Translation Notes:

This document contains translation notes for the beta version 0.8 of the English translation of Phantasy Star Generation:2 for the Playstation 2.  You can discuss any typos or bug reports/crashes at the following PSCAVE forum: http://www.pscave.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=14 or send a private message to Kyence at the PSCAVE forum.


Table of Contents

Section A00: Release Notes
Section A01: Item Names
Section A02: Techniques
Section A03: Specials
Section A04: Other Notes
Section A05: Translation Credits

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Section A00: Release Notes

Beta Version 0.8: Initial public beta release.  As you play, you will notice many things have different spellings from the original Genesis game. We decided to take a fresh look at the Japanese text and see if there was more to the names than what we had to work with as kids. It turns out that many items and techniques were phonetic transliterations of other languages, especially German. A person translating the Japanese into English without knowing any other languages could easily miss these. Some things also got cut off due to space constraints. As the series progressed, the technique names changed as well.  We hope that you enjoy the fruits of our labor! Look below for specific notes on certain terms that appear in the English translation.  At the very least, we think we helped answer some old questions, like "What the heck is a Nish? An Emel?"  or "How did Foi(e) become the name of a fire spell?"

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Section A01: Item Names:

It turns out item names were translated into Japanese from languages besides English.  The main one appears to be German. We did our best to recreate the word as it would appear in its native language. Special thanks to the international community at PSCAVE for pointing out many of these.

Harnisch: In the Genesis version, this usually showed up as "Nish" due to space constraint.  Harnisch is German for Armor.

Fibrillae: In the Genesis version, this became a "Cape." It showed up in PS3 as a "Fiblira." Fibrilla is an obscure/archaic term for fibrils or fibers. The item description indicates this is a dress made from certain fibers. However, we decided to make it in the proper plural form with an "e" at the end.

Ärmel: In the Genesis version, this was an "Emel." It also appeared in PS3. It turns out that this is German for Sleeve, and the Japanese katakana is a phonetic translation of the German. It's worth mentioning that the Truth and Green Sleeves are spelled out in phonetic English; why they decided to be inconsistent is for future scholars to debate.

Claw: The "bars" in the Genesis version were claws.  

Scale: The Japanese is pronounced as "scale." While a scale is part of a knife, we think it's more of an engineering scale.  An engineering scale is a tool like a ruler. We've seen it show up more in British English vs. American. Only Huey(Hugh) and Keinz(Kain) can use them. They are described as tools in the item description (the scales, not the characters!).

Schneller (Boots): Called "Shune Boots" in the Genesis version.  German for "Speed" which makes sense since these increase the wearer's agility.

Heilsam (Boots): Called "Hirza Boots" in the Genesis version.  German for "Health" or "Wellness" or something like that.

Espadrilles: Called "Sandals" in the Genesis version. It's a type of sandal or shoe.
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Section A02: Techniques

We decided to avoid CamelScript for stronger technique versions. For example, the next level of Rester is Girester (Res & Gires in the Genesis game).

Hinaus: Called "Hinas" in Genesis version. German for "Out."

Rückkehr: Called "Ryuka" in Genesis version. German for "Return."

Sacra: Called "Sak" in Genesis version. We're assuming it's based off of "sacrifice" since that's what the spell does.  It could refer to "sakura" the cherry blossom, a common motif in Japanese imagery of something beautiful dying all too soon, but we went with the former.

Schneller: Called "Ner" in Genesis version. German for "Faster."

D-Wand: Called "Deban" in Genesis version. This one was a weird one to handle and the hardest one to decide on and may get changed during the public beta process. The Japanese is "Devando" which in German is "Die Wand" or "The Wall." The technique puts up a defensive barrier, so the "De" could also be an abbreviation for "Defensive" since that word would take up too much space. In the end, we are going to go with the French translation's idea of calling it simply "Wand" but including a "D-" prefix.

Falser: Called "Forsa" in Genesis version.  This was another strange one. We weren't sure if we would go with Forza which is Italian for "Strength." Some Japanese transliteration of "False" look similar to this. Since the technique reduces a robot's accuracy, we figured it was sending out false energy for the robot's sensors to screw up. In the end, we decided on "Falser."

Shinparo: Called "Shinb" in Genesis version.  "Shinpai" is Japanese for "Worry/Anxiety." This technique reduces a biological enemy's defense. This was one of the rare ones we kept as is since it seemed the most likely intention - after, it's hard to protect yourself from attacks if you're a nervous wreck!

Drunk: Called "Doran" in Genesis version. We think it's supposed to be the English word "Drunk" - the technique reduces a biological enemy's accuracy - incidentally the same thing imbibing too much alcohol will do! We got a kick out of this one and left it as such.

Schutz: Called "Shu" in Genesis version. German for "Protection." 

Gadge: Called "Gaj" in Genesis version. In some old English "Gadge" was a term for an instrument of torture; however it could also be short for "gadget." Since it's a technique that damages machinery, we figured to change the spelling so it matches those two possibilities.

Limit/Limiter: Called "Rimit" and "Rimet" in Genesis version.  They end in different letters in Japanese. One is for biological enemies, one is for machines. They cause paralysis. 

Seizures: Called "Shiza" in Genesis version. The Japanese is "Seizures." The technique block a biological enemy's special attack - a seizure could understandably do that.

Konter: Called "Conte" in Genesis version. German for "Counter" as in "counter-move/attack." It disables a robot's special attack.

Prozedun: Called "Brose" in Genesis version. Prozedur is German for "Procedure." It can cause "instant death" in a robot. It's possible that it's short for "procedure down (shutdown procedure)". We went the same way.

Ager: Called "Eijia" in Genesis version. Originally, we were going to spell it as "Alter," German for "to age." Since the English spelling suggests the pronunciation the Japanese suggests and sounds very close to the German word...and means the same thing, we used Ager. The technique damages machinery by corroding it.

Vampir: Called "Fanbi" in Genesis version. Written in Japanese is the German pronunciation for "Vampire." The technique drains an enemy's HP into the caster - yup, that's vampiric, all right!

Glanz: Called "Tsu" (of the Githu/Nathu line) in Genesis version. The "tsu/thu" came from the last syllable in the Japanese word. Glanz is German for "shine/brilliance," descriptive of a lightning-based attack.  

Gravito: Called "Gra" in Genesis version. The Japanese spelling left little room for debate on this one.  The technique has always been a gravity-based attack, so it's likely meant to resemble the word "graviton."

Zonde: Originally in PSO as "Zonde." It's a thunder attack. It could very well be a weird transliteration of thunder. However, the way that it's spelled in Japanese is often used for Sonde or radiosonde. A sonde is a meteorological device sent into the atmosphere via balloon and often used to track storm data. However, this is a PSO-exclusive technique so it doesn't conform to the PS2 naming style, so we decided to leave it as is during a final review.

Zan: This is the same spelling as in the Genesis version. It's a way to pronounce the kanji 斬, which means to cut/chop. This is a wind spell that "slices" the enemy apart. Huzzah for a straightforward technique name!

Water: Originally in PS4 as "Wat," though it may have shown up in the Japanese version of PS3. Since the Japanese is "Wah-tah" we took it was meant to be boring old "Water."

Feuer: Called "Foi" in the Genesis version.  This was the first technique to be pointed out as the Japanese being a phonetic transliteration of German for "Fire." Credit goes to the awesome forum at PSCAVE!

Megiddo: Called "Megid" in the Genesis version. Megiddo is the supposed location of Armageddon in the Bible.  This technique is the most powerful attack in the game, and causes damage to both the enemy and the party. 

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Section A03: Specials

Explosive Touch: was originally "Bursting Touch." Explosive means the same thing and is less Engrishy.

Final Force: was originally "Last Force." Adjusted for same reason as above (plus I'm a sucker for alliterations -K.).
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Section A4: Other Notes

Character names:  Kain's name is "Keinz" in this version, as opposed to the "Kinds" seen in other translated roms. The Japanese sounds more like Keinz (think "Heinz" as in Heinz ketchup). Considering the German pronunciations in many items and technique names, we figured we'd go this route.  Shir's name is Silka here. The "Si" is consistent with the "si" in Eusis's name, so we went with it.  Silka is a derivative of the name Cecilia; using some Google-Fu, it looks like it may have originated in Northern European countries.

AMeDAS: In the Genesis version of the original game, this dungeon was called "Climatrol." The Japanese is "amedasu," which is what AMeDAS is commonly referred to in Japan. It is an acronym for "Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System." It monitors weather and natural disasters. There is a Wikipedia page about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Meteorological_Data_Acquisition_System  . 

The Biomonster called "Hirudo," named Leecher in the Genesis version of the original game, is the genus of a medicinal leech.

In Gaira, all of the characters ave an opportunity to say something if they are in the front.  For Silka, she had a line that was translated as "no point in struggling like a crazy person" which is awkward in English.  It's probably an idiom that can't be literally translated, so a revision was changed to "not running around like headless Morappies."  This is a play on the whole "running around like headless chickens" phrase.  Rappies, aka Chirpers in the PS3 Genesis game, were featured in the PSG1 and PSG2 remakes with prefixes for each planet-specific species: Parappy (Palma), Morappy (Motavia), Derappy (Dezoris).  

When Lutz explains the meaning of "Nei" in the original Japanese, all he says is "negation." We wanted to elaborate a bit more, and added "neutralization of evil" to his explanation. In English, you can see it both ways, but we figured adding "of evil" as well really gets the message across.  In addition, we added "ancient, hallowed."  This is mainly due to the use of Nei in Generation 1: it was the name of an ancient Motavian goddess.  It is strange that Lutz does not recall this in the Japanese G2, since he was in the party when they were talking to a Motavian at the time!  It was likely due to it being missed during G2's development, but we wanted to link the two games together since G2 does a great job of referencing the other games in the original PS line-up.  Alas, we never know how Nei and Neifirst ended up with the same naming scheme Lutz and the Espers used for their weapons.  Maybe the scientist in charge was really into Motavian mythology!


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Section A5: Translation Credits

Programming & Assembly:
Tryphon
RodolfoRG
CUE

Translation:
Kyence
Hiei-
Olivier
Carl Broadhurst
Shinto-Cetra

Graphics Modifications:
Kyence 
Hiei- 
Lyan 
M.Klein & Iconian Font

Correction:
Kyence 
The Sonic Titan
skymandr

Beta:
Hiei- 
Runehasa

Patcher: Hiei-

Special_Thanks:
PSCAVE Forum, for all of the help with figuring out the Japanese pronunciations were non-English words, and the huge amount of support!
Wolfgang Landgraf (http://www.wolfgangarchive.com/psg2-web/index.html)
Taelus, for helping out during the translation
Missagh Alami, for hosting the files and spreading the word
Joshua MacDonald, the author of xdelta



