The Witcher - 20% of the original English script cut

[Lesifoere]

On the subject of reading, I've got Gene Wolfe's Shadow and Claw and Jeff Vandermeer's Veniss Underground about to dispatch to me from Amazon (ordered through the link from here, natch). Anyone can tell me anything about those?

 

[Lethal Weapon]

Trash: It's bogus. I changed the .ini file setting to "Language=FinalEnglish_Blahakala" and the English subtitles still match the speech.

The ini tweak didn't work for me neither.

Thanks, would've been too easy huh? Oh well, perhaps some nifty poles will manage to make a better translation with the editor.

This would seem to be the best chance, although I wouldn't count on it happening too soon, it took modders more than a year to translate NOTR if I recall correctly and that was a small fraction of dialogue compared with the Witcher. The devs seem unwilling to release the original script, maybe it has something to do with their agreements with Atari. I bet many gamers don't particularly care either, clicking through dialogues is quite common.

Not much left to do other than voice our dissapointment, I have already voiced mine, so I'm leaving this thread, quoting the best reply I came across, ironically by a Polish:

First of all, the translation of the line "why do pr..s go in c...s" is definitely incorrect.
The polish words: "kuśka" and "piczka" used in the oryginal game script are far milder than cited english translation. Especially the later is definitelly far-far milder than the C-word. You can use it in conversation and it won't offend anybody (well almost anybody). The game went quite far regarding swearing, but not THAT far.

Secondly, in my opinion the changes in script and translation in english version are mainly cosmetics, but... in entertainment industry EVERYTHING is about cosmetics. If you take just the important, meaningfull lines from let's say The Beatles lyrics, or Woody Allen movies, or Burns poems, you end up with something unberably dry and lacking any value.

The art of translation is difficult - translating idioms and cultural refferences (there is quite a lot of political alusions in the witcher script) requires knowledge, patience, eloquency and skill. It is sad to hear though, that the publisher was handed good script (from what the translator says) but decided to cut corners anyway during voice-overs. It seems to me, that the big financial problems Atari is in at the moment are mainly due to the fact that they are just doing their jobs for money and not because they do what they like. I certainly hope that CD Project will learn from this and will ensure more control over the localisations in their future projects.

 

[kingcomrade]

What did you think of it?

I just started reading it. I'll admit it's not the best, but I've laughed out loud a couple times due to the dialogue. I'm about 100 pages or so in. I don't like the way he explains banking (I mean, I'm not talking about accuracy, I'm saying as a plot device) since characters figuring out modern ways of doing things in the space of a couple pages (in this case, paper money and going off the gold standard) is just a little too contrived.

 

[Jasede]

You know, I really think TPerry is a funny writer, but I never laugh out loud anymore. Ever. Maybe I just read too much Discworld, but I haven't yet read a new DW book without doing more than smirking, or laughing on the inside. It's very strange! Even books that gave me a bad case of r00fles a few years ago are now only just "witty and a good read" to me, but not a "lulz, I laugh so loud people in the train stare at me more than usual read".

Oh, I still like them very much, even more than back then, I just can't actually laugh oud loud at them anymore.

 

[Lesifoere]

You know, I really think TPerry is a funny writer, but I never laugh out loud anymore. Ever. Maybe I just read too much Discworld, but I haven't yet read a new DW book without doing more than smirking, or laughing on the inside. It's very strange! Even books that gave me a bad case of r00fles a few years ago are now only just "witty and a good read" to me, but not a "lulz, I laugh so loud people in the train stare at me more than usual read".

Oh, I still like them very much, even more than back then, I just can't actually laugh oud loud at them anymore.

*hugs* I think it's a case of familiarity breeding contempt. My responses toward DW books are just not as strong as they used to be, either.

 

[KazikluBey]

The thing with Pratchett is that he has a certain style that is hilarious when you're new to it but once you have learned it it gets predictable and, after that, repetitive. I've read almost all his books and I reached the repetitive stage several years ago.

He has changed somewhat from his earlier works, though. I think he described his early books as mostly a series of gags strung together and that he after a few books discovered the wonders of coherent plots. Lately he has been giving Ankh-Morpork and other selected areas of the Disc more and more direct equivalents of real world stuff, like newspapers, internet, postal system, modern police force and now banking. The setting itself has lost some of its charm in the process, I think.

 

[Lesifoere]

Agreed. I cringed a lot while reading Monstrous Regiment. The women's right thing was just too heavy-handed to bear with a straight face.

 

[muds_animal_friend]

On the subject of reading, I've got Gene Wolfe's Shadow and Claw and Jeff Vandermeer's Veniss Underground about to dispatch to me from Amazon (ordered through the link from here, natch). Anyone can tell me anything about those?

You're in for a treat. Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun tetralogy contains some of the finest writing I've encountered in any genre. Do yourself a favour and avoid learning about New Sun books before you've read them. Wolfe's words supply the canvas and paint; the reader creates his own mental landscapes. Learning too much beforehand may prejudice your experience.

 

[MisterStone]

On the subject of reading, I've got Gene Wolfe's Shadow and Claw and Jeff Vandermeer's Veniss Underground about to dispatch to me from Amazon (ordered through the link from here, natch). Anyone can tell me anything about those?

Gene Wolfe is my favorite writer, and the Book of the New Sun my favorite series of novels he has written. The only negative thing I can say about it is that it 95+% of all other SF sucks in comparison, which ruined most of the genre for me.

You might want to buy some of his short stories too... The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories is the best collection IMHO.

 

[Trash]

He has changed somewhat from his earlier works, though. I think he described his early books as mostly a series of gags strung together and that he after a few books discovered the wonders of coherent plots. Lately he has been giving Ankh-Morpork and other selected areas of the Disc more and more direct equivalents of real world stuff, like newspapers, internet, postal system, modern police force and now banking. The setting itself has lost some of its charm in the process, I think.

Quoted for truth. His first books read like humoristic fantasy or parody's on the fantasy genre. I utterly loved these. His later books went more and more to discussing modern issues. Though some were brilliant (small gods is one of my fav books) the setting has lost a lot of it's magic.

 

[Lethal Weapon]

I said I won't post any further but they just won't let me. Sande Chen, the lady who did the actual butchering has posted this 'update':

The story is huge! I don't remember how many words Jade Empire was, because I think it's probable that our game is longer. I was at a game writers' conference and they were going through comparing the word count of games and I remember when the slide for Jade Empire came up (it was still in development at the time), the estimated word count just boggled the audience's minds.

Believe me, we've been trying to get the Witcher considered for industry awards in Story or Writing categories and the biggest problem is that the story is so huge that we can't get even the main storyline into the allowed number of pages. And that's with the edited version.

I understand for purists, you want to hear everything and know everything... but IMHO, I'd rather see an expansion or sequel.

So now I'm a purist :wall: And so is everyone playing the Polish version. That's right. You Poles are so ... PURISTS!!!.

(No need to mention she hasn't been answering any questions about the uncut script.)

 

[bozia2012]

The story is huge! I don't remember how many words Jade Empire was, because I think it's probable that our game is longer. I was at a game writers' conference and they were going through comparing the word count of games and I remember when the slide for Jade Empire came up (it was still in development at the time), the estimated word count just boggled the audience's minds.

Believe me, we've been trying to get the Witcher considered for industry awards in Story or Writing categories and the biggest problem is that the story is so huge that we can't get even the main storyline into the allowed number of pages. And that's with the edited version.

This is sad. It seems since BG (or earlier) the word/pages count is just another statistic - the bigger the better.

Nobody's talkin about quality and "interactivity" of said writing.

No reason to be mad if you got the game in incomplete state - buy an expansion! (more swords, more words)

 

[muds_animal_friend]

His first books read like humoristic fantasy or parody's on the fantasy genre. I utterly loved these. His later books went more and more to discussing modern issues. Though some were brilliant (small gods is one of my fav books) the setting has lost a lot of it's magic.

To my tastes Pratchett's work has become one long, self-indulgent and tiresome ode to his personal politics. Nothing remains of the acerbic cynicism that made The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic so enjoyable. I'm certain his entire creative process now consists of pasting Guardian editorials into his word processor and running a macro to inject random Discworld terms. The Discworld series should not have been turned into 'issue' novels; Pratchett is no Noam Chomsky or Alain de Benoist when it comes to sociopolitics.

 

[Sir_Brennus]

His first books read like humoristic fantasy or parody's on the fantasy genre. I utterly loved these. His later books went more and more to discussing modern issues. Though some were brilliant (small gods is one of my fav books) the setting has lost a lot of it's magic.

To my tastes Pratchett's work has become one long, self-indulgent and tiresome ode to his personal politics. Nothing remains of the acerbic cynicism that made The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic so enjoyable. I'm certain his entire creative process now consists of pasting Guardian editorials into his word processor and running a macro to inject random Discworld terms. The Discworld series should not have been turned into 'issue' novels; Pratchett is no Noam Chomsky or Alain de Benoist when it comes to sociopolitics.

You aren't fair to good ol' TP. The Lulz of the first books went lame after some time, the newer ones are not sociopolitic but more and more philosophical treatments. I think those books are very insightful, even if I don't agree with all of his thoughts.

IMHO the best books were those, which combined both elements: Small Gods or Moving Pictures were funny, sarcastic (TP never was a cynic, mind you) and had something allegoric to say.

 

[muds_animal_friend]

I don't believe Terry Pratchett himself is cynical, if anything quite the opposite, but his earlier work makes extensive use of cynicism as a literary device. A recurrent Discworld motif is the pairing of a naive protagonist with cynical or world-weary characters: Twoflower and Rincewind, Mort and Albert, Magrat and the other Witches, Carrot and his fellow watchmen. In these novels the cynical view was the accurate view. As a result there was a certain acidic edge to the prose, a feeling that something very nasty could happen at any time, which has subsequently been lost in favour of twee. Early Pratchett reminds me of another British author, Roald Dahl, who managed to inject a genuine sense of menace in his children's stories. It’s difficult not to fall into twee when writing for children but Dahl never did. In contrast Pratchett incorporates modern, adult themes (sexism, racism, social equality,nationalism etc.) in his new work and it reads like juvenile fiction.

 

[Ausir]

From:
http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=4254.15

I laugh at those who changed it to FinalEnglish_Long.

Just change it to FinalEnglish to get the full script.

 

[Lesifoere]

To my tastes Pratchett's work has become one long, self-indulgent and tiresome ode to his personal politics. Nothing remains of the acerbic cynicism that made The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic so enjoyable. I'm certain his entire creative process now consists of pasting Guardian editorials into his word processor and running a macro to inject random Discworld terms. The Discworld series should not have been turned into 'issue' novels; Pratchett is no Noam Chomsky or Alain de Benoist when it comes to sociopolitics.

Eh. To be honest, I never cared for the first few novels--The Colour of Magic did nothing for me, and in general I avoid all the Rincewind books, preferring the Watch, Witches and Death books over them. I genuinely liked Going Postal because, man, that's how you do a caper novel. Rogue/con-man characters in fantasy tend to be lame; Moist is done just right (on a tangent: if anyone likes Moist, try The Lies of Locke Lamora). The only time I grimace at PTerry trying to deal with issues is when he attempts the sexism thing: I found both Monstrous Regiment and Equal Rites lukewarm.

My other current gripe would be with Tiffany Aching because as a character, she bores me to tears and she's too damn OMG!sensible!amazing for me to bear, even taking into consideration that she's written to feature in the supposedly-for-children books.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

From:
http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=4254.15

I laugh at those who changed it to FinalEnglish_Long.

Just change it to FinalEnglish to get the full script.

Yeah, that was me. I thought that worked, since FinalEnglish is in the game files, but no. I tried switching the subtitles to the long version manually, but the game crashed.

 

[kingcomrade]

I just finished reading Making Money. It got really bizarre at the end but overall it was a good book. I'm sorry to hear you guys have gotten tired of Pratchett. I still love his books and this one's no exception. I do like his "middle-era" books more than a lot of his more recent ones, but Thud! was great.

 

[dragonfk]

From:
http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=4254.15

I laugh at those who changed it to FinalEnglish_Long.

Just change it to FinalEnglish to get the full script.

Yeah, that was me. I thought that worked, since FinalEnglish is in the game files, but no. I tried switching the subtitles to the long version manually, but the game crashed.

And what if you renamed the files? Or even erased(moved somewhere else) that supposedly short one and left the long one?

 

[Lesifoere]

I just finished reading Making Money. It got really bizarre at the end but overall it was a good book. I'm sorry to hear you guys have gotten tired of Pratchett. I still love his books and this one's no exception. I do like his "middle-era" books more than a lot of his more recent ones, but Thud! was great.

I'm not getting tired of him at all, just not fond of a few recent offerings (Night Watch was meh, Monstrous Regiment better but still not as good as some others, Wintersmith is meh^2).

 

[Jasede]

Night Watch was meh

ERECT THE GALLOWS
STONE THE UNBELIEVER

 

[Lesifoere]

Also, you said "erect." Tee-hee.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

From:
http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=4254.15

I laugh at those who changed it to FinalEnglish_Long.

Just change it to FinalEnglish to get the full script.

Yeah, that was me. I thought that worked, since FinalEnglish is in the game files, but no. I tried switching the subtitles to the long version manually, but the game crashed.

And what if you renamed the files? Or even erased(moved somewhere else) that supposedly short one and left the long one?

They're in a packed format. I'm going to wait for the toolset before trying to get the full, long script again.

 

[Lethal Weapon]

but the game crashed

Another interesting experiment to do: Someone get both versions and try to play the Polish version with the uncut English subs. Maybe the original script was made using the Polish version and can't work with any other version anyway. Remember that they also cut the character animations corresponding to the cut dialogues and that might be the reason for the game crashing (this would also explain the lack of any meaningful official comments, the international versions are technically inferior).