Quote Originally Posted by Xsilver View Post
I have a few questions relating to FFXI's localization versus the naming conventions of previous Final Fantasy games:

Why Inferno and not Hellfire for Ifrit's Astral Flow?(Is it because of the ESRB rating that you can't use "Hell"?.
Why Earthen Fury instead of Gaia's Wrath for Titan's Astral Flow?
Why Tidal Wave instead of Tsunami for Leviathan's Astral Flow? (Is it too sensitive in Japan to use Tsunami?)
Why Aspir instead of Osmose? (FF4/FF9)
Why Spirt Surge instead of Lancet(Dragon Sword) as it's called in the JP and FFV)
Why Sabre Dance instead of Sword Dance as in FFV?
Why Ryunohige instead of Dragon Whisker as in FF9/FFTactics?
Why Souleater instead of Darkness for DRK's job ability?
Whoever decided to leave this in the original JP, good call!

While the literal meaning may be the same, the western and eastern concepts of dragons are so very different that you don't get the same feeling from the names.

Heck, the classic western interpretation of a dragon doesn't typically even have what could be called whiskers. You say dragon whisker around a westerner and they're like... "Dragons have whiskers?"

Because of this, the name felt really silly to me when I first encountered it(which I admit, was a really long time ago.) It'd be kinda like finding some boots called snake's boots.(Not boots made of snake skin, but boots for a snake.) Evokes that, "Huh? what?" kinda feeling.

I think silly is not the feeling we want to get from the names of our legendary weapons.

But Ryunohige doesn't give me that feeling. And leaving it in JP links it to the eastern concept of dragons. Which are more symbols of power, good fortune, wisdom and benevolence. And do tend to have what can be seen as "whiskers", and "beards".

So thank you, localization team, for ignoring the precedent, and leaving it as Ryunohige. ^^