[FFXI] Japanese language support for non-Japanese region clients

First, I'd like to say that one of the things I've always liked about FFXI and that makes XI a little unique from other MMOs is having servers that aren't limited to regions, allowing players to communicate and experience Vana'diel from players all around the world.

The Auto-Translate function helps to bridge the language barrier between regions, mainly between Japanese and non-Japanese players. On the POL Play Guide, the Auto-Translate function is introduced as follows:

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Originally Posted by Official POL Play Guide

FINAL FANTASY XI has an auto-translate feature. Text entered from the list of common phrases will appear in either English or Japanese, depending on the version of the game that the player is using.

You cannot modify or add to the list of common phrases. However, the list contains a comprehensive vocabulary of words and phrases that will allow you to easily communicate with other players, no matter which language they are using!

There are a lot of Japanese-speaking players in Vana’diel. The auto-translate feature enables you to play in the same world as them so you can enjoy the best that online gaming has to offer.

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This assumes that no players from non-Japanese regions know any Japanese and would therefore require the Auto-Translate function to help communicate with said players. The Auto-Translate system works for the majority of players in getting across requests and tactics, however there are those in non-Japanese regions that have learnt Japanese and would like to communicate to Japanese players/friends.

With that being said, I'd like to make the suggestion of allowing non-Japanese region clients the IME functionality to enable Japanese characters to be input into the game. Japanese players can currently type both, but non-Japanese players are left with having to type Japanese in romaji which I feel (and I assume others that are with a similar opinion) takes away from the experience of being able to communicate to Japanese players. As not all players would be interested in this functionality and the IME itself would somewhat change the input bar, I would also like to suggest that if this functionality could be implemented, either a checkbox in the FFXIConfig application or an in-game config window option be added to enable/disable this.

Thanks.

I support this!
I've been learning a bit of japanese since I first started playing FFXI (back in 2005) and romaji just doesn't cut it. The Auto-Translation system is also very limited.
I have met a lot of nice japanese players who helped me and I always wished I could express my gratitude or at least try to communicate better with them using hiragana/katakana/kanji.

So yes, please. Give us the option to communicate directly with our fellow japanese adventurers!

I'm not really too versed on the topic but I think the problem here are some legal issues? Something about special permission to add IME-support to their software outside of japan? Once again, don't take my word for it, just repeating what I think I could've heard ages ago. But, in comparison I know games like Aion etc. can use it no problem so...

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I'm not really too versed on the topic but I think the problem here are some legal issues?

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There should not. Everyone can use IMEs on Operating System Basis, its just a tool to write non-latin characters.
I really think it's really the dev staff years ago when FFXI was released was going for non-japanese players don't speak japanese and so autotranslate will do the job - like some other poster already said. And kind of chaning it was always too low priority or not even considered by the old team.

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Originally Posted by Gokulo

I'm not really too versed on the topic but I think the problem here are some legal issues? Something about special permission to add IME-support to their software outside of japan? Once again, don't take my word for it, just repeating what I think I could've heard ages ago. But, in comparison I know games like Aion etc. can use it no problem so...

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This shouldn't be the problem since IME is included in the Operating System. In terms of the game files, it appears that all regions receive the same game files. Its the region of the POL Viewer, which is region-specific, that determines which localisation of the game to use.

Though if this is the case then some clarification from the Development Team would be greatly appreciated.

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Originally Posted by Limar

There should not. Everyone can use IMEs on Operating System Basis, its just a tool to write non-latin characters.
I really think it's really the dev staff years ago when FFXI was released was going for non-japanese players don't speak japanese and so autotranslate will do the job - like some other poster already said. And kind of chaning it was always too low priority or not even considered by the old team.

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Yes, everyone is free to use it for their own personal use, however you are not free to incorperate it in your own commercial programs. SE does not have permission to use it in a commercial product, even if every single user has permission to use it on their own. If they wanted to get permission, they would have to pay royalties.

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Originally Posted by rog

Yes, everyone is free to use it for their own personal use, however you are not free to incorperate it in your own commercial programs. SE does not have permission to use it in a commercial product, even if every single user has permission to use it on their own. If they wanted to get permission, they would have to pay royalties.

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Microsoft's IME included within the Operating System is free to use in both Personal and Commercial programs. English region Commercial programs that I use allow the use of the Operating System IME with no problems, and like Limar said, other games such as Aion etc. allow the use of the IME.

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Originally Posted by Akiyama

Microsoft's IME included within the Operating System is free to use in both Personal and Commercial programs. English region Commercial programs that I use allow the use of the Operating System IME with no problems, and like Limar said, other games such as Aion etc. allow the use of the IME.

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I dunno then. SE has said it has to do with royalties, and they certainly wouldn't have specifically disabled it (it's still there on all versions, just not usable) for no reason.

I would like it if the IME could be supported on the English (and of course other) clients of POL as well (assuming there aren't royalty issues). I know that FFXIV supports the IME usage, so I'm not really sure why it wouldn't be allowed on FFXI.

If licensing and royalties were the issue then I'd expect the Japanese game to be higher in price than non-Japanese games, but this isn't the case. The Ultimate Collection is available for the same price on Steam whatever the region, and the subscription prices are both similar.

It also seems a little strange that within a license they'd be able to ship all games with the IME and only have to pay royalties on the games that are likely to use them. In terms of whoever the royalties are going to, if a game is shipped with the IME, regardless of whether it'll be used or not, royalties should be due.

Even if it is the case, I'm sure many users who would like the feature wouldn't mind paying a small one-off fee to enable this.