While the translation used the 2000 élf classics release, content was included from all three releases. From the original 1996 PC98 release, less censored HCGs were used, as the updated 2000 release had a few H-scenes that were more censored than the original release. The team includes an example comparison between the two versions on the project page. The 2000 release also had a few words that were censored using asterisks which were uncensored in the original release, and the team choose to translate these as they appeared in the original version. A voice patch was created from the 1997 SEGA Saturn release, as this was the only voiced version of the game. This is not included with the main translation patch, and needs to be downloaded separately. Additionally, some scenes were added to the Saturn release compared to the original release, and these scenes were ported to the fan translation. A special scenario was integrated into the last chapter which was released as a bonus for the PC98 release and integrated into the Saturn release. The only thing that the team could not include were some of the Saturn exclusive CGs, as the resolution was such that they did not look good when upscaled to the resolution of the PC release. Nevertheless they were able to insert some full screen Saturn exclusive CGs which looked good to use in the added Saturn exclusive scenes and the last chapter. A good number of sound effects were added from the Saturn release, which had roughly 50 additional sound effects not present in either PC release. Finally, the CD check was removed, and a bug in the Japanese release was fixed, which could crash the game if you changed wallpapers.

Initially, Danshyu started on the translation of the script while LoSs worked on the menu. A few months later, Phar, who had previously translated Symphonic Rain, joined in. Phar translated some scripts, however he did not commit to fully translating the game as the project’s main translator until completing a play through of the game and deciding that he wanted to do it. From there, Phar became the main translator for the project, with Danshyu dropping out and Phar later reviewed the scripts that Danshyu translated. At the end of November 2009, a teaser patch was released, translating the prologue, however because of relatively slow editing compared to the translation, this was the only partial patch released during the project. The team had a problem with keeping editors, as due to editors either stopping or disappearing, they had to change editors multiple times during the translation.

YU-NO is an old style adventure eroge that was originally released in 1996, which is somewhat more interactive than many modern visual novels. YU-NO follows Takuya Arima, who’s father has recently disappeared and he has received a package from his father after the disappearance. This package contained information about parallel worlds, and while he doesn’t believe it at first, he eventually realizes he has a devise that allows him to travel to other worlds.

Compared to the earlier partial release, the group has put together an improved installer and fixed some errors that had been present. For the English patch to work, an existing Japanese instillation needs to first be updated to the 1.10 version using the official patch from Tarte. The English patch also requires the user to have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 libraries installed to run. Finally, after instillation the user needs to select the proper font as the system does not default to the font that was used for word wrapping.

Originally, a user by the handle “I failed jp302″ started the translation back in 2009, however he eventually concluded that he was in over his head. Half a year later, “Yeah321” decided to take over the translation and ended up finishing the game’s translation near the beginning of this year. “I failed jp302″ returned once “Yeah321″ showed interest in the translation to work as the editor, and a partial patch was released in April when editing was through the first two of the three story arcs in the game. Editing finished in July, and the team made it their goal to release the game during the month of August, a goal that they reached with the August 30th release.

Katahane is an adult visual novel with some yuri themes that was released by the now defunct Tarte in 2007. It takes place in a world with the Red, White, and Blue kingdoms, and is split into two stories told over three story arcs. The Shirohane tale takes place during modern times and follows the young playwright Wakaba as she writes a play about the now historical events that occur near the end of Christina’s reign, with a fresh take that contradicts modern beliefs about what actually transpired. As an interlude to this story, the reader is presented with the second tale, Kurohane, which goes back a few hundred years to the actual events that lead to the end of Christina’s reign of the White Kingdom.

With regards to a full release, the raw translation is actually complete at this time, however editing has been running slower than the translation and the progress of the editing right now is not too far past the end of this patch. Editing progress on the remaining last third of the game, which encompasses the second “Shirohane” story arc, is at roughly 9% at this time.

The translator for this game, “Yeah321”, has been actively translating other titles as well. She completed the translation for the third Sono Hanabira game not too long ago, which saw a release last month. Additionally she has completed the translation for the otome game The Second Reproduction. This title is now in a similar position as Katahane, being fully translated and waiting on editing.

Most of the translation was done by Makoto, with small amounts being translated by Moogy, who translated one of the endings and EG who translated some of the ero content. Makoto is best known for his fan translations of Kikokugai – The Cyber Slayer-, which saw an English fan translation near the beginning of the year and Saya no Uta, which saw an English fan translation released last year, before later being taken down once a group from TLWiki agreed to work with Nitro+. Makoto is also one of the translators involved with Demonbane, which is scheduled to see a commercial release by Jast USA, and is currently working on a fan translation of the popular title, Full Metal Daemon: Muramasa. All of these titles were released in Japan by Nitro+.

Hanachirasu is an adult visual novel that takes place in an alternate world where Japan was occupied by the United States and Russia after World War II. In this world, crime and terrorism runs rampant in Japan, though because of strict gun controls, swords are the weapon of choice. The game features the protagonist, Takeda Akane, and his desire to face his rival, Igarasu Yoshia, in battle. Hanachirasu was written by Narahara Ittetsu, best known for his writing of Full Metal Daemon: Muramasa.

The all-ages story of Remember11 has both a male and a female protagonist, and in contrast to the other Infinity games it does not play out like a dating sim. Instead of several heroine routes, the game offers two perspectives on the same events.

Third-year psychology major Fuyukawa Kokoro, along with three others, is forced to take refuge in a mountain cabin after surviving a catastrophic plane crash in the middle of a snowstorm. In the cabin the group discovers a newspaper detailing the death of all passengers save one – with the newspaper dated six months in the future.

In a seemingly separated situation, quantum physics grad student Yukidoh Satoru is equally isolated by a snowstorm and experiences a life-threatening situation of his own. Someone, possibly even one of his three companions, is trying to have him killed. He and Kokoro find out that their consciousnesses have somehow become linked together, essentially causing control over their bodies to be swapped back and forth between them. Another discovery leads to even more questions about their predicament: Kusuda Yuni, the young boy reported to be the only survivor of the plane crash, is present at both locations.

Remember11 is reported to offer between 30 and 50 hours of gameplay. Information on where to buy the game is given at the project webpage.

Yeah321 is currently working on TLWiki with scripts of the trial version that were uploaded back when “I failed jp302″ began translating originally rather than scripts from the full commercial release of the game.  The tools that are being used at this time are not compatible with the full version of the game, and it remains to be seen whether or not this new translation project will continue onward past where the trial ends.

Shortly before “I failed jp302″ began translating Katahane, this title made the finals in Amaterasu’s last poll in November 2009, finishing twelfth in the preliminary poll, and finishing fifth in the final poll.  The fan translation group Wings of Yuri, who finished their translation of Aoishiro last year, originally made an attempt to get a translation started on Katahane back in 2008, however this never ended up taking off.

Katahane is an adult visual novel with yuri elements that was released in the beginning of 2007 as the last game created by the now defunct Tarte.  One of Tarte’s earlier titles, Hinatabokko, was a launch title for MangaGamer, who released it under the name Which girl should I choose? back in 2008.

Katahane is a tale that is split into two parts.  One tale, Kurohane, takes place a few hundred years in the past in a world with three kingdoms, the Red Kingdom, the White Kingdom, and the Blue Kingdom.  This is a tale that follows the events at the end of Christina’s reign of the White Kingdom.  Another tale, Shirohane, takes place in modern times and follows the young Wakaba as she writes a play that differs from the present day belief of the events that lead to the demise of the White Kingdom, and while writing this play she beings to search for the actual truth behind these events.

The article verified the claims of one post (#972) in the thread which talked about companies that have currently restricted access to their websites from foreign parties. The author included links to images of the result when visiting from a foreign IP. Here is a translation of the results, with links added and images summarized (the results are from the article author, and sites such as Fuguriya’s seem to block random chunks of IPs):

ad:lib　[blocked (403)]
NEXTON umbrella (e.g. Baseson, Tactic[sic], SCORE, Liquid) [can connect]
BLACK PACKAGE [blocked (403)]
AKABEiSOFT2 Brands (AKABEiSOFT2, Syangrila, AKATSUKI WORKS, WHEEL) [blocked (404 for AKABEiSOFT2)]
minori [blocked (custom page)]
mixed up [blocked (403)]
Shallot [blocked (404)]
SKILL UP [blocked (403)]
sprite [blocked (redirected to custom page at http://slpr.sakura.ne.jp/jpprovider.php)]
team it’s [blocked (403)]
Applique [blocked (403)]
Fuguriya [can connect]
YUZU_SOFT [blocked (403)]
TEATIME (blocked Chinese IPs but allowed Europe and America in the past) [both China and America can connect]
Visual Art’s (only VisualAntena is blocked, the various brands are all okay) [blocked (custom page)]
ALICESOFT (had talked about looking into closing off access) [currently okay]

Now, this isn’t a comprehensive list by any means, but it is a good survey of the current set of blocks in place. At the end of the original 2ch post is an interesting observation about ILLUSION:

ILLUSION used to block foreign access but everyone can access the website now. Its message to foreign visitors is rather polite instead of sarcastic like minori’s. It’s amazing since ILLUSION was the biggest victim in the whole Rapelay incident.

TLWiki, on the other hand, has instituted a block for visitors with Japanese IP addresses after receiving cease and desist emails from three different companies. The article on hevoluson points out an interesting post (#968) on the 2ch thread (translated here):

There’s a summary of the TLWiki events above, but it’s not correct.
It wasn’t just three companies who sent requests to cease translation of their games. There were three other companies who had already sent request emails, with two of them looking into removal requests.
I guess these patches are troublesome for these game makers…

If the above post is to be believed, there are still three unknown companies out there who want projects on TLWiki to be stopped.

UPDATE: Anime Novel related stuff moved to new post

UPDATE 2: Conversations in TLWiki’s IRC channel seem to indicate that cease and desist notices were indeed received from GIGA. Meanwhile, several uploaded scripts from Parfait were removed and Baldr Force EXE was removed from the list of projects in the sidebar.

UPDATE 3: Both Parfait and Baldr Force EXE pages have been now deleted from TLWiki.