Those are the second and third most time-consuming parts, respectively. :P
Piecing it all back together is what takes the longest. Comparing saved logs to GamerEscape plot details to user fansites to Japanese Lodestone blogs, etc. to make sure I've got everything. Not everyone talks to every NPC involved, after all.
Sometimes the hardest part of the entire process is having the text that was said and not knowing who the hells said it. I'm just going to suspend one of my cardinal rules and talk about this topic for a moment. Seeing as SE actively endorsed ZAM for it doing it, it's probably not a big issue, anyway, lol.
Let's say you wanted to troll the game's DAT files to build a site like ZAM, Mozk Tabetai, or Mooglebox, except for quest dialogue. Unfortunately, as far as we can tell, the mechanism that ties what was said to who said it is a short command from Square Enix's servers... so the site might end up with complete transcripts, but they'd be entirely out of order with no way of telling who said what.
Therefore, projects like Loremonger are like gluing together a smashed mirror. I don't suspect there will be many who have the patience for it, though I do hope those that do sign on to assist!
