November Update: What We’re Up To

We’re going to get the hardest part of this update out of the way first: We’re delaying the release of our Tales of Destiny 2 patch to 2023.

This might seem obvious to those who have been following the updates closely and how we haven’t had a lot to say as of late with regard to our progress. And that’s because there simply hasn’t been a lot to report! So we’re going to take a minute to talk about that and what the future holds for Tales of Destiny 2‘s patch release.

When we first announced this project to the public in the spring of 2021, we had a loose goal in mind: to try to release the patch by Tales of Destiny 2‘s 20th anniversary on November 28th, 2022. At the time, we felt very confident in our progress—and rightfully so, as up until very recently, we had still been on track to do so! We pored over the text for months until we felt confident that the entire script was up to our standards and that every line of text we translated for menus would be clear and concise.

And then life happened. Nearly everyone on the team has gone through some very major life changes over just the last few months. Some of us have made major career shifts, some have gotten sick, and others have had their living situations suddenly and entirely changed, among other personal situations that simply affected quality of life too much to devote the same amount of time and energy into the work on this patch that we’ve had for the last year and a half. One of our internal founding principles has always been that our lives away from this project come first.

This patch is a labor of love in every sense of the word, and that means ensuring that we’re working on it when we’re at our best. We don’t believe in crunch or in putting pressure on members of our team to meet hard deadlines, especially when their situation can’t properly accommodate that. We’re a team, and we do our best to support each other as we work in order to ensure the final result is the best it can possibly be.

So where does that leave us?

We can say with certainty that nobody is more disappointed than us to have to announce any sort of delays. We can also say with certainty that while things are moving slower, they are still moving forward! There are still quite a few kinks to work out with the programming to make sure everything is running with no bugs or crashes and none of the issues that will impede the quality of anyone’s playthrough.

Once we’re sure all the text and quality-of-life features are fully implemented, our team will continue as we have previously stated by doing thorough playtesting of the game to try to catch any remaining issues. Whether that’s something sizable like crashes or just pesky typos that our eyes missed on our countless spreadsheet pages, we intend to bring this patch to you in the best possible state! Once we’re moving at full speed again, things should go much quicker. So close, yet so far!

In the meanwhile, we do still have plenty to talk about. You can look forward to learning about the roadblocks, other finer points of the programming, and more about the localization editing process. We still have some neat posts planned, so stay tuned for those!

For now, what we want to do more than anything is thank those of you who have been patiently waiting for this patch. It’s frustrating that we can’t just have enough time in the day to get this done faster, so we really appreciate all of the kindness and support we’ve seen in the wake of our slow updates. With any luck, our schedules will ease in the coming weeks after the holiday and into the new year so we can share this patch sooner rather than later. Please look forward to it!

28 thoughts on “November Update: What We’re Up To

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  1. You guys don’t have anything to apologize for, honestly. This is a labor of love you’re doing for free. When you work on a project in your spare time for free, you can take as long as you want and nobody is entitled to a release.

    Personally speaking, I’ve waited 10 years for Tales of Destiny 2, and I can keep waiting as long as it takes. Eventually a fan translation will happen one way or another, even if someone else comes along and beats you to the punch like how Sayucchin beat out cj_iwakura for Persona 2 Eternal Punishment PSP.

    I work long hours in big tech myself, and I can’t imagine coming home and pouring thousands of hours into what is essentially a second full-time job. I admire your commitment and tenacity.

    To any prospective haters who would complain about the delays: the originals aren’t going anywhere. If the long wait is such an issue for you, nothing is stopping you from learning Japanese.

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  2. I think it’s great that you have such a strong team mentality! Keep supporting each other and we’ll keep rooting for you. I’ll wait as long as it takes! You guys rock and deserve appreciation and support, thank you for tackling such a big project with so much enthusaism and care! Destiny 2 is one of my favorite games and it deserves more love.

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  3. Yeah, don’t worry, guys, as you said in the post, it was easy to deduce that there would be a delay.

    Honestly, I never understood why people get upset over a delayed product of art/entertainment, and worst of all, demand the people behind it to hurry up and release it. Like, what do they expect? That the thing is already in a finished state and the team is a bunch of pricks that refuse to release it for no explainable reason?

    Quality takes time, simply put. Please, don’t beat yourselves up over any deadlines OR get frustrated by not keeping up with them. Your lives come first regardless of any delays whatsoever, even if it takes another couple of years or more. Keep going at the pace that’s comfortable for the team.

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  4. No issue with any delays on my end. This project is a gargantuan undertaking, and focusing on eliminating all crunch and ensuring good health for members is the best course of action, period. I wish goodwill and recovery for anyone who needs it, take your time!!

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  5. No hay problema por la demora, todos agradecemos las ganas y la pasión que le están poniendo a este proyecto y sabemos que ustedes quieren terminar este parche tanto como lo queremos nosotros, sigan como van, espero que los cambios en su vida que mencionan sean todos a mejor y gracias por el comunicado!

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  6. These things take time and when you’re doing it for free take all the time you all need! I’m just grateful it’s being done in the first place and can’t wait to play it when it’s released 🙂

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  7. I’m not upset over any sort of delay at all. I just wanna keep rooting for you all to keep working on it no matter how long it takes. Thank you all for this service to the tales fans.

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  8. You guys are awesome for doing this. Any wait is fine; to get ToD 2 localized at all is a huge thing. I admire your commitment to quality.

    I wish all of you the best, in life and in this labour of love.

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  9. I am calling it now, they are either gonna get shut down by Bandai Namco before there is an actual release, or they will do what other Tales translations group did and cancel it before release and say its cause they had a change of heart and now want to support Bandai Namco and this promotes piracy…. but its not all doom and gloom, Optical Character Recognition software keeps getting better every year, I personally use one called “Visual Novel OCR” but there is more out there, its more annoying to use that actually having a full translation, but at least its something. Would had been nice if this fan translation would had actually come out… but thats life, as a Tales fan I have so many of these get cancelled I just become too jaded lol

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  10. TalesCless took over a decade, I think, to release the PS1 patch for Tales of Phantasia. A lot of things happened, but they muscled through. Many people released their own patches well before TC’s, but they weren’t the same quality (In my opinion) as, while the other translators did very good work, I just didn’t feel like they had the same passion as TC. They translated the game just to translate it, not to play it and feel it.

    Art, in all it’s various forms, primarily speaks to emotion. The more passionate about something you are, the better the end result will be. Delays do not diminish the passion to finish something, it will always be there. That burning drive that makes you forge on (Even if you’re often times the only one working on the project).

    TC’s PS1 ToP patch was well worth the wait. This is coming from someone who waited for it from 2001 until it’s release. I am certain that, given how passionate your team is about this, this will be worth the wait as well.

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  11. You guys don’t have to be frustrated. Your work and passion for the Tales games is admirable.
    Thank u so much for making this possible.

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  12. Don”t you dare to apologize because you don’t have to, or I’ll kick your rear. Hehe…
    Can only wish the team to be always in good health and luck.

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  13. No problems guys. Take as long as you need heck we’ve waited this long lol. I’m sorry to hear some of you got sick and I hope you’re all doing better and in good health. I just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work I’m so excited for this! The original tales of destiny is one of my favorite playstation 1 games and getting to play the PS2 remake translated into English was an amazing experience. I am super psyched that sometime in the relatively near future I’m finally going to be able to play the sequel! So sending nothing but love and support to the entire team. You’re legends for doing this and will always have my eternal respect, gratitude, and admiration. So excited!!!!

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  14. We’ve been waiting for more than 20 years for this game to be in english, what’s a couple more month? you guys have full support from all of us :D.

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  15. So, is it oficially dead? :/
    Three months has passed till the last update. If there will be a “we are alive, and will resume progress” would be enough.

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  16. I think this is the end so sad, no update for the past 3 months even a simple one. But I’m happy that you guys all choose good life. Take care always 😊

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  17. Don’t know why everyone’s suddenly doomsaying. I did some poking around on twitter and one of the people working on the project mentioned that they’re taking a break from the bimonthly updates until more substantial progress is made.

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  18. Take as much time as you guys need! Thanks for continuing to update us and keep us in the loop! Your hard work and effort is much appreciated. ❤ I was wondering if there was a way i could possibly donate to show my support? 🙂

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  19. Time is Gold! take as much time as you want for the fruition of this project will be at it’s best when the time comes!

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