The Lost Crown auf Deutsch 3: Zu der Zukunft!

I did it! I played the whole game in German (well, I had to switch to English once to get by a bug, but only for a moment).

I'm rather proud of myself! After the first day I stopped looking at the English YouTube WT for translations. Sure, I didn't understand a bunch of major words, but I was able to follow the game very well in spite of that, and I was able to understand almost 100% in some scenes. 

Plus, I encountered a lot of conversational phrases that I had learned in my studies. It was really nice to see them actually used.

And they really did a fantastic job with the translation. Mein Gott, they spent massive amounts of time translating all the text that you read, including poems. It was a huge effort and it really works.

I still encountered a few bugs during the last couple of days, but I got by those fairly easily. I think it's because the cache is too full. Only once did I have to quit and reload--getting through the metal door in the Ulcombe tower basement. The middle hot spot wouldn't respond, but quit-and-reload solved the problem.

I almost achieved all my objectives: I did get all the photos, and I did get all the EVPs. I got the Steam achievement for the photos, but not for the EVPs--the "Spirit Voices" achievement--until I finished the game. Then after I got the achievement for finishing, about one second later the achievement for the Spirit Voices unlocked. How weird. But it worked and I got it!

I missed the "Good Listener" achievement because I missed the first night of listening to the phone. My list of achievements didn't show it until I was past that time (yeah, I should have read through the whole thing first). I went back to a saved game and did the action, thinking that Steam might record it, but it didn't.

Well, I guess I just might have to replay those four days auf Deutsch at some point. It was a really good experience, so I think I might, just to get that last one!

Update: I did it! I replayed the days (which is about half the game at least) and I got the Good Listener achievement. I got 'em all, as well as all the EVPs and the Photos, which was my major goal. Yay! And it was good for me to get that much more exposure to the German.

So I'm quite pleased! 

This game really is a masterpiece. I knew it was good, of course, but somehow this playthrough impressed me even more than my earlier ones. 

And now I'm ready for Blackenrock! (Although I might also play Midnight Horror auf Deutsch too! Update: Turns out that Midnight Horror only has German subtitles. They didn't do new voices. Still, I'll play it! Up-Update: more than subtitles! They also translated a lot of the reading material. Nice!)

Ja! Zu der Zukunft!

The Lost Crown Auf Deutsch-2: Getting by the Bugs

Well I thought I'd had it. 

So I've been getting by the bugs by quitting and reloading. Yesterday I had to quit Steam and reload, and that solved my problem.

The bugs are that I'll get to a point in the game where I have to click on a hot spot, but nothing happens. That's where I was all day yesterday. (Also, just occasionally I have to click way, way on the outside edge of the hotspot to get a response. The teensy pixel can be really difficult to find.)

I'm on the second night in the Museum. I'm downstairs. I've loaded the fuse, I've met Verity (well, Nigel doesn't know who she is yet). I've looked around at objects in other areas downstairs. Time to get on the elevator and go to the first floor

Bug: I can't click on the "1" in the elevator--the same problem I had on my first, daytime visit to the museum. I can click on the "2," which brings Verity into the elevator to take me back downstairs. I can click on the "0." I can even click on the phone button.

But there is no click on the "1." Therefore, I can't get to the first floor and the game is over.

So I uninstalled the game and reinstalled. Steam kept my achievements and my saved games--hooray! 

But it still didn't work. 

I thought I was done. Just to try it, I went back to the English version. Took ten minutes to download, but when I got into it I still had the saved games from the German version! I tried to get the elevator to move and voila! It worked right away!

So now I'm on the 1st floor where I'm supposed to be! I got by it! 

I'm now in the process of switching back to the German version, which takes another ten minutes to download--again.

But it seems from this experience that the problems in the game are in the German version, not the English. So if I keep running into problems, I've got this rather extreme solution to get by it.

I'm determined to finish this game! I'm having lots of fun despite the frustrations, and I continue to be massively impressed with the translation. And plus, even though my German is far from fluent, I haven't had to consult the English YouTube videos for a long time. I know the game well enough and can read the German just barely well enough to get through it quite nicely!

Onward! Vorwärts!

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