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Oh, Working Designs and your wacky translations!
- Thread starter goodcow
- Start date
FateBreaker
Member
This just reminds me how incredible Working Designs translations were. 
And it also reminds me how amazing this game was.
And it also reminds me how amazing this game was.
Shig said:
No the names were the same Umi, Fuu, and Hikaru.
IIRC they went through the extra effort to get the rights to use the original names. For some reason (which I can't remember) the rights to the names had to be cleared separately from just licensing the game and it would have been much easier to just make up new names. Maybe it had something to do with the anime company that dubbed the series for the US? I know the anime and game theme songs were different.
MomoPufflet
Member
Tellaerin said:
Pretty sure Working Designs was notorious for doing exactly that with many (nearly all?) the games they translated, to varying degrees. MKR is obviously a more extreme example, but yeah. Definitely not the first or last time they did it.
Mreh, not so much. I'll grant you that the number of its female fans in the US that actually had a Saturn was probably a pittance, though, so I don't think it was necessarily a misguided decision to skew the humor a bit towards boys. They just skewed it a bit too far.obonicus said:
Ah, WD truly was ahead of the time! I never played Rayearth but I always loved their localizations. I remember laughing my ass off when playing Albert Odyssey when it came out, I almost wish more localization teams did things like that. WD was the type of team which can turn a dry Japanese script into a very entertaining English one, which is not always so easy to do.
People should use this thread to post more excellent quotes from their games!
People should use this thread to post more excellent quotes from their games!
Segata Sanshiro
Member
:lol
They went a little crazy with MKR, but in my opinion, it made it a fun game for adults to play, as opposed to a straight translation which would have been a fun game for little girls and men who wish they were little girls.
I do remember Albert Odyssey being a bit too much, but that's the only time a goofy translation bugged me at all. Dragon Force wouldn't have been nearly as fun as it was without all the funny General dialogue.
They went a little crazy with MKR, but in my opinion, it made it a fun game for adults to play, as opposed to a straight translation which would have been a fun game for little girls and men who wish they were little girls.
I do remember Albert Odyssey being a bit too much, but that's the only time a goofy translation bugged me at all. Dragon Force wouldn't have been nearly as fun as it was without all the funny General dialogue.
Whimsical Phil
Ninja School will help you
That's great, but the post that I was responding to was wondering if the original Japanese version contained as much innuendo as the Working Designs translation. The western audience at the time had nothing to do with the question.obonicus said:
GillianSeed79
Member
Never played MKR, but I wish translations were as good as Working Designs these days.
I can't tell you how many times I've rolled my eyes at too literal translations.
Also Working Designs had the best manuals, box art, and packaging ever.
It always felt like a company that cared for its fans. I'm pretty sure they had a live person answer their hint line number back in the day too. I could be wrong though.
I can't tell you how many times I've rolled my eyes at too literal translations.
Also Working Designs had the best manuals, box art, and packaging ever.
It always felt like a company that cared for its fans. I'm pretty sure they had a live person answer their hint line number back in the day too. I could be wrong though.
Segata Sanshiro said:
I'll answer a few from the thread all in one here:
If you thought the final text in Albert Odyssey was wild, you should have seen the FIRST draft of Albert Odyssey. My initial plan was to only edit that text and have someone else do it all, but the first draft was SO out there, I had to heavily edit and rewrite just to get it down to the "crazy" version that was released.
The girls of Rayearth were renamed for the US to be more friendly, to Marine (Umi), Anemone (Fuu), and something else for Hikaru that I forget. They were RIDICULOUS changes and we flatly refused, especially since SEGA didn't bother to tell us until the game was almost done (and audio recorded). It would have been a DISASTER to use the terrible "improved" US names.
There's only been one scene in a game that we ever had to edit out and re-do because the console manufacturer wouldn't approve it as-is. It was in Alundra, and I thought it was a GREAT double entendre, but it dropped jaws at SCEA and amongst some of the press who got it in the review copies. SCEA made us take it out of the game before they'd publish it. I have a screenshot somewhere of the first version. I'll see if I can find it.
We're still plugging away at Gaijinworks. RPG's, I promise. And lately some other stuff that should make some very happy people.
dead souls
Member
MKR was such a good game and the translation just made it that much better.
This thread is making me want to dig out my copy and play it again.
This thread is making me want to dig out my copy and play it again.
AZ Greg
Member
goodcow said:
For me, it's mostly about nostalgia. I played it when I was like 11 or 12 and it was the first JRPG I played start to finish. The humor, albeit a little over the top, spiced up what was pretty generic gameplay and horrible, horrible load times going into and out of battles. The soundtrack was pretty good as well.
Okay, found it. This is the puzzle where you have to stand on Meia's head and let her carry you across a gap.
Here's the part where she's carrying you:
And this is what she originally said when she dropped you off on the other side:
We literally got calls from almost all the reviewers cracking up and saying "are you REALLY shipping with that in?" I was happy because I knew they actually were PLAYING the game they were reviewing to the end (becoming a rarity, even back then). We intended to leave it, but SCEA made us take it out. Only time that ever happened (besides the other exchange in this same game that was axed at the same time).
Here's the part where she's carrying you:
And this is what she originally said when she dropped you off on the other side:
We literally got calls from almost all the reviewers cracking up and saying "are you REALLY shipping with that in?" I was happy because I knew they actually were PLAYING the game they were reviewing to the end (becoming a rarity, even back then). We intended to leave it, but SCEA made us take it out. Only time that ever happened (besides the other exchange in this same game that was axed at the same time).
IrishNinja
Member
vireland said:
posts like this are highlights for me. i gotta see this.
RevenantKioku
PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS oh god i am drowning in them
I have a copy of the Japanese release of MKR just sitting on my shelf. Is it worth my time without whacky translations?
akachan ningen
Member
I don't have any problem with translators taking some liberties and changing jokes when they are too culturally specific to translate or what have you. But falling back of sex jokes all the time is pretty pathetic. Falling back on pop culture references, as WD also did, is even more pathetic. But I played them anyway because I liked the games, especially Silhouette Mirage.
Takeda Kenshi
blew Staal
vireland said:
hahahaha absolutely love it. Would that kind of stuff fly today?
Segata Sanshiro said:
Man, the dialogue (the taunts, the jeers, the insults) was so much fun in that game. Really made it a blast to play.
vireland said:
Oh my. :lol
vireland said:
You heard it here first, folks. Tengai Makyou: The Fourth Apocalypse and a host of 360 Cave shmups confirmed for GainjinWorks localization!
Segata Sanshiro
Member
Sex jokes and pop culture references are funny, though, and legitimately funny moments are something that are seriously underrepresented in gaming.
Sometimes it seems like game design is filled with people who take themselves and life too seriously, but I guess a lot of the fans are that way, too.
Sometimes it seems like game design is filled with people who take themselves and life too seriously, but I guess a lot of the fans are that way, too.
Nose Master
Member
Man, I'd fucking murder for WD to somehow come back from the dead and translate a big name RPG.
sonikokaruto
Banned
vireland said:Okay, found it. This is the puzzle where you have to stand on Meia's head and let her carry you across a gap.
Here's the part where she's carrying you:
And this is what she originally said when she dropped you off on the other side:
We literally got calls from almost all the reviewers cracking up and saying "are you REALLY shipping with that in?" I was happy because I knew they actually were PLAYING the game they were reviewing to the end (becoming a rarity, even back then). We intended to leave it, but SCEA made us take it out. Only time that ever happened (besides the other exchange in this same game that was axed at the same time).
dude! that is awesome! i love you guys!
Segata Sanshiro
Member
Yeah, that's true, it can be pretty hard to maintain a stiffy while you're laughing your ass off.sega4ever said:
dallow_bg said:
They weren't translations. They were localizations. We NEVER aimed for translation, and that's what set our work off from everyone else, and I think, showed other companies how to do a jRPG for US audiences. Console packaging, localization, manuals, pack-ins, pre-order premiums - ALL of that came in or up after Working Designs.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Nah, I'd think they'd have been perfect for it. ST is supposed to be a mix of comedy and drama.Segata Sanshiro said:
vireland said:Okay, found it. This is the puzzle where you have to stand on Meia's head and let her carry you across a gap.
Here's the part where she's carrying you:
And this is what she originally said when she dropped you off on the other side:
We literally got calls from almost all the reviewers cracking up and saying "are you REALLY shipping with that in?" I was happy because I knew they actually were PLAYING the game they were reviewing to the end (becoming a rarity, even back then). We intended to leave it, but SCEA made us take it out. Only time that ever happened (besides the other exchange in this same game that was axed at the same time).
LOL, I was one of those reviewers. Forgot all about this!
Alundra was such a great game.
DimmuBurgerKing
Member
I'm suddenly reminded of how much I miss Alundra.
In fact, I miss it so much I just bought it from a 3rd party on Amazon for $20.
I'll be in junior high again!
In fact, I miss it so much I just bought it from a 3rd party on Amazon for $20.
I'll be in junior high again!
Ericsc said:
Well, yeah, but that was kind of unintentional because it was just covering the fact that we had to cancel the too-buggy PC version and had stopped selling the PS version more than a year before, so we did that version to make the game available in a "quick and dirty" way to fill the void left by the PC version cancellation (and the Alex puppet along with it). I was pushing for the Alex puppet to rise again as a premium with the PSP remake, but it wasn't to happen.
Segata Sanshiro
Member
ARRRRGHvireland said:
Stupid sexy XSEED
IrishNinja
Member
vireland said:
do you still have these about in a warehouse, or was it just an idea? cause if you're looking to unload a few, my ghaleon puppet has been lonely for years now.
i had managed to get the softcover book for Sega-CD Lunar 1, signed by you no less, and it got destroyed with my yearbooks & game mags in a hurricane. still kills me, between this and missing out the sexy HC's for the PSX remakes. im saying, if you're sitting on any merch here, i implore you to step into my office.