Localization is a tricky process. You’ve got humor, tone, and social dynamics to contend with amid the surface translation. JRPG legend Yuji Horii, creator of and continuous lead developer on the Dragon Quest series, believes something is often lost when games transition from Japanese to English.
He spoke about it to Famitsu, as translated by Automaton. “When it comes to English, the flavor tends to get lost in many ways,” he states. “Things inevitably end up sounding simplistic.” Making games since the early ’80s, and having designed, directed or contributed to almost every entry in the Dragon Quest franchise, he’s made his peace with how the writing fluctuates across regions.
“I’ve come to accept that English is a simple language, so there’s no helping it,” he adds. Though this comes across a touch skeptical, cynical even, I can understand why his feelings aren’t wholly positive. The Dragon Quest games have a mixed history when it comes to their releases for English-speaking territories.
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The games were re-titled to Dragon Warrior when put out by Nintendo in the US, and underwent a number of changes between coming out in Japan and elsewhere. Various teams across Nintendo, Enix and Square Enix have taken different approaches to translating the JRPGs, the British-English MO of Dragon Quest 8 becoming a standard-bearer for the modern era.
There isn’t a huge amount of consistency, and fan-translations of the older entries tend to be preferred by fans because they more readily capture the intended feel of what Horii and his fellow devs were going for. The quality has increased, as the last installment, Dragon Quest 11, is celebrated for how good the localization is.
Meanwhile, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake provided a redux of those classics with renewed attention from translators. But Horii can probably remember when his games didn’t get such treatment. Maybe someone should show him how fans have translated the first few releases.
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