Really the key thing with the English localization is that it has balls. I mean, metaphorically. For instance, fairies. What does the French localization do? It looks at pixies and goes "well they kinda look like they have cleavage" and it slaps a "elle" on them. Nu Mou look vaguely genderless so it defaults to "il." Typical Académie cowardice right there. What does the EN localization do? Every fairy is a they/them. Bam! Immediately shocking and intriguing! Immediately makes you think about gender and performance! Reconsider what superficial appearance tells you about true identity! Spot the subtle design choices which go into making the various fairy species androgynous! Titania is a female name but King is a male title, we're transgressive boundaries here, real Jadwiga hours. On épate la bourgeoisie.

Imagine if FFXIV FR had been the first major game to have an entire chapter dealing with characters going by iel. Now that's powerful. Imagine Valeurs Actuelles learning about it and blowing a gasket. We'd be on front page news.

Look at the FR quest line names too. Barely any of them is a hideous pun. Meanwhile, over in EN? "Let Me Gubal That For You." Quake Me Up Before You O'Ghomoro. You Have Selected Regicide. Funniest thing I've ever seen. Or the fact that Stormblood's mediocre story is elevated by the absolute commitment to a Hamilton running gag, of all things. FR is too cautious. You have to go in. You have to have style. Like yes, there are absolutely some lines where a sentenced has been truncated or something that can kinda go into a pro-Ascian reading if you squint really hard was cut off, but if you understand French and English you can compare those lines and also realize that the French version sounds really lame. And I don't mean any insult to the FR localization team! They're tasked with a huge job, translating a game with enormous amount of texts reflecting some complex story, and so they decide to operate the cautious way - to prioritize conveying the exact meaning of the original text over making the prose flashy and stylish. The EN lines aren't just conveying meaning, they are pleasant to read.

(Split for length.)