Rebuttal to: A Matter of Language

by Rumikoholic

Original Editorial: A Matter of Language

I think you have several good points here. However, you fail to realize that not only will the companies have to hire more linguists, they'll also have to hire more voice actors as well. Not all voice actors or multi-lingual and hiring only those that are would severely limit the amount of talent put into each game. It would be like telling Lex Lang that he can't do the dub of Rurouni Kneshin because he doesn't speak Spanish, Dutch, French and Portuguese. Maybe he does, but it's unrealistic to expect him to.

Another problem would, in fact, be time. Hiring multi-lingual voice actors would mean that they each have to record the same tracks multiple times. Not only would it cost more money to hire them, these voice actors would also expect longer deadlines to record the voice overs. Though I'd imagine doing it this way would save them much in the long run, it would definitely push dealines even further back than they already are.

Finally, as you stated, it is very difficult to place multi-lingual tracks on a game. Squaresoft tried this with Final Fantasy X, but found they'd need an extra DVD just to hold the English and original Japanese versions. Think about how many they would need for even more…

I understand where you're coming from, however such demands have been carefully weighed by numerous companies in the past and have been found to be very non-cost effective. Afterall, just trying to satisfy this desire in countries as diverse as the United States or Canada alone would mean recording hundreds of various language tracks. Thus, the companies are sticking to the most prevailant languages in their largest markets.

All in all, I think it the best plan to their success as a whole. Sure, some people won't buy it because they either can't understand it or don't want to try, but the rest of us out there will contiune to hungrily sop-up their RPG goodness like that last bit of Thanksgiving gravy…