It’s good to see you here Kimmi. Have fun translating all those Japanese passages. 
So I know for this next one, would you guys rather see them translated as above (closer to the original source, but less like natural English) or more the other way (which will result in better English, but the original sentence structure will be lost and some parts may be rewritten to make the sound less “Japanese”)?
I liked it as it was done so far, it gave it a more authentic feel. Maybe the others (the ones who matter, heh) won’t agree though.
I thought the approach you used in the last one was just fine too: it seemed as if you’d made it as accurate as possible while still making it easily understandable, which is probably the perfect balance to go for in my opinion. So yeah, more of the same would be great.
Alright then I’ll write it up in a similar way! I just wanted to also say thank you for your kind responses - I just kind of butted in here but you’ve all been very kind and encouraging and it really brings a smile to my face! Thanks everyone! :anjou_embarassed:
No problem, we always like taking advantage of people who are willing to work for our entertainment, har har :anjou_embarassed:
I apologise for my delay in replying to this topic (and lack of posting recently), I’ve been a bit preoccupied with a few things.
Anyway, thanks for translating this Kimimi, I really appreciate it. If you don’t mind, I might wait until you’ve done several translations before adding them to the site, that way I could place them in a new section containing several translated pieces. Would you like that be okay with you, or would you rather I add this one sooner?
Also, I fully intend to get some pages of the guidebooks scanned at some point in the future for you to have a go translating if you’re still up for it.
No that’s no problem at all! Would seem silly to make a new section, and then have nothing to show for it
I’m definitely still up for translating some guidebook sections - just email them to me whenever you get round to it and I’ll start work on them straight away.
One last thing SoloWing, if I only get one PD guide/art/world book, what would you recommend? I’m assuming the Saga books will contain more background info, but if you know which is best I’ll try to get that one first.
Solo, do you still have all of the guidebooks except the official Azel guide? I actually have that one now, so I can provide some scans too if they’d be helpful; the official guide also has an interview with the team in it, which might be of interest…
Also Kimimi, if you’re really interested in translating some PD stuff, have you considered looking at anything from the games themselves? We know that the English Panzer Dragoon Saga script isn’t a literally accurate translation, for example, and I’ve always been curious to get a second opinion on how certain scenes played out in the original script (the final scene where Edge talks to the dragon, for one). I have the Japanese versions of all three Saturn games, so if you ever do feel like looking at anything from them, I could give you access to any bits of script that might interest you…
As for which guidebook would be worth picking up, I expect I could give you some idea at least, though I’d have to make a judgement based solely on quantity of storyline-related text. :anjou_embarassed: When I have a chance I’ll check through them all, and post if Solo doesn’t get back to you with an answer first…
If you can give me transcripts of selected scenes I’d be happy to have a look at them Lance - please don’t see this as an offer to retranslate the entire series though as that’s just way to much for one little old Kimimi! 
Please feel free to suggest any guides you feel are of good quality; these will become part of my collection too so don’t worry if one of them doesn’t turn out to be a mine of undiscovered information - I think I’ve come across three separate Saga guides and I’m reluctant to go for one of them without a more knowledgable opinion first 
One thing that I think would be worth re-translating is the Old Diary. That mentioned a number of things regarding the Towers, the Ancient Age, and the Dragon. If the original Japanese text shed some more accurate light on these topics, it could well aid us in unlocking more mysteries of the Ancient Age.
I have the official Japanese PD1, PD2, and PDO Guides, as well as the two unofficial Azel guides. Some scans from the official guidebook would probably more accurate than information from the unofficial guides, particularly anything that relates to the Towers, the Dragon, the Ancients, etc.
[quote=“Solo Wing Dragon”]One thing that I think would be worth re-translating is the Old Diary. That mentioned a number of things regarding the Towers, the Ancient Age, and the Dragon. If the original Japanese text shed some more accurate light on these topics, it could well aid us in unlocking more mysteries of the Ancient Age.
[/quote]
If anyone can supply it, I’ll translate it (after I’m done with this World document of course!).
Looks like I’ll try to hunt down the Official guides then… runs off to Ebay
First section of World document done!
*Panzer Dragoon 2 ?World? Document
First three lines are reproduction/copyright kind of info, I can translate these if you really want me to.
Because of this you are a Panzer Doctor from today!
[Setting the Stage]
? Somewhere on a far away star. On that star 1 live humans whose life span has already begun to be exhausted. 1000 years ago civilization was in a golden age, now, the dusk (twilight2) of that age has passed for everybody.
? Now, this world has several nations , divided into remote villages. Called a nation, people live in scattered regions that aren?t large.
? In every place, ruins call out as the remains from a perished civilization linger on. 1000 years have passed as well, for the most part they work, the ruins continuing their existence. But, people already want that knowledge before it is lost. Furthermore, around the ruins exist machines and living things that indiscriminately attack people that try to approach, making it difficult to go near.
? Those creatures are called ?Violent nature of living things3?. The have an exoskeleton, built in weapons and so on the materials of which become medicines, which can command a high price. As such in this world of ?Violent nature of living things? there exists a special occupation called Hunter. Breeding captured ?Violent nature of living things?, raising, has created tribes for this demand (the person is called a breeder).
? The former protagonist?s 4 occupation was a hunter of ?Violent nature of living things? so Zwei?s protagonist is a breeder. He is a pro concerning ?Violent nature of living things?.
? Lately, between the people rumours have been spreading about ?Violent nature of living things? attacking village districts one after another wiping them out. Just what is going on?
Notes ?
1 Translates as ?star?, but it?s not literal.
2 I have no idea why they felt the need to write dusk, and then insist on (twilight) in brackets as well.
3 Yuck! Can?t get this to feel right ? any suggestions? Would people prefer it if I left them called ?kougekisagaseibutsu??
4 Can also be treated as ?hero? and this kind of context.
*
Again, and helpful comments or suggestions are very welcome. Thanks for reading! 
EDIT: It’s kind of depressing how quick that was to read considering how long it took to write 
Well, that seems to be coming along very well.
About that odd “Violent nature of living things” term - I gather from reading that it’s a name for the monsters as a whole (both pure-type and mutated), so if you were wanting to just substitute a name to make it read easier (though I don’t know if you were wanting to), a good alternative might be “bio-engineered creatures”, which seems to be the term that the English game translators (definitely the PDO translators) tended to settle on - though it sounds like the original Japanese might be trying to depict them as something like “living weapons”, which is another term used in the English translations (if a less common one). But of course, how you handle these translations is totally up to you.
I’d be able to get you a copy of that at some point in the future, though I expect you’ve got more than enough Japanese text to be dealing with right now. As for what’s in the Japanese guides, I checked through them again, and here’s a quick summary of how much storyline-related content they seem to have:
Official Panzer Dragoon Guide (image)
Has pages that appear to cover the background story, summarise the intro sequence, and gives descriptions of some of the specific Imperial ships - but not a lot of info compared to the other guides, and probably not much that wouldn’t already be known to us (as the story still seemed to be fairly simple at that stage)…
Official Zwei Guide (image)
Has several page-spreads describing things like the Empire, the Meccania Federation, the Frontier, Excavation Sites, profiles of individual monsters and airships, etc. In fact the first eighty pages (!) of the book are wholly dedicated to describing the world and its contents, but bear in mind that a lot of that is illustrations and a spacious layout. Also, this may just be reiterating a lot of things from the world.txt document; there’s no way I could tell…
Official Azel Guide (image)
Presumably the best source for PDS-related info, though I’m not quite sure how much storyline info there is in there; there are several pages of character profiles at the start, but I’m not sure if other storyline information is integrated into the main guide (like elaboration on events, locations and history) or if it just doesn’t really go into much detail on the background. 
Sorry about that. Has an interview with Manabu Kusonoki, Yukio Futatsugi and Hidetoshi Takeshita, too.
Unofficial Azel Guide #1 (grey cover) (image)
Made by the company who made the official Zwei guide, and appears to have more background info on the world than the official Azel guide, with quite a few pages dedicated to storyline and world information at the start and end of the book (about 30-40 pages overall), as well as things like various world maps and mini-profiles for NPCs, etc.
Unofficial Azel Guide #2 (by V-Jump) (image)
Probably the least appealing guide on the list, as although it seems to contain quite a lot of info, it really all appears to be gameplay-related descriptions in a full walkthrough, with only a couple of pages at the start given over to character profiles.
Sorry that’s not massively helpful, but I hope it’s slightly helpful, at least. By the way, if you’re looking on eBay, one seller in eBay shops currently has a lot of Panzer guides for sale, though not all at particularly cheap prices.
“Living weapons” it is then! At first, I thought they were trying to describe humananities constant wish to destroy itself, but I guess they just wanted a fancy name!
Thanks for the detailed run down on the guides - I’ll see how much they’re going for and probably try for that Grey Azel guide (even though the Zwei one is very tempting!).
Moving house this weekend, so bear with me if I don’t post for a few days.
Hi guys~! Internet connection came back on about an hour ago, and I’m knackered from the house move so please excuse any silly errors 
*[About the Ancient Age]
? Far away on this star the ruins of the former civilization survive. That periods civilizations function when summarized, this is called by the people the ?Ancient Age?5. That ages experiences are now myths and legends that they tell.
? The foundation of the Ancient Ages? civilization is the fusion of machines and living organisms, ?Living Weapons6? that call out to people to the origins of the gene reconstructed unmanned weapons. Now, a part of the ?Living Weapons? have lost their original function, influenced by the wild, also those exist which have evolved in another direction.
The other machines variety is created from the same technology, used for the outside of the space ships engine7 and the troops use living organism armour plating for their outward appearance.
? Now, we will explain the use for Ancient Age engine (gravity suppression device). Simply, concerning the systems black box. Also, most Ancient Age engines use living body8 parts, there is no need for fine adjustments.
? The majority of the ?Living Weapons? around the heart of the Empire were repulsed, the continents north region being called ?Prohibited Ground?, the robust ?Living Weapons? have made it their breeding ground, the Imperial forces deal with those that try to approach. However, here Ancient Age ruins remain in great numbers.
Previous production ?Tower? of the Ancient Age remains, the Imperial countries forces in a campaign for dominance to hasten the revival. Simply, nothing is known about that ?Tower?s function?
? Previous work of OP of the ruins of Episode 4. And now the the production Episode 4s underground plant which is a relic of the Ancient Age.
You do not understand something was done here, a precaution system of Guard Robots in great numbers was this the munitions site?
Now that puzzle is only a part of the knowledge the Imperial scientists are trying to aquire?
5 Horribly stilted, but pretty accurate
6 Formerly know as ?Attacking Nature of Living Things? ? see 3. ?Living Weapons? suggested by Lance Way ^^~
7 Triple checked that, and it does say space! I?m guessing they just fancied some flowery language ? see 1 :S
8 ?living body? is literal ? I?m assuming (hoping!) they?re talking about monster parts*
I’m currently a paragraph or two into the third topic now - [About the Empire]"!
This is just a quick apology for the lack of new translations - I’m having major, MAJOR family problems right now which are making it just a teensy bit difficult to concentrate on doing these. I haven’t forgotten them, I’m still trying to do a few little bits as and when I can, but unfortunately that’s all I can manage for now.
There’s no need to apologise, you’ve been doing us a favor. Good luck with your family
[About the Empire]
? Usage of the Ancient Age technology. That which is previously lost is being resurrected, by the power acquired by the Emperor. The ruins within their possession are mined, the uses (of the items) researched, to successfully revive the relics of the Ancient Age in the present day.
That strength is used in connection with their military affairs, the battleship soaring through the sky, moving over the land at high speed with new weapons being developed one after another, that message of power kept spreading.
? However, it does not mean that they have perfected use of the Ancient Age weapons. 9 Here is an explanation of a part of their use (engine and attack weapon) so far the use of this weapon has not been improved. Still, the principle use can be explained, even if another cannot be built. You cannot explain why oil burns or change the existence of it, these things are the same.10
? The Empires weapons, are versions of weapons used in the Ancient Age but, the present height (of weaponry?) is (Gravity weapon and Optical weapon) management is difficult, more than restoring the bad condition. Still, being aware of the beauty is regarded as essential, the weapons beauty overtakes it function, reluctantly adorned with cloth, the crest placed, the original form still present.
? The front line fell with the use of the air battleship using weapons from the Ancient Age, after that, acting under the new Emperor the infantrymen occupied and in one go magnified the power of the Empire. 11 Of course, that doesn?t mean that another country wasn?t watching. The Imperial weapon developer is kidnapped, made to research ruins of the native land 12, one after another, weapons of the Ancient Age were sent to the battle lines.
? Presently neighbouring country Meccania is at the height of its weapons excavation concentrating its efforts on a concluding strike to the war, and, to maintain dominance it hurried the investigation of a large scale Ancient Age facility within its territory. That previous work was Panzer Dragoons ?Tower?.
This time, OP13 the Empires Emperor indicates that the ?Boat? and the ?Tower? crystallize the Ancient Age technology in the same way. Simply, only the Imperial scientist knows a portion of this (guessing they?re talking about the knowledge hidden within them)
9 Might also be ?sole use of?? will double check later 
10 Needs sorting! Something along those lines though ? can anyone help?
11 Have to clarify ? new Emperor? New war?
12 His native land? The opposing countries native land, I?m assuming.
13 OP? OPening movie?
Very, VERY sorry that part took so long! Aforementioned family problems were my brother being kicked out by me Mum (sorted now). Then, the day after I posted that, my husband passed out and fell down a flight of metal stairs! By some freaky beyond-Lottery-winning luck, he’s not broken anything just very bruised. Anyways, I hope nothing that “interesting” happens again between now and next update! crosses fingers
Hmm, that’s very interesting info you translated there. Good Job! So the Meccania Empire was a neighboring country near the Empire we know from Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon Saga? So Lundi wasn’t fighting the Empire per say in Panzer Dragoon 2 Zwei, but a whole different Empire? So there are two main powers in the Panzer Dragoon world? The main Empire and the Meccania Empire. Maybe we might see more of the Meccania Empire in future Panzer Dragoon games, if any. It would be cool if there was a giant battle between the two super powers. It would be nice if they both completely obliterated each other, so the peaceful Seekers could reign supreme!