Hello SF3 fans! Not too much to report this time.

Work is ongoing in Sc2. I hope to finish polishing Ch4 for the release of V20!

On the LP front, Zanon has started Sc2 and Genma is wrapping up Sc2. Check the media page for links.

The first episode of the Shining Podcast! is being recorded and is in production. I won’t necessarily be covering the Shining Podcast! in this space, except for those that involve SF3 and the translation project, but once the initial episode is released, I’ll blast where to find it and you can follow from there.

You’ll hear from me again around the first of November when the V20 test files are released for a month of making-sure-nothing-is-wrong like usual.

Keep Shining!

legalize freedom!

I hope everyone is enjoying V19!

Just a quick update to let everyone know the latest.

Work continues on Sc2 incorporating the reviewed lines (End of Ch5) and comprehensive playtesting (End of Ch4).

I have decided not to do the Retropalooza thing this year, but I am thinking every two years might be a good interval. I do, however, plan to go and bribe a couple of appropriate booths to display some business cards so we can get some exposure that way.

For a while now I have been thinking about starting a podcast centered around the classic shining games.
Please visit the All Things Shining forum thread for details and email me or respond in the thread to answer the call for talent!
https://forums.shiningforcecentral.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=42893

Until next time,

legalize freedom!

The time has come! V19 is ready to go! You can download it using the button to the right.

However, we have had some problems with certain virus software flagging SF3Patch.exe (a self-extracting archive) as a suspected virus. Rest easy, there is no actual virus. It is a false positive related to self-extracting archives in general. I can verify this is happening with AVG and Avast, but the issue may also be happening on others. Just be aware.

If this affects you, you have a couple of options.
1. Disable your virus protection, download and install the patch, re-enable virus protection.
2. Moving forward, I plan to include SF3Patch.zip alongside the normal exe patch archive. Just unpack where you would normally install, but without the slick presentation.

I’m excited about V19! Here’s why. The list of visible changes is shorter than normal. What? …you might say. Yes, because this is the first version where I can say the list of needed changes is drying up. While there is still much work to do with getting the remainder of Sc3 reviewed by a translator, incorporating the remaining lines that have been reviewed and giving the storyline a close look, the big-ticket things have been done. It will be the finer details and special additions from here on out. That’s why I’m excited about V19. I do need to concentrate on getting chapters to beta (finished) status and I plan to do just that.

Now on to the most visible updates:

• Many corrections and improvements, particularly in Sc3
• Improved clarity of the Edmund, Rogan, Produn and Brutus storylines throughout
• Added a tribute to the real Hedva and David in Sc2 at David’s room on the Stump Skywalk.
  Continue to knock on the door before triggering battle 11. On the last line, David will be singing their very famous song “I Dream of Naomi“.
• Corrected Dark Dragon’s name in the Premium Disc battle
• Many new icons added (thanks to Special T)

And the rest is the nitty gritty. Working to perfect the Sc3 experience!
I believe all the major problem areas in Sc3 have been addressed. Minor dialog oddities may still exist in places, but it’s a good time to dive in if you’ve been holding off. The whole package is in really good shape.

Please don’t hesitate to provide any feedback you have. Contact me if you would like to contribute as a proper playtester.

Please share any comments or suggestions in the forum HERE.

Enjoy!

legalize freedom!

The SF3Patch V19 preview has been posted to the FTP. Download with the button to the right.

Please try out the new patch and report any issues in the forum HERE.

Work will continue over the next month before the official release, so be sure to update again next month.

until then,

legalize freedom!

Work continues incorporating reviewed lines and with the in-game review. The research for the Edmund/Produn storyline is being incorporated. There are lines that deal with this throughout the game and many were saying differing things. I believe it is all coordinated now.

I’ve also included an easter egg for David. I’m betting the vast majority of players don’t even know about this, but when you first make your way up to the Stump Skywalk and find David’s room, if you continue to knock on the door you get a pretty good gag. The last line which continues to repeat was an uninspired “He appears to be busy”, so that seemed like a great place to give a nod to the real Hedva and David. I fashioned a music note in one of the unused text character slots and included some lyrics to their very famous song “I Dream of Naomi” as if you could hear him singing through the door. I’ll try to get a video up of the entire gag at some point.

As usual I plan to begin preparing the files for release in October and release test files around the beginning of November with this year’s official release coming in the first week or two of December.

Our favorite translation project continues to be more visible in the public arena. I was contacted by Kevin Wong, a contributor to several gaming websites who was interested in doing an article about our project. I gladly answered his questions and provided what I could. It came out a bit too much about me for my taste personally, but I understand the desire to humanize these things. I certainly appreciate the promotion of the project and thanked Mr. Wong for taking an interest. The article is now live at Zam, a fairly new gaming news site. Check it out!

We have a new entry with an LP that started not long ago. Zanon is currently in Sc1 Ch4 and is posting at a nice rate. This will be the LP for purists that prefer to experience the game without commentary. I understand this LP will be taking a different path than most by using Jade and Edmund among other things. Thanks for the LP Zanon!

Keep up with this and all the featured LPs on the Media page.

The next time you hear from me I will be posting V19 test files!

Until then,

legalize freedom!

Thanks again to everyone who supported the project’s presence at Retropalooza Houston 2017!
It was a great experience. See the posts below for more information.

I’m currently back to incorporating reviewed lines in Sc2 where I’m in Ch5. I’m also plodding ahead with the Sc2 comprehensive in-game review, currently in Ch4.

As some of the SF3 Let’s Plays are coming to an end, I’ve been able to catch the worst of the errors and oddities in Sc3, particularly at the end. Thanks to the LPer’s for playtesting. You are making a real difference in the next patch!

Speaking of incorporating reviewed lines, we currently find ourselves without a dedicated translator, so now is the time to volunteer if you are qualified or get the word out to any qualified translators you may know. A couple of translators are available when I have specific questions, but we really need someone to be more involved.
In case some of you may not recall, we are currently reviewing near the beginning of Sc3, but Sc3 will be a bit different because close to half of the lines have already been reviewed (because they were initially missing) and so we just need to fill in the blanks. Also in case you don’t recall, we made an effort to document all the needed lines in the form of in-game images to make it easier for the translators to work. Volunteers please contact me on the Credits and Contact page or post in the forum if you are a SFC member.

And finally, thanks once again to all the Let’s Players for entertaining us, making the Shining Force III Translation Project more visible and providing some valuable play testing to aid the project. Follow the featured LPs on the Media page.

Until next time,

legalize freedom!

I put together a short video highlighting the various elements of the SF3 Translation Project booth at Retropalooza Houston 2017.

We will also be discussing my experience on the forum here:

http://forums.shiningforcecentral.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=37565

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSx3C5Fah3o

legalize freedom!

The looping video to be used for the big screen at this weekends Retropalooza Houston (Apr 22-23) has been posted!

Big thanks to ProDaKah! for volunteering to take care of this. It came out great!

It will live in perpetuity on his channel. We wanted to release it before the actual show for all the dedicated Shining People to enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqtJrvt8Gvs

I would also like to announce I will be giving away 2 sets of Sc2 and Sc3 original games during the convention! One set each day by drawing. Must be present to win.

There is still time to help support our presence at Retropalooza Houston. See previous post for particulars.

Thank you ProDaKah!

legalize freedom!

Those interested in donating to offset the cost of the SF3 Translation Project’s presence at Retropalooza can do so through this link:

https://www.paypal.me/sf3translation

I decided to go with PayPal. It may be the least flashy, but it’s easy and I don’t anticipate this being a big operation.

The Shining Force III Translation Project has always been and always will be a volunteer effort that has refused donations from supporters, so it is a little awkward to now be fundraising for this event, but I think it makes sense in this situation. I have put countless hours and resources into this project personally and I’m not interested in profiting from this event. On the contrary, I will be committing a tidy sum to make it happen.

I want to explain what the funds are being raised for and where they will go. Many of the amounts aren’t known currently, but will be filled in as things come together. Many of these items could be reused for future events as well.

Expenses
$130 Retropalooza booth (with electricity)
$100 Full Colour Banner (8′-0″x 3′-0″)
$100 Business Cards (1000 Front and Back with metallic finish)
$100 Game Stations and Tablecloths
$100 Big Screen mobile stand
$80  Game Giveaways

Using my own
48″ TV (for big screen video, buying new for this event, but I will use it afterwards)
40″ TV (for hardware setup, buying new for this event, but I will use it afterwards)
27″ Computer monitor (for emulation setup)
Computer (for emulation setup)
Laptop Computer (for big screen video)
Modded Saturn (for hardware setup)

I don’t know what the total will be and probably won’t until it is done, but any remaining funds will go to the SFC annual beg for site hosting.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Update (March 14):
All the major pieces are in place for the big day. The new TVs, mobile stand, banner, business cards and game stations are all in hand. Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to test the hardware setup and take care of some minor stuff. That’s about all that’s left on my part until the week of.

Big thanks to Special T for once again coming through for the SF3 Translation Project! He’s always there when image work is needed. Special T produced the images used for the banner (which is a re-creation of the official site header) and the business cards. The cards feature the SF3 logo with lightning and a stylish “Translation Project” text on a black background. On the back are the two website urls (SFC and this site). Everything came out really good! I’ll be posting some pictures soon!

Huge thanks to ProDaKah! for volunteering to capture and produce the video to be shown on the big screen during the event. This will feature several dialog sections as well as many spells and specials. ProDaKah! plans to be done with the capturing in a couple of weeks, leaving a couple of weeks for production. Truthfully, this requires the most effort out of anything and I REALLY appreciate ProDaKah! taking it on! We will have a much better showing because of his efforts. Thank you, ProDaKah!

And finally, I would like to thank everyone who has donated so far! We definitely have enough to cover the booth fee already! Thanks everyone for helping out!

legalize freedom!

I’m excited to announce the Shining Force III Translation Project will have a booth at the upcoming Retropalooza Houston on April 22-23, 2017!
http://retropaloozahouston.com/

I would like to invite anyone interested and able to attend. It would be really nice to get a few SF3 fans out to show support and maybe help watch the booth. The ultimate would be if we could get three people to cosplay the heros 🙂

We’ll see what all is possible, but I’m planning to have 2-3 screens. One large one with a looping video and two with live gameplay. One will be emulated and one using a Saturn. And of course a banner and some cards to give away.

In order for all this to happen, I’ll need a bit of help. I’m hoping someone is interested in editing together a video or two. A design for the banner and cards will also be needed. I’m considering doing some fundraising to help offset the cost, but I haven’t decided how to go about that yet. Stay tuned.

Tickets are only $20 for both days, so you are primarily looking at travel and hotel expenses. I can help advise on that if you are on a tight budget. Please contact me or post in the FORUM if you are interested and able to attend.

legalize freedom!