Weird english

[RaijinSupreme]

Because from my understanding, the Japanese translation directly to English is kind of boring, from what Koji has talked about. Like, instead of it being told like an adventure, its "He went there, and there were bad guys"

I get that. I wouldn't want to listen to boring dialogue either.

But that's almost insinuating that modern English in of itself is boring, as if it can't be used to portray a compelling story.

I think the use of Shakespearean English was just a style choice, an aesthetically pleasing one for some, but simply unnecessary for others.

[Beckett]

I was going to say, "Can't you just play the game in Spanish?" but does FFXIV seriously not have a Spanish language option? That seems like a huge oversight. More people speak Spanish than German and French (and Japanese, for that matter) combined.

[kazeandi]

i'm a japanese speaker, too and i'm always baffled how audio and text are different to the point the characters come across completely wrong (if you assume the spoken lines to be "the real deal"). it's not "lost in translation" anymore when story and protagonists differ that much from the original.

that being said, they totally overdid it with their "pray tell" and "anyroad". when you get spammed with it like this, it looks rather forced.

[Lufir]

I haaaate reading Urianger's talking segments. I try to read it normally but I end up tripping over my words. But it does make sense that he talks like that

[Belhi]

I haaaate reading Urianger's talking segments. I try to read it normally but I end up tripping over my words. But it does make sense that he talks like that

I think it would be a shame for Urianger not to talk like that. Its part of his character. As for the likes of Midgardsormr, he is so damn Kryptic anyway that even if he spoke normally it would still be difficult to figure out what the hell he is talking about.

[AshlikeSnow]

Well a good alternative to avoid the English localization would be to learn Japanese. Honestly original works are always superior to subs and dubs. Think about your favorite film and try watching it another language, its not the same.

[Berethos]

Well a good alternative to avoid the English localization would be to learn Japanese. Honestly original works are always superior to subs and dubs. Think about your favorite film and try watching it another language, its not the same.

Yet that film in another language, for the audience who are native speakers of that other language, would find the localized version to be the version they are able to connect with and understand far better than if they learned the original language. A good localization team will do more than just translate - they will change it to better fit the nuances of the culture and language of the new version so that this new audience can connect better with it on their own terms while still telling the same story.

Like it or not, when telling a story in a medieval setting in English, co-opting an older style of English (even though it's rarely *that* old - it's closer to Tolkien than anyone else for the most part) for the sake of world-building isn't exactly an uncommon practice...and Koji-Fox and his team are among the better teams at putting that into practice.

Believing that all versions have to say exactly what the original said but translated or they are inferior or "wrong" is little more than hubris on the part of those that believe it.

[AshlikeSnow]

Believing that all versions have to say exactly what the original said but translated or they are inferior or "wrong" is little more than hubris on the part of those that believe it.

Well I am not a native Chinese speaker so when I saw IP Man I preferred the original Chinese format instead of the Enlgish dub. Different opinions. I view this game to be fantasy and that does not in fact automatically translate to medieval for me playing the game in its original format I can say that its indeed not Medieval, it became Medieval because of the direction and liberty that the English Localization decided on. And I'm not advocating for this game to be a direct verbatim translation from the original. Unless you hear the original audio Japanese dialogue in cutscenes and compare that to what is written in English its so different. It is just my opinion that the English version suffers from not delivering the cues off how the cutscenes and sequences were designed.

[Nestama]

Unless you hear the original audio Japanese dialogue in cutscenes and compare that to what is written in English its so different.

What do you mean by 'original audio?' Every language is roughly voiced at the same time in FFXIV, right? This isn't like any other Final Fantasy/JRPG where it's released in Japan first.
I also do not believe the localisation suffers at all. Every dialect matches the character (though Urianger does kinda feel like a hipster with his thy's and thou's. It makes sense for Hydaelyn and Midgardsormr, since they're the oldest 'beings' we know of).

[AshlikeSnow]

What do you mean by 'original audio?' Every language is roughly voiced at the same time in FFXIV, right? This isn't like any other Final Fantasy/JRPG where it's released in Japan first.
I also do not believe the localisation suffers at all. Every dialect matches the character (though Urianger does kinda feel like a hipster with his thy's and thou's. It makes sense for Hydaelyn and Midgardsormr, since they're the oldest 'beings' we know of).

When I said original audio I was talking about the Japanese audio.