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

[Telkira]

That's all very well, but SE is a multidollar for-profit company and artistic integrity is not going to carry as much weight as more money, particularly after the utter disaster that was the first attempt at the game. 2.0 had to appeal to people and generate revenue or SE was going to go under.

And that's my point - they don't need to do that. This type of approach to foreign media adaptation only serves to divide the foreign market. I guarantee you people wouldn't stop playing if it were problematic.

They could just as easily, in the next patch, roll out a fifth Language option in the launcher that alters the English text to be in-line with the Japanese text, including fixing cutscenes and the like, and it would be praised by the fans. I think that would be the best approach to this, since it would allow them to unify their script going forward while also allowing those who are happy to play with their localized content while those who want a more 'truthful' and 'faithful' experience can have that.

[Telkira]

I've never seen someone so openly proud about being arrogant on this forum.

There's a difference between being arrogant and being confident in one's assertions or principles. I originally made this thread expecting some level of decorum, but the gloves came off after people tried to unironically moralize insecurity and draw a link between sexual harassment on trains and the content of a video game. That's literal Karen rhetoric which nobody should have any respect for, where anything and everything can be eroded or censored by invoking a normalcy bias fallacy to fool people into believing that there's an effect, when objectively there's not.

I've never seen fans of JP media actually praise what are egregious and repugnant acts of censorship. Even if you prefer the Haurchefant localization over the canonical one, you have to admit that it ultimately shouldn't exist, at least not in this form.

As I said earlier, if it were the same across all platforms, that wouldn't really matter to me, because at that point, it would have been a conscious decision on the writers to alter it, and not members of the LOC team going rogue and muddying up everything for the sake of not offending an outspoken minority who only care about seeing their insecurities placated.

[DayHealer]

it's not a small part of the community. It's a rather large part, but colonialism and braindead Western sentiments tend to present the illusion that they're a minority. My point is that it genuinely ruins the vision, and the fact that people respond with sheer hostility at this shows that there's something obscenely disingenuous about their position. Do they not like being exposed to the truth? That Koji Fox's jokes and reference replacements really aren't that good? That the Japanese version actually is better and they want to sequester themselves to a delusion that everything is fine, so they just conform to it until artistic integrity becomes an afterthought?

Thanks for the giggles bro, you almost got me thinking this was a serious post till I saw the colonialism part.

[Ghost_of_Ebina]

It seems the characterization of the japanese Haurchefant is more that of the friend that tries to flirt with the WoL at any chance, contrary to the Western characterization that is that of the big brother that helps and cares for the WoL.
For the best or for the worst the localization team did this change to appeal more to western audiences, and just thinking on change it back by now is just silliness.

I play the game in Japanese -- but to me I didn't feel Haurchefant was creepy or anything. He seemed like an extreme health / body-building enthusiast who just found the WoLs body as the best specimen available in the world. Every scene with him was really funny because of all the details he would point out how the WoL's body is super-awesome. None of his comments felt suggestive to me and only indicated that he was utterly crazy about having toned muscles, etc.

As someone who has done a bit of localization professionally, I don't think there is any "correct" way to do the job. However, personally I don't like to change the narrative due to the translator's own potential bias or "misunderstanding" of the original language which can happen if the translator is not bilingual / bi-cultural. My opinion isn't that important however because SE pays for the localization and it is clear that Yoshida likes Koji's translation (although I am not sure how he can judge the quality accurately with his language ability -- a continuous struggle for translators because your client would rarely 100% understand the quality of your output).

The issue then is why is Haurchefant's dialogue basically the same as the Japanese version in the German & French version (or so I have heard).

[Valkyrie-Veil]

If Mr. Crow hadn't made that post formally apologizing for it all and acknowledging the mistakes they had made, I probably wouldn't have opted to renew my sub, and would have taken my money elsewhere.

It’s a real shame that he did apologize, then.

[Iyrnthota]

I play the game in Japanese -- but to me I didn't feel Haurchefant was creepy or anything. He seemed like an extreme health / body-building enthusiast who just found the WoLs body as the best specimen available in the world. Every scene with him was really funny because of all the details he would point out how the WoL's body is super-awesome. None of his comments felt suggestive to me and only indicated that he was utterly crazy about having toned muscles, etc.

See, funnily enough, that's sort of adjacent to the impression I get from the Hildebrand oiling scenes. Yet, even knowing that, I find them distasteful and uncomfortable nonetheless.

[Iscah]

See, funnily enough, that's sort of adjacent to the impression I get from the Hildebrand oiling scenes. Yet, even knowing that, I find them distasteful and uncomfortable nonetheless.

Urgh. One of the particular reasons I hate doing the Hildibrand quests. You can't even excuse yourself out of it by skipping cutscenes.

[Telkira]

Thanks for the giggles bro, you almost got me thinking this was a serious post till I saw the colonialism part.

In the sense that you're overriding the cultural sentiments of a foreign product because they may offend that of your native one, yes it can be reasonably construed as that. The fact that so many localizers genuinely view themselves as arbiters, rather than translators.

[Saraide]

In the sense that you're overriding the cultural sentiments of a foreign product because they may offend that of your native one, yes it can be reasonably construed as that. The fact that so many localizers genuinely view themselves as arbiters, rather than translators.

No they see themselves as localizers rather than translators. Because that's what they are. They arent hired to be translators, they're hired to be localizers.

[Telkira]

No they see themselves as localizers rather than translators. Because that's what they are. They arent hired to be translators, they're hired to be localizers.

With regard to SE's approach to localization, it's 75% translation with 25% localization.