of like a dragon Series (Previously yakuza series) that is Most video games everThis melodramatic crime drama series depicts a gang of burly gangsters with the power to rip suits from their collars. Chicken as a real estate employee,to manage hostesses cafeand many battles diaper fetish criminalThe series is dangerous.
read more: Like a Dragon: Restoration!: The· Kotaku review
most of the hilarity like a dragon and its spin-off series, judgementcomes from the franchise’s snappy dialogue and the absurd description of characters and items in the English translation. like a dragonKazuma Kiryu, the headstrong protagonist of . It can even go so far as to explain violently.
The fact that the developer Ryu ga Gotoku no Samurai spin-off, Like a Dragon: Restoration! A historical period drama set in 1867. It makes you think it doesn’t contain the same level of ridiculous side quests and quirky dialogue as its predecessor. The fact that I was involved in a similar crazy misadventure only adds to the game’s weirdness.
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In that spirit, we spoke with Senior Localization Producer Marilyn Lee. Like a Dragon: Restoration!to gain insight into the work put into the craft Like a Dragon: Restoration English translation.
Localization in a nutshell
How like a dragonThe exaggerated heat system fight moves should make you feel like a human extreme beast.The localizer should ensure every bit of text. like a dragon emit the real thing yakuza experience.
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“The translation team takes the raw Japanese and creates a literal translation that is as true to the Japanese meaning as possible, but the end result is awkward, dry, and not particularly what we would call natural.” says Lee. “Then a team of editors takes that line and characterizes it so that it sounds like natural dialogue, which is the final script.”
“Translation is not mathematics”
One way to provide players with the context often used in translated works of Japanese games is to swing south and give South Texas drawl with dialogue translations of characters with Kansai accents. But while Japanese media consumers have become accustomed to Osaka characters using the language of people from Alabama and the Bronx, Lee said: youth The localization team strives to “avoid direct similarities between specific dialects of English and Japanese.”
Lee youth Sega’s Senior Localization Producer, like a dragonof the Western Renaissance. “Our philosophy on the Kansai dialect includes many colloquial expressions that could be independently registered as Southern, but we want players to be able to hear all Kansai speakers ringing once and for all.” If so, we are failing,” said Lee.
“in the case of Ishin!like comparing characters like Majima and Saejima (or Souji and Nagakura) to William Bradley, the gunslinger trainer in a game deliberately written to evoke the mannerisms of late-19th-century southern cowboys. Invite the player. Similarly, the game also introduces the archaic Tosa dialect, which is difficult to tie to any particular style of English and can be read as simply rustic and isolated. I hope so,” said Lee.
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When it comes to how freely you can govern, youth Regarding the localization team’s curse, Lee said, like a dragon Series “Translation is not mathematics, so you can’t mechanically replace ‘shit’ with ‘shit’.
“Because curses are an important linguistic element of the English language, editors are generally free to use them (within reason) as they would any other M-rated title,” said Lee. I’m here.
“We believe that localization prefers to recreate the user experience of the source language rather than risk sacrificing writing quality in order to remain faithful to the source language itself. If the curse applied makes the joke hit in the English dialogue as well as in the Japanese dialogue without the curse, then most of the time we use that curse.
localization fancy
Which character was my hottest question for Lee Ishin! Localizing was her favorite. When she emailed this inquiry to Lee, she made sure to include the catchphrase “Why Mashima?” To my delight, Lee replied that Mashima was “fun to watch, fun to fight, and absolutely fun to localize.”
“Majima is a cross-section of so many compelling character types. I feel like Yakuza 0 Players also know that deep down there is a real human being who projects all these personality traits for reasons he may not remember (in the main series continuity anyway).
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Despite Mashima’s cult of personality, Lee said Isin‘s minor character is just as deserving as Shimano’s Mad Dog (period version).
“By taking on minor characters such as the aspiring samurai Tom and the enigmatic, slang-laced Mysterious Merchant for days at a time, our team has the opportunity to create a wide variety of voices. It honestly shows how tenacious the RGG game setup is and how it supports so many games. [people] So many temperaments, yet still feel cohesive. ”
lost in translation
Recently, Viz Media translator Kumar Sivasubramanian famously threw in the towel after doing the enviable job of translating. Cypher Academy, Mystery series by the author of. story series. Sivasubramanian called it the end Cypher Academy Because most of the dialogue in the series was filled with cultural or phonetic puns that didn’t make sense in English. youth‘s localization team also faces the daunting task of translating Japanese puns and jargon for English-speaking players.
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Whenever there is a nuance or phrase that cannot be dealt with one-on-one in either English or Japanese, Lee says: youth The localization team uses “best judgment” to find “the right way to get as close as possible to the essence of the source language.”
Several youth Fans can be “hardcore purists,” Lee says. Most fans have a generally subjective line about what sounds “truthful” to Source his material.
and like a dragon, I believe players can understand that the writing is meant to be in harmony with all other aspects of the presentation. increase. With English dialogue consistent with the absurdity of cinematography, we did not betray the intentions of the authors there, and we did our best to carry out that intentions across myriad linguistic and cultural divides.
is very similar to the colloquial expression of Cypher Academy, Lee said he “never translates” Japanese puns.every time the pun is uttered youth In the series, Lee said her team “must roll with them when they come and empathize together for the real tricky stuff.”
“Thankfully, it also means that the whole team has an afternoon yelling out weird chicken names. Lee said.
Measure twice and cut once (yakuza style)
Lee says it took the localization team just over a year to complete the localization. Ishin! The game is ready to launch on February 21st for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. On the other hand, the game that took the longest to complete localization was Yakuza 3, Fourand Five because they were part of Yakuza Remastered Collectionsaid Lee.
“Some projects took a long time from start to finish because the localization process was intertwined with the development of the game. Others took a long time because of the amount,” Lee said.
while localizing drama and humor Ishin! It followed the same course as the other games in the series, but the hardest part of localizing the spin-off was making sure players didn’t get lost in the historical context and geography. Ishin!
“Our updated glossary and new memoir feature can do some of that work, but ultimately success depends on skillful translation and sharp editing.” It’s important to create a context for it,” Lee said.
Historical Background of the Meiji Restoration
For historical reasons, Ishin! He took a ruthlessly negative attitude toward the pressure of Americans and Europeans at the end of the Edo period. Reviews of Ishin! When it comes to handling the game’s localization, which criticizes the country of origin of some players, Lee agrees that even if the aspect of the translated text made people uncomfortable, the experience designed in the game was not for different countries. I reiterated that it’s the localizer’s job to make sure it’s delivered to the player. .
“Our job as localization professionals is to convey the meaning and emotion of the media in another language as accurately as possible. IsinIt’s a case where many of the characters are driven by different political ideologies related to the historical period,” Lee said. “We did our best to get the text across. are free to draw their own conclusions.”
