My previous thread was locked having devolved into a "non-productive argument" despite requesting otherwise.
I wanted to avoid that and make this thread as productive as possible and non political so I will focus this subject on Lians localisation. You can agree or disagree that Lians portrayal is good or bad, adds to the experience or spoils it, but please don't insult me for raising it. Its a forum for discussion.
Playing the game so far I feel the localizers have consistently used her are a mechanism to mock and belittle the hero.
Its very obvious when comparing the Japanese voice actor to the English voice actor. She does this consistently early on, but one such example occurs in Nowa's home village.
Prior to departing the localizers inserted a line for Garr not found in the Japanese dialogue "All right, lets go embarrass Nowa in front of his people. Our destination is northwest of here - Through the mountains west of Altverden." This appears as an insert to set up to changes to Lians portrayal of lines/dialogue in the village.
Upon arrival to Nowas home village, villagers crowd around Nowa and are excited to see him, with one praising him stating he must be a fine warrior by now. Nowa shows humility in response to this praise but Lian (in English) mocks him stating "D'aw look how much the Wuv you". The English voice actor portrays this in overly exaggerated and sarcastic baby voice.
For transparency sake I may have misinterpreted a Japanese character in my previous thread, so lets say this line in Japanese is delivered as " Wow, they kind of love you." or "Wow, they love you somehow." The voice actor delivers this line completely different, and changes the meaning of the scene entirely, from mockery to awe / admiration for the hero. I dont think this is a simple "lost in translation issue" as im sure the Japanese are capable of mockery.
I find it hard taking the "hero" seriously when those around him treat him this way.. theres an ongoing line about "oh great captain my captain" that leaves me thinking "Is the protagonist a joke?"
I suppose my point is the Japanese dialogue conveys these scenes differently and although I'd prefer to play the game in Japanese, the localised English subtitles butcher the dialogue and interactions and subsequently the unspoken meaning Murayama intended for certain scenes and their relationship with the hero i.e from admiration for the hero to mockery.
