It's so godawful what happened to this character. I've read the response from the developers, as well as transcripts of discussions from others over at SE about it (including the apology posts) but I still feel like not enough was done to rectify the issue.
I can understand people being 'uncomfortable' with the type of character that Haurchenfant actually is, but that's just what you get with Japanese media. I feel like they made a mistake by even trying to water down the character for the sake of appeasing a Western audience, since it wasn't even that bad. In fact, it was actually very tame compared to other examples of that archetype found in shounen anime, even.
I know you can always "play it in Japanese" but that's not really a valid response. I also feel like killing off a character because of several screw-ups internally is also worthy of criticism, like "oh yeah.. we messed up *kills them*. There. Issue is solved, now lets try to forget about it and move on."
Like... yeah, it's old content, but seeing how watered down his character was felt very disingenuous and seeing what we got vs. what we should have gotten and how much better and more 'real' it felt just made things worse.
Edit:
Yes, they did admit that changing Haurchefant from the JP version was a mistake and apologized for it.
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...sions-of-FFXIV
"As the individual who pushed for these changes, I would like to sincerely apologize to our fans, as well as Yoshi-P and our scenario team. It was never my intention to deprive our players of a memorable character or elaborate cutscenes, and to this day I deeply regret how I handled this situation."
I can understand that opinions in this matter may differ, with people who are unbothered by the change, prefer it, or share my opinion and prefer no change.
But objectively this was a form of censorship/revisionism, the worst form of localization that deviates from adapting the experience to suit the sensibilities of a foreign culture to accommodating prejudice and distaste.
I genuinely believe that the majority of fans would have either not been too bothered by his original characteristics, or would have overlooked them in favor of the character's other qualities. They would have appreciated him regardless.
Are there any plans to fix the 'Haurchefant' localization?
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04-13-2023, 06:34 AMTelkiraAre there any plans to fix the 'Haurchefant' localization?
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04-13-2023, 07:14 AMDestati
It's probably never going to be "fixed". For however many people prefer Haurchefant's Japanese characterization I imagine there are just as many who like him just as he is in the other localizations. Even so, nothing is stopping anyone from headcannoning him however they wish.
I didn't start playing until around 3.4 so I never had my finger on the pulse for his character reception then, but did they really kill him off because of internal screw-ups? Because with how often he's brought up or referenced in the MSQ now definitely doesn't give me the impression that SE feels they messed up with him.More like beating a dead Haurchefant than anything. -
04-13-2023, 07:29 AMFourbestintoner
Fixing it? They are still changing things for no reason currently.
"play it in Japanese"
You can also play it in French or German, only English is a bunch of nonsenses. -
04-13-2023, 07:30 AMEspon
I'll bite.
They will never "fix" Haurchefant. Believe it or not, but localization does not just consist of translating every word-for-word, but also making changes to jokes, dialogue, and characterization so that it becomes more suitable for other languages and cultures. What might be fine in Japan could come off as offensive to those the West, so it's safer to just change things. I don't personally care either way, but I feel that there are less people out there complaining about Haurchefant's change of character than those that would of been complaining if the dude was constantly making suggestive comments and trying to get into your character's pants.
And Haurchefant wasn't killed off because they made a mistake and wanted to write out the character, he was killed off because he was planned on being killed off from the beginning. -
04-13-2023, 07:38 AMReimarI always appreciate it when the creator of a thread proves they have no idea what they're talking about from the get-go. It's a real time saver!Quote:
Originally Posted by Telkira
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04-13-2023, 07:43 AMSeiyaSoiyathe only people who are professionally qualified to dictate what is appropriate for a culture are licensed journalists, who are taught to be the gatekeepers of information for a country or communityQuote:
Originally Posted by Espon
translators have no business being journalists. -
04-13-2023, 07:45 AMFawkes
They fixed it, all his dialogue since Heavensward has been the same in every language.
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04-13-2023, 07:54 AMBunnycakeYeeah, Dragonsong Reprise made that very clear.Quote:
Originally Posted by Espon
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04-13-2023, 07:54 AMTheMightyMollusk
Can't fix what ain't broken.
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04-13-2023, 08:02 AMRyuDragnier