1 Month in impressions/criticisms...

[Cidel]

There is one specific example that really draws out how I feel about this issue, and that is the encounters you have with Midgardsormr, especially with Guardian of the Lake. Specifically the thing that bugs the crap out of me is the way that the Midgardsormr dialog is mangled.

The localized English version seems to be rewritten in a deliberately opaque manner, making understanding what the hell he's saying really a guessing game. The 'defense' given for this, is that the localization team imagined how an ancient dragon would speak. Then they took the localized English version of the original dialog and further localized it into Ancient Dragon speak, which is them translated back to English for us. So in effect, whatever the hell Midgardsormr was saying in the original Japanese has been filtered and rearranged twice over.

Inb4 the defense of the localization brigade jump in and start claiming "I understood perfectly what the English localization was going for and it's exactly like the Japanese translation if you think about it and have a basic understanding of English."

*eyeroll*

No but in all seriousness, I agree and that I was frustrated too that the English localization team truncated the dialogue after Keeper of the Lake and likely subsequent parts and defended it with "dragonspeak."

[Kosmos992k]

Well, since some(?) of the localization team are in the lore group, and thus are responsible for making up certain parts of the lore -- as far as I've understood things -- I can buy that some bits have been either written first-hand in English or fleshed-out from the basic 'this is what should come out in this dialogue' skeleton, before being sent to the other language teams (including the JP one) for localization. But as far as I know, the majority of the story and dialogue is originally written in Japanese.

Sort of. I think the process is a little different. It's like there is the original concept and exposition for the scene, the lore team for English localization has some input at that stage.

The final version is then created by the main team in Japanese, that becomes the 'master' version (or the intended dialog).

The English Localization team then takes that and translates it to English which in effect becomes the reference version for all languages other than Japanese.

All versions except the English one are translated from this reference version, and are therefore more directly related to the original Japanese.

The English localization team (English is the 2nd biggest market for the game) then works from the reference version to produce a fully localized English version - which is what we see in the game.

Because the full English localization happens after all the other language versions have been created, any changes made to it by localization are NOT reflected in those other languages. Midgardsormr being a perfect example of this.

[Tenkuu]

Yes, but not only would that be a mouthful to name someone (especially when you have to keep voiced cutscenes in mind as well), like others have said the 'average' western person doesn't automatically get what that means. And sure, priestess would have been a better term, if not correctly translated, but the point was that there's a lot more (or at least a lot different) subtext to miko than to priestess.

That's really not true though. Priestess is a perfectly acceptable english translation for "miko", going by the example I gave, especially since Ysayle is far from being a miko in the traditional sense of the term.

And I'll admit that in retrospect, it's relatively clear what Iceheart is intended to imply, but the first impression? "Is she called that because she's a cold-hearted b****? Or are they trying to allude to the snow queen fairy tale, in which case, is it because she's been brainwashed into a cold-hearted b****?" *shrugs*

I've never felt that Iceheart was an appropriate name for her, it implies things completely contrary to her character, and frankly has no positive connotations.

I know D: It's made so very obvious in the voiced cutscenes how differently they all speak, but in the text boxes? No, not really ;_;

If you use the japanese client, each character's own way of talking is probably distinguishable enough that you can tell it's uniquely them before they finish talking.

[Starmorning]

I strongly feel that the localization team was unfaithful to the original intended message of much of the dialogue, and that the grammatical pretext used within the characters speech in the English text is wholly unnecessary and obtuse.

It joins a long list of others. I'm fairly new myself, and I haven't noticed anything beyond what I've come to expect from a localization and/or translation. Then again I don't expect much. I've honestly gotten numb to the oddities, mistranslations, and overall bad English.
As long as I have some vague idea about what's going on, I'm content. =)

I blame the fact that I played games in the 80s -90s. Might have something to do with me turning a blind eye to it.

[_Pigzig]

the story is good imo

[kazeandi]

the story is good imo

Well, it's better than most (if not all) MMOs out there. Not novel material, but it doesn't have to - it does its job.

Miko: Yes, she's not really a miko, she's also not a priestess in the traditional sense. It's acceptable as translation though because of the subtext, the nuance it translates. "Iceheart" makes me think of a cold hearted bitch, which is absolutely not true at all for her. "but people call her that" - no, they call her 氷の巫女, and if you look at the whole Ishgard scenario in context, it's clear why they do. Well, in the Japanese, but even in the English version her intentions are somewhat clear.

[Morningstar1337]

"Iceheart" makes me think of a cold hearted bitch, which is absolutely not true at all for her. "but people call her that" - no, they call her 氷の巫女, and if you look at the whole Ishgard scenario in context, it's clear why they do.

I think the Iceheart thing actuality makes sense, She is the leader of a group of sympathizers of enemies of the Holy See, so they have little reason to humanizing her. DEhumanizing Ysaile on the other hand offers many benefits. After all, whose side will people take, that of the religion they followed for a thousand years without knowing the real reason it came out, or a cold blooded heretic who openly aides the enemy?

Names and monikers can be an effective propaganda tool. Calling her a priestess in a theocracy would make look seem more sympathetic than effectively calling her a cold heartless bitch. The intentions of the people using the name (Thordian and his Knights) which are also clear, are also a factor.

[KaedrianLiang]

24+ Months in impressions/criticisms...

dis game is gud. I'm doing everything that can be done. This game is keeping me busy while playing 40+ hours a week.

[kazeandi]

This would be true if it'd be part of the actual story, but it's not. The original Arch Bishop isn't even that kind of guy, he's not even a bad guy. He never used tools such as dehumanizing propaganda, that wouldn't have fit his character. For him, Iceheart was just a mere annoyance, nothing to really worry about.

[kazeandi]

dis game is gud. I'm doing everything that can be done. This game is keeping me busy while playing 40+ hours a week.

Sure it's good. That's what the OP wrote. We're discussing the point he didn't find good here, which I find to be true and I laid out my reasons for thinking so.