Malevolent is not exactly the right term, but more like he could not give two shits what happened to you or your friends. I know some people who think he came off sounding downright asinine at Moenbryda's funeral, when really in the original he is making a mostly unrelated observation about Nidhogg being on the move.
The french version's tone may have been toned down, but as far as I know, dialogue remained accurate.Possibly. I freely admit that I only have Corvi's statement in the OP to go on here, as I don't really talk to any FR players, I don't think. And we're agreed that 2.0 Haurchefant was going toned down too far in EN, so I wouldn't be surprised if the other languages were less toned down. But the fact remains that they were toned down because their respective Loc teams were concerned about player reaction.
I think you probably didn't catch the undertones in what I was saying, which is that the english version is obviously catering to Americans with all of the Americanization and general dumbing down of lines. And from everything I've heard, btw, yes, the english version *is* the single worst version in terms of accurate translations. Which is what I was referring to more than anything specifically Haurchefant related. Sorry if that wasn't clear.I don't think it's fair to place it all on the EN community. It'd be one thing if only the EN team toned down Haurchefant, or if it was done over objections of the other teams or something. But the three non-JP teams all got together and agreed (without approval, sadly) that he needed to be toned down. Unless you'd like to argue that the FR and DE teams are trying to cater to the NA market somehow?
The changes would be understandable, except that we're playing a japanese game here. Oh sure it has international appeal and was made with all sorts of audiences in mind, but the japanese stereotypes still remain and are what fans who play this game over others look for. No one can honestly claim to not have known what they were getting themselves into when they come upon such scenes. And while Longhaft may be a particular sort of pervert, Thancred's flirtations are nothing that special since he is essentially the ladies' man archetype.Well, I meant "added in" as in "added to the game as a whole." That is, by the time the postmoogle quests and Thancred's disaster were coded, written, and translated, I think the Loc team had already realized their mistakes. I admit my earlier phrasing was unclear, though.
As for Thancred (and Longhaft) in general I think it generally comes down to the difference between things happening to NPCs versus to the PC. You're right that both these NPCs have reputations as a womanizer or a walking double entendre, but neither of them are really directed at the player character. I mean, most people laugh off Thancred's passes, but some people get upset at Longhaft's shtick. And the response to the Horse year Heavensturn event was...mixed. If their goal with the 2.0 quests was to minimize the people offended by Haurchefant's character, I can totally understand why they made the changes (again, went too far, though).
I know what you mean now, but given the rest of your response, that honestly made no sense to quote, since you were talking about changes to Haurchefant's character to revert him to being more like his japanese self. It was just weird to see a quote of a trope that wasn't being used. Not that we didn't see it being used aplenty with Ilberd, imo.But...that's exactly my point. They chose not to use a trope because it's not something a NA audience would readily associate with heroes and allies. Unless you're saying that I was wrong when I said the trope didn't come up much outside of JP? If so, I'd say it depends how narrowly you define the trope. If the trope is just "lech/debauchee," then sure, it exists outside Japan. If it's supposed to be "ally who's a lech and hits on you hard," then I'm not so sure about its existence outside Japanese works. Granted, my overall knowledge of trope prevalence is far from extensive, so I'll concede the point about its prevalence; but the point about choosing not to use it still stands, I think.