The localization team

I don't think this can be stated enough: The EN localization team for this game may be the best part of it.

I've lost count of the number of memes, TV shows, music and general pop culture references scattered throughout this game.

Add onto this the great job they do with the (often salty) dialects in places like Limsa and it gives the game a really polished, professional feel that makes it hard to believe it is a translation of a foreign game.

I look forward to hearing all your examples of the localization team's genius below. ..

Too many to list, sorry. One off the top of my head 'Sic' as a pet attack instruction.

one example I have is there's a very clear doomguy reference in the level 15 Pugilist quest, "The Spirit Is Willing".

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Originally Posted by LeafyVegetable

While I understand some people enjoy the references, every time I see a western pop culture reference in this game I die a little inside. Shouldn't translations be as literal as possible? I fansub anime and always, ALWAYS as a rule keep translations as accurate as possible to the sentence structure and name order.

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Translating and localizing are two different things. Localization is about taking that translation and presenting it in a way that keeps the core spirit of the original script while retaining an understandable frame of reference and culture for the local audience to connect with. It's a tricky balance to be sure, and there are always spots where something might have been handled differently had someone else had a chance at it. Legends of Localization (http://legendsoflocalization.com/) is a good blog to read about the trickiness of it all as well as comparisons between literal translations, various official localizations, as well as fan localizations.

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Originally Posted by LeafyVegetable

While I understand some people enjoy the references, every time I see a western pop culture reference in this game I die a little inside. Shouldn't translations be as literal as possible? I fansub anime and always, ALWAYS as a rule keep translations as accurate as possible to the sentence structure and name order.

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Ferne commented on this. He says that each language (loc) team has their own style, and in particular, the JP is kinda bland on the names.

He mentioned that a levequest from Bentbranch that sends you off to kill marmots will probably be named 'Bentbranch Leve: Killing Marmots' or something along the line (not exact quote from Ferne, but you get the Idea)

Also, he mentioned that in JP, there are no pirate-talks or polite and medieval talks that we have in EN, and each cities' 'way of talking' is not very different. Not to mention that If the JP dialogue has a joke inside and you literally translate it to EN with the same words, people aren't going to get it; 'What's up with this ? I don't get it ?' or when they use JP Idioms, If you translate it literally to EN, people won't get it and it'll just be lame.

Other Localization team has their own style as well (FR, DE) but what I get from Ferne is that he and his team wants to have fun with the quest-names and stuff so that the 'Western Audience' can enjoy the game as much as the JP do.

I'm sure you'll get a better understanding If you read it yourself ^^ I'll try to get the link

Interview with MCKF (Ferne) Dualshockers

Interview with Micael Christopher Koji Fox (Ferne) GamerEscape

Fun thing

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Originally Posted by Icefall

Translating and localizing are two different things. Localization is about taking that translation and presenting it in a way that keeps the core spirit of the original script while retaining an understandable frame of reference and culture for the local audience to connect with. It's a tricky balance to be sure, and there are always spots where something might have been handled differently had someone else had a chance at it. Legends of Localization (http://legendsoflocalization.com/) is a good blog to read about the trickiness of it all as well as comparisons between literal translations, various official localizations, as well as fan localizations.

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Thanks for explaining it better :D

I really respect the works of the localization team ^^ (I can feel the passion they all put inside the game !)

I really lol'd when I read "I just died in six arms tonight"

My favourite one is buying a gift for the head of the chapel, one of the people that works there says "Be silent and take my gil!"

Freaking awesome!

Really? I can barely stand to read the stereotypical pirate/medieval text. My brain just can't handle it, its just too bad.

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Originally Posted by LeafyVegetable

This is exactly what I'm worried about. Something that was called "Leves of Gridania: Marmots" have now been given a completely inaccurate funky name.
Worse, the pirate speak has been added in, when it was nonexistent in JP. They're changing the atmosphere of the game, the story. If this is true perhaps JP players will have an entirely different perspective of the story. At least they didn't change npc names.

I'm sure "I just died in six arms tonight" was NOT Watashi wa shinda roku te konban (pardon the bad reverse translation I'm an editor not a TL :P).

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What?? Who gives a crap, the quest names are witty as hell. I don't want any generic-title quest name that had no thought in it whatsoever. The pirate speak in the game actually FITS the atmosphere imo(especially in La Noscea), I mean come on...who would want a gruffy guy with a PIRATE HAT speaking american english?

IMO When things aren't localized from the Japanese game I feel there is just something missing. Many Japanese games I play, while good, just don't grab me the same way if it had been localized. It's just a matter of one's taste.

The grip of this tiny freshwater crustacean's claw is so strong, it has been the end of many a Lalafell's fingers...and more. Take care when handling.

Eunuch Crayfish

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Originally Posted by LeafyVegetable

This is exactly what I'm worried about. Something that was called "Leves of Gridania: Marmots" have now been given a completely inaccurate funky name.
Worse, the pirate speak has been added in, when it was nonexistent in JP. They're changing the atmosphere of the game, the story. If this is true perhaps JP players will have an entirely different perspective of the story. At least they didn't change npc names.

I'm sure "I just died in six arms tonight" was NOT Watashi wa shinda roku te konban (pardon the bad reverse translation I'm an editor not a TL :P).

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That sounds like a bloody boring game to read through.

I like it
I catched quite a hundred references on this game and it makes giggle a little each time
A localization that does that have my kudos

The Maelstrom levequest in Moraby Drydocks called "Double Dose of Impin'" made me laugh.

Indeed. There are so many "blink and you'll miss it" pop culture references in this game and it's awesome.

There's a fate called Sharknado.... I couldn't help laughing

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Originally Posted by LeafyVegetable

While I understand some people enjoy the references, every time I see a western pop culture reference in this game I die a little inside. Shouldn't translations be as literal as possible?

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Simply put, No. Most people I've met who are that into Anime are just too in love with Anime and Japan to see it in an unbiased way.

Why even translate it then? Just play the game in Japanese if you understand it. Once I learned Japanese I went back and played some classic games from when I was younger and I've actually been disappointed sometimes at the original Japanese text as it does have differences in nuance. It's just my personal preference there but just because something was originally written in one language does not make that language inherently better. I haven't played much of FFXIV in Japanese but if the English team is more creative they very well may have created much better text.

In fact, I went through and looked at the achievement names in both English and Japanese. Look at the names for the 10 level increment achievements. The Japanese achievement names are just like "Level 10 Conjurer" (幻術士：レベル10) while the English one is "I got the magic stick." I don't know about you but I think the English is WAY more interesting. That's not to say there aren't other achievements with good names in Japanese too.

One of my favorites was "It's not Lupus"... cuz... it's CANCER!!!! It's so stupid and I know it's a House reference but for some reason I find it too funny.
Now we need two more fates "It's never Lupus" and "Ok, it's Lupus"

The old english speak is a little overboard IMO though. A little dialect is ok here and there but something about "give succor" just sounds wrong to me. Oh well, thanks for expanding my vocab SE.

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I've lost count of the number of memes, TV shows, music and general pop culture references scattered throughout this game.

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I fail to see how this is a good thing.
Im fine with a few references, but when you start putting them in the main story, it only shows me that its not strong enough to stand on its own merit. And then there's the whole tonal dissonance thing. Jokingly referencing something when a scene calls for solemn seriousness.

Basically it just strikes me as, well, cheap. Not necessarily lazy mind you, but just uninspired. Lets start building this world instead of pulling an animated sitcom with the writing. Just pull it back a tad.

I absolutely love the localization for the game. There's so much humor in the names and speech and everything that it makes it a MUCH more enjoyable game. I actually stop and listen to NPCs, even the ones with speech bubbles to see if something witty is there. I couldn't imagine if the JP text was as boring as others are saying. I'd be disappointed....alot.

I get a kick out of the FATE and quest names. Also the little speech bubbles you see when walking around are often hilarious.
"Blood, Augur, Hex, Magiks" :lol:

I find, for the most part, the dialect choices have made the game richer. You can "hear" the region someone is from in the text.
It's not like they've gone and turned serious main-quest dialog into a bunch of jokes.
But the running around, repeating, kill-X-of-Y stuff kind of deserves to be treated a bit light-hearted, as acknowledgment of how standard it is.
Goofy humor has always been a staple of FF games too.

There's a FATE I completed last night named Sharknado >_> It's in Skull Valley where the Sahahins are. NM FATE.

The one that got me hollering was "All dogs go to HELL!"

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Originally Posted by LeafyVegetable

This is exactly what I'm worried about. Something that was called "Leves of Gridania: Marmots" have now been given a completely inaccurate funky name.
Worse, the pirate speak has been added in, when it was nonexistent in JP. They're changing the atmosphere of the game, the story. If this is true perhaps JP players will have an entirely different perspective of the story. At least they didn't change npc names.

).

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I think that 80% of the audience would prefer have a bit of "personality" added the the translation ,that having a ridiculously boring to read game.
Honestly i don't mind it. Jpn version is obviously aimed to japanese people, western version is aimed toward our culture which is extremely different.
They're just making the game more enjoyable for most of the people so, they're welcome to do so.

Aside that, there's plenty of FATE names like Roc of ages, simply red, it's not lupus and what not. Also bare in midn that MOST of this stuff is just side quest- FATE related.

I didn't happen to find much of this references during the main quest, aside some quest names like Come in my castrum, Rock the castrum, Ifrit bleeds we can kill it and such.

I'm really glad the localization team went out of it's way to give the game some fun and flavor. Especially with the loads and loads of text in otherwise standard fare quests. What could have been a dull and bland side-quest gets turned into a treat of wit and laughter. It really add's a lot to the whole experience and love their sense of humor.

Too many for me to pick a favorite but the first time I noticed they were using references was in beta duing a FATE in the Central Shoud. It featured a hoard of raptors on the loose simply titled "Clever Girl". I read that quip and it put a smile on my face.

Last one I noticed made my day at Costa Del Sol. "Lock up your arcanists and hide the heavy equipment, Master Gegeruju is feeling bored. "

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Originally Posted by Devilair

I think that 80% of the audience would prefer have a bit of "personality" added the the translation.

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I think more than 80%, the die-hard Japanese obsessed fans aren't quite THAT numerous I'd wager. Though it's probably a much larger proportion of the Legacy players.

The one reference that really got me wondering was... "Enterprise, Engage!" in the scene where the airship takes off before you go fight Garuda. Anyone watch that in Japanese yet? I'm wondering if they make the same reference? Cuz, there ARE trekkies in Japan too. I don't care either way but I thought that one was really silly and maybe spoiled the drama a little bit.

However, I LOVED the Game of Thrones "Taking the Black" reference when I got my BLM quest <3 Not sure if GOT has caught on here in Japan yet though. I'm going to have to ask around.

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Originally Posted by Fuddy

The one reference that really got me wondering was... "Enterprise, Engage!" in the scene where the airship takes off before you go fight Garuda. Anyone watch that in Japanese yet? I'm wondering if they make the same reference? Cuz, there ARE trekkies in Japan too. I don't care either way but I thought that one was really silly and maybe spoiled the drama a little bit.

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in the jpn version they used something like "Enterprise, Launch!" which references more to mecha/sentai shows/genre.

'Mad snake
MAD SNAAAAAAKE'

I love the localisation and references. I'd find it boring if quest names were all just "Kill Rats" Go kill 5 rats. etc. >.> Where's the sense of fun in that!

Pretty much every fate name is a reference. So much awesome.

Breaking Bud
Clever Girl (raptor fate)
All Dogs go to Hell
Boom Goes the Ceruleum
The Truth is Out There
License to Quill

Etc etc etc...

I can't believe anyone is complaining about the amazing job the Loc team do lol. Each to their own I guess.

For a role playing game (a massive online one at that) I feel the localization team not only did a brilliant job, but have upped the entertainment drastically. I needed very little encouragement to get my pirate talk on in Limsa, and yet there was plenty of triggers to be found :P
Kinda feel like I should be doing my part by using cat talk in the game from nyo~ on you know? ^^

Last game that impressed with like this was the localization of the Neptuna series with a ridiculous amount of japanese game meme's and reference's most wouldn't get applied to ones we've spammed around here.

Actually translating Japanese to English is like an artform. Studying it myself you start to see where and why things were changed for better or worse. But in this case, it went beyond artful crafting and into a class of its own ^_^ keep it up with an expansions and events that come from this game guys.

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Originally Posted by LeafyVegetable

This is exactly what I'm worried about. Something that was called "Leves of Gridania: Marmots" have now been given a completely inaccurate funky name.

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Man, you are wrong, lass. Localization is all about changing the words without changing the meaning, whereas translating is about keeping the words and ignoring the meaning. Let's take a real example that does not involves japanese, an example that involves English (your language) and Portuguese (mine) and a very common phrase for both "Kicking the bucket"
What does "Kicking the bucket" means? In english, it means to die.
But a direct translation to portuguese... It means "To not give a fuck"!
A completely different meaning and would leave everyone guessing! Hence why localization is superior to translation. Hell, if you're a subber and don't work in localization efforts then do tell me what group you work on so I can suggest my friends avoid it.

As long as there's no hashtag YOLO or swag reference...

My favorite: "Ziz is so Ridiculous"

I am a translator, and I can honestly say that what Ferne/EN Loc team has done is excellent. The whole point of localization is to transform the game into something that feels as if it was natively made in that region. And quite frankly, we get the better end of the deal, since English lends itself to many different cultures and regions of the world. Limsa represents that sort of Irish/Scottish/English feel, while Ul'dah is remniscent of the Middle East, and Gridania the nice forests of the Andes etc. It shouldn't read like a clunky, literal and awkward English translation that I often see in fansubs, littered with Japanese buzzwords that only the otaku community know.

You may be an anime fansubber, but anime is just that: anime. The anime community standards need not apply here. Not everyone is an otaku or even watches anime here. This game is made to appeal to general audiences, so a more than literal translation is ideal. If you want literal translations, stick to anime and manga. But don't try to push those standards onto something that clearly lends itself to so much more. Nothing has been "lost" persay, but we have gained a lot.

There's no need to attack leafy. His opinion is as valid as any other. Patently wrong, but still valid.

Keep it civil guys