2014-02-25, 07:19 | Link #101 |
"Senior" "Member"
Join Date: Jan 2012
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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...
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2014-02-25, 07:37 | Link #102 |
阿賀野型3番艦、矢矧 Lv180
Graphic Designer
Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Belgium, Brussels
Age: 37
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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.
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2014-02-25, 09:02 | Link #103 |
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Rokkenjima
Age: 27
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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.
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2014-02-25, 09:56 | Link #104 |
阿賀野型3番艦、矢矧 Lv180
Graphic Designer
Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Belgium, Brussels
Age: 37
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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).
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Last edited by Klashikari; 2014-02-25 at 10:07. |
2014-03-07, 14:44 | Link #106 |
阿賀野型3番艦、矢矧 Lv180
Graphic Designer
Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Belgium, Brussels
Age: 37
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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:
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:
Spoiler for Chapter 3:
Spoiler for chapter 4:
Spoiler for chapter 6:
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.
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Last edited by Klashikari; 2014-03-12 at 08:14. |
2014-03-08, 08:26 | Link #108 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Rokkenjima
Age: 27
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Quote:
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2014-03-08, 15:18 | Link #109 |
阿賀野型3番艦、矢矧 Lv180
Graphic Designer
Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Belgium, Brussels
Age: 37
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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.
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2014-03-08, 19:44 | Link #111 |
阿賀野型3番艦、矢矧 Lv180
Graphic Designer
Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006
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Age: 37
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*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.
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2014-03-09, 00:32 | Link #112 |
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Rokkenjima
Age: 27
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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.
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Last edited by battle22; 2014-03-09 at 08:24. |
2014-03-09, 06:13 | Link #113 | |
Ultimate Gambler
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Australia
Age: 30
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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. Quote:
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. |
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2014-03-11, 20:39 | Link #114 |
User of the "Fast Draw"
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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:
In the end it was a pretty good game. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one just to see how events unfold.
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2016-01-18, 13:54 | Link #118 |
Secret Society BLANKET
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: 3 times the passion of normal flamenco
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2018-11-18, 10:58 | Link #120 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Age: 30
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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. |
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