ef – the first tale Updates

Good things come to those who wait. Also, d’awwww.

Hello all! The “ef – the first tale” scripts have been sent off to minori, so we’re here today to reveal some of the unique changes in the impending MangaGamer release!

Can’t notice the difference? Try staring where the light reflects off Yuuko’s hair.

MUSICA Engine Upgrade

MUSICA, short for “Media Unification System Interpreter and Compiler Authorization,” has been minori’s front-end since Haru no Ashioto. As of eden*, MUSICA contains a subtle blur filter in case players wish to upside the game window. This is now included with the impending English release of ef!

Horray for variety! Pick whichever you like best.

minori/NNL Engine Styles

When we worked on ef, we made numerous tweaks pertaining to fade and scroll speed. In addition, with fan feedback, we removed control lockout in various scenes. But let’s say you’d prefer minori’s original Japanese experience. Now you can! With a simple toggle in the configuration menu, you may switch between our technical code and minori’s technical code! Text remains the same in both versions.

There better not be any complaints about the font choice THIS time!

Font Selection

As a disclaimer, information pertaining to font selection may change by the time of final release, since we are still discussing how to handle certain aspects of this on the engine side of things. Pending any technical restraints related to text overflowing off the screen in certain scenes, it should be possible to pick any font you like!

Not sure why you’d ever want to pick this font, but go ahead and knock yourself out!

Message Panel Updates

Our recommended font (which we hope to include, but are attempting to contact the creator for authorization to use in the commercial release) is a rather skinny font, originally chosen in order to allow enough text to be displayed. But the font selection feature poses a new issue. What if your favorite font is too large? The text would stretch beyond the maximum four lines. Thankfully, the new engine allows the message panel to automatically stretch an additional two lines in case of text overflow!

Only the best script for MG’s loyal fanbase!

Revised Script

The most important job was making the script as professional as possible for the official release. We can’t be too specific because we’d spoil the story, but here are the highlights:

  – Reduced profanity: Some people complained about the amount of profanity. We reduced it, mostly between Hiro/Miyako and Hiro/Yuuko. (Hiro now only swears once to Miyako in the entire chapter.) However, the text specifically mentions that Hiro, being a recluse, doesn’t have the best of manners. Kei learned how to talk from Hiro, but also from the hot-headed jocks she is around with in school. Lastly, Kyousuke doesn’t need to act nice around Hiro. So some of it had to remain. As for ef – the latter tale, it’ll only have a minimum amount of profanity. The characters in those stories are more bubbly than Hiro/Kei/Kyousuke.

– Throwaway line removal: As promised, we’ve removed every throwaway translation we included for cheap laughs. (Why did we include them in the first place? As a hobby, it was fun to loosen up once in a while.) SUPAH is gone. The pop culture references that remain (such as Unit-01) were in the Japanese text. And yes, in the sex scenes, any goofy-sounding comparisons were always there!

    – Smoother auto mode: Hearing a voice clip that’s about a second long while reading a long line of text (and vice versa) was a concern of ours, especially when playing in auto mode. Also, there were pauses in the text where there were none in the voice clip. Syncing voices to text caused several hundred changes in the script. Due to concerns of frivolous changes at this stage, we reached a compromise. We’re very proud of the script, but chapter one and two were handled slightly differently. If you like either better than the other, let us know! If you can’t tell the difference, let us know too! We’ll apply any feedback to making “ef – the latter tale” even better.

    – Improved translation and localization: After some brainstorming, certain localized terms have been changed back to the Japanese counterparts, and vice versa. Plus, we found a few things that benefited from a revised translation.

As we near release, expect more posts to appear both here on the MG Blog, and on NNL’s site. Both should have a unique take on any new information matching our unique styles, so stay tuned!

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26 Comments

  1. Thanks for the update. Still very much looking forward to ef!

  2. “Some people complained about the amount of profanity. We reduced it”

    Lost sale for messing with the source material because of stupid people.

  3. Sounds like you guys have really been putting effort into making this game accessible and user friendly. I’ll be watching for the release date, or any news on this game for that matter, like a hawk.

  4. “Improved translation and localization”
    Need details on what “improved” means. Has a policy on honorifics and cultural references and name order been announced? I’m only interested if all of those are left intact and unaltered. Removed honorifics, flipped names, and Americanized cultural references are not valid translation choices in my eyes. Period.

    • It clearly means it’s a better translation than the fan translation NNL originally put out. As for honorifics, cultural references, and name order, you only need to look at recent Mangagamer releases, as they will likely use the same standard.

      I for one am quite happy they’re taking this so seriously, it looks like they’re going all out. I can’t wait to play it.

      • “Better” is pretty darn subjective.

        As for matching recent MangaGamer releases, I haven’t bought any lately (still have a backlog of 4 or 5 I bought a while ago), think the most recent was Shuffle!, but it did vary somewhat early on. If they have settled on a definite, published standard it would be good to get a link.

    • Based on recent titles (unless its changed for EF)

      Honorifics are removed

      Cultural references are left intact and they provide an extra document with more detailed explanations. Thus if you don’t understand the reference you just check the document.

      Names aren’t flipped

  5. Eee~ So exciittttteeeedd~ : D

  6. I’ll be so happy if they surprise us with a physical limited edition release, but just being able to read it would suffice enough.

  7. Looks like another VN with overused high school setting….getting tired of this overhashed formula. Looking forward to more Kara no Shoujos and Koihimes. Nice to see MG making strives to improve their releases though.

    • Lolololo. The only difference is ef is one of the few good school romances. Besides most of the stuff doesn’t even take place during school,lol.

      Just enjoy the amazing story and backgrounds.

    • Believe me, very little of “ef” takes place in the school setting. If you’ve ever seen the animé, “ef~a tale of memories”, you’ll know. It was also one of the saddest, most touchingly emotional things I’d ever watched.

  8. More or less when are you planning to relase this game?

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