Xenoblade 2 thoughts (no spoilers)

[NoirSon]

vivster said:

NoirSon said:

Byakko has a certain meaning in Japan and other Asian countries that unless one is familiar with the culture they may not know or care. You can't always take for granted someone that plays the game will know about Japanese myths such as the four gods or care if they are from outside of the country. The game was localized in the UK so using Dromarch, alludes to a mythical animal that their potential audience might know about even if it isn't as on the nose as Byakko is for Japan.

Personally I think the localization is very good, some stilted dialogue delivery in some of the early portions of the game but it eventually comes together and gets much better. Probably the only names that were hurt maybe the Japanese naming convention involving the royal Mor Ardain blades that was lost but even with that only Aegaeon loses out as Brighid is Celtic goddess of fire so that matches the original. 

Funnily enough I am way more familiar with the Japanese folklore that whatever they're trying to rebrand it overseas. Who would've thought that people who primarily play JRPGs are somewhat familiar with Japanese culture or at least interested in it.

If anything it's really distracting when you have the Japanese audio which references completely different names from what you're reading. They should've included alternative names for people who specifically downloaded the Japanese language pack. One could assume that those people can take a few Japanese names.

 

I am also familiar with the names, but they weren't necessarily aiming at those of us that have knowledge of the culture or myths of Japan, they mainly went for approximations and used their own and other western cultures as the reference points once again for gamers that may not be as aware. I wouldn't hold language pack against them, since it is very obvious they added that at the last minute and for the most part you don't often see them include different sets of subtitles even in most anime or games these days that match both the original Japanese track and one that reflects the localization.

It can be off putting but it is a minor annoyance. You have a worst example with Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, where they left the Japanese audio in there (mainly to save money and not have to get English singers) but they didn't bother to sub the battle dialogue probably since in battle there is already text on the screen. Sometimes sacrifices are made for costs or game play or I think in regards to Xenoblade 2, they wanted to go for less of a Japan-centric tone and more of a mythical fantasy world tone, having the names of major characters be 85% Japanese doesn't really build toward that.