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In Japan, when a huge JRPG rolls out, it’s not unusual for it to be followed by an equally huge book full of art, lore, and trivia. Sometimes these books get English translations, and a lot of times — they don’t. Xenoblade: The Secret File – Monado Archives, a book dedicated to the world of Monolith Soft’s Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii, is one of those tomes that stayed in Japanese. Fortunately, a large group of really dedicated fan translators and proofreaders has translated the entire beast of a book into English, accessible this instant from a Google Drive. (Try to support the original publisher as much as possible though and obtain a Japanese copy should it become available.)
I'm excited to announce that the English translation of Xenoblade: The Secret Files – Monado Archives is complete!
Learn the lore of XB1, its characters, world, tidbits and developer insights!
I was one of the translators for it, please get it there:https://t.co/UjGuJVsMJf pic.twitter.com/gEzLZFV0gL
— hachimitsuka (@mielfr) May 21, 2020
Just a quick skim will indicate that translating Xenoblade: The Secret File – Monado Archives was an absolutely Herculean task. This isn’t a simple art book with some text descriptions in-between (though there is so much art and animation). It provides mountains of lore, with tons of character bios for NPCs you probably forgot ever existed in the game. For instance, do you remember Deki from the Frontier Village? And did you know he’s 68 years old? Of course not! But Monolith Soft carefully documented it and how much he loves his granddaughter and insects — and there are 250 pages of this stuff to pore over!
If you love Xenoblade Chronicles — merry Christmas and congratulations. Xenoblade: The Secret File – Monado Archives is everything you’ve ever wanted.
And this isn’t even the first time this has happened for a Xeno title. An extraordinary translation of Xenogears Perfect Works is available online as well. (I own a Japanese physical copy of that one myself, to keep things kosher.)
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