Interview with Zero no Kiseki Fan Translators

I was lucky enough to secure an interview with the very passionate and talented people who are unofficially translating Zero no Kiseki, aka Trails to Zero (not confirmed to be the final translated name).

1. Have you guys brought this fan translation up with Falcom? And if so, what is Falcom's stance on the matter?
Zerker: I don't think we have?

Gu4n: Nope, we haven’t. There isn’t really any reason to.

Zerker: Either way, Falcom has been fine with fan translation projects in the past, so I'm sure this is no different.

2. Any challenges unique to this translating this game?
JoseJL: Getting Aerial to run at a proper framerate.

Gu4n: (laughs) How long did that take again?

JoseJL: 3 weeks. Sure, not full time, but still 3 weeks...

Zerker: There are always a few barriers to get over. For example, the format of the spreadsheet we use to edit can be confusing at times. Occasionally, conversations will jump around the sheet and you have to figure out what piece of dialogue connects with what.

Gu4n: Yup. For example, dialogues that are part of the story are in the bottom half of each sheet. And within that half, the dialogues are chronologically sorted from the last chapter down to the first. It might seem counter-productive, but it’s actually more helpful to start at the bottom of a sheet and work our way up than the other way around.

Zerker: As for the game itself, the scope of the project was a little daunting at first. There's so many different NPCs walking around Crossbell City and we have to try to flesh out every one. But hey, that's a huge reason why so many people love this series. Another challenge, for me personally, is sometimes editing the younger characters. Getting that kiddy way of speaking is a bit challenging to get down-pat for some of them.

Gu4n: We each have our own forte. Zerker, for example, nails the enthusiasm of Crossbell News Service reporter Grace Lynn or the bonding moments between Lloyd and Elie. I prefer Randy’s quips or Tio’s deadpan jokes. Sergei, their chief, has this laissez-faire attitude I can also appreciate. Oh, and I love working on ace detective Dudley as well.

Zerker: Last challenge that comes to mind is trying to keep it consistent with XSeed's writing style. It's mainly grammatical issues, but it's also how they write certain words, like "y'know" and "heehee", just to give a few examples. I've been keeping my eye out for how things are written while replaying Trails of Cold Steel on PC actually!

Gu4n: Second that. Whenever I’m working on the script, I always have XSEED’s scripts open as well to ensure consistency between the games. Since they have consistenly localised Müller as Mueller, we’re following suit with Sonya Baelz (Bälz) and Joachim Guenter (Günter), for example.

3. Do you believe this game will ever see an official localisation, and why/why not?
Gu4n: Pretty much everything gets localised these days, so I’m sure this will be brought over sooner or later as well.

Zerker: Honestly, I have no idea if it will or not. I hope it does (after we finish our project, of course), but I don't see it happening before Sen no Kiseki III is localized. Sen III seems, to me, like the most important game that people will want to localize first.

JoseJL: I think so, too.

4. Finally, sorry but I'm morally obligated to ask this (😉): any release date, even a tentative one?
Gu4n: Nope. 😊

Zerker: I won't make any promises, but I hope that we'll be able to release the final version of the project before Sen no Kiseki III drops in English. Well, that's the goal, at least.

To check out the progress of the fan translation for Zero no Kiseki, check out The Geofront, which posts occasional progress reports.

Comment with Facebook