Regarding the Localization of Haurchefant in the EN/FR/DE Versions of FFXIV

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Originally Posted by Brannigan

"Problematic"

Game is rated T for Teen. If the people playing this game can handle executing the insane (early Ifrit-related scenario quests), pirate sex slaves (Sastasha), and child abuse (Dark Knight quest line), then they can handle a guy who loves muscles and adventurers' bodies.

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"to ensure that our players regarded Haurchefant as positively as the JP player base was intended to"

It wasn't that we couldn't handle it, it's just that a lot of the EN playerbase wouldn't have liked him as much? JP Haurchefant's behaviour can easily be interpreted as "massive creeper" if you just do a straightforward translation and cutscene re-use.

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Originally Posted by Inzoum

One major example of this is the Delivery Moogle quest with Humberct Longhaft, which is filled to the brim with innuendos. She could not remember anything of the sort because there WAS nothing of the sort in the French version. I looked up the quest dialogues online they are ENTIRELY different (and honestly terribly tame and stale like most of the French loc.).

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Off-topic but I had wondered about that, so thanks!

Its not that english Haurchefant is bad, i really enjoyed the character, it just feels strange to have such a big difference between us and Japan.

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Originally Posted by Corvinoobus

<snip>...elaborate custom animations that would be required for 3.2 main scenario and a certain...well, you'll just have to look forward to it!).<snip>

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Hildibrand confirmed! Possibly for 3.2 Main Scenario Quests?

No need for an apology you made the right call Corvinoobus, you guys still made Haurchefant a very memorable character that brought tears to the fan's eyes when his time came.

I do remember the first few encounters with Haurchefant ingame. And they left me a bit confused, mostly during that one cutscene where my character raised an eyebrow at him, with a puzzled expression. The content of his words made me wonder why my character even reacted like that. It was only when I heard about the difference between EU/JP that I realised why he had that expression.

That said, I do notice that the LOC is greatly improving over the time. And learning from their mistakes. Like for example how you made Midgardsormr speak more normally during Heavensward, instead of cryptic words that made him sound evil like during our first encounter.

As a player of the English version, I don't think that the decision to remove Haurchefant's flirty tendencies should be chastised. I enjoyed every moment of the character and completely agree with the reasoning for adjusting his mannerisms in the 2.X series. I think that the decision to change his portrayal should be commended. He is, at his heart, still the very same character, but presented in a slightly different way to the rest of the world. That's localization, is it not?

After 3.0, tons of EN players were clamoring for more ways to express their love of Haurchefant. With 3.1, we received a minion, a portrait, and a Fortemps family shield as a way to express our devotion to our fallen friend. We may not have seen his character in exactly the same way, but I would argue that the changes may have actually made him more endearing as a steadfast friend. He made his mark on our hearts, and if you are responsible for his growth as a character, I would like to thank you, Corvinoobus.

As others have said, I think his arc plays out better in English because the localisation represses those parts of his character that were present in the original Japanese. I don't the final scenes would have meant as much without that choice.

Thanks for your hard work! :)

Personally, I wish for there not to be any too drastic changes. It's not just because it's disrupting to hear and see something completely different from what I read in the dialouge (as it happened with Haurchefant), but mainly because I know many players who love to discuss lore with other players from all kinds of nationalities. It's a problem when everyone has basically seen an entirely different story.
So my plea is: keep on being creative with your words! :) You guys are doing an amazing job to make dialouge sound natural and atmospheric and that shouldn't change! But please don't get too creative with their meaning, because it kind of sucks if, for example, in one language there is a huge mystery hinted upon while in another language, it isn't. Or if one character is made to look like a giant jokester (so players who know him like that won't take him seriously) while others have never read anything like that, so they value his words on a completely different level.

Now... if we were discussing the recent changes in Voice Actors between 2.0 and Heavensward, I would definitely be more cross. That is a topic for another thread though, and one that has already been discussed at length in the main forum. I would, at the very least, be relieved to know that Square-Enix is atleast aware that people were unhappy with 90% of the voice actors being changed. That change was far more jarring.

Sorry to bring it up here, but there are few times when I feel absolutely certain that a representative of Square-Enix is reading.

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Originally Posted by giantslayer

For what it's worth, everyone I know loved the English Haurchefant.

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I didn't care too much, his death scene was pretty interesting since its the first time I seen my character actually show emotion for someone. Still kinda stood there like lump afterwards though :/