Quote Originally Posted by Berethos View Post
I think the point was that a direct translation would sound boring in English. What works fine (or even works great) in the Japanese language, if translated directly, wouldn't really work in English - that's what I believe Koji was saying.

As a result, they localize to make it more flowery and medieval and such in English, because for this kind of setting that is generally what is expected by a native speaking English audience.
I've played Dragon Quest, which was heavily medieval in its themes (even had templars and all that) and its dialogue had SOME slang in and there with medieval english, but most of the people talked pretty much normally and it didn't spend too much time on the dialogue (each character had didn't make semi-para worth of text to begin with). What about other older final fantasy with their rather normal dialogue? Sure I remember seeing some exception, but you know who spoke with said medieval english in basically all of the rpgs I've played? Dragons and other immortal beings.

My point is that I don't really see the need for medieval speech, when a well done dialogue can easily make it worth (or in this case, a good translation)
It's like spice on food: it increases the taste and flavour but it's often used to hide the flaws behind it - and as someone who doesn't cook with spice (well except salt now and then), this is how I feel about the dialogue of this game overall.

And in my opinion the dialogue in this game is anything but fluid: we're talking about 20-25 lines of dialogue for a quest only to say "go kill this, then return". Talk about needless! Infact someone in this thread said that the dialogue has a very shakespearean vibe, and I can see that because it also gets one of his major flaws: he was pretty bad at pacing and as someone who heavily studied him for one year (cause I failed the exam once, neat!), he wasn't the most enjoyable of reading.
If anything I could excuse his reasons for making lengthy because it was a a theatrical representation, but give me a break when it comes to games!