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Soukou Akki Muramasa


garejei

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First of all, I'm not recruiting for a team. For the time being I'm just looking for info and a bit of clarification. Anyway:

I'm wondering if an English patch for Muramasa would be possible at all (I'm thinking small right now, so only the first chapter, aka the trial version).

For those not familiar with the game:

http://vndb.org/v2016

Opening:

From a technical viewpoint, I heard the vertical text/interface would cause problems, but I'm curious if that couldn't be somehow solved via some method. The game does switch to a horizontal text box in certain scenes, so probably someone who's not completely clueless when it comes to the technical side of these things (like I am) could do something about it. I dunno. That's why I'm asking.

The other thing, and this is the more important one, is the whole JAST USA localization. I've heard so many conflicting things about this that I don't know what the official stance is anymore. So what's the deal with this one? Did they drop this, or are they still planning to TL it in the future? If it's the latter, then a fan TL project would be wasted time and effort, since JAST would just shut it down immediately. The most I found was this quote: "For Nitro+ games, we have a number of games in our catalog, we want to get the games in our catalogue done before we look at more titles", and that's a super vague answer that barely says anything concrete. So... yeah.

Basically, any input on this would be welcome.

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JAST wants to do it for sure, but they have a batch of games given to them by Nitro+ they have to complete first before getting to Muramasa. From what I understand, anyways.

I think this is correct, JAST licensed games are one of those things not too many people would want to touch. Even if it is only interest to pick up.

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This game is huge. I can't see it getting a translation any time soon, regardless of who does it. It took me three days of marathon playing to finish it, and I can finish most games in a single day of free time. Not only that, but the archaic Japanese utilized at many points would make it impossible for the average fantranslator.

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lol, I almost said something cruel unintentionally to that... but even if you learned enough Japanese to play the average VN, Muramasa - in fact most Nitroplus games - is probably going to be beyond your abilities. Jingai Makyou, Muramasa, Dies Irae, Vermillion Bind of Blood, and Kajiri Kamui are the top five hardest games to read I've played since I began to devour VNs in Japanese (note that three of those are from Light and two from Nitro+). This is not only because they are long but because they frequently use huge sentences, archaic phrasing, and/or complex wording that requires a very specific grasp of the grammar to decipher. In addition, Muramasa is made harder by the fact that - like all the truly great Nitroplus games - it is part utsuge. If you aren't ready for a constant stream of horrible occurrences with no relief or even signs of relief in sight, then you probably shouldn't play the game. The five greats of Nitroplus are: Demonbane - the first one -, Muramasa, Jingai Makyou, Phantom, and Saya no Uta, and all but Demonbane are near-utsuge or at least have ambivalent endings for the most part.

If you want some Nitroplus action, I'd suggest playing Phantom, though I should warn you that the localized version is a DVD, non-ero game that has a horribly designed playing system that requires you to use codes to get back to key points of the game rather than a system of saves. The upside is that the game is fully-voiced in Japanese (save for the protagonist) including the narration of the story, and it is much better than the anime from a story standpoint (for one thing, what the main characters do during the story is entirely within human limits, rather than them being supermen without a weakness to kryptonite, and the endings aren't horrible).

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I know what Muramasa is like, I read the whole thing. Translated a good portion of it, too, over at my blog. Probably not as high quality of a script as someone like Makoto could make it, but it's really just a pet project I did for myself. I learned a lot from it.

You are 100% correct, though, it was the single hardest VN I've ever read, so I had to look up all the archaic kanji in a dictionary (I'm not going to pretend my Japanese is anywhere near as good as yours) but other than that I understood the plot.

I mostly made this topic because I've been toying with the idea of going beyond what I did on my blog and maybe tackling a full patch wit the help of other translators, but with the current situation of JAST that's not going to ever happen.

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Sorry, I'm a bit of a pessimist. I considered it as a possible project about two years ago and then decided it was impossible, if only because there was no possibility of finding enough translators capable of working with that text in the community to make it viable. For a similar reason, I also rejected Dies Irae and Devils Devel Concept (the latter because the protagonist's philosophical ravings would require a lot of very specific wording that I couldn't see most translators managing in English). I also considered Jingai Makyou but rejected it for a different reason... it's an acquired taste (story is a bit too weird for most people).

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Well, producing patch with horizontal text instead vertical is not impossible, just not sure whats the point in starting the project that doesn't aim to translate whole game.

People translate trial versions all the time, not sure what's so weird about that. The next step would've been to move onto the full game if the trial patch was well received.

But of course this is all just speculation now.

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my view is that you should do it independent of what the competitors want to do with it especially because they want to do it in 2018. and because JAST is known to buyout scripts if they think they can profit off it later, you can swing the equation from undoable, to doable, commercially speaking.

and if they don't bother with you it means they can't see its value in at least the near future, which means you are free to publish it for this very tiny audience, and this tiny audience will appreciate you greatly. Including members of JAST.

i mean the only reason to hold off would be if you think the effort is not worth it for the reader count that it will get. it is not a moral dilemma because infringing on an exclusive privilege is by definition what you would naturally able to do if that right had not been overwritten by the law. Nitroplus are privileged with the ability to ask the courts to place an injunction on their customers, preventing them from continuing if they want to. if they are assholes.

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my view is that you should do it independent of what the competitors want to do with it especially because they want to do it in 2018. and because JAST is known to buyout scripts if they think they can profit off it later, you can swing the equation from undoable, to doable, commercially speaking.

I wouldn't count on JAST deciding to buy the script. They're just as likely to C&D. It's already well-known that JAST works with Nitro+, and you're not Moogy with an established relationship with JAST. As with Da capo 3, you start a project at your own peril.

Of course, you could always just ask them point blank: if I start a project, will you C&D me? They might give you a straight answer. Maybe.

If you want to fan translate something, it's always best to stick with developers that currently have no interest in English localization. There's certainly enough titles out there in that category.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

If there are anyone interested, I just made a patch that prints out text in horizontal rather than in vertical. Please download it from the following link and copy it to the directory where Muramasa is installed (where nss.npa exists).

 

Note that it is not compatible with old save files -- if you want horizontal text, you must restart the game from the beginning. Also, I haven't fully tested the script through the end, so there may be some incompatible texts.

 

DOWNLOAD

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If there are anyone interested, I just made a patch that prints out text in horizontal rather than in vertical. Please download it from the following link and copy it to the directory where Muramasa is installed (where nss.npa exists).

 

Note that it is not compatible with old save files -- if you want horizontal text, you must restart the game from the beginning. Also, I haven't fully tested the script through the end, so there may be some incompatible texts.

 

DOWNLOAD

 

Awesome. Just tested it myself for a bit and it works fine. This *would* be awesome for a fan translation project, although as it was pointed out above, the game is pretty much in JAST's hands, so... yeah.

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  • 7 years later...
On 1/1/2014 at 5:09 PM, garejei said:

 

Awesome. Just tested it myself for a bit and it works fine. This *would* be awesome for a fan translation project, although as it was pointed out above, the game is pretty much in JAST's hands, so... yeah.

Has JAST even started with the translation yet?

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