For those of us who prefer the Japanese VO.

[JakzChurchill]

I'm a big fan of the Japanese VA's in this game, they made some of my least likeable characters some of my favourite by skewing the characters more towards my likes, Alphinaud being a good example. The problem is it's very obvious the character I am hearing is not the character I'm reading, this makes a very disjointed story experience.

so could we have the option for a more literal translated subtitles, rather than reading the dubtitles currently used.

To get the localised text you first have a create a true translation to be able to modify, Would it take much longer to add this as a second English subtitle option?

[Alberel]

I'm not sure how feasible this will be as it would be a lot of work to write another translation of the script. I agree with your point though. There are several times where characters say something in Japanese that clearly does not match the written text, even if you don't understand the Japanese.

Most notably in the most recent patch there is a point where Raubahn calls Lolorito by name in the spoken Japanese VO but merely says 'You!' in the written English which causes a significant disconnect when following the dialogue.

[RiceisNice]

I'm not sure how feasible this will be as it would be a lot of work to write another translation of the script. I agree with your point though. There are several times where characters say something in Japanese that clearly does not match the written text, even if you don't understand the Japanese.

Most notably in the most recent patch there is a point where Raubahn calls Lolorito by name in the spoken Japanese VO but merely says 'You!' in the written English which causes a significant disconnect when following the dialogue.

IIRC, a lot of the changes has to do with matching lip syncing as well, since all the scenes were initially done with Japanese audio. It's something I can appreciate them doing (having played other games, off lip syncing is a incredible pet peeve of mine for a story driven game).

Though Smorggy over there really doesn't have much of an excuse...

[Khyra]

Most notably in the most recent patch there is a point where Raubahn calls Lolorito by name in the spoken Japanese VO but merely says 'You!' in the written English which causes a significant disconnect when following the dialogue.

This is actually a cultural thing. In English of course we use "you" a lot when talking directly to someone. In Japanese, you would almost never say "あなた" (anata) to a person whose name you know. It was jarring to me when first learning Japanese, constantly referring to people by their name repeatedly, but thats the normal way. (Whereas in English, if every sentence I replaced "you" with someone's name it would sound kind of stilted and maybe formal)

So translating from name->you is actually correct in terms of "this is how it is spoken normally in each language".

If you do speak both languages (English is my native language, and my Japanese is not perfect but I can understand the characters maybe half the time) it is interesting to see the differences. Sometimes it is actually a much bigger difference than pronoun usage. I can vaguely remember a few cases where the meaning was quite different, but I don't remember the specific examples unfortunately.

[Niwashi]

Most notably in the most recent patch there is a point where Raubahn calls Lolorito by name in the spoken Japanese VO but merely says 'You!' in the written English which causes a significant disconnect when following the dialogue.

I'm not familiar with the particular scene you're referencing, but frequently, the most direct translation of a name is indeed the word "you". Japanese doesn't have the sort of pronouns English does, so to reference the person they're speaking to (which is what the word "you" is for in English) they'll say something else to indicate the person. It might be their name, a title, or a descriptor of some kind, but if it's function is to indicate that the person they're speaking to is also the person they're speaking about, then the English equivalent, and therefore the proper translation, is "you".

Then there's also how the name is said to consider. What suffix (and therefore politeness level) did it have in Japanese? Was it part of a sentence or did it stand alone?

The English "you" can be used politely in a sentence, but using it by itself (particularly with that exclamation point) to call out to someone indicates an aggressive demand. Using someone's name in English is awkward (almost to the point of nonsensical) within a sentence, and inherently polite when used on its own as a form of address. So was the Japanese Raubahn's use of Lolorito's name part of a sentence (in which case it would have to become "you" in English)? Or an aggressively abrupt call (in which case his name in English would totally change the meaning, so it would have to be something else, of which "You!" certainly works)? Or was it a polite term of address (which would be the only case where the name could be kept in English)?

[Catwho]

I'm so used to this from translated anime that I don't even really think about it. I prefer the perfect lip syncing from the Japanese VAs and the not-as-obnoxious voices (I grew up in the southern US - the English voices just tend to sound incredibly fake and forced to me.) The meaning is usually close enough that the mismatched translation doesn't bother me.

Also, when you change to the Japanese voices in the settings, they warn you that the translation and spoken dialog aren't going to be exact.

[ServantNaoya]

Just imagine they're not talking in faux-medieval, archaic English, and you're about 80% closer. But as long as you have a general understanding on what they're saying, you can fill in the gaps yourself, so it's not too bad.

[Cynfael]

It's rarely as simple as making a "true" translation. Literal translations are terrible, so you would be asking for a new localized script. It's waaay too much work. There are nuances to the Japanese language that translate poorly to English (and vice versa).

I think that they could have gone a bit more modern and slightly more literal with the current script, but that ship has sailed.

[Mistoltin]

There's also cultural differences, language differences amongst many other things which make conversation different in many different places.
If you want to be a special flower and play the game with JP voice actors, feel free, but you have to deal with the fact that the subs you get won't match, just the way things are.

If the differences bother you so much, go away and learn the language, problem solved.

[JakzChurchill]

If the differences bother you so much, go away and learn the language, problem solved.

This is another point I forgot to touch on, how the cutscenes work with you having to skip ahead by choice this game is perfect for someone with basic knowledge of Japanese to increase their knowledge of the language. I'd absolutely love to use this game to learn Japanese.