Item description discrepancies

[Hashmalum]

Recently, I had cause to examine the Japanese descriptions of certain items dropped from Voidwatch and compare them with the English descriptions of the same items, and I noticed some discrepancies. Specifically, I noticed that the English version was longer and contained lurid details completely absent from the Japanese version. For example, see the English description of Hahava's Mail:

"Armor worn by the hellish warrior
Hahava. It emits a scarcely audible,
unceasing shriek."

The Japanese version:

ナラカ族「ハハヴァ」の殻の一部。

Re-translated: "One part of the armor worn by Hahava of the Naraka family." No mention of screaming at all. And I'm not the only one to notice. (http://wiki.ffo.jp/html/23899.html) Another example, this time the Voidwrought Plate. English:

"A plate of armor pried from the
transdimensional intruder known as the
Voidwrought. Darker than a night sky
bereft of stars."

Japanese:

鉄巨人族「ヴォイドロート」から剥がれ落ちた小片。

No mention of the plate being darker than a night sky, which makes sense considering that the monster that drops the plate isn't even black to begin with, it's purple.

So I'm curious now, and I have to ask: where is this added detail coming from? Are the JP somehow being shorted on details in their own game? Or do we just have a particularly florid translator in the NA localization department?

[Kristal]

So I'm curious now, and I have to ask: where is this added detail coming from? Are the JP somehow being shorted on details in their own game? Or do we just have a particularly florid translator in the NA localization department?

Actually, it's pretty common to see flavor text being wildly different between language versions. Usually this is done because the most accurate translation simply doesn't carry the same meaning outside Japanese culture. So the teams have free reign, as long as it doesn't violate lore and such.