#trying a post format. eek. thought i was cool w this tho

[bitbytebot]

i think OFF is getting a new, official english translation alongside the fangamer merch releases in december.

my reasoning: i've been digging through the website given in the teaser. right now it's an email newsletter signup page; this makes sense, given that the URL needs to be live to build hype up to the event date.

on this website, there's a rotation of quotes from OFF that are in english. and apparently, along with the very rare and completely new quote that pops up on there sometimes, the quotes the website flashes are not a match to the v3 english fan translation... even though that's the only way to play the game in english. (yes i know about forgotten dreams)

i have OFF english translation v3 open in RPG maker 2003 right now on my laptop. and using some web dev magic, i also have the official text from all of these dialogues. come find out why i've slowly been going insane over the course of today. (it's thanksgiving 2024, if you were wondering. also this post is probably best viewed on desktop.)

here's a quote from purified.zone, the teaser website from fangamer.

Uh... will you find the leader of the specters? Well... it would be great if that were possible... Well... yes...

and here is that same quote, directly from the r3proj file used by the OFF v3 english translation.

Uh... Will you find the leader of the spectres? Well... It would be great if that was possible... Well... yes...

sentence-case capitalization and tense changes aside, the move from "spectre" (european english) to "specter" (american english) immediately jumps out at me. (i say european, but i don't know the translator's nationality. i just know that professor layton did that with one of their games, last specter in the USA and last spectre in europe.) the important part being, mortis ghost is belgian and speaks french. the original game had it as spectres, and either the fan translator was european or preferred that spelling and kept it. fangamer, however, is an american company -- and the spelling of "specters" on their site is specifically in american english. (only we would fuck up a perfectly good word. it looks way better with the re.)

how do I know it wasn't just a typo? because there's two lines with the word specter in them on the site! screenshots upon ye!

You've come to eliminate the specters? That's good news.

You've come to eliminate the spectres? That's good news.

not just someone getting carried away on copy, then -- this is an intentional change. specifically, i think this difference can be explained by these being two subsequent translations, first v3 and now the website/new english translation/steam release/v4, with differing guidelines for their finished products. they're entirely TOO similar to not be related, to me -- forgotten dreams (2023) is a good example of a vastly different english translation of the game, and proves that one can be done. but if you have a widely beloved english fan translation that already exists... why not just get the rights and spice it up a little with some fresh editing?

So, will the final verdict be handed down soon? The employees here are certainly in need of your muscular wrist...

So, will the final verdict soon be reached? Numerous employees are certainly in need of your muscular wrist...

these changes feel like they've been made by a copy editor; the meaning is the same, but the structure flows better. "soon be reached" fits a latin language (french) phrase structure where the verb goes at the end of the question, whereas "be handed down soon" is a more natural english phrasing, at least to this native english speaker.

some changes, however, are stylistic in nature. i quite like the change in dedan's line here, for example.

If all of you would just listen to me more often, you wouldn't keep stepping in it.

If only you listened to me more often, you wouldn't keep making fools of yourselves.

"stepping in it" feels WAY more natural and in character for dedan to say. he's the big man in charge, da boss! he isn't wasting his time on lengthy diatribes, saying shit like "if only." this is a localization change, giving dedan a gruff and tough vibe through the way he talks. good stuff!!!

but it's a lot of care and thought being put into these dialogue rewrites for, need I remind you again, an email newsletter website. (this thing is written in like, straight html/css/javascript, i doubt they even used a web builder.) the guy that made this didn't retranslate the lines for this; he got his copy from someone, who got it from somewhere else, which somewhere all the way down along the line got approved by mortis ghost. and fangamer, obviously.

this post is long, we've been here awhile. how about a refresher: I think OFF is getting a v4 official english translation coordinated around the release of this new fangamer merchandise wave.

because if i'm fangamer, should i release merchandise for a beloved cult classic game that can only be played in english by my target american audience when using an unofficial translation on a real computer? where you have to use the file system? i don't know if i would. wouldn't you rather release merch for something safe, something on steam or consoles? something like undertale?

oh. that's weird, that link goes to a physical release of undertale being sold on fangamer's website. that's not merch, that is a game that was originally released digital only on computers and wasn't released physically + on consoles until a few years after. not to mention that you can buy undertale physical edition in stores these days, as published by fangamer, due to its massive popularity.

hm.

let's see... what about FAITH the unholy trinity?

see, that was originally a little indie game released in three chapters on itch.io that blew up with the lofi/analog horror scene, and ended up getting a steam remaster + physical release + merch release from fangamer. given their shared themes of cleansing, unsettling imagery, and excellent character writing, you can see where i might draw some similarities -- they both have pixel art, for one thing.

i think the pattern is there. it's true, fangamer does sell just merch and not physical releases for some games -- oneshot comes to mind, but that game was officially ported to consoles, which is an entirely different undertaking given that it uses fourth wall break mechanics. the tradeoff makes sense to me for it to still be profitable. (most people probably don't own a physical copy of stardew valley and yet probably do have a piece of stardew merch from fangamer...)

no, there has not been an official announcement about this. this is purely speculative, with evidence gathered from one afternoon of poking around with postman and rpg maker 2003. but i think there's evidence for OFF getting, at the very least, an official steam/itch.io release with a new translation. the date announcement trailer even has game footage from an area that isn't in the original game data. so... there's that, too.

i probably could have just led with that and saved us both 1219 words. ah, well. c'est la vie.