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#1
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There have been some recent changes to the tracklist, so I wanted to get some opinions before approving them.
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1. No.1 etc should be reverted to NO.1 to match the original 2. I like Tower of Evil Mist as a better translation than Tower of Mist UNLESS this is a place name. |
#2
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I think most or all of these edits were made with the English sound test in mind. I think the original titles we had were closer to the original Japanese titles, but that's certainly debatable.
Basically the way I see it, sound test titles haven't (by default) much to do with the given soundtrack release. So i the titles for a certain piece differ greatly between the album and sound test it seems more appropriate if the sound test title is mention as a piece of metadata for the given track [once track specific info is go] instead. |
#3
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We're starting to get into some circular editing on a few of these tracks. I'd really like to see justifications for any further changes to this tracklist.
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#4
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I would like to ask if is wrong adding an alternative Tracklist with your changes. What I think is simple, we should leave the original translation as it is acknowledged by many and then if it is the case, include alternative versions (subsets concerning the aimed language).
For example: Leaving a default English Tracklist, alternative English versions as subsets of the default English Tracklist. It is like a main tab and sub tabs. I really like how much efforts translators put in without changing the meaning of the original track. |
#5
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Well, alternative tracklists are possible, and we do that sometimes when we want to distinguish an English literal translation from a sound-test type translation.
We might be able to handle this better when we have track-by-track metadata, since we would be able to add notes to a track that explained the translation and offered alternatives. |
#6
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Eh, here's my two cents...
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#7
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Seriously, for popular albums like this, can't we just go with the more well-known titles that were in the English sound test as defaults?
Even if they don't provide every single word of meaning from the original, isn't the point of track title to convey a name for ease of use and conversation? "One of my favorite tracks from Symphony is Tower of Mist." "Never heard of that one, but I do like Tower of Evil Mist." Exaggerated, sure, but how and why is this extra word useful in identifying which track this is? Games like SotN have some history and context that can't be ignored especially in light of one of its most popular features, its music. |
#8
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Since it's possible, I'd have two separate tracklists, one from the sound test, and one an actual translation. It makes the most sense to me.
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Collection |
#9
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Do we have a soundtest tracklist for this one?
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#10
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Here's the sound test from the game.
If this track list is to be added, then as mentioned here, it should be added separately under the "Sound Test" label instead of completely replacing the English one. Another interesting thing I'd like to point out: In the opening text (after finishing the intro stage), it states that Dracula Castle suddenly "materialized" and this text appears in all regions (JPN, USA, EUR) of the game. So I guess it's another possible alternative to "metamorphosis" and "transformation" since it has a similar meaning. Quote:
Last edited by layzee; Sep 16, 2009 at 06:25 AM. |
#11
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Thanks; I've added the English Sound Test tracklist. This should stop all the circular editing.
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#12
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Is really Oyaji-sama the romanization for " おやじ様"? The game credits says that "Nishimura Oh.Ya.Zi." is the another guitarist besides Takayuki Fujii.
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#13
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Following the booklet is recommended, but if you want to reconcile the two sources you could use "Oh.Ya.Zi.-sama". A bit awkward though.
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#14
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Very awkward indeed. I think I'll only just add a note about this.
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#15
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__________
Last edited by Prime Blue; Mar 31, 2012 at 09:13 AM. |
#16
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I understand that this is an old comment, but I'd like to point this out anyway
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no. remember that vgmdb catalogs video game sound track albums, not the actual music that appeared in the game itself. what matters here is, and has always been, what is printed on the album itself. this should be of the most primary concern, because that is exactly what the printers had intended, and then there are the mistakes which do not matter... for this reason. it is for this reason that we do not automatically correct "errors" in the labeling, such as improperly ordered tracks or typos, nor do we append "[sic]"s to such (because things like that are what the notes are for, obviously). in fact, there should not even be a tracklist based on a sound test in some English-language version of the game for this reason. but we do not generally shun such things, as long as they are considered alternate and otherwise; never the default, because the album itself does not call for them. Last edited by lgb; Jan 19, 2010 at 10:02 AM. |
#17
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I understand this. But that's really my whole issue. Albums like Symphony of the Night have a rich, long, and storied history within the community, one closely tied to how they were portrayed in-game. They also carry with them old, almost traditional, translated track titles that many in the community would recognize, despite inaccuracies. I think in a sense it's a betrayal of our own history as a game music listening subculture to cast this away.
Isn't the purpose of a track title to relay the necessary information to identify a piece of music? How many different ways do we really need to say "Dracula's Castle" or "The Tragic Prince" before some sense of immediate identification is lost? I say this only because I feel VGMdb's word on what these track titles are named effectively becomes the gold standard, such is its importance to collectors and listeners such as myself. Consistency is just as important as accuracy to the source. Literal translations might always require some adjustments based on the translator, making the standard malleable and open-ended. But for special albums like this, we've had a standard for years. I'd just feel it a shame if it was thrown out on the basis of a missing word or two. |
#18
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This probably should be in a separate thread, but since I'm still fleshing out the details:
In regard to the two comments above, the upcoming changes to the tracklist system will attempt to address the issues raised. First is the distinction between "official" and "unofficial" tracknames; visitors ought to be able to visually identify names taken from official sources such as album booklets and sound tests, and distinguish them from fan-submitted translations. Also, the "source" of the tracknames needs to be recorded. Second is the distinction between "default" and "corrected" tracknames; these are for confirmed misprints where a title was erroneously substituted for another (official) title, or even transposing entire sections of the original tracklist. With this scheme, the concept of "tracklists" is no longer wholesale substitution of the default tracklist, but simply a collection of "titles" (default or corrected) which can have any number of "translations" (official or unofficial). Tracklists can then be displayed by overlaying the default (i.e. the exact titles printed on the album) with corrections and translations depending on the user selected options. This also means that users can submit an arbitrary number of translations for an arbitrary number of tracks on any album (or rather, piece of media), so there'd need to be some sort of priority or ranking mechanism. Community votes, perhaps. And since "titles" are now separated from "tracks", users can optionally choose to use the same title entry on identical tracks, ensuring that the translations are consistent. (Although this should be used sparingly on identically-named tracks with different contexts). What do you think? |
#19
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I like Gigablah's idea, because then we wouldn't have things like The Onslaught
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there is nothing wrong with a "translated" or "corrected" tracklist but to consider such "the gold standard" would be an inaccuracy. |
#20
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I actually kind of agree with Eirikr. IMO the only 'accurate' tracklist is the original/Japanese one (whatever is in the packaging), period, no matter what official names are floating around. Thus you have to consider the audience of the (never 'perfect') English translations. For very popular albums/franchises I don't see the problem of keeping US names (main tracklist or not). Just have a tracklist using that, another with direct translations and everybody is happy.
Take an extreme example, imagine I was anal enough to change "One-Winged Angel" to "The Angel of One Wing" or whatever (and yes, sometimes I'm guilty of changing tiny stuff like that). Who does that help, changing a well know title just for minor, almost self-righteous reasons ("wording accuracy blah blah")? That's just going to confuse and annoy most users of this site. On the other hand take Sengoku Basara, Devil Kings in the US (and now Sengoku Basara again, madness). As a translator I think it'd be stupid to use US names, since they are not even translations and the series are so minor in the West. But if somebody adds an alt tracklist using US names to understand the references that's perfect, though _in this case_ I would never have the US names as the main tracklist. My point is you can't have 'perfect accuracy' so you should balance it so the site users aren't alienated. Of course I'm not saying we shouldn't be as accurate as we can, just that total accuracy is inherently impossible and common sense should prevail. As for Gigablah's idea, that just makes everything more complicated (sure, more 'exact', but not necessarily better...). I'd rather have a main translation agreed by most and that's it, no need for tiny distinctions. This warrants other thread I think. But as always, just my 2 cents. My translation policy? - Known albums/franchises: official English names if possible, unless they are too different or if I feel strongly against stuff. - Not really known: whatever I feel like :P - Reread translations so they sound decent, 'flow' is important, no point of having an 'accurate' translation if it sounds from a dictionary (hard, English not being my main language and such), consistency. - Add alt tracklists if I am that bothered (-> rarely) - Changes you don't quite agree? thread, or just accept it. No need to make a fuss about minor wording. - NEVER FORGET, MP3 TAGS: you don't *have* to follow what is in vgmdb! |
#21
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I agree with a lot of this. However:
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#22
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agreed, at least when one tries to pass this off as what English speakers "should" be saying (lol).
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generally speaking, if an album tries to put some sort of English text on the box, I'll use that when I can because :loophole:. -------- oh, I'd like to know if "One-Winged Angel" is actually mentioned in some Japanese material, along with this still. the latter especially could tie into what Secret Squirrel was saying. |
#23
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I realize I'm jumping in too at a late point in the game, but I like the idea of a standardization and I think the individual track notes will help. Translations are never 100% - it's not like math where an equation is always equal to the same thing. In this case, we are both talking about the same thing, but the way each person sees it is different (i.e. we can both agree that this thing here is a camel, but we can't agree on what to call it). However, I do agree with some of the comments above that there should be a 'standard way of seeing' and I don't think it helps any when we have five different tracklists for one album.
SotN is a unique case because its soundtrack has been translated multiple times - including several official translations by Konami! (The latest of which, on iTunes, is adopting something close to the sound test.) Having the metadata for each track would allow you to do a search of an individual song (say "Dracula's Castle") and find out which albums it had appeared on or been mixed on, even if the track was called something different by that artist. I'm not sure how much of a stretch it is to suggest that all the albums could use some way of identifying the 'Slightly Dark Official Name' as a correction of an 'error' in the original album (a different interpretation might be 'this was the correct name for the song back in 1997, then it changed in 2002, and now it is this other name in 2007). I also don't think it's a good idea to use the 'default song title' as whatever Konami puts on iTunes - the 'translations' for the Classic Castlevania album are horrid (as were the names on the Lament of Innocence sampler). It's like they dumped the names into Google Translate. This isn't 1986 any longer, so why do our album names sound like it? |
#24
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And I'm jumping back in even later than Captain Commando, my apologies, but I do want to reply to what the staff had in mind. Basically...I'm not really sure what to think.
I had a whole response written out in how I agree with what Secret Squirrel and Gigablah had in mind (and I still do), but then I reread Dag's comment and it made me think twice...about what I really wanted. Really, I don't care if one track listing is the default or whatever, I'd just like to see some history preserved in certain traditional translations, and I think VGMdb can certainly provide those. In the grand scheme of things, there were very few popular albums like Symphony or Chrono Cross that would warrant such a thing. I just don't want my Dracula's Castle or Lost Painting to go away! That's all. |
#25
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The titles for this album have been modified based on the discussions here. The most significant change is that the semi-unofficial subtitle "Nocturne in the Moonlight" has been demoted from display title. It is still included as an alternate to aid searches.
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#26
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Sigh... I'm still confused on how we got to "Gekka no Nocturne". We basically translated one word but not the other. It's like... half English, half Japanese. It just seems so confused to me (and it confuses me too).
EDIT: I'll point out that the difference between this and the main title, Akumajo (Japanese) Dracula (essentially English) is that the main title contains a combination of kanji and kana, 悪魔城ドラキュラ. You'd never translate the kana (ドラキュラ) into romaji like you would the kanji (悪魔城). But for the subtitle here, we don't have any kana, just kanji, 月下の夜想曲. So wouldn't we follow suit and call it Gekka no Yasoukyoku? Last edited by Medina; Aug 8, 2010 at 09:35 PM. |
#27
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Castlevania games are Serious Business and need whole threads to decide stuff, but basically it's because Gekka no Nocturne is written in the spine (see the Back scan).
Some CV titles too have furigana in their kanji subtitles that read differently (Aria of Sorrow: 暁月の円舞曲->Akatsuki no Minuet), here is Nocturne for Yasoukyoku. We could add the romazination too I guess, though five title lines may be pushing it. |
#28
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Personally, I'd put the X in the display title. It's probably a typo, it's an important part of the game's title, and the X is in most other mentions.
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#29
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Okay, I added the X. Again, the missing X in the romaji title is probably a typo. No, we shouldn't keep this typo, even when we keep all other typos [and this is probably a typo] because the rest of the album has that X; an X is an X, you can't really do much about that. Then, we should we keep the funny subtitle because that probably wasn't a typo, especially since it became a recurring theme with the next few IGA games.
I know this seems half-assed, but only Konami's printing is to blame for that. |
#30
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There's a whole thread about this album, and the consensus was to omit the X:
http://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4240 |
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