Games Happy

Earlier at present, we revealed our interview with the Head of Gust, Junzo Hosoi, in regards to the upcoming Atelier Marie Remake – and whereas many of the solutions to our questions had been consistent with what we anticipated, one, specifically, stood out for the easy incontrovertible fact that it sidestepped the query we had requested solely. When requested about what challenges the workforce may need confronted with releasing titles like Atelier Marie Remake and Atelier Ryza 3 concurrently worldwide, Hosoi merely said that “Our efforts to enhance the standard and pace of localization have continued from earlier titles and have paid off with Atelier Ryza 3 and Atelier Marie Remake.”

Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the Finish & the Secret Key was launched again in March, and we thought it was a superb conclusion to Ryza’s story. Nonetheless – the sport’s translation has greater than its fair proportion of points. Our reviewer, Nathan Lee, devoted an entire paragraph to the interpretation points in his evaluate; and I felt a lot the identical throughout my very own playthrough. Quite a few facets of the sport’s translation are merely inexcusable; but, understanding that the sport was Gust’s first simultaneous launch, I did not wish to maintain it in opposition to them or Koei Tecmo – their writer. 

Once we had been supplied the chance to ask Junzo Hosoi some questions in regards to the upcoming remake, which can be slated to be a simultaneous launch, I made a decision it was value probing about no matter challenges the corporate may need confronted when endeavoring to carry the video games to an English-speaking viewers concurrently the home Japanese launch. The response? Aspect-stepping the query solely, to suggest that each the pace, in addition to high quality, of the corporate’s translations have by no means been higher.

I did not precisely count on an in-depth response, comprising each little problem which may’ve arisen in the course of the sport’s localization course of; when an interview is performed over electronic mail, the place an outlet has to ship each query upfront there’s all the time the expectation that any of the more durable questions won’t be met with a response. I’ve actually had some questions thrown out up to now, however normally, you do not see an organization nearly gleefully putting out at a softball pitch like this one. Which, in fact, is what makes this response all of the extra uncommon.

Now, you do not have to spell it out to me – translating any online game is hard work, particularly any as text-heavy as Atelier Ryza 3. Perhaps Atelier Marie Remake will launch in a greater state, and Ryza 3’s translation will likely be an unlucky anomaly that was a results of the scale and scope of the challenge. That is high-quality; I wasn’t asking for an apology for the state of the sport’s translation – as a participant, a fan, and a translation fanatic I genuinely wished to learn about what went into the challenge. Flawed as the discharge product was, the truth that they managed to (nearly) stick the touchdown for a simultaneous launch ought to be trigger for celebration; and much be it from me to reduce the efforts {that a} workforce has put into making that purpose a actuality.

But it isn’t truthful to anybody – the builders, who labored on the unique script, and certainly would favor for it to be skilled in as greatest a approach as doable by gamers; the gamers, who in lots of instances needed to wrestle to decipher what the sport was attempting to inform them; and the localization workforce, who I would be hard-pressed to consider that anybody on the challenge was actually pleased with how the ultimate product turned out – to disregard that these points exist solely. There is not any disgrace in a translation being imperfect, as there’s all the time room for even the most effective translations to enhance. Nonetheless, the one approach that translations can enhance shifting ahead is by accepting and acknowledging when points arose.