No More Heroes 2 Thread

General Discussion
261

Do you mean Ubisoft?

They were the publisher of the game not Activision.

I just read both of them side by side(snowed in with nothing to do Im not a loserI swear…) and I’ think I like both versions for different reasons.

At some points I thought the final script changes were better. Like the yoga bit I thought would go over better as humor for western audiences then just oooh an aahhs, and the later associated DOWNWARD FUCKING DOG was one of the few times I busted out laughing while playing the game. Another part I remember liking their versions over yours was Nathan Copeland’s conversation with Travis. They kept with the religious motif during his speech and I think it’d work more for western audiences than your version, which at some points the dialogue felt a bit dry.

but then there are a bunch of times they changed the dialogue to something more vulgar for the sake of humor and it just comes off as cheesy. Sexual innuendos are forced into more serious conversations and curse words were inserted for cheap laughs.(HES…A…DOUCHE) doing this sometimes takes away from the experience and impact of some scenes.

Some characters are even ruined by this. Dr. Letz Shake is given and insufferable ROBOT SPEAK as opposed to just talking regularly.

Then there were parts that were changed for no reason that just baffle me. Sylvia’s booth descriptions in your version had clear meanings. The re-writes seemed to distort these descriptions for no reason. I noticed that alot. They would change things in your version either making them more or less comprehensible for seemingly no end. More often than not I preferred your translations for these scenes.

Some of the conflict between Travis and Sylvia at the end of bosses suffers from this as well. The dialogue is changed in a way that allows it to be interpreted in a completely different way and I don’t understand why they felt the need to do that.

One part I was surprised to see changed so much was Alice’s conversation with Travis. In your version she explains that he brought the underground assassin world into the daylight of the main stream, which is why everyone wants to fight him. In the 2nd version, everyone reveres him as he conquered the ranks and then walked away.

I think both versions are good. but I like your version more as it really fits in with the assassin world undergoing culture appropriation and Travis rejecting it. In fact I think alot of the 2nd version changes really downplayed that theme in other scenes as well, which is sad because it’s such a big part of the game’s story that you can even pick it up playing their version.

Overall I think they handled some situations better and definitely made the dialogue alot more colorful, but after reading the script I think they took too many liberties with the core story and ended up making it worse than what it could have been. Game is still and amazing package, but I’m just sad to see that it was once a more solid piece of work changed to something lesser by an over-intrusive publisher.

Makes me wonder if the same thing happened to the first game.

262

YES. Oh, my fault. I kind of just lump evil publishers together. Let me edit my post.

Btw, I’m snowed in, too. Probably for at least the next two days.

And if you consider reading two different scripts of a videogame while being marooned “being a loser”, then I must be the ultimate loser because of the hundreds of hours spent working on the game in question =) At least you’re not watching daytime television.

Reading over your analysis of the two scrips… I love feedback!

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I’m also pretty disappointed to see the Shinobu secret boss fight didn’t make it into the game

Oh well

264

Damnit, I guess I was a little too late for the script. :rofl:

265

Is that so? I just watch the game on Youtube so I wasn’t aware…

Regarding you analysis:

I feel I agree with you here.

Yes. Exclamation point. It was stupid. Double exclamation point. Ubisoft went stupid overboard on the robot speak. Angry face.

Imagine my frustration. Changing something just because you can, not because it needs correction. Oftentimes translators or proofreaders do this so it makes them look like they are doing more work than necessary. The more you rewrite someones work, the more it gives the impression that the original sucked which is good for the person doing the re-writing because whoever hires them will think wow, good thing we got this guy to save the entire game from chaos. :rolleyes:

I kind of know what you mean and kind of dont. Can you tell me the range of lines (since each box is numbered) where you felt the nuance of the relationship between Travis & Sylvia changed depending on the script.

Yup.

Cultural appropriation. Nice word. Im a rather cerebral person, and I hate to dumb down text to the point where its meaning is diluted and in some way lost. This game was made for a mature audience, and with that in mind, I wanted the text to be equally mature. Going on a slight tangent, when my company was offered the chance to localize LUX PAIN for DS, I was SO EXCITED because its one of the darkest, most cerebral games youll ever play. And just like No More Heroes, its one of those mature games thats a rarity on a Nintendo system (DS, Wii) nowadays. Unfortunately, my boss turned down the LUX PAIN project because Marvelous wouldnt pay us enoughso a great game got butchered. At least according to the reviews and the screen shots Ive seen of Lux Pain. Anyway, tangent. But NMH 2 was an awesome project because of the deep content.

Nice summation. I pretty much feel the same way. I know my translation was a little dry and abstruse at parts, while Ubisofts rewrites smoothed out some areas and made it more palatable/understandable to the average gamer. Like I said earlier, I wish a compromise could have been made so we could have had the best of both worlds making for an even better final script. In the end, it turned out great in its own way, but I hate knowing it could have been better if people cared more.

=) Hmmm? My company did some of the localization for part one… because I had old files on my work computer… maybe I’ll give those a look over later.

266

Apologies, I fixed my post.

267

That sucks

It’s really obvious they just kind of jumbled your words up to make something new. = X

Bad thing about that with translations is that when you do that, the original meaning is often lost.

I was just kind of spilling my thoughts so I’m not surprised about the lack of clarity, lol

What I was thinking of here was how I preferred your translations of the dialogue for some of the endings of the later fights. Specifically Ryuuji and Vladimir, and Sylvia and Travis talking back at her office after she tells him she broke it off with Henry

It might have just been nitpicking on my part, but I think it did a better job of characterizing Travis and how he felt towards these assassins and the way Sylvia and the UAA were treating them. The ubisoft changes still kind of convey this feeling, but I felt you used stronger language in those situations.

Like I said, nitpicking

Yeah. One thing I was thinking is that if they had change some parts, and just left others alone the game would have been perfect. but I guess that’s just the way the industry works. I’m just glad I was able to see both sides for a game I ended up liking alot.

= o

Sounds awesome.

If I get the ok from Nemo I can upload the PDFs and distribute the links via PM to anyone that wants them.

268

After re-reading the Ryuuji post-death dialogue and Sylvia & Travis convo regarding stopping the fight between two brothers… I do agree the original conveyed more eloquently the evolving change in Travis’s perspective on these battles. It’s not nit-picking because in this case the dialogue was completely changed by Ubisoft for the worse. Sometimes I feel the re-writer had too much liberty or a case of “I’m da shit”, and not enough modesty when doing his work. Like, this is SUDA’s game, not yours, so be natural while being faithful to the original meaning in the Japanese instead of adding all this crap you think is funny. Exclamation point.

Distribute the PDFs in any way you wish. You got them, so their yours to do with. As I mentioned in an earlier post, just** do not give any hint regarding the SOURCE of the leak**.

269

Finished it after 8 hours.

What the hell happened? I loved the first game so much, but i practically had to force myself just to finish this one. Aside from a few features (side jobs), this game has no personality. Practically all the boss characters sucked, we barely know anything about most of them, their motivation, and you’re often times just thrown into these environments without any explanation.

It seemed like they used combat to fill in alot of the gaps in the game. The supermarket parking lot fight was a nightmare, in particular. I like the combat, but it wears thin really quick. The first game knew better NOT to have you fight 20 or so waves of enemies. Not only that, it actually threw some additional elements to spice thing up (mostly during the bosses fights). Mostly all of the boss fights in this game, however, had you running after your opponent with your sword, waiting for him/her to stop so you can attack. It’s ridiculous.

The whole game just feels really cheap. Like a straight to dvd sequel. I’m a little upset now, i was expecting to like this game, but i’ve never been this disappointed in a game since Devil May Cry 2.

Did something happen during development? Did they go overbudget or something and had cuts chunks of the game? Please, i’m looking for some answers.

270

What?

That was the first game

They actually removed “Bosses having invincibility during attacks” to remedy that.

Now bosses can be hit during anything, they just have an invincible roll like you do.

271

Ineresting read about the bosses of NMH2


272

i enjoyed reading those. very insightful!

273

Finished it tonight, game was sweet. The ending (and the final boss) left something to be desired, although I did like:

NMH2 ending

Spoiler

The reveal that Travis was the guy at the booth talking to Sylvia, and finding out through it that she really did love him. Even though Sylvia’s fucking crazy…I was happy for her when she realized it was him, and started crying. I also kinda think he kept going there not only to see her, but to keep anyone else of hiring her out, because that sounds like a very Travis thing to do. :rofl:

274

I forgot that a few months after doing voice recording for the main script, I got an additional script to translate that had lines of the rest of the NPCs (e.g. hot scientist chick).

I haven’t played NMH2, only watched it on youtube. But I’ve been reading forums and it appears Thunder Ryu didn’t make it into the game, huh?

Does the game still have a flamboyantly gay body-builder in a too-tight pink suit and mustache who Travis goes to in order to train and become stronger?

And does the game still have a tall and big grease-monkey, california-chill dude who’s supposed to repair your motorcycle?

I forgot their names, let me know if they’re in the game or not. Either way, I’ll post up their lines (and character art) when I have access to my DVDs. Also, all the translations for the various beam katanas and upgrades and attacks.

275

Thunder Ryu didn’t make the cut.

It still has the gay body-builder.

No grease-monkey dude to fix up the motorcycle, since you only drive it twice in the game.

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Interesting. Thanks.

277

No problem. This game will be one of my favorites for quite some time.

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Another interesting read about NMH2.

279

http://diehardgamefan.com/2010/02/11/review-no-more-heroes-2-desperate-struggle-wii/

Probably the most negative review

Keep this thread alive until Nemo uploads the rest of the DVD

280

Its the most negative, but its also the least professional. If you look at the screens, he actually used a camera and took pictures of his TV screen while playing the game.

EDIT: I saw this before and I guess he changed it and took some screens off the net, the ones he used before were terrible and obviously taken from a TV, he didn’t even crop them before. The start screen pic he uses is still from his TV though.