Question regarding a translation change from Japanese to English

This is something I hope the community reps can shed some light on.

So, a Japanese friend of mine were discussing the various references and connections FF14 has to other titles in the series, and while talking about the ones from FF12 he brought up the fact that there's a place called Dalmasca. At first I couldn't believe that I missed such a blatant reference, but as we talked about it I found that it actually wasn't mentioned at all and was renamed to something entirely different.

The change I'm referring to is the location called "Othard". To be more specific, for those who're curious, it's mentioned during the 5th cutscene in the Lv15 Main Scenario. I have some screenshots:

English version:
http://ffxi.castleparadox.com/ff14/othard.jpg

Japanese version:
http://ffxi.castleparadox.com/ff14/jp_dalmasca.jpg

Dalmasca in Japanese is ダルマスカ, which you can clearly see in both the "name" of the character speaking along with what he's saying (Which is that he's from Dalmasca). Dalmasca was spelt the same in FF12 too of course, which you can see the same spelling in this screenshot from Revnant Wings:

http://ffxi.castleparadox.com/ff14/rw_dalmasca.jpg

So my overall question to the community reps, or translators, or whoever, is why/how did this change happen? Or is it even a mistake somehow? It may not be a big deal, but for a game that's meant to contain fan service in the form of references to other installments in the series, this is a pretty big change I think. If anything, an answer to this will at least sate my curiousity a bit...

This game has a lot of localization flavor. My Japanese friend said the Japanese version is actually pretty cut and dry and you don't have every other quest name/FATE that's a pun of something popular.

For a more mundane example, in the Japanese version, the Chimera in Cutter's Cry gives an emote about using lightning (Dragon's Voice) and blizzard (Ram's Voice) for the two spell he casts, compared to blue/violet eyes in the English version. It's not clear to me why this is done. It's certainly not because people don't know how to translate lightning and blizzard.

Some of the localization changes do make sense, and I love the FATE names, but then there are some things that really bug me. Dalmasca to Othard is a big one. There are a few others that I heard during voice overs and what not. Some of it would have been better left alone, and been direct translations in my opinion.

Leader of my FC noticed that at some point (can't remember when it is) that a Lalafell counts from 1 to 5 (or maybe 5 to 1, it's been a while) but in Japanese (voice, dunno about text) it counts in the opposite direction.

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Originally Posted by ForteXX

Leader of my FC noticed that at some point (can't remember when it is) that a Lalafell counts from 1 to 5 (or maybe 5 to 1, it's been a while) but in Japanese (voice, dunno about text) it counts in the opposite direction.

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Spoiler alert:

It is during the Scion rescue mission. Everyone counts down(or up depending on version) then jump off a cliff onto the Enterprise and escape.

german version:

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/4945/rsaq.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by C-croft

Some of the localization changes do make sense, and I love the FATE names, but then there are some things that really bug me. Dalmasca to Othard is a big one. There are a few others that I heard during voice overs and what not. Some of it would have been better left alone, and been direct translations in my opinion.

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I can't say for sure. Othard is literally the name of the continent where the Garleans stem from, and it has been so since 1.0. I couldn't know if it was originally 'Dalmasca' back then as well, but Othard definitely wasn't a random name chosen (this man's a native garlean and/or from a long-conquered land)

This looks like an oversight to me.

Translators were probably unaware of the meta-reference.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skies

I can't say for sure. Othard is literally the name of the continent where the Garleans stem from, and it has been so since 1.0. I couldn't know if it was originally 'Dalmasca' back then as well, but Othard definitely wasn't a random name chosen (this man's a native garlean and/or from a long-conquered land)

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Garleans are from the northern continent Ilsabard. Othard is the eastern continent, already conquered by the garleans.
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/world/threats

What we know now is that the eastern continent Othard have a city called Dalmasca.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skies

I can't say for sure. Othard is literally the name of the continent where the Garleans stem from, and it has been so since 1.0. I couldn't know if it was originally 'Dalmasca' back then as well, but Othard definitely wasn't a random name chosen (this man's a native garlean and/or from a long-conquered land)

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I don't doubt that it's not random. I assumed it was still correct, but I have an appreciation for consistency if you catch my drift.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Muras

So my overall question to the community reps, or translators, or whoever, is why/how did this change happen? Or is it even a mistake somehow? It may not be a big deal, but for a game that's meant to contain fan service in the form of references to other installments in the series, this is a pretty big change I think. If anything, an answer to this will at least sate my curiousity a bit...

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They even changed the CHERRY BLOSSOM to "Chaos Trust".
That's just unexcusable.

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Originally Posted by Ri_ri

They even changed the CHERRY BLOSSOM to "Chaos Trust".
That's just unexcusable.

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Maybe Cherry blossom was too cute? ^^
In the german version the skill is called "Chaotischer Tjost" (chaotic tjost)
A tjost is this:

http://www.supremereplicas.com/image...8/Tjost_04.jpg