Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Please Don't Kill Me

I confess. I own up to it. Please don't kill me.

No game that I've tinkered with has filled me with such trepidation as Lunar has. Not only is this a big game for my company, but it's also a game with some seriously dedicated...passionate...extremely particular fans. I heard about what happened to the editor that worked on the ill-received DS version of the series. I heard and boy do I not want to end up...wherever it is that they stashed the body.

As most of you know, Lunar is an RPG about the heartwarming story of a flying-cat...thing and its adventures in pursuit of fish. Many, if not most of you (hello you newcomers to the series as well) are already very familiar with the trials and tribulations of this potty-mouthed feline and his companions so I'm going to skip the overview and dive straight into where things have deviated from '90s version of the game and some other random fun stuff that amuses me.

The graphics:

In the ultimate show of technical advancements in graphics since the PS1 version of the game we now have...a chubby Ramus.



...and there was much rejoicing.

The names:

As some fans have noticed there have been a few minor name changes in the game. Most of the changes were made to edit some things from the PS1 version and also to add a bit more of the history to the game. For example...

I. In the PS1 version Alex's dad is named "Noah," but in the PSP version his name has (mysteriously to many) changed to "Ohro." Why?

Well, our translator, who dwarfs even the most dedicated fans in his passion/knowledge of this game, knew that the "Noah" part of the name was actually the last name of Alex's family (from the novels, I believe) and as a result Noah became "Noa" (the "h" was dropped because Noah is most commonly known as a first name here, not a last name). He also went above and beyond and actually contacted Mr. Shigematsu, the scenario writer of the game, and got the official names of all the family members.

Father: Ohro Noa
Mother: Saria Noa
Alex Noa
Luna Noa


II. Some sharp-eyed fans may have noticed on the site that Jessica's name had a slight change from "Jessica de Alkirk" to "Jessica Alkirk." The change might seem trivial but it's actually a part of her family history. This came to light during a talk with Mr. Shigematsu who specifically mentioned that the PS1 version was not entirely correct, and that though this had not been officially mentioned in the novels, games or other publications before, the reason Mel is called "Mel de Alkirk" is because he married into an aristocratic family through his marriage to "Lirhina de Alkirk." Before that Mel was simply called Mel and he obtained the name "de Alkirk" from his late wife. And since Jessica is not an adult she is called "Jessica Alkirk." Thus, we updated the text to reflect that small (but kind of cool) detail.

Something else interesting of note is that after (if?) Jessica and Kyle marry, Jessica will become "Jessica de Alkirk" and Kyle will become "Kyle de Alkirk." That sounds very like Jessica to make Kyle take on her name. ^_-


Fun with Forums

I check the forums occasionally and here are some things I noted that fans were curious/dubious about.

1) Why the heck does it talk about the size of Mia's chest on the website?

-Funny enough that's actually directly from the Japanese website description for her. No, seriously.

2) What are the lyrics to the new opening song?

-I'll post the official lyrics on our lunar facebook page for your dissection pleasure.

3) Why does Kyle's voice sound like someone who's had too many head injuries as a child?

-This is my fault entirely. I chose a voice clip that I thought was funny, but I just happen to find him being drunk hilarious. That clip also doesn't come across right because viewers can't see the animation that goes with it, leading to Kyle sounding like we drugged him with Quaaludes during his recording session. Allow me to rectify that with a clip of him in his normal voice which I will throw up on facebook shortly.

4) Do we still need soap?

-Yes, yes indeed. Buy LOTS of soap. Rope not included.

5) What the heck is a "Fornacheron"???

-In the 4 heroes scenario Eiphel tells Althena that she will "...fade to nothing in the flames of the Fornacheron!" 'Fornacheron' is a hybrid made-up word created by our translator to best reflect the Japanese meaning of the kanji.

In his own words,

"The Japanese was written as "魔法炉" in the game and scenario text and also "魔道炉" once in the scenario text so I used the word "fornac-" from Latin which literally means "furnace" to match up with the final kanji which means furnace and combined it with the poetic Latin word "acheron" which was taken from Greek and means "hell" in a mythical sense. I felt this combination of old Latin-based words was the best way to bring the meaning of the Japanese into English without sacrificing the name or sound of the name for something cheesy like "magic furnace."




And, finally, here are some things to check out: (mind you this is pre-game launch so I can't give too much away)

1) Alex's first and probably last piece of artwork (check the basement)
2) Item descriptions. Some have changed and some have not. Can you spot the differences?
3) I hinted at it on the website but the bookshelves in Mel's mansion hold some interesting books.



That's probably enough for now. I fear I may have lost some people at "Quaaludes" anyway...

So, please comment, ask questions and in the next Lunar blog I'll be posting some media, like outtakes... :)

-Jess

9 comments:

  1. Well as an original series fan I have been cheerleading upon the masses to give you guys/girls some respect in the games undertaking. I figured the translation was following more in line with the Japanese texts to some extent, so that is what is throwing people off. I also thought Magic Furnace would be extremely lame. Furnacheron is going to go over way too many peoples' heads so expect a lot of confused individuals.

    I should also mention that people are hanging over the cliff in fear of how Luna's Boat Song will turn out.

    I want some appreciation g'dammit!

    -Your friendly neighborhood Silver Phoenix

    ReplyDelete
  2. You didn't lose me at Quaaludes. =o) We were worried about Kyle's VA this is good news indeed. The blog was great it's apparent that you are all working hard to treat this game like the Diamond she is

    On a side note there was a certain plot mistake (in my eyes)with Lunar SSSC regarding Luna's background. This issue was not in Lunar TSS. Has this error been fixed in Lunar SSH?

    XSEED thanks for handling Lunar with TLC. It's nice to know that my beloved series in good hands.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, The work that you have put into this seems like quite the overhall. I appreciate that you are keeping with most of the story line and working to keep the dedicated/passionate fans such as myself happy. I won't nitpick here :P but I will say that I am super excited to see another Lunar come out to hopefully redeem itself from the last one. I will speak for others when I say that this game is incredible because it keeps you coming back for more. I love that you remembered the little things that are important to hardcore fans such as myself. Great work, keep it up and get working on Lunar 2 ^_-
    I can't wait to get grinding for Ghaleon.

    WhiteKnightLeo - LunarNet

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am totally and completely psyched for this game! At first I was worried because I had no idea who you guys were. But from just reading this blog I got the idea that you people have the right humor and disposition to be handeling my favorite game.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jess, on a minor side note... People are wondering if XSEED will increase the difficulty of the game since the Japanese release was apparently overly easy. I know an easier difficulty appeals to a broader audience, but then you have those who want a bit more of a challenge. I'm sure you've picked up on this.

    -SP

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've had complete faith since the beginning that XSEED would do an amazing job in bringing over a recreated classic, and I'm so happy to see that my high expectations have been exceeded. Thanks for finally making a blog and for taking the time to answer some questions, and for putting up the game site before it's released. The site is gorgeous (kudos to whoever designed it) and hopefully it will go a long way to attract more people to get the game. Also thanks for the demo in what has been a very non-impressive time for the PSP, besides Half-Minute Hero being released a while ago, there really haven't been much great new games for the system.

    Finally, thanks for putting in the time, love, and immense amount of effort I'm sure it took to make this game true to the fans, I'm so glad you guys got a hold of it for localization. If it had been NISA, someone at Game Arts would've felt the wrath of my Ghaleon hand puppet. Best of luck to you guys in the future, I'm always excited to see what you all bring over for us to enjoy.

    Support XSEED, go buy Retro Game Challenge, Rune Factory Frontier, Little King's Story, and Half-Minute Hero to name a few.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I loved Lunar Silver Star Story Complete, but I played a friends copy who imported it years ago to Australia. Do you think you can convince a distributor in the PAL region or just Australia to release this like THQ, Koei, Namco Bandai, Atari or Ubisoft... or even Sony itself.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm planning on picking up Lunar today but still trying to decide between the actual disc version or the downloadable version for the PSPGo. The one thing pushing me towards the disc is the soundtrack CD.

    I also played the downloadable demo and was a bit icked out when I first heard Nall's voice. I'm used to the PS1 high pitched version, so I'll have to see if I can live with it.

    Looking forward to Lunar 2 :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. The gameplay is just as good as I was hoping it would be, but sadly, but the opening and the boat song leave me feeling disappointed and a great deal sad to see both sounding so awkward..

    ReplyDelete