"Smoke Bomb" an appropriate item name?

[sora]

※If you don't know what "Smoke Bomb" is, it's best not to read this thread as it will contain spoilers.

Question: Does the name "Smoke Bomb" properly describe the function of the item in English-speaking countries?

I play in Japanese, but the translation uses the words "smoke to hide from enemies," which doesn't describe the function of the item at all.

Therefore, I think it's almost impossible for a Japanese person to use this item for the right purpose without looking at strategy information.

[jonnin]

in english... a smoke bomb is one of a few ideas.
1) a fake bomb.
2) something LIKE a fake bomb, eg a news story that turns out to be designed to mislead or distract from another issue.
3) a literal smoke or steam or other 'cloud' generating firework/explosive/etc. These vary from toys used by kids (back when kids were allowed to do stuff) to military grade, and their purpose varies from amusement to making a hard to see area to distracting 'enemy' or law enforcement etc.

the name isn't sufficient for english speaking people to understand what it is for. You would have to translate the item info as well. It may be mistranslated INTO english, or some sort of euro vs american confusion. I dunno, but the name isn't great.

[Spikenard]

I have never heard 1 or 2. Ever. Smoke bomb for me is a handheld device that produces smoke. Typically use is for obscuring things. Can also be used just for fun. i.e. #3 in the list above.

[yeti]

Originally posted by Spikenard:

I have never heard 1 or 2. Ever.

The same here (I'm not a native speaker though). Especially in a videogame context, the “military” meaning is implicit, whatever other meanings the word might have. If something is called smoke bomb in a game, I expect it to generate smoke which reduces visibility.

[Draconis]

Originally posted by yeti:

Originally posted by Spikenard:

I have never heard 1 or 2. Ever.

The same here (I'm not a native speaker though). Especially in a videogame context, the “military” meaning is implicit, whatever other meanings the word might have. If something is called smoke bomb in a game, I expect it to generate smoke which reduces visibility.

....which is just what the smoke bomb does NOT.

I'm not sure if that thing is even useful at the moment.

[sora]

Thanks for letting me know.

The item description says "It is common sense not to inhale smoke" (literal translation). This has the same meaning as the English description, but I think it's rare for people to understand that it's a tool to put out fires by reading this description.

I don't know the exact reason why the name is unrelated to the function.

Maybe the developer originally planned to make it an item with the function "Smoke to hide from enemies", but changed it to put out fires before implementation and forgot to correct the name.

Maybe it's just a little prank by the developer to see if players can notice the real function.

In any case, I think this name is inappropriate, not because of the game's difficulty, so I would like to suggest an improvement.

[Draconis]

Originally posted by sora:

Thanks for letting me know.

The item description says "It is common sense not to inhale smoke" (literal translation). This has the same meaning as the English description, but I think it's rare for people to understand that it's a tool to put out fires by reading this description.

I don't know the exact reason why the name is unrelated to the function.

Maybe the developer originally planned to make it an item with the function "Smoke to hide from enemies", but changed it to put out fires before implementation and forgot to correct the name.

Maybe it's just a little prank by the developer to see if players can notice the real function.

In any case, I think this name is inappropriate, not because of the game's difficulty, so I would like to suggest an improvement.

Instead of changing the name, I think it would be really great if the smoke bomb would actually help us to hide from enemies or block their vision. That would make a good escape plan if things get rough in the ashlands.

[sora]

@Draconis

Of course, I agree that combat would be more interesting if there was an item that could truly "smoke to hide from enemies."

But considering the current situation,

"We've changed it function that matches item name."

"We've changed item name that matches the function."

I think the latter change would probably cause less backlash from existing players.

[MatterRacc]

It's likely just a mis-translation. The devs are swedish. Even some of the english translations are broken, or aren't accurate. Same for the Dutch, French, German. Best thing you can do is go to their support page and correct them, maybe it will be fixed.

[pipo.p]

To me a smoke bomb is like a smoke grenade.

[Green'se]

No it doesn't since it is used to put out fires. Its description should say something like hot smoke to cool the flames. In contrast they could make the smoke bomb give you a degree of further camouflage when stealthed, get dust in close-by enemies eyes and make them go in a frantic run, or something or something along those lines.

[pipo.p]

Yes, like a smoke grenade.