Ha! Didn't think I would make it in time, did you? Well, with about 36 hours until I leave the country, I think this is about as close as it comes. It is with a proud, pleasantly relieved sigh that I say,
Indeed, it has been a long journey to be able to type those words, and I hope it has been as helpful and fun as it has been for me. By the way, the final addition just finishes up chapter nine. After 282 pages and a whole lot of caffeine, I think I'm going to go sleep till December or so. :)
...
Well, that didn't last. Of course the project isn't done yet! Not by a long shot. This is just the milestone I was aiming for before my move to Japan. Once I get there, I'll be cleaning up and tweaking little things that have fallen through the cracks.
Some of these include:
Lulu on the snow speeder
Further Lulu/Wakka conversations on the ship to Kilika
Translations of sidequests (Youjimbo, Remiame Temple), Meichen, et al.
Capping off the various gameplay sections, including JIS and compilation versions
Never-ending revision and tweaking on the existing dialogue
If there are any major things you feel should be on the site that aren't listed, definitely let me know. Until next time, enjoy the site, and watch out, Final Fantasy XI! :)
| 4 sept 2001 at 03:08 CST | updated by Seph >>
Well, our story is building to a climax with this latest dialogue update. And it's coming none too soon for my imminent relocation to Japan. I'm translating as much as I can in-between packing and preparing to go, and if we're extremely lucky we might make it. Otherwise -- and I'm sure you'd love this -- these most intense moments of the game might take an additional few weeks before they appear on the site. But chin up! We still have.... six days or so! ^^;
-Seph out
I'm back! Sincerest apologies for my extended absence. New England was beautiful, but I'm back on the job now. I hope a fresh 18 pages of dialogue will help soothe the pain of my silence.
This may be a good time to remind readers, however, that I will be relocating to Japan in mid-September, and finished translating or not, that's gonna change things a lot. Work will still continue, but updates will definitely become erratic without a regular connection to the net. If anyone knows a good way to get a reliable net connection in northwestern Kyoto in a dorm without individual phone lines, most definitely let me know! Otherwise, we'll see what we can't get done before D-day.
-Seph out
| 22 aug 2001 at 03:20 CST | updated by Seph >>
I know you have been waiting patiently, so here's 27 pages of new text for you! Man, they don't get any bigger than that. This update finishes the grand-daddy, oversized Chapter 8, 41 pages so break out that printer paper. I can't imagine the plot getting a much bigger twist than tonight's update... Something tells me the end may be near. Also, I absolutely love what Square did in tying the Lonzo clan to the FF series' Summoners; pay close attention to Enkeh's final line, and you'll understand.
With so much text, not much else significantly updated. I added some special thanks into the About Us section, so take a look. Without them we'd still be back on Beside!
As a final note, I will be out of town from this Friday to Tuesday. I'll see about doing some work on the gameplay section, but I can't see how a dialogue update is feasible. I'll see what I can do between now and then, however, and maybe have one up by Friday morning.
-Seph out
| 19 aug 2001 at 03:05 CST | updated by Seph >>
About time for an update, wouldn't you say? This latest dialogue update covers several big scenes, as well as one of the most beautiful CG scenes this translator has ever seen! Actually I would have liked to post a little more than these scenes, but that might have required a delay till tomorrow. Wow... 220 pages, I guess we're actually getting somewhere!
| 16 aug 2001 at 05:57 CST | updated by Seph >>
Wow! Only one day between updates?! It's like the good ol' days again! Actually today's is just a gameplay section update, featuring a whole bunch of new abilities and items. Also, I have done some hefty reworking of the layout itself, and every section now looks like it is supposed to at 1024x768 (I use a 1280x960 resolution, so I never noticed. Whoops!). Lastly I restructured the Print Friendly versions of the gameplay section to actually be Print Friendly! Ain't that something. Enjoy!
| 15 aug 2001 at 04:54 CST | updated by Seph >>
See, and I thought I would never break any more personal records in a single update. Well color me wrong, tonight's a good night! We have, once again, the largest update ever to the dialogue section, 26 pages! And what do you get in those 26 pages? Two of the most story-shattering events thus far, one guy named Cid, one new form of transportation, and six, count 'em, six new Al Bhed books! Take special care to pick up books 19-22, since you may not be able to get back to them again! Not just all that, we top off chapter 6 and add to it the entire text of chapter 7! It's only 20 pages long, but the stopping point was just right.
Also, I'd like to let you all know that Jecto's once in-question name will, in fact, remain Jecto. Thank you so much to all of you that voted! When the main translation is completed, however, and official names start pouring in via screenshots and other means, I will go back and make changes like that. But from now on, unless the name is grossly in error (e.g., Afterlife Ceremony), I will keep them static until the main text is complete.
-Seph out
| 13 aug 2001 at 01:15 CST | updated by Seph >>
We're very close to the end of chapter 6, but tonight's 14 page update ends at a decent stopping point. I apologize for my brief, two day absence, it has been a very busy weekend. But I'm back on track and ready to forge ahead further in the days to come. Also, make sure to send a shout out if you have an opinion on the Jecto/Jecht decision (see previous update).
| 10 aug 2001 at 07:50 CST | updated by Seph >>
Today's update is, indeed, cause for celebration (or nervous breakdown, depending on how you look at it)! We have the first update into chapter 6, a whopping 20 pages of text, which makes it the biggest single dialogue update ever! But wait, there's more! Big overhauls to both the item section and (to a less extent) the sphere board section (as well as other additions here and there), in what amounts to the largest single gameplay update ever! Now, I've been up too late to do the precise math, but that adds up to some record of an update!
I also need to ask a question of those of you reading the dialogue updates. I have been informed of, and believe to be correct, two character names that differ from the "official." The first is minor, Kimahri Ronso instead of Kimahri Lonzo, I knew that was the case but figured it wasn't a big deal. The second, however, is a pretty important figure in the story: Jecto. As anyone who does translation can tell you, changing katakana names to English can be tricky, and I tried for a happy medium with "Jecto." I hear word, however, that the official name will be "Jecht" instead. A minor detail to be sure, but it might jar some readers to have the name suddenly change on you. So drop me a line if you care one way or the other. To change or not to change, I'll go with which ever has the most votes.
-Seph out
| 7 aug 2001 at 22:21 CST | updated by Seph >>
One of the hardest parts of translating a complicated game like FFX, aside from trying to live up to expectations, is being able to turn the plethora of Japanese names into concise English equivalents. This is the case for both katakana names (like Tidus, Yuna, and Djose) as well as kanji names (like the Moonflow, and what was once called the Afterlife Ceremony). I'm saying so much about this because, when I find an official English name, I tend to go back and change all instances of it. That is the case, tonight, with the Afterlife Ceremony.
Tonight's update completes chapter 5, and really takes in some big plot events. It also scrutinizes my use of the word "afterlife" in the Afterlife Ceremony. I discovered today the official English version of that word, the Farplane. As of now, all references to the "Afterlife Ceremony" are now the "Farplane Send-off," a slightly more clunky name to be sure, but much more accurate. So now, we have a completed Chapter 5, and I'm off to hit the books on chapter six. Life is study!
-Seph out
| 6 aug 2001 at 01:38 CST | updated by Seph >>
Ha ha! To all of you who said it was pointless of me to make an equipment boosts section (no, none of you complained or anything, but I know you were thinking it!), tonight is my vindication, with the appearance of the Remodeling system! In the spirit of that triumph, we have updates to nearly every gameplay section, from quirky new items to the ever expanding list of overdrives. Oh... did I mention 17 new pages of dialogue in chapter 5? =)
I don't know about you folks, but I really down with the plight of Rutes and Gatta. Quite the pair. They get hardly any screen time, but something tells me that won't be changing any time soon. In more mainstream stuff, we finally get Rikku, a new menu item (Remodel), and hopefully all the rest of the tutorials this game can throw at us. It's still pretty early tonight, so you know I'll be taking a look ahead, pushing for our next update tomorrow night!
-Seph out
| 4 aug 2001 at 03:52 CST | updated by Seph >>
Got the ol' dialogue machine rolling again with the first text into chapter 5. I'm beginning to learn that if I steer off of the "Spend all day translating" formula, a lot less gets translated! A no-brainer, right? Well, I'm also discovering that sometimes it's just hard to commit all day to working, what with car trouble and errands and what-not. And since my impending departure to Japan is slowly looming, come early September, the entire concept of "spare time" is going to be fast shrinking.
Now don't worry, what I'm going on about isn't a stoppage, or even a slowdown in the foreseeable future. Even a 15 hour plane ride and the pains of moving to a new country won't shut the translation down, I can promise you that. But I'm even more acutely aware than most of you when I don't post large amounts of dialogue, and I know people are depending on it. I just wanted to let you all know what's going on, and that things will continue!
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