cpp_is_king
Member
Disgaea 4's localization is really top notch.
You have to play it to understand
You have to play it to understand
-
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games where localization are a step above the norm?
- Thread starter chickdigger802
- Start date
But it's not like the name of the country matters that much. In fact, I think it's never even mentioned in the game so you can easily pretend that it's set in Japan.
Yes, but that means they'd either have a bunch of people with American names making American-culture jokes amongst a Japanese backdrop or they'd have to keep the characters names and cultural jokes Japanese to where only a small group of players would have appreciated it.
They made the right choice by changing the setting to an area that has enough of a Japanese immigrant population for them to handwave the visual Japanese elements, and then just Americanize everything conveyed through text.
Also, I'm not the AA games are right for you if you are worried about localization changes making them look nonsensical.
chickdigger802
Banned
br0ken_shad0w
Member
Kingdom Hearts wouldn't have worked as well if not for Disney bringing in their own VAs. It doesn't fix the awful writing, but it made the Disney worlds a lot more enjoyable.
I see tons of mentions of mario rpg titles. Any other notable games from them? Not many nintendo franchises have much dialogue besides the opening princess peach letter
Zelda localizations are great too, absolutely love them. Honestly the only bad localization I can think of from Treehouse is Metroid Other M and that was because of Sakamoto. Love Treehouse.
Asides from that I don't have anything new to add I think: the Mario RPGs, FF XII, Chrono Trigger (both versions), Xenoblade, Monster Hunter Tri, Ace Attorney (even with some mistakes here and there), Dragon Quest 8 and Earthbound are great examples.
FateBreaker
Member
cj_iwakura
Member
Yep. They went out of their way to make the game as messed up for the US as it was for Japan.
I agree with you OP:
It was flawless, from bestiary entries to voice acting, perfect.
Came to post these.
And I think FFX actually did a pretty good job considering the content. I played that whole game with j subtitles and english voice acting, and I was impressed with the localization.
Cosmo Clock 21
Banned
I'm not sure I would call the AA localizations "above average". Tons of typos and grammatical errors, the really heavy-handed fanservice ("In west clownadelphia" was really bad althought the later games toned that sort of nonsense way down), plus the attempt to localize the setting to America was kind of weird.
ChiefofCitadelSecurity
Member
FF 12 is damn near perfection in that department. Still has some of the best voice acting and dialogue I've seen in a rpg. Fran, Basch, and the man himself Balthier were just pure fucking greatness.
Goddamnit Square
Goddamnit Square
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Still the gold standard for German localisation. Some call it better than the original. Top fucking notch production.
That's really cool to hear. YDKJ is very well written in English but I've never tried to share it with non-North American friends because so many of the questions are dense and pop culture referential. I should try to track down one or two of 'em in French.
Bjoern the Smexy
Member
Therefore it's not really a localisation, imo.
Anyway, my picks-,
- The German translations of Final Fantasy IX, Dragon Quest IV and V
- Mario & Luigi series (English and German translations)
- Mother 3 (English fan translation of course)
- Ace Attorney series
- Ghost Trick
That's all I can think of right now.
EDIT: Oh yeah, practically all German translations of the classic Lucas Arts point'n'click games as well. Also I'm with the German YDKJ translations. Awesome stuff.
I never got very far, but I thought it did a good job getting across Recette's weird mix of happy-go-lucky and socially awkward.
Onion_Relish
Member
I'm going to throw another hat in the ring here: crimson gem saga
Not only did the game have a great translation but the voice acting was pretty good as well. A bit hammy at parts but definitely not phoned in. Really good production qualoty for a psp game
Not only did the game have a great translation but the voice acting was pretty good as well. A bit hammy at parts but definitely not phoned in. Really good production qualoty for a psp game
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Anything Working Designs did, and Dragon Quest 8 and FF12 were also really well done.
Killzone 2
Killzone 3
German and Russian voiceovers on PAL releases gives a trully another dimension to overall atmosphere of the game. Real treat is to do second playtrough on German and save the Russian for the third playtrough (no HUD, no hints, 100% atmosphere).
SCEE and Guerilla Games will never get deserved praise for job done in localization of KZ 2&3. Of course, genuine actors deserves greatest congratulations.
Also, METRO 2033 on Russian. Game just needs to be played that way.
Killzone 3
German and Russian voiceovers on PAL releases gives a trully another dimension to overall atmosphere of the game. Real treat is to do second playtrough on German and save the Russian for the third playtrough (no HUD, no hints, 100% atmosphere).
SCEE and Guerilla Games will never get deserved praise for job done in localization of KZ 2&3. Of course, genuine actors deserves greatest congratulations.
Also, METRO 2033 on Russian. Game just needs to be played that way.
dragonlife
Member
One of the best.
Interesting case: All of the voice acted dialogue in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls was recorded only in English, using From Software's original script. It's also evident that both games' localized English text was at least partially based on translations that From did internally.
Both have their fair share of weirdness, but it's pretty darn impressive for content that hasn't really been localized at all.
Both have their fair share of weirdness, but it's pretty darn impressive for content that hasn't really been localized at all.
some of the dialog choices were funny, but there wasn't a moment playing it that i didn't realize it was translated. it's the first game that's ever done that for me.
FFT: The War of the Lions, TO: Let Us Cling Together and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney are the games that immediately come to mind; I don't speak Japanese, but I can tell that O. Smith put a lot of effort into them, and love the end result. Great work.
Mass Effect is another, more peculiar example: I played the French version first, and actually think that the French voice acting is superior to its American counterpart, which is an incredibly rare instance. Nilhus and Shepard (M/F) really stand out. There are exceptions, of course.
Mass Effect is another, more peculiar example: I played the French version first, and actually think that the French voice acting is superior to its American counterpart, which is an incredibly rare instance. Nilhus and Shepard (M/F) really stand out. There are exceptions, of course.
ROBOKITTYZILLA
Member
Came to post this. *sheds a tear for Working Designs*
revolverjgw
Member
Are the jokes and script in the Japanese Paper Mario games a lot different than the localized versions? Because those games feel almost tailor-made for western nerds, all the references and memes and stuff. There's nothing giving away that it was made in Japan.
creid
Member
IIRC AA1 & 4 was done by Alex O. Smith, while Tri was 8-4. Not sure who worked on AA2 & 3.
I'd like to give FFXII a nod, but I can't forgive "Quickening."
Box of Kittens
Banned
I thought Growlanser Generations had a great localization. The script was nicely done and WD really added a lot of polish to several aspects of the games (e.g. the interface).
The Mana Legend
Banned
Anyways, my serious answer is:
I never want Square-Enix to localize another tri-Ace game ever again. Sega's localization was incredible.
I never want Square-Enix to localize another tri-Ace game ever again. Sega's localization was incredible.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Final Fantasy XII
Dat Balthier !
Dat Balthier !
AdventureRacing
Member
Breath of fire 2.
cj_iwakura
Member
Prinny 1's was amazing, too.
Anyways, my serious answer is:
I never want Square-Enix to localize another tri-Ace game ever again. Sega's localization was incredible.
Infinite Undiscovery's lead translator worked on games like Dragon Quest 5 DS which had a great translation. Star Ocean 4 was done by 8-4, who we all know are capable of fantastic work. Resonance of Fate was done by Inbound, who have also done great work like Valkyria Chronicles. To be honest, the badness of anything you see in tri-Ace's games is most likely not the translators' fault. RoF just happened to be the least-awkward source material.
The Mana Legend
Banned
Infinite Undiscovery's translation wasn't bad at all. They were the voice actors that they chose for most of the voices that were the goddamn worse. And, of course, the awkward Japanese humor every once and a while that almost never translates well into English.
Star Ocean 4 was just bad in general.
Other than those, tri-Ace games have always had stellar localizations (SO2 and half of SO3 aside), but SE has been really fudging it up lately with every damn game they publish.
EatinOlives
Member
Ace Attorney immediately springs to mind. For a story-heavy Japanese series, they managed to make the game not feel distinctly "Japanese" with plenty of genuinely funny moments. The pun names were always neat, no cheesiness unless it was called for, etc. They've always came off to me as the best localized games I've played.
Nier was my personal apology for SO4 (I oversaw both).
SO4 is not poorly translated by any means - it's just VERY true to the Japanese. It was our first project with SQEX and we were worried about rocking the boat (they had asked us to keep it true to the JP), so we just followed direction. With Nier, they let us have way more say in the actual script, they let us choose the voice studio and handle the voices (I oversaw every line of recorded dialogue in that game in-studio with the director Yoko-san), and the Japanese script was already great to begin with. Made a HUGE difference. I don't think Nier was perfect by any means, but the localization environment was much better than in most titles, and as such, the end result benefited from it.
Anyway, thanks for the Nier (and MH3 & BKO!) comments.
SO4 is not poorly translated by any means - it's just VERY true to the Japanese. It was our first project with SQEX and we were worried about rocking the boat (they had asked us to keep it true to the JP), so we just followed direction. With Nier, they let us have way more say in the actual script, they let us choose the voice studio and handle the voices (I oversaw every line of recorded dialogue in that game in-studio with the director Yoko-san), and the Japanese script was already great to begin with. Made a HUGE difference. I don't think Nier was perfect by any means, but the localization environment was much better than in most titles, and as such, the end result benefited from it.
Anyway, thanks for the Nier (and MH3 & BKO!) comments.