This frequency of English localization issues is unacceptable

[PharisHanasaki]

Has someone drained you of your reading comprehension? I'm talking about the thing that is present in the EN version but not the FR one.

It's been said many a times that the English team is also involved with the lore team, unlike the rest of the translation teams. That would of course influence the localization.

From what I gather you want a literal translation for whatever reason. I remember Koji san once mentioned that Japanese storytelling isn't as interesting as western's, and that if they just translated the dialogs it might even seem plain or boring. I do believe other localizations have been called plain or "flavorless" at times.

As for which is better, I guess it's down to preference.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

The rest of it is more or less the same, with no other material differences beyond some phrasing choices. There is no allusion in the rest of the text to what the EN version is referencing, highlighted in the red box.

But doesn't that make Thancred's question more confusing if they don't answer that way?

Seeing zodiark as a threat would make them opposed to his creation. I think this is just language nuances lol.


If someone is creating something that I see as a threat, I would be opposed to it being created.

Post creation, they had no choice, Zodiark was already made. They couldn't unmake him without removing the effect had staving off the final days, so sundering weakens zodiark, who is then sealed away. Protective measure is still there and he can't be used further.

[Jojoya]

You're beyond annoying. I keep saying it doesn't matter who the blame falls upon and I'm not pinning it on any person in particular, not in my original post, nor in any of my posts now. I'm trying to stress that but EVERY post of yours is shifting said nonexistent blame. The localization, in my opinion and in many others', has problems because it has a bunch of differences from the other languages.

Do tell me what I'm doing wrong by saying that I don't want them to be writing their own story and would rather have them sticking as close to the original as localization allows, since you're some genius expert apparently. I'm sure these people work vewy vewy hawd on it but I don't like the product. Knowing or not knowing the situation doesn't change that I don't like the product. Whoever was behind the decision to fundamentally change a bunch of important lines doesn't change that I don't like the product.

And it's been explained it's intended to have differences because it's localization not translation.

They're not going to change how they're doing things because you don't like the product. You are always free to set your game client to a different language.

[anhaato]

And it's been explained it's intended to have differences because it's localization not translation.

Then what does that make FR and DE? Are they no longer localizations because they don't have vast differences from the JP text?

[Theodric]

You are always free to set your game client to a different language.

That isn't a logical or feasible request for many people. Perhaps instead of that bizarre workaround, the English localisation can simply...tell a cohesive and coherent story that doesn't mysteriously change the meaning and context of particular scenarios in order to intentionally or unintentionally falsely credit characters for things they did or did not do?

[Lauront]

It's been said many a times that the English team is also involved with the lore team, unlike the rest of the translation teams. That would of course influence the localization.

From what I gather you want a literal translation for whatever reason. I remember Koji san once mentioned that Japanese storytelling isn't as interesting as western's, and that if they just translated the dialogs it might even seem plain or boring. I do believe other localizations have been called plain or "flavorless" at times.

As for which is better, I guess it's down to preference.

The "whatever reason" here being so I don't have to refer to the French version to pick up on stuff that has been dropped in the EN version, or to resort to it where the vague phrasing used in the EN version introduces ambiguities. I don't know who has called the FR localisation "flavorless" but it certainly has not been in SHB or EW. I could just drop the EN version and play in French, of course, but it still does not resolve the fact that there are these differences where, IMO, there really should not be.

If the EN version has access to the lore team that the other translators don't, that's even more concerning given where the errors tend to creep in, but the way Kate phrased this in interview is: "On the development side, there is a lot of back-and-forth between Japanese lore folks and the localization team, as well as within our own team, when establishing those unique terms, because when we decide something, it will keep cropping up forever─to our eternal regret if we get it wrong."

To me this sounds like the entire team has access to the Japanese lore gurus.

But doesn't that make Thancred's question more confusing if they don't answer that way?

Seeing zodiark as a threat would make them opposed to his creation. I think this is just language nuances lol.


If someone is creating something that I see as a threat, I would be opposed to it being created.

This is not a language nuance. They are framing this in a different way. If the EN version is using this phraseology because it started on the wrong foot, it does not change the fact that the difference exists and it is adding information - whether accurate or not - about her faction which the FR version does not contain.

[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.

[Midareyukki]

Then what does that make FR and DE? Are they no longer localizations because they don't have vast differences from the JP text?

This one post just PROVED you didn't read a single word I said nor cared to understand it.

Way to go. Continue being disrespectful and ignorant.

But to answer you, and give other people a TLDR: No, they're still localizations, and they're closer to true localizations you'll ever have. What EN did is... complicated.

Are you just like, extremely confused or something? That's literally the point I'm trying to make.



T h a t ' s t h e p r o b l e m

No, I'm not confused. You're just going on a loop. You wouldn't have asked that about FR and DE if you had read what I wrote instead of constantly complaining.

Also yeah. That's the problem. But that's not a localization problem. So stop calling it that.

My god, it's like you don't even know how to bloody READ.

[anhaato]

This one post just PROVED you didn't read a single word I said nor cared to understand it.

Way to go. Continue being disrespectful and ignorant.

But to answer you, and give other people a TLDR: No, they're still localizations, and they're closer to true localizations you'll ever have. What EN did is... complicated.

Are you just like, extremely confused or something? That's literally the point I'm trying to make.

What EN did is... complicated.

T h a t ' s t h e p r o b l e m

[PharisHanasaki]

If the EN version has access to the lore team that the other translators don't, that's even more concerning given where the errors tend to creep in.

Unfortunately, the English language isn't as rich conceptually as French, or Spanish for that matter (my native language). One example would be the fact that until recently you didn't have a way to refer to a human being in a gender neutral way. In other languages there was always a way to omit gender information, or keep it neutral.

Some of these bigger mistakes were made during the early days of ff14. Some of these are honestly very small differences, and some even share the same meaning but you are complaining of them not being literal translations. Which could be attributed to western storytelling.

If it was translated literally, I'm sure we would still have these threads. Because as I said, this is all down to preference. I am fine with it because it's not like it said Venat summoned Zodiark, while the 13 opposed her. Or like we got a completely different story from the original. It's just told in a different way.