To Bite a Hand

by Knight Michaels 

In the beginning there was Ultima (actually, it wasn't, but let's just pretend it was). And that really wasn't much of a beginning. Because Ultima, in the eyes that were ever so slightly slanted, had a confusing interface, poor integration of game flow, over complicated nuances and horridly unamusing adventures.

Then came Dragon Quest and the people rejoiced. For now, there was something quite complex and deep, yet easy to understand and divulge upon its hidden strengths. There was the slime and his goofy smile; the fat, bored villagers with nothing better to do but give the hero hints and of course, the dragon and his many friends who loved to spit you out when you, mere mortal, seemed to think you were powerful to face them now. (And did you see the look on their face when you came back and sliced into two with one blow?)

Enix had found one of its premier developers, but soon, its rival would arrive on the scene, heralding a game wherein a certain tombstone proclaimed Erdrick's death. "Let us hark of the imp and the plot twist, the ship and the fiend!" said the people. Squaresoft entered the hearts of people everywhere and promptly began to rent to own.

This, kind listener, was the beginning of the RPG in the land where they find monsters in their pocket constantly and give people the wrong idea with them. And what land is that? Japan! And what country created the console RPG? Japan! Who are the people who did it? The Japanese! What did they speak? Japanese! What does that make console RPGs that come out here? Translations!

Isn't it nice of the Japanese to put up with low sales of their key genre for ten years in our territory and keep trying (well, some of them)? Yes, it is, no matter how many they did not translate, because it is their native market. Do you know how many English books and movies are translated into other languages every year? Do you know how many of these are strikingly different and inferior to their original versions? Many a foreigner has complained to me of this and shrugged with an apparent, "Oh well." At least they can read them though. Awfully nice that they can at least do that and besides cultural originalities more than make up for it. Right? That's the spirit!

Often, because of the considerable differences in diction, slang, grammar, syntax and direct translation trouble, it is difficult, if not impossible to convey the original's meaning exactly as it was intended. After all, the writer who originally writes the work does so, often times, in one and only one language. There is so much in writing which can add to the effectiveness of the work. Cultural considerations, metaphors, similes, ironies, direct and indirect mythologies, linguistics, mechanics, the use of bad grammar when appropriate and particularly, word choice, which is an entire other world of nuances and slights. It is quite an undertaking to start and finish.

However, when the translator comes to convey the work to another audience, it is most likely not the original writer. Even so, it is extremely far-fetched to ever expect the author to rewrite his story in several languages just as well, not only would he have had to know it for years, but most likely take as much time in the translation as he or she did in the original. In this case, all is done within people's power to keep the story, characters and dialogue as fresh, creative and invigorating as it hopefully was in its former language. Nevertheless, like any other company or organization, they run on schedules and deadlines and the product usually gets enough time to be comparable.

So let's compare these two very different stories. RPGs are experiencing their wildest, most transitional phase right now and the US gets to be in on it much more then they were originally. Unfortunately, the genre still comes from Japan. It's up to them and only them to decide how they want to handle it, each company individually.

Obviously, Square had to please many fans and attract many new ones for its seventh game in their most popular series, so a date needed to be agreed upon and kept to and they gave themselves a nice seven to eight months to translate it. When it came over, it incorporated American slang, different dialects and speech patterns, as well as some clear metaphorical and philosophical made by the characters themselves. It was even improved. Many of the items and weapons and names arrived unblemished and they even added new scenes. Yet, people seemed to loathe the translation. Each to his own, but was it really needed to chastise Sony or Square or whoever did the translation for getting the story to you relatively well? Grammar mistakes and some odd, awkward sentences and you complain that Square is cheating you out?

Similarly, Final Fantasy Tactics incorporates even more text than Final Fantasy VII. There is an incredible amount of text in the story (perhaps more than FFVII) and that surely isn't the bulk. The tutorial has twice as much text as the manual. Alazlam's writings and descriptions take up even more. Then add all the stories, narratives, anecdotes and items that came from the Propositions, as well as all the Proposition description. Now add an incredibly huge bulk of "help captions" for every single land, item, attack, job, armor, weapon and menu choice. What's making me delirious is that I'm sure I could think of even more. Square delivered Final Fantasy Tactics six months after it's release in Japan and it came with some grammatical errors and some dry parts to it. (If you think the original had a lot more personality to its dialogue, think again. "That was not the aim," to quote the game.) However, the whole project was a vast undertaking. Yet it apparently it "insulted" some Americans...

I mention these two only because they are the two most popular examples. I've heard similar complaints about Breath of Fire III, Suikoden, Azure Dreams, Shining Force III and quite a few others for years and years now. You may have payed money for the game, but that came with a choice. Yours. Buying a game simply does not give you the right to nonchalantly harp on what some people worked incredibly hard on to please you. Certainly, it helps them in the future, but translation works have generally improved as much and as fast as RPGs have. In fact, many, many books do not get translated this well. As for songs and movies...he, he, he. Bottom line: we're lucky. Translations get considerably better consistently with the advancement of technology and the arts, but truth to tell, the Japanese are some of the hardest workers in translation (or whoever does it) for RPGs. This is their native industry, console RPGs, not ours. Surely, they make money here, but that's because they have earned it and there is an audience. Simply having a willing industry does not mean they _have_ to cater to that industry's demand. It's entirely up to their discretion and while, you may not like it, they are the hand that feeds you this, so ultimately, while criticism and suggestion are indeed welcome, I'm sure respect is too.

After aeons of begging the company to release more of their RPGs which you apparently can't wait to play more of, they do, in the spades and now it's time to whine like a spoiled brat for more candy when their teeth have already rotted? I hate to sound incredibly rude, but that's a typical stereotype thought of Americans...and you wonder where they come from? "If I can't have it all, I might as well throw an immature tantrum, even though I actually received quite a bit!" They take months of time to agonize over menu and font sizes, how much they can fit, how they can translate incredibly difficult phrases or how they can present as well as possible while still being true. And you're "insulted" by their attempt? Working Designs may take forever and a day to translate games extremely with very nifty packages too, but that's all they do. If they actually made the games and translated them for many different markets, as well as marketed them everywhere, distributed them everywhere and managed talent, guess what? They most likely, could not translate as well. Is a little tolerance needed? I would think so. I'm sure they love to introduce their world of anime, RPGs and what-have-you to our shores just to have them sink in a never ending bitch-and-whine pool.

It isn't just translations is it now? If one did not appreciate FFVII as much as its predecessor, then somehow Square walked into your soul and personally tried to make rip it to shreds. How dare they say something bad about my religion! Why the hell not? Even if you don't think they did, they had the perfect right to insult anything they wanted. Oh no! It's a linear game! You were given plenty of warning about it a myriad of times, but oops! That's right, you didn't look at anything because God forbid you ruin any detail, because obviously Square and company is inherently your slaves and must churn the RPG butter ever so delicately if they are to find your approval. So just go buy it and moan at the manufacturer if you don't like it. Please, please, don't take any responsibility for your own actions, that would not be typically American. In addition, don't state your misgivings with care and courtesy, flaunt them like the God of All RPG Holiness.

Said rather harshly, ain't it?I apologize for that, but to tell the truth, there seems to be no polite way to say it: Grow up!