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Atlus we need to talk about the Persona 5 localization...

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After the fourth dungeon now, and I could not be more fucking tired of "it's unforgivable"/"I'll never forgive you". Can we just have a goddamn blanket rule to stop translating that phrase literally from now on? It's ruining otherwise emotional moments.

The novel section of Nier:automata (route C), where
Anemone's inner monologue went "unforgivable unforgivable unforgivable unforgivable unforgivable" after she contemplated taking her life instead of fighting to the end
was pretty effective. Especially because it seems pretty likely that
a barrier against suicide would be hard coded into her software
 
The worst part about the second-syllable stressed thing they do for the main characters is they totally ignore doing it with Kamoshida and Madarame and I'm assuming a lot of others, it's so inconsistent.

At least commit to saying "kaMoshida" and "maDarame"

A late-game major antagonist is like this too with his given name.
Mas-ayeo-shi is how he himself pronounces it. To the main cast however, he's Mas-ah-yoshi.
It's Mr Mo-roo-ka all over again.
 

lionpants

Member
Sure, the localization isn't great. There have definitely been some lines where I am like "umm, what is that even supposed to mean?". But I found that if I don't pick the sentences apart too much, my brain fixes any weirdness automatically.

My annoyance with the writing so far is the over-explaining or over-affirming that goes on between he characters or the explanation through dialog for the player. Like, ya I get the frigging point, get on with it.

"Do you think he will be alright? I am so worried!!"
"Yes, it'll be fine."

5 minutes later via text...

"I am so worried, do you think he will be alright?!"
"Yes"

"Oh, I get it, we have to use the thingy-majig to get into the place! That makes sense!"
"I bet they used the thingy-majig to get into the place!"
"Do you think they used the thingy-majig to get into this place?"
"Oh right, she was able to use the thingy-majig to get to the place."

So awkward.
 
Sure, the localization isn't great. There have definitely been some lines where I am like "umm, what is that even supposed to mean?". But I found that if I don't pick the sentences apart too much, my brain fixes any weirdness automatically.

My annoyance with the writing so far is the over-explaining or over-affirming that goes on between he characters or the explanation through dialog for the player. Like, ya I get the frigging point, get on with it.

"Do you think he will be alright? I am so worried!!"
"Yes, it'll be fine."

5 minutes later via text...

"I am so worried, do you think he will be alright?!"
"Yes"

"Oh, I get it, we have to use the thingy-majig to get into the place! That makes sense!"
"I bet they used the thingy-majig to get into the place!"
"Do you think they used the thingy-majig to get into this place?"
"Oh right, she was able to use the thingy-majig to get to the place."

So awkward.
Agreed. The text message conversations are like 80% dead horse beating.
 

Setsu00

Member
Considering how picky some of these complaints are I'm surprised no one complains about (MAJOR ENDGAME SPOILERS)
the way Lavenza is pronounced
.

Anyway, I'm firmly in the camp that believes that the complaints are overblown.
 
I have the feeling that they just assigned the wrong person to the beginning of the game.

Wasn't there that post where Yu Nanba was like 'We had more translators than usual on this game"?

Chances are they put an intern or someone who isn't a native english speaker on the start of the game and didn't check it well enough.

Of course, they should have been checking, but....
 

Arkeband

Banned
The novel section of Nier:automata (route C), where
Anemone's inner monologue went "unforgivable unforgivable unforgivable unforgivable unforgivable" after she contemplated taking her life instead of fighting to the end
was pretty effective. Especially because it seems pretty likely that
a barrier against suicide would be hard coded into her software

I think you're replying to the wrong dude.
 
Sure, the localization isn't great. There have definitely been some lines where I am like "umm, what is that even supposed to mean?". But I found that if I don't pick the sentences apart too much, my brain fixes any weirdness automatically.

My annoyance with the writing so far is the over-explaining or over-affirming that goes on between he characters or the explanation through dialog for the player. Like, ya I get the frigging point, get on with it.

"Do you think he will be alright? I am so worried!!"
"Yes, it'll be fine."

5 minutes later via text...

"I am so worried, do you think he will be alright?!"
"Yes"

"Oh, I get it, we have to use the thingy-majig to get into the place! That makes sense!"
"I bet they used the thingy-majig to get into the place!"
"Do you think they used the thingy-majig to get into this place?"
"Oh right, she was able to use the thingy-majig to get to the place."

So awkward.

This was pervasive in P4 as well, except it was them talking to you at school/Junes about it instead of exchanging phone messages.
 

Battlechili

Banned
They could've been worded better but in some ways I'm actually glad this takes a literal translation in some regards. I've grown very weary of dialogue being entirely changed when games get brought to the West (I'm looking at you, Fire Emblem Fates).

Though a lot of these it seems like you could've just changed the structure of the sentence to make things flow a bit better, so Atlus certainly could have done a better job. But I'll take this over outright complete changes to the dialogue.
 

lionpants

Member
This was pervasive in P4 as well, except it was them talking to you at school/Junes about it instead of exchanging phone messages.
Oh... and the adults treating the main character like he went on a murdering spree. What the hell is up with that?

The whole time... I'm like... "I didn't even do anything terrible! I beat the shit out of a guy that was trying to rape a woman!".

"You better stay in check, you insufferable, miserable, non-adult"
"There is that child murderer again..."
"I hope you're not getting into trouble, you might break your probation"
on and on and on
 

agc

Member
Oh... and the adults treating the main character like he went on a murdering spree. What the hell is up with that?

The whole time... I'm like... "I didn't even do anything terrible! I beat the shit out of a guy that was trying to rape a woman!".

"You better stay in check, you insufferable, miserable, non-adult"
"There is that child murderer again..."
"I hope you're not getting into trouble, you might break your probation"
on and on and on

You should keep playing the game!
 

Wereroku

Member
Oh... and the adults treating the main character like he went on a murdering spree. What the hell is up with that?

The whole time... I'm like... "I didn't even do anything terrible! I beat the shit out of a guy that was trying to rape a woman!".

"You better stay in check, you insufferable, miserable, non-adult"
"There is that child murderer again..."
"I hope you're not getting into trouble, you might break your probation"
on and on and on

To be fair early on it is suggested that the details of the trial were drastically altered. I don't think this is a spoiler but I will block it out.
We know that the woman being assaulted agreed to say the MC simply walked up and attacked the other guy.
In that context it's easy to understand why they react that way.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
To be fair early on it is suggested that the details of the trial were drastically altered. I don't think this is a spoiler but I will block it out.
We know that the woman being assaulted agreed to say the MC simply walked up and attacked the other guy.
In that context it's easy to understand why they react that way.

The main disconnect is how Soujiro explains things at the beginning, giving the impression that his explanation is also what the general public knows. It would probably work better if they used something along the lines of "you interfered with someone hitting on a woman" or something to that effect as opposed to the line they used.
 

Wereroku

Member
The main disconnect is how Soujiro explains things at the beginning, giving the impression that his explanation is also what the general public knows. It would probably work better if they used something along the lines of "you interfered with someone hitting on a woman" or something to that effect as opposed to the line they used.

I forgot all about that part. True if they all just thought he had punched a dude hitting on a woman the reactions are overblown. I wonder if they rewrote some of the later point to appear more violent.
 

zelas

Member
To be fair early on it is suggested that the details of the trial were drastically altered. I don't think this is a spoiler but I will block it out.
We know that the woman being assaulted agreed to say the MC simply walked up and attacked the other guy.
In that context it's easy to understand why they react that way.
How early? Did I miss that??? I'm like 12 hours in, right before the first calling card and its my impression that they think MC is a evil guy for doing what he needed to do to protect someone.
 

Gestahl

Member
I forgot all about that part. True if they all just thought he had punched a dude hitting on a woman the reactions are overblown. I wonder if they rewrote that at some point.

Sojiro is the only major third party who has a general idea of what really happened due to his faint connection to the MC and his role as probationary guardian. People like Kawakami likely would only know that he was charged with and found guilty of assault or at best have read some news articles/school documents that were in all likelihood incredibly unflattering to the MC's side of the story.

Having Sojiro say the woman was "forced on" was too much though that much is true, I would've interpreted it more as something like "stuck up for a woman who was being hounded by some guy." The original text shows that he thinks the woman clearly wasn't into the man's advances, but he doesn't go as far to call it sexual assault. That's what the following dream sequence is for; to show the undiluted sequence of events.
 
Oh... and the adults treating the main character like he went on a murdering spree. What the hell is up with that?

The whole time... I'm like... "I didn't even do anything terrible! I beat the shit out of a guy that was trying to rape a woman!".

"You better stay in check, you insufferable, miserable, non-adult"
"There is that child murderer again..."
"I hope you're not getting into trouble, you might break your probation"
on and on and on

My problem with that plot thread is that the MC didn't beat the shit out of the guy. He just kind of shoved the guy to get him off the woman, and the guy fell and hit his head.

It would have been a lot easier to swallow if the MC had actually punched the dude. That'd be a lot easier to twist against the MC.
 

Shouta

Member
I forgot all about that part. True if they all just thought he had punched a dude hitting on a woman the reactions are overblown. I wonder if they rewrote some of the later point to appear more violent.

A guy that randomly punches someone that's hitting on a woman would be seen as pretty violent if you ask me. =P

The exaggerations by everyone is part of the commentary for the entire situation though, IMO.
 

Exodust

Banned
I find this to be extremely overblown. I hate "I won't forgive you" but I hate seeing that even in subs because it diminishes otherwise good scenes in almost everything. And "prove our/your/my justice" is kinda grating too. But since it's set in Japan I can deal with it.

Other than those two lines of dialogue being repeated I find the dub to be great. Best in the series, actually. I rewatched P4G's true ending just earlier and the VA definitely improved here.
 
My problem with that plot thread is that the MC didn't beat the shit out of the guy. He just kind of shoved the guy to get him off the woman, and the guy fell and hit his head.

It would have been a lot easier to swallow if the MC had actually punched the dude. That'd be a lot easier to twist against the MC.

You don't have to beat the shit out of someone to be sued for assault. Plus the 'victim' was already bleeding.
 

WhyMe6

Member
Sure, the localization isn't great. There have definitely been some lines where I am like "umm, what is that even supposed to mean?". But I found that if I don't pick the sentences apart too much, my brain fixes any weirdness automatically.

My annoyance with the writing so far is the over-explaining or over-affirming that goes on between he characters or the explanation through dialog for the player. Like, ya I get the frigging point, get on with it.

"Do you think he will be alright? I am so worried!!"
"Yes, it'll be fine."

5 minutes later via text...

"I am so worried, do you think he will be alright?!"
"Yes"

"Oh, I get it, we have to use the thingy-majig to get into the place! That makes sense!"
"I bet they used the thingy-majig to get into the place!"
"Do you think they used the thingy-majig to get into this place?"
"Oh right, she was able to use the thingy-majig to get to the place."

So awkward.

I have to disagree, I thought the early text messages showing, in particular, both Ryuji's total lack of confidence in his repeated efforts to confirm things with the MC and his inability to handle his own pessimistic and negative thoughts thus causing him to seek constant affirmation from the MC were handled quite well. I once had a friend very much like him in this way and I was impressed that the script absolutely nailed that kind of personality. I'm only up to May though, so maybe it gets worse.
 

HeatBoost

Member
My problem with that plot thread is that the MC didn't beat the shit out of the guy. He just kind of shoved the guy to get him off the woman, and the guy fell and hit his head.

It would have been a lot easier to swallow if the MC had actually punched the dude. That'd be a lot easier to twist against the MC.

Did you miss... the whole part where duder is geting disproportionate punishment for doing a good deed because society is fucked that way?

Like, this is the equivalent of saying "We should see the Rebel alliance blow up a maternity ward, that way the Empire would be justified in building the Death Star"
 
Did you miss... the whole part where duder is geting disproportionate punishment for doing a good deed because society is fucked that way?

Like, this is the equivalent of saying "We should see the Rebel alliance blow up a maternity ward, that way the Empire would be justified in building the Death Star"
Punching a dude who is trying to rape someone is a good deed, and society siding with the would-be rapist because maintaining the order of things is valued above justice is thematically on point.
 

OniBaka

Member
I guess I watch too much anime or I'm dumb because from what I played it seemed fine. Then again I'm playing in japanese dub, maybe it will sound weird in english.
 

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
30 hours in, no problems with the dub or translation.

Some of y'all need Jesus.
 

johnsmith

remember me
I'm surprised nobody's complained about the criminal overuse of "Welp." It's fucking grating. The first time someone used it, whatever, but different characters are constantly using it. People don't say this word that much!
 

mdubs

Banned
60 hours in now. Haven't noticed anything bad since a couple during the first few hours of the game. The only thing that bothers me is the mispronounciation of the names, but whatever since that came from the JP side. Game is a blast
 

PaulloDEC

Member
Holy shit, someone (an editor, apparently) made a whole P5 themed site just to fully delve into the problems with the game's localization:
http://www.personaproblems.com/

https://twitter.com/ConnorKrammer/status/854842870024486912

This was really interesting, thanks for posting.

I've not really had any issues with the localisation (over 50 hours in), but I can see that's primarily because I simply got what I expected. I didn't think for a moment I'd be getting a script that felt like it'd been written by native English-speakers; I was prepared for a certain amount of mistakes and clunky translation and that's exactly what I got.

I imagine for the people with extensive experience in playing and viewing translated/localized content (i.e. the people who can tell a good effort from a poor one) the issues here are much more glaring.
 
My biggest issue is the lack of subtitles for anyone but the main characters in the cut scenes. Why yes Atlus, I would like to know what that newscaster was saying.
 

DVCY201

Member
It's a bit disturbing seeing so many people play for 60 hours and not see any of these problems with the localization. I've stopped several times trying to decipher the meaning behind certain sentences because they're so off base or flat out have fake English

Yakisoba Pan. LOL, they got halfway through translating and then gave up when it came to 'bread'
 

mdubs

Banned
It's a bit disturbing seeing so many people play for 60 hours and not see any of these problems with the localization. I've stopped several times trying to decipher the meaning behind certain sentences because they're so off base or flat out have fake English

People pay attention to different things and are bothered by different things. I've seen/read/played plenty of localized stuff and am not bothered in general by the stuff here. That isn't to say that the errors don't exist, but I'm not sitting here having them jump out at me when I'm playing the game
 

junpei

Member
Persona 4 made way too much money for this game to come out without some more polish. They're far too many examples of the dialogue being clucky.
 
People pay attention to different things and are bothered by different things. I've seen/read/played plenty of localized stuff and am not bothered in general by the stuff here. That isn't to say that the errors don't exist, but I'm not sitting here having them jump out at me when I'm playing the game

Don't compare this to other anime and video games. Compare the quality of the text to something that was natively written in English. That seems to be the problem.
 
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