This frequency of English localization issues is unacceptable

[Telkira]

I genuinely don't like how different the English 'localization' is from the Japanese source material. I don't understand why more people aren't as upset about it, it genuinely makes it difficult to enjoy the story or take things seriously or feel immersed when what I'm reading is not what the original writers wrote.

I'm tired of having to look up what the proper translations are for dialog just so I can confidently know what's actually being said. It doesn't feel like I'm reading what the original writers wrote, it feels like some hackjob fanfiction iteration trying to correct something that was never broken or 'wrong' in the first place.

My issues with the localization of this game go further than just crappy dialog, though.

I think I speak for everyone when I say that a faithful translation of everything would have been better. Not a literal translation, but a proper re-telling that tries to be as 1:1 with the source material as possible without taking any unnecessary liberties. If it were just that, the people who praise the English localization wouldn't complain.

Audiences would just accept it as it is, and would enjoy it all the same, like they do with everything they consume. It's not their job to critique or have a meaningful opinion on things, otherwise they would be more concerned about the broader cultural implications of this phenomenon as a whole. We all (hopefully) remember 4Kids and how their stated goal was to make it so that way Japanese content would be indistinguishable from something whipped up by Americans for those respective audiences, going so far as to change names and censor so much to further that end. It was horrible, and insulting to the integrity of the content they shamelessly butchered, and it certainly contributed to a corporate culture which enabled the contractual breaches that lead to their imminent legal troubles and subsequent downfall.

I'm not trolling when I say this, but Westernization of Japanese media is probably one of the most pervasive forms of cultural gentrification (and erasure) out there. Because when it's run thru that filter, it's no longer the initial vision, it's someone else's re-telling of it because they thought you'd not like it as much. People in marketing look at localization like a sure-fire method of condensing a product to be enjoyable towards a foreign market, but what a lot of these talking heads fail to realize is that Japanese content is never going to be something that fits in with these markets as seamlessly as whatever is native or 'local'.

I'm hopeful that someone will put forth the effort to developing an add-on that fixes all of what Koji Fox and his merry band of revisionists broke, or that Square will consider the grievances of this part of their audience and just release a faithful translation option for those uninterested in localized content.
They already give players the option to have Japanese dialog in cutscenes and in audio, why not go further in that regard?

Bottom line is that the initial/original content of the game is fine on its own. It doesn't need to be ran through a bunch of filters just because a bunch of Westerners hired by SE think it would. The game and its content will continue to stand on its own merits without Koji Fox's garbage.