Embarrassing confessions-

[Barraind]

To this day I couldn't tell you what the name of a single Samurai ability is. Despite leveling it to 80.

Why they made all the skills in Japanese is beyond me when they localize skills in every other language. At least with Ninja they only made some of them (mudras) in Japanese.

Translating some aspects of Japanese makes less sense than saying it in Japanese.

You start with Iaijutsu, which is the art of quickly drawing a sword (Fast Draw), then slowly start getting into your attack combos looking like:

Breeze rustling through leaves (Wing Edge) - The sound of bodies storming a tactically held point (Blade Wind) - Moonbeam
(Wing edge) - Behavior of a Samurai (Servitude) - Burning Chariot
(Wing edge) - Quiet Snowfall

Then your AE's are simple and easy to translate. Same with your range attack (Swallow, or Swallow Tail)

Aaaaaaaand then it goes off the rails.

The universe must be destroyed
The morning sun must be destroyed
The evening moon must be destroyed
Hope must be destroyed
The heavens must be destroyed
When one is calm, ones mind is calm (Clear Mind)

And then you get to the actual meaning of the iaijustu skills.


If theres one thing I learned from playing the L5R card game for 20 years, sometimes saying 4 syllables is better than the alternative.

For a look at how Squeenix handles its translations for stuff like that, check out some skill names in its mobile game titles.

Its mostly 1-2 word names and then you get "you must choose to eat with your imagination", "a codex of a named swordsmaster" (which have been updated since implementation to some success) and my favorite, half of Emperor Palamecias skillset (which they thankfully changed years later) which included "hahaha you insolent fools".