Are there any plans to fix the 'Haurchefant' localization?

[Jeeqbit]

I thought it was fine. They were a decent friend in the story, helped us into ishgard and joined a few fights. Maybe a little too nice sometimes. It was a nice bit of motivation to chase after the villains. I didn't miss them as much as the story made out though, because I was a hardened warrior who had lost lots of people by that point - such as most of the scions who got shot leaving me to carry them to the cart after I'd talked to them between quests regularly and Moenbryda. I wasn't even thinking of Haurchefant most of the times the story refers to them, especially since there were months or years between patches and expansions for me. And I certainly didn't see it the way many fans do according to all the fan art. I was more sad about what happened to Ysale.

[Telkira]

I'll bite.

They will never "fix" Haurchefant. Believe it or not, but localization does not just consist of translating every word-for-word, but also making changes to jokes, dialogue, and characterization so that it becomes more suitable for other languages and cultures. What might be fine in Japan could come off as offensive to those the West, so it's safer to just change things. I don't personally care either way, but I feel that there are less people out there complaining about Haurchefant's change of character than those that would of been complaining if the dude was constantly making suggestive comments and trying to get into your character's pants.

And Haurchefant wasn't killed off because they made a mistake and wanted to write out the character, he was killed off because he was planned on being killed off from the beginning.

So then why are they playing something that hails from that area? I feel like we do more harm to the medium by engaging in such revisionism because it closes a door to a broader cultural dialog out of fear of controversy. Final Fantasy is a distinctly Japanese property, a Japanese take on Western mythology and fantasy. We should be expected to appreciate that fact when consuming it.

Those who would applaud such acts would be better off just not playing the game if they'd be offended by something that hails from that culture, that's the whole point of playing it. Games from different regions/cultures shouldn't be expected to conform to the cultural sentiments, sensibilities, or be bothered to consider what would be 'offensive' there unless compelled to do so by law (at which point, the question 'why bother?' is begged.

Already the game gets so much flak for how it doesn't act like Lalafell are children and puts them in adult situations or outright sexualizes them, I feel like going back and fixing the localization errors made to Haurchefant wouldn't be too outside the ordinary.

They've already acknowledged that it was the improper thing to do and deviated greatly from their normal processes, with Yoshida flat-out admitting that certain parties weren't consulted about the changes.

It makes no sense to applaud these types of revisions that purposefully deviate from the original script or concept. I'm sure people who don't mind the changes wouldn't have really cared either way, and for the vocal minority who would have taken offense would be better off just getting over it or ignoring it, like what you and others like you expect those bothered by this type of localization expect me to do. At least those who are bothered by such changes and deviations can say that they support a 'true vision'.

Also that's probably just speculation that he was planned to be killed off from the beginning. Unless there was a flat-out admission by the developers of that fact which I'm not aware of, I will remain firm in that point. In any case, it's probably for the best that the character is dead.

[Telkira]

Fixing it? They are still changing things for no reason currently.
"play it in Japanese"
You can also play it in French or German, only English is a bunch of nonsenses.

Yeah, I've heard that FRE and GER are more true to the original vision, which is honestly where it should be. All the people supporting localization over translation fail to realize that nothing is ever just a straight-up translation. Lots of the jokes and references made in the JP script might not land, but I'd still prefer that over being reminded that the Simpsons exists.
If Square Enix came out and offered a version of the ENG script that was more deliberate and free from all the revisions and unnecessary flavortext that the current ENG localization has, I would play with that on in a heartbeat. I've actually seen what various dialogs are myself, and honestly I prefer how direct the JP script is, as opposed to just...more words in the ENG one.

[Telkira]

They fixed it, all his dialogue since Heavensward has been the same in every language.

So why not go back and revise it for how it was then? The 'lovable pervert' trope is genuinely a fun and interesting trope, and falls in-line with a T-rating. Like I said before, there's more explicit speech in other games and media.

[Telkira]

the only people who are professionally qualified to dictate what is appropriate for a culture are licensed journalists, who are taught to be the gatekeepers of information for a country or community
translators have no business being journalists.

You say this in (what I hope is) in jest, yet there are people out there who genuinely believe this, that Japanese media is inherently 'problematic' and needs to be censored/watered down before it can be safely consumed by Western audiences.

I find no respect for such people.

[Ravenblade1979]

*inserts pic of him dead on the ground*

does he need to be fixed?

[Ravenblade1979]

You say this in (what I hope is) in jest, yet there are people out there who genuinely believe this, that Japanese media is inherently 'problematic' and needs to be censored/watered down before it can be safely consumed by Western audiences.

I find no respect for such people.

ummm actually i do remember square making a final fantasy game that was complete trash because they didn't think the west could handle the jrpg as it was.

[VeyaAkemi]

Quite frankly, if they hadn't changed him in the localization, I would've hated every waking moment with him and laughed at his death, to me personally, the change was wholly positive.

[Telkira]

Quite frankly, if they hadn't changed him in the localization, I would've hated every waking moment with him and laughed at his death, to me personally, the change was wholly positive.

Considering all the character does in the story for you, that seems pretty petty. I can understand not being amused by the trope or even creeped out by it, but it's not like there's any real harm to it. It's a T-rated game, and personally when I played it, I felt...uneasy about his character. It felt like something was missing tone-wise, given the political and dreary, cold atmosphere of that part of the game. Seeing him in the Japanese version and how he behaves towards the WoL made it all click. He functioned as a comic relief character, and the change in mood that he offered probably would have been appreciated by more people.

I was genuinely annoyed by how all of that was missing from my initial experience.

[Telkira]

ummm actually i do remember square making a final fantasy game that was complete trash because they didn't think the west could handle the jrpg as it was.

Do tell, please.