Formal request for Spanish as a new language for ARR.

[Eiz]

As seen on the Live Letter Part IV, there are plans to implement new languages in ARR.
I know is not the first time you are going read this, there are a couple threads with the same subject and every time this topic showed up, rivers of ink have been written.
But i would like to take this opportunity of idle time where servers are down to make a formal request and ask the development team to seriously consider Spanish.

Acording to wikipedia, Spanish is the 2nd language by number of native speakers in the world. More than 400 million person have Spanish as their native language, 5,85% of the human population. Near 40 million more people than English and 300 more than French or German.

Translating ARR to Spanish would be, not only an investment (could potentially bring the largest wave of players than any other language did before), but also an act of justice.

I know there are Spanish-talking players which are not exactly in favor of this measure by the profile of player that this might attract to the game or for other reasons.

I always played XI as i knew it, in English, and i'm glad, was an excellent oportunity to improve my English and socialize. I enjoyed playing on a NA linkshell for years, which otherwise might have never done. I made good friends in there.

But now, with the recent emotive events and our close relation with this game and the Final Fantasy XIV staff I feel it would be awsome if we could enjoy the game in our daily language like most of the people.

Please like this post as a sign of support to this request, feel free to counter-like replies if you don't, and write down your thoughts about it.

[Issachar]

Most people that speak Spanish and are a fan of the series already speak English or another compatible language. It's just not a core market language like French or German.

[Eiz]

That's true, but it doesn't mean we have no right to fully enjoy the game as others do. We are not four cats, there is plenty enough Spanish-talking people playing this game for it to be translated, and so in XI was.

[Abriael]

That's true, but it doesn't mean we have no right to fully enjoy the game as others do. We are not four cats, there is plenty enough Spanish-talking people playing this game for it to be translated, and so in XI was.

if you don't understand English well enough to fully enjoy the game (to the point of preferring the usual horrible translations square enix does in Latin languages), you should really look into improving your knowledge of the language in this day and age.

And guess what's a great chance to do it? Playing games in English.

Reading is yours.

This is meant to put together all the people which supports this, NOW that new languages have been announced.

Try to forget the postcount for a while.

Only that they said the same "we plan to increase the languages that are supported" for ages. Including in the thread I linked.

As a matter of fact, I can read very well, even in English, despite the fact that it isn't my first language, even thanks to playing games in English, instead of demanding localizations that will be bad anyway.

[Eiz]

if you don't understand English well enough to fully enjoy the game (to the point of preferring the usual horrible translations square enix does in Latin languages), you should really look into improving your knowledge of the language in this day and age.

And guess what's a great chance to do it? Playing games in English.

And probably a yet better way to do it is by speaking, living and relationing with real people.
Now, getting back to the topic, there are thousands of players which have to get burn their retina trying to read the prosaic game dialogue at a reasonable speed so they can enjoy the game like everyone else.

We are not talking about translating the game to every language in the world, we talk specifically of translating it to the second most spoken of the planet.
No need to flounder simply because there are other languages (or perhaps yours, i don't know) in a minority.

[Abriael]

And probably a yet better way to do it is by speaking, living and relationing with real people.
Now, getting back to the topic, there are thousands of players which have to get burn their retina trying to read the prosaic game dialogue at a reasonable speed so they can enjoy the game like everyone else.

Which they would do without a problem, if they made an effort to learn the language instead of hampering such effort by demanding a localization.

Mind you, what do you mean by "everyone else"? You do know that English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish aren't the only languages in the world, right?

[Gentaro]

we talk specifically of translating it to the second most spoken of the planet.

And please, good sir, tell me how many of these people play videogames? The majority comes from spain, thats roughly 50 million people.

Most retarded argument in this discussion -_-

[Vilhem]

Most people that speak Spanish and are a fan of the series already speak English or another compatible language. It's just not a core market language like French or German.

Are you crazy? lol. There are tons of people who speak Spanish that either know very little English or none at all. Those that do know English have a working knowledge to get by, just as I have a working knowledge of French and Japanese to be able to navigate the menus and such. Don't base Spanish speaking people just on the US. In fact, I lived in Spain for two years and seldom got to use English.

The point for a Spanish-language version is to be able to enjoy content and the lore in their native language. It's not the same as reading a summary online. Try playing rpgs that are only in Japanese and tell me you come away feeling the same about the storyline experiencing it vs reading a translated version somewhere.

In XI, French and German players also had to "get by" with English, and I knew many of them who wished they had the game in their native language. In XIV, they got their wish. It's time Spanish speaking people got the same.

I have a friend in France who played XI for years, and he was grateful that he got to learn English. But with XIV, he started out in French. It wasn't even a choice. He just went with what was comfortable, familiar, and native to him.

I fully support the movement to bring a Spanish-language client to the people who love this game and have stuck with it!

Para los hablantes de espanol, porfavor de dar la noticia de este discusion a sus amigos para que ellos tambien puedan dar sus opiniones. No importa si quieren responder en espanol, ya que los puedo traducir con mucha alegria

[Issachar]

Are you crazy? lol. There are tons of people who speak Spanish that either know very little English <snip>

I'm fairly educated in the field of marketing and understanding demographics separated by language barriers. The fact of the matter is the Spanish-exclusive part of the RPG and pay-to-play MMO market is rather small, and I believe SE doesn't feel it would be profitable to accommodate another language when prospective gains are unsatisfactory. I'm inclined to agree with them. I think Portuguese would have a higher net gain than Spanish, considering past studies and the overall fact that gaming is huge in Brazil.

Businesses exist to make a profit. This is no exception.

[Dannythm]

Most people that speak Spanish and are a fan of the series already speak English or another compatible language. It's just not a core market language like French or German.

Well my girlfriend loves the Final Fantasy series and dsen't know either Japanese, english, french or german, and she ould ahve loved to be able to play FFXI, she looked at me with jelousy while I played XIV and she is hyped about ARR but depressed because no announcement has been told about the inclusion of the spanish language. And like her I have a few more friends.

What is more strange, is that almost every other major FF game except XI has been released in Spanish, with a serious increase in the quality of the translations over the years, so not translating this into Spanish may be a way for SE to be missing at least 20-30k players at least, and I'm going for the lower end.