Might one of XIV's biggest new problems be that localisation has gone downhill?

[Kozh]

Honestly, even if they still work in the same room, the fact that EN localization is often being the only one different will not change how I feel about them. Which is, I dislike it.
And yes I also think that EN is less "dry" compared to JP, but doesn't mean they're not without their own problems.

Used to like EN localization, but since late ShB I come to question a lot of them and do some cross check with other languages.

[Iscah]

I don't know, but Wuk Lamat constantly saying "papa" instead of dad or father or even "pops" (which I felt suited her personality more) definitely didn't help with her already childish mindset. I hope I'm not the only one who was annoyed by this, especially since I play using JP voices and she was definitely saying "father."

I just took it to be the local (suitable for location/setting) variant of "Dad", and another poster seems to have confirmed this.

If anything, I associate it with being an older word than Dad. The only character I can think of who uses it is Belle from Beauty and the Beast – it conveys closeness without seeming modern.

[User202503201232]

Here is a video where they talk about the localization being involved in the lore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btGq...YVlCnU&index=2

"One thing that's not known a lot about the localization process at Square Enix is that, rather than being off-site, all of the translation and the localization staff is on-site and we work directly with the team. We sit right next to the planners and right next to the world lore creators and so we're working with them every day."

"Something that a lot of people may not know is that not all of the game Final Fantasy XIV originates in Japanese and some of it actually starts in English. For example, monster names and place names - a lot of these are ideas I give to the team and then they're translated back into Japanese. And so rather than it all being one way from Japanese into other languages, it's a collaborative process where we work together and create something that, you know, can truly feel global."

As it says in the video, Koji (former English Localization Lead) created the Dragon language and I believe was involved in a lot of the 1.0 lore such as the leves and the Twelve and the associated swear words such as "Seven Hells" and "Thal's Balls". Even recently, the English Localization Lead discussed how they came up with place names for Elpis.

The Localization Lead noted that this is a common sentiment, and she dedicated a lot of a dev panel to disagreeing with you on this point. Since you are so interested in this, you will most likely want to watch this the whole way through (from the 2024 Vegas Fanfest) - it's like an hour segment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YozopuVW8Mo&t=24529s

ARR felt like a real world to live in. NPCs had quips, idioms, and swears they use all the time like you've mentioned. And the open world was full of locations that NPCs visit and places they've lived in. I still remember wondering who lived in that little cabin down the mountain trail in Outer La Noscea (the one you visit in the MCH quest). Man, those were the days.

Zones nowadays are just so dead outside of cities.

[Burmecia]

Regardless of what positivity or negativity you associate with the term "non-binary", it's not the right term to be using for the fae. They are simply genderless. There's no binary for them to not-be.

This is pretty well said in my opinion. There's no binary for them to not-be.

Also @Dikatis: clearly you're done your homework, so good job with that.
I'm myself GSRM and I would do little less coding and pushing and representing and nudging and wink-wonking.
I am at the point where calling anything in supposedly fantasy world with fantastic and fictional social constructs LGBT is jarring.
Similarly jarring as if I walked through Ul'dah and suddenly NPC would be trying to sell me bitcoins.
(As in, I like modern LGBT activism-ing in my fantasy fiction as much as I do explicitly modern financial scheming. Which is to say, I don't like it at all.)

[Ghost_of_Ebina]

The English localization in particular has various parts that are way off from the original Japanese. The German / French version tends to be far more faithful to the Japanese text.
I only play games made by Japanese developers in Japanese, because localization more often than not does a bad job.

[Basteala]

Localisation always took many creative liberties here. It is still the same. Jpn players are unhappy with this expansion no less than the western players. You can check Amazon Japan reviews (where is a popular place to leave them for games).
I think one person stating that memes in en are smth they wish they would see in jpn instead is a bit too big a reach to think that’s what jpn players are thinking. I never once regretted a switch from en personally.

I find it really friggin funny that you have people from both sides of the fence that immensely prefer the other.

Not bad, mind...just funny.

As for lore--it's a small thing, but according to the original translation, use of aethersight will not kill you. It just exhausts the body to do it long term. RPers that know this (and if they have the ability to do so with their characters) have kind of run away with this...and I think for good reason. Y'shtola seems fine after 5 expansions and (given her time on the First) several years of doing it constantly.