Captain-Shiny

Join Date 10/2008

German version fixed?

Hello there!

I'm from germany and I recently heard of galactic civilizations 2 (I know, I'm a bit late). I love master of orion 2 and gc2 seems to be the game I was always waiting for. So I looked at amazon to buy it but I stumbled upon some negative customer reviews relating to the bad german translation of the game.

So here's my question. Is it fixed, yet? Or is it multi language? I'd rather play a german version cause it seems to be pretty complex but the english would do if nothing else helps.

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

The German translation was redone for Kalypso's release of the retail expansion bundle by the same members of the community who'd done the fan translation, so it should be good. But anyone who can register the game can also get the English version as a download should they want it.

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Is the new translation available as a patch or do I have to buy the new package? Because the koch media thing costs 10 bugs and the new version is something about 27. And I don't think I need an addon right now.

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

Kalypso's translation is only available by purchasing the Kalypso release of the game.

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That's unfortunate. No deal then. I didn't expect that I have to pay 17 bugs more just to get a proper translation (Edit: perhaps I will buy it someday but I'm still unhappy with this).

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Ok, now I'm really pissed! I recently read about your "gamers bill of rights". Usually I would find that a good thing but as I see it you don't stick to your own principles. You seem to use the same unfair practices as any other of those money greedy publishers in nowadays. If I bought the koch media version I would be pretty f***** now. I'm deeply disappointed. I'll definitely won't buy the game. That's all.

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

I'm sorry you feel that way, but what it boils down to is that we don't do the translations, so we can't distribute them; we literally do not own those translated files for our own game. Kalypso would be very unhappy (read: lawsuits and no more European retail ever) if we let anyone download the localizations they paid to do without them getting a cut for every one. As we can't just give them a cut out of every sale we make, it's not really something easy to arrange.

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Well, CD-Project Red did it. And the enhanced version of the witcher sold pretty well although it's available as a free patch for owners of the original witcher. And those guys retranslated all voices and texts and added a lot of content. Furthermore they didn't make such an outline for "gamers rights". Even if game publishers are evil and greedy it still doesn't fit into your efforts to obtain more rights for gamers. If you look at point 2, 3 and 7 of your bill of rights I (as a gamer) should have the right to download a patch which fixes the bad translation. Of course I don't know how bad the original translation really is (and I wont spend 10 bugs to find out) but from what I read I'd consider it buggy. If I accidently bought the wrong version I'd be very unhappy now. I really understand that everyone wants to make money and don't get me wrong - that's not a bad thing (I'm NOT a hippie) but I think this is the wrong way especially considering the gamers bill of rights. As I mentioned before, cd-Project tried a different way and it seems like they succeeded. And dispite Atari's current situation they seemed to support that, too.

P.s. At least I got an answer - I appriciate that. Response to critisims is not common these days.

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Ok, now I'm even more confused. I checked again and there's only a kalypso release called "galactic civilizations 2 - endless universe" which is as I understand a bundle with addons and not the original title or am I wrong here? I couldn't find anything else from kalypso. So where can I actually get a proper german release of the original gc2? Does it exist at all? I only found the koch media game which was actually labelled "galactic civilizations 2". Or do these addons "patch" the translation of the original game as well?

This is the amazon page of the koch media version:

http://www.amazon.de/Koch-Media-GmbH-Galactic-Civilizations/dp/B000CGLOT8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1222908984&sr=8-1

And here the one from kalypso:

http://www.amazon.de/Galactic-Civilizations-Endless-Universe-PC/dp/B001EC6D8Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1222908984&sr=8-2

I couldn't find anything else.

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

The Endless Universe package is a standalone version of the two expansions; the base game is not required (this is because at the point Kalypso decided to do this, Paradox owned the rights to the base game).

But Kalypso recently obtained the rights to publish the base game from Paradox (Koch being a subcontractor or subsidiary of Paradox), so they're now going to be releasing "full" bundles as well with updated DL translation, but really all you gain there is the original campaign and the option to play without all the enhancements that have been made in the expansions, neither of which is a big deal to most people; the expansions supercede the base game, so for most people once they have them, they won't touch the base game any more afterwards.

So if you have the original Paradox German release or not, makes no difference; the Expanded Universe bundle will bring you up to the latest and greatest with the new translation.

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Hmm, ok, at least I understand that now. I still don't think that it's a fair bargain for owners of the original game. What the hell. In my point of view german players were always treated like second class gamers. By the way - it isn't the best way to prevent piracy. I just don't want to get imported english versions at horrific prices if the german version isn't appropriate OR have to buy it again to get a proper localisation. I don't know who's responsible for that but I don't think it's only the fault of the publisher (again: see the witcher). I wish you good luck with the gamers bill of rights but I fear this thing is only for british/american folks. So I stand to my point. The german retranslation should be available as a patch for the owners of the original release in my opinion. But I'm drifting into a discussion about principles and I really don't know how realistic those are in the pc games market.

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

The german retranslation should be available as a patch for the owners of the original release in my opinion.

That's a complaint to take up with Kalypso then, like I said. It's theirs to release or not, not ours.

I just don't want to get imported english versions at horrific prices if the german version isn't appropriate

No need for that at all. Buyers of any version can simply register it with us and download the English version for free if that's what they'd prefer.

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Very informative thread. I was confused about all that releases and the german translation too. I didn't play GalCiv2 for a long time, but I think I will get the Endless-Universe bundle now as soon as Patch 2.0 is final.

On the other hand I somehow agree with Captain-Shiny. As a owner of the Paradox version it feels a bit unfair not to get the best translation availiable. The german translation coming with the Paradox version is... lets be polite and say there is no german translation at all. I understand it is not Stardocks fault in the first place, but maybe you could learn from it and negotiate some kind of better control over distribution next time. Without this thread I would have bought my Expansion Bundle here and would have been bound to english.

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I just bought the German version of "Endless Universe" and some texts (especially names of technologies in the tech tree and some buildings) are not translated into German. That's really confusing sometimes.

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There seem to be some issues. Germans probably should keep an eye on this thread:

http://forum.kalypsomedia.com/showthread.php?tid=570

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