Gaming Holy Crap what is wrong with the DQIX localization?

[Nathan Drake]

I think the real issue falls onto how much you actually value your translations versus just getting a "translation".

Personally, I don't need my games laden with ridiculous amounts of what the translators find clever jammed down my throat. They likely spend more time making up puns than they do actually giving the game a straight translation. You can't really compare Pokemon, as the names tend to just be a couple of words mashed together in order to give the Pokemon an easy identifier, and even then, we can't say that that isn't the closest translation from the original Japanese. When a serious game is bastardized into joke city though, simply working off the fact that us silly westerners won't notice we've technically been handed the inferior version of the game, that isn't okay. A translator should simply be working to give the people they're translating for the easiest to understand translation, only making changes where they're necessary for the sake of clarity. Take fan translations for instance: how many of them would you be okay with if they mentioned that, oh yeah, they'd be changing everything they could to appeal to their personal sense of humor? It isn't as if you should hold professional translators to a different level of correctness than fan translators.

Now, on a lighter note, I did like DQ IX. Knowing the west got what can hardly be considered a translation of many aspects of it is certainly annoying, as I do prefer my RPGs to be primarily serious with jokes being interspersed, as they should be to periodically give some comic relief. The core gameplay held true though, and the game was fun to play through. I just hate to think that there's translation groups that make it their business to turn out what can only be described as incorrect translations while still being paid time and time again to do their work.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

Now, on a lighter note, I did like DQ IX. Knowing the west got what can hardly be considered a translation of many aspects of it is certainly annoying, as I do prefer my RPGs to be primarily serious with jokes being interspersed, as they should be to periodically give some comic relief. The core gameplay held true though, and the game was fun to play through. I just hate to think that there's translation groups that make it their business to turn out what can only be described as incorrect translations while still being paid time and time again to do their work.

If you prefer more serious RPGs, then why are you playing Dragon Quest? Now, I have not played every Dragon Quest game, but I've played several, and each one is full of jokes. I'm not saying that their translations are perfect (since I don't know Japanese, I can't compare the two), but it's not like the most recent localization is any worse than previous ones.

 

[GHANMI]

The issue with Dragon Quest "new" translations is that the "translators" at Plus Alfa are essentially throwing out of the window the original script and writing their own script, only retaining vaguely the plot of the original game.
You can tell there's no respect whatsoever for the original game, plot and characterization.

I would not liken this situation to English players complaining Woosley inserted jokes in his script (which turned out after all actual accurate translations from the Japanese text, the way it should be done: not too literal but still faithful while localized to suit the new audience).

I would say it's more similar to the bullshit German Super Nintendo players had to put up with the work of Carl Moyse (Nintendo's official translator... Nintendo was the only one back then localizing for Europe, keep in mind), when all of those deep conversations brimming with life and character in Terranigma with NPCs even treading in stuff like religion or the meaning of life... became instead outdated meme lingo and shitty TV series references. And more infamously, a sign post with directions for the next dungeon in Link's Awakening near a field of slimes was replaced with ..."ALWAYS WITH CONDOMS".
aka the approach of throwing the script down the gutter and doing from scratch terrible new writing, with terrible jokes.

For anyone interested, someone fed up with this shit is already inserting the text from Dragon Quest IV (that perfectly fine localization with its share of jokes and moderate accents, from the English NES version) in the DS version to replace the "new localization". Last news, he was almost done with the fourth act.

 

[weavile001]

but this is somewhat of a general trend in non final fantasy youth rpgs. like, i'm playing fossil fighter right now, and after the dino droppings collector John Guano and the cleaning robot KL-33N (KLEEN I GET IT) I began to ignore npc names altogether.

seriously, wait for Fossil fighters Champions, it gets even better.....

 

[Nathan Drake]

If you prefer more serious RPGs, then why are you playing Dragon Quest? Now, I have not played every Dragon Quest game, but I've played several, and each one is full of jokes. I'm not saying that their translations are perfect (since I don't know Japanese, I can't compare the two), but it's not like the most recent localization is any worse than previous ones.

I don't need blood, guts, and the drama of crashing thunder as I step into my archenemy's castle, but that doesn't mean I want what would otherwise be a game that actually takes itself seriously turned into a joke fest that barely actually translates what it's supposed to be translating. Try DQ VII. That should give you a good idea of what you should actually expect from a DQ story. Even DQ VIII does a decent job without going overboard, leaving it a solid experience. It's only the newer DS translations that go completely overboard on trying to make every little thing into yet another lame joke.

 

[ferofax]

I suppose this is one of those instances where ignorance is bliss. The vast majority of people who played DQIX probably have no idea of the nuances of the Japanese version, and so whatever changes were made in the localization seemed fresh and easily accepted.