Why don't they make a translation of Perfect Works?

[SineSwiper]

Just reading the FAQ on some of the data inside it. An amazing amount of history from present day (our time) to 4500 years into the future (Xenosaga at 4767 TC) to 10,000 years after Xenosaga (Xenogear's time). I heard that Xenosaga was a prequel, but I didn't really believe it considering the amount of technology from it. Haven't really seen anything so timespanning since the Dune series.

[Garford]

Well, the book is 300+ pages long and with the amount of technical data etc in it, it will be a big pain to translate......

Anyway, I've a copy of the entire book scanned up. Forgotten where I've downloaded it from. It's around 450mb though. Leave a message and some way to send it to you if you want it.

[Julius Seeker]

There have been rumors that the Xenosaga title for the SP might actually be similar. A guide to the world of the first three Xenosaga games and all of the history leading up to the end of the third chapter.

A lot of companies seem to be looking at the DS as something for which they can use for additional types of software other than games (there are already translation guides, dictionaries, and encyclopedias in the works). This is why I am actually putting a lot of faith in this rumour.

[Zeus]

Well, the book is 300+ pages long and with the amount of technical data etc in it, it will be a big pain to translate......

Anyway, I've a copy of the entire book scanned up. Forgotten where I've downloaded it from. It's around 450mb though. Leave a message and some way to send it to you if you want it.

Like on a CD in the mail? :-)

[Don]

Most of the info in PW is completely useless.

[SineSwiper]

Don Wang, if you have anything to add that doesn't involve your negative psychoanalytical waves of despair and depression, please feel free to speak up. Seriously, I've seen Marvin the Robot in better moods...

Garford...holy jesus, it's Garford. Anyway, yeah, I'd love to get a hold of that, though I'd need to figure out a way to transfer it. Holy shit, there's a torrent of it!

Seeker, what the hell is an SP?

[Garford]

Everything is useless to someone else. But to some people, it might be useful, so no point in bashing

To Zeus:

Sure, mail me a self-addressed stamped envelope, alone with a CD-R to me..... Don't be dumb you fool!!!!

To Sine:

That is probably the same as the one I have. The file size seems similar. I can probably do some brief translation on parts you are interested in, as I'm having ~ a month and half break from work. But take note that my Japanese is fairly horrid now, due to lack of practice.

[SineSwiper]

There's a good couple of FAQs on GameFAQs that has some good translations of PW.

[Julius Seeker]

An SP is a mistake, I meant to say DS =P

[Don]

Just because something is big and complicated doesn't mean it is good. The history stuff is so irrelevant that you might as well be reading Xenogears fanfiction, other than the fact that everything important in the history of Xenogears involved a Fei, Elly, and a Miang of some sorts so you get to figure out which one of the 999 Miangs in the history of Xenogears was officially involved in the destruction of the Zeboim civilization. Instead of focusing stuff that was actually relevant in the game but not well developed, such as the Demon of Elryu (The thing Ramsus and Dominia called Id), you get a lot of random bits of irrelevant history information. The technical specs part is kind of cool, but it bothers me they went ahead and invented their own units of measurement and didn't even bother explain what they are unless you buy the PW. Like the history section this makes the technical stuff seems like a mere showing off for the sake of showing off.

I do like the 'if each character is represented by a perfume what would they be' section because it actually shows a good amount of insight into the characters, and the Tolone and Seraphita teaches science is pretty funny too.

[Julius Seeker]

Personally, I enjoy having a resource like Perfect Works available, because I am interested in all of the additional information there is on the history of the world of Xenogears and Xenosaga. However, I don't think it would be correct to argue that a lot of that information is relevent to the game. It is similar to how I do not believe that the history of the Sorceresses (Hyne and everything) is relevent to the FF8 story, but I am happy that it is available. Or the Appendix in Lord of the Rings. etc...

So I guess I should say that I do like Perfect Works because I feel it is interesting to me.

[SineSwiper]

The difference between something like Perfect Works and Xenogears fanfiction is that one of them is canon, and the other isn't. One of them is actual history behind the characters and story, and the other is just some weakly put together story that could be totally bullshit if the official version of the same story comes out. Considering that fanfiction ranges from the trite fanboy writing to erotic hentai-based love stories, there are definately levels of professionalism that I'd accept as a part of the greater story.

[Don]

The author may be the sole authority on his work but it doesn't mean he is above logical consistency. Refer to the Star Wars discussion to see how just because someone wrote something doesn't mean it has to make sense. There are numerous examples from the manga/anime world where the author has written down something that is internally inconsistent with what he has established before. In Xenogear's case, it's not inconsistency as opposed to irrelevancy. The history of Miang 1 through Miang 997 has absolutely no impact or tie in to the world of Xenogears (even Miang 998, the Miang of Xenogears, was a minor character was influence to Xenogeaers was minimal at best) and the author gets to make up whatever useless info about them, because they don't even matter. To me it makes no difference the author of Xenogears said Miang 223 was responsible for the destruction of Zeboim civilization by starting a political coup as opposed to a fan saying it was actually Miang 225 who strapped a nuclear bomb on her and blew it up because these events are so removed from the original game that it doesn't even matter.