Danganronpa 1-2 Reloaded / Trigger Happy Havoc [PSV] - Remake/Port Game Discussion

[GreyZone]

We live in strange times... people that get paid for their translations make blunders because they have, as it seems, no or almost no idea how to bring things into context, leading to awkward things like translating EVERY instance of "-san" as Mister/Miss... but at the same time people who do it in their free time get most of these things right and are able to catch most details.

I wonder if this is caused by the translators incompetence, or the translators not getting anything aside from the raw script without context, or if they simply Americanize it on purpose for marketing... or if there is some completely different reason...

Maybe it is just low budget after all...

[Klashikari]

Whereas I think honorifics in a obviously japanese setup wouldn't hurt any translation, I understand it is a no go for a commercial release of a video game. So the use of alternative options like speech pattern or certain use of words is a plain given.
But when it dumbs down the original intent? Nope. Really, it makes you wonder if the translator(s) is just incompetent or think the audience is too dumb to understand the nuance or the mistake they have put there.

At least, evidences etc aren't screwed up so far, but since characters are also a lionshare of DR appeal, screwing their interactions isn't really a good idea (things will go downhill starting with chap 3 I guess).

This doesn't bode too well with SDR2 localization prospect: much longer and much more difficult to grasp, with very early and thorough characterization. I really hope they will hone their localization process and choices for the sequel.

[battle22]

I don't have a Vita, but I did watch some videos. I love the English dub, but I really dislike the font they are using. And the graphical edits look terrible. The fan translation looked so much better. Kinda disappointing.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really like the changes they made, translation wise. I personally dislike honorifics in English translations. I also liked what they did with Genocide Jack.

[Klashikari]

Honorifics aren't necessary as long the translation manages to bring out the nuances.
While I don't want to compare fan translation and official product, it is plainly obvious how the former managed to avoid using these in a fine way with minimal loss, while NISA flat out didn't even bother with it.

At least, dialogues themselves are fine, but it is how they made characters calling each other that rubs me in the wrong way.

Also, the whole deal with Jack/Jill doesn't make much sense: it is a name, even if it isn't exactly a proper one. In a translation, you -don't- translate names at all, unless their meaning are absolutely necessary for the audience (like the puns in Ace Attorney characters names).

[smilewolfy]

^at least they didn't translate monokuma to monobear...

[Klashikari]

Alright, so done with the game left and right, and I'm not really sure if DR2 will have a proper localization if the trends are kept the same as DR1.
Frankly, it felt obvious to me the translator knew what they were doing, but the editor in charge of the localization was left unchecked for various things that made a lot of stuff awkward, or even nonsensical.

Here is what I felt problematic with this localization. Be aware this isn't supposed to be a review of the game as a whole, nor a comparison with the fan translation (to which I had problem with as well, but that's another matter).
Spoilers will be tagged appropriately as well.

1) Naming
The most obvious problem I encountered early, and that was pretty much rampant thorough the whole game.
Seeing this is a japanese based story, I really don't think you have to make so characters talk as if they were westerners. I'm not talking about honorifics but the way they call each other.
Suffice to say, I'm not sold when they made characters calling each other with their respective first name. This is actually a problem because it lead to conflicting image of the characters in regard of their speech.
This is even more true when it comes to nicknames: Kiyotaka, Yasuhiro and Aoi got nicknames right from the get go, which is not really "in-character". And as you might have noticed, for "some reason", Aoi's nickname, Hina, is based on her last name, Asahina, despite her first name is only 3 syllabe short...
The same can be said for Celestia's nickname, Celes that has been turned into Celeste... why is that?
My problem is that "Celeste" is not any easier to pronunce than Celestia in English, so having this character asking people to call this way doesn't make any sense in the given context: why didn't she call herself Celeste to begin with then, instead of Celestia? It is just nonsensical, because for someone who obviously use a fake name as Makoto figured out when she introduced herself, Celestia wouldn't slightly change her name she chosed herself to begin with. If you consider the context, she ask people to call her Celes because it is easier for them, instead of doing all the way with Celestia. And it isn't like it is difficult for people to read Celes, so really they made it more complicated for nothing.

I can only conclude they made so it is "easier" for the english voice actor to have the job done, but that's ridiculous: I don't see why a game script must abide to convenience of a dub, whereas it should be the latter to do so... otherwise, just call everyone casey, britney, john whatever and put the story in America if they want to go full throttle with that.

But seriously, this does affect few parts of the game for the characters.
Let's take Byakuya for instance: I frankly don't see him talking to others as if they were equals or even humans to begin with. He considers every other students as commoners, low lifes and the like. So him using their proper name is not exactly fitting if you ask me.
Likewise, I find Kiyotaka asking Makoto right from the bat to call him Taka absolutely out of character.

As I already stated before, I don't think a commercial game need honorifics whatsoever, but to compensate that, the localization has to bring out figure of speech, speech tone etc that reflect the relationship between the characters. And as far as if goes, they just went with the easy way that pretty much water down such aspect of the characters.
So on this part of the localization, they pretty much screwed up.

The same can be said for the characters titles, which irked me as some of them don't convey the actual title or look awkward:

Spoiler for Ultimate Students Titles:

-"Ultimate": let's begin with the most heated debate here: the use of "ultimate".
Originally, the students title always involve "超高校級の" which literally means "Ultra/Super High School Class/Level". This implies the student is actually a specialist of a given field that surpass the level of a normal high schooler specialized in the same field.
The problem I have with ultimate is that it basically means the said student is the best in that field, regardless of anyone else knowledge/abilities etc. Which makes you wonder: why are they still at school then?

While I understand that "Super High School Level X" is really long, I think it was a very bad idea of removing the "high school" mention... In fact, I wouldn't be so picky if every title was like "Ultimate High School X" instead but well.

-Ultimate Moral Compass: Not only Kiyotaka's title sounds silly, moral compass implies the said person dictactes others about what's morally right or wrong, which is a bit simplifying. Originally, his title is "超高校級の風紀委員" which literally means "Super High School Level Discipline/Moral Commitee Member", whose role is to make sure students of their school follow discipline and rules of the school.
As such, Kiyotaka is more prone to make students follow the rules, not just "moral". Moral Compass is sort of much more narrow, while Kiyotaka's title implies he isn't just preaching moral, but being an honor student and all, he makes sure other students are having a "good school life".

-Ultimate Affluent Progeny: needless wording, and Progeny strictly goes to descendant, while his original title, 超高校級の御曹司 is more specific. 御曹司 (onzoushi) means the son of a distinguished family. Basically, a heir/scion.

-Ultimate Fanfic Creator: That's one of the most inappropriate title possible. His original title, 超高校級の同人作家 (Super High School Doujinshi Author) is very specific. A Doujinshi isn't only about fanmade fiction, but mostly fanarts and the likes. Fanfic Creator is extremely narrow, because it implies the said person would only bother with fanfiction. Of course, doujinshi is an obscure name, so if they really don't want to use such term, what about fanzine...? That actually is the proper english term of doujinshi, and when you have Hifumi talking about drawing etc (or even one of his promotional artwork), it just doesn't make sense to be a fanfic creator.

-Ultimate Pop Sensation: Sayaka's title is just... whacky. In Japan, an Idol isn't just singing J Pop whatsoever, they are integral part of entertainment business, which involves way more than simply singing and the likes. Also, the "sensation" part also implies it is a spontaneous fad, which might not last, which isn't exactly true when it comes to idols, save due to scandals and the like

-Ultimate Swimming Pro: why simply not swimmer?

-Ultimate Writing Prodigy: Not really smooth, and a bit mistaken. Original title is 超高校級の文学少女 (Super High School Level Literature Girl), which implies she is well versed in literature, not simply in writing (confirmed with various mentions, such like her knowledge about Norse Mythology, which isn't really that well known in Japan, save obvious figures like Odin).

The rest is pretty much on spot (Clairvoyant and Fashionista are way more logical than Shaman and Model respectively).

2) Consistency
Following the naming convention, the setup had it a bit rough as well.
Namely: if the story takes place in Japan, why on earth did they change things for no reason?
It isn't only about the plot, but also the subject discussed in there. Danganronpa is a niche game to begin with, so having japanese stuff being "converted" into american stuff doesn't make much sense, especially when said japanese stuff is left intact later on. Consistency isn't exactly pristine in that regard, and it will be covered in the spoiler section.

This is also true to choices during trial: they often switch between choices describing a third POV, or Makoto's, or even the characters currently talking, which doesn't make sense.

3) Mistakes, Bugs and whatnot
The localization also has its shares of bug, mistakes whatsoever.
Whereas there few things that pretty much change the meaning/tone of certain characters, other changes lead to outright mistakes.
Thankfully, none of it directly affected any investigation/trial part, but for a game that has a very heavy focus on the characters, I can't say it was a good way of handling it.


Anyway, here is the spoiler section. This will cover a bunch of naming/consistency issues or plain mistakes I've noticed. Doesn't mean I've found all of them, but these are the major ones I believe. Pictures are also included for your convenience.
By themselves, they aren't really "dangerous" since most of the time it doesn't involve core plot parts. However, since it is a murder plot, it will give away which characters are alive in a given chapter or not. So I suggest you to read this section only if you are done with the said chapter or better, the full game.

Spoiler for Chapter 2:

Celes' tea scene (consistency): this scene doesn't exactly make sense if they keep mentioning "milk tea" without explaining the difference, leaving the reader confused. In this scene, Celes was expecting Hifumi to server her royal milk tea, which is a type of milk tea that involve brewing the tea with milk, instead of simply adding milk after the tea has been brewed.
I know that royal milk tea isn't really known in the west, but the name alone give you an idea the tea process is different, and someone can simply google if they really don't know.

Mondo VS Kiyotaka (mistake): flat out mistake there. As the japanese text implies, Mondo believes he should go through this contest with a handicap, so only he would go there with his clothes, which is shown in the next scene.
The english text doesn't mention that one bit, so if they didn't know the original context, they would be puzzled why Kiyotaka chickened out and went without his clothes in the sauna.

Chihiro's murder (mistake): the "ultimate" part is just mixing up with the actual title of Genocider Shou. The issue is that it is an anachronic comment, as Makoto doesn't know Genocider Shou is a high schooler, let alone a student of Hope's Peak. Therefore, there is no reason for him to call them the "Ultimate Murderous Fiend".

チミドロフィーバー！　(mistake): translated as "bloodlust", which is a bit... off. チミドロ is actually 血みどろ which describe something bloody/gory, to a very high degree (fitting the likes of carnage and all). Adding the fever, it basically implies a very extreme bloody tendency. Bloodlust implies "simply" the urge of tasting blood, while the original japanese term implies more than that: literally blood raining/splattered around.
Bloodbath Fever actually is much more fitting.

Byakuya's speech (naming): one of the many examples that cripple Byakuya thorough the game. He is simply not in friendly terms with other characters. So why would he even use their nicknames to begin with?

Touko's indignation (consistency/mistake): Nope, Touko actually says ひどい！, qualifying Byakuya's "betrayal" as horrible. This isn't the same as "I hate you!" even if she said that in the spurt of the situation.

Genocider Shou (naming/concistency): in a translation, you -don't- translate name at all, unless it is outmost necessity due to heavy pun based series (like Ace Attorney series).
Why would Japanese nickname that psychopath with a western first name, even if Jack the Ripper is well known?
Also, it doesn't make sense for Shou to care about her own name, so asking people to call her "jill" despite being a deranged AND japanese murderer don't make any sense at all. In fact, she kept using "Shou" in the original script, which is plainly male to begin with.
I've read houk's explanation about this choice, and it doesn't cut at all. They are interpreting a character intent in the wrong way, because the said character really couldn't care less about such detail.

Shou's cooking fetish (consistency): Shou is comparing her murder methods with cooking except... for some reason, the localization use an italian restaurant, instead of a ramen shop.
It is... that puzzling. Again, the problem is the context: we are dealing with Japanese students, so their first and foremost examples about that kind of things would be a ramenya and the likes. Likewise, if the setup was in France, you would expect fancy restaurant about pasta, potato whatever.
What makes this localization choice even weirdier is that they DO mention Ramen afterwards, which is replacing the italian example... in short, the original Japanese text shows Shou comparing ramen cooking with murder, then compare how an idiot would compare ramen and italian pasta just because they are booth noodles dishes. And the english localization switched the examples, despite it doesn't make sense for Japanese characters.
It is... just damn unecessary.

Shou's speech terms (consistency/mistake): So we have mention of loli (which is really not what your non otaku western would use), but fujoshi is "translated" into fanmadam... what the hell?
I don't expect fujoshi to be used at all. But what is this portemanteau word? Not only it is not a common occurence, but it is just... not accurate at all. Why not just making Shou saying "I'm in Boy's love!" which circumvent the need of spelling a name for her, but also implies both platonic and sexual guy-guy appeal for her.
By the way, イケメン doesn't mean she think the guy is "adorable" but "hot" which is quite different I think...

Kiyotaka calling out Kyouko (consistency): again, this kind of stuff occurs despite it doesn't make any sense. Kiyotaka is the "paragon" of discipline, and as portrayed in the game, he is quite hardass when it comes to rules.
So I really don't think he would really call Kyouko "missy".

Choices (consistency): there are various examples of that, but this one is the most obvious. Choices are normally in form of neutral POV, because it is the player that selects the proper input (hence why the game states that "苗木の部屋" thus Naegi's room, and not "ぼくの部屋" "my room" for the first murder in japanese).
But this instance is another consistency issue, because Makoto has to figure why Kyouko kept the tabs on Mondo... yet why did they use the first pronoun there, despite we are controlling Makoto, not Kyouko?
They simply jump between different POV in the choices part that it doesn't make sense.

Spoiler for Chapter 3:

Money! (consistency): dollars in Japan? Really? Beside the obvious issue for the context, the conversion is wrong. It should have been a hundred million dollars, not ten million, as the original amount in Japanese is 百億円 which is 10 billion yens.

Hifumi's blooper (consistency/mistake): As you should probably know, Hifumi actually call people with their -full name- ala samurai, which is gimmick fitting his hardcore otaku side.
Having Mr. / Miss [last name] sound distant without the actual tone of misplaced speech, even if you take in consideration that students wouldn't call each other Mr/Miss. But suffice to say, it fails a bit the purpose of his character trend.
But anyway, in this occurence, they just screwed up.

"Byakuya-sama!" (consistency): I know -sama can be translated into a lot of things, but that just doesn't cut with Shou. The reason is that "master" implies she is Byakuya's servant... which is hard to imagine. Certainly, Shou and Touko puts Byakuya on a pedestal with such honorific, but by no means they became maid whatsoever. While it "could" work for Touko considering how obedient she became after a while, it isn't the case for Shou who is trying to gain Byakuya's favors, but by no means she is servile to him. I believe "Lord Byakuya" or something like that would have worked better.

He is already awake you know (mistake): Naturally, not exactly appropriate. Aoi begs Hifumi to hang in there, exactly because he was still alive and conscious... not like he needs to wake up. Unless you tell me that you say that to someone conscious but on the verge of dying...

Misplaced anger (mistake): nope, Byakuya is the one pissed off, because chapter 3 game has been "spoiled" due to Hifumi's clue.

Cartoon? Not Manga? (consistency): like I mentioned before, I don't get why they need to mention "cartoon" whereas they are fine to mention terms like anime or even moe, which is a niche term fo begin with. If moe is fine, why using cartoon, or even weirder, japanese cartoon...?

Taro or Tarosuke? (consistency): originally, he claimed he is called Tarosuke. But I assume it is too difficult for the english VA to pronunce that, so how about cutting again some stuff? What's next, Makoto called Mako?

Spoiler for chapter 4:

Bossy Byakuya (consistency): Alright, I know Byakuya is bossy but... chop chop? From someone of this pedigree? really now?

Too feminine for ogre (consistency): Shou always call people with a nickname, and Sakura isn't any exception. It is even moreso justified for Sakura, considering she is a girl and muscle wall. She went like Yasuhiro with "Ogre-chi".

Makoto, you aren't its only friend (mistake): originally, Makoto says ボクらの仲間 so "our friend".

Spoiler for chapter 6:

Intimate much? (consistency): referring to my gripes with people calling each other with their first name, it isn't like Kyouko is intimate with Junko, much to the contrary. In fact, it would have made much more sense if she used the full name as intended.

Family? What Family? (mistake): Junko originally said "残念なお姉ちゃん" which literally means pitiful/pathetic older sister. Junko never mentions their family, since only the two of them were in despair.
As such, it doesn't make sense that Junko says that Mukuro is the letdown of the family, especially that the latter is still a high school level genius in a certain field. She is just "pathetic" to Junko's standards, as being a genius soldier arguably doesn't fit for Junko's plans.

Beyond a mere queen (consistency): "Queen" Junko actually calls Makoto & co 人間 which simply means "humans". While I understand peasants imply already they are inferior to her, I think the scale is different. Comparing a queen and a peasant, they have just a hierarchical difference. Having a queen calling such peasant "human" implies she isn't a mere human with a queen authority, but beyond that.

They became one?! Twice?! (bug): well... it is Makoto's speaking, but as you can see, it seems Kyouko is stealing the spotlight for no reason here.

Some points might look like mere nitpick, but in general, I can't say the localization was anything outstanding.

That being said, I'm talking about localization as in adapting content in english. The translation, on the other hand, is fine and I didn't notice any conflicting facts in the investigations and trials, aside of those in my list.

[Guy Incognito]

glad i used the fan translation patch

[battle22]

Thankfully, none of it directly affected any investigation/trial part, but for a game that has a very heavy focus on the characters, I can't say it was a good way of handling it.

Danganronpa has a heavy focus on the characters? Really? They are just personalities spelled right at you, and they stay like that for the rest of the game. They are there to be killed. I say Danganronpa is more about mystery and case solving, imo. Characters were fun, but bland and really didn't have anything interesting in them.

[Klashikari]

I disagree for the following reasons:
-Cases are hardly difficult at all. Most do not involve crazy stuff whatsoever, and except perhaps case 2 having a huge red herring, the rest is pretty obvious.
-The setup is heavily relying on the characters to convey the mood, and you don't need an outstanding character development to have that.
-Suffice to say, some characters do have a certain development, while others' motives can be pieced together with their personal dialogues.

If it wasn't for the presentation (artistic direction etc) and the characters, I hardly believe it would have been as popular as it is. Hell, the major part of the fanbase is exactly focused on the characters, arguably not about the mystery whatsoever.

[battle22]

Then I completely missed the point of this game. If it didn't have the cases and murders, I would personally never get into it.

[Klashikari]

*Sigh* When I said focus, it doesn't mean it discard everything else, and it isn't like I implied everyone would look forwards to it just for the characters.
What I did mention is that the game clearly had its share of merits because it does offer more than just murder cases. The same can be said for Ace Attorney because of its full package, not just trials.
That's why screwing characters centred stuff isn't really a good idea.

[battle22]

It does? ...Outside Kirigiri, Celes and Junko, I didn't care about anyone. Okay, I forgot to write Genocider Shou. They were all bland, stereotype cut outs, who had one purpose - to have a wild personality and different from others so the character stands out in the crowd. You don't need character development, but it's also cheap when the game spells out their personality for you, instead of you realizing it as you read it. That's why I never took the characters seriously. I didn't expect character development and I didn't get it. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the game. I loved it, but not because of the characters.

[Celestia Ludenberg]

Who picked up on this?
Copied and pasted from a post i made over at NISA forums.

"Anyone else notice that when Naegi's reading those message board posts, they were posted 4 years before Naegi even enrolled in Hopes Peak Academy.

Is Naegi the SHSL/Ulitmate Time Traveler or something or was he just reading archived posts? How did anyone know who was going to be attending the school 4 years from now?"

2010 was when the game was originally released. I know that. But then here's when their mistake messes up the timeline. Mukuro's enrollment form says she enrolled in 2014

You've also got to love this reasoning

I noticed on the magazine with Junko was selling for ___ yen.
But in the game, it acknowledges it's set in Japan yes Monokuma offers the students 1 million dollars if they kill someone.

Houk the translator says what was shown on the magazine isn't important to the plot and if they had left "Yen" in players would then have to look up how much it is in US dollars.

It's like these guys don't know who plays these types of games.
No hardcore dudebro is going to pick up this game and it's not hard to guess that 1,000,000 yen is a lot of money.

This translation could have been so much worse, but they could have done better, I'm not expecting it to be the same as PZ either, I didn't really like that translation.

Originally Posted by battle22

It does? ...Outside Kirigiri, Celes and Junko, I didn't care about anyone. Okay, I forgot to write Genocider Shou. They were all bland, stereotype cut outs, which had one purpose - to have a wild personality and different from others so the character stands out in the crowd. You don't need character development, but it's also cheap when the game spells out their personality for you, instead of you realizing it as you read it. That's why I never took the characters seriously. I didn't expect character development and I didn't get it. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the game. I loved it, but not because of the characters.

Dangan Ronpa has plenty of character development, especially in school mode for the Vita. You learn stuff about the characters you wouldn't have known unless you talked to them during your free time events.

It's one of the reasons why I love this series, because of the colorful cast of characters.

[FlareKnight]

While checking the last few pages being about translation discussions, thought I might try to comment on what happened in the game . I'm sure they got some stuff wrong in here. But in the end I think there's more impact on how people perceive the changes if they read fan translations or watched the anime (assuming fansubs did a better job there). At least didn't take away from my enjoyment of the game.

So onto the story itself!

Spoiler for End of this first game, though will bounce between different chapters:

Well damn. I think that's a fair way to start things off. Tough to say where you start with this kind of situation.

Even nearing the end I hadn't thought things had become as bad as they were. Though to be fair I did guess at the time thing before the last chapter and bits of what the truth of the situation was. They did give you some nice hints that let you piece it together though.

Of course without seeing the sequel hard to say what the exact state of the world is. I'd probably lean to it not being in the best of shape since likely things did go down the way Junko said they did. Still a terrible event almost 2 years ago might leave some time for recovery (aside from the people who got slaughtered trying to break into the school). Even in the worst case at least the group is out there and maybe they can bring a fresh wind of optimism back into the world.

Just kind of sad to look back at the game. Good friends pushed and prodded to kill each other after being forced to forget they were friends. Who knows about the afterlife and memories, but must have been all the sadder for the killers and killed to realize the truth. For say Sakaya to realize what she tried to do in setting up Naegi and how it really was all for nothing. Just a tragic setting. People that would have stood together against the provocations if they had the background and friendships to act as support. Of course that was part of the point, I just feel it's too bad that the characters that did die....died.

As a whole I did enjoy the game (much as you can when people are dying). A lot of characters that I did want to survive did. I kind of figured Byakuya would survive if only because I was hoping he'd get killed off . Did turn out alright by the end though. I actually really figured Aoi would die. Just seemed like that was going to happen. Glad it didn't though since I did like her character. Was a nice positive presence and her friendship with Sakura was nice. Would like to think they reached a similar friendship that they had before all this craziness began.

It does make me wonder how these people all got along before the Tragedy. With the lack of need to kill kind of wonder if something wouldn't have happened between Naegi and Sayaka since they did have the previous school connection.

I'd say the mysteries as a whole were good. There was only a couple that I could really figure out before the trial actually got started. A nice amount of twists and turns within the trials. It did get a bit crazy at times with all the various abilities and parts within a trial, but not bad. Only tough time was figuring out what random word they picked for the hangman's gambit.

In the end it was a pretty good game. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one just to see how events unfold.

[Nvis]

Are they making a third game?

[iceyfw]

DR2 limited edition is up on the NIS store!

[marvelB]

Originally Posted by Nvis

Are they making a third game?

They've already hinted there would be a good while ago, so yeah. But in the meantime, there's a spinoff in the works to look forward to (which has its own thread).

[LoweGear]

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc coming out soon on Steam this February!

YouTube

https://youtu.be/TLWM6m37lfU

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Xefi]

that's cool. i guess i'll be skipping the vita version completely now. :]
-----------------------------

[FFTHEWINNER]

just finished Danganronpa 1 and 2 reloaded on the PS4 a short while ago. fantastic games. i liked the 1st more than the 2nd,but both were great. i even wrote a playthrough topic of the second:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards...eload/76865854

will play DR:UDG next,then the DR3 anime and DRV3.