Chrono Trigger: DS Ultimania OUT!! Translators Desperately Needed!

[FaustWolf]

ShikiGami, huge, huge THANK YOU for doing that!

Agh, not a single question like, "So, explain the Dream Devourer ending, pretty pretty please?"

Still, maybe we should get Kato's thoughts on the last three questions, just to see if he might drop hints. I'll dig that up, plus whatever direct commentary there is on the Dream Devourer.

[Lorenz]

Hello.  I just wanted to volunteer to do some translation work should any still remain.  I am a long time fan of the Chrono Series and am fluent in Japanese.  So, feel free to e-mail me if I can be of any assistance. 

[Abel]

Awesome! *high fives Lorenz*

Faust, get this man my scans ASAP  ! haha.

Actually, I'll take care of it

Thanks for the help, Lorenz!


- Abel

[Harro]

Thank you Lorenz 

[FaustWolf]

Thanks Lorenz!

Check your PMs for a smaller download of high-priority material.

[ShikiGami]

Please send me too some material to translate

[FaustWolf]

Your wish is my command, ShikiGami! Check your PMs.

[V_Translanka]

Isn't it a good idea to have multiple translators go over the same material?

[FaustWolf]

It'd be a good idea to do that once we've got initial translations. For now, there's so much material that I think we'd be taking a huge risk of missing something big by focusing multiple translators on the same article(s).

[V_Translanka]

Isn't that what you risk by only having one person translate it...?

[FaustWolf]

Damned if you, damned if you don't I guess. Let's see what happens with the current setup, unless ZeaLitY wants to focus multiple translators on a really high priority article or something.

[ZeaLitY]

We're taking everything we can get for now. Glitter has many other projects (she's very much in the springtime of youth), so we shouldn't become used to service availability.

[FaustWolf]

Here's the translation for the introduction, p. 3

Hello again.  I took the liberty of pasting the translation for the first two pages (the intro and the table of contents) in this message.  It's far from perfect, but I hope it helps.  Naturally, feel free to e-mail me with any questions, and I'll try to get the second scan translated and over to you tomorrow.  So, without any further ado, the translation starts in 3, 2, 1...


Let’s go back about nine years – to the end of 1999.

When the members of the production staff were working on the Ultimania Guide for Chrono Cross, the sequel to Chrono Trigger, one idea kept raising its head:

We wanted to try to write an Ultimania, not just for Chrono Cross, but for Chrono Trigger, too.

But there was little hope that that dream was ever going to come true.

That is because there was no reason for a publishing company to ok an Ultimania guide when the original game had been newly released back in 1995.

But there were some big changes at the end of 2008.

Thanks to the massive Time Gate called the Nintendo DS appearing in this world, Chrono Trigger has emerged in the present as a new product once more.

Along with Chrono Trigger’s reemergence, our dream has also become a reality.

Who could have predicted this turn of events?!

Quickly, we hatched a Time Egg of our own memories and brought back tons of information from 13 years ago.

The cramming together of the accumulated knowledge of the past and the newly minted “know-how” gained from a fresh play-through of the DS version resulted in this book.

Both as an attendant on a magnificent trip through time, and as a guide for viewing all of Chrono Trigger’s endings, we hope you will be able to take full advantage of this guidebook.

(Note: I am not certain about the last sentence in the introduction.  I believe it is a shortened version of a common polite phrase, but the wording is a little strange to me.)

Translation for the Table of Contents:

CONTENTS

Prologue               
World Map               
An Introduction to Chrono Trigger     

CHAPTER 1
Characters               
Chrono           
Marle                 
Lucca               
Robo
Frog
Ayla
Magus
NPCs (literally “people you encounter on your adventure” in the Japanese)

A Guidebook to Ultimania 1
Dialog Options (literally “Let’s enjoy the changing of lines,” in the Japanese)

CHAPTER 2
Game System
Before setting out on your journey
Map movement
Menu
Parameters
Battle basics
Attack basics
Techs and Double/Triple Techs (literally “skills and combination skills” in the Japanese)
    Tech list  (literally “skill list”)
Status Effects
Affinities/Attributes?  (I forget what this is called in the English version.  It refers to the elemental alignment of a character, for example Lucca is fire and Frog is water.)

A Guidebook to Ultimania 2
Battle Technique Course

CHAPTER 3
Main Scenarios
View of the main scenario’s chapters
1 Departure! Dreaming 1,000-Year-Festival
2 The Prodigal Queen
3 The Vanished Princess
4 I’m home!
5 Kingdom Trial
6 Beyond the Ruins…
7 The Mysterious Country’s Factory Ruins
8 The Brink of Time
9 The People of Demon Village
10 The Appearance of the Legendary Hero
11 Tata and Frog
12 Red Stone, Rare Stone
13 Footprints! Chase!
14 Fight, Grand Leon!
15 The Decisive Battle! Magus’ Castle!!
16 Waking up in the Primitive Age
17 Earth’s Laws
18 Magic Kingdom Zeal
19 Release the seal, summon the storm.
20 The Wise Men of the Mountain of Grief
21 What Waits in the Heavens
22 Lavos’ Call
23 The New Ancient Emperor
24 The Time Egg
25 To the Fated Time
26 At the End of the Planet’s Dream

A Guidebook to Ultimania 3
Advanced: Monster Evasion

CHAPTER 4
Side Quests (literally “multi-events”)
Side Quest Challenge
A) The Green Dream
B) Ozzy's Palace (Ozzy is called "Vinegar" in the Japanese)
C) Geno Dome (in Japanese, an abbreviation/pun on “Genocide Dome”)
D) Sun Stone
E) Hero’s Tomb
F) Rainbow Shells
G) Dragon’s Santuary
H) Dimensional Vortex
I) Darkness at the End of Time (lit. “Time’s Darkness”)

A Guidebook to Ultimania 4
Go for it!  Quiz master!

CHAPTER 5
Items
Item Classification
Shops
Item List

A Guidebook to Ultimania 5
A Guide to “Seduction” Items (This references Ayla’s tech.)

CHAPTER 6
Monsters
Monster List

A Guidebook to Ultimania 6
Recommendations for Completing your Compendium (This references the extras that track and display the enemies in the game, may also include the same features as they apply to items, techs, etc…)

CHAPTER 7
Arena of Ages (literally “Dimensional Arena”)
How to Compete (literally “play”) in the Arena of the Ages
Arena of Ages’ Facilities
Choose your monster
Train your monster (lit. “Strengthen your monster with training.”)
Battle your monster (lit. “Challenge monster battles.”)
Arena of Ages Monster List

A Guidebook to Ultimania 7
Arena of Ages: Training and Battle Guidance

CHAPTER 8
Secrets
Complete Ending Guide
Complete Gallery (lit. “Gallery’s everything”)
Secret 30
Masato Kato Mail Interview
Mitsuda Yasunori Interview

INDEX : )


Foldout poster
Front: Effects and Tech List
Back: Chart of each episode’s main acts and an ending guide

*In this book, each main scenario is listed numerically from 1 to 26; each side quest is listed alphabetically from A to I.

Translation for p. 580

22 Initiation into the ways of speedy “Monster Extermination”
     Mini-Game

You can clear the “Monster Extermination” mini-game in Leene Square’s Beckerah Experiment Hut without having to touch the blue light on the left side of the screen by use lightning fast timing to knock back the monsters in this order: middle, left, right, left, right, right.  The trick is to press the D-Pad in a diagonal-up direction when moving your character. (See Page 117)

Picture Caption:  Even if you start run a little bit behind, if you hit the left and right monster one more time each it is still possible to clear the game without touching the blue light.

23 Secrets of the Poyozo doll and the Doppleganger Doll
     Mini-Game

By clearing a mini-game at Leene Square’ Beckerah Experiment Hut you can get two types of dolls: a Poyozo and a Doppleganger.  As shown in the chart below, the dolls will be sent to various locations depending on who is the head of your party.  While on the topic, the result of examining the dolls will change as well, with the Poyozo playing a different tune until you exit to the world map and the Doppleganger assuming different random positions.

Chart Destination of the Dolls and Poyozo’s BGM
Character   Destination         BGM
Chrono   Truce, Chrono’s House, 2F   Chrono and Marle, Far Away Promise
Marle   Guardia Castle (Present Day)   Chrono and Marle, Far Away Promise
   Princess’ Room     
Lucca   Lucca’s House,      Chrono and Marle, Far Away Promise
   Lucca’s Room
Robo   Prometheus Dome      Robo’s Theme
   (lit, “Promete Dome”),
   Entrance
Frog   Monster Frog Forest,      Frog’s Theme
   Frog’s Hidden House
Ayla   Ioka Village, Chief’s Tent   Ayla’s Theme
Magus   North Cape      Magus’ Decisive Battle

24 A Must See for Top Breeders – The Mechanism Behind the Fluctuation in the Number of Cats
    Mini-Game

You can first get a cat by winning at “Monster Extermination” at Leene Square’s Beckrah Experiment Hut, increasing the number of cats at Chrono’s house to two.  From that point on, the number of cats in Chrono’s House will fluctuate depending on the amount of cat food you have (you win more by playing the same mini-game, see Page 117).  The actual method for determining this is spelled out below.  If the number of cats increases, the number of cats that appear when the Silver Bird remains undamaged (lit “ShiruBa-do,” perhaps a shortening of/pun of Silver and Bird) in ending 001 “To the Other Side of Time” will also increase accordingly.

Info Box: The Process of Fluctuation in the Number of Cats
* Every time the party enters the fountain area of Leene Square, the amount of cat food decreases by 0-3 grams.  If that exhausts your cat food supply there is an approximately 4-35% chance that you will lose a cat (the greater the number of cats, the greater chance one will disappear).  Provided you still have some cat food, the probability that you will gain a cat is between 0-77 percent (the less cats you have, the greater the chance that an extra one will appear).
*After a new cat has appeared, the amount of cat food will drop between 2-200 grams (the more cats there are, the more likely it is that a large amount of food will disappear).
*The maximum number of cats you can have is 11, the minimum is 2.

25 What Happens if You Change a Character’s Name?
     Name Change

In the game you are able to decide the names of the characters yourself.   Even after you have chosen a name once, you have the freedom to go back and change them later (See Page 217, 240).  Changing their names will influence the game in the following ways:

Info Box: The Effects of Changing Names
* Marle’s real name will become “the first 3 character of her name” + “dia.”
*After defeating Yakra the 13th and returning to the banquet hall in Guardia Castle (present day), the HP and MP recovery meal you will be able to eat will be named “the first two character of Chrono’s name” + “Special.”
* The character names as they appear in the quiz available in The Dimensional Vortex’s Mysterious Town will also change to reflect any alterations made to their names.

Picture: Depending on the names you choose, Tech names and in-game explanations can end up sounding hilarious. (NOTE: The picture shows Ayla doing the “kuronage” attack.  It is called this because “kuro” are the first two characters of Chrono’s name, and “nage” comes from the verb “nageru,” meaning “to throw.”  So the attack literally means “Throw Chrono,” or “Chrono Toss.”  However, the player renamed Chrono “ha” in Japanese.  Thus, the explanation highlighted within the red square in the top left corner of the picture shows that, accordingly, the explanation of the Tech has been changed to “hanage” instead of “kuronage.”  This would be funny to Squeenix’s – and Ultimania’s – target Japanese audience since the new word it creates “hanage” means “nose hair” in Japanese, certainly one of the most fearsome-sounding attacks in the game.  It’s almost as bad as being smashed by an Omega Flare… or licked by Frog.)

Page 581 is coming up next, and that's one of the most juicy ones. Hopefully it'll give us some insight into the Dream Devourer.

I can provide scans if anyone would like to apply the translation to the scans, or we could wait for that because the translations are just a bit rough at this point.

[FaustWolf]

p. 581

26 What happens if you examine curtain, thrones and so on?
     Things on the Map
Investigate particular places on the map and objects will move, characters will perform special actions.  You might enjoy visiting those places and checking out those reactions.

Info Box: List of Places Where Something Happens When You Investigate
Location         Happening
Truce, Second Floor of   The curtain opens and closes.
   Chrono’s House
Sky Prison, Cell Block    A man turns into a skeleton.
Ozzy’s (Vinegar’s) Palace,   Examine the pulley and the upper part of the chain moves
   Conveyer Belt Path
Giant’s Claw,                   The party leader sits on the throne and laughs.
   Old Throne Room

27 The Piano Player’s Song List Grows Larger and Larger
     Pianist’s Songs

If you treat the female piano player at Truce Inn to a drink, she’ll play you a song, and the number of songs she can play increases the story progresses.  The type of song and the requirements for unlocking those songs are listed below.  Also, after you unlock two or more songs every time you buy her a drink the song she’ll play is chosen at random.

Info Box: Additional Songs and Conditions to Unlock Them
Song Name         Condition
Green Remembrance                  Can be heard from the start of the game
The Wind’s Longing                  Return to the Present in chapter 4, “I’m Home!”
Desolate World                  Return to the Present in chapter 9, “The People of Demon Village”.
Wind, Sky and Earth Rhythym    Go to the Primitive Age in chapter 12, “Red Stone, Rare Stone”.
Corridors of Time                      Go to the Ancient Age in chapter 18, “Magic Kingdom Zeal”



28 Dialog Before and After Battles Changes According to the Situation
     Enemy Dialogue

During the story there are a lot of bosses to fight, but one part of those battles, the conversations that lead into and follow them, can change depending on the circumstances.  For example, the battle that occurs in Zeal Temple with the Dalton Golem – regardless of the outcome of this fight the story will progress, but if you win a frustrated speech by Dalton will be added.  Also, the lines delivered when you battle Nizbel in Pteran Castle change depending on whether or not you spoke with Nizbel before the fight.

29 The Unexpected Origin of AU, the Name of the Character Hiding Behind the Shield
     Monsters’ Names

In the Black Dream there is a monster who goes by the strange name of “AU.”  At first glance you may think this mean “hero,” but the truth is that the golden shield braced before the shadowy figure is also one part of the origin of this name.  In the Periodic Table of Elements, gold is represented by the symbol “Au,” so that is where his name is derived from.  (Gold shield – Au Shield – “AU”)
(NOTE: Ok.  This one is tricky and may require a bit of Japanese knowledge and a gander at the original scan to understand.  Also, I honestly don’t remember what this guy’s name is in the English version anyway; so that only further impedes my ability to explain this satisfactorily.  Moral of the story is the enemy’s name is a really lame pun.  In Japanese, a lot of words with different meanings sound the same; a fertile ground for punning.  The big joke here is that in katakana the enemy’s name is “eiyu-“ which shares its pronunciation with the two-character kanji meaning, basically, “hero” or “brave person.”  So a Japanese person would probably assume that was the meaning.  However – and here’s the real knee-slapper – it turns out that they named him that because they were trying to awkwardly transliterate the Periodic Table symbol for gold, Au, into Japanese.  Get it?  He has a gold shield and… oh never mind…  Let’s just get to the big finish, shall we?)

30 A Door to Another Chrono Hidden Within the Ending (lit. “…the Ending, etc…/ the Ending and other places” but that sounds really awkward.)
     Examination of Events

In an ending movie and some of the additions special to the DS version, there are some parts that you won’t understand if you have only played Chrono Trigger.  The truth is that these sections suggest a connection to Chrono Trigger’s sequel, Chrono Cross.  That game is set in a Gaurdia Kingdom that has been decimated by Porre (lit. “Parepori”) 20 years after the adventure of Chrono and company, and there are clues as to how that came to pass hidden within Chrono Trigger.

Picture 1: In one ending, is the baby picked up by Lucca really Chrono Cross’ heroine, Kid?

Picture 2: In Event I, “The Darkenss at the End of Time” (lit. “Time’s Darkness), the “Dream Devourer” you battle makes one think of an evolved form of Chrono Cross’ final boss, “The Devourer of Time."
(NOTE:  In the screenshot, the dialogue box basically reads: “If everything vanishes, that is fine.  If everything is lost, then so be it.”  Now, I know this is the kind of thing people love to overanalyze – I have read some of those Magus/Guile posts : ) – so I’ll leave it at that for now.  BUT I will say there are definitely a few different ways to translate/interpret what Magus/Janus/Jacky is saying here.)

Picture 3: In Event H, “The Dimensional Vortex,” Dalton’s declaration that Porre will seize political power is in agreement with the background of Chrono Cross.
(NOTE:  In the screenshot, Dalton is saying: “Because someday I will make Porre into world’s the strongest military nation and destroy your country.  Don’t ever forget that, Chrono!”  Again, some minor variance probably exists in how to translate that one as well, but I’m fairly confident with that one.)

SOOO… there you have it.  The big secret is that… Ultimania does absolutely nothing to shed light on any of the franchise’s big secrets.  At least now we know what the chances are of one of our cats dying when we get tired of guessing where the hell Wedge is to get more food to feed the greedy buggers ; )

Last, and probably least, the four lines on the far right of the page, in the orange block section, read, from top to bottom:
Guide to Every Ending
All About the Gallery
Secret 30
Interviews

Huge thanks Lorenz!

Call me a pessimist, but Lorenz' rough translation indicates, to me, that Kato/Square may fully expect the fans to put two and two together after seeing the Dream Devourer ending, and consider CT:DS and CC to be self-contained. Thus, a new game is not necessarily in the works. Unless CT:DS' sales justify it of course...

[V_Translanka]

Well, there's a couple things I never knew anyways...I didn't know the catfood went down based on entering the fountain area of the fairgrounds...nor did I know that stuff about the piano players (because I never talk to them again after the very beginning of the game, lol!)...Thanks for your time, Lorenz!