If you’ve already played a game that hasn’t been localised, would you play it again once it has been localised?

[Tenya]

I'll be brief. If the localization was done by Aksys and I'd already played the entire game, I would have a tenfold degraded experience.
I absolutely hate them. A 14B local LLM model can do a better job of translation than whatever Aksys is doing, and I've checked them multiple times.

If it was any other company, I might give it a try. But I feel like us otome-lovers have been getting dealt a terrible hand because there simply isn't any competition in the localization space, and so we just have to deal with having terrible translations that often just lose the meaning of the original. It's like playing two different games.

 

[Rosellia]

I think it depends on whether I had a hard time understanding the unlocalized version and needed to keep looking up vocab when playing. I have been casually learning Japanese for a few years, so I think my reading & listening are somewhat passable for playing games. So for games that were difficult to me, I would replay the localized version but otherwise I won't replay it.

 

[marzipan]

Sometimes I do! It's nice to compare one experience from the other, thinking about choices people made during translation and adapting the text. It's a pretty good way to practice translating as a skill, in my opinion! Furthering your own perspective by putting yourself in a professional's shoes.

 

[q22897258]

I probably wouldn't replay it. Since I can play games in their original language, I've gotten used to doing that. I feel like a lot of a character's personality and the nuances of their dialogue can only be fully conveyed in the original text. Even if an official localization is released later, I'd still prefer the original version. Unless I absolutely loved the story, I probably wouldn't replay the whole game.

 

[failedwebsite]

I'll be brief. If the localization was done by Aksys and I'd already played the entire game, I would have a tenfold degraded experience.
I absolutely hate them. A 14B local LLM model can do a better job of translation than whatever Aksys is doing, and I've checked them multiple times.

Can you post the 'cream of the crop' of their translations to WORST official translations of otome & BL ? I'm curious!

That being said, as a translation nerd I LOVE hearing about localization choices so when my friends happen to play a game I'm interested in or have played but the languages differ, I eat that stuff up like it's dessert.

For example, while it's not an otome game at all, I plan on playing the Hundred Line soon in Japanese, and a friend is currently playing it in English and posting out of context lines from it. The localization is frankly a riot, and I'm excited to see what the original lines behind those translations are once I get to the game on my backlog!

Yeah, I love that too! I wish all officially released games had an option to switch between the languages, so that I could compare, but I know it won't ever be the case due to licensing restrictions. Still voiced VNs are a blessing cause at least I can use the spoken lines for comparison.

 

[dzccc]

Basically no. If I understand the plot, I wouldn't want to watch it a second time.

Unless I completely misunderstood the content the first time I played it, and the plot was so captivating that it piqued my curiosity.

 

[nekoky]

If I really like the original version of the game, I feel like I can play it again. After all, the point of playing games is to have fun, so there's no question of whether it's necessary or not. If you like it a lot, just play it over and over.٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و

 

[sophiamolin]

That's a great question, and I definitely would, especially since the translation software for games I played back in the day often had noticeable flaws—localized versions just make it so much easier for me to understand the in-game text.

 

[801_9ma]

I'll be brief. If the localization was done by Aksys and I'd already played the entire game, I would have a tenfold degraded experience.
I absolutely hate them. A 14B local LLM model can do a better job of translation than whatever Aksys is doing, and I've checked them multiple times.

If it was any other company, I might give it a try. But I feel like us otome-lovers have been getting dealt a terrible hand because there simply isn't any competition in the localization space, and so we just have to deal with having terrible translations that often just lose the meaning of the original. It's like playing two different games.

Oh wow, I wasn't aware of Aksys' localizations being THAT bad, but them being so egregious it feels like an entirely different game would be a big no-no in my book for sure. I do feel like in general otome fans are dealt the short hand of the stick, considering the kind of horror stories you hear about companies releasing abysmal localizations or just dropping MTL "translations" and thinking "our job is done here, they'll eat it up anyway!" Talk about disrespecting your international audience LMAO.

Yeah, I love that too! I wish all officially released games had an option to switch between the languages, so that I could compare, but I know it won't ever be the case due to licensing restrictions. Still voiced VNs are a blessing cause at least I can use the spoken lines for comparison.

Same here! Whenever a game has a language setting I get excited like "yay I'll be able to compare languages if I ever get around to it!" even if in practice I don't really have the time for it.

And definitely agreed on voiced VNs being a blessing, when you're in that transitional period where you don't feel 100% comfortable going full OG language but still are getting to know the OG language better it can definitely lead to funny moments where you pause like "... that is NOT what this guy is saying" LMAO

 

[fr4pp3cinn]

If it's a game that I understood well, probably not! Unless I'm very curious about how it would be localized, for games with more fantastical settings and terms ;b

It is however more likely I'll play if it's a historical setting. Sometimes I have a bit of trouble understanding games with an older vocabulary, and I have to go by context clues, so it's harder to fully understand the whole sentence

It can be fun to compare the different versions though! I've tried replaying a game in Japanese (that I'd previously read through in English), and I got a new understanding of some scenes :)

 

[Shelia]

It... depends? If the translation were of good quality, then probably yes. Even if only to support future projects. But if feedback or reviews suggested that the translation was poor or misleading (Fire Emblem Engage is, unfortunately, a good example of this), then probably not.
Unless, of course, I really, really liked the game and was willing to overlook its flaws (like, you know, with Fire Emblem Engage )

 

[Webtx]

I probably would if it were an otome gacha game. The ones I've personally replayed are Tears of Themis and Lovebrush Chronicles. Since I was playing them in Mandarin, they were a good way to practice my hometown language. Then.. when the global versions were released, I finally got to fully understand the story and all the nuances I had missed before. It made me appreciate the games even more !

 

[totallyamanda]

If the game was good with MTL, then absolutely. (⭒•͈ 𓎺 •͈ )

Nuance and tone is sometimes completely ignored by machine translation so human translation with localization will always triumph when it comes to enjoyment and comprehensive cohesiveness.
(￣ω￣)

However, if MTL was a struggle bus to enjoy, it's a tentative maybe. Some stories are just bad, original language or not. ˙˚ଘo(∗ ❛ั ᵕ ❛ั )੭່˙

 

[Maverynthia]

Probably not. Especially if it's Aksys Games. They've had so many bad translations of things going through the game once in the original language is good enough. If it's another company, I might get it to support that company.

 

[mirasaki]

Most likely not. There are some really good and enjoyable TLs, but since I've been playing otome games in Japanese for a long time, I'm a bit unfamiliar to playing localized versions.
I find it uncomfortable to read them, as I always feel like there's a "mistranslation" in them, even though I'm aware the localization team has been working hard to translate them so they can be accepted by many fans out there..

 

[crisalt]

Probably not, I'd prefer a new game over something I already played.
Unless I'm feeling nostalgic

 

[Eril $akurai]

Sure.
If the translation is better and I really love the game then I'll replay it.

 

[a1045466329]

If I've already kind of forgotten the story, I'll play the game again once it gets a localized translation~~

 

[Tenya]

Oh wow, I wasn't aware of Aksys' localizations being THAT bad, but them being so egregious it feels like an entirely different game would be a big no-no in my book for sure. I do feel like in general otome fans are dealt the short hand of the stick, considering the kind of horror stories you hear about companies releasing abysmal localizations or just dropping MTL "translations" and thinking "our job is done here, they'll eat it up anyway!" Talk about disrespecting your international audience LMAO.

I actually forgot to respond, fgjbdnsfgjjsdfg. (ᵕ ó ᴗ ò)

ANYHOW. You're correct, I believe. Aksys is pretty much a monopoly in this market, so why bother making quality content or even having QA, I guess.
As for Aksys' crimes, I actually documented a tiny bit in my thread here:
What do you wish localized otome games/content kept from the original?
It's just the very opening of 9 R.I.P. that... well, it basically made me run to fetch the JP version to cross-check because it was confusing af lol.

 

[801_9ma]

I actually forgot to respond, fgjbdnsfgjjsdfg. (ᵕ ó ᴗ ò)

ANYHOW. You're correct, I believe. Aksys is pretty much a monopoly in this market, so why bother making quality content or even having QA, I guess.
As for Aksys' crimes, I actually documented a tiny bit in my thread here:
What do you wish localized otome games/content kept from the original?
It's just the very opening of 9 R.I.P. that... well, it basically made me run to fetch the JP version to cross-check because it was confusing af lol.

Don't worry, I haven't been able to check the forum in a hot minute so I'm also replying a bit late haha

Thank you for providing examples! Honestly, onomatopeias are some of the hardest things to translate in my opinion considering Japanese loves using them and some languages aren't that colorful when it comes to sounds (which is a shame!), but that example is particularly egregious. Even if they didn't want to use honorifics in the localization, I do agree with you that they could have worded the translation in a way that made it clearer we moved from talking about the onomatopeia to talking about a person. The way this reads, it feels like the localization is going "clang clang clang clang" for no reason.

If your translation sounds more confusing than helpful, then that's definitely a bad sign, and it's disheartening to see that some companies just think they can let something confusing slide because "oh well they'll buy our game anyway". :(

 

[chizee]

Probably not. Some games lose the original feel after localization, because translation can't always accurately convey the original context. For example, some words have multiple meanings, which can lead to ambiguity in translation. Moreover, many games nowadays use machine translation, resulting in some sentences that look very strange.

 

[NotMyCupOfTea]

It depends, but I would play it just to see the differences in how certain phrases are translated and such. However, considering that the translations lately are far from the original... I still wouldn't buy it. I prefer to buy the original and figure out how to translate it myself.

 

[Tenya]

Don't worry, I haven't been able to check the forum in a hot minute so I'm also replying a bit late haha

Thank you for providing examples! Honestly, onomatopeias are some of the hardest things to translate in my opinion considering Japanese loves using them and some languages aren't that colorful when it comes to sounds (which is a shame!), but that example is particularly egregious. Even if they didn't want to use honorifics in the localization, I do agree with you that they could have worded the translation in a way that made it clearer we moved from talking about the onomatopeia to talking about a person. The way this reads, it feels like the localization is going "clang clang clang clang" for no reason.

If your translation sounds more confusing than helpful, then that's definitely a bad sign, and it's disheartening to see that some companies just think they can let something confusing slide because "oh well they'll buy our game anyway". :(

So, since my post I actually learned a bit more about Aksys. I wanted to investigate this properly, and what I found was even more upsetting than what I could anticipate.

First:

This is a comment posted under this blog post from BlerdyOtome. I don't believe it's untrue though I have not dug deep enough to directly confirm what Aksys has claimed on twitter. However. Knowing the actual quality of Aksys' translations, and how supposedly they do their male-centered content in-house while otome gets outsourced to the cheapest bidder... I'm willing to believe it's 100% true. Especially with how the community has been complaining for years about how there are typos, grammatical errors and worse (though non-native Japanese speakers couldn't possibly be able to tell since... they don't speak the language lol), it's become very plausible. I just think it's, quite frankly, unacceptable to ask people to pay AAA-level prices for a 'localization' that's barely even a half-hearted translation at best.

Additionally, from the research I did do:
- the 'Aksys Games Rant' on Llamalikereviews (2016) mentions that when people contacted Aksys about Norn9, they were blocked on Twitter
- the r/otomegames post 'Aksys took 8 months to release a patch for another game' (2020) documents the pattern continuing with CxM Unlimited and Under Night in-Birth
- the Blerdy Otome 'Elitism' post (2021) and its comments ALSO reference Aksys ignoring fan feedback
- one comment from a translator on that same Blerdy Otome post said: '/We don't/can't play the game, most of the companies don't give us references, images, nothing actually. We translate the strings and that's it!'; which basically confirms what we have been suspecting.

That being said, this is where my investigation came to a stop, LMAO. I'd have to ask people directly to maybe find the tweet/confirm what was said. Still, it's all fairly... yeah, it's not great.

 

[Rawamabuk3020]

Si es uno de mis favoritos, definitivamente, eso aclara mis dudas. , jajaja.

 

[801_9ma]

So, since my post I actually learned a bit more about Aksys. I wanted to investigate this properly, and what I found was even more upsetting than what I could anticipate.

First:
View attachment 104011

This is a comment posted under this blog post from BlerdyOtome. I don't believe it's untrue though I have not dug deep enough to directly confirm what Aksys has claimed on twitter. However. Knowing the actual quality of Aksys' translations, and how supposedly they do their male-centered content in-house while otome gets outsourced to the cheapest bidder... I'm willing to believe it's 100% true. Especially with how the community has been complaining for years about how there are typos, grammatical errors and worse (though non-native Japanese speakers couldn't possibly be able to tell since... they don't speak the language lol), it's become very plausible. I just think it's, quite frankly, unacceptable to ask people to pay AAA-level prices for a 'localization' that's barely even a half-hearted translation at best.

Additionally, from the research I did do:
- the 'Aksys Games Rant' on Llamalikereviews (2016) mentions that when people contacted Aksys about Norn9, they were blocked on Twitter
- the r/otomegames post 'Aksys took 8 months to release a patch for another game' (2020) documents the pattern continuing with CxM Unlimited and Under Night in-Birth
- the Blerdy Otome 'Elitism' post (2021) and its comments ALSO reference Aksys ignoring fan feedback
- one comment from a translator on that same Blerdy Otome post said: '/We don't/can't play the game, most of the companies don't give us references, images, nothing actually. We translate the strings and that's it!'; which basically confirms what we have been suspecting.

That being said, this is where my investigation came to a stop, LMAO. I'd have to ask people directly to maybe find the tweet/confirm what was said. Still, it's all fairly... yeah, it's not great.

My god, asking a translator to translate a game's script with no visual context at all is like asking a completely blind man to describe you a painting, I hate how companies just do that with their contractors and expect them to deliver a quality translation when they're working with half of the context missing... (though, clearly, in Aksys' case they don't even care about the quality of the product).

It really does feel unfair, if the translation isn't even checked then it's not worth dropping the money on it, but the problem is that if people don't buy enough, we might end up in a circle where companies don't think localizing otome games is worth it anymore... it truly is a vicious cycle and it's really disheartening. :(

Thank you for all the info you found though!