This frequency of English localization issues is unacceptable

[Sindele]

Traduttore, traditore.

All translation distorts the original. You can argue over what degree is acceptable, to what end, and what your preferences are - but any argument that a translation should be a perfect retention of meaning is prima facie absurd. You can't. You can drag an approximation of the meaning out of it, but you will always lose something in the exchange.

[Derio]

My problem is them having key cutscenes that have no VA.

[MikkoAkure]

They're playing a Japanese game, a game that's conceived and produced with Japanese audiences in mind, from things like visual appearances and aesthetics, to the names and roles of characters and places within the game's story.

Then why are all of the in-game signs and even the map written in English using the Eorzean script?

Why are 95% of the songs in the game with lyrics sung in English and written by the previous English head localizer/lore guy?

Just because the game is made in Japan doesn’t mean the worldwide audience is secondary to the home audience either. Yoshi-P had his writers for FFXVI watch Game of Thrones and the English voices and facial captures were done before the Japanese version. It was also said somewhere that he recommended Japanese players to play the English version as well though I can’t find the source on that.

[Fawkes]

I will have to fact-check you on whether they actually said that, it just sounds so wrong, but I guarantee you that taking the source material and warping it to such an egregious degree that this game's localizers have done is not "the only way to do things".

Arguing that is just so wrong that things like subtitled anime and fan-translations of manga/anime content wouldn't be watchable or enjoyable by foreign audiences.

[Jeeqbit]

I will have to fact-check you on whether they actually said that, it just sounds so wrong, but I guarantee you that taking the source material and warping it to such an egregious degree that this game's localizers have done is not "the only way to do things".

Watch the hour-long segment of the Las Vegas Fanfest with the new lead of localization https://www.youtube.com/live/YozopuVW8Mo?t=24529

[OgruMogru]

The only people getting *so* bent out of shape about this are pedants and the artless. Pick your poison.

[Telkira]

Then why are all of the in-game signs and even the map written in English using the Eorzean script?

Why are 95% of the songs in the game with lyrics sung in English and written by the previous English head localizer/lore guy?

Just because the game is made in Japan doesn’t mean the worldwide audience is secondary to the home audience either.

It's still done to appease a Japanese audience first and foremost. Using an obvious parody of English text for their fictional in-universe text, the use of songs with lyrics that are in English does not really change that. The game, from conception to production, is innately Japanese and designed primarily for the entertainment of a Japanese audience.

I'll ask you this.
If the revisions/deviations made by the English localizers are so good, why aren't they in the Japanese script?
Why are other languages which were translated directly from the Japanese script more well-received than when content is translated/adapted from the English script?
Why aren't Japanese users clamoring for a proper JP (re)localization of all the things that are in English text, but not in Japanese?

I can tell you this: It's not because Japanese culture is inherently different. It's because the Japanese script and text content is generally more well-liked and has less people complaining about it compared to the English one, which is probably why less people complain about the German and French scripts being so different.

It was also said somewhere that he recommended Japanese players to play the English version as well though I can’t find the source on that.

Probably because he never said that, and that it's just something people probably made up and something Westerners take as fact (for whatever reason).
I don't doubt that he had his staff screen Game of Thrones, that's actually what I'd imagine a game developer would do, since that's really just the type of research many game devs go through.

But it's still a Japanese product designed for a Japanese audience.

With regard to FFXVI, they tried to get away with some censorship by toning down the violence committed by one of the antagonists, but thankfully other narrative sources still commit to it (I'm not going to risk a ban discussing it on this forum, so do your own research). It's that type of 'localization' which borders censorship because it quickly goes from 'eliciting feelings the devs wanted to a Western audience' to appeasing the insecurities of a foreign market while also detracting from the weight of the narrative because certain people might think a villain is too triggering.
Those people shouldn't be playing 17+ rated video games, god knows how they'd react to classical literature that actually does commit to it.

[OgruMogru]

Have a donut, that always cheers me up!

[Telkira]

Watch the hour-long segment of the Las Vegas Fanfest with the new lead of localization https://www.youtube.com/live/YozopuVW8Mo?t=24529

I skimmed through it, it really doesn't say that this is 'the only way to do it'. Do you have a time-code where they explicitly state this?

The only people getting *so* bent out of shape about this are pedants and the artless. Pick your poison.

A faithful translation doesn't disrespect the source material by assuming that the audience wouldn't be as entertained.
Trying to dismiss people who take issue with this as 'pedants' who know full-well that what they're reading isn't what was initially written, or what was canon, or what was censored outright (as is the case with the Haurchefant debacle) is nothing but an insult.

People want to know that what they're reading is faithful to and in-line with what it actually is, because things like artistic and literary integrity ultimately are what ground the product in its entirety. Calling them 'artless' is just baseless.

[Telkira]

Have a donut, that always cheers me up!

tfw English-speaking children actually watched this and thought that onigiri were just Japanese doughnuts.