Ask Questions for Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXVII! (Localization Koji Fox)

[Knahli]

Leading off a little from one of the previous posters, I find that the localisation team do a wonderful job and the quality of writing - with attentions to both regional and archaic especially - to be absolutely superb.

However.

It seems that a lot of the original dialogue gets swept under the rug only to be replaced with very unnecessary changes. Do you not feel it is unfair to the design and intended personalities behind the characters to misconstrue them in a way that their dialogue can or will be interpreted differently to the original dialogue? In the case of Haurchefant in the final cutscene of the Vault, the English translation seemed represent a much less personal dialogue with the player character. It sounded more like he was addressing the Warrior of Light as the Warrior of Light whereas a friend of mine informed me that the Japanese dialogue sounded a lot more like he was addressing the Warrior of Light of as an actual person whom they truly felt close to. The alterations were subtle, but subtleties can mean the world in situations such as those.

Similarly, following Alphinaud and the WoL's departure from Ul'dah during the formation of the Crystal Braves where Nanamo and Raubahn discuss the situation of Teledji Adeledji, Nanamo throws herself into Raubahn's arms, inconsolable in her utter frustration with how powerless she feels. In the Japanese dialogue, I noticed that Raubahn simply echoes her name back to her as she cries into his chest as though he, equal in his sense of powerlessness, does not have the words to soothe her mind when her reaction tears him off-guard. In the English dialogue however, I believe he says something more like "Have faith, Your Grace. The fight is not over yet". The dialogue isn't exactly inaccurate perhaps as those words carry a sense of resistance one would attribute with Raubahn, but I still think that even a subtlety like that has an effect on how a scene is received and where the focus is directed; but above all else, why would a change like that be deemed necessary at all in such a simplistic case? Regardless of whether or not it has a different effect to the average individual, the practice alone carries the danger of doing so, as has been noted in cases by other posters.