Which language first play through?

[G19M4223]

It’s my first time playing, I don’t mind subtitles and generally require them even in English anyway. Japanese seems like it would be ideal but I’ve read that a lot dialogue outside of cutscenes/in the world don’t have subtitles.

For a first play through what do you recommend to get the best narrative and overall experience?

Another factor is I am going to take a month and a half trip to Japan in two weeks and any way I can get extra language exposure before then would be a good idea since I’ve been slacking on learning extra phrases and words. Lastly, I’m playing on a steam deck if that matters.

[NatzoXavier]

The subtitles are wrong if you play in japanese.
The things they say in japanese are completely different to what the english subtitles say most of the time.
I highly recommend if you dont know japanese that you play it through in english VO.
Otherwise If you do speak japanese or do understand it like me, then I highly recommend you play through it in japanese.

[Erylaria]

i agree with the first comment: if you understand japanese to a certain degree, playing with japanese VO will give you extra info and vibes. if you don't understand a lick of japanese, stick with english. there's nothing to be gained from the japanese VO because the english subs are different anyway.

and yes, a lot of the ambient dialogue doesn't have subs if you play in japanese. so you might not pick up on cues npcs are trying to give you if you don't understand them by yourself. it's not terrible, all really important dialogue is subbed. but yeah.

i've done about 6 years of japanese in school/university, i'm probably at like... A2 level. and i vastly prefer the japanese VO because it adds more information and meaning. the japanese used here is a little slang-y and historical/archaic though. can be great practice, but is a little more difficult.

[metal_hamster]

Bah, the English voice over is not good. It's pretty cheesy stuff. I couldn't stomach it for more than 5 mins.

I HIGHLY recommend the Japanese dub. It's a better over all performances.

[Mav1122]

I started with japanese, but i switched to english. Because of reasons mentioned in another thread

[metal_hamster]

Originally posted by Mav1122:

I started with japanese, but i switched to english. Because of reasons mentioned in another thread

Because the subs aren't entirely accurate? Never watch a kung fu film if that's an issue lol.

[G19M4223]

Appreciate the insight from everyone. I’ll try both out and see although I’m leaning towards English as my priority is experiencing the narratively fully for the first time through.

[G19M4223]

Originally posted by Erylaria:

i agree with the first comment: if you understand japanese to a certain degree, playing with japanese VO will give you extra info and vibes. if you don't understand a lick of japanese, stick with english. there's nothing to be gained from the japanese VO because the english subs are different anyway.

and yes, a lot of the ambient dialogue doesn't have subs if you play in japanese. so you might not pick up on cues npcs are trying to give you if you don't understand them by yourself. it's not terrible, all really important dialogue is subbed. but yeah.

i've done about 6 years of japanese in school/university, i'm probably at like... A2 level. and i vastly prefer the japanese VO because it adds more information and meaning. the japanese used here is a little slang-y and historical/archaic though. can be great practice, but is a little more difficult.

Separate topic, any recs on useful Japanese language apps or resources for a native English speaker to utilize as a tourist? I’ll have about a month and a half to visit and always try to learn more than the bare bones linguistically and make an effort when I visit somewhere.

[Mav1122]

Originally posted by metal_hamster:

Originally posted by Mav1122:

I started with japanese, but i switched to english. Because of reasons mentioned in another thread

Because the subs aren't entirely accurate? Never watch a kung fu film if that's an issue lol.

Nah. Because i wanted to understand what the npcs was talking about. They have unfortunately no subs. I really wanted to go Japanese, since we are after all in this game in the 13th century Japan