Video Game Translations
 

Though most of the forumers here at Nuklear Power are United States residents, I still wish to ask the following:

Halo II just came out a few days ago, and everyone is rushing to get it. Right now, all XBox gamers have it, or at least quite some people do already. The GameCube and PlayStation 2 players go with friends to play this awesome game. However, there was a thing that bothered us greatly;

The game was translated.

It's in Spanish here in México. It's just horrible. There's not even an option to switch to English. You're stuck with the language for the rest of the game.

Now then, I'd like to ask you all, what would you like in the video games when it comes to languages? Translated to your native language? Have it in either Japanese or English? Or only translate the subs?

well i think halo 2 is a bad game. but it depends, some games i like them in the origanol because of the game was censerd (Dragon warrior two was made for a more mature aduince but turned into a younger game when it hit the states), but usually i like it in my lanquage, unless it is realy baddly done and iritating

I think as long as there is space on the disk, then you should put different language selections on there. If not to let you select your native language, then just to let you ignore the horrible voice acting in games like Dynasty Warriors.

I swear, its like Ed Wood rose from the grave to direct that damn game. If only it wasn't so fun and playable...

Anyway, yeah. They need to put choice of subtitles and choice of language.

I think subbing is best for movies, to keep the original sounds and atmosphere, but in a game it would be hard to watch the action, read the subs, and react with the controls all at the same time. Plus, most games aren't necessarily Japanese in style and setting, so another language wouldn't spoil the atmosphere. But if someone wants the option to hear it in the original, that should be an option.

If it's just text then fine, translate away and keep the integrity of the game intact by not "dumbing it down"

If it has voices at all, then English as well as the native language should be there.

i like it when a game is in its ative language but has subtitles for the language you speak, like in the .hack games, i switch it to japanese right away and put english subtitles on so that it looks and sounds natural but i still know what they are saying, not to mention i like the way the japanese language seems to flow together so well

Well english does too if you think about it.

But reguardless, I like how in GGXX they kept all the japanese voices. It made the crazy, off the wall characters more understandable if they didnt' have voices to personify them. Nothing is worse than a bad translation or bad voice actors.

For example, the voice actors in Halo 1/2 rock. Hardcore rock. But if I have to listen to one more shitty soundbyte in DW or SW....

I don't know what really to say and don't really want to go into it, as it always goes into fighting. But I just feel the voices should be kept the same. It preserves the way the characters were in their original game, usually is the best voices out of all the versions to be made and barring intense mistakes or VERY certain situations, will not create a hard to understand enviorment for the player.

Even for a game like Metal Gear Solid or something like FFX, which had voices I could stand (and a couple actual good ones), I still would have liked the option of hearing their originals. And for all other games....I'm pretty much at a loss of being able to stand their voices and think they should have had the option just to keep me from quitting the game due to annoyance. Its one thing to have the original voices being annoying, cuz then you just don't play the game. But to have the redone voices being horrible, then not being able to change the voices to the way they originally are....it just makes you mad and more likely not to buy/play the game. In my view anyway.

The "Metal Gear Solid" for the PSX translation was just awesome. Though they used most of the same actors for the Twin Snakes, the game doesn't give the same feeling ( A good example of this comparison is when Otacon calls Snake on the elevator before Sniper Wolf's fight).

As for "Final Fantasy", the Japanese voices of the characters sound like little eight year old kids.

Thank you people for your participation. I'm looking foward for more responses. Also, mentioning your original country in your post would be appreciated.

i dont like in the origanol languege with sub titles, well mostly in an action game or a fast moving one. If you have to stop the game and read the translation or you die in the game cause you had to read something, or cause you forgot to read something it makes me really really mad. Maybe im not a purest, but usually after playing the game with english, playing it in "origanol" japaness dosnt sound right. it usually sounds better in the languege you first hear it in, casue that is the voices you link with it.