Localisation observations

[nocturnal YL]

Stuff I have observed in the localisation. I really like it overall.

See this video for where did I find all these info from. (I'd mute the unfitting music.)

Skill names: Mostly literal translations. Session skills like "Lance-Slash" and "Sword-Lunge" aren't too clear in showing the properties of those attacks, though. And I think Session skills that follow elemental attacks should use FE names (like 雷追の突撃), not something like "Elec-Lunge".

Character names: No changes. Toma is romanised Touma, which I guess is because people may think it's pronounced Tom-a instead of Toh-ma. Names like Ryoma don't have this confusion. Also, Tsubasa calls Ayaha "Aya".

Characer profiles: Mostly untouched, surprisingly. They still have their three measurements and blood types there. Their ages are indeed raised, but it affects all three of them. They're now all 18-year-old 3rd year students. They also keep Maiko's love of alcohol.

Place names: The 106 dungeon is called Illusory 106 here.

Other changes: 1-Star Stardom → 1-Star Prestige, Wild enemies → Savage enemies. Barry: Likes 2D, dislikes 3D → Likes anime girls, dislikes real-life girls. Medicines seem to be referring to Vulneraries. That clown enemy (Clown Burger in the JP version?) is called Nickelwise.

Capitalisation: UTA-LOID TIKi → Uta-loid Tiki, TOPIC → Topic.

And finally, unlike Fire Emblem games in the past, the Skill stat is actually abbreviated to Skl here.

Other than these, the localisation has been mostly loyal. Personally, I like this far better than what NOA did.

And while I'm on localisation, I do wonder what would happen to some of the later scenes.

- Tsubasa proudly introducing herself (織部つばさ、17歳です!)

- Barry's inappropriate dialog at the end of the 2nd Barry side story ("I don't need praise from a 3D person whose only 2D part is the chest!")

- Some of Barry's lines (Like "Goddamn!" and "Shit!")

- Later names, like that of the later locations and songs

Edited April 23, 2016 by nocturnal YL

[Captain Karnage]

Stuff I have observed in the localisation. I really like it overall.

See this video for where did I find all these info from. (I'd mute the unfitting music.)

Skill names: Mostly literal translations. Session skills like "Lance-Slash" and "Sword-Lunge" aren't too clear in showing the properties of those attacks, though. And I think Session skills that follow elemental attacks should use FE names (like 雷追の突撃), not something like "Elec-Lunge".

Character names: No changes. Toma is romanised Touma, which I guess is because people may think it's pronounced Tom-a instead of Toh-ma. Names like Ryoma don't have this confusion. Also, Tsubasa calls Ayaha "Aya".

Characer profiles: Mostly untouched, surprisingly. They still have their three measurements and blood types there. Their ages are indeed raised, but it affects all three of them. They're now all 18-year-old 3rd year students. They also keep Maiko's love of alcohol.

Place names: The 106 dungeon is called Illusory 106 here.

Other changes: 1-Star Stardom --> 1-Star Prestige, Wild enemies --> Savage enemies. Barry: Likes 2D, dislikes 3D --> Likes anime girls, dislike real-life girls. Medicines seem to be referring to Vulneraries. That clown enemy (Clown Burger in the JP version?) is called Nickelwise.

Capitalisation: Utaloid TIKi --> Uta-loid Tiki, TOPIC --> Topic.

And finally, unlike Fire Emblem games in the past, the Skill stat is actually abbreviated to Skl here.

Other than these, the localisation has been mostly loyal. Personally, I like this far better than what NOA did.

And while I'm on localisation, I do wonder what would happen to some of the later scenes.

- Tsubasa proudly introducing herself (織部つばさ、17歳です!)

- Barry's inappropriate dialog at the end of the 2nd Barry side story ("I don't need praise from a 3D person whose only 2D part is the chest!")

- Some of Barry's lines (Like "Goddamn!" and "Shit!")

- Later names, like that of the later locations and songs

Lunge and Slash are attacks in the SMT series

Nickelwise (LOL) they're just refrencing Pennywise from Stephen King's it

aging up the characters from 17 to 18 isn't that big of a deal (it's not like making a 12yo suddenly 19)

age changes aren't that big of a deal

breast jokes don't fly at all in english

it will probably be just danm

name changes happen so that they fit better, and some sounds like L and R are the same in Japanese and they have to pick "will it start with an L or R"

overall I don't find these edits(so far) to be worth getting upset over

and I'm pretty sure if" 雷追の突撃 " was on the command menu 99.9999% of the international audience wouldn't know what it did

[nocturnal YL]

Lunge and Slash are attacks in the SMT series

Nickelwise (LOL) they're just refrencing Pennywise from Stephen King's it

aging up the characters from 17 to 18 isn't that big of a deal (it's not like making a 12yo suddenly 19)

age changes aren't that big of a deal

breast jokes don't fly at all in english

it will probably be just danm

name changes happen so that they fit better, and some sounds like L and R are the same in Japanese and they have to pick "will it start with an L or R"

overall I don't find these edits(so far) to be worth getting upset over

and I'm pretty sure if" 雷追の突撃 " was on the command menu 99.9999% of the international audience wouldn't know what it did

I see. I just think it's somewhat unusual to see "Sword-Lunge" — is it a sword or lance attack?

Yeah, the age isn't really a big deal. I suspect it has less to do with the usual censorship reasons and more to do with potential child labour issues. ("You're giving your underage staff this much work to do!?") Just a random guess, though.

And I'm thinking more of something along the lines of whether they'll change the Japanese voices because of these (potential) changes. The game's voice actors are going to attend functions related to the game in the future (= no contract-related difficulties), so it shouldn't be too hard to have them re-record a few lines. I suppose they could do what PXZ2 did (whenever characters speak of Vega, the dialog box shows Bison), although I do wonder if inappropriate voiced dialogs in a foreign language is acceptable by ESRB standards.

I'm not suggesting that it should actually use Japanese text. It's an example of how the Japanese version handled it:

X追のY撃 - It makes it clear that the attack's nature is Y, and X is what the attack follows. X is also named after FE attack categories, so for example, an attack that follows Force would be 風追の~ and not 衝追の~ (exceptions are Ice and Death; the former was never a proper FE weapon type and the latter is enemy-only and uses ATLUS-style 肉, short for 肉体).

But I have no idea how to effectively communicate this in English. Maybe add a "to" in between. Elec-Lunge could be "Thunder-to-Lunge". (I don't think it's a big deal; the naming scheme used in the game isn't that hard to figure out.)

I'm not upset at all about all these. It's a far better job than what NOA would have done without ATLUS.

​

Edited April 23, 2016 by nocturnal YL

[Balcerzak]

I see. I just think it's somewhat unusual to see "Sword-Lunge" — is it a sword or lance attack?

I'm confused, a lunge is a perfectly normal thing to do with a sword. Why would you think it has anything to do with lances?

Edit: Source

Edited April 23, 2016 by Balcerzak

[Avk]

It looks mostly okay so far, I'm still not sure how a few years (only one here) makes a significative enough difference that it is worth modifying, but I don't mind it too much, it'll be just weird hearing "織部つばさ、17歳です!" and reading 18 as you said.

Barry suddenly exclaiming "Shit!" is probably one of the most hilarious things I've seen in the game, always made me burst laughing. I don't think there is anything to change about that.

I agree with you that "Elec-Lunge", "Lance-Slash" is a little confusing, but I think it's impossible to put as much meaning as "雷追の突撃" with as few characters in English. People will probably get used to the wording and also the element icon will remind people of the element of the Session attack.

Songs titles and skill names is what I'm the most curious about. Also

[spoiler=Trying to stay vague]I wonder how they are going to do that scene between Eleonora and the movie director, if I remember correctly, she's confused about the usage of an english word.

I'm confused, a lunge is a perfectly normal thing to do with a sword. Why would you think it has anything to do with lances?

Edit: Source

It's actually exactly the point nocturnal YL was trying to make, because it's a Lance attack here, following a Sword attack. It's confusing.

Edited April 23, 2016 by Avk

[Senario]

- Tsubasa proudly introducing herself (織部つばさ、17歳です!)

- Barry's inappropriate dialog at the end of the 2nd Barry side story ("I don't need praise from a 3D person whose only 2D part is the chest!")

- Some of Barry's lines (Like "Goddamn!" and "Shit!")

- Later names, like that of the later locations and songs

They probably think nobody can understand Japanese and would not seek to change the first one. Though It'll bug the hell out of me since I do understand and can speak a bit of it.

I'd like to say that doesn't seem too bad for Barry so maybe they won't change it but Nintendo has changed things for less in the past.

[The DanMan]

And I'm thinking more of something along the lines of whether they'll change the Japanese voices because of these (potential) changes. The game's voice actors are going to attend functions related to the game in the future (= no contract-related difficulties), so it shouldn't be too hard to have them re-record a few lines. I suppose they could do what PXZ2 did (whenever characters speak of Vega, the dialog box shows Bison), although I do wonder if inappropriate voiced dialogs in a foreign language is acceptable by ESRB standards.

If it helps, Ezio drops the Italian equivalent of the F-bomb quite a lot in Soul Caliber V- yet that game got a T rating.

[Hakkari]

It looks mostly okay so far, I'm still not sure how a few years (only one here) makes a significative enough difference that it is worth modifying, but I don't mind it too much, it'll be just weird hearing "織部つばさ、17歳です!" and reading 18 as you said.

Barry suddenly exclaiming "Shit!" is probably one of the most hilarious things I've seen in the game, always made me burst laughing. I don't think there is anything to change about that.

I agree with you that "Elec-Lunge", "Lance-Slash" is a little confusing, but I think it's impossible to put as much meaning as "雷追の突撃" with as few characters in English. People will probably get used to the wording and also the element icon will remind people of the element of the Session attack.

Songs titles and skill names is what I'm the most curious about. Also

[spoiler=Trying to stay vague]I wonder how they are going to do that scene between Eleonora and the movie director, if I remember correctly, she's confused about the usage of an english word.

It's actually exactly the point nocturnal YL was trying to make, because it's a Lance attack here, following a Sword attack. It's confusing.

Lunge is a very common attack in the Shin Megami Tensei series that is general a low level Physical attack (with less accuracy than a regular attack but more powerful). I'm assuming they decided to localize it like that so that SMT fans would be able to pick things up easily, especially since FE players will already be familiar with the weapons triangle.

I'm assuming "Lance-Slash" is used like they used "Slash" and "Tempest Slash" in Persona 4. It's just another variant on a Physical attack. Honestly I know you say that they're confusing, but as an SMT fan that actually looks reasonable. It's also nice that they're using Elec and not Zio, but I think they've used Elec like that before in mainline so...

Still waiting to see if they use SMT names for the buffs, because learning those + the SMT spell name system is always fun for people who have never played.

Re: the spoiler

Since it's Atlus they're going to probably be leaving that line alone. In Persona 2: Innocent Sin there's a character named Lisa's who has an entire story beat dedicated to the fact that she doesn't know English but has to pretend she does so that she doesn't disappoint people. For what it's worth, this is how they render her attempting to speak English.

Also in Persona 3 and 4 the characters blatantly live in Japan and take English classes. I understand the concern but considering that most of SMT takes place in Modern Tokyo/apocalyptic Tokyo, I'm just going to assume that Atlus won't change stuff like that, especially since they never have in the past. And no, NoA being the publisher doesn't mean they're going to force changes like that.

[Linkmstr]

@8:41

There's a scene where Tsubasa introduces herself and her age. In the English version she actually says "juuhassai" (18 years old) as opposed to "juunana sai" (17 years old) in the Japanese version. In other words, her seiyu had to revoice some of her lines for the English localization release. And there's a possibility that some of the cast may need to revoice some lines throughout the game as well.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Linkmstr

[Avk]

Lunge is a very common attack in the Shin Megami Tensei series that is general a low level Physical attack (with less accuracy than a regular attack but more powerful). I'm assuming they decided to localize it like that so that SMT fans would be able to pick things up easily, especially since FE players will already be familiar with the weapons triangle.

I'm assuming "Lance-Slash" is used like they used "Slash" and "Tempest Slash" in Persona 4. It's just another variant on a Physical attack. Honestly I know you say that they're confusing, but as an SMT fan that actually looks reasonable. It's also nice that they're using Elec and not Zio, but I think they've used Elec like that before in mainline so...

Still waiting to see if they use SMT names for the buffs, because learning those + the SMT spell name system is always fun for people who have never played.

Re: the spoiler

Since it's Atlus they're going to probably be leaving that line alone. In Persona 2: Innocent Sin there's a character named Lisa's who has an entire story beat dedicated to the fact that she doesn't know English but has to pretend she does so that she doesn't disappoint people. For what it's worth, this is how they render her attempting to speak English.

Also in Persona 3 and 4 the characters blatantly live in Japan and take English classes. I understand the concern but considering that most of SMT takes place in Modern Tokyo/apocalyptic Tokyo, I'm just going to assume that Atlus won't change stuff like that, especially since they never have in the past. And no, NoA being the publisher doesn't mean they're going to force changes like that.

I don't have any problem with the word "lunge" itself or the SMT names in the game, I think you are misunderstanding what I meant.

They actually use a lot of SMT names for skills and spells, and it seems like it is confusing you right now, but you haven't played the game yet, so it's normal (I haven't either, but watched a lot of gameplay during release, so it makes me a little more knowledgeable).

The "Lance-Slash" example isn't something like "Slash" or "Tempest Slash", it is a Session attack, and means it's a Sword element attack following a Lance element attack that has triggered a Session (or following another attack during one).

And they should normally use Zio for the electricity spells, "Elec-Lunge" must be a Session Lance element attack following an electricity element attack.

The point I think that Nocturnal YL was making, and I agree with is that the way they word it in English is confusing, since you have "X - Y" ("Sword-Lunge", "Lance-Slash"...) and it doesn't imply "Y following X" as clearly as it does in Japanese "X追のY".

I think that after playing the game for a little while people should get used to it (there are also the element icon and the skill description if not) and also they can't really put as much meaning with as few characters in English compared to Japanese so they had to find a way to put it.

I think I've partly answered your interrogation earlier, but they take a lot from SMT for skills and spells (including buffs/debuffs), and I think they'll keep it the same for the most part.

I don't think this is exactly the same kind of situation, since Eleonora isn't expected to know/understand English, and in the scene I was mentioning she doesn't understand the word in a sentence and the others point out that it's English. But I see what you mean, and they will probably be able to find a way (even if they let it as is, it would just be a little awkward, but still okay I suppose).

Edit : for the post above, I didn't expect them to redo the voice acting, that solves one thing atleast.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Avk

[Hakkari]

I don't have any problem with the word "lunge" itself or the SMT names in the game, I think you are misunderstanding what I meant.

They actually use a lot of SMT names for skills and spells, and it seems like it is confusing you right now, but you haven't played the game yet, so it's normal (I haven't either, but watched a lot of gameplay during release, so it makes me a little more knowledgeable).

The "Lance-Slash" example isn't something like "Slash" or "Tempest Slash", it is a Session attack, and means it's a Sword element attack following a Lance element attack that has triggered a Session (or following another attack during one).

And they should normally use Zio for the electricity spells, "Elec-Lunge" must be a Session Lance element attack following an electricity element attack.

The point I think that Nocturnal YL was making, and I agree with is that the way they word it in English is confusing, since you have "X - Y" ("Sword-Lunge", "Lance-Slash"...) and it doesn't imply "Y following X" as clearly as it does in Japanese "X追のY".

I think that after playing the game for a little while people should get used to it (there are also the element icon and the skill description if not) and also they can't really put as much meaning with as few characters in English compared to Japanese so they had to find a way to put it.

I think I've partly answered your interrogation earlier, but they take a lot from SMT for skills and spells (including buffs/debuffs), and I think they'll keep it the same for the most part.

I don't think this is exactly the same kind of situation, since Eleonora isn't expected to know/understand English, and in the scene I was mentioning she doesn't understand the word in a sentence and the others point out that it's English. But I see what you mean, and they will probably be able to find a way (even if they let it as is, it would just be a little awkward, but still okay I suppose).

Edit : for the post above, I didn't expect them to redo the voice acting, that solves one thing atleast.

Ah okay. I misunderstood ^^ Yeah, I can see how that would be confusing. I'm assuming you'll be right in that it'll be a thing that people just have to pick up as they go, but then again that's how a lot of the series + spell names is, so it should be okay after a few hours of playing.

I really only brought up Lisa as an example of them not changing the language - thinking back on it they did change one character from using bad English slang to French, but that was only because it was a voice acting quirk and them shouting an English phrase and slapping "BAY-BEH" at the end wouldn't make as much sense.

I'm pretty sure for that situation they'll just leave it as English, especially since the voice actors aren't dubbed so there won't be any wonkiness with that.

[FoliFF]

@8:41

There's a scene where Tsubasa introduces herself and her age. In the English version she actually says "juuhassai" (18 years old) as opposed to "juunana sai" (17 years old) in the Japanese version. In other words, her seiyu had to revoice some of her lines for the English localization release. And there's a possibility that some of the cast may need to revoice some lines throughout the game as well.

Damn, you beat me to it. Either way this be interesting since this is probably the first time that I know of where they have VA revoiced some of their lines so it could sync with the localization like the age lift.

[Captain Karnage]

I think I need to share this

[eclipse]

I'm far more offended by the white-on-white text than girls in less revealing clothing.

My TV's resolution is bad, so reading the text is gonna be a pain. . .and the text is a lot more important than bikinis, IMO.

[Captain Karnage]

I'm quoting myself
They aged up the characters so they wouldn't be acaused of sexualizing minors.
Yet they are removing anything "that's considered sexy"
I just don't get why they're making these changes when they already aged up the characters so they could get away with what they did with the art

@eclipse, I think there is an option to make the text easier to see via changing the background of the text bubbles

Edited May 1, 2016 by Captain Karnage

[FoliFF]

Meh from the looks of it only slight costumes changes. While it's annoying, I won't be bothered by it when I'll play the game. As long they don't another Indian -> Cowboy change like in Bravely Second.

I'm quoting myself
They aged up the characters so they wouldn't be caused of sexualizing minors.
Yet they are removing anything "that's considered sexy"
I just don't get why they're making these changes when they already aged up the characters so they could get away with what they did with the art

Another thing that I can think of why they have aged the characters up is to avoid the implications of child labour or something similar thereof, which is illegal many parts of the western world. Mainly you're not allowed to sign any kind of contract without a guardians approval.

Does anyone know why what grudge Nintendo have on bikinis? Since that seems like always getting axed or changed. I mean Samus probably was one of the first female characters in a bikini in a video game back in the day. A Nintendo game no less too.

Edited April 26, 2016 by FoliFF

[nocturnal YL]

I'm glad to see the voiced dialogs being redone. This age change reminds me of an unrelated case of a Nintendo character aging up: Yu Ayasaki. In her case, though, she ages in real time, meaning that she debuted when she was 18, but is now 20.

I was actually wondering if Tsubasa would continue to claim to be 17 for the rest of her career.

I wonder if the age change has to do with Canadian regulations. Or Mexican ones, or those of South America (NOA operates there too). Or maybe Australia (which is infamous for their violence-related censorship, but I don't know about sexual ones), and they want a single base copy across NOA, NOE and Nintendo Australia releases. But regardless of the reason, I think this is handled quite well. It's much better than going for the rather awkward "Yeeeah, let's pretend Tsubasa is slightly older and she just passed her 18th birthday." (It is realistic, but it would feel very blatant.)

[spoiler=Late side story]In Maiko's 3rd side story, the fact that they're underage are brought up when Maiko happily suggest that they drink to celebrate Fortuna's 5th anniversary. I wonder how will this be handled: the Japanese legal drinking age is 20 (so no further change is actually needed here), but how many westerners know this?

Regarding the Illusory Shibuya photo change, it's not even very noticeable at all. And the loss of a purely cosmetic DLC pack isn't a big deal, either.

Edited April 26, 2016 by nocturnal YL

[Linkmstr]

Sadly, these kinds of things will escalate a whole lot despite being minor.

[FoliFF]

Actually this kind of stuff is common practise for years, if not decades, yet people still screams as if it was the end of the world. As long there won't be another Soleil type of incident it won't escalate. There is also the fact that TMS #FE is a polarising game to begin with, which can seen as its blessing and curse.

Regarding the Illusory Shibuya photo change, it's not even very noticeable at all. And the loss of a purely cosmetic DLC pack isn't a big deal, either.

Despite the change the story is still unaffected by it. Which people seems to forget or ignore...

[The DanMan]

[spoiler=Late side story]In Maiko's 3rd side story, the fact that they're underage are brought up when Maiko happily suggest that they drink to celebrate Fortuna's 5th anniversary. I wonder how will this be handled: the Japanese legal drinking age is 20 (so no further change is actually needed here), but how many westerners know this?

The US legal drinking age is 21. So, probably not that many.

[eclipse]

[spoiler=Late side story]In Maiko's 3rd side story, the fact that they're underage are brought up when Maiko happily suggest that they drink to celebrate Fortuna's 5th anniversary. I wonder how will this be handled: the Japanese legal drinking age is 20 (so no further change is actually needed here), but how many westerners know this?

Probably the same way that Trails of Cold Steel handled it:

"Drinks are on me. . .one day"

It might be an issue for countries whose drinking ages are 18, but perhaps it can be sidestepped with something along the lines of "our contracts say no booze during working hours".

[cryogeist]

Can't really say I'm a huge fan of what they're doing to this game. Up-aging a character? Whatever, that's everything to do with different laws and whatnot.

But then taking a fanpandering heavy game and pulling most of it out? I don't get it. ESRB already doesn't care. Maybe I'm just weird, but I really don't like what modern NoA has been doing in general lately.

[Captain Karnage]

YAY MORE CENSORSHIP FROM NINTENDO, they're doing such a great job at parenting us and telling us what's right for us!!!

okay, how the fuck did Tsubusa do that, not only did when she strip she somehow managed to put on more clothes than she did before but ALSO had the time to braid her hair!

[Kieranosaurus]

Weeell.... I'm not surprised but at least the outfit's kinda cute!

Don't know what to say about the second video. It was kind of funny.

[Glyth]

They are appealing to an audience that wouldn't even buy the game in the first place and annoying the niche one that actually will. I wonder if they genuinely think this is a good business decision.

Maybe this is all just a publicity stunt to advertise a niche game through the famous internet censorship arguments. I'll be waiting for the "we heard the feedback guys and we're giving you the option to play the with the original content through a restoration patch!"

I don't really feel like buying it anymore. I may get it used later and that will let me see the full extent of the changes too.

Edited May 5, 2016 by Glyth