Feature Request/Suggestion - English (JP) Language option in Launcher

[Telkira]

So learn Japanese.

If learning a whole language were more feasible than adding a separate language option that's more in-line and faithful to the canon content, I wouldn't have made this post. What's wrong with accommodating players who like the game, its lore, characters, etc. but not the unnecessary flavor and revisionism that comes with the EN localization? That's like telling people who don't like English dubs of anime to learn Japanese because English voiceovers don't mesh well with Japanese animation and writing. JRPGs are no different.

Why is it only English speakers who have this kind of entitlement? Native Spanish speakers, Portuguese speakers, Chinese speakers outside of China, Russians, Ukrainians, speakers of every other European language besides French/German/English, Arabic speakers, Africans, etc etc etc. play this game in their second and third languages every single day.

I would love it if the game were translated into all of these languages! What are you talking about?
And a lot of the revisionism you see in the EN copy of the game simply isn't present in the German and French versions, which are more or less faithfully translated from the JP script, not fully but mostly, with none of the unnecessary fluff you see in the EN script.

What I want is for the EN script to be treated like the French or German scripts.

I don't think the answer is to create an entirely additional translation that attempts to be direct. Not only is that a massive undertaking, but in many cases there simply isn't a 1-to-1 translation because that's how complex and varied different languages are. Which is the entire reason why localization exists in the first place.

I think the optimal way forward is just to express to CBU3 and the localization team that players (however may of us are in this camp) appreciate a translation that takes as few liberties as possible. Not only has the localization team demonstrated that they are capable of moving closer to this, but it's by far the solution that you're most likely to get CBU3 to agree to.

I think it's more feasible than people realize, since a lot of the work that goes into it has already been done, it just needs to be tested and implemented. There are a lot of issues with localization over translating, in that liberties are often taken where they shouldn't be which is tantamount to revisionism. FFXIV, first and foremost, is a Japanese game, written, developed, and designed for the Japanese market. There are all sorts of cultural nuances that go into that, you can't just give all the characters 'ye olde english' accents and staff English VAs and expect that to hide the fact that you're playing a JRPG.
A lot of it just doesn't flow, so the Localizers take lots of creative liberties that many players (such as myself) find unnecessary or even offensive, such as re-writing a whole character because they don't want to offend more sensitive players. That is literally censorship, and I don't trust localizers to strike a healthy balance between ensuring that the vision is faithfully carried over without allowing their own biases and prejudices to corrupt the vision.

Localization is, first and foremost, a business decision. Not an artistic one. It forces concepts like literary or artistic integrity to take a back seat to a flawed, biased perception that keeping in-line with the original vision will harm its marketability, when in reality, those who are playing it wouldn't mind because they're primarily playing it for the content itself.