Request: Limiting the number of blatant Game of Thrones references in future?

[Abriael]

Not necessarily. Changing relationships to better fit a different culture's tastes is also part of localization. You may not like it, but that doesn't mean it's bad localization.

Note that I don't like it either.

In the case of Estinien, we can see that he has opened up to us. We don't need him to express it so obviously.

Oh yes. It definitely means that it's bad localization. For such a reclusive person to openly expresses the fact that he sees you as a partner is a *big* part of that revelation. Changing openly vocalizing such an important change to simply implying it means effectively changing the character. It has absolutely zero to do with fitting the target culture's tastes.

[Kaedan]

I honestly am more bothered by the liberties taken by the localization team overall.

There are several parts of the dialogue in which the Japanese dialogue and the English text say entirely different things. In Stormblood there are moments in which a line is literally cut in half (in meaning, not just in length) in the English dialogue compared to the Japanese.

It's not Sega-levels of bad, but it is pretty disconcerting is you understand some Japanese.

While the localization team isn't perfect, they do a fine job. There are very few circumstances where the meaning conveyed in Japanese is significantly changed in the English version. And there are no circumstances where important information in the Japanese is not conveyed in the English. They sometimes shift some information to a previous or following sentence (or two later), but they never outright skip important info.

[Saito_S]

Huh. If true, that seems like kind of an odd choice to weight the references so heavily toward one particular property. Feels like in 2.0, there were many different shows/games/movies/pop culture things being referenced. On the other hand... no one player is familiar with EVERYTHING they might reference. So if you know GoT well, then those references would stick out, and it might seem like there are more of them then other things, whether there are or not. Hard to say for sure.

Of course, I can't weigh in on the actual number of GoT references, since I wouldn't be able to spot them. I found both the books and the show to be dreary, bloody, overly convoluted, dark-and-edgy-for-its-own-sake rubbish. Didn't get very far before figuring out it just wasn't for me. So most references to it will just go over my head, and I'll have no idea it even is a reference unless someone told me. Until I read this thread, I didn't even know there were any references to it in the RDM storyline.

[Ferrasper]

The Ruby Sea is all little Mermaid songs.

[Lukha]

And I was looking forward to trying Red Mage, too. Not that I don't like GoT, but the endless pop culture jokes inserted by the localization team have bugged me since the start. I could put up with them in side things like Fate titles and levequests, and even in the Hildebrand stuff that's just silly fun anyway, but they really, really need to keep them out of the MSQ.

Though if it were ANYONE ELSE, I'd question whether small things like 'Ser' and mentions of 'Little Birds' were actually direct references, since GoT isn't the first or the last fantasy series to use those terms. Given the team we have, though, they can be anything else. I'd probably keep 'Ser' anyway, it fits well enough, but 'Little Birds' should be Little Moogles or Little Moombas or, I dunno, pick a cute FF creature, it's not like there aren't plenty to choose from.

And Lolorito's minion calling the events of 2.55 the 'Bloody Banquet', on top of Edda's 'Red Wedding' attack really turned my stomach.

[missybee]

I love A Song of Ice and Fire and I pretty obviously love this game, but I completely agree with you.

Every time there is a Game of Thrones reference in dialogue, it makes me cringe.

Here's a list of a few references made by Hillo back in 2015. I am sure it has more than doubled by now...

*Tam Tara HM boss attack called "Red Wedding"
*Levequest called "Storm of Swords"
*A character named Eddard in the Lancer questline (and an NPC named Neddard in La Noscea)
*Quest "The Mountain that Strides"
*Quest name "Taking the Black"
*Achievement "Stick Them With the Pointy End"
*The Direwolf mount...and its description (found in a litter with its dead mother)
*Halloween NPC said "The night is dark and full of delightful terrors"
*You must say "High as Honor" for an Ixal quest (the phrase of House Arryn)

Please stop with the "sun and stars," "seven hells," "words are air," etc...I get it, I too have a raging boner for GoT, but

[MomomiMomi]

"seven hells,"

? The concept of seven hells is thousands of years old.

[missybee]

? The concept of seven hells is thousands of years old.

The concept, sure. Using it as an exclamation though?

Even if you strike that one off the list, there is a veritable cornucopia of references to chose from.

[ColorOfSakura]

The concept, sure. Using it as an exclamation though?

Even if you strike that one off the list, there is a veritable cornucopia of references to chose from.

Koji-Fox literally said in a panel at Fanfest that he invented "Seven Hells" SPECIFICALLY as a swear because it sounded better than the original "Six Hells" they had designed by the lore team, all because he wanted Stahlmann/Rostnstahl to use it. It had nothing to do with being a reference to ASOIAF or GoT.

[MomomiMomi]

The concept, sure. Using it as an exclamation though?

Even if you strike that one off the list, there is a veritable cornucopia of references to chose from.

We use "hell" as an exclamation all the time in English. If there are seven hells in their world, then they probably aren't going to use "hell" singularly. They'll say "hells" or "(number of) hells" most likely, the same way they refer to the Twelve.