TSS text fun

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Alunissage
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TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

I'm picking up a long-backburnered project of mine which involves reviewing and formatting all of the TSS text. I've only looked at Caldor Isle and the Katarina Zone so far, but I wanted to share a few tidbits.

First, here are a few lines that almost certainly never appear in the game:
"THE BRIDGE ACROSS THE RIVER
HAS BEEN WASHED OUT.

I WAS TOLD THAT THE LOGGER
NEAR THE RIVER WAS SUPPOSED
TO FIX IT, BUT HE DOESN'T

SEEM VERY ANXIOUS TO GET IT
DONE. I'M BEGINNING TO THINK
HE'S MENTAL OR SOMETHING..."

I think probably a flag setting got messed up and this was supposed to be the first thing he says after the party tries to sell the Diamond to the item shop, but only the lines after these (which say nearly the same thing) show up.

(Burg weapon shop)
"THIS MIRROR SEEMS TO BE
PIERCING MY SOUL!

HERE, TAKE IT BACK...
KEEP THAT THING AWAY
FROM ME!"

(Burg item shop)
"THIS MIRROR SEEMS AS IF
IT'S DRAWING MY SOUL IN...

BRRRRR...EUHHH!
I CAN'T BUY SOMETHING LIKE
THIS..."

(Saith shop)
"THIS MIRROR SEEMS AS IF
IT'S DRAWING MY SOUL IN...

I'M AFRAID OF SPOOKS,
SO I REALLY DON'T WANT
SOMETHING LIKE THIS!"

You can't get to Caldor Isle while the Mirror is in your possession, so this text will never be displayed. Other shops have comparable dialogue, though, so it's not a huge loss. Selling any event item anywhere gets some sort of snarky comeback, as you probably already knew. Sometimes it's short and/or repetitive, other times...not.

(Meribia weapon shop)
"OH MY! THESE ARE WONDERFUL!
DRAGON'S WINGS! HOW DO YOU
USE THEM?...LET ME GUESS:

YOU THROW THEM AT THE ENEMY
AND FLAP THEM TO DEATH!..NO?

I'VE GOT IT! YOU HURL
THEM AT YOUR ENEMY

USING THE TALONS ON THE
END TO SLASH THEM! NO?

DO YOU PLUCK THE SCALES AND
DIP THEM IN POISON TO MAKE
BLOWGUN AMMO?!...NO?

UH,...I'VE GOT IT! YOU ROLL
'EM UP AND STUFF 'EM DOWN
YOUR ENEMY'S THROAT!...NO?"

So far I've found some of the most entertaining item-selling text to be in Vane. I'm not sure which shop this is, though:

"A SHIELD LIKE THIS CANNOT
BE MADE BY HUMAN HANDS
ALONE! I CAN'T AFFORD IT."
(Nall)
"ALEX, LUNA WILL SHRIVEL UP
AND DIE IF YOU DON'T RESCUE
HER! YOU NEED THIS SHIELD!"

"THIS HELMET HAS WORKMANSHIP
I'VE NOT SEEN IN YEARS!
IT'S FAR TOO VALUABLE..."
(Nall)
"IF YOU SELL THIS, THERE WILL
BE NO CHANCE OF SAVING LUNA!
IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT? HMM?"

"ARMOR SUCH AS THIS WOULD
FETCH MORE MONEY THAN IS
IN THE ENTIRE CITY!"
(Nall)
"THEN YOU CAN BUY A NICE
TOMBSTONE FOR LUNA'S GRAVE
WHEN YOU CAN'T SAVE HER!"

(Nall, presumably)
"DON'T SELL THE HERO'S CREST!
IT'S SO PRETTY...I WANT TO
LINE MY CAGE WITH IT!"

I really don't know what to make of that last one.

What else...well, as I mentioned in another thread, only one Vane NPC seems to be aware of Nash's crush on Mia. The same NPC is also the only one who suggests Nash's magical talents may only be modest, and that's only relative to Mia, so I think in this game Nash is actually supposed to be as good of a student as he claims, unlike in SSSC. It's kind of nice to see someone actually rooting for him for once. Of course, his moral character is rather stronger in this game, if less nuanced.

"PSST...THIS IS JUST BETWEEN
US, BUT I THINK NASH IS IN
LOVE WITH MIA!

IT'S PRETTY SAD, THOUGH.

NASH IS ABRASIVE AND MIA IS
KIND AND SWEET.

NASH IS A SMALL-TIME
MAGICIAN AND MIA'S ACTING
HEAD OF THE MAGIC GUILD OF

VANE...IT'LL NEVER WORK!"

(later)
"HEY NASH! HOW'S THE WOOING
OF MIA GOING? <WINK> <WINK>

MIA'S GOT TO BE IMPRESSED
WITH THE FACT THAT YOU'RE AN
APPRENTICE TO SAGE GHALEON!"

(later, probably when Nash is not in the party)
"OH, HI MIA....UH, SAY
HAS NASH ASKED YOU OUT YET?"
(Mia)
"ASKED ME OUT?"
(NPC)
"UH,....OH, NOTHING!

(later, when neither are in the party)
"I SAW THAT NASH AND MIA
WERE LOOKING FOR LEMIA
TOGETHER...

THAT'S SO CUTE! THEIR FIRST
DATE WAS LOOKING FOR HIS
CRAZY FUTURE MOTHER-IN-LAW."

(after Nash permanently joins the party)
"AH! NASH! SO, I HEAR THAT
YOU'RE HEADING OUT TO FIGHT
GHALEON WITH MIA...

I THINK YOU AND MIA MAKE
VERY NICE FIGHTING MATES, IF
YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN..."

(Nash)
"DID I ASK FOR YOUR OPINION?
IF I WANT YOUR OPINION,
I'LL GIVE IT TO YOU!"

And, of course, so many pop refs. There are plenty I don't get because I'm oblivious, but even more that current players won't get because this is a 25-year-old game and some of the refs were pretty dated even in 1993. Like Ginsu knives. Of course, some have wrapped around and become oldies:

"IF YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH
THE BEST, YOU BETTER HAVE
A WAD OF CASH TO FLASH.

I DON'T HAVE TIME TO PLAY
FOR MARBLES......SO BEAT IT,

JUST BEAT IT...UUUGGH!"

I bet approximately no one saw that in-game. As far as I can tell, it's what Brett tells you the second time you talk to him if you don't have enough cash to play blackjack with him in the sewers, which probably won't be the case considering that you'll likely be getting into battles on your way to find him.

Last observation for this post: the logger's wife has a really astonishing amount of dialogue for a completely optional character. She even has a line (about the weather) before you meet up with Luna, for which you need to cross some monster-infested map with only one party member with no equipment except peasant clothes. Then her text changes:
- after getting Luna in the party
- after Ramus joins the party
- after trying to sell the diamond
- after her husband asks for his axe (2 lines)
- after getting the axe
- after giving the axe to her husband
- after getting the letter from Alex's father
- after getting Ramus back into the party (2 lines)
- after first going to Saith
- after being asked to get the sea chart
- after getting the flint for the lighthouse
- after returning to Caldor Isle with Ghaleon (3 lines)
- after Quark's death
- after Burg's residents are captured
- after one more event (becoming dragonmaster? Burg villagers return?)

I think Alex's father's dialogue changes more often, but I'd be surprised if anyone else's does.

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Kizyr
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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Kizyr »

Ok that's it, I want a fanfic centered solely around the logger's wife. We need a name for her.

Oh I know! We'll call her Fulari! KF
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Alunissage
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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

Huh? I thought I replied to this. Anyway, what I said is that Fulari is clearly the girl who ends up working in Ramus's shop, but we could call the logger's wife Kakar.

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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

Next bit of weirdness, not text related: This save I'm using is one that I also used to level Luna up to 52, so even though I had Alex running from these battles, he still ended up at level 23 before I ever got to Meribia. So I was wondering what would happen when his magic was unlocked, since normally he'd have 5 spells already by then. And the answer is: nothing, really; he only got Flame, as always. So I levelled him up, thinking maybe he'd get several spells then. Nope. He only got Power Litany, which is the second spell you get, and I think you always get it the first level you gain after getting magic. So now I'm like 4 spells behind (Little Litany, Flamer, Blazing Fire, Calm Litany, normally learned at levels 12, 14, 20, and 24 respectively). I wonder if he'll just get one spell per level for like the next five levels. Of course, since he's overlevelled, it's going to take that much longer to get them. I haven't written down what level I'm usually at at this point, but I usually have to do a little tiny bit of grinding before/during the Cave of Trial to get Flamer before fighting the Bronze Dogs, which otherwise tend to wipe you out if you only have Flamer, since they take two of that apiece = 8 rounds. So I think I'm usually about level 10-11 when getting to Meribia (I usually play enough on Caldor to get Luna to level 10 for her last spell, just for completeness).

That's not the only bit of weirdness I've seen. Some chests are already open before I get to them, which isn't usually the case, like these ones near Brett. You can see I still have Ramus in the party and can't even get to them yet.
LUNAR005-red.jpg
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From LNet's screenshots:
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There was also an open chest in the room Dross is in (after the Water Dragon battle). I'll have to dig out my guide to see what's normally in these chests.

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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Kizyr »

Alunissage wrote:Huh? I thought I replied to this. Anyway, what I said is that Fulari is clearly the girl who ends up working in Ramus's shop, but we could call the logger's wife Kakar.
Just responding that this is brilliant. Word of Damon, I'm going to make it so: Fulari is the one who suddenly appears in Ramus's shop when it expands, and Kakar is the old lady in the logger's cabin. KF
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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

Just to follow up on my previous post, Alex did in fact gain one spell per level until he was caught up. Found this while idly levelling up Ramus a bit, which you can do even after defeating the Water Dragon and talking to Dross. I continue to find empty chests, namely one or two in the Cave of Trial and the one in the Library. Figuring out at what point that happens is probably going to be a pain.

Mel's text after you get money from Dross is slightly different depending on whether you talked to him after Dross stole the diamond, incidentally. I also feel like maybe talking to him was supposed to be a trigger to get Nash to invite you to study magic in Vane; if I ever play that far in the Japanese game I'll have to see if it acts any different.

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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

A couple days ago I was working out how to see all the text in Lann. It turns out to be a little complex, due to whether or not Jess is in the party. If you leave Lann, she leaves the party and waits for you in the Mayor's house (presumably so you can't take her to Nanza or any of the other places where people are talking about her). You need her to go to Lann Island, and before that she needs to terrify the boat owner into lending his boat so he gets out of the way. Also, Nash is optional for this quest, and his presence or absence changes a few lines. (Most amusingly, he brags to one of the female villagers that he'll take care of things.)

So if for some reason you really want to see all the possible dialogue in Lann that's available before going to the island, you need to do this (starting without Nash in your party):

1) Talk to Jessica (after everyone else in town except mayor)
2) Talk to mayor
3) Talk to mayor’s wife, then the boatman, then the mayor's wife again
4) Talk to Jessica again and let her join
5) Talk to mayor
6) Leave town -> Jessica leaves
7) Return to town and talk to Jessica again -> joins
8) Talk to boatman -> get boat
9) Talk to mayor and wife
10) Leave town again -> Jessica leaves again
11) Talk to boatman, mayor’s wife, and mayor
12) Try to use boat
13) Get Nash, talk to female NPC near house at ledge
14) Try to use boat
15) Talk to Jessica -> joins
16) Talk to mayor’s wife again
17) Use boat

Each one of these is different dialogue from previous.

ETA: forgot to note that three other NPCs have different dialogue when Jessica is in the party: the drunk just outside the mayor's house (prompting Jessica's rhetorical question, "Why is it that every RPG has to have at least one worthless drunk?"), the gross-minded kid at the bottom of the nearby stairs, and the kid in the eastmost house on the lowest level. I was mostly bemused by the micro-differences in the dialogue in the mayor's house.

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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

One line in Burg I've always thought was a little odd was this one, spoken by the man near the bridge:

SO ALEX, WHAT'S WITH THE
BRAVE LOOK?
HMMMMMMM......

AH, AN ADVENTURE WORTHY OF
DRAGONMASTER DYNE! HM! WELL
PLEASE BE CAREFUL.

THE WORLD IS NOT WHAT IT
USED TO BE! AND DYNE'S SHOES
WILL BE TOUGH TO FILL!

He says this after opening the basement chest, but it isn't dependent on whether or not Alex has equipped the clothes in the chest. Last night, while looking at sprites and screenshots, I finally noticed that Alex's sprite changes after opening that chest.
LUNAR134.jpg
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How many times have I played this game again...?

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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Sonic# »

So the idea is that Alex puts on the heavy clothes, which makes him an adventurer, and that's actually reflected by the in-game sprite and dialogue. That's pretty cool!
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"Than seyde Merlion, "Whethir lyke ye bettir the swerde othir the scawberde?" "I lyke bettir the swerde," seyde Arthure. "Ye ar the more unwyse, for the scawberde ys worth ten of the swerde; for whyles ye have the scawberde uppon you, ye shall lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded. Therefore kepe well the scawberde allweyes with you." --- Le Morte Darthur, Sir Thomas Malory

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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Kizyr »

...................................ok it's been like >25 years and I never noticed that, my mind is blown now.

It's the little things, I swear, those little touches.
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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

His in-menu figure (e.g., when changing the order of the party) also changes -- and he's holding a sword after the change, as well as having the other clothes. His figure before opening the chest does not have the sword.

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Re: TSS text fun

Post by phyco126 »

Wow, that's pretty cool. I never played TSS, but the fact they changed Alex's appearance after finding Heavy Clothes is pretty dang nifty.
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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

I'd noticed before that text is grouped in the files by location/map screen. For example, in Burg, all of the text that occurs outside of any of the houses (and not in the Springs or at the monument) is together in the file, grouped by character, including text that shows when entering the town. After all that is the text that takes place in Alex's basement (not the same area as his house), then the text at the fountain (Luna's first dialogue, her later dialogue, Xenobia's lines, etc), then the text at the Monument, and so on. Ramus's text when he's in his house is in a different location from his text when he's at the village entrance because those are different maps/areas. For any message that would occur in more than one place, there are separate copies of it in the file. So in a dungeon there will likely be a different instance of " received!" for each floor of the dungeon, and a town with multiple shops will have multiple instances of "BUY/SELL" and such. Nall's message when the inventory is full is generally something like "I can't carry any more stuff, Alex! Sell something or drop something!" but because it's separate for each store there's some variation.

This means that there's a different instance of Nall saying you can't use the Dragon Wings yet for each place you can be in with the Wings but before they've become usable (after Xenobia kidnaps Luna). Most of them are minor variations on "The White Dragon said we can't use these yet, remember?" but some are more forceful than others:

(White Dragon Cave floor B3)
WE CAN'T USE THAT UNTIL
THE TIME IS RIGHT.

DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT
THE WHITE DRAGON TOLD US?

(White Dragon Cave floor B1)
ALEX, THE WHITE DRAGON
SAID WE'D KNOW WHEN THE
TIME CAME TO USE THAT!

IT'S NOT HERE YET!

(Burg outside the houses)
HEY ALEX! ARE YOU SENILE?
THE WHITE DRAGON SAID THAT
CAN'T BE USED YET!

(Meribian woman's house)
UM ALEX?!? WERE YOU
LISTENING? THE WHITE DRAGON
SAID WE CAN'T USE THAT YET!

(Burg Springs, before Luna is kidnapped)
I WAS THERE WHEN THE WHITE
DRAGON SAID YOU CAN'T USE
THIS YET - WHERE WERE YOU?

(Burg item shop)
HAVEN'T WE TALKED ABOUT THIS
BEFORE? THE WHITE DRAGON
SAID NOT TO USE IT YET!

(Dyne's monument)
THE DRAGON SPECIFICALLY
STATED THAT YOU CAN'T USE
THIS YET, REMEMBER??!!!

(east house in Burg)
OKAY, QUICK REVIEW: THE
WHITE DRAGON SAID WE CAN'T
USE THIS YET. GOT IT?!

(West part of Caldor Isle)
ALEX, QUARK SAID WE CAN'T
USE THAT YET! DON'T BE
SO IMPATIENT!

(Saith boathouse)
I'VE TOLD YOU THIS A 1000
TIMES:THE WHITE DRAGON SAID
WE CAN'T USE THIS YET!

(Large house in E of Saith)
HULLO? HULLO? ANYONE HOME?
ALEX, THE WHITE DRAGON SAID
WE CAN'T USE THAT YET!

(mid-west house in Saith)
WHAT DID THE WHITE DRAGON
SAY? NO...I'M NOT GOING TO
SAY IT AGAIN...ASK ME LATER!

I'll check the Japanese text to see if it's different in these places when I get to that point in the game, as I don't have a way to look at the Japanese text directly. There are various instances of successive lines of dialogue being nearly identical in Japanese (maybe a space or katakana instead of hiragana for a word) that WD took the opportunity to make more distinct, so it wouldn't surprise me if that were the case for the dragon wing text too.

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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

As I mentioned elsewhere, I've played a little bit of the game in Japanese recently. I'm not planning on making this a chronicle of differences, since Kizyr has already covered the major ones (http://www.lunar-net.com/tss/tss_diff.php), but the interaction with Quark has a couple of points I wasn't expecting.

First, here's Quark's English dialogue after his voiced intro. (The voiced part is basically the same, except that as Kiz noted, there's no Japanese version of his identification as "tetrarch of the dragon tribe".)

AHHH...YOUNG DRAGONBOY.
THE TIME HAS COME, HASN'T
IT? YOU HAVE THE GREEN EYES.

WHEN LAST I GAZED UPON
EYES LIKE THESE,

IT WAS THE SHINING
FACE OF DYNE I BEHELD.

HERE...TAKE THIS RING.

IF THE DESIRE TO BE A
DRAGONMASTER BURNS IN
YOUR SOUL,

THEN CROSS OVER TO THE
MAINLAND AND SEEK OUT
YOUR DESTINY.

RETURN TO ME WITH THIS
RING ONCE YOU'VE ATTAINED
THE PRIZE OF MANHOOD.

And in Japanese (apologies for any errors in my transcription):

フム アレスという名か
いい目をしておるな‥‥
わきたつ冒険心が伝わってくる

かつてダインが
わしに初めて会ったときも
それな目をしておった‥‥

‥‥‥‥
‥‥‥‥

少年よ おまえに
この竜の指輪をやろう
受け取るがよい‥‥

もし その気があるのなら
この島を出て大陸へと
わたってみるのじゃ

そして 戦いの経験をつみ
成長してから再び
わしに会いに来るがよい‥‥

The interesting thing here is that there's no reference to Alex having green eyes, as if he were the specific destined one identified by a physical characteristic. Rather, Quark says that he sees an adventurous spirit similar to what he saw in Dyne's face. It's a personality type, not a specific person, that he's looking for. This isn't the only place in the ame that WD put in a reference to green eyes in a prophecy about a future hero, and I think it's a significant change. I'm rarely bothered by WD's changes, but this one really bugs me, making Alex's future a matter of genetics instead of personal merit (though of course, he already had a leg up to become a Dragonmaster given who he grew up with). It's even worse in SSSC ("The time is upon us. And more importantly, Alex...you have the green eyes.").

Another thing is that Quark addresses Alex by name in the first line in Japanese. This isn't foreknowledge; it's more like "Hm, you say your name is Alex?" It's suggesting that Alex and perhaps the other characters introduced themselves between the voiced intro and the non-voiced dialogue, so maybe Quark isn't just going by the look on Alex's face. And, of course, there's nothing like "dragonboy". (This is another thing that annoyed me about this scene in SSSC: there's basically nothing about Alex until after getting the ring; they undergo the Trial because Ramus wants a diamond, not because Alex expresses an interest in becoming Dragonmaster.)

Speaking of Ramus, I'd noticed before that in TSS he's a lot more confident in asking for the diamond:

<Ramus>
QUARK, WE'VE COME TO YOU
TO GET THE DIAMOND!

<off>
DIAMOND? WHAT DIAMOND?

<Ramus>
I THINK YOU KNOW WHAT
I'M TALKING ABOUT.

<off>
WHY IS IT YOU HUMANS
PRIZE THOSE THINGS?

DON'T YOU KNOW THEY'RE
MADE FROM MY SH...

OH, WHAT'S THE USE!
HERE...TAKE A LOOK.
THIS IS THE DIAMOND!

But in Japanese, he stutters, similar to how he is in SSS(C):

<Ramus>
白竜さま ぼ ぼくは‥‥
ダ ダイヤがほしいんです‼

<0>
ダイヤじゃっと⁉

<Ramus>
ダ ダメならいりません‼

<0>
こんあものを
なぜ人間は ほしがるのじゃ?
これはわしのウン‥‥

いや 言わぬほうが
ありがたみがあるじゃろう‥‥
ほれ これがダイヤじゃ

I'm a little disappointed that this confidence of Ramus's was introduced by WD, because I like seeing him actually be confident and not terrified. That said, his terror doesn't prevent him from asking.

One last change to mention in this scene: Nall's reaction to getting the diamond.

<Nall>
DOUBLE BAMM BAMM!

I DON'T BELIEVE IT!
THAT'S THE DRAGON DIAMOND!

<Nall>
これが 竜のダイヤかァ‥‥
でもオレ
お魚のほうが好きだなァ

In Japanese he says "This is a dragon diamond...but I like fish better." I laughed out loud when I put that together.

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Kizyr
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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Kizyr »

I have a ton of screenshots on another drive that isn't handy right now, but those transcriptions seem all right at a glance. I do remember there not being anything about "green eyes" in the Japanese version (the J-E differences page also has that noted, in that one of the books in Damon's Spire mentions green eyes in a prophecy in the English but not the Japanese version). Also it seems they kept Ramus's hesitance in approaching the White Dragon in later versions of TSS (SSS/Legend/SSH) in the Japanese versions -- incidentally I think I've played the Japanese versions of the handhelds much more than the English ones so that's what I remember.
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Re: TSS text fun

Post by RedHairGreenEyes »

Also in the Japanese version. I was super confused when I couldn't notice him saying quark in his cutscene. Turns out in japanese his name is Faidy (sp?) Spoken: fye-dee

Also Kyle is Killy......which is sweeeeet

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Re: TSS text fun

Post by RedHairGreenEyes »

Also...I don't want to live in a world without Double Bam Bam

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Alunissage
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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

Kizyr wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 12:59 am I have a ton of screenshots on another drive that isn't handy right now, but those transcriptions seem all right at a glance. I do remember there not being anything about "green eyes" in the Japanese version (the J-E differences page also has that noted, in that one of the books in Damon's Spire mentions green eyes in a prophecy in the English but not the Japanese version).
Yeah, I checked the differences page for "green" and found that one. I really think it's more significant in the scene with Quark, since it kind of establishes for the whole game that Alex was predetermined, and it can't be missed.

I noticed when returning to Burg that the person near the village entrance, after talking about the river rising, immediately says something about Nall's favorite fish, which isn't in English either. I guess they decided to tone down Nall's fish obsession as well, but left it alone in SSSC. The logger's wife's early dialogue is a bit different too; I commented earlier that she talks about the weather if you talk to her before getting Luna in your party, but in Japanese she remarks about the cute "cat". After getting Luna, in Japanese she makes a similar comment about the pretty girl now in the party, while in English that's when she notes the weird flying kitty.

Side note, when I started this thread I mentioned some text I hadn't been able to get to display. It turns out that that NPC says it if you haven't talked to the logger at all up to that point. But one line I'm pretty sure doesn't show up in-game is looking at the lighthouse flame while it's still unlit. You can't actually do this in-game because you can't go in until getting the flint, and then looking at it lights it. Found this via the debug menu when I'd cleared the flag for lighting the flame but the flint was no longer in my inventory.

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Alunissage
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Re: TSS text fun

Post by Alunissage »

I've done a bit more playing and transcribing in Japanese, up to just before Ramus leaves the party. (I know, that's not very far, but it's still several hundred screenshots.) As Kizyr and Temzin have noted, for the most part the translation is very direct, and as far as I can tell most of the NPCs are just as idiosyncratic in Japanese as in English. The main context WD rewrote text for is lines that are exactly repeated in Japanese but exist as separate text events in the file, so WD reworded a lot of NPCs' second lines to be more humorous recaps of their first line instead of an exact copy. Likewise, the shop text for selling event items is probably a lot more repetitive in Japanese -- I say "probably" because right now the only event items I've had to sell are the harp, diamond, and dragon ring, so not a very large sample. But there's definitely less variation among the Japanese shop owners' refusals to buy the diamond (and Ramus's response to it).

Some changes in meaning are clearly accidental, probably from an initial mistranslation that got further rewritten, like the person who says that if you go through the Nanza Barrier you can get to Kyle's place instead of that you need to ask (Boss) Kyle's permission to go through the pass. One that intrigued me was Laike's dialogue in Nanza. In English he says:

<Laike>
HA, HA, HA, HA!

THESE BANDITS KILL ME!

THEY CHARGE PEOPLE
PROTECTION FEES TO GUARD
THEM IN THE CAVES....

BUT THEY'RE THE ONLY
BANDITS IN THE AREA!

AH, HA, HA, HA, HA!

THIS IS CLASSIC!

WHAT A SCAM!

(talk to him again)
<Laike>
HEY, WHY NOT GO UP AND
SIGN UP FOR SOME OF THEIR
'PROTECTION?' HA, HA, HA!

THESE BANDITS OF NANZA ARE
GREAT CON MEN! IT CRACKS ME
UP TO WATCH THEM IN ACTION!

The bandit near him says:
THAT MAN IS DANGEROUS!
WHEN I ASKED FOR THE
PROTECTION FEE,

HE BEAT ME UP!
I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!

This always seemed a little weird to me, that Laike would both enjoy the bandits' grift and casually beat them up apparently for fun. It makes a bit more sense in Japanese:

<Laike>
ここの山賊どもは 楽しいぞ
どうくつを通るときに
守ってくれるんだと!!

ワッハッハッハッ!!
おれを 守ってくれるってか?
笑いすぎて腹がイタくなった

ワッハッハッハッ!!
こんなにユーモアある山賊に
会ったのは 初めてだ

Second line:
<Laike>
オイッ 見学していかないか?
これから こいつらの力を
試してやるつもりなんだ

守ってもらうからには
ユーモアのセンスだけでは
ちと 心配だからな

His first line is something like: "These bandits crack me up, offering 'protection'. THEY'RE gonna protect ME?? I'm laughing so hard my stomach hurts. I never knew bandits were so funny." Then, "Let's test their strength and see how good their 'protection' really is. I'm worried about their sense of humor." "Sense of humor" is in there phonetically, [yuumoa no sensu], so it might have a more colloquial meaning. But the point is, he's showing them how ridiculous the notion is of protecting someone stronger than they are, rather than noting that they're the bandits they're offering protection from.

The one nearby says:
あぶねえな あのオッサン‥‥
守り賃を出せって言ったら
大笑いはじめやがって‥‥

なんだか
イヤな予感がする‥‥

"That guy is dangerous! When I asked him for the protection fee, he just laughed! I have a bad feeling about this..." So Laike hasn't beat him up yet, just laughed. If you leave Nanza and return, Laike is gone and the bandit's line is closer to what it is in English.

WHO IS THAT GUY?
HE'S STRONG AS A MONSTER!

WHEN I ASKED HIM FOR THE
PROTECTION FEE, HE BEAT
THE BILE OUT OF ME!

何者だ あのオッサン!!
化け物みてえに強ええ‥‥
イヤな予感が当たっちまった

あんなヤツが 守り賃なんか
出すはずがない‥‥
とんだハジをかいちまったよ

"Who IS that guy?! He's as strong as a monster! I was afraid of that... There's no way he'd pay us for protection. Man, I screwed up."

Also of mild interest is the travelling merchant in the same room who observes all of this. When Laike is still there he says:
EVERY TIME I PASS THROUGH
THE CAVE HERE AT NANZA,
I PAY THE PROTECTION FEE.

IT JUST MAKES ME FEEL SO
MUCH...I DUNNO...SAFER!

And after Laike leaves:
BOY, YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN
HERE EARLIER!

A GUY NAMED LAIKE REALLY
BEAT THE STUFFING OUT OF
ONE OF THESE BANDITS!

HE FOUGHT USING ONLY ONE
HAND!

Again, this is pretty close to the Japanese but I think there's a bit of characterization that I hadn't picked up on from the English text:

私たち旅の商人は ここを
通るたびに キリーさんに
守ってもらっています

かんしゃしてるんです
いえ 本当ですよ 本当‥‥

"We travelling merchants pass through here and Kyle protects us every time. Really, he does. Really." To me this reads like he's trying to convince himself that it's definitely the right choice to buy protection, absolutely, no question, it's worth it. And then he gets to watch Laike test how good the protection is.

レイクとかいう男は
片手で戦ったのに まるで
大人と子供のケンカでしたよ

無名でも あんなに
強い戦士がいるのでしゃら
世の中は 広いですよね

"Laike beat up that guy with only one hand! It was like watching a grown man beat up a toddler. I didn't know there was anyone that strong in the world!" Most of the rest of his dialogue in the game (in English, anyway) is still raving about how Laike could really fight. I'll be interested to see if in Japanese he says something about the quality of the protection service after seeing that demonstration. Though I suppose he could take the view that Laike is so strong that no one would beat him no matter how good they were.

Finally, there are of course intentional rewrites. The most conspicuous of these that I've seen so far (which, I reiterate, is not very far at all) is in the Meribian tavern. In English, it's turning into a coffee shop, and both the owner and some customers remark as much. I was rather disappointed to find that that was entirely a WD addition. I wonder if it was changed to downplay the alcohol aspect (considering the other changes Sega of America required), but it might just have been that coffee houses were getting pretty popular then so it was timely. I really like how it was worked into so many lines while still maintaining most of the gist:

DO YOU KNOW WHAT A MACHINE
IS?

IT IS A TOOL THAT DOES
A JOB WITHOUT THE USE OF
MAGIC!

IT'S ALL VERY CONVENIENT!
THE ESPRESSO IS MADE
HERE BY MACHINE!

and

I CAN DO BUSINESS FREELY
HERE IN MERIBIA, THANKS TO
MASTER MEL!

HE'S INDEED ONE OF THE
FOUR HEROES! DID YOU KNOW
HE LIKES ESPRESSO, TOO?

It's mostly the same in Japanese but that last sentence is roughly "Mel used to come here and drink like a bottomless pit."

I KNOW YOU'RE DEPRESSED
BECAUSE YOUR DIAMOND'S GONE.

HERE...NOTHING LIKE A NICE
CAPPUCCINO TO WARM YOUR
HEART...AND SPIKE

YOUR BLOODSTREAM? HM?

This one did lose a bit of utility. In Japanese he advises that they go listen to the singer (who previously had been on a break and not interested in working overtime) to cheer up. After hearing her, Nall's line is the same in both languages: "I think Luna's a hundred times better than this singer!" The bartender has a new line after that:

OUR CHORUS GIRL'S THE BEST
SINGER IN MERIBIA!
SHE'S REALLY HOT, AND SHE'S

GETTING READY TO DYE HER
HAIR BLACK AND LEARN TO
PLAY JAZZ FOR WHEN WE

OPEN OFFICIALLY AS A
COFFEE JOINT...COOL, EH?

In Japanese:
うちのカンバン娘の歌は
とても すばらしいだろう?
メリビアー いや世界―かな?

え⁉ もっと歌のうまい娘を
知っているって?
ど どこのだれだ 教えてくれ

"My singer's the best in Meribia...no, the world! Wait, what? You know a better one? Wh...who?? Tell me!"

This sets up a line that I am so delighted to find in Japanese. In English, after ousting Dross, the tavern owner says:

WHAT?! YOU GOT MONEY BACK
FROM DROSS?! THAT'S GREAT!
HOW'D YOU MANAGE THAT?

...I SEE! WELL THEN, THIS
CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!
HOW 'BOUT A NICE ESPRESSO?

SAY, HAVE YOU LISTENED TO
OUR CHORUS GIRL YET? SHE'S
THE BEST IN MERIBIA!

It's kind of understandable why it was changed from this:
なに⁉ ドロスのヤツから
金を 手には入れたって⁉
そりゃ たいしたもんだな

ところで もっと歌の
うまい娘を知っているとか
ぜひ 紹介してくれ!!

うちの踊り子とコンビにして
ウィンクっていう名前で
歌わせたいんだ

The first screen is about the same as in English. The second reiterates the request of the previous dialogue to introduce him to the good/better singer Alex knows. The third explains why: "I want to team her up with my singer so they can perform as a pair named 'Wink' [uinku]."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wink_(duo)

Hey, look. It's a pop ref. In Japanese. That WD took out.

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