The lazy king is here

First, I'd like to apologize to those waiting for the next video. I'm very sorry. I haven't been working on the project. Some of it due to the changes in my personal life. But mostly due to just plain laziness. I do intend on continuing the project so it will be done sometime. I just can't promise a date.

That aside, there has been a lot of things happening in the gaming world that I'd like to talk about. Some good things and some not-so-good.

The biggest thing personally is the fact that a lot of the large Japanese videogame companies are starting to loose their respect from hardcore players. It's sad to see Konami, Capcom, and even Nintendo making some very strange/stupid decisions.

The biggest being Konami pretty much withdrawing from the console market. They haven't really admitted it but it's clear they're moving toward a mobile market and seem to pretty much forget about the console market all together. I understand that Japan has a large mobile market and the console is not very popular, but I feel North America and even Europe is still a very console oriented market. I feel like Konami just doesn't care about the market outside of Japan with their recent decision. The whole Hideo Kojima scandal makes it even worse. The way they handled it was really horrible and it almost seemed like they were telling players they didn't have any respect for our community. At least Kojima will hopefully be able to move on to make even more exciting games.

But not all is lost. At least Square-Enix seems to be doing very well judging from what they have planned for the future. I know a huge number of JRPG fans are excited to see a 'real' Final Fantasy 7 remake in the works and they seem to genuinely want to create games that appeal to fans of their games. The recent Final Fantasy 15 demo is a good example. Of course, listening to fans isn't necessarily a good thing but at least they appear to respect players. They also seem to realize that there are a lot of JRPG fans around the world so it's great to see that they have created a studio dedicated to making new JRPGs. I do hope it's the second coming of the golden age of JRPGs.

The most intriguing thing is to see crowd funding as the new hottest thing now with Keiji Inafune, Koga Igarashi and Yu Suzuki all Kickstarting some nostalgic but new exciting projects. I'd have to say that I'm cautiously optimistic about these new projects and do hope they meet expectations.

Nintendo, why you make horrible decisions!?

I know it's late, but happy new year. Hopefully this year will be better than the last.

I've yet to record the next stage in the project but hopefully will have some time this weekend to do that and start working on the translation for the stage prologue.

This year has started out with a bang for Nintendo fans with them announcing some big name titles for the 3DS (like Majora's Mask) and the New 3DS finally heading over to other regions of the world. However, it's not all great news.

The New 3DS comes in two sizes in Japan. The normal and XL (LL in Japan) size. For unknown reasons, Europe will get both but North America will not be getting the normal size.

This is extremely baffling to me. I could understand it a little if they had decided that everyone outside of Japan didn't need the smaller 3DS, but it ONLY applies to the North American market? There's no explanation as to why this was necessary.

That is when I saw this article from Kotaku:
http://kotaku.com/one-reason-nintendo-has-such-a-hard-time-with-new-ideas-1680988301

If you've read it, you'll kinda get a good idea of how the decision making process works in Nintendo. I believe this isn't just a Nintendo problem but a problem with most large and old Japanese companies.

The funniest thing about all this is that I had posted the same link on Mii-verse stating my displeasure of seeing Nintendo make bad decisions. Soon after I posted it, the post was immediately deleted by the administrator stating I violated the Miiverse code of conduct:

I'm not exactly sure what part I violated but I couldn't help but laugh at the situation. I hold no grudge against Nintendo for it and for all I know, maybe I did violate something on the Nintendo Network Agreement. But I can't help but feel like they admit they are making bad decisions by deleting my post.

As I said before, I believe other Japanese companies face the same issue. Sega's Phantasy Star Online 2 on Vita is a good example. You have to wonder if someone higher had initially said yes and then backed out half way through the development. The Asian market was even given a English version on PC so it makes it all the more suspicious. Even if they scrapped the Vita version it should of been easy to bring out the PC version.

Then there's Megaman series from Capcom. At least we have Mighty No.9 for that.

And how about Bandai/Namco with the Super Robot Wars. They might not be able to bring Z or Alpha due to copyright issues, but Original Generations shouldn't be a problem. Even the Masoukishin series would work.

Maybe this year, things will change and we'll finally see some Super Robot War games in English. Until then, I'll just have to keep what I'm doing.

Merry Christmas! SRW Alpha 3 Lightning Round: Selena Stage 12 Epilogue

Merry Christmas everyone!

The last part of stage 12 is finally done.

Nothing really special to note in terms of translation.

This few weeks have not been very pleasant as I've been getting sick. But I was determined to get this video out before Christmas and I was pretty happy I did...well kinda.

Anway, hope you guys enjoy and have a merry Christmas!

I'll leave a link for the video here until it's done uploading:
http://youtu.be/TBcCu9pbPd0

I'll embed the video when it's ready.

Here's the video:

Advent of Super Smash Bros. on Wii U and the shrinking Monster Hunter Tri Ultimate community

With the new Super Smash Bros out on the Wii U, a lot of Wii U players are playing that game. Unfortunately, it's very clear that there's not as much people playing Monster Hunter Tri Ultimate anymore. It's sad to see but also inevitable. Since a lot of my friends on the Wii U are busy playing other games, it's gotten a lot harder to complete my weapon collection in the game. It's not impossible soloing but it would be easier if I had help.

At least there's still a few months before Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is coming out so hopefully I can finish it up before then.

On the PS Vita side, I've been plucking away at Muramasa Rebirth and slowly making progress in Fury mode. One hit and die mode has been very tough but I've gotten up to the second ending for both characters. I'm right now contemplating on whether I should try to finish the Cave called the "Night of Absolute Chaos". It's not required to finish the game nor is it required to get any trophies as long as you've completed that cave once on the normal difficulty. But the perfectionist in me is tempted on trying to finish it. If I do manage to complete it, I'll definitely be taking a screenshot of it and posting it here.

For the PS3, I've been playing the Battride War 2. It's pretty cool to see each of the riders moves being replicated in the game. My favorite rider unfortunately is a bit quirky and hard to use compared to some other ones but that could change depending on the skills I could get as I progress.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the next part of my SRW3 Alpha video out before the end of November but I am working on it and slowly making progress. I won't make any promises on when it'll be done but I am pretty sure it'll be done before the holidays. Hope you guys are looking forward to it.

Back from Japan with a lot of Videogame Loot

I'm back from vacation and man was it a blast. Definitely had a lot of fun.

Wanted to show off some of the wonderful loot I got from my venture. It's not all of it but there's quite a bit.

First off, monster hunter:

Monster Hunter 4 G just got released so there was a lot of promotion for it. It was quite tempting to get the game but the problem is the region lock on the 3DS. I could of gotten one of those "New" 3DS but I knew I'd be getting an North American version when it comes out so suppressed my urge. The little card like things are actually coasters I got from the Capcom Bar. The books are manga's and the big meat is a comfy little pillow.

I actually also got a T-Shirt. It's a T-shirt to protect me from the desire sensor. It doesn't look anything special but I liked the idea. Too bad only people who can read Japanese will really get the joke. I tried it on and played some Monster hunter but looks like it didn't help...but then again, despite not getting the non-rare item I was looking for, I still got a lot of gems instead. So maybe it does work?

There's also some small little collectible statues from the game too. I got two monsters and 3 of the Felyne ones. I'll probably take pictures of it some time in the future.

The next ones is the Blazblue loot. The artbook for Chrono Phantasma and the PS3 game; Xblaze for the Vita which has some connection to the Blazblue world; and the shopping bag is something I got free for buying the artbook. The reason I got Chrono Phantasma in Japan is due to the fact that they removed the Glossary from the North American release.

I also had a chance to play Guilty Gear Xrd and man did it look good. I was terrible at the game but it played so smoothly and the 3D sprites were beautiful. Can't wait to get the North American release.

The 3rd picture is Super Robot Wars related. First two games from the left is the first of the Z series game and the 3rd Z game Jigoku chapter. The 3rd game is the OG Infinite Battle plus Dark Prison game. I only got this to get the Dark Prison. It was in the bargain bin. I don't even know if I'll ever play the game as it doesn't look very fun or good. The 4th is the DS game, OG saga Endless Frontier Exceed. I wanted to get it as it seems to have some actual connection to the whole OG series.

The next picture is Persona 3 FES, Persona 3 Portable, Person 4 Golden and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remake. I've been interested in the Persona series but never played them before. I prefer Japanese text so I was waiting to get the game in Japan. Same goes for FFX as it's one of my Favorite FF series.

The last one are some other games I got in Japan. Masked Rider Battleride Wars 2, One Piece Pirate Warriors 2, Megaman Zero Collection, Danganronpa Reload 1 & 2, and Zettai Zetsubou Shoujo.

I grew up watching Masked Rider Black RX, so the Masked Rider series still has a kind of special place in my heart. I kinda wish there was a good Garo game but I haven't really seen one. I haven't been really following all the new Rider series but a few that I watched were fun so I figured I'd get it. It's actually a limited edition disc that has actual songs from the TV or movie series.

One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 did come out in North America but was only available as a downloadable only game.

Megaman Zero is probably one of my all time favorite Megaman series. I couldn't find the North American release of the game so I was on the look out of one in Japan. Thankfully I found one.

Danganronpa was just release in North America too but as separate games. I knew the Japanese version actually came out together as one package instead. Zettai Zetsubou Shoujo wasn't actually something I was really all that interested in getting...until I found out it actually happens after the two Danganronpa games.

That pretty much is all my gaming loot. I also got a small adapter for the 3DS that let's me charge it using a USB cell phone charger. Definitely useful for travelling as I won't need to rely on the actual AC adapter for charging my 3DS. I also got a 64 GB memory card for the Vita. Not sure why it's only available in Japan but I got one since my 32 GB was already getting full.

I'm hoping to resume my Lightning Round project and get a video out before the end of this month. I'm sure many of you are looking forward to it. The next update will probably be about the other loot from Japan. Stuff that aren't exactly Videogame related but related to mechs and anime.

SRW Alpha 3 Lightning Round: Selena Stage 12 Conclusion

The moment you have all been waiting for is finally here!

Stage translation is finally complete! Now witness the power of Dygenguar!

Anyway, I'm happy to say that it's finally done and I finished it before leaving for my trip. It was a long time coming and it is finally up. I hope you all enjoy it. It did end up being quite long because of the story event that takes place halfway through the game.

I don't know if I'll have a chance to update my blog during my trip but if I don't, I'll let you know when I'm back and working on the epilogue for this stage. Until then, enjoy the video!

Masou Kishin Series and Updates

As mentioned before, I now have all of the Masou Kishin series in my collection. Unfortuantely, it looks like a while before I can really start playing all of them.

The biggest reason is the picture below:

This is a pic from the art book that came along with the Limited Edition Masou Kishin F box. It outlines how this series and the other OG series Super Robot games connect.

I knew about some of the series placements but I was quite surprised to see some that I didn't think had any bearing to the rest of the series.

Here's a translation:

Masou Kishin The Lord of Elemental Part 1

Super Robot Wars OG Original Generations (PS2)

Super Robot Wars OG Gaiden (PS2)

Endless Frontier EXCEED Super Robot Wars OG Saga (DS)

Another Century's Episode: R (PS3)

2nd Super Robot Wars OG (PS3)

Super Robot Wars OG Dark Prison (PS3)

Masou Kishin The Lord of Elemental Part 2

Of course, after The Lord of Elemental, the rest of the Masou Kishin will continue from there.

The surprise was to see ACE:R and Endless Frontier. I knew that both games had some cameo's from the OG series but was not aware that they actually were officially part of the story. I think I'll have to see if I can pick up Endless Frontier when I go to Japan later. I know they actually did translate that and brought it over but I do prefer Japanese text. I'll also have to see if I can get Dark prison some how.

In terms of the translation project, I've been working at it for a long while and I think I'm almost done. This next episode looks to be over 1.5 hours long despite cutting out quite a few scenes. Most likely due to the story event that takes place half way through the stage. I thought about splitting it but the transition between the stage and the story part just didn't sit well with me. I'm sure you guys are looking forward to this episode for a very long time. Hopefully I should have it upload it soon.

Chaos before vacation

So as I've mentioned before, I'll be going on a trip to Japan in the middle of October. Because of this, I've been working some overtime to catch up on work and get extra cash.

Unfortunately, that makes it almost impossible to make time for myself and making it difficult to work on the project. I do hope I can make some time to finish at least one video prior to my trip.

In the mean time, I just got the Masoukishin F limited edition and Transformers IDF collection phase 2 in the mail. The artbook that comes with the Masoukishin looks really nice and I would love to read it as well as listen to the soundtrack but holding off until I can finish all of the games so I don't get spoiled.

I know there's many out there that haven't really liked the IDW Transformers series comic when it first began but I think most of us can agree that the "More than meets the eyes" and "Robots in disguise" series looks very good. I've been collecting all of the IDW collection books but unfortunately makes all my IDW series knowledge outdated. I haven't read any of them hoping that they'd bring out the IDW collection and now finally they have started the phase 2 of the IDW collection series. What I've been able to read so far has been quite interesting. I don't want to give any spoilers for those that still haven't read any of them but this new dynamic between factions has been quite refreshing.

Anyway, I do hope to keep updating the blog whenever I can. At least try to once a week so you guys aren't wondering what happened to me.

Soul of Chogokin GaoGaiGar and Masou Kishin F

As some of you might already know, Bandai had announced a Soul of Chogokin GaoGaiGar a while back. Now it finally has shown the final mold of the whole thing and man does it ever look good!

Collection DX has some awesome images here.

I'm excited to get my hand on it. A friend on mine owns the Gunbuster and I've always wanted to get at least one Soul of Chogokin at some point. I'm really happy to see one of my all time favorite Super Robot getting a proper treament.

In other news, Maou Kishin F: Coffin of the End just was released in Japan. I've yet to finish the 1st three games and wasn't really going to get it until a lot later on but just couldn't pass up on the limited edition boxset that has the full sound track and art book. I'm especially excited for the art book since I do like a lot of the mech designs in this series.

A little project update. I've been trying to work on it bit by bit. It is slow but there is progress. Documenting all translation is adding to the time but I'm hoping to be able to upload the document somewhere for all to see so they can use it as reference.

Update and Apology

Hello all.

I'm sure a lot of you have been wondering what has happened to me.

First off, I'd like to apologize for not updating the blog. I know a lot of you guys have been waiting for the next video.

I have no excuse for not posting a video for the past few months. I just haven't been making an effort to set aside some time to work on this project.

However, I have been contacted by someone to help translate some stuff for the SRW Alpha 3 game. Hopefully, I'll be able to give you guys more information in regard to this in the future.

In the mean time, I will be trying to get back into finding time to work on the project and continue with the translation. I hope you guys will stay patient and would like to start pumping out more videos regularly like before.

Thank you very much for your support.

On a side note, I have plans on visiting Japan this coming October. I'm looking forward to it a lot and hopefully will be able to bring back some neat stuff. I do plan on looking to get some more Super Robot Wars games for my collection which hopefully will get the same translation treatment I'm giving Alpha 3 some day.

SRW Alpha 3 Lightning Round: Selena Stage 12 Prologue

Sorry about the extremely late update. I don't really have any excuse. You could say I've been lazy.

I've been trying to finish off a lot of my games and Metal Gear Rising: Revengence would be the latest one to be added to the list of games completed.

Now, enough about that. Here's the prologue for stage 12. I'm sure a lot of you are waiting for the actual stage gameplay as our sword of justice will make his appearance.

There's not much to really note about the video.

Just enjoy:

SRW Alpha 3 Lightning Round: Selena Stage 11 Epilogue

I'm guessing some of you might be starting to think I've given up doing the project, but not to worry. Even though it is taking a lot longer in between video uploads, I have no intentions on giving up.

There isn't very much to say about the translation for this video. It's pretty straight forward.

Enjoy!

SRW Alpha 3 Lightning Round: Selena Stage 11 Power Junction

I hope Mr. Eiichiro Oda gets well soon. Chopper should be taking care of him!

Stage 11 gameplay is finally finished! The new format does make the videos shorter but takes a lot longer to finish the video for the gameplay portion with the translating and editing. It sucks that it's making it longer for me to get more of these videos out. But I'm hoping in the long run, it'll start paying off and make it possible for me to cut out a chunk of gameplay footage that have already been translated. The video is still fairly long despite cutting a lot of it away. It's just under 1 hour and the raw gameplay footage is probably twice that.

This stage is pretty straight forward. It may seem like a tall order to finish the stage within 7 turns but there's only one additional unit that pops up as reinforcements for the enemy and you get most of the super robot team members show up as your reinforcements. Just use (or abuse) your spirit commands and it'll be fairly easy to clear the stage within 7 turns. Beware of the 3 boss units though. Death Gaia and Warchimedes both have group attacks so make sure your platoon members are safe when in range of them. Dungele packs some heat and can even kill some super robot type units in one hit. Always use a defensive spirit command when attacking those three. You might also want to use a group attack on them to kill their platoon members as they tend to like using them as shields or boost their hit rate when attacking as a platoon (Team attack).

Now, on to the video. There isn't anything special to note in terms of translation. It's pretty straight forward for the most part. I should say that I've decided NOT to translate shouting/screams. Unless they're shouting/screaming a specific word, I've stuck with just translating in romanized Japanese (Romaji).

Enjoy the video:


As usual, the video at this point needs 400 minutes to finish uploading. I will update when it's done. Video has finished uploading.

Human error sucks when it happens to you!

Unfortunately, there's some bad news. Due to my stupid mistake, I have lost 2 stages worth of translations. This obviously has delayed my project.

In terms of the project, it just means I'll have to restart translating the Stage 11 gameplay again. I might end up re-translating some battle dialogue that I might have done already in stage 9 and 10 since I was keeping track of it within the project file. I need to make sure I start backing up my files too.

What really pisses me off is that effort I put into cutting and editing the stage 10 gameplay is all gone. I only have the final rendered video and if I needed to go back to edit something, I'd have to redo the whole thing. Sometimes I wish I'd be able to use some ability to turn back time so I can stop myself from making that stupid mistake.

The good news is that I'm no longer sick and I did manage to finish Zero Escape completely. One more title to add to my list of completed games.

The story was really engaging and I loved every part of it. I can't wait to see what the next game will be like and hope it'll be release on the vita as well.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed your Canada Day or Independance Day depending on where you live.

Memento Mori

I'm sad to say that this has been a horrible week for myself.

Half of the week was spent with myself in the bed. I seemed to have caught a cold or flu. I had at least recorded the gameplay of stage 11 and enjoyed playing the stage.

At least the one good thing that came from this was my chance to play a lot of my handheld. Obviously, I've been playing a lot of Monster Hunter Tri Ultimate. But recently, Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward was a free game for Playstation Plus members so I went ahead and downloaded the game. I had heard a lot of good things about the game so I figured it would be worth a try.

I have to say that I'm completely hooked! It's an awesome puzzle/novel game and I haven't been able to put it down since I started. I hadn't played a novel game in ages and this was a nice change of pace to my usual collection of games I've been playing.

Here's a few screenshots from the game I took while playing:

The screenshot above is probably one of my favourite scenes in the game so far.

As for the project, I'm hoping I'll get better soon and hopefully post a video next week.

SRW Alpha 3 Lightning Round: Selena Stage 11 Prologue

Samus acquired the missile upgrade!

Stage 11 prologue is done. Unfortunately, I have not yet recorded the gameplay of stage 11. Hopefully, I will be able to do that in the next few days and get a video up next week, but no promises. I'll still post an update of some sort on the blog next week to let you guys know of my progress either way.

There's only one thing to note. Many of you probably already know about the Japanese honorific of "-kun" or "-san". It's a form of addressing someone in a polite way and can be used with the first name. Unfortunately, there is no equal translation in English. Thus, I've opted to use 'Mr', 'Ms', or 'Mrs' along with the first name. The part where Kira calls Judau, Mr. Judau is one example. Some of you probably figured that out from my use of 'Ms Selena'.

Enjoy the video:

SRW Alpha 3 Lightning Round: Selena Stage 10 Epilogue

The peaceful executioner is watching over me to ensure I keep up with the project.

The final part of Stage 10 is done.

Not much to say for the epilogue. I just think they purposely made Murrue creepy by making her smile all through out the court-martial (except when putting Mu in line).

I haven't had a chance to record stage 11 yet but hoping to do that tomorrow so I can start the subbing for the prologue as well.

Anyway, enjoy the video:

SRW Alpha 3 Lightning Round: Selena Stage 10 Goodbye Friends

First off, I'd like to apologize for the massive delay:

As you can see, Ed is going making sure I work harder and keep updating at least once a week even if I don't have a video to upload.

Joking aside, this past month has been extremely busy for me due to some changes in my life. Positive changes mind you, but changes that have affected the amount of time I can make to work on this project.

These changes have greatly affected my plans for the videos. For one, if I continue to upload big chunks of gameplay video, some stages can take up to 2 hours or more. I thought about cutting the video in parts but after mauling different ideas in my mind, I came to this conclusion. Since the idea of the project is to "Lightning Round" Japanese text in the game, I decided I'll cut out everything in between.

You'll notice that the video is quite different from my previous uploads. I've only included chat events and battle scenes that had any conversation that I had not yet translated before. There are no markers this time but if I get enough complaints, I'll list them in the descriptions like before.

I'm hoping this will make it easier for me in the long run and you won't need to watch me fumble around in the menu.

This stage can get tough depending on how you play it. If you are going for the challenge mission, you'll need to risk your starting characters before reinforcements show up. Once they show up, it should make it a little bit easier. Just remember that all the Gundam's you were using before have gotten an upgrade and they are far more stronger than when they were your allies.

Creuset would probably will be the hardest if you haven't saved any spirit commands that give your character 100% hit rate plus a defensive command of some sort. By the time you get to him, he'll have a very high evade rate and he has some group attacks that can do some damage to your platoon members.

Not much to note for the translation:
  - One of Judau's battle chat cuts off before he finishes. I've made the chat show up earlier so you can at least see what he says.
  - In the end of the first SRW Alpha SRW Alpha Gaiden game, the macross group took off to the stars in the Megaroad. A ship/colony/city much like the original Macross but even more massive.

Without further delay, here's the video:


Video has 420 minutes left for uploading as of typing this. I will update when it's done.
Video is done uploading. Enjoy!

SRW Alpha 3 Lightning Round: Selena Stage 10 Prologue

Here's the newest video. The prologue is quite short.

Not very much to note except one thing.
- Boosted newtype are from the Gundam series. Specifically, the Universal Century Gundam series. They can also be called cyber newtypes. They are essentially, artificially created newtypes. Most of these cyber newtypes are created from human experimentation. They're created by brainwashing, genetically engineering, cloning, doping, etc. This is why Four is very sympathetic with the Coordinators.

Enjoy the video:

SRW Alpha 3 Lightning Round: Selena Stage 9 Epilogue

Finally starting to get back into my groove. I think I've got my MH3U addiction under control... There's really not much to stage 9 epilogue. There's no special notes about translation and the dialogue speaks for itself. I did have to kinda put the part where Kira and Flay cry with romanji. I just couldn't think of a proper English sound effect for crying... "Waaah" just wouldn't work.

There is one thing I'd like to note with the previous video. As it was pointed out by someone, I actually made a mistake of labelling the Super Gundam's attack as Beam Rifle when it's using the Long Rifle.

I'm looking forward to doing Stage 10 though... Start to see some of my favourite series show up.

Anyway, enjoy the video: