Hoping to make your life's design a bit more dynamic!

Its great to see this one taking shape, can't wait for my chance to polish everything ^.^

Thank you to all those people that are translating and refining the script like Ritchie, Recca and Wildbill (and any others I missed). I always liked Enix SNES RPGs alot.

I was wondering how the translation progress is coming since hacking issues will probably be left to the side for a little bit, is Ritchie still helping translating some of the blocks?

Ritchie's contributions have been flowing in at a steady pace. For several months, I just haven't reported receiving these additional blocks. From all indications, I wouldn't be surprised if Ritchie translates everything BH related - in time. Not only that, as he proceeds and sees more and more details developing, Ritchie frequently goes back to blocks he translated previously and provides us with updates that improve the overall accuracy of the whole manuscript. However, everything hinges on Bongo` ultimately, in regard to making dramatic progress in the menu and insertion departments. At this time, I am refining the new blocks, somewhat, and preparing them for that glorious day.

Ah, it's nice to see a progress update on the main page about Burning Heroes. By the way, while I was looking through the text blocks again, I was wondering about something. Is the character Naga a guy or girl? I can't really tell as of yet. I mean, the name certainly sounds as that of a girl's (like Naga from Slayers), but the bulky armor really throws me off as to the character's gender... After all, I thought that Asuka was a woman based on the name when it turns out that he was in fact a man. Although, I did orignally think correctly that he was a man judging from the sprite and not the name. I guess we should be careful to make his dialogue reflect that. I remember seeing a screenshot where he was sighing when talking to Gaou back when we thought that he was a girl and not a guy. That should probably be edited a bit in my opinion to reflect that fact. Ah, but then again he was injured, hmm...

Also, there's one more thing I was wondering about. Have we finally decided on the offical character names yet? Shall we go with the list that I and Taskforce came up with or shall we decide upon others? But hey, there's no rush guys! Real life comes before hobbies.

By the way Wildbill, how's that house coming along?

The house is on pace to have all siding finished, all the insulation, full electric wiring, drywall, duct work, and heat by December. Plumbing is questionable by winter (since I'm the main plumber and have never installed a whirlpool tub). It's a process of funding and time, but I expect it to be ready for furniture by next June.

I have been planning to use the name list that Taskforce and you derived, but not to worry about fine tuning everfything until the game comes together more clearly. I'm sure we'll see places for possible refinements at that time. Over the next month I should be writing part of the scenario that includes first contact with Naga. Perhaps something in the emerging chain of events will resolve the gender question, and yes, I'll fix Asuka during my next pass through the Gaou scenario.

I'm just so happy right now to have written everything in Fire City for Ryuu except the castle. Also, I finally got through Hellfire Valley yesterday without crashing the game opening treasure chests and even wrote a scene with Palette Girl Yellow. I am in Water City now, writing the story for Ryuu at that location. Everything is fine until I reach something that hasn't been translated, try to open certain chests, or encounter certain Yes-No options. I'm curious to see how far I can go, but without menus and names I can't equip or use recognizable weapons and items. The first 15 dialogue blocks are translated, but we still have 53 to go. Many of those remaining blocks, however, are quite small, so I would estimate we may be about 35% translated at this time.

Here is a compilation of our strategy notes. I have not standardized the spelling in everyone's input or heavily edited much of anything that follows. I will send everyone a patch after I go as far as I can in the first four scenarios. It will take me a while because I work on the house seven days a week, from 6:30 A.M. until dark. Rain doesn't stop me anymore because 95% of remaining tasks are either indoors, under porch roofs, or in the garage now. All of my outdoor wiring and final grade backfilling are finished, and I have my water supply line under the house now.

Translated block Destriptions - by Ritchie

block 000 - The ending for all 8 heroes after they (each of them) have defeated the final boss. World Map part 3.
blook 001 - Nagha and Mevious' senerio/Ryu and Rouga's scenario. World map part 1.
block 002 - Raira and Shen's scenario/Gao and Shokora's scenario. World map part 1.
block 003 - Ryu and Rouga's scenario/Nagha and Mevious' senerio. World map part 1.
block 004 - Raira and Shen's scenario/Gao and Shokora's scenario. World map part 1.
block 005 - Gao and Shokora's scenario. World map part 1.
block 006 - Raira and Shen's scenario/Gao and Shokora's scenario. World map part 1.
block 007 - Ryu and Rouga's scenario/Nagha and Mevious' senerio. World map part 1.
block 008 - Gao and Shokora's scenario/Raira and Shen's scenario. World map part 1
block 009 - All 8 heroes' scenarios after each of them have defeated the main boss in the Star Relic. World Map part 1.
block 010 is for Ryu and Rouga's scenario/Nagha and Mevious' senerio. World map part 1.
block 011 is for all 8 heroes. World map part 1.
block 012 is for all 8 heroes. World map part 1.
Block 013 is for Ryu, Nahga, and Mevious scenarios. World map part 1
Block 014 is for Raira and Shen scenarios. World map part 1.

Notes with Block 009:

The banks that haven't been translated thus far are "Old Mountain Path, Rain
Port, Water City (the dialogs in the castle), Rain City (the dialogs in the
castle), and Fire City (the dialogs in the castle)."
These banks will be needed to complete World Map part 1.

I'm still working on those Misc Files little by little.

Asuka is a man because it was mention so in Dawn Town (bank 5).
It seems like nobody got along with Gao. In World Map part 2, there is a
flashback scene with Asuka, Froze, and Gao in Dawn Town. Asuka insulted Gao, and
after that he punch Gao. If Asuka and Gao were friends, they were also rivals.
Taiga didn't kill Asuka. Asuka was killed because he was trying to stop System D
who's known as Death Wise.

Recca and taskforce's character name list (for use in game translation) [Those that are not mentioned will probably be left as is. Example: Iris will remain as is]:

Ryuu -> Ryuu
Rouga -> Rouga
Raira -> Laila
Chokora -> Chokora
Mebiusu -> Mebius
Gaou -> Gaou
Naga -> Naga
Chen -> Chen

Ekurea -> Ekurea
Furoozu -> Furoozu
Desuwaizu -> Deathwise
Uado -> Uado
Dan -> Dan
Baabara -> Barbara
Riiza -> Risa
Airisu -> Arisu
Setetsua -> Setetsua
Rokku -> Rokku
Raikasu -> Raikasu
Kiddo -> Kiddo
Gucchi -> Gucchi

If I may make a few suggestions...
Raira -> Laila -> Lila or Lyla
Mebiusu -> Mebius -> Moebius
I had a professor named Moebius, but it was pronounced Mebius.
Ekurea -> Ekurea -> Eclair
Uado -> Uado -> Either Ward or Wade.
Furoozu -> Furoozu -> Froze
Raikasu -> Raikasu -> Lycas
Riiza -> Risa -> This is more along Liza or Leeza lines.
Airisu -> Arisu -> This looks more like an Iris. But if you need to differentiate it from someone else named Iris, you could always go with Alice.
Rokku -> Rokku -> Rock

I like all of your refinements, as opposed those literal Kana derivations, but I vowed last year to stay out of the naming decisions - at least this time, this game - even if my tongue gets tied in knots trying to pronounce half the existing list. I would be curious to hear what the community at large feels about our naming options for BH. In writing the story I aim to please - everyone, if possible. BTW, this is shaping up to be a super Enix game. The battle music sounds like a direct rip from DW-II or III, and already the old nostalgia-yearning thing is setting in. I mean, it grabs me right in my RPG-obsession oriented brain cells - whatever it is that makes all of us DW/DQ animals tick. Thanks, GZ.

I can almost guarantee you that if you leave in straight romanizations for things like Eclair and Iris, the response from the various corners of the community will be as follows:

- RHDN regulars will be absolutely incensed. WTFs will be bandied about. Your credibility will drop.
- A few vocal individuals will voice their concerns at great length.
- The wide majority of players who know a bit of Japanese (or at least, who can read kana) will be like "What? They didn't get THIS?" but won't say anything.
- The even wider majority of patch players either won't care or won't play your patch, so they can be safely ignored.
- A tiny minority will squee over the transliterations and praise you.

I truly don't mean this to be derogatory in any way, mind you :/ But this is probably what the response will look like. Don't think that "the community" is just comprised of people you see on this board - by putting this here, you're only accessing an extremely small, devoted subsection who will gobble up your patch no matter what the names end up as.

Your points are well taken, and I have always valued your inputs. But you probably know my attitudes even before I express them. I am neither a politician nor a diplomat. I am just a creative person. Other people and I produce tangible output, whether it be children who grow up and produce more children, houses to live in, or stories to read - all with congenial partners who either become my family or just like family. Even my sub-contractors in my home building endeavors become like family, people I may enjoy barbecues with or shoot fireworks on the 4th.

When I say community, I don't mean those other circles of gamers you mentioned, just everyone who visits here, whether it be once or a thousand times. The rest of the gaming world doesn't really exist to me, because I don't have time to be both creative and social in forums where a large proportion of "contributors" talk endlessly but produce little of enduring value. So, this is my audience right here at good ol' D-D, my teammates and the visitors I seek to please - the ones whose opinions count. If D-D's work has credibility to them, that's all I care about. Everyone else in the world can do or say whatever they wish regarding D-D's work - doesn't concern me - Wildbill, the simple old country story writer. Yep, they may take it or leave it. Now, I know some folks appear devoted and appreciative of what we try to do here, as you mentioned, but the tone we set always discourages lockstep acceptance of every single decision we make. Instead, we invite civilized, intelligence discourse, promising not to ridicule anyone whose opinion some people might consider far-fetched or over the top.

So, going full circle, Gid, I still like your names better, but as I said earlier, it is not my call in BH.