Support NeoGAF

[Cindi Mayweather]

There are few games that are more special to me than Final Fantasy VII. In fact, I think for me personally it is the game that tugs my nostalgia strings. Almost every single line of text in the game, I remember where I was sitting and what was going on in my life during that part of that story. It was my first FF and my first RPG.

We all know about the awful, barebones translation for FFVII. "This guy are sick" "let's mosey", all that stuff. So when I first took it upon myself to learn Japanese one of my initial goals was to re-experience the RPGs I grew up on in Japanese. What does Aeris really say about that poor man suffering mako poisoning? I had to know.

Next year is FFVII's 20th anniversary (sweet Jesus, hold me) and I wanted to get a head start and just play it early. I remember the PS4 version of FFVII HD being the most definitive so I loaded up my JP psn account and bought FFVII HD PS4. When I loaded it up, please bear with me when I saw that the text was in English.

Looking online, changing the system menu to Japanese did the trick and that's not unusual these days with mobile titles for instance. But that makes everything Japanese and sometimes I want a break and want things in my native language. I changed the system language to English any time I didn't play FFVII ps4. Eventually the words started to bug out because I saved in English like when I originally booted the game and found it wasn't in Japanese. It was just odd how a Japanese psn account didn't have the game automatically in Japanese regardless of system language. Changing system language also changes the language on my main account. The game is also locked to my JP account. I remember on PS3, if you bought a JP game from JP PSN that game would be in Japanese with no fuss and zero extra work.

Steam seemed like an option and I also have FFVII on Steam and this doesn't allow you to change it to Japanese. I could make a Japanese Steam account and probably somehow get FFVII Steam there but that seems too much work for something that should already be a default option.

I looked at my other FF games on Steam and you can't play those in Japanese either.

It seems my only option is to get the original JP release of FFVII International and play that on my PS2 which is far from the HD treatment of the ps4 version with those sharp models. Also, analog stick support. That's not a terribly big deal, and I'm not complaining but I mean, options would be nice. I can only assume it's like this because the NA versions are cheaper and if they offered JP language as an option more Japanese people would buy that version instead? Weirdly, this isn't even a universal SE thing. The Last Remnant, also on Steam, has an option to change your language to Japanese right from the menu. No right clicking and going to properties necessary.

From a player perspective, it's not a terribly big deal and I probably seem like I'm bitching, but I honestly want to provide this suggestion for future releases so that maybe the company will be a bit more open minded but more than likely there's a legitimate reason it's set up this way?

Thoughts?

 

[Inuhanyou]

But there is no language in FF7.

 

[YianGaruga]

Looking online, changing the system menu to Japanese did the trick and that's not unusual these days with mobile titles for instance.

That's the case for pretty much any multilanguage game these days, for example in Europe. Language selection is mostlly a thing of the past. It's just not something 99% of users need. That's not exclusive to FF or Square Enix.

And FF VII shouldn't be locked to your JP account. Did you set your PS4 to primary on that account?

It was just odd how a Japanese psn account didn't have the game automatically in Japanese regardless of system language.

That seems like a worse option than having it based on system language to me.

If every game I bought on German PSN defaulted to German I would be pissed.

 

[Seda]

IIRC the PSP versions of FF1 and FF2 allow you to change everything to Japanese. I thought that was pretty cool.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

That's the case for pretty much any multilanguage game these days, for example in Europe. Language selection is mostlly a thing of the past. It's just not something 99% of users need. That's not exclusive to FF or Square Enix.

And FF VII shouldn't be locked to your JP account. Did you set your PS4 to primary on that account?


That seems like a worse option than having it based on system language to me.

If every game I bought on German PSN defaulted to German I would be pissed.

Setting it to primary helps? I'll try it.

I dunno. I prefer it where if I get a game from a specific region it's in that language I got it from unless stated otherwise.

 

[Aters]

Back import is certainly a concern for JP publishers. They don't want Japanese players get it cheap on NA PSN.

 

[YianGaruga]

Setting it to primary helps? I'll try it.

I dunno. I prefer it where if I get a game from a specific region it's in that language I got it from unless stated otherwise.

But the game comes with language options, which is better for everyone. They just don't work exactly like you want them to. If someone lives in Japan but prefers their system and games in english (whenever possible), they should have that choice.

The place you live and the language you prefer to speak or read don't have to be related at all. I live in Germany and play everything in English. I'm glad those options exist without me having to import everything.

A language selection in-game would always be preferable, but I can see why devs don't bother with it. We both are in a very small minority here.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

But the game comes with language options, which is better for everyone. They just don't work exactly like you want it. If someone lives in Japan but prefers their system and games in english (whenever possible), they should have that choice.

The place you live and the language you prefer to speak or read don't have to be related at all. I live in Germany and play everything in English. I'm glad those options exist without me having to import everything.

Right and not everyone wants every single game and every app in their second language. I think there should be a medium so I don't have to change my system menu every time I boot up a game. I feel like I have less options and with a more poor user experience compared to PS3 in this.

 

[YianGaruga]

Right and not everyone wants every single game and every app in their second language. I think there should be a medium so I don't have to change my system menu every time I boot up a game. I feel like I have less options and with a more poor user experience compared to PS3 in this.

Plenty of PS3 games worked exactly like this. Is changig system language really THAT big of a deal? I don't think so

If you're talking about PSOne classics or something, yes those often only came with one language for every region. And that sucked. The only version of FF7 (PSOne) I can get on German PSN is the German one that is also in 50Hz. No thanks.

 

[wojtasz]

I believe square plans on making Japanes VA available from now on. I was so so happy to be able to change to japanes VA in FF Lightning Returns.

I believe english DUB is the main reason of JRP decline in popularity. Not only it is corny but it takes ages to listen to. Dialogues in all FF are always cringeworthy but as long as it is just subs your imagination takes over.. I guess player's fantasy is the main ingridient that makes a good FF game. English dub takes that away from you and leaves no room for your interpretation.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

Plenty of PS3 games worked exactly like this. Is changig system language really THAT big of a deal? I don't think so

If you're talking about PSOne classics or something, yes those often only came with one language for every region. And that sucked. The only version of FF7 (PSOne) I can get on German PSN is the German one that is also in 50Hz. No thanks.

So I guess this comes down to preference. At least it's an option to change the system language on ps4 unlike on Steam. So I'm still grateful. I'm halfway through the game now in Japanese. I made the JP account primary and can play it on my main account now, which is nice, but saves so are tied to accounts so I'd have to start over, haha. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[YianGaruga]

So I guess this comes down to preference. At least it's an option to change the system language on ps4 unlike on Steam. So I'm still grateful. I'm halfway through the game now in Japanese. I made the JP account primary and can play it on my main account now, which is nice, but saves so are tied to accounts so I'd have to start over, haha. Thanks for the suggestion.

No problem. In the end, I agree with you. Language selection should be an option in every game. I'd love to be able to switch languages on the fly, mid-conversation. That would be super useful in learning a language and can't be that difficult to implement.

But there would probably be like 10 people that ever used it, so yeah

 

[wrowa]

I hate it so much that you can't change languages on the fly in most games anymore. Having to change the entire system language is beneficial to absolutely no one.

 

[saturnine]

Having to change language through system settings is such a pain in the ass. It's especially bad on the Wii U because it takes for-fucking-ever. We're talking several minutes of loading.

I can't fathom why devs don't offer the option in-game anymore.

 

[Milijango]

Publishers don't strip out Japanese audio for funsies. This old thread has a bit more detail on Japanese contract law.

 

[Pinko Marx]

What's wrong with "let's mosey"? 😒

 

[Sn4ke_911]

You mean Atlus.

 

[HouseofGlass]

Steam seemed like an option and I also have FFVII on Steam and this doesn't allow you to change it to Japanese. I could make a Japanese Steam account and probably somehow get FFVII Steam there but that seems too much work for something that should already be a default option.

I looked at my other FF games on Steam and you can't play those in Japanese either.

Actually, I don't think that's the case. I think FF7 probably doesn't exist on the Japanese Steam store. That seems to be the case for a number of Japanese games (Valkyria Chronicles, Danganronpa, and Dark Souls, off the top of my head). My best guess is it's a combination of PC gaming/Steam not being popular in Japan, and Japanese publishers not wanting to sell a cheap version of these games to Japanese consumers. So they never even bother releasing a Japanese interface version of Japanese games on Steam. When they do, usually the Japanese interface is easy to select from the Steam interface or the game itself (La Mulana, One Way Heroics, NightCry, etc).

I really wish they would have the option for full Japanese interface on Steam more often, but unfortunately they either don't feel the Japanese market exists or they actually don't want to service it on Steam and risk their sales on other platforms. It's a shame.

 

[mao2]

I remember on PS3, if you bought a JP game from JP PSN that game would be in Japanese with no fuss and zero extra work.

That's not true at all. Japanese version of PS3 games that have multiple languages will usually default to the system language.

Having an in-game language setting is great but I can understand why developers don't include it. At least we have easier options now to play in the language we want, either by changing the system language or buying another version of the game. During the PS and PS2 era, we were mostly stuck to Japanese language even for games that were originally in English.