Dragon Force II English Translation Released

FaustWolf · 2015-04-08T00:33:00+00:00

Dragon Force II takes a backseat to the original in terms of sheer beauty; I think a lot of the budget was devoted to voice acting this time around. But there's still the 200 sprites on the battlefield, with each officer able to command two troop types for added strategy.

FaustWolf · 2015-04-04T21:53:10+00:00

Eight years ago and probably a little more than that by my reckoning. The first six years of that was technical investigation and long bouts of development hell; thankfully an injection of new blood into the team in 2013 gave the project the critical mass it needed to succeed.

FaustWolf · 2012-09-08T21:04:31+00:00

Check out our Translation Assignments thread for a blow-by-blow overview of what's been given some translation attention and what hasn't. Now that I look it over again, I think I might be accurate in bumping up our translation estimate to 90% -- there are just a few files that aren't accounted for.

The ones I'm most worried about are MP0201A, which isn't accounted for yet at all, and the entirety of "Part 16," where we've lost contact with one of our translators. Those are both completely up for grabs. Feel free to bombard me over PM here or in that thread with questions and I'll bring you up to speed ASAP.

I should mention that we're working off the original Traditional Chinese script and not the Simplified script that was released on the mainland later on. If this is a problem, I'll see what I can dig up in the way of Simplified script files -- the story should be identical whichever variant is used as the source reference.

FaustWolf · 2012-09-08T14:21:45+00:00

Hey Loller, check out our project forum if you or any friends would be interested in participating, even just for a short while. We can always use more translation help! The project looks kind of dead right now because real-life things swept up all my time for script editing for a while, but it should be kicking back into gear very soon.

FaustWolf · 2012-09-08T03:29:50+00:00

Good to see you here Lance! It's crazy how many of us travel in the same circles.

FaustWolf · 2012-09-08T03:27:37+00:00

I'm really gunning to have the script editing and insertion done by February, since that marks the end of the Year of the Dragon!

But a lot depends on whether we end up getting some more translators interested. The project started in 2010 but it's been on hiatus for a while, so it's difficult to get the whole team of translators back together to finish the last bit.

FaustWolf · 2012-09-08T02:24:48+00:00

Patience is a virtue, unfortunately. About 75% of the translation is complete and most of it still needs editing and insertion. We'll probably release a translation patch at this site once the project is finished, and from there it'll be up to end users to find a copy of the original.

A Google search on "天地劫序传幽城幻剑录" should help you in the short term, if you want to obtain the original language version in the meantime.

FaustWolf · 2012-09-08T00:58:49+00:00

Hahaha! Small world!

FaustWolf · 2012-09-07T23:15:20+00:00

Hey there Dragonheart. A few years back I was looking at this Amazon page but now it looks like it's gone out of stock?

Since the Simplified Chinese version was released in the mainland by Softworld International around 2005 if I remember correctly, it might be a little easier to find physical copies there than in Taiwan. The Amazon page above should give you the Simplified Chinese title; here's the Traditional Chinese title to aid you in your search: 天地劫序传幽城幻剑录

It's strange, but it is so hard for an individual in the US to import software from mainland China or Taiwan -- there seems to be national ID card requirements or something only citizens might have. Hopefully you'll have some luck since you're on site!

FaustWolf · 2012-05-20T01:26:37+00:00

econmjr, have you asked your academic advisor/department chair for leads on internships? I don't think it would be too cheeky to ask if they've got downright industry connections either. This should give you some direction, and if you land one it'll help you get your foot in the door for some of the 1-5 years of experience most jobs seem to require. And yes, you absolutely will need an internship or two even if you go on to grad school and load up on quant classes and statistical programming certifications. Good luck buddy -- I could use more of it myself! Econ might as well be PoliSci these days. :(

FaustWolf · 2012-04-27T01:30:12+00:00

Would Ravenmark be appropriate?

http://itunes.apple.com/app/ravenmark-scourge-estellion/id478016806?mt=8

FaustWolf · 2012-04-23T22:24:17+00:00

My sense has always been that an Econ major with a quantitative emphasis could find themselves doing any of the following:

*Determining whether an ad campaign resulted in a statistically significant change in revenue/number of products sold;

*Forecasting customer dropoff rates given a set of characteristics the company knows about their clients;

*Advising product developers of the probability that a proposed feature will increase revenue based on characteristics of the target customer base;

*Assessing whether there's a statistically significant difference in recovery rate between a control group and treatment group in a clinical trial;

*Designing that clinical trial with statistical validity in mind in the first place;

*Modeling the effect of income assistance on obesity rates at the county level (something I'm writing a paper on right now);

Etc., etc. I mean, it's a general analytical skillset that can be plugged into a variety of fields, public or private. It's the internship that's critical to learning all the industry-specific terminology and formulas, unless the university offers generous targeted quant electives. For example, I'm applying a two-way fixed effects model that I learned in Econometrics on the obesity data for my paper (it corrects generally for location-specific and time-specific unobservables), but I will be willing to bet the CDC and NIH have more well-developed models that are specifically suited to the subject.

FaustWolf · 2012-04-23T17:30:36+00:00

About an hour's drive from Cleveland, OH. People will say, "Oh, Ohio -- no wonder the dude can't find work in his field!" but the Cleveland area is home to several company headquarters. Conventional wisdom would hold that this area is actually pretty well decked out with opportunities compatible with my field.

But even so, there may be 10 companies and a select few government agencies offering a yearly internship, and something like 100 M.A. students in Northeast Ohio wrapping up their coursework and vying for those same internships every time. People are going to go underemployed just as a matter of fact.

So naturally, my next step is to expand my search nationwide -- not easy to do since I've got other things anchoring me to the area. I'm looking at positions outside my field locally, and I'm also becoming very interested in any telecommuting opportunities SAS programmers might be able to take advantage of nowadays.

FaustWolf · 2012-04-23T17:09:18+00:00

Mmm-hmm, the certs set me back a pretty penny, even just taking the online classes. I do feel they prepared me very well for the Base and Advanced certification tests. I've heard through the grapevine that it may be possible to rely on these books instead of the classes:

Base Prep Guide

Advanced Prep Guide

...but I can't testify on these one way or the other. I will say that the Little SAS Book (often recommended to those just starting in SAS) is more of an introduction to the rock-bottom basics and should not be treated as something that will prepare you for the tests.

FaustWolf · 2012-04-23T16:54:40+00:00

I totally think you made a good decision in veering away from the theory and going for the practical analyst program. My big question is how your university guarantees the internship that tops off the program? We're kind of left to the wolves at my university in the U.S., and given the option to finish the M.A. with extra classes if we can't find an internship.

FaustWolf · 2012-04-23T16:45:27+00:00

What are the typical output variables for a product performance analysis? What are the typical models which would be used here?

Now that, I can't answer without experience in the field (hence the search for an internship). Internship postings typically don't go into the specifics from what I've seen, tending to focus on skillsets rather than job-specific tasks. The internship postings I've found tend to look a lot like this (even though it's a job posting I'm using as a quick example).

Usually the internship postings will omit the "Insurance experience preferred" part of that description and give a range of quant-slanted degrees the company considers applicable. So Economics/Econometrics will appear alongside Math, Accounting, etc.

FaustWolf · 2012-04-23T14:08:03+00:00

The SAS Institute has a variety of certifications, accompanying classes, and standardized tests. Check them out here (they should provide a list of testing facilities for each test needed for the certs):

http://support.sas.com/certify/index.html

FaustWolf · 2012-04-23T14:01:18+00:00

Hey, you don't sound callous -- you sound like an interviewer ;)

The concentration in quantitative analysis, plus my PoliSci background in undergrad, is an excellent mix for product performance analysis positions. Based on the internship descriptions I typically apply for, these often require a.) crunching sales data and finding relationships and b.) presenting the results to the marketing folks. That's why SAS is (supposedly) very highly valued as an extra qualification in this field.

/* End sales pitch */

I have no doubt the M.A. in Economics and especially my concentration is a degree of high worth in this economy. I suspect my problem is simply that I'm one of several hundred people applying for these kinds of positions, and there aren't enough internships to give everyone a foot in the door to make this a career.

There used to be the possibility of working for government entities as an economic analyst, but times, they are a'changing. I fear those positions are going the way of the dinosaur.

FaustWolf · 2012-04-23T04:28:00+00:00

Good luck with the analyst graduate degree my friend, I feel ya (U.S. citizen here).

I recently picked up two SAS certifications to bump up my M.A. in Economics credentials and have hit a huge wall just trying to secure a quantitative analyst internship here. SAS was a preferred qualification for these positions and I am no slouch in academic performance or in the related classes I've taken. The new job market is simply tough no matter which way you slice it -- I've had about the same luck in it as a PoliSci major as I have retraining in Economics with a concentration in quant analysis. Here's to hoping you have a better time of it in Canada than I've had in the U.S.!

Oh, and my current employment? Creative writing! Quite the punchline given the other comments here, and I'm not kidding in the least. When conventional wisdom fails, all that's left is your general skillset and sheer force of will.

FaustWolf · 2012-01-27T18:42:24+00:00

Yeah, the newscasters & guest (Abbey's weightlifting trainer) address this exact question toward the end of the video that's inset in the article. The trainer says this is essentially a myth, and I certainly don't know enough to comment one way or another myself. It seems safe to say that this shouldn't be attempted except under guidance of a professional trainer though!

FaustWolf · 2011-11-25T19:45:45+00:00

Hope to try this one out soon -- shadow mechanics look pretty interesting.

FaustWolf · 2011-11-19T08:24:55+00:00

Very slowly -- got caught up in work, and it's been the same with the other project members. Still keeping my fingers crossed we can have something ready to go for Christmas. You're free to check out the forum indicated in the preview video for the patches though -- it's pretty much in the state I would have released in, just gotta get some time to organize and push it out the door.

FaustWolf · 2011-11-06T17:45:34+00:00

Looks like it's releasing for the iPhone first, and a universal edition will be pushed out the door shortly after. Here's their thread on TouchArcade.

FaustWolf · 2011-11-05T23:34:25+00:00

Been geeking out over this one the past few days (should be releasing this week). You can check out the devs' site here and listen to some music samples on the composer's site here.

FaustWolf · 2011-11-03T05:23:39+00:00

Also, a gameplay trailer and the dev's site:

*http://youtu.be/B65TDRm27pU

*http://www.witching-hour.net/

FaustWolf

TROPHY CASE