"How Vagrant Story Changed Game Localization"

[soprano1]

http://www.usgamer.net/articles/vagrant ... calization
Very interesting interview with Alexander O. Smith and Rich Amtower about the work on Vagrant Story's localization.

[Sumez]

I really wouldn't say Vagrant Story changed anything as much as it's a stand-out example.

[soprano1]

I really wouldn't say Vagrant Story changed anything as much as it's a stand-out example.

Stand-out example of good localization, I hope?
Did Smith also localize the Tactics Ogre LUCT PSP version?
EDIT: Yep, he did: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/123 ... s_Ogre.php

[cj iwakura]

Great interview. Also, I believe Smith once said he'd do ANYTHING that Matsuno was involved in. He also did Crimson Shroud(the 3DS DL-only D&D like).

[soprano1]

He also did Crimson Shroud(the 3DS DL-only D&D like).

"Don't get your small clothes in a twist."

[scrilla4rella]

I had the pleasure of talking with Alex several times while living in Tokyo. He's extremely sharp and an all around nice guy. With his smarts he could be making gobs of money douching out in finance or working for a major trading company but instead pursues only what he's interested in while being a stand-up family man.
*props*

(edit: Oh, and I absolutely agree with the premise of the US Gamer piece. There's not a single localization that stands out in my mind before VS, with the possible exception of Snatcher. But even that doesn't transcend the original Japanese text in the way that VS and all the other Smith-translated Matusno joints do.)

[Sumez]

To be fair, the Vagrant Story localization does take a lot of liberties. Not in the absurd ways we have seen Working Designs doing it (bless their Lunar translations!), but as much as I can appreciate what they did with VS, I feel like more straight localizations, such as Final Fantasy 6, don't get the respect they deserve. Working within the limitations of the limited ROM space of a SNES cart, Ted Woolsey managed to add a lot of character flair to the dialogues, converting a lot of the unique Japanese terms and references to something that would be understood in English, and still maintain the emotions of the more "serious" scenes.

For a translator of course, it's all in a day's work, but people tend to hate on these translations despite being much better than almost everything else at the time.

[soprano1]

To be fair, the Vagrant Story localization does take a lot of liberties. Not in the absurd ways we have seen Working Designs doing it (bless their Lunar translations!), but as much as I can appreciate what they did with VS, I feel like more straight localizations, such as Final Fantasy 6, don't get the respect they deserve. Working within the limitations of the limited ROM space of a SNES cart, Ted Woolsey managed to add a lot of character flair to the dialogues, converting a lot of the unique Japanese terms and references to something that would be understood in English, and still maintain the emotions of the more "serious" scenes.

For a translator of course, it's all in a day's work, but people tend to hate on these translations despite being much better than almost everything else at the time.

I agree that it's a feat doing a good work with those limitations. I just wish Ted wasn't limited by Nintendo censorship at the time.