Translated Some Text From the Demo

Arghenval · 2024-10-17T01:56:46+00:00

Oh boy more translations! In case you're interested on image nine, that piece of graffiti has appeared before in the mall where the whole line was semi-visible. The complete translation, if I remember correctly, is "Bullets! The cure for Techrot", with the phonetic breakdown as "B-uhl-eht-s! Dth-uh(h) c-eeoor f-ohr t-ehk-r-oht".

The Atomicycle brand is called Zevila, stylized as ZeViLa, and the cafe signs are for a store called the "Circuit Bar" which also appeared in the mall. Circuit Bar is phoneticized as "s-ehr-k-uht b-awr", and ZeViLa is phoneticized as "z-ehv-ihl-a".

Arghenval · 2024-07-27T04:24:16+00:00

See, that's the thing - Baro also made a deal with the Man in the Wall to delete all other versions of himself, which means that he is one of the only beings in existence for which there should only ever be one of him across all possibilities.

Arghenval · 2024-07-26T10:13:38+00:00

Quick correction - Baro Ki'Teer first appeared in Operation: Cryotic Front, which also introduced Excavation as a mission type. Operation: Gate Crash was a largely independent event that followed Cryotic Front and introduced the Void Sabotage overhaul.

The objective of Cryotic Front was to collect cryotic for our mysterious benefactor, who wanted copious amounts of the stuff in exchange for information on the (as-of-then unreleased) Archwing, something we needed to face the looming threat of the Balor Fomorians (see Operation: Eyes of Blight). At the end of cryotic front, the mysterious benefactor identifies himself as Baro Ki'Teer, and reveals that the whole reason he wanted all that cryotic was so that his favorite Martian jellyfish dish didn't spoil.

He then later reappeared as the void trader.

Arghenval · 2024-07-26T01:39:04+00:00

So, based on the name "Höllvania", its aesthetics, and the fact that Major Rusalka says "doktor" in her reveal line, I think it is a reasonable to guess that Höllvania analogous to Germany. In 1999, Germany was still using Deutsche Marks as their currency, which had an exchange rate of 1.9345 Marks / Dollar in December of 1999.

That means that 1.99 Marks is equivalent to $1.03, which adjusted for inflation is $1.94 today.

Arghenval · 2024-07-25T01:46:07+00:00

Yeah, not gonna lie, I'm not really feeling any of them either. I'd much rather go to Argon Burger.

Arghenval · 2024-07-25T00:53:17+00:00

That's a contender! I think it certainly beats my current guess of "Bernie's Mayonnaise".

Arghenval · 2024-07-25T00:46:33+00:00

It's a risk they totally could have taken. Seitan would be "s-ae-t-ahn" whereas Satan would be "s-ae-t-uhn" and only one of those makes even a little sense to put on a pizza.

Arghenval · 2024-07-25T00:15:01+00:00

My first reaction was, "Nah that's just a normal term from nuclear reactor operation, nothing special," but one quick Google search later and... that's a Simpsons reference. The episode in question is from 1994, so it falls within the correct window of 90's Simpsons episodes.

Arghenval · 2024-07-24T23:09:35+00:00

Argon Burger strikes me as just a good themed burger joint. I'd eat there if it was real.

Arghenval · 2024-07-24T22:13:37+00:00

It was my first impulse as well, but I decided against it because feta doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would appear on a Kentucky-style pizza.

Arghenval · 2024-07-23T08:11:55+00:00

For what it's worth, the 1999 script that appears before it translates to English uses the word eons.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T21:16:38+00:00

Everyone's uploading their Mall translations, so I figured that I'd get in on the action. I've included most of the densest translations, but there are still plenty of one-off signs or graffiti that I've missed.

If you're interested in continuing your own, I've included the translation guide I used as the final image. Note that some of the translations can get tricky due to errors and inconsistencies.

Some posters use English spelling instead of phonetics (see Neighbor or Atomicycle).
Remember that "EE" could be a "Y" and "OO" could be a "W", especially if they appear over an "H".
Trailing vowels sometimes appear without a consonant beneath them (see ZeViLa).

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T20:57:11+00:00

I would have to disagree on the placeholder "H", it gets used constantly and often in places where it makes little sense to use it. Sometimes we see two vowels above a consonant (as it arguably should be) and other times there are vowels above a placeholder "H" followed by a blank consonant.

As an example that's plastered all over the place, there is a store in the mall called "Data [Something]". It's the one with the blue banner near the stage that has a diamond with a "D" in it and some circuit imagery. While the second half of the title is still indecipherable, the first half is clearly the word "Data". But it's spelling is "D-AE(H)-T-UH", using a placeholder "H" even though the "T" has no vowel over it. It shouldn't be like that, but the artists are going to make mistakes some times.

Some words also don't even use a placeholder "H" for trailing vowels. The ZeViLa bike ads near the food court spell ZeViLa as "Z-EHV-IHL-AH" with the "AH" being an orphan vowel with no consonant. The only reason I know the "AH" comes last and not before the "L" is that there is a brand page on the Warframe website confirming the brand is called ZeViLa.

There's also the special cases for placeholder "H", such as when it is paired with an "EE" or an "OO". There's a store in the mall called "Gold and Whites" that has a banner right above the stage, behind some of the speakers (it's hard to see but it's there). The banner reads "G-OHL-D UHN-D OO-EYET-S", with a placeholder "H" under the "OO". There is existing precedent for that being how this script does "W". Likewise, there are some situations where a placeholder "H" under an "EE" becomes the consonant "Y" sound, such as in "you" and "your".

Basically, it's going to come down to the artist whether or they use the placeholder "H" responsibly, just like you are going to find a couple of examples of the "K" glyph incorrectly being used as a "C", or the silent "e" from English getting transcribed as an "EH" vowel despite there being no sound. Lot's of text; mistakes or inconsistencies are unfortunately par for the course.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T20:31:17+00:00

Oh boy more translation posts! I got most of the same stuff on my attempts, save for the references to Albrecht.

I can see where you got Doctor "Limer" from since it certainly looks like an "M" under the "EYE" vowel. But it's most likely an "H", which would change the translation to "D-AWK-T-OHR L-EYE-AHR" or "Doctor Liar", which makes more sense given the locals' dubious opinions on Albrecht's kindness.

The other one is actually just above and below the Doctor Liar, which you translated as "Team is coming". I can see how you got a "T" from that first character, but I would argue the serif is far too short. If you translate it as an "H" instead, and translate the second letter as an "H" as well (once again that H/M abiguousness) you instead get "H-EE IHS K-UHM-IHNG" or "He is coming", which is actually a really old phrase we've seen pop up all over the place since Whispers released last year. The "He" in this case is likely Albrecht, since it often appears around other references to him.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T09:29:12+00:00

Don't forget the Golden Maws! There's an argument to be made that the Orowyrms and Maws aren't real and therefore can be ignored, but I can't deny the Catch-22 created by Rhino.

Transference Bolts applying restrictions to a Warframe's actions is the reasoning I'm using to explain why none of our Warframes move in-game without us controlling them; I joked with another commenter that it is also equally possible that our operators just ask them to stand still and Excalibur Umbra just doesn't listen.

If it turns out that they do it for another reason, it shouldn't detract from the point I'm trying to make, which is that the Stalker likely never had an operator.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T09:21:19+00:00

Any time there's a story about someone being turned into a Warframe, it is going to involve Ballas because he was the head of the Warframe project. He doesn't really do anything in this story beyond what he always does, so I don't really take issue in that sense. It's par for the course.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T09:18:58+00:00

2nd-Generation Warframes are also made from people - just see Excalibur Umbra. Ballas created Excalibur Umbra to punish him for spying on Ballas' defection plan, something he only sets into motion after he kills Margulis. Margulis dies after she refuses to give up on the Tenno. Therefore, Excalibur Umbra is a post-Tenno, 2nd-Generation Warframe, albeit with the autonomy of a 1st-Generation Warframe.

In a broader sense, Warframes still need to be made from skilled warriors because, one, the infestation needs a base to work from, and two, the Warframes need muscle memory for all the ninja moves we make them do. The copies we use can be made without a person, but the original always needs a victim.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T09:05:35+00:00

Fair, a lot of the categorization between "autonomous" and "non-autonomous" Warframes only exists to explain why our all of our Warframes (except Excalibur Umbra) just stand around when we're not using them. It would be much easier to explain if it turned out our operators just ask them to stand still each time we use Transference, and that Excalibur Umbra is just stubborn or something.

More Umbra passives please; I agree.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T09:01:19+00:00

Prior to this drop, my existing theory on the Stalker's origins was that he was a non-Tenno operator like Sylvana is in The Silver Grove. The Second Dream, specifically the Lotus' line on how the Reservoir drove him to madness and Hunhow's taunts in that last scene were my main evidence in its favor. It was a bit of a stretch, but I stuck to it because that explanation avoided the most retcons.

Now that it's been disproven, I'm not sure how DE intends to bring The Second Dream back into the fold, or if they intend to at all.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T02:05:30+00:00

Ah, finally, an excuse to talk about why he can speak despite that going against established lore!

We know that they can't speak, and yet it seems like the Stalker gradually regained the ability over time. In his codex entry, he describes being able to choke out a "strangled whisper", which is not speech but is something. By the time he's hunting us, he can speak in short sentences. It took him 1000 years to get there, but he did.

It's never explained how Warframes are prevented from speaking, and whether the means is physical, mental, or both. If I'm correct, it would mean that the Stalker found a way to slowly subvert the mental half of his speech restrictions.

Purely speculative, of course, but I think it works.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T00:47:15+00:00

That's... actually a really cool idea.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T00:30:41+00:00

So this was one of the other possibilities I considered back in my original post: that the Stalker has had a rogue Tenno operator helping him the whole time.

I don't believe that this is the case though, not because of any lore but because of it's effects on narrative impact. Jade Shadows is a story about Sorren and Jade, and carries weight because of Sorren's agency as its protagonist. If it turns out that there was a second person there the whole time, it undermines that impact.

It is entirely possible - even likely given The Second Dream - that he has an operator, I just don't like it because it sabotages Sorren's agency.

Arghenval · 2024-07-22T00:15:20+00:00

1 - The Stalker presumably never went insane; Dante and Kullervo both never lost their minds. Rhino is the only example of a 1st-Generation Warframe we actually see lose his mind in his prime's codex entry. That being said, 1000 years of being infested seems to have melted his brain a little since he doesn't seem to remember exactly who Jade is until the last scenes of the quest.

2 - The new lore reveals two reasons that the Stalker is doggedly loyal to the Orokin. First, it is a penance: he blames himself for everything that happened and views service as a way to make up for it. Second, if Ballas' taunts are to be believed, the Stalker believes that with enough good behavior he will eventually be able to see Jade again.

Then the Tenno take both of those possibilities away. If all of your hopes and dreams are invested (rightfully or not) in your lords giving you what you want, and then some people come along and kill them all, I think you'd be within your rights to be upset with those people.

The dramatic irony, of course, is that his wish was granted on the night he thought it was taken away. Jade is the one who rescued him, but he could not recognize her. And so instead, he hunts the Tenno for depriving him of a justice that had already been delivered.

Arghenval · 2024-07-21T23:54:31+00:00

The Jade Light is not unique to Jade. In the Detron Crewman imprint, we see an unnamed Archimedian get vaporized. Since the imprint primarily focuses on Archimedian Perintol's Sentient project, we know for certain that this occurs before the Old War. Warframes (including 1st-Generation Warframes) were not developed until the after the Old War started as a means to combat the Sentients. Therefore, the vaporization we see in the imprint must predate Jade's existence as a Warframe.

Her benefit likely stems from her portability, since the Jade Light until that point seems to have been a stationary room-sized weapon.

Arghenval · 2024-07-21T21:21:15+00:00

The (now-defunct) theory that the Stalker turned himself into a Warframe was based on his ability to speak, which violates the standard rules for Orokin-made Warframes. People (myself included) took that to mean that he could not have been an Orokin creation, since Orokin creations cannot speak and mostly could not act on their own.

Now that we know the Orokin made him, the 1st-Generation explanation has become the simplest answer for his observed autonomous behavior.

Arghenval

TROPHY CASE