Hardcore Ys enthusiasts have taken it upon themselves to contact the franchise’s Japanese company Nihon Falcom to provide feedback regarding the widely despised English translation for Ys VIII, with NIS America once again having their inadequacy put on full display.
Initially released in the west on September 12th for the Vita and PS4, Ys VIII was littered with grammar problems and translation issues, prompting a few determined individuals to start an “email campaign” telling Nihon Falcom about the game’s horrible localization and what should be done for future western releases.
The letter that the campaign creators want people to mail to Nihon Falcom, translated into Japanese so that they can understand it of course (an English translation is also below):
“We are a group of Western Falcom fans who have followed your work ever since Ys began to become popular here. Your support regarding Western releases has been wonderful and we can’t thank you enough for the opportunities you have provided for us to be able to enjoy your games in English. While other publishers have done an excellent job in the past, managing to portray the very same experience a Japanese Falcom fan would have playing your games, NISA’s treatment of Ys VIII falls well short of that mark.
There are two main issues with NISA’s localization, both in English and French – there is a clear lack of editing, which has resulted in stiff and awkward text in tutorials, item and area names and dialogue, as well as homogenization of character personalities and quirks. This harms the fantastic character writing and compelling plot that you’ve put so much effort into. Second, there is an occasional lack of consistency with terminology established in past Ys localizations, as well as a certain notable Trails series reference.
While delaying the PC port was indeed a wise move on NISA’s part due to its serious issues, announcing the delay less than one day before the originally scheduled release is unprofessional and shows a lack of planning. This has been a great disappointment to many fans who had followed the series on PC, especially considering that this has not happened with any previous release.
A localization such as this would especially harm the Trails series, considering the immense size of its scripts. Spending so much time reading awkward lines that fail to accurately convey the series’ signature attention to detail in characterization would hurt the experience to the point of turning off new potential fans. Additionally, considering the enormous amount of continuity established in the series, even in the tiniest and most subtle of ways, a lack of familiarity with the series lore would no doubt create many inconsistencies, far more than even in Ys VIII.
All we wish for is that your games receive quality localizations that do their writing justice and portray an authentic Falcom experience with a natural, credible flow in English (or in any other language), as well as receive high-quality ports to PC, which has been a great part of Falcom’s success in the West.”
Some examples of the inexcusable errors, along with comparisons to the original Japanese title:
Apparently in-game descriptions for some item’s effects were also swapped:
It was previously announced that Ys VIII’s western PC release date was pushed back to an undisclosed date, shortly before its release on the PS4 and Vita:
Hello Everyone,
We regret to inform everyone that the release date for Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA on PC has been pushed back due to continued efforts in improving gameplay quality.
We sincerely apologize to our fans who have been looking forward to this release. Ultimately, our goal is for fans to enjoy a high-quality game. We are providing the extra care in the PC development of the game by taking time to enhance the overall quality of gameplay.
If you have made a pre-purchase on Steam and would like to get a refund, please use the link provided below for instructions on requesting a refund:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6695-QIKM-7966&l=
For any purchases or pre-orders made outside of the Steam channel, please contact the corresponding refund support for that channel.
A new release date will be announced as soon as it is available.
Thank you for your time, support, and patience with this matter.
Best,
NISA Team
I am Amber My new private video here r3n4l.tk
That’s one hell of a goal, considering that they didn’t even try to fix the grammars..
As long as there is no censorship or ideological crap on the translation… An engrish is fine too.
“Horrible” translations aside, this was a good game with a solid story. I liked that as a player I actually got to experience Dana’s Ancient civilization rather then what Ys usually does where the ancient ruins are just a background feature you run through and feel hollow at best. I can forgive NisA this time (and only this time, censorship is bullshit), because unless you’re looking for a reason to s♥♥t on NisA, most of the “stiff dialogue” and “horrible translations” are easy to miss.
Look like is prefectly good number one Engrish translation to myself.