Comparing game localizations

[Next Gen Cowboy]

Damn, I just realized: PROGRAMMED BY NASIR.

Patron Saint of romhacking.

[Celice]

I know, right? Apparently the dude now lives one town over from me (Sacramento, CA)--I've kinda wanted to hit him up and interview him about stuff, including any things he might remember getting cut/altered during early game development, but I can't ever think of what to ask :/

[Next Gen Cowboy]

I know, right? Apparently the dude now lives one town over from me (Sacramento, CA)--I've kinda wanted to hit him up and interview him about stuff, including any things he might remember getting cut/altered during early game development, but I can't ever think of what to ask :/

He did an interview, Q&A thing with John Romero, and some other people involved in that era that was posted on here some time ago. I don't remember who posted it, but the discussion was pretty good; my point is he seems open to doing interviews in that that kind of setting.

Edit: http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,14950.msg220373.html#msg220373

I stand corrected, the interview was something I must have looked up after I read about him on here. And it was KingMike that pointed me in that direction.

[Celice]

Yeah, it was that interview that clued me into where he lives, when I looked into the guy further. I always assumed that that name was just a handle, but it was pretty bitchin to realize he coded that much content (basically all) for some of our favorite games.

[KillerBob]

After checking out that awesome article of yours on FFIV, Tomato, it's quite sad that we still after more than 20 years after its release (wow it's really been that long) haven't been presented with a more faithful translation of this masterpiece. Heard that the DS version is supposed to be really good but that is still not the real FFIV. That the old fan retranslation is a mess is not that surprising but what really surprised me is how much the PSX translation seems to differ from the original text in the various examples seen in your article, truly disappointing as many ports seems to have been based on it as well. FFIV is in desperate need of a new translation patch...

Thank you for these articles, a delight to read.

[DSwizzy145]

Yeah speaking of so, why is that PSX localisation translations were a pile of a mess (except FF7 I guess) this goes for FF6 as well too right? It was like they were still living under Nintendo's Roof with these type of reworked projects. P.S Do anyone know if Sega's Translations to games were faithful ever?

[Eien Ni Hen]

Yeah speaking of so, why is that PSX localisation translations were a pile of a mess (except FF7 I guess) this goes for FF6 as well too right? It was like they were still living under Nintendo's Roof with these type of reworked projects. P.S Do anyone know if Sega's Translations to games were faithful ever?

FF7's translation was a hot mess and I'm amazed no one has done a fan translation. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I don't think the original FF6 translation was all that bad. Chrono Trigger's was really good, too.

I'm not too sure about Sega translations, my only experience being with "Story of Thor" (I worked on the retranslation). The original English script wasn't entirely accurate, but it didn't seem to have a lot of crazy censorship (unlike early Nintendo games).

[LostTemplar]

FF7's translation was a hot mess and I'm amazed no one has done a fan translation.

Now imagine how terrible the German one is, being badly translated from English...

[Bregalad]

In english ? I never noticed that the english version of FF7 was bad, but it might come because I'm not a native.

However in french it's definitely terrible, as it is based on the english one (instead of directly japanese), and contains some mistakes, too literally translated sutff, and some leftover text in english. Many things are abbreviated too much to fit on the screen. However it did never prevent me to enjoy the game despite being poorly translated.

Also, we saw on the FF4 article that "retranslations" are not always that good. The FF4 retranslation is purposely doing everything the reverse way of the original, and they added swearing where it was not present, as well as making random stuff up.

[DSwizzy145]

FF7's translation was a hot mess and I'm amazed no one has done a fan translation. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I don't think the original FF6 translation was all that bad. Chrono Trigger's was really good, too.

I'm not too sure about Sega translations, my only experience being with "Story of Thor" (I worked on the retranslation). The original English script wasn't entirely accurate, but it didn't seem to have a lot of crazy censorship (unlike early Nintendo games).

True and I agree that Chrono Trigger's Translation on the PS1 was actually pretty good imo but didn't knew FF7's Translation was bad i thought it to be fine, tho the typos were a slight mistake and a few things didn't.. make.. since..? I guess. As for the story of thor on Sega megadrive what about beyond oasis localisation did they do a horrible Job to that version as well? I'm Not sure tbh

[Eien Ni Hen]

True and I agree that Chrono Trigger's Translation on the PS1 was actually pretty good imo but didn't knew FF7's Translation was bad i thought it to be fine, tho the typos were a slight mistake and a few things didn't.. make.. since..? I guess. As for the story of thor on Sega megadrive what about beyond oasis localisation did they do a horrible Job to that version as well? I'm Not sure tbh

Exactly. FF7's original English script didn't flow well at all. A lot of the dialogue seemed stilted and nonsensical. As for Story of Thor, the original translation wasn't horrible. I remember the English version left out a huge clue about a plot twist (which I thought was pretty funny), but other than that and a few minor changes to the plot it wasn't terrible.

[FlamePurge]

Heard that the DS version is supposed to be really good but that is still not the real FFIV.

The DS / iOS / Android version's translation is pretty accurate, from what I can tell*, but the introduction of Augments makes it a bit less traditional than the original FFIV.

* Not a translator or fluent in Japanese; take what I've said with a grain of salt. It's better than J2e's or the PS1's translation, from my research into the matter.

[Tomato]

I really do need to play the DS version someday, I'd like to take screenshots for my project but I don't think my PC's powerful enough to run things at full speed, unless DS emulation has gotten better in the past year or two.

I'd also love to take a look at these European translations based on English translations sometime!

[Next Gen Cowboy]

I really do need to play the DS version someday, I'd like to take screenshots for my project but I don't think my PC's powerful enough to run things at full speed, unless DS emulation has gotten better in the past year or two.

I'd also love to take a look at these European translations based on English translations sometime!

I tried DS emulation a couple years ago with Disgaea, and my very craptastic computer was able to handle it at about 65-70% normal speed. If it's improved even slightly since then, and you're running a relatively modern machine it seems likely it'd work.

I'd very much enjoy seeing the comparisons, although I'm generally more forgiving of companies, and people making certain changes than some people here, and in the community as a whole. I still think it's fascinating to see exactly what was changed from region to region, and sometimes even why it was changed.

[DSwizzy145]

Exactly. FF7's original English script didn't flow well at all. A lot of the dialogue seemed stilted and nonsensical. As for Story of Thor, the original translation wasn't horrible. I remember the English version left out a huge clue about a plot twist (which I thought was pretty funny), but other than that and a few minor changes to the plot it wasn't terrible.

True and I've might need to play it more or look through more info about it later sometime soon. Btw kinda off-topic but are you still happen to continue translate Love Quest by anychance? I'm not trying to rush you or anything just curious even when we had that discussion awhile back like Q4 2012 or Very Early 2013 lol

[Mew seeker]

FF7's translation was a hot mess and I'm amazed no one has done a fan translation.

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11867.0

[BRPXQZME]

I was much relieved the first time I came across it. I mean, it's not the retranslation I'd want, necessarily, but it's one that works and one that was sorely needed for a long time.

Very sad (but not surprising ) to see how defensive the people who worked on it have had to be, though.

[Eien Ni Hen]

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11867.0

Woo hoo! I had no idea this existed! 

[geishaboy]

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11867.0

I had no idea people took FF7 so seriously 

[BRPXQZME]

You should be glad you had no idea. So many childhoods wasted that way.