Quote Originally Posted by Urthdigger View Post
Considering the english localizers actually help to create the lore in the first place, the japanese version is no more authentic than the NA version. Now, you can say you might prefer things that are localized for a JP audience over things that are localized for an NA audience (and yes, this may include altering character personalities to something that goes over better in a region), but neither version is the "original" version.
This is a massive overstatement, and nothing they have ever said would point to the English localization team having even remotely an equal part in crafting the story of the game. Koji posted one thing talking about how they have more involvement than most localization teams, being called on to do things like create the dragons' language and most of the player titles that get used across versions, and for some reason a bunch of people took that and ran with it. For everything they help contribute there are 10 other examples of things they've had to double back on and change because they overdid localizing them.

The Japanese version is the original, they write it first, and then the localization teams, including the English one, localize it for their audiences.