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cool story bro
I see a LOT of discussion regarding grammar in this game, and I'm here to help because English is a confusing language to master!
Anyone old enough to remember when the series was called "Dragon Warrior" in the western localization, will probably have fond memories of the old English style of writing used in the first two games. Stylistically, this gave the game a much more somber tone, and was overall a great fit for the goings on within the story.
"Fortune smiles upon thee, thou has found Erdrick's Armor!"
Grammar
The main point of contention for some folks is found in the usage of "they and them" vs using more specific language, like "he, she, him, her" when speaking in the SINGULAR.
In every day speech, context is usually loosely assumed based on VERY general understanding of basic concepts. Let's study some examples, all of which are grammatically correct:
1) This is my daughter; she just started her first day in grade school. When she gets home at the end of the day, she loves to play Dragon Quest III HD-2D.
The above example uses very specific language to describe what is going on, and from start to finish we know generally, the sentence is about the daughter playing DQ3 after school, and that she is a girl.
Let's morph it slightly:
2) This is my daughter: she just started her first day in grade school. When they get home at the end of the day, they love to play Dragon Quest III HD-2D.
In this example, we have the correct usage for "they" when referring to a single person. The Oxford Dictionary traces this back to the year 1375. This is nothing new, and it has been grammatically correct for over 600 years.
Next, let's use a less specific example to illustrate something:
3) This is my kid; they just started their first day in grade school. When they get home at the end of the day, they love to play Dragon Quest III HD-2D.
This is obviously a very casual example of a sentence, probably a discussion between two friends that know each other well. However, we run into a problem when we are using this type of speech with people that we do not know. Nowhere in here do we know that the person is a daughter or a son, because it is never specified. In daily language, it probably didn't need to be specified because the person is probably in the same room as the people talking. But for someone reading a text in a book, we have no idea what the gender is of the person being mentioned.
Example 3 is grammatically correct, but it is simply a different STYLE of speech, which leads us to:
Style
Fortune smiles upon thee. Thou hast read my post thus far.
Dragon Warrior/Quest, has seen TONS of style changes with it's language usage over the decades. As previously mentioned, Dragon Warrior 1 and 2 were localized with an old English style, and the games started to gradually get more and more "modernized" as the years went by.
The major thing to take away from this, is that using a writing STYLE vs trying to write in 100% absolutely correct GRAMMAR, can make things feel less stilted and more down to earth for the reader.
Additionally, it is 100% grammatically correct to refer to a single person as "they/them," regardless of the context or what information is known about them.
However, what CAN happen as a result of never referring to a person's gender is that it can simply make the sentence sound weak due to a lack of specificity. If all you write are endless they's and them's, it may be confusing to the reader to parse who the heck you are talking about.
But, if you're one of only two people in a room, and you refer to the other person as "they or them," you're not only speaking very casually, but you are also speaking very CORRECTLY. It's not always necessary to use language that refers to gender, ESPECIALLY IN CASUAL SETTINGS.
In conclusion, I suggest that instead of trying to break down things to the point they lose all meaning, it is instead more important to INTERPRET language in a variety of contexts to gain a better understanding of perfect grammar vs stylistic approach in writing.
Thank you for reading my TED talk, please keep any discussion civil, and I hope you're enjoying the game! (I can't wait for Denuvo to be removed so I can try!)
I'm not too worried about it. Just wanted to drop this off, since it was in my head. The people concerned with pronouns are not worth engaging with because as you say, they will just take it to unreasonable lengths.
DQ3 is fine, it's not beating any agenda over our heads. And I mean ANY agenda, not just stuff like Dragon Age where it feels so forced. On the other side of the fence, there's a reason I don't play CoD games. It's too ham-fisted. Too in your face.
I just prefer good story-telling, which often contains subtle clues or ideas that make you think.
And no hard feelings. Sometimes it's okay to disagree with others, I don't think you're a bad person because we disagree on some points. You've actually said some things that have made me think.
Thanks. I wrote it myself!
Hey. That's plagiarism. You owe me a Barve.
In this example, we have the correct usage for "they" when referring to a single person."
Sorry, but I am a professional editor and I would have the sentences changed. As written, you are causing tremendous confusion to the reader not knowing if you are talking about grade school classmates + the daughter.... Or just the daughter.
I can showcase top notch, New York Times Bestselling Authors of Young Adult fiction as perfect examples. There is no need to write in a confusing manner just because from a strict grammar perspective it is allowed.
Hence why I say it is extremely important to consider "common usage" and "context" instead of just proclaimng that your sentence is grammatically correct.
Sorry dude, I don't believe for even an instant you're a professional editor. Especially if the concept of singular they horribly confuses you.
There's no possibility for someone to get confused from that unless they roll a 1 on their int check. The subject is stated at the beginning, and the listener (or reader) has been notified of the fact that we are talking about the daughter. It's not like people are gonna think you're switching topics mid-sentence; nobody speaks that abruptly (unless they have a speech/language disorder) and we can all infer that they are still speaking about their daughter.
So no, that's another "grammar vs style" argument, which everyone seems to keep falling into.
Also, Mr. Professional Editor, I addressed context under the "style" sub-title. Pro-tip: Press ctrl+f, type "context" and read what I wrote in the sub-heading for "style" and check back. I'm not repeating what I already took the time to write. If you're on mobile, just find the blue "style" word and read on.
I hope you can see that I'm writing examples in a casual setting. Imagine you are sitting face to face with someone, and your daughter is next to you. Then you make the statement to your friend. She might even be playing the game on her Switch, right then. The listener isn't going to think you are magically talking about a new subject, because you didn't alert them to it with a new noun.
"This is my daughter; it was her first day at grade school today. A few of her classmates said they like to play DQ3 once they get home."
We alerted the reader to a new set of people in sentence 2, and have effectively changed the subject.
"This is my daughter; it was her first day at grade school today. When they get home, they enjoy playing DQ3."
We didn't alert anybody to a new noun, so we can assume the "they" is still pointing at "daughter." All it requires is paying a slight amount of attention to the listener and you're golden. Hence, why language is often referred to as an "interpretation skill," as well as a "listening skill."
And guess what? If you're ever confused because it's not specific enough (which I addressed in the OP) you can just ask the listener if they mean the classmates or the daughter, they'll clarify and you can continue carrying on the conversation. That's what regular humans do on the daily. You can't edit conversation lmfao.
On a side note, this is clearly to save from having to program a he/she in the dialogue text instead of making only one line.
In this sentence I assume you're talking about the daughter and someone else (like a friend) because you're using the pronoun they after disclosing the fact that the person is female, it's purely logical.
If I were to translate into my language it would have a different meaning.
The grammar is correct, and I covered why in the OP. I love how all these “editors” are coming in with broken English posts, nice credibility lmfao
Okay, that got me good lol.
And look! Another one. Why are all these self proposed "editors" having trouble with basic English? Sure makes you think! Thank you for making me laugh, much appreciated!
Yep, exactly right. The listener is already primed for what is happening next by using "daughter" as the indication of the subject. In terms of style, it's totally fine. If anybody is confused, they can simply ask the person making the statement.