translate お目当て though.

I finally figured out what the チンチロ game is all about. It's apparently another dice game with different rules from the earlier one, apparently the game Cee-lo (it's actually short for チンチロリン, the Japanese name for the game). It seems to have rules more or less the same as that described in the Wikipedia article I linked to though I'll have to confirm it by doing a full translation of the text...

I've been doing a second-pass check of my translations of Arcana and found a rather curious word that appears at least twice, and it seems that both times I was unable to translate it properly: 力抜く. The first part means strength/power, while the second part is a verb that means to extract/omit/draw out. The obvious meaning is to draw out one's strength, but in the two very different contexts in which it appears it seems perplexing, so perhaps there's an idiom here I'm not quite getting. Anyway, the first context is that Caprese has managed to rescue a girl named Animato and is about to actually have sex with her (§1.3.5): Caprese: アニー…ほら、\n足を開いて…\n入れるよ… Animato: カプリス…やっぱり…\nはいんないよ…そんなの… Caprese: 大丈夫だよ…力抜いて… I take Caprese's meaning here as he's going to be gentle as he does it (lit. restrain his strength) or that he'll not shoot his load inside her. These words appear again in a totally different context when Caprese and his fairy companion Primo arrive at the prosperous city ruled by Lady Amoroso (§1.4.1), and Primo asks him to explain what is meant by 'commerce' (交易): Caprese: そうすると商人が集まってきて、\n交易で栄えるってわけ Primo: なぁるほどぉ…で、交易って? Caprese: もう…いい…力抜けた… This time the same words seem to be used to express Caprese's exasperation at Primo's request for an explanation of such a basic concept, lit. all his strength has been drawn out. Is my understanding correct? I can't help but feel that I'm missing something here.

And so I managed to complete translation of the first half of the game (Chapters 1 through 8 ), before the big branch into the Light/Dark routes (eight chapters each, a total of 16 chapters), although most likely I've made a lot of mistakes in the translation. There's only one mini-game I haven't seen yet, ＥＶＴ チンチロ, which first appears in §L3.9.9 and §D3.9.9...