1 Month in impressions/criticisms...

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Not a literal translation, but one that transports the characteristics of the characters and conveys what they say properly - this didn't happen at ALL. It's like they had a rough draft of the original and wrote their own version.

Because cultural standards and perceptions are different. Take Haurchefant, whose popularity in the west is due to his formal and "Knight-y" demeanor, which is reminiscent of Games of Thrones or Lord of the Rings, whereas in Japan his overtly sexual characteristics appeal. If you were to swap the two, I wager neither side would be happy, thus he persona was changed. That isn't to say the localization team will always make the proper choice when adapting - or flat out changing - a character. But they often do.

[Kallera]

The very notion of localisation is to convert the content into something that is suitable and appropriate for the target audience of that area. You seem to want a literal translation (直訳) of the Japanese script which would be completely bland and boring. Now, the localisation team didn't have to localise the English script into a sort of medieval, game of thrones-like way but it works for this game (especially in Ishgard) though I think it can be a bit irritating at times.

The fact that entire character personalities are changed from the original and that other languages do not use this "updated" version says otherwise. i am aware that dubbing can bring more to a character and setting, but that is not what is happening here, and its not being adopted in europe's translation compounds the problem that is being raised, as one story is being worked off of two different scripts.

There is a consistency problem with this method, and its one that has been continuing. Now you cannot say that all of these discrepancies are the result of needing dragonspeak in Eorzea...