Is the Localization Bad?

[JonPringus]

So I'm playing the game with the real voices and I think I'm noticing some pretty bad disparities between what is being said and what is in the subtitles. For example: I'm 90% certain Yona mention "Oto-san and Okaa-san" in the intro, while the subtitles had no mention of father or mother and was just something like "I'll stay strong". I would like to assume that the phrase Yona said does mean what the subtitles say, but it just feels off.

I can cope with the real honorifics not being included in the subtitles for a game like this, though I would prefer it. But it always feels like the characters are saying something different than the subtitles, words that could have a lot of weight behind them, and that gets distracting. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive to this stuff at the moment.

I'll keep playing to confirm my suspicions, and if they are correct, I would like Square to know that the level of liberties taken with this localization is not acceptable. I know the Nier series has been very mistreated, and I wish someone could step in and just fix it. Ideally, this game would have two subtitle tracks, one for English, and one for the real voices. Admittedly, that's what I thought was happening based on how Square was marketing the game, and more specifically "the english voiceover script," which I thought implied there was a more Japanese accurate script, but I was wrong to assume.

But very weird decision for Square to focus on the English voiceovers so much in marketing. Who would want a Grimoire Weiss replica signed by the english cast and not the real cast? Automata was the last game that I partially played with fake voices (last game for a reason), but I guess not many other people saw the horrors of dubbings like I did with that game.

I don't know, it's all annoying. I would be ecstatic if Square made separate english subtitles that more closely matched the real voices, like what Yakuza did with the games it decided to dub recently, and what movies and shows do with disc releases, but that to me is the most important thing for them to fix AFTER they fix these technical issues on PC.

[ケツ穴指揮官]

change a little like every localization, in that example says about getting stronger later in the sentence like japanese language works...

[JonPringus]

Originally posted by Pachanapachana:

change a little like every localization, in that example says about getting stronger later in the sentence like japanese language works...

I do feel like if she mentioned parents or parenthood, that should be maintained in the localization. To change it so drastically takes away from the essence of what is being said, and that should never be acceptable. To localize in that way rejects the media as a piece of art, and if Nier does not have any artistic merit, then no game does.

[Fulminare]

Originally posted by JonPringus:

Originally posted by Pachanapachana:

change a little like every localization, in that example says about getting stronger later in the sentence like japanese language works...

I do feel like if she mentioned parents or parenthood, that should be maintained in the localization. To change it so drastically takes away from the essence of what is being said, and that should never be acceptable. To localize in that way rejects the media as a piece of art, and if Nier does not have any artistic merit, then no game does.

Thanks for the information, This mean i won't be buying the game causei I've in general stopped buying anything Japanese related because localizers and Translators tend to be garbage and inject their own bulslhit notion of what is a good translation.

This is no difference than Translators/Localizer excusing their enforcement of memes and other cringe in general into anime related contenct while excusing this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.,

Money saved...

Most translators are woke morons so they love injecting their own ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ into translations.
"Seven seas entertainment" for instance removed entire text out of LN for the sake of their triggered nature. and lately another translator was called out for pumping memes and other cringe in general into anime and defended the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with a garbage argument while woke morons praised his half baked attempted to proclaim it as good translation efforts.

[darksoular]

I I

Originally posted by JonPringus:

So I'm playing the game with the real voices and I think I'm noticing some pretty bad disparities between what is being said and what is in the subtitles. For example: I'm 90% certain Yona mention "Oto-san and Okaa-san" in the intro, while the subtitles had no mention of father or mother and was just something like "I'll stay strong". I would like to assume that the phrase Yona said does mean what the subtitles say, but it just feels off.

I can cope with the real honorifics not being included in the subtitles for a game like this, though I would prefer it. But it always feels like the characters are saying something different than the subtitles, words that could have a lot of weight behind them, and that gets distracting. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive to this stuff at the moment.

I'll keep playing to confirm my suspicions, and if they are correct, I would like Square to know that the level of liberties taken with this localization is not acceptable. I know the Nier series has been very mistreated, and I wish someone could step in and just fix it. Ideally, this game would have two subtitle tracks, one for English, and one for the real voices. Admittedly, that's what I thought was happening based on how Square was marketing the game, and more specifically "the english voiceover script," which I thought implied there was a more Japanese accurate script, but I was wrong to assume.

But very weird decision for Square to focus on the English voiceovers so much in marketing. Who would want a Grimoire Weiss replica signed by the english cast and not the real cast? Automata was the last game that I partially played with fake voices (last game for a reason), but I guess not many other people saw the horrors of dubbings like I did with that game.

I don't know, it's all annoying. I would be ecstatic if Square made separate english subtitles that more closely matched the real voices, like what Yakuza did with the games it decided to dub recently, and what movies and shows do with disc releases, but that to me is the most important thing for them to fix AFTER they fix these technical issues on PC.

I agree with you about that, but I got used to that change, For Exmaple on FF XIV the have the same issue.
I had my voices on Japanese and subtitle on English and they change dialogues, hate that but that's the official translation, so nothing to do unfortunately :(

[Nathair]

The subtitles are based on the english dub, not on what is actually said in Japanese, so if you have any form of Japanese language knowledge playing subbed will feel pretty wonky.

[BEOWULF]

Noticed this as well. Translators suck. Translate what they are saying you morons

[JonPringus]

Originally posted by dgn146:

Originally posted by JonPringus:

I do feel like if she mentioned parents or parenthood, that should be maintained in the localization. To change it so drastically takes away from the essence of what is being said, and that should never be acceptable. To localize in that way rejects the media as a piece of art, and if Nier does not have any artistic merit, then no game does.

Thanks for the information, This mean i won't be buying the game causei I've in general stopped buying anything Japanese related because localizers and Translators tend to be garbage and inject their own bulslhit notion of what is a good translation.

This is no difference than Translators/Localizer excusing their enforcement of memes and other cringe in general into anime related contenct while excusing this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.,

Money saved...

Most translators are woke morons so they love injecting their own ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ into translations.
"Seven seas entertainment" for instance removed entire text out of LN for the sake of their triggered nature. and lately another translator was called out for pumping memes and other cringe in general into anime and defended the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with a garbage argument while woke morons praised his half baked attempted to proclaim it as good translation efforts.

I do need more time to determine if the damage is as bad as I think it is. I do not speak Japanese, so I'm not going to be a good judge on this. I only have my limited knowledge of a few Japanese phrases and words and apply that as best as I can to what I'm reading and use my opinion on translation to determine whether it's good or not.

I really want other people to give their opinions on this. From what I can tell right now, it's not my ideal translation, but it's not utterly disgustful or malicious or even censored. But I want to know what others think.

Official localizers, especially for games and anime, as well as manga and LNs, seem to have absolutely no meaningful scrutiny directed towards them. The industry has built up this style of localization over many years, and while some things have gotten better, a lot of things have gotten worse especially with twitter's influence on business. And the people who criticize it seem to have no impact on how these companies and people localize, or they base their localization on what the criticizers dislike.

Regardless, don't discount the game's localization just yet. My opinions are pretty radical apparently, so don't base it on me. I'm just bringing it up to see if my suspicions are justified.

[Newbie Moontee Mk.I]

while i also support straight respectful translation
but the example you mention are small cake
compare to how they change 2B personality in En ver.
it kinda sad western player won't got the same feel that original did
but well,it end up very well
and tons people fine with it and loved it
so i don't see thing change in the future
also "straight respectful translation" are harder to do
than just tweak the dialog to fit western view

[JonPringus]

Originally posted by Nathair:

The subtitles are based on the english dub, not on what is actually said in Japanese, so if you have any form of Japanese language knowledge playing subbed will feel pretty wonky.

As I mentioned, it would be good to have a separate translated subtitle track for the real voices. Anime has had them for forever, and the recent Yakuza games, while they really should not have dubbed the games, have a separate subtitle track for the english voices and the real voices.

[JonPringus]

Originally posted by Newbie Moontee Mk.I:

while i also support straight respectful translation
but the example you mention are small cake
compare to how they change 2B personality in En ver.
it kinda sad western player won't got the same feel that original did
but well,it end up very well
and tons people fine with it
so i don't see thing change in the future
also "straight respectful translation" are harder to do
than just tweak the dialog to fit western view

I am very scared that some of the changes are as drastic as 2B's personality changes. But the personality change didn't really hit the public consciousness until years after the game's release.

[Dregora]

Nothing has been ''translated''. They just use the english dub script and put that over the japanese voices.

[Redblaze27]

Originally posted by JonPringus:

But very weird decision for Square to focus on the English voiceovers so much in marketing. Who would want a Grimoire Weiss replica signed by the english cast

Its English marketing for an English audience, which presumably speaks English.
Also, the replica contest is USA only, and shipping it off to Japan for signing would make it infinitely more expensive.

Originally posted by JonPringus:

I would be ecstatic if Square made separate english subtitles that more closely matched the real voices, like what Yakuza did with the games it decided to dub recently

This is something I absolutely want standardized.
Especially if you are cool with a game in either language, it'd give added incentive to try them both and experience the flavor each script brings.

[Denyal]

its a localization issue, since the game also has ENG audio and the text is based on that. it is not really jarring tho, if you know a little japanese you can understand or guess why some changes were made.

[Redblaze27]

Also worth noting the setting isnt strictly trying to be modern-day Japan, so it'd stand out more if the English Dub opted for stuff like honorifics.

[Tony]