This frequency of English localization issues is unacceptable

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Thank you two for correcting me.
Do we have any localization issues pre ShB? If so, are they frequent as they're now? Because if ShB-EW localization issues frequency is higher now than how they used to be then I think we understands why.

Yes, no change in frequency. Again, literally nothing has changed

[MikkoAkure]

Thank you two for correcting me.
Do we have any localization issues pre ShB? If so, are they frequent as they're now? Because if ShB-EW localization issues frequency is higher now than how they used to be then I think we understands why.

People seem to complain about the localization in every single part of FFXIV's existence. Midgardsormr's dialogue in ARR was the first big complaint that fired the forums up from what I remember.

Kate who was mentioned before, is credited as "lore/translator" on the Final Fantasy official website. That would suggest that she works directly with the lore team like Koji. She also had this to say:

As mentioned above, FFXIV in particular is a team effort of the sort that’s incredibly rare in Japanese games localization, so it would be hard to really put a number to the people involved in this aspect of the project. We translators are very fortunate to have an ongoing dialogue with the devs regarding the lore, UI, cutscenes, and more. This allows us to spot potential localization pitfalls, but also helps us have a more sound understanding of what we’re translating, and allows the dev team to ask us questions in turn.

The main teams we end up working with directly here in Japan are the event team (responsible for lore and story), and the cutscene team. I work with the former frequently on lore and naming checks. This involves a lot of them sending me large files to comment on, and also more casual back-and-forths via messenger where we ask questions, discuss ideas, or lament the fact that there are so many fire attacks because we’re really running out of synonyms.
When it comes time to translate and record the voiced scenes for main scenario, representatives from each language usually meet with the writer in charge about how long it will take to act out the lines that need to be synchronized to animations, to see if we need to adjust the script or performance in order for all languages to take roughly the same amount of time.

That being said, I still find certain aspects of the English lacking and sometimes it feels like they spend too much time on flavor to where the point of the dialogue is lost. On the flip side of the coin, I've heard that the Japanese/German/French versions are a bit dry. The English version incorporates a wider variety of accents and speech patterns based on where characters are from, for example.

[OhNooo]

I think it would be better to play the scenes back to back in video, rather than single out of context dialogue boxes (I'm implying there's a chance that what Y'shtola is saying here will match what she says in French/Japanese with the full scenes played out).

[Jeeqbit]

That said, I'm pretty sure the localisation team still works very closely with the Japanese team or something (unsure if this has changed over the years. I just recall a thread made by someone on the localisation team some years back explaining how things were being done).

There are dev videos for some expansions such as Heavensward which talk about the localization. There are probably some in the live letters as well.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Uhh, he sacrificed half the population? That havoc?

He didn’t sacrifice half the population, the people chose to do so. By that logic then they should be worried about Hydaelyn seeing as she too had sacrificed. They also….didn’t exactly witness that though.

[Asari5]

midgardsomr told you he would rise to figth in the dragonsong war in the beginning of your dialoge.... when i read that in an english stream i was like: 'uhm... what?!'

[Midareyukki]

Except that they can, at least this localization team. Allow me, a professional translator, to explain to you what's going on.
I'll break it down in topics.

1. What Localization actually is and involves

As OP said, and very well at that, Localization is more than just rendering a text into another language. That's mere Translation. And Translation itself already has its own nuances: will you translate things literally as close to the source text as possible, or will you have a more explicative approach so that it both sounds good in the target language and actually makes the text digestable by the target language? This last bit is important, because certain languages don't care for long sentences. Whereas others do. General consensus among professionals is that it's a mix, and the amount of either varies between scope (ie, the purpose of the text) and its context (eg, literary vs legal text).

But Localization takes that and applies to everything about a given product. Not just translating a product's own texts, but also making sure the product as a whole works in other cultures. So it also handles stuff like scenarios, systems (especially in software, where keyboard layouts and shortcuts aren't the same) and even cultural aspects. It can be images, sounds, the title itself, the use of colours and even some scenarios that might be sensitive to a certain audience. Look at Nintendo's censorship efforts in the 90's.

We think a translation team shouldn't directly interfere on the product. But that's a "should". Real translation of any kind WILL mess with it, even if it's minor. You can't run away from this, even if it's something as obvious as "lost in translation" effects. Where nuance gets lost. And in Localization, the product is still the same but has been notably modified, often with someone's consent, for consumers.

2. What sort of team does SE have that allows them to do this? Are they incompetent!?

SE's team is an internal team. Not only that, it's spear-headed by one of the guys who make up the game's own lore: Koji Fox. This means that the localization team is involved in making the game. This almost never happens: the translation team is a side thing, away from the game's development. But here, the guy in charge of translation IS a part of the dev team. He shapes the product. Not only does he know the dev team's decisions first-hand, but also has a say in what they are.

There is nothing inherently incompetent about this. Consider this a different product than that of JP, with SE's approval. You're getting the same story, don't get me wrong. But this is the origin of the tone differences and all the memes.

[Midareyukki]

3. What sort of work does a Localization team do, and what does Square do differently?.

A normal team is given a product. People, usually the client himself alongside his translators, debate a little on what content will be changed so that everything goes smoothly. Though it's possible it doesn't always happen, can't always keep track of every change. The project is then divided into strings (for text) and stuff like images and sounds for editors. They are given manuals and term bases and other resources to keep consistency and there's one guy, the Project Manager, who oversees the overall quality and the team's efforts. Once it's done and has been reviewed, they then take to test out the product to make sure their work didn't break something. It's then approved, sent to the client for final approval and it's shipped to you. This is a generalized thing.

SE has this on an internal level, but due to what I said on #2, likely has more creative freedom. For all intents and purposes, what they do is take the base game and the established plot, but rework it in a way that both makes sense for English players, but also has the flavour that their Project Manager decided it should have. This PM is Koji Fox, who HAS said freedom to do this.

In essence, they make "two games in one". Though they are very much similar, Koji Fox being so involked allows him to add some colour to his English version. Hence all the flourishes, vague mentions, prosaic speech and differences from the original text. And memes. Lots of memes.

Keep in mind that this is likely known by the dev team and they gave his approval, as long as he doesn't go overboard. Which he doesn't, he just makes stuff be flowery and hard to get, or changes the emotion of other parts.

You do still get the exact same product Japan got, but with a hint of nuance that wasn't there.

4. Okay but why are FR and DE different than EN?

Because Koji Fox likely only knows English and Japanese. He doesn't know French nor German, so he gives it to an external team. This external team will be given the original product, and while they will also do some changes to the product, they won't be as marked as the ones the English team was allowed to do.

This has also led to some bit of trouble where they likely didn't test out the product as they should, leading to some spoilery leak about Hrothgar in the French translation back in Stormblood. Different teams, under different managements, will work with different timescales and permissions. And thus, since we don't have a memelord in FR or DE, the amount of text changes and additions that EN finds charming is likely to be far lower. With this, however, comes the added bonus of the text being more faithful to the original.

[Midareyukki]

5. But is this fine? And does this not cause any problems?

Whether it's fine or not has to go through 2 sides. In order:
1 - The dev team overall
2 - You, the player
And I say "in order" because you aren't given a choice as to what you'll be consuming. It's up to you to give feedback on this. And so far, the feedback they got was that the English Community finds the changes acceptable. There is a positive outlook.

If you're bothered, then you're free to state as much, of course. It's just that it doesn't make it a bad translation in itself. It's at least a special translation.

As for problems? They exist. Creative freedom away from the original author's intent will always cause setbacks, and off the top of my head I can name two:

1 - Nael van Darnus's gender was unknown in Japanese. They never referred to Nael with a gendered part of grammar, since Japan can keep gender vague. English cannot, and they assumed Nael to be male. Come Coils and she's a woman. So the English team had to rush to Koji Fox about this, and he had to make up on the spot a bit of canon to justify the change. That the Nael we see is Eula van Darnus, his sister who took over his position when the real, male Nael died.

2 - Phlegethon, the final boss of Labyrinth of the Ancients. Until then, Titan in JP was called "Tai-tan" (I think?). But then came LotA and the final boss's name was "Titan", but read "Tee-tan" in Japanese. Now, English makes no such distinction, so they renamed him to Acheron, a palette swap of the FF3 boss the LotA boss is based on. All fine there... until Crystal Tower added Acheron mobs. The dev team again had to scramble for a solution. Acheron is a river in Hades, along with others like Lethe and Phlegethon. Thus they renamed the boss into Phlegethon.
And there's even an NPC acknowledging this about Phlegethon.

6. But that's still the sign of a bad translation, right?

...that's where I can't exactly say for certain. I called it a special translation, but I'm hard-pressed to call it a translation at all. It's a localization for sure. But with a lot of creative differences (which are allowed in this one case) that I can't tell if it's a simple case of software localization or just "an added author".

Regardless. You're getting exactly what the others are getting, but with minor tone differences and different mentions. The text may be altered in a scene to better fit this tone shift or to just make the situation clearer or consistent with the rest of the game. For better or for worse. So in all fairness, you don't lose out on much, and it's still Final Fantasy XIV.

There's far worse out there in the market. This is just a quirk of the FF14 team.