Visual Novel Translation Status (11/12/2016)

This week’s header image comes from our two releases: Go Go Nippon 2016! (buy here); and Root Letter (USA, Europe or the Playstation Store).

Hey everybody! You’ll soon notice that the Apathy – Midnight Collection Vol. 1 project got an interesting update. Interesting in what way, you ask? Interesting because the patch is being developed using Visual Novel Reader (VNR). I know that not all of you have tried VNR before, so I put together a quick tutorial for getting set up and running with it down in the commentary essays.

Anyway! Welcome to our weekly VNTS (Visual Novel Translation Status) series, in which we track visual novel translation updates in-house (we don’t rely on /jp/ posts on 4ch, for example) and post it for your enlightenment and enjoyment each Saturday. If you find any errors, or you think a project is missing from this list, please let me know in the comments.

The Short Version: Only the New Stuff

• Apathy – Midnight Collection Vol. 1 – Hashira no Kizu section: Finished!
  • How to Get: The translation for this game can be obtained by using Visual Novel Reader. You will need to get a copy of the game, then simply follow this tutorial to get up and running
• Boku to Koisuru Ponkotsu Akuma (Sekai Project) – TL: 13.11% > 14.59%
• Chrono Clock (Sekai Project) – TL: 58.99% > 60.21%
• Clover Day’s – Hekiru/Hikaru TL: 80% > 100%; Good update on the project here. Seems likely conman (Ittaku) will get roped into finishing Anzu’s route TL. Still lots of work to be done: TLC and Editing remain. No ETA on patch release.
• Denwatls’ Secret Project #3 – Planning on a December release. Lots of hard work going on! (Link)
• Dracu-Riot! Addendum (This came out after I finished the tables): The Oxford Comma team put out a post which explains last month’s accidental patch release and goes on to further say that nothing will be released until the entire project is finished. No ETA at the moment. (Link)
• Go Go Nippon 2016! (MangaGamer) – Released! Buy it on MangaGamer here or on Steam here.
• Himawari -a pebble in the sky-! (MangaGamer) – Releasing December 9th! Pre-order it on MangaGamer here.
• Himawari to Koi no Kioku (MORE) – Added to the list this week. Steam Greenlight page is up (Link)
• Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (Degica) – Evan released another Another Episode. Why? Because that’s just the sort of person he is. He works hard, and he puts free stuff up on kiminozo.life.
• Lover Able – TL: 24.41% > 26.12%; Edit: 4.74% > 4.99%; TLC: 6.93% > 7.62%; QC:0.88% > 1.69%
• Maitetsu (Sekai Project) – TL: 50.51 > 55.19%
• Majo Koi Nikki – TL: 54.3% > 56.0%; Edit: 40.2% > 42.0%
• Monster Girl Quest Paradox –  New Patch with minor fixes released: v1.21.51 (Link)
• Ne no Kami: The Two Princess Knights of Kyoto (Sekai Project) – Part 2: TL: 82.23% > 96.89%
• Nocturnal Illusion Renewal (retranslation) – Second pass edit: 4.6% > 4.7%
• Princess Evangile W Happiness (MangaGamer) – TL: 62% > 66.2% (Ruriko route complete!). Note: We missed this update for the last two weeks. Sorry everyone, and nice catch, Mike!
• Root Letter (PQube) – Released on both PS Vita and PS4! Get it on Amazon (USA, Europe) or the Playstation Store
• Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo (Front Wing) – Preview of revamped Sharin no Kuni (HnS) Kickstarter is now live. The KS campaign isn’t currently active, but it will be launching soon.
• Shin Koihime Musou – Project continues and is not dropped, but the team is stepping back and re-planning their workflow and release format goals. Read the full post here.
• Sweet Pool – The team’s back! They’re even promising a counter to track progress ; P. The original post was updated, read the full entry here
• Taishou x Alice (E2 Gaming) – E2 update on Taisho x Alice “We are continuing our efforts to bring this completed game out by the end of the year. A lot of time and hard work is being done behind the scenes to make this English & Spanish release up to everyones expectations, and to continue working on additional titles immediately following the release.” (via Facebook) (Thanks Mochisato!)
• Tenshin Ranman (Sekai Project) – TL: 63.24% > 66.4%
• To Heart 2 – Needs a proofreader! If interested, post in this thread/PM ittaku
• Tsui Yuri – Starting a retranslation of common route, which will double as a TLC pass. Roughly 12% done. (Link)
• WORLD END ECONOMiCA (Sekai Project) – Episode 2 TL in revision, TLC: 14%

New Releases!

• Go Go Nippon 2016! (MangaGamer) – Released! Buy it on MangaGamer here or on Steam here.
• Root Letter (PQube) – Released on both PS Vita and PS4! Get it on Amazon (USA, Europe) or the Playstation Store

All the Game Updates:

 

 

— Commentary Section —

Zakabox™ Commentary

「Will Zaka appear? Only time will tell…」

 

Hey there everyone. Don’t mind me, I’m just gawking at these insane Sharin no Kuni kickstarter tiers. A laptop tier with special SnK art on the lid? Seriously? Actually, that’s kind of cool. Actually a lot of these tiers are pretty cool and offer surprisingly decent value. There’s also some special collector’s items that seem pretty awesome. It’s also the first VN kickstarter I can think of that will give you an Akihabara guided tour alongside a meeting with the presidents of two huge Japanese VN companies. It comes at a hell of a premium, but I think there will definitely be some people willing to pay. That’s really not an opportunity that’s easy to come by for us western fans.

So yeah, I actually expect this second attempt to be very successful. I would be shocked if they don’t meet ther goal. It’s a lower goal, they have some excellent premium tiers, some pretty good mid tiers, and an acceptable entry level price. The only thing I don’t love about it is that they still have a physical tier that doesn’t come with a steam key. I get the mindset behind it, I just think it’s a flawed, overly punishing mindset that will cause their backers who expect the game to ship on time to feel ripped off (because no, it won’t ship on time). Look at what happened with Clannad. You just have to accept that some people will sell their keys if it will overall make your backers much happier and willing to spring for physical copies. VNs are still the only game types on Kickstarter which don’t give keys on ALL physical tiers.

Other than that, Hell fucking yes, Himawari at last. I have to say, I didn’t have faith. I really thought it was going to slip into 2017 but MangaGamer is managing to just barely pull through on this one. And just one week before my birthday, too! I’m actually allowing myself to get hyped for this release which is very unusual, typically I intentionally keep my expectations low. I only hope it manages to live up to that hype.

And one Himawari is leaving for another to rotate in to take its place. Have to say, that one I’m much less excited about. I’m always a little cagey when a Japanese company wants to do their own thing on Greenlight. The screenshots of English dialogue they released had sparse text so it’s hard to truly judge, but it already contained one major misstep: “I also love you” instead of “I love you too.” The latter of which happens to be one of the most commonly spoken phrases in the English language. Imagine pooling together every ounce of courage in your body to confess to the person you love, only to have the recipient stare at you, eyes dead and voice monotone, quietly uttering “I also love you.” Very romantic, no?

Eh, whatever, they say it’s not final, and they’re probably right. I just hope those are not final in the “we haven’t even begun yet and some intern whipped those up to show people there will be an english release” sense, and not in the “Our translator did this but we haven’t proofread it yet” sense. UPDATE: I didn’t read the story summary and only looked at the screenshots, and oh god that story summary. Okay, yeah, I really hope that this isn’t just “unfinished” but “not even started yet, everything will be redone from scratch.”

Well that’s it for me, take it easy everyone.

 

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TAYsteful™ Thoughts

Okay! So. Apathy – Midnight Collection Vol. 1, a game which is made up of three narratives, had one of the three hit full TL this week: Hashira no Kizu section is now finished. That means two of the three have hit 100%.

Quick Guide to Getting Started With VNR:

1. Make sure you have internet access!
2. Download Visual Novel Reader and update it FULLY (see this guide)
3. Run Visual Novel Reader (it’s the .exe file)
4. Run your visual novel (such as Apathy – Midnight Collection Vol. 1)
5. Switch ([Alt]+[Tab]) back to Visual Novel Reader. If the game is in VNR’s online game database, you’ll see the game’s icon in the VNR Spring Board. (It’ll be docked on the left-hand side of the game once you launch it)
6. Follow the on-screen instructions, and VNR should sync automatically with the game

Have a good week, everybody!