***** RPG thread

[Statesman]

tfw no european looking mongolian gf who lives in a yurt

We are losing Rusty :weeb: ...

[gerey]

We are losing Rusty ...

I have leaked footage from rusty's home of him swearing allegiance to the CCP.

It's over.

► Show Spoiler

[rusty_shackleford]

Got tiger penis.

[rusty_shackleford]

It doesn't have the player freedom of hero's adventure tho. But it's an open world game with a fun world to explore.

It still has reactivity tho. e.g., I was on my way to rescue someone and saved two villages on my way there, the guy I was rescuing was on a mission to save those villages(along with another) and it has lines specifically for rescuing two of the villages so far.

The protagonists in the two games I've played too far feel a bit too well-defined for my tastes tho. Not JRPG-tier, but closer to something like Geralt in Witcher.

[Statesman]

It doesn't have the player freedom of hero's adventure tho. But it's an open world game with a fun world to explore.

It still has reactivity tho. e.g., I was on my way to rescue someone and saved two villages on my way there, the guy I was rescuing was on a mission to save those villages(along with another) and it has lines specifically for rescuing two of the villages so far.

The protagonists in the two games I've played too far feel a bit too well-defined for my tastes tho. Not JRPG-tier, but closer to something like Geralt in Witcher.

Hmm, that still sounds better than your average modern RPG.

We are losing Rusty ...

I have leaked footage from rusty's home of him swearing allegiance to the CCP.

It's over.

► Show Spoiler

Maybe that is where @Oyster Sauce got his genderbent avatar idea from...

[rusty_shackleford]

Providing context really helps with the translation. I like seeing what the AI outputs in its 'think' part:

<think>
Okay, let's break this down.

1.  **Characters:** The speaker is Ling Shuangjun. He's talking to the player character (Xiaoxiaomi). He mentions "Bao Ge" (Zhang Junbao), a "beautiful Daoist nun," and his father, who is also the sect leader (掌门人).

2.  **Events:** Zhang Junbao returned to Qingcheng Mountain with a beautiful Daoist nun. They went directly to the Sanqing Hall to have a private conversation with Ling Shuangjun's father, the sect leader. Ling Shuangjun is curious about the Daoist nun's background.

3.  **Actions:**
    *   Zhang Junbao: Returns to Qingcheng Mountain with the Daoist nun. Seeks a private meeting with the sect leader.
    *   Daoist nun: Accompanies Zhang Junbao.
    *   Ling Shuangjun's father (sect leader): Meets with Zhang Junbao and the Daoist nun.
    *   Ling Shuangjun: Observes this and is curious. He asks the player character about the Daoist nun's background.

4.  **Translation:** The line is Ling Shuangjun expressing his curiosity and asking the player for information. He's clearly nosy and a bit gossipy. The "咳咳" is a nervous cough, likely because he's referring to his father.

5.  **Review:** The translation should convey Ling Shuangjun's gossipy nature and his desire to know more about the Daoist nun.

6.  **Family Implication Check:** There is no family implication in this line.

7.  **Hanzi Removal:** Remove all Chinese characters from the output.

8.  **Embedding Analysis:** The embedding lines show that Ling Shuangjun is very interested in the Daoist nun and Zhang Junbao's relationship with her. This reinforces the need to convey his gossipy and curious nature. The line "啊，{name_1}兄，你回来了！你有在北方见到宝哥吗？发生甚么事了，宝哥怎么带着一个美貌道姑上山来了！" is very similar and confirms the translation direction.

</think>
<translation>Bao Ge returned to the mountain and immediately took that beautiful Daoist nun straight to the Sanqing Hall to see my father... *cough*... the sect leader, for a private discussion. I wonder what they're talking about. Tell me quickly, what's the background of that Daoist nun!</translation>

[rusty_shackleford]

I had to add a text matcher for a bunch of words that have no english equivalent because it was being translated as stuff like "little sister", which got kinda awkward in certain contexts(which it's instructed to avoid when in those contexts) if you know what I mean

[gerey]

I had to add a text matcher for a bunch of words that have no english equivalent because it was being translated as stuff like "little sister"

Wouldn't using the slightly awkward junior brother/sister, or just shortening it to junior alleviate the issue? I assume this comes up when two members of the same sect or clan are talking to each other, and one of them is the senior?

[rusty_shackleford]

tfw no european looking mongolian gf who lives in a yurt

she's CUTE

► Show Spoiler

J2 1.33 stc_018.webp

[rusty_shackleford]

Translator's note: Hétú Luòshû are two divine books that literally refer to the Yellow River and Luo River trigrams.

[SoLong]

Honkai Star Rail.

How the **** can you even stomach amphoreus?

Game has become worse than a renpy visual novel, characters simply dont emote outside of cinematics it feels like, only cycle through the same 4 idle animations while facing whomever is talking.
The writing has become heavy exposition dumps, complete slop.

I just got done with it but I found it quite good, especially compared to the Luofu chapter. (A bunch of wankers complaining about living long lives it probably the least sympathetic premise you could write.) It's not on Penacony's level yet, but we only have the first part, so I'm optimistic.

I also can't remember ever having seen a setting themed after space greece, so that's nice as well. If there was lots of exposition dumping I must've missed it, because I still don't understand what is going on with the planet outside of some apparently new destructive force trying to wreck the last remaining city on it. Also, the time rewinding gameplay was nicely implemented.

[rusty_shackleford]

I like that they're just stories about heroic warriors defeating bad guys. The "politics" are limited to semi-historical things like steppe barbarians and corrupt officials. It's all I ask for.

[SoLong]

I like that they're just stories about heroic warriors defeating bad guys. The "politics" are limited to semi-historical things like steppe barbarians and corrupt officials. It's all I ask for.

There is a weird obsession with moral greyness in western game design, yes. It can work in parts or substories, but it's grating when it's your main conflict.

[Lhynn]

(A bunch of wankers complaining about living long lives it probably the least sympathetic premise you could write.

Its relatable. Grass is always greener on the other side, etc.
You see it today, people complaining more than 200 years ago, even though living is a lot easier now.
There is one character that did get a bad deal out of eternal life, the medicum sanctum alchemist that was born blind. Because the immortality they have seems to "repair" their cells to their original state, she cant fix her eyes. And the little blind kid shes looking after has the same issue.

That said, yeah, despite the mara struck nonsense immortality is such a ridiculously good deal its hard not to roll your eyes at them complaining.

The thing I disliked the most about the loufu was Dan Hengs story, It was too vague.

► Show Spoiler

As for Penacony, the start is great, amazing even, but it all turns to **** when you have to start caring about side characters they are trying to sell to you.
Sunday, the controlling older brother that still did **** all.
Aventurine, the guy with unlimited luck that somehow manages to lead a miserable life
Gallagher, the fictionologist that isnt real.
Robin (I simp for her, Macross is my favorite anime, and shes clearly been inspired by Minmay.) barely gets ANY time in the story.
Jade, just a ****.
Topaz, a (****?)
Sparkle, most disappointing character in the whole thing. A Chekhov's gun thats NEVER ******* FIRED.
Siobhan, shes alright, dissapointed she wasnt a 4 star
Acheron, she was done dirty by the storytelling, such a fun character and all they had her do was stand around and talk cryptically.

The protagonists in the two games I've played too far feel a bit too well-defined for my tastes tho.

The protagonist is little shrimp, there are a bunch of games with him as the protagonist, hes like Heluos mascot.
You play him in almost all their titles but tale of wuxia the prequel, where you play as everybody else in a tactical rpg. Oh and in Path of Wuxia, thats kinda like a harry potter but for martial artists type of game (Turn based combat and turn based princess maker type gameplay, in a school setting, where time management and luck/metaknowledge can let you find hidden events.)

He is enough of a blank slate that most times it doesnt matter, his thing is that he is a modern day dude that gets thrown into wuxia worlds, and he is trying to come back to present day. Kind of like the avatar in the Ultima series really. I have heard that his story ends in:



Which I own, but havent played yet. Wanted to finish Ho Tu Lo Shu before I gave it a try.
Tale of wuxia presequel and path of wuxia along with little shrimps story ending with Traveler of wuxia means they probably want to move away from him and into completely customizable characters.

[rusty_shackleford]

We are losing Rusty ...

I have leaked footage from rusty's home of him swearing allegiance to the CCP.

It's over.

► Show Spoiler

The devs of Ho Tu Lo Shu are taiwanese afaik

[Val the Moofia Boss]

A bunch of wankers complaining about living long lives it probably the least sympathetic premise you could write.

Living forever in this fallen world would be a horrible fate.

[SoLong]

Its relatable. Grass is always greener on the other side, etc.
You see it today, people complaining more than 200 years ago, even though living is a lot easier now.
There is one character that did get a bad deal out of eternal life, the medicum sanctum alchemist that was born blind. Because the immortality they have seems to "repair" their cells to their original state, she cant fix her eyes. And the little blind kid shes looking after has the same issue.

That said, yeah, despite the mara struck nonsense immortality is such a ridiculously good deal its hard not to roll your eyes at them complaining.

The thing I disliked the most about the loufu was Dan Hengs story, It was too vague.

Agreed. Dan Heng's story was wasted. I realize they want to stretch it out so we discover the backstory over time, but they made it too vague in the beginning and later spoon-fed you most of what happened on the return to the Luofu in the worst tell-don't-show way. Worse, it makes the Luofu leadership looks like idiots again because Dan Heng found a way to raise the dead AND solve the whole dragon people reproduction crisis in one fell swoop and they executed him for it because he used the Abundance to do it. A side-villain of the redux is literally a dragon guy whose reason for villainy is that the constant war the Luofu pursues drives the dragon people to extinction since they can't have kids, and these cocksuckers brush that complaint aside as if it didn't even matter.

I actually liked that they didn't portray immortality as 100% concentrated awesome because they showed what would happen if no-one died anymore (overpopulation etc) but they dropped the ball with two very critical points:

a) Their ancestors actively asked for immortality and built a fleet of spaceships precisely to search for it. Any serious civilization who wants to become a bunch of immortals should have forseen some of the problems that come with it, and I don't mean mara. I mean overpopulation, social stagnation, the whole shebang. You know, the stuff the first world on IRL earth is already dealing with, and we're not even immortal!

b) You're right that a few people got the raw end of the deal. That would be fun to explore, but the irony is that the sanctus medicus alchemist and her crew are pro-immortality, despite the fact that they have it worse than their anti-immortality peers. The reason is that they have correctly identified the root of their suffering: They don't feel bad primarily because their condition makes their disabilities unfixable, they feel bad because just about everyone on the Luofu constantly gives them **** for it. I shudder at the thought what will happen to the little blind girl now that the only person caring for her is dead. There is even a readable where unappreciated Luofu immortals desert to the borisin, who are likely to enslave them, just for the chance at someone finally appreciating their abilities.

The Luofu arc was intended as a deconstruction of the wuxia cultivate-to-immortality genre, which most westerners are not only unfamiliar with but the authors dropped the ball on multiple occasions. It makes the Luofu look both whiny and engaging in strawman arguments.

TL;DR: The Hunt followers in space China suck, if you want cool hunt followers you should do something with Boothill instead. Whiny immortal space chinese <<<<<<< cyber cowboy cop.

It doesn't help that the wolf men look much cooler than yet another ******* girlboss (at least the fights were cool). Let's ******* hope we get to visit an Abundance planet at some point, the Borisin and Wingweavers sound much more interesting than another Luofu redux.

[Lhynn]

Feixiao was not just a girl boss, the one reason I liked her was that she seemed far more humane than stoic girl bosses that you often find. Also Jing Yuan was shown as the more capable and smarter leader, and she wasnt depicted as the stronger of the two, only the one that got her hands dirty. It was fine.

I didnt find boothill to be terribly interesting, he had one emote, pointing his gun at people (Which is one more emote than what anyone in amphoreus has. Jesus christ these people look like animatronic puppets, I wish the people setting the scenes tried harder) and I found it to be obnoxious when he seemingly started doing it in every conversation. Granted, his backstory and him losing his family to the IPC does give you something to work with, but they should have had him actually fight the stonehearts instead of just pointing his gun at every likable character he found.

Dan heng will probably get another storyarc becoming a god, but I think he should actually be killed instead, the character has clearly run its course.
March 7th is the other character getting some development (******* finally) and will get a 5 star form. I expect hoyo to try to sell that form, and people will be ****** if they do.

[SoLong]

Feixiao was not just a girl boss, the one reason I liked her was that she seemed far more humane than stoic girl bosses that you often find.

I probably should've been clearer. I wasn't talking about Feixiao, I was talking about Yunli who looks like she's twelve, swings a sword larger than herself, has an ego larger than the entire ship and thinks nothing of trying to steal a sword on a ship she's merely a guest on. She even has the requisite tragically dead parents in an attempt to stir up sympathy.

She's a brat, and the fact that she fills the same niche as the much better written Clara just makes me dislike her more.

Feixiao was... well, I thought she was mostly bland, with her backstory and resolution during the Hoolay fight her only redeeming point. The problem is that I found Hoolay and his wolf men more interesting, since their infiltration of the ship, followed by a prison break, was far more interesting than anything the Luofu dwellers ever did. They could've tried so sell it with a racial clash but the problem is that the wolves are clearly inferior in both number and strategy, so it becomes a bit hard to side with the "oppressed" foxes whose god thinks nothing of blowing up a planet if he's mildly annoyed. All the interesting stuff around the entire Hunt/Abundance stuff seems to happen off screen for some bizarre reason.

It's like rooting for the cops in a heist movie; who does that?

The only one who I had more than a passing interest in was the fox guy Jiaoqiu, and even then only because the twist with his poison was actually quite badass (he still gets a minus point for essentially being a discount furry though).

I'm not sure what they're planning with Dan Heng and, considering how frighteningly little they did with the character, I'm reluctant to say that he's run his course.

[rusty_shackleford]

I had trouble tracking this down so I'll leave it here for future reference as there's probably near zero English information for this game:
Location of 腐心草(fǔxîncǎo, Heart-Rot Herb)

► Show Spoiler

J2 1.33 stc_019.webp

The game technically has 'quest markers' for some quests but it's just a giant general area

[gerey]

I had trouble tracking this down so I'll leave it here for future reference as there's probably near zero English information for this game:

Why not add these hints to the OP of the HTLS translation thread? This is the third (?) one you've posted, and since the thread is likely going to grow with the increased number of ***** RPGs coming out or being translated, they'll eventually be buried.

[rusty_shackleford]

I had trouble tracking this down so I'll leave it here for future reference as there's probably near zero English information for this game:

Why not add these hints to the OP of the HTLS translation thread? This is the third (?) one you've posted, and since the thread is likely going to grow with the increased number of ***** RPGs coming out or being translated, they'll eventually be buried.

I'll move it to a dedicated HTLS thread eventually when I post a usable translation

[rusty_shackleford]

ian miles cheong cameo

J2 1.33 stc_020.webp

[rusty_shackleford]

The game even has something for the asian milf fetishists

J2 1.33 stc_029.webp

[rusty_shackleford]

Translating this line is really rough.

这人叫做冯观戏，名字里有个「戏」字，莫非便是应着了这旦夕祸福中的「夕」字？

This is how a machine translation mangles it:

This man is called Feng Guanjiu, with the word “theater” in his name, could it be that he is the one who is the “evening” in the word “fortune”?

This is how the AI translates it:

This man is called Féng Guânxì, and his name contains the character 「戏」. Could it be that it corresponds to the 「夕」 in dànxî huòfú?

It's a play on words, and a direct reference to the hanzi in the names. A native speaker would get it(I'd assume), but an English speaker obviously wouldn't.

Poking the AI some more and having a discussion with it, it thinks the best way to handle it is with a translator's note.

"This man is called Feng Guanxi – with ‘play’ in his name, I wonder if it’s meant to echo that ‘decline’ in ‘unpredictable fortunes’?"

* **Followed by a Translator's Note (in Glossary or Footnote):** "Translator's Note: The name Feng Guanxi contains the character 戏 (xì), meaning 'play' or 'drama'. The speaker is making a wordplay connection to 夕 (xī), meaning 'decline' or 'evening,' which appears in the idiom 旦夕祸福 (dàn xī huò fú - 'unpredictable fortunes' or 'sudden twists of fate'). The sentence speculates if Feng Guanxi’s name foreshadows a life of dramatic and possibly unfortunate events."

This is how it looks ingame:

J2 1.33 stc_030.webp

[wndrbr]

is there an option to increase the font size?

[rusty_shackleford]

is there an option to increase the font size?

Yea.

J2 1.33 stc_031.webp

[gerey]

"This man is called Feng Guanxi – with ‘play’ in his name, I wonder if it’s meant to echo that ‘decline’ in ‘unpredictable fortunes’?"

Perhaps something not quite literal, but conveying the same meaning?

"This man is called Feng Guanxi - with the hànzì for 'drama' in his name, I wonder if it's hinting at a 'dramatic' end to his fortunes?"

[rusty_shackleford]

Going to call it quits for now and see if I come up with a better idea/you guys come up with a better idea

[Lhynn]

Yunli who looks like she's twelve, swings a sword larger than herself, has an ego larger than the entire ship and thinks nothing of trying to steal a sword on a ship she's merely a guest on.

Shes a kid with hang ups from losing her family, its fine. Plus she has one of the best quests in the entire game. The sword quest is just peak writing.

She is also depicted as both having character growth, crushing on the other kid in the ship, and being on par with him, which sparks a fairly decently fun rivalry.

My only issue with this **** is that Yangqin ******* sucks gameplay wise, one of the weakest characters in the game. I really hope the upcoming buffs make him at least mid tier.