Regarding the Localization of Haurchefant in the EN/FR/DE Versions of FFXIV

[Atoli]

I think most people who say "Oh but I liked the EN Haurchefant!" tend to 1. refer to things that were also in the JP version (him being a reliable, trustworthy friend) which means they would have liked him even without the changes, and 2. think of Haurchefant on a whole, but mainly his character in 2.5 and 3.0, after he had already been changed to be closer to the JP version.

Tbh, when we met him again for the first time in Dreams of Ice, I was like "Who is that character? I have no idea, he must have been extremely forgettable".
So I actually went back to watch a Lety's Play by some newbie to find out if I should know Haurchefant. And actually, yes, he had been there all throughout the Coerthas part of the original MSQ!
But he was so utterly forgettable and boring that he held about as much meaning to me as any other Ishgardian knight who had a "Kill 5 wolves"-quest for me

The Haurchefant I mourned when he died in HW was the quirky friend from 2.5 and 3.0, not the boring tree-in-forest knight he originally was.

[Kurogaea]

It was both sexism and homophobia. Just because you're gay doesn't mean you speak for all gay people.



The difference being that straight guys think lesbians are hot, so they get to see lesbians. Straight guys think gay men are creepy, so no getting hit on by men. the same can be said for the female cosplay outfits we get with no male equivalent. straight guys like seeing almost naked girls, so they give us lots of almost naked girls. straight guys don't want to see sexy men, so we get bland male outfits.

Speak for yourself. If I see two gay men together I wouldn't mind it and I'm straight. If I see 2 lesbians together it really depends. If one has a beard and a eye patch kissing another with a giant mole the size of a baseball it'd be equally as creepy as a morbol kissing a giant toad.

[Dualblade]

The Haurchefant I mourned when he died in HW was the quirky friend from 2.5 and 3.0, not the boring tree-in-forest knight he originally was.

(Cutting it down so I don't have to go to edit)

For myself I liked that it went from "Different in EN" to "More like the JP version" because for me it felt like he had warmed up to us greatly after everything we had done, rather then just always being like that. Strangers at first, greatest of friends at the end.

[Ayuhra]

I love English Haurchefant as well but I will admit I had some problems because at times he just seemed internally inconsistent. One side quest (or a certain holiday quest) might portray him as a flirtatious enthusiast then he's back to being a knightly warrior. When digging into the changes made to him soooo many things made more sense. Things we lost in English.

I would love to replay the earlier part of the game with a somewhat more genuine characterization of the man, I think it would make his last scene more poignant.

One thing I have to say, though, and I do mean this: I am glad that the teams working on this game can and do admit to mistakes and I have also noticed characterization being a lot stronger in general in Heavensward. So to all writers involved in the game thank you for that.

[Viridiana]

He made Haurchefant a boring, forgettable character on purpose. yoshi-P and the Japanese team told him to fix him.

Not all of us found him forgettable. He's really the only NPC from Coerthas that I remembered going into the latter half of ARR. I still couldn't tell you the names of any of the other NPCs in the area (beyond Aymeric, I guess). What Corvi actually did was take a character stereotype that may have been extremely off-putting outside of Japan and changed it for a non-Japanese audience. I think it went too far with 2.0 launch, but I completely understand the reasoning. I've never defended 2.0 Haurchefant characterization except to say that subsequent patches clearly brought him closer to the JP original, showing a realization on the part of the dev team that there was an issue to be resolved.

[Zephanoa]

I say if the changes aren't really changing how a character is ultimately depicted and the outcome is the same then its not that big of a deal. I mean the only problem I see with it is that it wasn't approved. I mean I still remember that moment when I saw heartsnfarts take a hit and saying to myself, "OHHH SHIIIIIII!"

[xerune]

What you did was really disgusting you had no right to compromise the artistic direction and ideals the games creators put forth in their works and this is probably the most disgusting display of censorship I have ever seen. Your job was to translate the game not insert your own ideals/agenda into the game's story. What I want you to understand is that this is not ok, what you did was wrong. You perverted someone else's creative works with your own agenda and that's just terrible. If this is the way things are done in the localization team. Im going to think long and hard about renewing my sub in the future and others should think on it too cause this was just a poor decision to make and should not be made in the future. bad form!

[Viridiana]

Your job was to translate the game not insert your own ideals/agenda into the game's story.

That's false. The job of the Localization Team, as implied by the team name, is to localize. That means they have to consider the target audience as well. They believed that too many people would be put off by having Haurchefant go full lech and decided to remove a trope that doesn't really exist in many non-Japanese works. That's part of their job description. True, they were wrong in this case, but Haurchefant's later characterization shows that they had learned their mistake by about 2.3.

It wasn't even really censorship. It was an assessment as to what the target audience would find acceptable, because the character is supposed to be likable, and they believed that leaving his personality completely intact would make him less likable to an non-Japanese audience.

[Tenkuu]

I haven't played 1.0, but I've compared cutscenes with both japanese and english subtitles, and quite honestly, you guys did a much better and far less Americanized translation job for the english version in 1.0. You were neither too literal nor completely off the mark. I would gladly sacrifice all the nonsensical humor that gets put into the english version for the more accurate translations that would make the game so much more enjoyable. Some characters have had their characterization nearly completely changed by the english version, such as, most notably, Alphinaud and obviously, Haurchefant, but of course there are many others. It's really sad that because of some frankly ridiculous cultural concerns, we can't get accurate translations. Just look at Midgarsormr for example: his lines in the english version were horribly confusing and misleading, and he's a character you can frankly hate. Compare that to his simple and straightforward lines in the japanese version where we get a perfectly normal dragon who is both neutral and fair.

This might be a controversial opinion, but I honestly wish that in order to make up for these things, you would go back and actually rework the translation of all the parts where the english version differs far too much from the japanese version. After all, it is only the english version that gets so butchered, and in my opinion explaining it away by saying it's a localization is not only not doing it justice, but it's also a lazy and hammy translation job. Trust me, we don't need the bad jokes if what's being sacrificed for them is actually good japanese dialogue.

[Tenkuu]

That's false. The job of the Localization Team, as implied by the team name, is to localize. That means they have to consider the target audience as well. They believed that too many people would be put off by having Haurchefant go full lech and decided to remove a trope that doesn't really exist in many non-Japanese works. That's part of their job description. True, they were wrong in this case, but Haurchefant's later characterization shows that they had learned their mistake by about 2.3.

It wasn't even really censorship. It was an assessment as to what the target audience would find acceptable, because the character is supposed to be likable, and they believed that leaving his personality completely intact would make him less likable to an non-Japanese audience.

Just... no. Localization is not an excuse to butcher the translation just so they can cater to a single culture, and we all know exactly which culture it is. Besides, Haurchefant is no worse than Thancred. Remember Thancred's little problem in Rising Stones when 5 of the women he flirted with all showed up there at the same time? Not to mention that one mail quest guy with the Miqo'te twins who had much more suggestive dialogue than Haurchefant ever could. If these two are acceptable as they are, and they're only a few of the examples of such characters, then Haurchefant was absolutely fine the way he was. If anything, he would have been the subject of much discussion.

Do you seriously believe that the lecher trope doesn't exist outside of Japan? Come on now, the only real difference between Japan and, say, America, in the use of this trope is that in America, this is usually played for laughs with villains rather than played straight with a good guy.