The Dragon Quest VII remake for 3DS has finally made it to Western shores, and while Nintendo published it, the localization was done by Shloc Ltd., a small localization team based in the UK. Nintendo UK interviewed Shloc’s Oli Chance about the localization process of Dragon Quest VII. Make sure to read the full interview on Nintendo UK’s website; here are some interesting tidbits from it:
Nintendo: How much work is involved in bringing a game like DRAGON QUEST VII to the west?
OC: As you might expect, the amount of work involved was pretty huge, but in order to keep quality as high as possible, we had to keep the teams as small as possible. There were four, and at times five, of us working on the Japanese to English localisation, and then once French, Italian, German and Spanish got involved a while later, it became a massive task both in terms of workload and logistics.
All in all, from start to finish, including familiarisation (playing the game to get to know it – no small task in this case), glossary creation (naming all the characters, places, monsters, items etc. etc.), translation/editing and QA, we were working pretty much flat out for just over a year.
One of the hardest things was to put enough time in the schedule for the editor of each language to see all the text, which in our experience is the only way to ensure consistency and quality throughout. You can throw a lot of translators at a job, but if there’s no one making sure they’re all working to spec and that quality is as high as it can be across the board, then things can easily go awry.
Nothing quite compares to DQVII. It’s one thing to contemplate taking on a job this size, and quite another to be four months in, knowing there are months left to go, and that if your pace falters, you could send the entire project off-schedule in five languages.
Without doubt the biggest challenge was keeping up such a heavy workload over such a long time, and making sure that quality didn’t suffer as a result. This is where having a team who know each other so well is essential – if we hadn’t been there to back each other up and give each other’s morale a kick when needed, I don’t think we could have done it.
Nintendo: What would you say is the essence of the DRAGON QUEST brand from a writing perspective and how did you aim to preserve this in your localisation?
OC: From the point of view of writing, I think it’s characters that carry the series, and as such, the main aim is always to make the characters memorable, likable and unique. Given that the series has featured so many games with so many great characters, this becomes more and more of a challenge over time, but it’s a challenge we relish, and one which can often prove highly rewarding.
As long as we can keep the characters knowable and individual and lovable, the world hopefully stays bright and alive. In DQVII specifically, this meant going right down to the level of individual NPCs and making sure that any game-spanning characterisation or story they had was fun, engaging and above all consistent. This was a massive endeavour, but it was what was done in the original Japanese, so it’s absolutely something we have to make sure happens in the English in order to create a faithful localisation.
Update: Added one more leaked CoroCoro page – this one shows nothing really new, but it does have some nice new artwork of the starter middle stages.
CoroCoro leaks continue, with the same issue that revealed Alolan Grimer now showing evolutions for Type: Null and Jangmo-o. Serebii has translated the details. As usual, the names of the Pokemon may be translated differently and revealed later.
Type: Null evolves into Silvadi, which can be any type thanks to its ability, AR System, and a special item called Memory. At this moment, it’s unclear exactly how the item works, though. Silvadi will also have a unique attack called Multi Attack, which is different depending on its held item,
Jangmo-o’s evolutions have also been revealed. It will evolve into Jarango, which then evolves into Jararanga. Judging by their appearances, these two retain Jangmo-o’s Dragon-type.
The magazine also shows the first Trial Captain, Ilmia. It also reveals some more information about the upcoming Sun/Moon anime. Ash will be enrolled in a school, being taught by Samson Oak. While there, a Togedemaru will act as a rival to Pikachu. The first episode of the new anime will air November 17 in Japan.
Check out all the pages below:
Today, two more Miitomo rewards were added to My Nintendo. Both the Cityscape tee and the Lemon Hood cost 200 Platinum Points. The Lemon Hood is available in two colors – yellow and green. Both rewards are available until November 9th.
Capcom has provided new details for its free-to-play Japan game, Megami Meguri. These showcase important characters, the Seven Pillar Goddesses, as well as the exams that main character Tsukomo must take to become a full-fledged goddess. Gematsu has provided a wealth of details, but here are some of the more key details, starting with the Seven Pillar Goddesses:
-Ame no Uzume, the goddess of performance and leader of the goddesses, she is calm and intelligent and is known for dances
-Sotorihime, the goddess of song, who showcases her power as a rock star
-Kukurihime, the goddess of binding, is known for trimming and grooming, taking care of the goddesses’ guardian dogs
-Konohana Sakuyahime, the goddess of flower, acts like an idol, seeking and adoring fans
-Toyota Mahime, the goddess of cooking, suffers from stage fright and is often closed off
-Ishikoridome, the goddess of manufacturing, is a builder who can be very aggressive and strong
-Ame no Sagume, the goddess of fortune telling, she actually has a rational personality that doesn’t see fortune-telling as the answer to everything
To become a goddess, Tsukomo must undergo Divinity Exams, where she will need to exhibit certain abilities: will-power, strength, wisdom, kindness, and beauty. To take a Divinity Exam, players must first find offerings at certain station squares, and then go to specific stops for the exams. Completing these exams will progress the story. Completing the exams will also unlock new outfits for Tsukomo, based on the seven goddesses.
For more details, check out the full run-down at Gematsu. You can also see screenshots of the features and watch a new, short trailer below:
System: 3DS (eShop)
Release date: October 13, 2016
Developer: Arc System Works
Publisher Aksys Games
As the brief opening movie explains, a cold case is when the trail of evidence in a crime investigation has gone cold. Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~, aside from having a mouthful of a title, is a visual novel following two detectives working in the Tokyo Police Department. The setup is that the case of a five year old murder deemed an accident is reopened after an anonymous phone call to the Cold Case Unit.
Nintendo gives a peek inside its storage room, shows off a a working Famicom Disk System Disk Writer
On its Japanese website, Nintendo is giving fans a photo tour of sorts from its storage area. It’s here where some of the old consoles and peripherals are held.
One of the big items highlighted in Nintendo’s new post is a photo of a working Famicom Disk System Disk Writer. This was used many years ago to print games onto blank cartridges. Other than that, Nintendo opens a Famicom and the Famicom Disk System expansion, showing it all in mint condition.
We’ve attached the photos below.
Nintendo and Apple are pretty close now, especially given that Super Mario Running is debuting on iOS first. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, actually stopped by the big N’s headquarters today to give the mobile game a look. Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka – two of Nintendo’s biggest developers – were present.
Cook shared the photo on Twitter a short while ago:
Getting the hang of Super Mario Run, thanks to Miyamoto-san and his awesome team at Nintendo! pic.twitter.com/gSxU4iQbAv
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 13, 2016
Who would have thought we’d be seeing a photo like this a few years ago?
We have another hour of footage from tomorrow’s 3DS eShop release Gurumin 3D: A Monstrous Adventure. Take a look at the video below.
Nintendo uploaded a new Paper Mario: Color Splash video today that servers as an accolades trailer of sorts. View it below.
Chase: Cold Case Investigations is making its way to the 3DS eShop tomorrow in the west. To download the game, you’ll need 1,628 blocks of free space. That amounts to 203.5 MB.
