Weird english

[AshlikeSnow]

Earlier this evening I was chatting with some friends discussing HW past and present lore and during this conversation the character "Ysayle" either being or not being a warrior of light came into discussion. In the English translation the scene plays out and you don't know really know compared to the Japanese cutscenes where a main character tells your point blank truth.

I find this relevant because you can see the differences in information being conveyed here. On one side you have players speculating and on the other side you have facts. I assume the argument would be that speculation is fun and makes the content interesting but not when one side of the player base gets concrete information and the other is left guessing.

[Nestama]

Y'shtola: "This aether... It was a Crystal of Light." "She, too, was one of Hydaelyn's chosen..."

Is this the line you're on about? If so, then it kinda makes sense for Y'shtola to be vague (though the implication is leaning heavily to WoL), especially as I don't think she had ever met the Elezen in person. The Scions have never seen/experienced a Warrior of Light or someone with the Echo or Crystal of Light perish, after all.

[AshlikeSnow]

Yes that's the line and the last word in that quote you wrote was not used in the Japanese dialogue, Y'shtola isn't being vague she says it definitively.

[Lukha]

There is lore missing from the English version of the game. There is lore missing from the Japanese version of the game. There is probably lore missing from the French and German versions of the game. This is certainly a problem and I hope they do a better job of making sure every language gets the complete package in the future, but no version is inherently superior to another.

I'm not sure why you quoted me there, as I absolutely agree that the translation of the game is deeply suspect and needs to be improved, and have been extremely vocal about the need to both improve in future and go back and fix their previous mistakes in previous debates about this (I realize that redoing the English voice overs would never happen, but at least an additional text option which is more accurate should be possible).

My point was simply that the translation being bad has nothing to do with the style of language used in it. You could just as easily translate the story accurately into an archaic dialect as a modern one; the problem isn't the dialect, it's the translators being either bad at their jobs or doing poor work on purpose. It's really no different from the hilariously bad translations like 'this guy are sick', except now the bad translations sound prettier, so they're harder to catch.

[Theodric]

Yes that's the line and the last word in that quote you wrote was not used in the Japanese dialogue, Y'shtola isn't being vague she says it definitely.

...but anyone paying attention to the story and game's lore would realise instantly what she was referring to. It's not 'vagueness' so much as the same fact being conveyed through different words. If they're not paying attention to the story then they would understandably be confused but that isn't necessarily a problem with the language used.

[Cynfael]

I've said as much before, but I'd rather they had kept the English script a bit more modern except in places where the Japanese script tends to bust out with the ware/nanji pronouns and archaic syntax (e.g. when really old critters like dragons start talking, when invocations are being thrown about, and when royalty starts speaking in old-fashioned court language).

I don't think it was necessary to give virtually every character a taste of ye olde English when much of the Japanese script is fairly standard. It's not a terrible choice, per se, but I feel like if I were to take a shot every time a character started speaking in terms of "aught" and "naught," for example, I'd be dead of alcohol poisoning within a few cutscenes. Maybe one cutscene if Urianger had lines in it.

[caelumsixsmith]

Why make a game like that
thee,
thou,
thy

wth?

English is not my first language either, but I love it when games do this. Gives me an opportunity to learn more about the language whilst doing something I enjoy instead of burying my head in books. The only character I have a problem understanding is Urianger, but that's bc he really goes all the way with the dialect.

[Cynfael]

English is not my first language either, but I love it when games do this. Gives me an opportunity to learn more about the language whilst doing something I enjoy instead of burying my head in books. The only character I have a problem understanding is Urianger, but that's bc he really goes all the way with the dialect.

The irony is that Urianger is extremely easy to understand in Japanese. He speaks in a formal style, but it's nothing exotic.

[AshlikeSnow]

...but anyone paying attention to the story and game's lore would realise instantly what she was referring to. It's not 'vagueness' so much as the same fact being conveyed through different words. If they're not paying attention to the story then they would understandably be confused but that isn't necessarily a problem with the language used.

My friends and I are very much into the lore of FFXIV and I just shook my head when they started speculating about this scene because of the statement Y'shotola makes in the Japanese dialogue. When I told them that the dialogue I read in Japanese was a clear cut statement Y'shtola made they were confused as to why it was different. I consider Ysayle to be a pinnacle character in HW so if I had played this scene in English and later I found out the Japanese dialogue has information that I've been speculating about I'd be a bit disappointed, as were my friends last night.

[Nestama]

Honestly, it just sounds like we're going to be hitting a point where it's all just a difference in culture (English preferring room for speculation over the Japanese preferring directness, or something). As I said in my response to Lukha, the English localisation team now work very closely with the Japanese team, asking questions about certain characters and such. If Y'shtola isn't being very direct, then the team was given the okay to do so.

Also, after look at that one Lore thread, Anonymoose kinda raises a point that the only time we have ever been referred to as a Warrior of Light (by Hydaelyn) was when we unlocked the Blessing of Light (all Crystals of Light 'unlocked' and such). Ysayle only had one, as far as we saw.