Character names.

[mad_le_zisell]

Will there be ♥♥♥♥♥♥ localised names or proper original japanese ones?

[Battler Ushiromiya]

smh of course the "answer" comment is nothing but somebody agreeing with you. They changed the names so that they can keep the puns and references in the characters names intact. Stop acting like all change is bad change, it's an utterly ridiculous notion. They change the names so that they can keep the puns, or invoke the same imagery to an American audience, which I guarantee you would be lost. For example, what would "Reiji Mitsurugi" mean to anybody who didn't know Japanese? Absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nothing. But then, change it to "Miles Edgeworth", and all of a sudden his name makes sense, since they both invoke the idea of something sharp in reference to his sharp mind (as in Japanese, Mitsurugi contains the kanji for sword, which would ALSO have been lost if you just translated the name).

tl;dr, anyone who wants the names changed are just complaining about change and don't realize that they're basically the gold standard for localization changes.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Bach:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Battler Ushiromiya:

smh of course the "answer" comment is nothing but somebody agreeing with you. They changed the names so that they can keep the puns and references in the characters names intact. Stop acting like all change is bad change, it's an utterly ridiculous notion. They change the names so that they can keep the puns, or invoke the same imagery to an American audience, which I guarantee you would be lost. For example, what would "Reiji Mitsurugi" mean to anybody who didn't know Japanese? Absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nothing. But then, change it to "Miles Edgeworth", and all of a sudden his name makes sense, since they both invoke the idea of something sharp in reference to his sharp mind (as in Japanese, Mitsurugi contains the kanji for sword, which would ALSO have been lost if you just translated the name).

tl;dr, anyone who wants the names changed are just complaining about change and don't realize that they're basically the gold standard for localization changes.

Or maybe they just dislike the localized names. It isn't something hard to understand.

Tbh I'd rather lose the puns and keep the japanese names for the sake of setting consistency. I could never take Japanifornia seriously.

Japanifornia's irrelevant. That's never mentioned anywhere in the games until some of the last games. And consistency is irrelevant if you don't understand what the jokes are. Ace Attorney's names are important, and the meanings should be preserved.

[Mich-666]

Yeah, let's underestimate your readers ability to get the pun so change the names instead.

And while we are at it, let's change the whole japanese setting to America instead, creating a lot bigger problem that needs many retcons later.

I'm working at localizations company myself and while translating the names in scifi or fantasy is obviously common (not really in the games set in the present), changing the setting completely is something that should be never done. Such 'localization' can never be call as good work.

It's like translating s.t.a.l.k.e.r from russian to english and just by the way shifting all the story realias to match Area 51 instead for example. The charm of the place would be gone completely.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Bach:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Battler Ushiromiya:

Japanifornia's irrelevant. That's never mentioned anywhere in the games until some of the last games. And consistency is irrelevant if you don't understand what the jokes are. Ace Attorney's names are important, and the meanings should be preserved.

In short: "What I don't care about is irrelevant and what I care about is relevant."

Gotcha.

No. The point is, where the series takes place doesn't matter because it's not mentioned outside of a single game and interviews. What does matter is the names and the meanings of the names.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Mich-666:

Yeah, let's underestimate your readers ability to get the pun so change the names instead.

And while we are at it, let's change the whole japanese setting to America instead, creating a lot bigger problem that needs many retcons later.

I'm working at localizations company myself and while translating the names in scifi or fantasy is obviously common (not really in the games set in the present), changing the setting completely is something that should be never done. Such 'localization' can never be call as good work.

It's like translating s.t.a.l.k.e.r from russian to english and just by the way shifting all the story realias to match Area 51 instead for example. The charm of the place would be gone completely.

For a lot of the puns and meanings, it's requires knowledge of Japanese and in some cases, the names are required to be in kanji for it to work. I don't need to tell you why the latter doesn't work in English, and not everyone playing these games can or should be expected to know enough about Japanese to get all the puns and references. It's not underestimating the audience, it's expecting a lot of the audience to not know Japanese, which is perfectly fair because, if you're reading it in English, then odds are, you're not Japanese and thus have less of a chance to know Japanese.

There are no retcons that came with the changing of the location, and as stated prior, the location of the games is mentioned in all of ONE game in the series.

[5onic]

Oprindeligt skrevet af ⬇️cutie below me⤵:

Eat your hamburgers, Apollo.

^

[mad_le_zisell]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Sutherus:

I'm part of a localization team

Sooooo. It's YOU we should "thank" for ruining the game? "Thank you" very much. *insert huge "SARCASM" plate here*.

[Mantis]

The whole game is satire, so are you meant to be taking it seriously in the first place? Once you remove the puns, you remove a lot of that satire. By localising the puns the game retains the comedy the original creators of the game intended it to have. I don't think this is about canonical precision. It's more about delivering the feelings the developers intended.

Phoenix Wright makes me feel good. It has that effect which is in part thanks to the localisation even if it isn't completely accurate. Complete accuracy in my opinion is robotic.

[Sakura Hana]

I think this sums up well why such stuff shouldnt be changed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSyYps8xJfs
Although it's been quite a meme for ages that PW's setting is called Japanimerica or Japanifornia due to the mix caused by the localization and i think it's fine. I'm not from USA, in fact my native language is spanish, but i did have lots of fun with the jokes in the names and such, i think it's a charm that's stuck with the fan base that shouldn't be removed. If people really wanna know why this game's so popular then they shouldn't either. I'm in for having the option to have either tho.

[Sutherus]

Oprindeligt skrevet af mad_le_zisell:

Sooooo. It's YOU we should "thank" for ruining the game?

Uhm, so you're trolling? I said I'm part of a localization team as in for another game other than PW. You seem to have a very unique understanding of localization. It's supposed to convey certain aspects of a text that would otherwise be lost, if, for example, you would just translate it.

In many cases the names give a better understanding of the characters behind them so it makes sense to localize them into something that you can actually understand in English. Ushiromiya's last response explains it perfectly. If you read the Japanese names you wouldn't have any kind of picture to associate with them unless you know Japanese and in most cases especially the Kanji used for them. And even then, I guarantee you still wouldn't understand half of them if you're not a native speaker.

I could agree that changing the setting (especially when it comes to food) was unnecessary but ultimately it's all just preference. I can still appreciate these changes as long as they stay consistent. In this game changing the names to something understandable for English speakers was imo a smart decision.

Edit: Sakura Hana, you just made my day.

[mad_le_zisell]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Sutherus:

Uhm, so you're trolling?

Not in the slightest.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Sutherus:

I said I'm part of a localization team as in for another game other than PW.

I think that should be pointed out before. And I still think that any localisation is the worst thing that can happen with any game beside censorship. Translation is good. Localisation is not.

[Mantis]

Oprindeligt skrevet af mad_le_zisell:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Sutherus:

Uhm, so you're trolling?

Not in the slightest.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Sutherus:

I said I'm part of a localization team as in for another game other than PW.

I think that should be pointed out before. And I still think that any localisation is the worst thing that can happen with any game beside censorship. Translation is good. Localisation is not.

To be honest it was pretty clear. "A localisation team" means it could be any localisation team. If it was the Phoenix Wright localisation team he/she would have said "this localisation team". More to the point, it was said in present tense, yet the localisation was made a long time ago.

You just misinterpreted it.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Oprindeligt skrevet af mad_le_zisell:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Sutherus:

Uhm, so you're trolling?

Not in the slightest.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Sutherus:

I said I'm part of a localization team as in for another game other than PW.

I think that should be pointed out before. And I still think that any localisation is the worst thing that can happen with any game beside censorship. Translation is good. Localisation is not.

And that proves you a fool. Localization, contrary to what you seem to believe, is not an inherently bad thing. It is in fact necessary in most cases to make any kind of sense of a game in a different culture.

[mad_le_zisell]

Perhaps. After all English is not my native language. But I'd still prefer clarity.

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Oprindeligt skrevet af mad_le_zisell:

Perhaps. After all English is not my native language. But I'd still prefer clarity.

Then you're being contradictory. You can't want clarity, and then admonish a localization for giving it. It's what I've been saying this whole time, they changed the names to give more clarity to the puns and references in them so they can be understood to people who don't speak Japanese.