Mayhap, naught and out of place poetic dialogue

[ChillyViking]

Is it just me or is there an excessive use of the words "mayhap and naught" in the main scenario quests? So much so that it sounds forced, especially in scenes where there is supposed to be lighthearted comedy, the poetic structure ruins the atmosphere.
Let me know what ya'll think about it.

[Iscah]

I don’t mind it. Gives the setting its own feel and vocabulary instead of just being 100% modern English in a not-modern world.

Plus you pick up interesting new language details like “aught” being the opposite of “naught”. It does sometimes need a dictionary on hand though!

[Ilyrian]

It's something that always bothers me about a lot of the translations of some of the earlier Final Fantasy games (and RPGs in general).
It seems to be the shorthand to use a bastardized version of 'old' English to denote a fantasy world removed from modern times, or an older character 'out of touch' with 'modern' times - Setzer in VI being the most egregious example. Not pointing fingers but this is typically an US ideal of how the UK population spoke back in Elizabethan times (and I imagine a lot still think we do). It tends to be used so heavy-handedly that it instantly pulls me out of the narrative - as a native English speaker I find it really annoying in the most part.
FFXIV, to be fair, isn't quite so bad with it - but dialogue (especially translation) is typically quite difficult, especially if done in a team.

[ChillyViking]

You can still talk old english and not overuse words, and old english can be spoken casually without having that poetic feel to it. I don't want it to be modern either

[Ilyrian]

You can still talk old english and not overuse words, and old english can be spoken casually without having that poetic feel to it. I don't want it to be modern either

The confusion lies in the conflation of what 'old' English was spoken and what is actually just poetic. There is a conflation between what people think was actual dialogue in Elizabethan England and what was verse written by Shakespeare.
If the goal is to make everyone sound like they are in a play then fair - but if not it just comes across as stilted and overly-dramatic when used in normal conversation.

[Kazrah]

You can still talk old english and not overuse words, and old english can be spoken casually without having that poetic feel to it. I don't want it to be modern either

Technically it goes somewhere between Middle English and Shakespearian/Elizabethan era English.

Old English is much closer to Welsh, because apparently it wasn't until Chaucer that vowels were invented in the English language.

[Rongway]

"Mayhap" and "naught" still see a fair bit of use today, and I don't find them nearly as offensive as the use of "ever" to mean always. That one will ever sound forced to me, in any setting.

[MistakeNot]

Technically it goes somewhere between Middle English and Shakespearian/Elizabethan era English.

Old English is much closer to Welsh, because apparently it wasn't until Chaucer that vowels were invented in the English language.

Old English has very little in common with Welsh.
English is (and was) a Germanic language and as such is related to languages such as German, Dutch, and Swedish. This was even more obvious in Old English before the Battle of Hastings and subsequent influence of French.
Welsh on the other hand is a Celtic language.

The archaic English used by certain NPCs in FFXIV is neither Old English, nor Middle English. It is Modern English. Even at its worst it is a variant of Shakespearian/Elizabethan era English with modernized spelling.

[MistakeNot]

It is worth noting that not all NPCs use archaic/poetic forms of English.
Only a few of them do, and even then to varying degrees. (Urianger is by far the worst offender here.)
Majority of NPCs speak fairly normal English, with a few using other variants of reducing comprehensibility (Rogue's guild NPCs for example who have their own dialect/jargon.)

[Tridus]

We must needs be away towards our destination.

*stoic nod*


I don't know, I kind of enjoy the difference between the vocabulary of Urianger and Lyse.