Localization announced by XSEED as "Story of Seasons"

RopeMaidenKirie · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 3:50 pm

What choices bothered you? Haven't heard anyone (on the forums at least) that had an issue with RF4's translation before, so I'm super curious

Googaboga · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 3:55 pm

That new logo is pretty cute. I like the little leaves and it definitely is reminiscent of the HM logo without totally copying it which is nice.

I personally think that ANB probably shouldn't have been released as it was. The error count was too high for a finished commercial game. But in my opinion that was them dropping the ball in that regard and not an indication that they weren't improving. The games they released right before were fine and came out faster then they used to.

Junko Mihari · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 4:27 pm

RopeMaidenKirie wrote:What choices bothered you? Haven't heard anyone (on the forums at least) that had an issue with RF4's translation before, so I'm super curious

It's actually just one choice/mistake[?] per RF game they handled, but they stood out to me enough that I still remember them. IDK if it's been mentioned in the forums before, but the one in RF4 is, if you talk to certain character[s?] they'll make a remark on the cherry blossom trees. But instead of saying "cherry" they use "cereza," which is the spanish word for cherry (I had to actually look it up because I was confused). And if my memory recalls, they never use cereza again in any other dialogue concerning the cherry trees. Only in a certain dialogue at the beginning of each year. For whatever reason, I just found that to really bother me.

It probably seems really minor to a lot of people though. It didn't kill my love for RF4 but every time I see it I'm a little annoyed, haha.

Soliia · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 4:39 pm

I don't really like the logo much and the name "Harvest Moon" is extremely nostalgic to me, but I don't mind that XSEED is publishing the game if it means better translations and no censoring.

Melody Muse · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 4:41 pm

@Beedlebud: You are welcome! I would like to clarify one thing I said that/amend it. It can be very fun, and it is very rewarding to see fixes you give go into the final game. There's nothing quite like it. But especially as the deadline draws near, or when you are on your 20th playthrough of the game, it does become less entertaining. But it was well worth it and rewarding. I would do it again for sure.

@Junko: I will admit that baffled me as well. I assumed this was becuase in the Japanese version they said cherry in English or something, so it was done for cultural emphasis, or to classify several trees as the kinds they were discussing (iirc cereza means a few different trees like cherry trees?). But it felt odd.

I just realized! I wonder how Reina and Cam will be named? Iirc they are Licorice and Kamil in the Japanese versions. I wonder on Melty as well.

Nurse Fin · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 4:50 pm

They were called cereza/セレッソ trees in the Japanese version so that's probably where the "mixup" came from.

...Just to clarify

RopeMaidenKirie · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 5:07 pm

Ahh, gotcha, thanks for clarifying. Yeah like Fin said I always thought that's what their name was, because that's what it was in Japanese, so yeah xD

Hatsuu · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 5:09 pm

Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone!

Nurse Fin wrote:They were called cereza/セレッソ trees in the Japanese version

Haha, I was just about to say that since I saw! Yup, they were called exactly that in the Japanese. Since it's seems like such a specific choice to use the Spanish word, it was left the same as the original. It also matches セルセレッソ丘陵/Sercerezo Hill, the place with all the pretty cherry blossom trees.

Since I'm in the office and have the script handy, here's the lines too:

Nancy: セレッソの花、そろそろ散っちゃいそうね。 / The cerezo blossoms will be falling soon.

Kiel: そろそろ、セレッソの季節も終わりだねー。/ The season of the cerezo is going to end soon.

...Though it does appear we wrote 'cerizo' once in one of Lin Fa's lines for the same word. Whoops! Other than those three lines, they're never mentioned again alone in the Japanese as well. It's said once in conjunction with Sercerezo Hill, then the rest of the game only mentions Sercerezo Hill. Kind of interesting! I had never even thought of it before the topic was brought up.

Junko Mihari · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 5:22 pm

Hmm... I can't say it helps when I see it in-game, haha, but at least now I know why it was done. Thanks for clarifying Nurse Fin, and thank you Hatsuu for a clearer explanation.

Ronin19 · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 5:25 pm

Melody Muse wrote:I just realized! I wonder how Reina and Cam will be named? Iirc they are Licorice and Kamil in the Japanese versions. I wonder on Melty as well.

Like it was mentioned before, they probably won't change. When XSeed did Rune Factory Frontier and 4, Mist, Rosetta, Barrett, etc. didn't have to change their names and neither did the Rune Factory title. Unless somehow Natsume owns the names Cam and Reina specifically for Cam and Reina they'll more than likely keep their names; they were already introduced and having their names changed might lead to some confusion. I felt some of that confusion in RFF when Tori's name was changed to Tort/Tate without any real warning in a letter to Raguna.

centen · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 5:33 pm

Ah, I'm so glad to see Hatsuu here! Seriously, for anyone who feels iffy about XSEED taking the game over, follow her on tumblr: http://hatsuu.tumblr.com/

Being able to follow her tumblr during Rune Factory 4 before and after seriously made me love XSEED. I was honestly disappointed at the idea that SoS might have gone to Natsume, who mishandled the localization of ANB, and I've been secretly hoping for months that SoS would end up in XSEED's hands. Seeing how Hatsuu, at least, handled all the feedback with RF4 and is super open about the video game industry in general -- from things like how a game gets localized to working with VAs -- makes me beyond stoked. If you aren't jumping up and down excited over this, it's just because you don't know XSEED well enough yet.

Crystal Power · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 6:17 pm

Wow, Wow, WOW! An Xseed crew member is here connecting with the fans! That's amazing. Thank you for joining us Hatsuu. Do you think you can tell us when an English website for Story of Seasons will open, if there will be one? It's okay if you can't tell yet. :- )

Taniyama Mai · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 7:24 pm

I first saw all this last night, when Cher thought the demo pics were going to be something changed in-game, and I was pretty confused and upset, and worried about what else would be changed or removed, and if it would even look like the same game we've seen so-far.

but after learning more (Cher's misunderstanding), and mentioning this to my girlfriend who's a huge fan, I've learned a lot more and I'm really excited now too. as much as I'll miss "Harvest Moon" and our old logo, I think what we gain is worth a lot more. it'll always be HM in our hearts, and that's what matters.

but what I'm most excited for is the fact that XSEED apparently doesn't censor things. this means so much to me as a lesbian.

my biggest issue with natsume, beyond their shotty work, was how homophobic they seem to be. while I can understand removing the "best friend" feature from HMDSC because of when it came out and how small a company they are, but when asked if any same-« Chicken Hugging » options were in Hometown Story not too long ago, we got a very angry resounding no, and were told to not ask such questions again. if XSEED does not censor, I am greatly hoping the JP team that creates HM are building up to trying again and adding another "best friend" type feature in their future games now that we're at a better place in terms of LGBT rights and acceptance and having a localizing team not too scared to keep it in.

this to me is the most exciting prospect out of anything that could come from this, but finally having a game that's close to the original and actually properly translated is a huge bonus on it's own

Blue Rose · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 7:34 pm

Taniyama Mai wrote:my biggest issue with natsume, beyond their shotty work, was how homophobic they seem to be. while I can understand removing the "best friend" feature from HMDSC because of when it came out and how small a company they are, but when asked if any same-« Chicken Hugging » options were in Hometown Story not too long ago, we got a very angry resounding no, and were told to not ask such questions again.

When/where was this?

Taniyama Mai · Post Posted: May 29, 2014 7:38 pm

Blue Rose wrote: When/where was this?

there was a threat here about HTS before it came out, and someone there had an account on the natsume site so we all came up with some questions for them to ask, and mine was if there were any same-« Chicken Hugging » marriage options. they went to the natsume forums and asked, and linked us to the responses. I'm not sure if they're still up though..I don't think the thread exists here anymore (I'll take a look but I think it's been deleted already) and I've moved computers since and I don't think the link would still be in my history, but again, I'll take a look and see if I can find it.

(*edit*, found the link: http://natsume.com/community/showthread ... post131778 that won't take you to the right post, you'll have to scroll up a little. I'm pretty sure it's been edited though. the answer now only says "no", which is odd cause I distinctly remember a much longer answer than that, and every other answer has at least full sentences if not multiple, so I'm going to guess someone said something so they edited the answer. I won't use it as an example any more though now that it can't be verified =/)