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

[MrSmiley]

I dont know GOT really, but what are these "little bird" references specifically?

[Averax]

The localisation team is out of control. There is a side quest called amber alert about child kidnap. So tasteless. That was a real tragedy there's a reason we have amber alerts here in the US.

Dark humor exists.

More at 11

[Abriael]

Localization is not translation. Localization is taking text and making it fit and understandable for a western audience. Japanese and English operate as very different languages. English relies more on subtlety and things being inferred, whereas Japanese makes more sense to just spell everything out. If you do that in English, it becomes patronizing and almost condescending to the person reading the text. So honestly, it makes more sense for the English text to read as fairly different from the original Japanese text because of how they want to present the information to the playerbase.

I'm intimately aware of that all. It's always funny how people ready to defend poor localization always seem to assume that whoever they're discussing with doesn't know what localization entails.

The point is that there are plenty of cases in which relevant information is omitted or relationships between characters are misrepresented.

A very clear example is the fact that Estinien calls the warrior of light "aibou" in Japanese, meaning partner. There are several ways to localize this, but in English it's simply lost, and it's a big loss, as it shows how the cold and detached Estinien has been touched by the warrior of light and opened up to trust him/her.

This kind of conceptual loss is simply an example of bad localization. There are no two ways about it.

[MomomiMomi]

I'm intimately aware of that all. It's always funny how people ready to defend poor localization always seem to assume that whoever they're discussing with doesn't know what localization entails.

The point is that there are plenty of cases in which relevant information is omitted or relationships between characters are misrepresented.

A very clear example is the fact that Estinien calls the warrior of light "aibou" in Japanese, meaning partner. There are several ways to localize this, but in English it's simply lost, and it's a big loss, as it shows how the cold and detached Estinien has been touched by the warrior of light and opened up to trust him/her.

This kind of conceptual loss is simply an example of bad localization.

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.

[MrSmiley]

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.

We also don't have a focus on the terms we use to call people to have a deeper meaning like they sometimes do in Japan. We may use "bro" or "pal" or maybe something a little more elegant, but it doesn't have a deep meaning here. In japan were things like honorifics are a thing, the way you address or refer to someone means a lot more than it does here.

if he started using the word partner or friend, or whatever a lot, it would look weird to a lot of people.

[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.

[MomomiMomi]

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.

Calling me "partner" or anything like it is going to sound really cheesy. This is where culture comes in. We don't do that here.

[Abriael]

Calling me "partner" or anything like it is going to sound really cheesy. This is where culture comes in. We don't do that here.

It sounds cheesy in both cultures. It's supposed to, and it fits Estinien's role and change perfectly. He's not used to be social, so he does so in a slightly awkward way. Japanese do that even less than here, which makes it even more special.

Having worked in localization for six years in the past, I always find it funny how some in that role nowadays try to feed to the masses that theirs is an authorship role, while it should be in service of the author's world view and creativity. What makes it even worse is how certain media outlets are doing their utmost to roll that drum in order to further their own agendas in which different development cultures are flattened to western taste and standards.

[MomomiMomi]

It sounds cheesy in both cultures. It's supposed to, and it fits Estinien's role and change perfectly. He's not used to be social, so he does so in a slightly awkward way. Japanese do that even less than here, which makes it even more special.

They may do it less in real life, but it's a frequent trope in their media. It's not anywhere in our media.

[Abriael]

They may do it less in real life, but it's a frequent trope in their media. It's not anywhere in our media.

You must not have consumed much media, if you think so.