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/vr/ - Retro Games

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File: 2.96 MB, 1524x2100, 2362975-sms_phantasystar_br.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7980925 No.7980925 [Reply] [Original]

What are the best options for playing the Phantasy Star games?
1 has the original English release, a retranslation, and a remake on the PS2.
2 has the original English release, two different retranslations, and a remake on the PS2.
3 has the original English release and a retranslation.
4 only has the official English release.

What are people's thoughts on each version?

>> No.7981230

PS1 - Switch Sega Ages version
2, 3, 4 - emulate or play the latest Genesis Classics, something that has fast fwd. Retranslations are for trannies.

>> No.7981839

when you play phantasy star 1 you should play on emulator so you can get a better translation and use the FM music

>> No.7981914

Haven't played it myself, but the remake on PS2 for PS2 looks amazing
Is there a translation patch yet?

>> No.7982167

>>7981914
>Is there a translation patch yet?
Yes. I don't think OP would've listed it otherwise.

>> No.7984394

>>7980925
Thought M2 remade them.

>> No.7984408

The Switch version of PS1 is really good, I played it when it came out.

>> No.7984720

>>7980925
Switch version of PS1 is the definitive way to play it.
The map, quick reference for the items/spells, and the ability to toggle between FM and PSG are all godsends.

>> No.7984983

>>7980925
Retranslation for PS1 isn't actually a retranslation, but a straight up rewrite and they don't even hide it as they got the proper English script up on Github, but decided to go with their fanfic instead.
Switch version is the best, especially if you don't want to draw dungeon maps by hand.

>> No.7985838

>>7984983
The older retranslation is fine. It's only the latest patch that is complete garbage.

>> No.7987548

>>7984720
xp/money booster is off, you either get the painful original or obscenely easy 4x each.

>> No.7987614

>>7980925
I would say just play them. Pick a version and go. The stress over choosing the right version overtakes the joy of just playing it, whatever it may be.

>> No.7987763

>>7980925
1, 2, and 3 have bad official translations, so I would assume the fan translations are better. The official translation for 4 is quite good, actually, so I'm not surprised that there's no fan translation.
In the end, it doesn't matter much. There's not much text in the first three games anyway.

>> No.7987895

>>7987763
2's translation completely fucks a major plot point in it after the Climatrol boss. You are told by the Clone Lab Grandma that Nei can't be revived because she's not human despite it not being a problem prior to that. Having read the JP version the actual reason is that her body was so horribly mangled by Neifirst there's not enough human biological matter to create a clone with. To provide a rough translation; "What could've caused such a mess? All the parts that are human are destroyed and can't be restored to their original state. It's impossible to bring this girl back to life"

>>7987763
One exists for 4, doesn't do anything of worth.

>> No.7988276
File: 39 KB, 515x1464, Phantasy Star (J) (patched)-210628-160810.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7988276

>>7980925
whatever you do don't play 1 with original EN translation

>> No.7988498

>>7988276
Does the Switch version have a new translation?

>> No.7988562

>>7987548
I don't think the grind in PS1 is bad, except the VERY beginning

>> No.7988710
File: 292 KB, 1417x794, pscc.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7988710

This video goes into reasonable technical detail about the various ports.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3y5V0jjlQE
tl;dr the PS2 collection is the most faithful and quality collection of the games with a bunch of options for display and gameplay, whereas the Switch version of 1 has the added QoL features but with degraded audio.
They say the PS2 remakes of 1 and 2 are poorly regarded, but don't really explain why.

>>7988498
Turns out the answer is no, so if you want the retranslations you have to go with the original releases.

>> No.7988858

>>7980925
How's PS2 versions of Phantasy Star 1 and 2 compare to the originals?

>> No.7989337

>>7988276
>quick, short, dialog that gets the point across
VS
>extremely long, autistic(no one talks like that.), literal translation from the original Japanese

>> No.7989414
File: 266 KB, 949x800, 1421987447972.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7989414

>>7989337

>> No.7989432

>>7988276
Left is unironically better

>> No.7989456

>>7984720
Honestly the FM sound is fucking garbage though, the sound effects are ungodly levels of grating
The dungeon themes sound pretty awesome though

>> No.7989459

>>7987548
The original isn't painful at all. Only a little bitch goes for 4x exp/money in any case.

>> No.7990268

The best version of 1 is the Sega Ages line on Switch.

The best versions of 2/3/4, and the second best version of 1, are on the PS2 collection, not to be confused with the remakes which are also on PS2. The Collection has the original versions, with English versions included and various options for text and walk speed toggles. Though you will need to play on a Japanese region PS2 or emulate

>> No.7990270

>>7981914
Don't play the remakes your first time, they fuck up the balance. the 2 remake in particular takes a ton of unnecessary liberties with the original game.

>> No.7990829

>>7989337
>literal translation from the original Japanese
No, that's the thing. It's 50-60% made up bullshit. The awkwardness would be tolerable if it was at least based on the orginial script. But as it has been mentioned before, the 1.3 patch does not have this problem, it's no more verbose than the original release while being more accurate. I cannot fathom why they redid it, and now everyone is convinced there is no good retranslation, because they only look at the new one.

>> No.7990891
File: 1.13 MB, 658x2200, japanese.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7990891

>>7990829
I can't find any footage of the 1.3 patch, but since arguing about translation accuracy without the Japanese to compare to is pointless, here's the Japanese text for the scene in question. Going by >>7988276, the official translation is awkard and simplified and changes names, whereas the 2.1 retranslation is indeed just making up a heap of shit that wasn't there in Japanese. Basically the worst kinds of two different types of localisation competing here.

>> No.7991691

>>7990268
>Though you will need to play on a Japanese region PS2 or emulate
Can't you just play them from HD?

>> No.7991705

Or you could play it in Japanese as the developers intended.

>> No.7992010

>>7991705
The devs intended for me to understand their script. They would have translated it themselves.

>> No.7992697

>>7990891
If it is only written in kana and has some proper spacing between the words, I might as well play it in japanese. I need more games written like this

>> No.7992789

The game gear games take place in the same timeline right?
Does PS Online / Universe have any ties to the original series or hints?

>> No.7992827

>>7990891
Here, a link that has a script and even a real translation alongside the 2.1 one.
https://github.com/maxim-zhao/psrp/blob/master/psrp/script.yaml
That said, I'm not sure if there was an older version that wasn't shit. Going by a note from readme, most script changes were there since the beginning and 2.0 was just a minor touch up.

>> No.7992831

>>7992789
>The game gear games take place in the same timeline right?
Yes.
>Does PS Online / Universe have any ties to the original series or hints?
Outside of meta fanservice-y stuff and some minor wink-wink moments: not really.

>> No.7992867
File: 781 KB, 1891x1503, phantasy star translation comparison.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7992867

>>7990891
Ok, so there is no 1.3 patch for PS1, so that didn't help. The actual old patch version prior to the 2.00 update was 1.02. I've gone ahead and added all of them together. I also grabbed the Japanese from the original game, whereas >>7990891 was taken from the Ages version, which seems to have revised the script, since almost everything in the Mega Drive version is in katakana, whereas the Ages version is mostly hiragana with some katakana.

Anyway, the 1.02 retranslation is less needlessly verbose but still rather inaccurate. What a mess.

>>7992827
And you posted that as I was doing this. You're right, there is an actual translation in there. And they just discarded that to make fanfiction for their patch. What's wrong with these retards? I'll throw that in too.

>> No.7993127
File: 49 KB, 352x509, 1569153559442.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7993127

>>7980925
>PS II
>ends with a sudden batshit last second swerve that Earth not only exists in this setting, but Earthlings are marauding assholes and are launching an imminent invasion of the Algol star system
Yo what the fuck, no wonder 3 just fucked off to do its own weird thing and IV quietly scrubbed away the last 45 seconds of II.

>> No.7993134

>>7993127
One of the endings of PSIII may or may not lead into PSII. It's a time loop

>> No.7993149

>>7988276
>man is dying and only has a few words left in him
>WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS
Left is objectively better.

>> No.7993204
File: 23 KB, 446x267, Real Human Bean.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7993204

Post best party members.

>> No.7993548

>>7992867
Thanks for compiling that image!
Now I have something actually to show people who claim that """retranslation""" is or was good.

>> No.7993663

reminder that the "retranslation" its a crappy rewriting and the original localization is much more faithful
the FM music is nice i guess

>> No.7993692

>>7993663
Like half of the thread is about that.
But also you can always play Switch release for the FM Music.
Or someone can look into recompiling the Phantasy Star disassembly SMS Power made with the inlusion of US script. On a glance at their github, it seems to be like a doable task without that much of a hassle.

>> No.7994547

Still dont know which version of 1 I should play...

>> No.7994581
File: 104 KB, 500x720, Pscollection_ps2_ages.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7994581

>>7994547
Maybe this one?

>> No.7994769

>>7994547
Switch one

>> No.7994779

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK6uRRGeakM

mega drive collection came out on PSP too they seem like decent emulations of the game... theyre slow RPGs tho so its not like there was any BLAST PROCESSING needed

>> No.7994787

>>7994779
Seems like it doesnt have the first game from what Ive seen.

>> No.7995823

>>7987895
2's official translation also fucks up the earthmen encounter. in the jp version they explain how dark falz corrupted mankind and caused men to ruin earth before they left. they go on to say that dark falz lives in all of their hearts but claim that they can control it and that they are above it's corruption.

>> No.7995839

>>7980925
3 is the only one where the retranslation is really the only way to get the proper lore.
the official translation of 3 is so absolutely botched that even if the retranslation has some fanfiction, and i haven't seen evidence of that, the retranslation would still be better.

the official translation of 3 copy pasted the entire technique list from 2 into 3 even though only 3 techs returned from the previous game. the other 13 techs are new techs with the wrong names that often don't even come close to a similarity to the same named techs in the previous game. and the rest of the official version is filled with these lazy copy paste jobs even throughout the story content.

>> No.7995910
File: 1.63 MB, 1920x1080, please_gimme_your_bbc.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7995910

>>7992867
The translation for the PS2 remake, called Generation doesn't seem much better either.

>Tyrone
My fucking sides.

Honestly I think I will just skip this cluster fuck of a series as a whole.
Only had interest in it since I liked PSO but it looks like this shit is not worth my time.

>> No.7995930
File: 34 KB, 172x166, 1596761722361.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7995930

>>7995910
>>Tyrone

>> No.7995969

>>7995910
タイロン
tairon

>> No.7995983

>>7995910
that is his name in japanese
タイロン is pronounced tyrone
ta i roh n

>> No.7995998
File: 22 KB, 365x280, 1406077476736.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7995998

>>7995983
That would be タイローン.

>> No.7996004

>>7995998
Only for the Biohazard character.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3

>> No.7996010

>>7995998
ロ doesn't make the rah or lah sound that tyron or tylon would make in english.
both タイロン and タイローン are tyrone

>> No.7996012

>>7995998
>>7996010
in fact ロー would warrant adding an h to the actual english spelling after the o to indicate holding the long o sound for a longer period than usual

>> No.7996019

>>7996010
>>7996012
What are you talking about? The O sound in ロン is the same as in John, whereas the O sound in ローン is the same as in loan, hence the latter is the one that fits Tyrone rather than the former.
>>7996004 is right though because Japan picks and chooses how to convert things into katakana in nonsensical ways.

>> No.7996021

>>7995969
>>7995983
So if that is true then the retranslation of 1 made even the name up?

Jesus Christ what the fuck are they doing.

>> No.7996027

>>7996019
>Japan picks and chooses how to convert things into katakana in nonsensical ways.
Katakana is perfectly reasonable. The English pronunciation is the one that's fucked up.

>> No.7996035

>>7996027
>He says this as it was just demonstrated that Tyrone (/taJˈɹoʊn/) is rendered in katakana as タイロン (/taJˈɾoŋ/
I suspect that your complaint about "English pronunciation" is actually a complaint about the inconsistency of English spelling, which while a valid complaint, isn't a defence of the failed conversion here.

>> No.7996037

>>7996035
Where is Tyrone pronounced (/taJˈɹoʊn/)? Certainly not in Ireland.

>> No.7996040

>>7996037
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Tyrone
Pronunciation
(US) IPA(key): /taJˈɹoʊn/
(Ireland) IPA(key): /tJˈɹoʊn/

>> No.7996042

>>7996019
>The O sound in ロン is the same as in John
not in american english
americans use a distinct A sound

>> No.7996046

>>7996042
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/john
>it's true
>American version sounds closer to Jann than John
Man you guys are fucked up.

>> No.7996058

>>7996046
thats why tyrone is the only spelling that works for american english that comes close to the japanese pronounciation.
if the romanization from the phantasy star collection artbook were used. Tylon. Americans would be calling him "tailann"

>> No.7996070

>>7996058
and ps collection romanizations are all over the place. in that book Alisa was Alicer, Eusis was Yousis, Rudger was Rudoga, and Lyla was Ryre

>> No.7996079
File: 1.40 MB, 2400x3386, PSCollection_0033.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7996079

>>7996070
>Hearn

>> No.7996124

I don't care.
I'm not playing the game, not going to be Tyrone's bitch.

>> No.7996174

>>7996124
tyrone is forgotten after 1. pretty much just lutz and alisa get mentioned for the rest of the series with an occasional myau.
phantasy star 1 is skipable anyway. start with 2, that's where the rest of the series truly branches from.

>> No.7996182

>>7996174
That's funny cuz I always heard people saying 2 is the absolute worst garbage.
Something about "meh storywise" and horrible teleporter levels that are barely beatable without a map.

I was actually joking but the more I hear about this series the more I want to not get into it.

>> No.7996224

>>7996182
its 1 that is meh storywise, it's close to generic fantasy but it's in spaaace, the sprite art and first person dungeons are what makes it good.
1 has ok story with ok presentation.
2 has the most interesting story in the series with ok presentation.
3 has the second most interesting story with bad presentation and everyone usually likes to shit on it.
4 has ok story with really good presentation.

dungeons in 1 and 2 can be difficult without mapping. welcome to retro rpgs.

>> No.7996572

>>7988276
Megaverbocity would like their library back.

>> No.7997981

>>7996042
First 'sayga' and now this. I really hate American accents.

>> No.7999003

>>7988276
jesus christ all that talk about THE DARKNESS in the right one it's Kingdom Hearts levels of cheesy

>> No.7999054

>>7997981
Anon, that's how Sega is said in Japanese.