I can’t guarantee you’ll be bored, but you’d have to be pretty nerdy not to be.
This time, I think I will talk about the game’s programming. It seems the game uses a lot of object-oriented programming, which is rather nice, I guess. However, this doesn’t mean it is perfect. There are quite a few bugs, oversights, or just plain weird things that I needed (or just wanted) to fix for the English translated version. One example is the Arte box at the top of the screen in battle — you know, the one that boldly displays “Demon Fang” when you use Demon Fang to helpfully inform you that you are using Demon Fang (as if your character loudly exclaiming “Demon Fang!” wasn’t enough of an indication). In the Japanese version, it looks like they drew the art for the box, then later decided they needed the box to be taller. So what did they do? Did they call up their pixel artist and have him redraw the box so it’s a bit bigger? Nope, they used the stretch function to resize it so it’s 7% taller. Here’s a fun exercise for you: Hit the Print Screen button on your keyboard. Now go into Microsoft Paint and hit Paste (Ctrl+V). Now find the Resize option and resize your screenshot so that it’s 107% as tall as the original screenshot. Does the result look pretty? (Feel free to post your results in the comments!)
Another fix has to do with the mechanics of the Heal Stone. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s similar to the cooking systems of Tales of Destiny Remake and Tales of Graces. If you’re not familiar with those, basically, it’s like Final Fantasy XII gambits for your magic healing accessory. If you’re not familiar with FFXII, either, and you’re reading this, well… you represent a small demographic, that’s for sure. Be proud! Anyway, it’s an automated healing system where you can set certain conditions and effects, and if the conditions are met in battle, the effects will trigger. For example, you can set “Total HP < 50% during battle –> Restore 50% HP”, and if at any point during battle your party’s net HP drops below 50%, the Heal Stone will automatically kick in and heal everyone for half their health. Of course, there are limitations… your Heal Stone can only store so much Heal Energy, and you can only use it a certain number of times per battle, and so on. But you can do a lot of neat stuff with it, like “Take Earth-attribute damage –> Restore 10% HP and resist Earth-attribute attacks for 30 seconds”. Sounds really useful, right?
Well, that’s where the problem lies. They didn’t actually program it very well. For example, take the above setting. You’d want it to be that an enemy casts Ground Dasher, the setting kicks in, and you get a slight heal and a newfound resistance to the Earth element, right? And that’s where you’d want it to stop. But it keeps going. And going. Every time you are hit by an Earth-attribute attack — for example, the following hits of the same Ground Dasher spell — the setting will kick in again. And again. And again. Until you run out Heal Energy or the number of times you can use the Heal Stone per battle, whichever comes first, rendering your other painstaking settings that you labored over for hours completely worthless. Once this happens to you, you will probably be discouraged from ever using such a nice utility setting again and will wish to stick with simple healing instead of all the neat status buff options the game hands you. You will sigh and lament over how they could have had it be so much more interesting.
But wait, enter KAJITANI-EIZAN’s Patch Site! We are devoted to making sure you will have the best Tales of Hearts experience ever, purity be damned. In KAJITANI-EIZAN’s Patch Site’s version of Tales of Hearts, you can set the above setting without fear — it won’t activate a second time until the Earth resistance buff has worn off. So feel free to be creative with your Heal Stone settings — and I don’t just mean setting “Total HP < 10% –> Restore 100% HP and revive KO’ed party members” and calling it a day, like some people like to do. You know who you are. KAJITANI-EIZAN’s Patch Site will know who you are if you try it. Sieg will think you’re totally uncool if you stoop to such measures. Just don’t do it.
There are several other code changes that have been made, including a fix for an esoteric bug that occurs in the Japanese game if you run low on Heal Energy during battle, and others that are planned for the future, time and effort permitting, such as a fix for the infamous Connect Panel Lock glitch. But I believe I have bored most of you long enough for now, and so I bid you adieu. Stay tuned for more boring Tales of Hearts updates!
May 23, 2011 at 7:17 pm | Permalink
It wasn’t all that boring. (heeeyyy, I’m NOT a nerd) ๐
May 23, 2011 at 7:24 pm | Permalink
Yay Update!!
May 23, 2011 at 7:46 pm | Permalink
I liked what i read and liked it even more because it’s not tagged as “J/K”. Nice changes, really nice.
May 23, 2011 at 8:01 pm | Permalink
It wasn’t boring xD
Gladly to see you’re putting so much effort on make this translation awesome.
And I did the screenshot test and it was really awful >.<
May 23, 2011 at 9:30 pm | Permalink
So you’re going with Seig after all? Awesome! I really like that name for him… It’ll stick a lot better than Luca did for Absolute Zero’s version of Tales of Innocence…
May 24, 2011 at 12:56 am | Permalink
Thanks for your hard work guys, it’s really appreciated!
<3
May 24, 2011 at 1:02 am | Permalink
I am a nerd and it wasn’t boring, I also appear to be part of the small demographic as I have never played FFXII and while I did play ToDR, my lack of reading comprehension prevented me from enjoying such a nice feature. Man I wish PP would finish so AZ can go back to that game.
Awesome update, glad to hear about the enhancements you’re applying to the translated version. Btw, I did paste the pic on MS Paint to 107% just like I read over here at KAJITANI-EIZANโs Patch Site! … it didn’t look good.
May 24, 2011 at 1:47 am | Permalink
Yeah I found it kind of interesting.. oO
Object-oriented programming ftw? ๐ I want to read some code, lol (I’ll get some, somewhere..). Always wondered how Games look on the inside. Or something. Seems they look interesting.
So yeah, thanks.
May 24, 2011 at 3:15 am | Permalink
an update! ๐ actually what you called “boring text” was quite a good read ;P getting text updates like this is better than nothing, glad to see you’ re fixing the bugs and enhancing the game . If possible , adding a higher difficulty level or at least increasing the current ones would be awesome! i didn’t play the game yet but i read that it is slightly easy ( i think it’s because of spamming attacks –> stunning target till it’s dead)
well, anyway thanks for the update! i wish you good luck.
May 24, 2011 at 6:27 am | Permalink
“I canโt guarantee youโll be bored, but youโd have to be pretty nerdy not to be.”
Whew, thank goodness I’m a nerd, then ^^
http://i55.tinypic.com/ei6w0n.jpg
May 24, 2011 at 7:44 am | Permalink
very interesting and wanted to help but my knowledge on the subject is null
May 24, 2011 at 10:54 am | Permalink
Hey, Sahgo, your screen shows some Portuguese text. Nice to see the world is big enough to have some Tales fans in small countries.
I kinda found this update to be short. I WAN MOAR
May 24, 2011 at 11:11 am | Permalink
Cool, Sahgo and I are from the same country XD
And it isn’t a small country =p
May 24, 2011 at 11:55 am | Permalink
Very cool indeed, Keraban! High five! o/
And yeah, calling the 5th largest country in the world “small” can be a bad idea, SSVAV XD
May 24, 2011 at 11:56 am | Permalink
Awesome work, Eizan. Where are you guys from?
May 24, 2011 at 12:39 pm | Permalink
Well, Portugal sure is small compared to Spain, where I lived 8 years. Now I’m in France, which is even bigger. And by “small”, I refer in size, not population. I’m sure Portugal isn’t the 5th largest country. Canada, China, Spain, France, America are larger. That makes 5. Without counting Germany, of course. So that makes 6, and the list goes on.
Now, why the hell I am talking about this? This is a Tales game site.
May 24, 2011 at 12:54 pm | Permalink
Portugal isn’t the only country to speak Portuguese XD We’re Brazilian!
France, eh? Interesting.
May 24, 2011 at 12:57 pm | Permalink
If I’m not mistaken, Portuguese is spoken in Brazil as well, and Brazil is quite a big country, I think. ๐
Anyway, it wasn’t boring, it’s nice to see you put so much effort in this patch. I do recall noticing the big-pixel-size-of-the-attack-box, it wasn’t pretty… Keep up the good work ! ๐
May 24, 2011 at 12:59 pm | Permalink
Ah, oops, I’ve been too slow… xD
(Hee hee, I’m from France myself. n_n The Tales community sure is large, it’s nice to see.)
May 24, 2011 at 1:00 pm | Permalink
I know, right? It’s just beautiful.
May 24, 2011 at 1:20 pm | Permalink
lol. I guess I’m “One of those Tales fans who live in small european countries.”
We’re actually placed in the middle of the country-ranking (Portugal is about 20 ranks higher).. Think there are some Tales fans in Vatican City? ๐
May 24, 2011 at 2:20 pm | Permalink
haha nice joke
i guess you’re happy that disgaea 4 is going out right?
May 24, 2011 at 2:37 pm | Permalink
I like what I’m hearing. That you’d go beyond the Call of Duty to provide us with a fix to to what is hopefully The Last Remnant of any ingame glitches is more than we could ask for.
(Yes, I know, fail puns. I couldn’t help myself.)
May 24, 2011 at 4:04 pm | Permalink
I don’t think the pope even knows what is a video game.
Oh wait, he does. I heard the Church once forbid all games that included killing and classified them as sins (since, even virtually, killing is a sin).
You’ve received 25 Sin Points. Collect 250 more to level up.
Reach level 100 to be able to face the ultimate Sin, Satan.
Defeat Satan to become the ruler of Hell.
Everything in your DS, of course.
/end sarcasm
May 24, 2011 at 4:39 pm | Permalink
Thanks for putting so much effort into this, Kaji.
Also, just out of curiosity, are you working on this patch alone? If not, how many people are helping you?
May 24, 2011 at 6:19 pm | Permalink
hell yeah another update !!
i hope the best for you kajitani
May 25, 2011 at 2:04 am | Permalink
Hooray for updates. I don’t mind if you’re serious about the whole Sieg thing.
I can just rename him myself. Love the lengthy updates too. Nice to know that you’re fixing what they neglected to check. =)
May 25, 2011 at 7:30 am | Permalink
I’m Brazilian too ^^, and congratulations “Kaji”, I’ve been doing a spetacular work
May 25, 2011 at 7:32 am | Permalink
(You’ve* been doing) sorry people, bad english
May 25, 2011 at 4:16 pm | Permalink
BTW don’t get me wrong about my last post… I believe Luca is an accurate translation of Tales of Innocence’s main hero’s name… I just prefer hanging out with guys like Seig than guys like Luca…
When I play an RPG I either imagine myself as the main hero or if I can’t relate to them I imagine hanging out with ’em…
May 25, 2011 at 10:52 pm | Permalink
“Youโve received 25 Sin Points. Collect 250 more to level up.”
This just makes me think of Dante’s Inferno.
May 25, 2011 at 11:33 pm | Permalink
Nah it wasn’t boring at all (but then again, I’m a nerd)! ๐
What stuck out to me the most is that you’re doing something with the game’s original programming OUTSIDE of just translating…! That’s just plain amazing to me that you’d take such steps for this project on your own free will. That’s fan-dedication old-skool-style let me tell it! ๐
May 26, 2011 at 8:56 am | Permalink
Vaticane? I just imagined Pope Benedict XVI playing Tales of Vesperia on one of the big displays on St. Peter’s square, spamming Holy raid.
And now I can’t stop laughing.
BTW, any hungarians here?
May 26, 2011 at 11:42 pm | Permalink
lol good update make me chuckle and chortle on occasion as a boring nerd update should. your blogs pretty funny now. good humor. look forward to seeing how it plays a part in the script translation.
May 27, 2011 at 5:13 am | Permalink
Finally! An update!
I didn’t know that the Heal Stone was considered a glitch, but I didn’t use it for resisting elemental attacks anyway.
And… I might be one of the people who sets less than 10% HP then heal 80% all. Did not add the revive allies though, that’s for another setting c:
[/shot]
Anyway, enjoyable post, I’m looking forward to more!
May 27, 2011 at 5:23 am | Permalink
How this post ened up in Portugal?
Yes Portugal may be a small country in size but a big one in soul, and there are many Tales fan, me included.
(And its not that small; Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, etc.. are smaller than Portugal)
May 27, 2011 at 7:55 am | Permalink
There’s me to blame for the Portugal spin-off.
May 27, 2011 at 9:36 am | Permalink
Who the hell cares about country size anyway? I would rather live in a small country like Austria or Switzerland than in an giant country like Brazil or China with an horrible income per capta rating.
May 27, 2011 at 11:41 am | Permalink
Yep, Cyclone is absolutely right. There are dozens of smaller countries I’d rather be living in than this pit of corruption and high importing taxes.
May 27, 2011 at 1:40 pm | Permalink
OK you’re right, but everyone is here for the same reason, Tales of Hearts translation!!! we should be friends ok?
May 27, 2011 at 2:16 pm | Permalink
No! Death to all Bolsheviks! Death to all communists! Death to all tyrants!
May 27, 2011 at 2:49 pm | Permalink
hahahaha you’re funny! SSVAV
May 28, 2011 at 11:16 am | Permalink
Hooray for Sieg! I much prefer that over Xing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m cool with Xing as a name in many cases, but his surname’s Meteoryte and Xing Meteoryte just sounds like it’s trying too hard to be cool.
May 28, 2011 at 12:39 pm | Permalink
i recently found out that there is already an in-game option to change the character’s names, if someone isn’t satisfied with the default names , he can change them.
May 28, 2011 at 5:00 pm | Permalink
That’s cool! So if Anna and Lucio don’t come out as Anna and Lucio I can change the names he gives them…? Awesome! And of course I’m going to change Innes, as I stated before her name is too similar to a very annoying boss in .hack//Mutation and a somewhat annoying boss in .hack//GU//Reminesce…
May 28, 2011 at 11:52 pm | Permalink
It’s good when translations include bug fixing. Official or not, if you can fix a problem the game has you should go for it, provided you don’t break anything.
May 30, 2011 at 4:26 am | Permalink
The collective…..approve
Good update……or what it is
Keep up the good…jokes
May 30, 2011 at 8:16 am | Permalink
“you represent a small demographic, thatโs for sure. Be proud!”
Lol!
Anyways quite the interesting read. I’m quite glad to hear that your trying to fix bugs and glitches and such and not just leaving them there.
“Be proud!”
May 31, 2011 at 9:15 am | Permalink
So… after Tales of Hearts is completed…
Translate THIS game? ;D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABZErDPknU0
^You know you want to watch it~ Mwahahaha.
May 31, 2011 at 11:36 am | Permalink
keroro rpg seems to be good too, although i dont know much about it , it seems to use the tales of hearts engine, well…seems that this project alone won’t be ending anytime soon, tales of hearts is quite a big game,
Good luck kaji ๐