Localization suggestion for next time

Reminiscent of ARR, the American actors used were mostly lackluster, except Sheriffcat and Cahciua's (who also did a pretty decent british accent for Krile's mom). So besides, I dunno, shopping around to grab people that have plenty of experience (like the same people that keep popping up in Studio Bones dubs), it would be my suggestion to, next time you heavily feature American (re: United Statesian) accents, to write closer to how they talk.

The British actors employed by Side UK, are fantastica. Likewise, English language has a strong history of associating more prosaic dialog with British accents—so it was cool, but strange to hear Americans speak in traditional fantasy dialect. I can't put my finger on it but there's a casual sound they retain even in a formal setting. It would have helped to sell it better if they'd used more contractions and more like "punchy" ways of phrasing it that sounds natural.

I would love to hear more American accents in the fantasy genre in general, and especially FFXIV, it's just a matter of fitting the script for how they make words. That's all. No complaint, just an observation and suggestion. Anyone else make this same observation? It's totally okay if it's just me. :)

I realized something funny about the English localization...

Spanish wasn't the native language of the real-life cultures that inspired Tural. They decided to give the Southern Turali people the accent of a language imposed by force onto the Mesoamerican cultures the game uses as inspiration.

Not that I care that much, but I just think it's kinda funny that in their attempt to make their characters South/Central American "accurate", they instead undermine their own setting by making them a product of that time when Spain apparently conquered Tural [???]

Also, they should do that Spanish localization that other thread has been requesting. That'd be really neat for a bunch of people.

Maybe I'm deaf, or ignorant, or whatever, but in the Japanese original, all the VA seem to be talking in the same/similar accent, well, with a lack of any accent to be precise. From what I gather that never bothered anyone. I'd rather them stick to British accents if that's the case.
I'm sure Wuk Lamat would have sounded a lot better without that weird, phony "south American" accent she was trying to put on. Ditto for the weird southern USA accents in Shaaloani.

I don't mean to dismiss what could be a legitimate concern, but I think I saw you make this exact same post in a different thread, and I feel like it might be turning legitimate frustrations into a kind of virtue signal to further cement a real problem and add weight to it, when, in reality the problems stand on their own. In modern day Central and South America, there are pockets of people that don't speak the colonizer languages of Spanish and Portuguese, but those languages are vastly different than they were six hundred years ago. In six hundred years, Chaucer's language became what we hear today, and that's keeping in mind how larger more connected populations slow down cultural leveling and diffusion. That long ago, Old Norse was still in the process of dying out! Plus putting aside that yes we know how Radz-at-Han was received by some folks, I think going to fantasy India and having it sound British would have been even worse if we're going to run with the proposed insult. ^^;;

I feel like it was ultimately a great choice to make the place we're going to sound like the people that live there today. I'm glad the world isn't universally British. They just needed to hire people that actually naturally sound the way they're after. Likewise, I think it's important to listen to the way that people with Latino accents, with USian accents talk, and just make sure even if it's storybook language, it sounds "right". GJJ's VA was honestly my favorite. It sounded like he had a ball!

Also I 100% you with the Spanish localization. It's weird how there isn't one...

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Originally Posted by Willemdarke

Maybe I'm deaf, or ignorant, or whatever, but in the Japanese original, all the VA seem to be talking in the same/similar accent, well, with a lack of any accent to be precise.

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I think I've read that the dub JP relies on different regional dialects and accents, and those levels of formality. Which is also what I remember people say they do in anime. It's hard to really pick up unless you know the language really well, because I sure as heck can't. British and American are crazy different; JP might also be more conservative in its linguistic development, IIRC. I think Mancunian is more different from Californian, more than Kansai is different from Tokyo, as an example. Plus I think there's a cultural angle that should be considered. Everyone is exposed to Tokyo dialect in the news and stuff, but if all Americans ever hear is British, I could understand feeling alienated after some time.

the game should be vocalized by Arnie and Arnie alone

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Originally Posted by Petroglyph

Reminiscent of ARR, the American actors used were mostly lackluster, except Sheriffcat and Cahciua's (who also did a pretty decent british accent for Krile's mom). So besides, I dunno, shopping around to grab people that have plenty of experience (like the same people that keep popping up in Studio Bones dubs), it would be my suggestion to, next time you heavily feature American (re: United Statesian) accents, to write closer to how they talk. :)

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It's funny you are saying that, because most of the VA's used are well experienced. And it looks like they tried to cast people who would be considered native to the region. Erica Mendez (Mablu/Miilal Ja), Ben Balmaceda (Linuhanu/others), Anairis Quinonos (the Twin sisters), Luis Bermudez (Koana), Javier Prusky (Bakool Ja Ja), Sena Bryer (Wuk Lamat), and Spencer Ortega (Zarool Ja) all have Latin American heritage. In fact, most of the VAs used in Tural seem to be of ethnicities indigenous to the Americas. The only outlier, in a way was the Shaaloani area, where they appeared to lean into the "old west movie" stereotype. But that was a stylistic choice.

Also Cachiua and Alayla have different VAs. Cachiua's is American, but Alayla's is British. In fact Alayla's VA is also the same for Llymlaen, just like Otis is with Thaliak.

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Originally Posted by Eloah

....all have Latin American heritage

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I hate this line so much. It practically implies accents are passed down through genetics. I'm half Mexican, my Spanish is decent (though my ex from CDMX says it's sounds almost like a native from Chihuahua on the rare occasions I know what I'm saying), but I can't speak with an accent for shit in English. I sound like every "white" person raised in Central Orange county, CA. Rhotic, informal, and slightly nasally. Just because someone has a Latin American heritage doesn't mean they can reproduce the accent in English, even if they speak the language natively. My previously mentioned ex didn't have any sort of accent when speaking English because she learned both languages in tandem.

And I'm not saying you're making the argument that accents are passed on genetically, but I've seen that line used so many times that I finally had to address it. And for the record, I personally couldn't care where someone is from. Whether or not they can make a convincing voice for the role is all that should matter.

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Originally Posted by lolnotacat

It practically implies accents are passed down through genetics.

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I have seen theories that Erenville has this accent cause his father had. You know, the one he never met.

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Originally Posted by Eloah

It's funny you are saying that, because most of the VA's used are well experienced. And it looks like they tried to cast people who would be considered native to the region. Erica Mendez (Mablu/Miilal Ja), Ben Balmaceda (Linuhanu/others), Anairis Quinonos (the Twin sisters), Luis Bermudez (Koana), Javier Prusky (Bakool Ja Ja), Sena Bryer (Wuk Lamat), and Spencer Ortega (Zarool Ja) all have Latin American heritage. In fact, most of the VAs used in Tural seem to be of ethnicities indigenous to the Americas. The only outlier, in a way was the Shaaloani area, where they appeared to lean into the "old west movie" stereotype. But that was a stylistic choice.

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You seem to view latin America as a single culture/language territory which is not. Not in culture and not in languages. Besides, save one actor born in Chile (who is not «of an ethnicity indigenous to the Americas» btw) but who lives in the US, all were born in the US, not all are fully fluent in Spanish and genetics are pretty irrelevant. Also, the Spanish are not indigenous to the region and all the game references are to other cultures.

This irrelevant «blood is what matters» thing seems to be a very white American way of doing things and it totally disregards cultures anyway.

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Originally Posted by Willemdarke

I'm sure Wuk Lamat would have sounded a lot better without that weird, phony "south American" accent she was trying to put on.

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To me she sounds very American with a weird forced accent from nowhere. In fact the actress mentions on her LinkedIn that she only has a «limited working proficiency» in Spanish.

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Originally Posted by lolnotacat

I hate this line so much. It practically implies accents are passed down through genetics. I'm half Mexican, my Spanish is decent (though my ex from CDMX says it's sounds almost like a native from Chihuahua on the rare occasions I know what I'm saying), but I can't speak with an accent for shit in English. I sound like every "white" person raised in Central Orange county, CA. Rhotic, informal, and slightly nasally. Just because someone has a Latin American heritage doesn't mean they can reproduce the accent in English, even if they speak the language natively. My previously mentioned ex didn't have any sort of accent when speaking English because she learned both languages in tandem.

And I'm not saying you're making the argument that accents are passed on genetically, but I've seen that line used so many times that I finally had to address it. And for the record, I personally couldn't care where someone is from. Whether or not they can make a convincing voice for the role is all that should matter.

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Totally agree. Also as someone pointed out too, Spanish isn’t even the language that would have been spoken. For example, if you take the real life equivalent of Urqopacha, even today millions of people (not just pockets as someone mentioned) speak Quechua (and Aymara) - it’s an official language too. Some don’t even speak Spanish. My dad always made his speeches in Quechua first and Spanish after if needed when he was talking to an audience from that region.

This is not a complaint about the VA, just about a strange practice that seems to have originated in the US. It’s a pure facade.

Accents have everything to do with your environment and surroundings during early development and have nothing to do with genetics.

For example, I'm from London, England. Virtually every race and ethnic group lives here and we all speak with the same accent (excluding migrants who grew up elsewhere, of course). Meanwhile people with long English ancestry who grew up in Manchester, for example, sound completely different.

Tural isn't a real world location, they don't need south American accents - they don't have them in other adaptations, so why do they need it in English only?? Japan are making their own fantasy rules like "Turali speak with Osaka accents!" (for example, I dunno), so why couldn't Turali speak with Icelandic accents in English, considering the only native Turali we knew pre-DT speaks like that? Surely the English studio located in the UK could have more easily flown Icelandic actors in and given them proper direction.

If they cared for browny points so much, they could have properly invested in scouting and hiring actual native South American speakers and flown them to the UK for the job.

I dunno, their approach in DT is so half-baked and disjointed to the point everyone speaks with different accents, and ones that sound super fake at that.
I don't blame the VAs themselves, as a series of weird decisions led to this bad outcome.

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Originally Posted by DiaDeem

Not that I care that much, but I just think it's kinda funny that in their attempt to make their characters South/Central American "accurate", they instead undermine their own setting by making them a product of that time when Spain apparently conquered Tural [???]

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It’s not just accents. Flour tortillas and bananas did not exist in America until the Europeans came.

Though on the other hand, the fantasy Europeans DID come to fantasy America 80 years ago and it’s explained that the popotos and tomatoes in Eorzea came from Tural via Limsan sailors so wheat may have gone to Tural that way. But doesn’t explain Mamool living off glowing space bananas for gods know how long…

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Originally Posted by lolnotacat

And for the record, I personally couldn't care where someone is from. Whether or not they can make a convincing voice for the role is all that should matter.

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For the record, I am not saying accents are genetic, as an accent is gained through social osmosis, mostly. Second I agree that it shouldn't matter where a person is from, I was just pointing out how it seems the devs tried to cast VA's with indigenous heritages, at least in English. I doubt there would be many in the other languages. Third, I also was just trying to inform the OP that the VAs used are experienced. Lastly, I too understand blending in with every white person in the country. My friend like to joke with me that Puerto Ricans aren't real. We are some mythical creatures apparently.

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Originally Posted by Toutatis

You seem to view latin America as a single culture/language territory which is not. Not in culture and not in languages. Besides, save one actor born in Chile (who is not «of an ethnicity indigenous to the Americas» btw) but who lives in the US, all were born in the US, not all are fully fluent in Spanish and genetics are pretty irrelevant. This «blood is what matters» thing seems to be a very white American way of doing things. Also, the Spanish are not indigenous to the region and all the game references are to other cultures.

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How and when did I give the indication that I viewed Latin America as a single culture. It is a region, nothing more. And usually refers to everything below the USA. So where was I wrong in stating the VAs I mentioned have Latin American heritage? And last I checked Chile was in South America. Also, I never once mentioned Spanish. Spanish really has nothing to do with Latin America. Just like French has nothing to do with Canada, but no one jumped there. Than again, we have yet to reach fantasy Canada, as we barely scratched the north.

I was merely pointing out to the OP, that the VAs used were experienced, and it appears that the Devs tried to use VAs with indigenous heritage. That's all.

The cultural aspects of this game as not expressed through language. If they were no one playing would understand anything. Everything is in the language of the user/client, with the culture expressed in alternate ways, so that the player can understand it.

I agree that it shouldn't matter where you come from, as long as you can do the job. But I never once implied it's what drove everything.

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Originally Posted by DiaDeem

Lol, I did cringe a bit when they put flour tortillas in their Tacos al Pastor recipe, but I guess they were not gonna go and call the item a Gringa instead.

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Speaking of tacos, I would not be in support of everyone having only various British regional accents for Tural and the rest of the game because of how people from that island pronounce the word “tacos”. That one line Krile had referring to them made me cringe so hard my soul separated from my body.

What’s worse is that Wuk Lamat told her what a taco is using the American pronunciation not even 3 seconds before so it’s obvious the VAs weren’t in the same room or conference with each other and couldn’t even hear other VA dialogue when reading their lines.

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Originally Posted by MikkoAkure

What’s worse is that Wuk Lamat told her what a taco is using the American pronunciation not even 3 seconds before so it’s obvious the VAs weren’t in the same room or conference with each other and couldn’t even hear other VA dialogue when reading their lines.

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Most recordings are done solo, that's pretty standard in the industry, barring a few exceptions, motion capture for example. In the example you gave, the VAs were probably recording in different countries as well, as the American voices were probably recorded in a studio in California.

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Originally Posted by MikkoAkure

What’s worse is that Wuk Lamat told her what a taco is using the American pronunciation not even 3 seconds before so it’s obvious the VAs weren’t in the same room or conference with each other and couldn’t even hear other VA dialogue when reading their lines.

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Yeah, Colin Ryan (Alphinaud) mentioned during one of his streams that for XIV, they record their all their lines separately. It'd also explain why Shtola sounds like she was recorded in a basement and then compressed to the 11th degree.

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Originally Posted by Eloah

… it seems the devs tried to cast VA's with indigenous heritages, at least in English.
I doubt there would be many in the other languages...

How and when did I give the indication that I viewed Latin America as a single culture. It is a region, nothing more. And usually refers to everything below the USA. So where was I wrong in stating the VAs I mentioned have Latin American heritage? And last I checked Chile was in South America.

I was merely pointing out to the OP, that the VAs used were experienced, and it appears that the Devs tried to use VAs with indigenous heritage. That's all.

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Yet you amalgamante everything, keep talking about heritage while everyone was born in the US (save one) and live in the US and treat Latam as a homogeneous region in your comments. If anything, the treatment of VAs in the game is very American culturally speaking.

Explain to me how choosing someone of Mexican descent born in Chicago has anything to see in any way with a character like Mablu (complete different region, language, ethnicity and culture)? How is that «native» to the region? It’s no different from choosing someone of Irish descent from New York to do the VA of an Inuk from Iqaluit.

Also, you use indigenous heritage very loosely. Spanish heritage is not indigenous heritage. The guy from Chile (and I like his work), isn’t indigenous.

If they want to go the origin route (which should not be a consideration) at least select actors from the concerned regions instead of pretending (and yes there are several actors that speak Quechua though, as Spanish, I think it irrelevant for a fantasy game that doesn’t even use the language).


On this we agree though:

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I agree that it shouldn't matter where you come from, as long as you can do the job. But I never once implied it's what drove everything

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That being said, I think that most of the VAs did a decent job.

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Originally Posted by Toutatis

Yet you amalgamante everything, keep talking about heritage while everyone was born in the US (save one) and live in the US and treat Latam as a homogeneous region in your comments. Explain to me how choosing someone of Mexican descent born in Chicago has anything to see in any way with a character like Mablu (complete different region, language, ethnicity and culture)? How is that «native» to the region? It’s no different from choosing someone of Irish descent from Toronto to do the VA of an Inuk from Iqaluit.

Also, you use indigenous heritage very loosely. Spanish heritage is not indigenous heritage.

If they want to go the origin route (which should not be a consideration) at least select actors from the concerned regions instead of pretending (and yes there are several actors that speak Quechua though as Spanish, I think it irrelevant for a fantasy game that doesn’t even use the language).

On this we agree though:

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Okay, I feel like you just wanna argue.

Where someone is born has nothing to do with their ethnic heritage. And how am I treating Latin America as a "homogeneous region". I just said it was a region, which it is, just like the Middle East, Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, all are regions.

And again, I never once said Spanish, you guys did. I've only ever said Indigenous American, which spans all the way from the top of North America to the bottom of South America.

Why are you trying to put words in my mouth?

No thanks.

Sorry but your voice actors suck at dubbing for japanese media. Actors and actresses from Europe and Australia put their heart into it.

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Originally Posted by Eloah

Okay, I feel like you just wanna argue.

Where someone is born has nothing to do with their ethnic heritage. And how am I treating Latin America as a "homogeneous region". I just said it was a region, which it is, just like the Middle East, Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, all are regions.

And again, I never once said Spanish, you guys did. I've only ever said Indigenous American, which spans all the way from the top of North America to the bottom of South America.

Why are you trying to put words in my mouth?

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Save perhaps one or two, none is of Indigenous heritage. Do you even know the meaning of the word?

About the actor from Chile that you mention, I corrected you by saying that he is not «of an ethnicity indigenous to the Americas». He is from Chile, true but not indigenous. Chilean is a nationality, not an ethnic origin. You are mixing things up.

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Originally Posted by Toutatis

Save perhaps one or two, none is of Indigenous heritage. Do you even know the meaning of the word?

About the actor from Chile that you mention, I corrected you by saying that he is not «of an ethnicity indigenous to the Americas». He is from Chile, true but not indigenous. Chilean is a nationality, not an ethnic origin. You are mixing things up.

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And what do you think indigenous means? Because as far as I know it means people native to a region, prior to foreign settlers. In this case European settlers. So why can't these VAs have indigenous heritage? Should I say Native American? That would be just as accurate, but conjures a different image.

Also I think you are confusing certain terms here. It is very difficult to distinguish, at least in English, the difference between an ethnicity and a nationality, since the same word is used. When the VA from Chile said he's Chilean, he means his ethnicity, as well as nationality I'm sure. But all of these are ethnicities. Like me. Ethnically I'm Puerto Rican, but nationally I'm from the USA. But Puerto Rican is used for both. Blame the English language, not me.

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Originally Posted by Willemdarke

Maybe I'm deaf, or ignorant, or whatever, but in the Japanese original, all the VA seem to be talking in the same/similar accent, well, with a lack of any accent to be precise. From what I gather that never bothered anyone. I'd rather them stick to British accents if that's the case.
I'm sure Wuk Lamat would have sounded a lot better without that weird, phony "south American" accent she was trying to put on. Ditto for the weird southern USA accents in Shaaloani.

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Originally Posted by Petroglyph

I think I've read that the dub JP relies on different regional dialects and accents, and those levels of formality. Which is also what I remember people say they do in anime. It's hard to really pick up unless you know the language really well, because I sure as heck can't. British and American are crazy different; JP might also be more conservative in its linguistic development, IIRC. I think Mancunian is more different from Californian, more than Kansai is different from Tokyo, as an example. Plus I think there's a cultural angle that should be considered. Everyone is exposed to Tokyo dialect in the news and stuff, but if all Americans ever hear is British, I could understand feeling alienated after some time.

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Japanese voice actors usually use "Standard Japanese", which is a dialect based on the Kanto (Tokyo and surrounding areas) region's pitch patterns etc. That's probably why they sound like they have a lack of an "accent" in comparison to english VAs. When they do want to have someone with a different accent, it will be a completely different dialect like Osaka-ben (using different slang etc), but the actual "accent" doesn't sound that different (to non natives anyway, unless you studied it).

Definitely leads to different characterisation though. It feels pretty odd when I hear certain characters in the EN dub after playing in JP. In DT specifically I think Wuk Lamat and Erenville sound like completely different people based on their voices. Wuk Lamat's way of speaking in japanese makes her sound a lot more rough around the edges and not a member of the royal family (she borderlines on like someone who could be in a Yakuza game sometimes tbh lol) and Erenville sounds a lot more short(?). Not in a necessarily impolite way, but he doesn't seem to mess around with trying to be extra respectful, he just says it how it is.

While the art division was stellar, i've in the places the game was inspires to and it was fantastic everything else concerning latam is just superficial at best including music and voice acting.

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Originally Posted by DiaDeem

Yeah, Colin Ryan (Alphinaud) mentioned during one of his streams that for XIV, they record their all their lines separately. It'd also explain why Shtola sounds like she was recorded in a basement and then compressed to the 11th degree.

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That explains why at least two voice actors in DT sound like they're in a professional studio (Zanuhali is one of them), while everyone else has a somewhat lower quality audio.

That disparity in the audio quality takes me more out of the game than any issue with the accents.