Admit it! You didn’t think it would happen. But as I’m sure you all know, it’s still summer! At least for most of this week.
Oriental Blue is an RPG that’s part of the popular Tengai series, also known as Far East of Eden to most (see the Readme for details on that). It features non-linear gameplay, an intelligent battle system with a unique magic system, and near endless replayability due to countless minor and major choices that you knowingly or unknowingly make.
The translation project was started on October 16 2008, and was announced to the public on March 15 2009. Tom, who is known for translations such as Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart and Persona 2: Innocent Sin translated it. It has obviously been a long project, taking much longer than I would have liked or expected. While the translation was finished relatively early on, the hacking dragged on for a long time… other projects were close to release and had to be finished, university took a lot of time away, etc.
We eventually reached a stage where it was ready to be tested on April 9 this year. It’s a massive game, so it was always the plan to have a long and thorough test. I didn’t expect it to be perfect, but as is always the case, the amount of issues that were found was pretty disheartening. A total of 130 issue tickets were opened on our bug tracker, of which 53 were technical issues. A huge thanks goes out to our beta testers for this amazing performance. I especially want to highlight Lord Oddeye, who played the game more thoroughly than anyone else and did his best to try every single possible outcome of all events, and made sure to catch all instances of the ever changing NPC text.
And now, make sure to read the Readme and enjoy the game!
Endgamer:
That charm protects your team from getting blown away by dark winds, but not ALL winds. The winds that this particular charm are referencing are the dark winds protecting the Genjou Lute at the Rashou Gate in Daito. (It randomly appears there. If you hear music at the gates, you can go around the sides of the game and find the lute, if you happen to have that charm on you. If not, the winds will blow you away.)
By the way, I knew that there weren’t many fans of this series, considering OB is the first RPG in the series to ever be playable in English… But I still didn’t expect the first post to be so dismissive! Regardless, I know people just want to get excited about the games they love. 🙂
My advice for anyone waiting for another game is to just try out this game while you wait. I know everyone is waiting for the other projects (I came here for DQM 1+2 and have never heard of this game) but this is a pretty good turn-based RPG, the like of which are rarely localized any more.
By the way, I just spent the some time mapping Sennichi Cave and I noticed that one of the staircases goes down two floors. Was that supposed to be intentional? That can make the place more confusing than it already is.
Just as I gave up waiting for Ziria (and started playing it in japanese, trying to translate everything as I play) and this comes out of nowhere 🙂 I’ll give it a try, even though it doesn’t look to be as quirky as the other Tengai games. Thanks for the translation!
cool guys, thx
@Tom
Yeah, I figured that out shortly after the post. XD I am seriously loving this, even if the game is grindy as all hell in its leveling system. Thankfully, the rest of your crew does gain experience while not in the party.
Right now, my main puzzle is figuring out how to get rid of the big rocks in the undersea tunnels. I’m told that the Karahoto needs to be finished to get them, but I already did that, and I’m not sure what to do from there…
Actually, unlike the other Tengai series games, Oriental Blue’s level system is the opposite of grindy. The game scales enemies to your level. No matter how much you level up, the enemies will scale to that level along with you. (On the same note, if you keep your levels low, the enemies will be at a low level too.) Levels play a rather small role. Some skills have stat requisites and/or minimum MP level requisites. Sometimes you may have to gain levels to be able to access those particular skills. But even high level skills have their drawbacks, so being a higher level and having access to a wider set of skills is no guaranteed victory.
To get rid of the big rocks in the undersea tunnels, you need to explore the seas. Inside one of the blue ruins, you can upgrade your blue submarine with torpedoes that you can use to blow up the rocks.
Actually, you just need to set sail in the blue ship and come back to the castle, and if all goes well you’ll get torpedo equipment from Ren. Not the most obvious way to get an upgrade but that’s how it happened here.
While grinding for levels may not be all that important in so far as stats are concerned, I do notice after grinding that certain bosses become much easier due to having higher HP. I also didn’t see a significant difference between level 40 boss’ damage and level 60 boss’ damage, though that might just be differences in boss strength.
Now, to figure out what to do about the colossus… something about the promised land, which sounds roughly familiar, but I can’t remember anything about it. XD
The promised land is a shrine southeast of Kunmin Village.
I ahve to say while i know next to nothing about this game, Turn based rpgs are seemingly a rarity in this day and age. about to play it now and see how it goes. Thanks for the hard work you guys 😀
@A Guy
Ah, right, I remember now! I klnew I’d seen it before. Thanks for that.
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well congratulations on the release!! started playing it and got destroyed by a group of enemies about 15 minutes in. was good up to that though. very professional! cant wait to see more of it:)
@Zaane many thanks for that!i have moved much ahead and i think i’m at the final stages of this game. And as before, new challenges, anyone has any idea how to get past the ghosts blocking the way in daito?
thanks for the great birthday present, awesome work.
I think it’s a really fun game, thanks for all your hard work!
THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH!
where to go after the failed cermony?
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Thanks for the great game! I was looking at a japanese wiki page for this game using google chrome and it mentioned being able to play after clearing the game. I didn’t understand it since the english wasn’t perfect and when I beat the game I was staring at a blue screen that said something about chapter two and the end. Can anyone clarify this for me?
@yuuki
Go to shanghai and then from there to Professor Ren through monorail.
#41 Not really. The Higher Level versions are usually +1 stone variants. So the next step up adds a stone in a spot, but you’d have to trial and error it. You will encounter most stones as drops or gifts for TTC missions. When you win one, you can use the CHECK feature on the Fusion Machine to destroy the stone and get the recipe in return.
As to your second question, that’s what the RECIPE option in the Fusion Machine is for, select the recipe and then the quantity.
Great job guys! You all seem to be getting done all your remaining projects! Keep it up!
Congratz on finishing the translation to everyone involved. Make sure to party.
Hanyuu: The end of the game refers to Oriental Blue being “chapter 2” of the Blue World series. Hudson was originally planning to release a prequel to Oriental Blue called Oriental Red. It was going to be voice acted, like earlier games in the series. It was never fully developed, unfortunately.
Oh, one more thing… It’s possible to load your save again, after you’ve beaten the game. You will be able to access the EX dungeon (called the Abyss). There’s a gate to the Dark Realm on the second floor of the Nakara Temple.
There are six bosses in there. If you beat them all, you can then fight Hakutaku, the hidden boss of Oriental Blue. Good luck!
Tom: Ah, so I was reading it right, thanks. I know it sounds stupid but how can I load my save again after I beat the game? After finishing it and reaching the blue screen where it said the end, I heard the save sound when I hit a button but I couldn’t leave the screen and when I turned the game off and back on, my last save was before I fought the final boss. My question is, can I access the EX dungeon after beating the final boss or only before? I kinda hope it’s the former since it would be cool to travel around to see what the characters say after Daito’s been restored and I’ve yet to finish finding all of the blue treasure chests. Thanks for answering my question and I look forward to your next translated game ^_^
Good job, always want to try almost all the games that are being translated or finished translated. specially rpg’s because you know the hard work they give in and that its a great game if someone makes a massive effort in bringing the translation to all gamers out there.
Your save data appears to be the same, since you’re standing in the same place as before, and the boss is back where he was, but your save has been updated. The final boss dropped a Nova stone. You should have that stone in your updated save. Also, the EX dungeon is unlocked. Just exit the final dungeon and go to the Nakara temple. You can also feel free to go back and beat the final boss again later, if you wish.
Glad you enjoyed the game!
In my case after reloading the game (reset on “the end” screen), I didn’t had nova stone. Although portal on second floor of Nakara Temple was open. After beating Hakutaku I received Nova Stone and Golden Blade though.
This game was really fun, interesting and not so naive plot, translating it into english was really worth the effort.
Sorry, I forgot that Nova Stone came from Hakutaku, and not the final boss.
I’m glad that you enjoyed the game!
Any news on DQM1+2 PSX? <3
hey what happened to DQ Monsters I & II (PSX) translation?
Any new on DQ?
Not to steal the spotlight from Oriental Blue, but I too am interested in the DQM translation. I found this site over a year ago when I searched for a rough translation, and I’m still as eager for it as the first day I came here. Any news would be very highly appreciated.
I loved this translation, but I’m going to have to be pesky like the posters above, any news on DQ 1+2? =)
Same as Dave, I hate to sound like I’m downplaying Oriental Blue but Dragon Quest Monsters 1&2 is you guys’s biggest project and has been ever since it was announced. I cannot wait until it is finished. I just found that it runs great on WiiSX. I will have fun to say the least.
Hi everyone !
Any news about Xenosaga I.II (DS) ?
It’s a project begun in june 2008, so I hope there will be a release soon.
I admit it. I didn’t think it would happen. But I am here to say great job. I like the work you guys do and you should be proud. Thank you for this.
Sigh… However reasonable some of you may think it is by asking for status updates… It is actually rather insolent and ungrateful. The translators themselves are more than aware of providing updates and it is up to them to decide when to post an update. So with due respect and felicity shut your mouths and check back every once in awhile without leaving a comment with even the slightest impertinence.
~ constraint
seeing as dqm hasnt been mentioned since april, and hasnt been mentioned by name this entire year, not to mention the sudden change of gears to finishing and releasing oriental blue, i think its fair for people to get a bit curious. personally i dont care if the game gets done anytime soon, ive wanted to play it since i heard about it some 7 years ago, but it would do a lot for me just to see a post that kingcom hasnt given up on this project.
cantius, please don’t tell people to shut their mouths, we need more activity here, not less! people are entitled to ask for a particular translation, it shows that there is interest in what the romhacking aerie is doing. put down your thesaurus and join the bandwagon! kingcom – throw us a bone!!
By waiting the patch, you can read some good translation of Xenosaga I.II on the Wiki of Xeno Underground.net.
I’d also like to see DQM 1+2 completed. I’d throw some money at it for sure.
Please give an update DQ Monsters
Xenosaga?
Haha I’m not obnoxious, I just wanted to make my love apparent to add to the demand. ;D
Beat Oriental Blue, wow, the game has very cool events!! Thanks for the translation!!!
ed, nobody is entitled to absolutely anything when these guys are working, FOR FREE, in THEIR OWN TIME, just out of love for these games and the translation effort.
Are you paying them? No. Do your demands or attention feed them? No. The only thing that kind of attitude will do is annoy them, so just be patient and don’t demand things that you get form someone elses’ hard work, FOR FREE.
Please help me T.T When i try to play this game wit emulator on my phone it can’t run n says unrecognized gba file. I really wanna try this game. I beg u guys