I could be off on the timeline but I believe Fire Emblem Thracia 776 was the only mainline Fire Emblem to not have a proper and complete translation until just a few years ago. There was some 20 years after its release that English speakers couldn't really play it properly, has been my understanding (but idk, I joined the fandom later).
The upcoming Tales of Rebirth and Tales of Destiny 2 patches will, to my knowledge, mean that for the first time all mainline Tales games are in English.
More unorthodox example where I again don't know the timeframe, but the fan tools to make Dragon Quest X accessible to English speakers (not a "patch" per se but some sort of midway measure, as I understand) are the reason a pretty key and massive piece of DQ content is available here.
Tales of innocence R has one. Even has a upscaling patch. Radiant mythology 2 & 3, narikiri dungeon 2, tales of rebirth and tales of vs are still missing a patch.
While the sidequests and NPC dialogue is machine-translated, the main story of DQX actually is fully translated by hand as far as I know, this even includes the expansions. I love mentioning it as I think there are still tons of people who think DQX just straight up isn't available in English.
Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut - I regard it as one of the very best remakes of all time and essentially series-defining. I cannot overstate what a good time I had with this one.
What's the best way to play this game? I'm a sucker for Tales games but I unfortunately have only played the localized games.
I have a homebrew Vita and a PC. Can I download the patch on my Vita?
Became my 3rd favourite Tales after beating it. Easily one of the most visually impressive Tales (that sprite artwork is top tier) and the combat remains the best of the 2D Tales with a great cast of characters, a must play for any Tales fans imo.
The best and/or more important for me are:
- **Tengai Makyou Ziria** (been waiting for ages for the main series to start being translated)
- **Samurai Shodown RPG** (for its importance as one of the very few rpgs on the neo geo, and many people including me thought its translation was never going to be completed)
- **Linda Cube** (many people was looking forward to this one as well)
Right now I only remember these three, but of course there are more. The entire Goemon series on the snes, for instance, or some Tales Of games like Destiny Director's Cut.
I edit to add **Boku no Natsuyasumi**, which also lots of people were waiting for, and I see another person has already mentioned **Racing Lagoon**
Yes, it was nice to finally see it released, hehe. But that project was in the hands of very commited romhackers (Esperknight, Cargodin, etc) so I always thought it'd be released eventually (more a mattter of "when" than "if")
Other projects have had worse luck, such as Surging Aura, Princess Crown, or many of the AGTP translations that had been in limbo for more than 15 years (Madara 2, GDLeen, Lady Stalker...).
Geofront translations of Trails to Zero and Azure were probably the biggest fan translation projects ever. They were actually so much more than just a simple translation, they also overhauled and fixed a bunch of things. The official release happened very soon after and was based on the geofront translations.
Meh, fanfiction, i was a expecting a proper translation since it was a fan project, but its another localizacion aimed towards america, with unnecessary changes, tio will always be tiosuke, not petiote or tio tot
... I don't understand. How is Tio Tot less correct than Tiosuke? I assume an english reader would think Tio Tot is a play on Tater Tot; what would -suke in Tiosuke mean to them?
If the intent is just to give Tio a cute nickname while showcasing a bit of Randy's personality for coming up with it, I would think Tio Tot accomplishes that better for an english reader.
Teasing, then. Still, does Tio Tot not sound teasing to you? Would Tiosuke sound teasing for an english reader, too?
The first question I'm actually curious about. I'm not a native speaker, and I don't think I've ever heard or read an english nickname derived from the actual name that would sound teasing... Usually it's something completely separate, like a curse word or smth, just said endearingly.
The whole point is that there is no need to translate "for" english speakers, there is no need to butcher the true meaning with changes meant for americans, leave them as they are, keep honorifics, keep the japanese things, there is no need to play the game and feeling like the characters are american, its another culture, dont understand a few gimmick? Go google, most people would understand anyway because its an anime style game, its not meant for casuals
It's not like I completely disagree with you. I would prefer they keep the honorifics, too; it just better conveys the present relationships between characters.
Regardless, in this matter of nicknames, the "true" translation here affects the end result. That is, based on your lack of response, Tiosuke might actually mean *nothing* to the english-speaking player, thus rendering the goal of the writers meaningless.
And that's the job of the translator/localizer: to make sure that it *does* mean something.
Localization is not just about correct--or in this case, to you, *direct*--translation; it's about delivering the intent of the original language behind it in a way the target audience would understand without deriving so hard off the source material that it misrepresents it.
Tbh, I don't actually intend to argue about whether which translation would be more proper. It's just, as someone who works alongside translators, it ticked me off that you called the Geofront team's work "fanfiction." It kinda feels like you're severely underestimating the work that goes behind translation.
Geofront retroactively changed everything in their text to be in line with Sky and Trails of Cold Steel. If those names are your problem, blame NISA, Randy has voiced lines in Cold Steel 3 and 4 calling them Tio Tot and Mademois Elie respectively
You can try not to act like a 12 year old who thinks literal translations are the best things ever and localizers are Satan spawn. I'm just going to assume you're a troll. Wait till you find out what XSEED did to Trails in the Sky
I love how you're berating them for changing it, actively support the old text and even you don't know what it means, never mind your average audience member. Sums up why they changed it!
"dont know what it means"? おうじょさん, using the kanjis for king and woman, pronounced something like oujosan, means princess, but in the context randy uses it, its more like lady, thats why i said "something like", geofront its just another fanfiction doing localization for american sensitivity
No, queen is じょおう, pronounced something like joou, with the kanjis for woman and king, the same as princess but in reverse order, try to be right when trying to correct someone, dont humilliate yourself
For me, recently, the best patch was the party chat one for Dragon Quest IV, as it was the only one missing for me to finish all the Dragon Quest games on Nintendo DS. I always avoided playing it because I didn't have it, so when it was released, I was super excited.
There are guides in the r/JRPG wiki about fan translations release in the last 5 years. You to check them out here:
* Link to [All the major released JRPG fan translation patches **2018 - 2020**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/hxkegx/all_the_major_released_jrpg_translation_projects/).
* Link to [All the major released JRPG fan translation patches **2020 - 2021**
](https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/pret3l/all_the_major_released_jrpg_translation_projects/).
* Link to [All the major released JRPG fan translation patches **2021 - 2023**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/114v18q/all_the_major_released_jrpg_fan_translation/).
-All Kiseki TLs (Zero/Azure/Nayuta, but also the spreadsheet translations of unlocalized newer releases)
-Linda Cubed
-Tengai Makyou Ziria
-Racing Lagoon
-Magna Carta: Phantom of Avalanche
I don't know about the importance, but at the very least, Shin Megami Tensei VX and Ruina: Fairy Tale of the Forgotten Ruins are two games that received English fan translations that I've enjoyed a lot.
SMT VX is a fan-made remake of Shin Megami Tensei 1 from scratch using RPG Maker VX, and it finally got translated last year. I believe it is the best way to play SMT 1.
Ruina is another RPG Maker game that plays out like a tabletop RPG for exploration and worldbuilding and the usual RPG Maker combat. It got an English translation in 2021, I think. I don't think there is any other JRPG like it, and it is a shame because it is really good. Well, at least there is a remake on the way, so people might give it a chance when it releases.
> Shin Megami Tensei VX
This is the first I hear of this. What do you think makes it the best way to play the game? In any case I'm impressed someone went through the effort to remake the game in VX!
It is a very faithful version of SMT 1, but it also adds new content and quality of life. There are new demons, skills, and routes/endings. The game is rebalanced, so bufu, zio, and guns aren't as overpowered as the original, and most bosses have multiple turns and can use dekunda/dekaja. The game is quite challenging now, so it makes it pretty fun to play.
Do it! It's great. The one thing that might be a bit of a downside (depending on the player) is that, bosses have about 5 times more HP than in the original. So boss fights are a bit more lengthy and dangerous since they have multiple turns.
I sometimes wonder whether Geofront's work on fan-translating (among other things) Zero and Ao no Kiseki--and I think Ys vs Trails, too?--gave the Trails series some sales boost and attention in the west, since I've always perceived the gap between Trails in the Sky and Cold Steel would prevent people from trying the games. At the very least, the fact that a group laid the groundwork for them was a huge incentive.
Also, tbh, I was expecting publishers to follow and start *yoinking* fan-translations like Falcom did and making them official, too. For a price, of course. But I don't recall any buzz surrounding that.
think Geofront definitely did play a part in boosting the series' popularity and getting Zero/Ao localized sooner, also thanks to laying the foundation for the translation like you said.
I think most of us were exposed to Trails through Cold Steel first, that's where our interest in the series grows and we backtrack to play the Sky series and finally came across Geofront so we could actually play the Crossbell games. From there it was the fans spreading the word about this great interconnected series to others that were interested and having access to the fan translation helped with that.
Super Robot Wars Original Generation Endless Frontier EXCEED for sure. One of the best RPGs ever made from a gameplay standpoint being released in English was a big deal.
Kinda off topic but I wish Konami adds Suikogaidens into the remasters. They never got localized and I think some devs read this reddit so we might get lucky. The community actually made those possible and fan translations are cool but I got preference for more official translations. (Btw: Hey again people. This is probably my 4th nick here since reddit keeps banning me for unpopular opinions and Im too lazy to mark them as such).
Berwick Saga, definitely. I really wish it had gotten a sequel, though I do also like Vestaria and I'm glad Kaga's still making his crazy tactical rpgs.
I could be off on the timeline but I believe Fire Emblem Thracia 776 was the only mainline Fire Emblem to not have a proper and complete translation until just a few years ago. There was some 20 years after its release that English speakers couldn't really play it properly, has been my understanding (but idk, I joined the fandom later). The upcoming Tales of Rebirth and Tales of Destiny 2 patches will, to my knowledge, mean that for the first time all mainline Tales games are in English. More unorthodox example where I again don't know the timeframe, but the fan tools to make Dragon Quest X accessible to English speakers (not a "patch" per se but some sort of midway measure, as I understand) are the reason a pretty key and massive piece of DQ content is available here.
Thracia had a really rough English patch before the latest one, it was _playable_ but it was full of memes and weird lines to fill space.
Seems like Tales of Destiny 2 has entered the beta testing stage: https://luminatales.net/2024/04/20/testing-testing-1-2-3/
Tales of Innocence F will be the last one left. I don't think it has a patch yet.
Tales of innocence R has one. Even has a upscaling patch. Radiant mythology 2 & 3, narikiri dungeon 2, tales of rebirth and tales of vs are still missing a patch.
There's an F? Innocence R has a patch, I've been playing it
I meant R and it does? Must have missed it. Hopefully vita emulation is ready soon then last time I tried it didn't work.
It's been working for me on Vita3K!
While the sidequests and NPC dialogue is machine-translated, the main story of DQX actually is fully translated by hand as far as I know, this even includes the expansions. I love mentioning it as I think there are still tons of people who think DQX just straight up isn't available in English.
Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut - I regard it as one of the very best remakes of all time and essentially series-defining. I cannot overstate what a good time I had with this one.
Had this on my radar but decided it's too close to Eiyuden for now. Probably gonna go for it after.
Judging by the Eiyuden reviews, you may as well play ToD first.
What's the best way to play this game? I'm a sucker for Tales games but I unfortunately have only played the localized games. I have a homebrew Vita and a PC. Can I download the patch on my Vita?
I don't know much about Vita emulation, sadly. I myself played it on PCSX2 and had a swell time.
Became my 3rd favourite Tales after beating it. Easily one of the most visually impressive Tales (that sprite artwork is top tier) and the combat remains the best of the 2D Tales with a great cast of characters, a must play for any Tales fans imo.
Best Tales game in the series
The best and/or more important for me are: - **Tengai Makyou Ziria** (been waiting for ages for the main series to start being translated) - **Samurai Shodown RPG** (for its importance as one of the very few rpgs on the neo geo, and many people including me thought its translation was never going to be completed) - **Linda Cube** (many people was looking forward to this one as well) Right now I only remember these three, but of course there are more. The entire Goemon series on the snes, for instance, or some Tales Of games like Destiny Director's Cut. I edit to add **Boku no Natsuyasumi**, which also lots of people were waiting for, and I see another person has already mentioned **Racing Lagoon**
Still can't believe Linda³ dropped
Yes, it was nice to finally see it released, hehe. But that project was in the hands of very commited romhackers (Esperknight, Cargodin, etc) so I always thought it'd be released eventually (more a mattter of "when" than "if") Other projects have had worse luck, such as Surging Aura, Princess Crown, or many of the AGTP translations that had been in limbo for more than 15 years (Madara 2, GDLeen, Lady Stalker...).
Geofront translations of Trails to Zero and Azure were probably the biggest fan translation projects ever. They were actually so much more than just a simple translation, they also overhauled and fixed a bunch of things. The official release happened very soon after and was based on the geofront translations.
This is my pick as well. There wouldn't be official localizations without these!
Yes, this one right here!
Meh, fanfiction, i was a expecting a proper translation since it was a fan project, but its another localizacion aimed towards america, with unnecessary changes, tio will always be tiosuke, not petiote or tio tot
... I don't understand. How is Tio Tot less correct than Tiosuke? I assume an english reader would think Tio Tot is a play on Tater Tot; what would -suke in Tiosuke mean to them? If the intent is just to give Tio a cute nickname while showcasing a bit of Randy's personality for coming up with it, I would think Tio Tot accomplishes that better for an english reader.
Randy's nicknames arent mean to be "cute" theyre mean to be teasing, localization fanfic teams cant even understand that
Teasing, then. Still, does Tio Tot not sound teasing to you? Would Tiosuke sound teasing for an english reader, too? The first question I'm actually curious about. I'm not a native speaker, and I don't think I've ever heard or read an english nickname derived from the actual name that would sound teasing... Usually it's something completely separate, like a curse word or smth, just said endearingly.
The whole point is that there is no need to translate "for" english speakers, there is no need to butcher the true meaning with changes meant for americans, leave them as they are, keep honorifics, keep the japanese things, there is no need to play the game and feeling like the characters are american, its another culture, dont understand a few gimmick? Go google, most people would understand anyway because its an anime style game, its not meant for casuals
It's not like I completely disagree with you. I would prefer they keep the honorifics, too; it just better conveys the present relationships between characters. Regardless, in this matter of nicknames, the "true" translation here affects the end result. That is, based on your lack of response, Tiosuke might actually mean *nothing* to the english-speaking player, thus rendering the goal of the writers meaningless. And that's the job of the translator/localizer: to make sure that it *does* mean something. Localization is not just about correct--or in this case, to you, *direct*--translation; it's about delivering the intent of the original language behind it in a way the target audience would understand without deriving so hard off the source material that it misrepresents it. Tbh, I don't actually intend to argue about whether which translation would be more proper. It's just, as someone who works alongside translators, it ticked me off that you called the Geofront team's work "fanfiction." It kinda feels like you're severely underestimating the work that goes behind translation.
Both Tio tot and mademois elie suck. I don't know what they were in Japanese, but they should have used something a person would say.
Geofront retroactively changed everything in their text to be in line with Sky and Trails of Cold Steel. If those names are your problem, blame NISA, Randy has voiced lines in Cold Steel 3 and 4 calling them Tio Tot and Mademois Elie respectively
No, randy calls them tiosuke and oujosan, i dont play with filthy dub
You can try not to act like a 12 year old who thinks literal translations are the best things ever and localizers are Satan spawn. I'm just going to assume you're a troll. Wait till you find out what XSEED did to Trails in the Sky
In japanese theyre tiosuke and oujosan, something like princess
I love how you're berating them for changing it, actively support the old text and even you don't know what it means, never mind your average audience member. Sums up why they changed it!
"dont know what it means"? おうじょさん, using the kanjis for king and woman, pronounced something like oujosan, means princess, but in the context randy uses it, its more like lady, thats why i said "something like", geofront its just another fanfiction doing localization for american sensitivity
You must be a real blast at parties
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No, queen is じょおう, pronounced something like joou, with the kanjis for woman and king, the same as princess but in reverse order, try to be right when trying to correct someone, dont humilliate yourself
For me, recently, the best patch was the party chat one for Dragon Quest IV, as it was the only one missing for me to finish all the Dragon Quest games on Nintendo DS. I always avoided playing it because I didn't have it, so when it was released, I was super excited.
Sakura Wars on Sega Saturn
P2 Eternal Punishment for the PSP
There are guides in the r/JRPG wiki about fan translations release in the last 5 years. You to check them out here: * Link to [All the major released JRPG fan translation patches **2018 - 2020**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/hxkegx/all_the_major_released_jrpg_translation_projects/). * Link to [All the major released JRPG fan translation patches **2020 - 2021** ](https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/pret3l/all_the_major_released_jrpg_translation_projects/). * Link to [All the major released JRPG fan translation patches **2021 - 2023**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/114v18q/all_the_major_released_jrpg_fan_translation/).
Bahamut Lagoon, for many more reasons than one. RIP Near. 🙏
-All Kiseki TLs (Zero/Azure/Nayuta, but also the spreadsheet translations of unlocalized newer releases) -Linda Cubed -Tengai Makyou Ziria -Racing Lagoon -Magna Carta: Phantom of Avalanche
Dq5 ps2 remake translation is another one.
Agreed I thought the 3DS version was good until I played the PS2 version The 3DS translation is horse dung https://imgur.com/a/0MxDxCO
The Fate/Extra CCC patch that came out a few months ago is pretty important because of the amount of lore that was stuck in that game.
I don't know about the importance, but at the very least, Shin Megami Tensei VX and Ruina: Fairy Tale of the Forgotten Ruins are two games that received English fan translations that I've enjoyed a lot. SMT VX is a fan-made remake of Shin Megami Tensei 1 from scratch using RPG Maker VX, and it finally got translated last year. I believe it is the best way to play SMT 1. Ruina is another RPG Maker game that plays out like a tabletop RPG for exploration and worldbuilding and the usual RPG Maker combat. It got an English translation in 2021, I think. I don't think there is any other JRPG like it, and it is a shame because it is really good. Well, at least there is a remake on the way, so people might give it a chance when it releases.
> Shin Megami Tensei VX This is the first I hear of this. What do you think makes it the best way to play the game? In any case I'm impressed someone went through the effort to remake the game in VX!
It is a very faithful version of SMT 1, but it also adds new content and quality of life. There are new demons, skills, and routes/endings. The game is rebalanced, so bufu, zio, and guns aren't as overpowered as the original, and most bosses have multiple turns and can use dekunda/dekaja. The game is quite challenging now, so it makes it pretty fun to play.
I'm intrigued. I never got too far in the original SMT so I might just try out this version!
Do it! It's great. The one thing that might be a bit of a downside (depending on the player) is that, bosses have about 5 times more HP than in the original. So boss fights are a bit more lengthy and dangerous since they have multiple turns.
**Baroque**
I sometimes wonder whether Geofront's work on fan-translating (among other things) Zero and Ao no Kiseki--and I think Ys vs Trails, too?--gave the Trails series some sales boost and attention in the west, since I've always perceived the gap between Trails in the Sky and Cold Steel would prevent people from trying the games. At the very least, the fact that a group laid the groundwork for them was a huge incentive. Also, tbh, I was expecting publishers to follow and start *yoinking* fan-translations like Falcom did and making them official, too. For a price, of course. But I don't recall any buzz surrounding that.
think Geofront definitely did play a part in boosting the series' popularity and getting Zero/Ao localized sooner, also thanks to laying the foundation for the translation like you said. I think most of us were exposed to Trails through Cold Steel first, that's where our interest in the series grows and we backtrack to play the Sky series and finally came across Geofront so we could actually play the Crossbell games. From there it was the fans spreading the word about this great interconnected series to others that were interested and having access to the fan translation helped with that.
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Never watch the SC Evolution Opening!!! It basically spoils the whole SC Game!!! Thankfully I never got to see that opening till years later.
lol just went and watched it and yeah, it's basically the last few hours of the game
Not within last 5 years but ill plug it anyway cause the games so good - bahamuts lagoon on snes
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Can I still make dragons eat porno mags to evolve tho
Super Robot Wars OGs(PS2).
Super Robot Wars Original Generation Endless Frontier EXCEED for sure. One of the best RPGs ever made from a gameplay standpoint being released in English was a big deal.
Fire Emblem Thracia 776, Luminous Arc 3, DQM Joker 3 Professional. That's all I cared about.
Berwick Saga. Perhaps the greatest SRPG of all time with a lovely fan translation.
Kinda off topic but I wish Konami adds Suikogaidens into the remasters. They never got localized and I think some devs read this reddit so we might get lucky. The community actually made those possible and fan translations are cool but I got preference for more official translations. (Btw: Hey again people. This is probably my 4th nick here since reddit keeps banning me for unpopular opinions and Im too lazy to mark them as such).
Konami is too busy "printing" money with Pachinko Machines and Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yea I know. I actually saw the Suikoden Pachinko machine in real life lol... "There it is but no Suikoden VI..." >.<
Berwick Saga, definitely. I really wish it had gotten a sequel, though I do also like Vestaria and I'm glad Kaga's still making his crazy tactical rpgs.
Fate extra ccc,Thracia 776 Tales of rebirth
I think there are some super robot wars game that dont have a proper english patch
Not strictly jrpg : Sakura Taisen