Localization of Square Enix video games

Last updated

The Japanese video game developer and publisher Square Enix (formerly two companies called Square and Enix prior to 2003) has been translating its games for North America since the late 1980s, and the PAL region and Asia since the late 1990s. It has not always released all of its games in all major regions, and continues to selectively release games even today depending on multiple factors such as the viability of platforms or the condition of the game itself. The process of localization has changed during that time from having a one-person team with a short time and tight memory capacities to having a team of translators preparing simultaneous launches in multiple languages.

Contents

The companies' first major projects were Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy , which each proved successful enough to launch video game franchises. Since then, the majority of the games produced by the companies have been localized for Western audiences, although the process was not given a high priority at Square until the international success of Final Fantasy VII . A dedicated localization department was consequently created at the company's Tokyo headquarters around 1998. Enix remained without a translation department until its merger with Square in 2003. In recent years, the process of localization has undergone changes, mainly due to difficult experiences with various titles. Most major titles are now developed with localization running in parallel to development, with more simultaneous releases and even occasional titles developed in localized form first in order to appeal to the Western market.

Staff

The localization staff at Square Enix works mainly from Japanese to English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, as well as Russian, Korean and Mandarin for a number of titles. In 2016, Final Fantasy XV became the first major title from the company to release in Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. [1] Minor titles are occasionally localized from English to European languages. [2] Prior to the merger of Square and Enix in 2003, Enix did not initially have a localization department and outsourced its Western releases to translators who had no close contact with the original development teams, as was the case for Dragon Quest VII . Square also did not initially have a localization department, though a number of localizers such as Kaoru Moriyama and Ted Woolsey worked with them regularly on a contractual basis in the early 1990s. Moriyama described the work at the time as leaving very little leeway for polishing text due to the limitations of the ROM sizes. She also commented Hironobu Sakaguchi was not willing to put extra work for the English version at that time. [3] Following the massive international success of Final Fantasy VII , however, the company looked into improving the quality of its translated products, since the game was widely criticized for its rushed English translation, which had been handled entirely by Michael Baskett, the company's only in-house translator at the time. [4] To that end, Square tasked Richard Honeywood, originally a programmer, with creating a dedicated localization team in the Tokyo headquarters. [5] His first major project was Xenogears . [4] While there were only two members at first, including Honeywood, the staff grew to include more than 40 employees by 2007, and over 70 in 2015. [6]

Approach

Before a translation is greenlit and translators are allocated for each language, the localization, quality assurance (QA) and marketing staff play through a build of the game and sometimes do a focus group study. The localization team's playthrough can sometimes take over 100 hours of gameplay. Once the company greenlights a localization project, a period of brainstorming starts in which glossary, style, naming schemes and fonts are chosen. During the translation phase, voiced sections are translated first. Text files are cross-checked by multiple translators and editors. The text is then integrated along with any graphic and sound changes, and the game goes to quality assurance. During a period of several weeks to up to three months, Japanese QA teams look for bugs while Western QA teams check linguistic issues. The localization team often re-plays the game during this phase, translates the manuals and help out on the guidebooks if these are made. Finally, the game is sent to the hardware manufacturers to be approved. [5]

Challenges for the localization teams include space limitation (due to data storage and/or on-screen space), achieving a natural dialogue flow despite multiple plot branches and script lines being stored out of order, and, when voiced footage is not re-recorded for lip movement, dealing with file length and lip-synch limitations. [5] [7] When the same team works on different games in a series such as Final Fantasy, they often need to adopt different writing styles depending on the setting of their games. [4] Another point to consider is humorous elements that do not translate properly into English, and different cultural expectations about character interactions. [8] The localization process depends on factors such as the development teams' wishes, as well as budget and schedule. Traditionally, translation usually started late in development or after the original Japanese release, but recent titles have been translated during initial development, making the translators appear more like additional planners or consultants and not just translators—this was the case for Final Fantasy XI , XIII , XIV and XV . A few titles, like The Bouncer , have actually been recorded in English first and then adapted to Japanese. [5] The Last Remnant also adopted this approach, featuring motion-capture and dialogue synched to English rather than Japanese actors. [9] This was done due to the company's wish to create a title for the international market. [10]

Many early localizations, like other RPGs both then and in more recent years, made heavy use of antiquated speech patterns and archaic nouns such as "thee" and "thou". [11] Square was not greatly focused on their localizations before the worldwide commercial success of Final Fantasy VII. In later years, the original translators were joined by editors to catch grammar and spelling errors. [4] Prior to the development of Final Fantasy XIII-2 , the standard localization process for a title involved dual development between the company's sound and localization departments, which meant that difficulties could arise because of constant changes to dialogue. Starting from XIII-2, in-house development tools, such as Moomle and Rosetta, have been developed to ensure all parts of the process were properly synchronized and centralized. [12] [13] [14] [15] In recent years, English language localization teams have tended to adopt two different approaches to translation and localization: either they remain quite faithful to the original Japanese, or they can make large changes as long as the story outline remains the same. The former method was adopted for Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels, although some alterations were made in order to make the English dialogue sound natural. [16] In choosing voice actors, the company prefers to avoid well-known film and television actors, citing Elliot Page's casting in Beyond: Two Souls as a counterexample. [17] Vagrant Story, generally recognized as a high-quality localization, made some significant changes in style: whereas the original Japanese text was rather straightforward, the English version made use of archaic Medieval and Old English words and dialogue. [11] [18]

Experiences

Honeywood described Xenogears , his first translation project at Square and the first to be handled internally by the company, as "pure hell". [6] [19] He said that he started to change the company's approach to localization after that game, moving booths to always work very closely with the original development teams, improving communication with them, and introducing full-time editors. [5] [7] Woolsey, an English translator in the SNES era, also had a troublesome time while localizing Secret of Mana , which he said "nearly killed [him]". [20] The translation was completed within a month of the Japanese release as Square wanted to catch the 1993 holiday season. [21] [22] Final Fantasy XIII's localization, handled by Phil Bright and Tom Slattery, was also quite chaotic. According to Slattery, the lack of deadlines, poor communication and synchronization between the various departments, and continuing changes to the script and to cutscenes led to a turbulent development. Due to the script changes, large sections of dialogue needed to be re-translated and re-recorded by the English actors due to lack of necessary emotional drive for the scenes. [23] In contrast, Alexander O. Smith, who is often associated with the Ivalice games, had a good working relationship with Yasumi Matsuno during the localization of titles like Vagrant Story , Final Fantasy XII and the 2010 remake of Tactics Ogre . The two worked closely to ensure that the English versions were faithful to Matsuno's vision. [11] A challenging localization was Final Fantasy X , the first Final Fantasy title to feature voice acting. There, the team faced problems in both making the dialogue more compatible with an English-speaking audience and lip-synching it roughly with in-game characters, whose lip-movement was still for the original Japanese dialogue. [24] [25]

Changes

When translating its game titles, Square Enix tries to take into account the cultural differences between Japan and the target territories. This sometimes involves rewriting dialogue or altering graphics, animations, and sounds. For instance, in Chocobo Racing , visual references to the Japanese folk heroes Momotarō and Kiji were changed to depict Hansel and Gretel, since the game was designed mainly for children, and Hansel and Gretel are better known in the West than Momotarō and Kiji. [5] According to Honeywood, trying to explain to the original development teams why some changes are needed can range from "frustrating to downright hilarious". Generally, older development teams trust the translators with making changes while newer teams can be more reluctant, though they usually build up trust gradually. [5] The localization team for The World Ends with You chose to preserve the Japanese elements to ensure the game's cultural aspect remained intact. [26] While localizing Final Fantasy XII , translators Smith and Reeder worked to preserve the original script's meaning while using English dialects to reproduce the Japanese dialects found in the original version to identify factions within the game. [8] [27] [28] [29]

Final Fantasy VII's script was done by a small team, resulting in a rough script and inconsistencies. One of the more famous of these was the name of Aerith Gainsborough: the name was originally meant to be a merging of "Air" and "Earth", but her name in the original English release was spelled "Aeris". [4] Similar space issues frequently motivated character renames in older games, such as Chrono Trigger 's Crono and Final Fantasy IX 's Amarant, originally named Salamander. [30] During his localization of Secret of Mana in 1993, Woolsey was forced to trim down vast amounts of character dialogue due to an awkward fixed text font, later stating that he was satisfied with the final result. [20] With ports and remakes of older games, dialogue can be changed or added by the team, as in the case of Final Fantasy VI. [23] The title can also be altered for various reasons. Final Fantasy IV and VI were released in North America as Final Fantasy II and III. This was due to the fact that the original II and III on NES had not received a Western release. [21] [3] The Final Fantasy Legend was originally to be called The Great Warrior Saga, but changed it to its current title to tie in with the Final Fantasy series, which was well-known and popular in North America. [31] [32] A prequel to Secret of Mana , Seiken Densetsu, was similarly renamed Final Fantasy Adventure in its North American release, only to be later renamed again to Mystic Quest in Europe, in an attempt to tie it with the unrelated Final Fantasy Mystic Quest . Dragon Quest , one of the earliest successful Japanese role-playing games, had its title changed to Dragon Warrior so as not to confuse it with the similarly-titled tabletop role-playing game DragonQuest . [33] [34] The DragonQuest title was discontinued in 1987, [34] and Square Enix registered the Dragon Quest trademark for their use in 2003. [35] Also due to copyright issues, The World Ends with You could not be released under its original Japanese title It's a Wonderful World. [26]

Gameplay may be altered when it is felt that a game might be too easy or difficult for the Western audience. [6] Some of the older Final Fantasy titles, such as Final Fantasy IV, were altered to be more easy to play in the West than in Japan, though their remakes and ports have generally restored the difficulty. [5] [36] Einhänder 's gameplay also received notable cuts for its North American release. [37] On the other hand, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings was made more difficult in localized versions because the Western market was judged "more familiar" with the real-time strategy genre than the Japanese market. [38] For the Western release of Dissidia Final Fantasy , the game was changed to suit Western players, including removing several RPG elements to make it more akin to an action game. [39] Censorship can also affect the localized versions of the games and require obscuring mature themes, rewriting risqué remarks or phrases, altering graphics or removing parts of some scenes. This was common in the NES and SNES eras but less drastic later on once video game content rating systems were established. [5] Original Western releases of early games in the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest featured multiple occurrences of this form of censorship. [21] [33] [40] Final Fantasy VIII also received some censorship for its European release, including the removal of a Nazi-like uniform. [41] Less commonly, this also goes the other way, for instance with Final Fantasy XII , in which a sequence involving violence against a female character was censored in the Japanese version but restored in the American and European releases. [6] References to religion can also be removed, as in Final Fantasy IV and VI. [42] [43] Such references in Xenogears caused Square to consider not releasing it in North America. [44]

Releases

In 2008, Square Enix expressed willingness to make worldwide "simultaneous releases the norm". [45] Concerning Final Fantasy XI , at the time of the original English-only European release in 2004, producer Hiromichi Tanaka had stated that while Japanese/North American/Australian simultaneous releases are possible due to translating only Japanese to English, it was not possible for European countries due to the difficulty of finding good Japanese-to-European-languages translators, and the fact that second-hand translations from the English would be akin to "Chinese whispers". [46] However, the team later integrated full-fledged French and German localization teams, achieving simultaneous release from the Japanese for three different languages from 2007 on. [47] [48] Another example of synchronized localization is Final Fantasy XIII: the company started the localization process in several languages alongside the game's development to lessen the delay between the local and international releases. [49] [50]

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was localized in-house by Square Enix under supervision by Naoki Yoshida. Dedicated teams were formed for each language, with Koji Fox leading the English version. Compared to its predecessor, which featured English-only voice-overs even in the Japanese release, A Realm Reborn featured English, Japanese, German and French voice-overs, with all languages released in simultaneous fashion similar to Final Fantasy XI. The game featured voice work in a low number of cutscenes: this was explained by the fact that the team did not want new voice recording to dominate the creation of new content after the initial release. [51] The team later added Korean and Chinese languages to the game, albeit released in a different schedule as service is separate. The Western release of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII was delayed by over two months because of the large amount of dialogue, which changes due to the game's time mechanic, that needed to be translated and recorded. [52]

The viability of a game's platform can also affect both the localization and the release, as in the case of the PlayStation Portable-exclusive Final Fantasy Type-0 , which would eventually come West as a high definition port for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, [53] [54] and Seiken Densetsu 3 , which was not localized due to undefined technical problems. [55] [56] The company has also recently started releasing Japanese voice tracks as downloadable content, as in the case of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII [57] and one of the titles it has published, the Access Games-developed Drakengard 3 . [58] Another aspect of Square Enix's policy concerning the Western release of games was to make games that appealed to both Western and Japanese audiences, but the worldwide success of the Japan-aimed Bravely Default caused them to rethink their strategy. [59] Although English was originally the main language of Square Enix's foreign releases, including in non-English speaking countries, it seems some titles may debut without an English release in the future, such as the Chinese version of Dragon Quest X before a North American or European release has been confirmed. [60] [61]

Additional content

The localized versions sometimes expand on the original games. For example, when Honeywood found contradictions in the story of Chrono Cross in 2000, he worked with Masato Kato, the director and scenario writer of the game, to rewrite sections and add explanatory dialogue which was not in the original version. For Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King , voice-overs and orchestral music were recorded for the Western releases in 2005, while the original Japanese version did not have them. [5] Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions also featured voice acting that was not included in the original Japanese release in 2007. Generally, gameplay content left out of the original game due to time constraints may be completed and added in the localized versions. [6] Sometimes, the expanded localized versions of games from series like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy are re-released in Japan. The re-releases are usually based on a direct port of the North American releases, with English dialogue replacing the original Japanese audio, the Japanese text acting as subtitles. They can also include features and tweaks previously only available in the Western version alongside other additions, such as adding Japanese voice acting to the 3DS version of Dragon Quest VIII. [62] [63] [64] [65] [66]

Reception

1UP.com's Wesley Fenlon praised Square Enix for the high quality of its translations, especially as space allocated for text and dialogue had been expanded with new and re-released versions of games. [4] Jeremy Parish, writing for the same site, said that the quality of Square Enix's English localizations had "gone from laughable [...] to some of the best around". [67] Both praise and criticism has been given to individual games for the quality of their localizations. Xenogears, the company's first game to feature voice acting, drew criticism in regard to its audio presentation, [68] [69] while The Bouncer received a fairly positive response. [70] Final Fantasy X received praise, although poor lip-synching and some aspects of the actors' performances were criticized. [71] [72] [73] [74] The choice of changing a major line from "Thank you" to "I love you" also received mixed reactions. [75] The English release of X-2 ended up receiving the Seventh Annual Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences award in 2004 for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance. [76] Final Fantasy XII and Vagrant Story were both highly praised for the qualities of their localizations. [18] [77] [78] [79] During the development of Final Fantasy XV , director Hajime Tabata directly responded to feedback on the English localization of the game. [80]

Related Research Articles

Final Fantasy is a fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix. The franchise centers on a series of fantasy role-playing video games. The first game in the series was released in 1987, with 16 numbered main entries having been released to date.

Square Co., Ltd., also known under its international brand name SquareSoft, was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It was founded in 1986 by Masafumi Miyamoto, who spun off part of his father's electronics company Den-Yu-Sha. Among its early employees were designers Hironobu Sakaguchi, Hiromichi Tanaka, Akitoshi Kawazu and Koichi Ishii, artist Kazuko Shibuya, programmer Nasir Gebelli, and composer Nobuo Uematsu. Initially focusing on action games, the team saw popular success with the role-playing video game Final Fantasy in 1987, which would lead to the franchise of the same name being one of its tentpole franchises. Later notable staff included directors Yoshinori Kitase and Takashi Tokita, designer and writer Yasumi Matsuno, artists Tetsuya Nomura and Yusuke Naora, and composers Yoko Shimomura and Masashi Hamauzu.

<i>Xenogears</i> 1998 video game

Xenogears is a 1998 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is the debut entry in the larger Xeno franchise. The gameplay of Xenogears revolves around navigating 3D environments both on-foot and using humanoid mecha dubbed "Gears". Combat is governed by a version of the turn-based "Active Time Battle" system. The story follows protagonist Fei Fong Wong and several others as they journey across the world to overthrow the all-powerful rule of Solaris and uncover mysteries concerning their world. The story incorporates Jungian psychology, Freudian thought, and religious symbolism.

<i>Final Fantasy VII</i> 1997 video game

Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation. The seventh main installment in the Final Fantasy series, it was released in Japan by Square and internationally by Sony Computer Entertainment, becoming the first game in the main series to have a PAL release. The game's story follows Cloud Strife, a mercenary who joins an eco-terrorist organization to stop a world-controlling megacorporation from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. Ensuing events send Cloud and his allies in pursuit of Sephiroth, a superhuman who seeks to wound the planet and harness its healing power in order to be reborn as a god. Throughout their journey, Cloud bonds with his party members, including Aerith Gainsborough, who holds the secret to saving their world.

<i>Final Fantasy V</i> 1992 video game

Final Fantasy V is a 1992 role-playing video game developed and published by Square. It is the fifth main installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game first appeared only in Japan on Nintendo's Super Famicom. It has been ported with minor differences to Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. An original video animation produced in 1994 called Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals serves as a sequel to the events depicted in the game. It was released for the PlayStation Network on April 6, 2011, in Japan. An enhanced port of the game, with new high-resolution graphics and a touch-based interface, was released for iPhone and iPad on March 28, 2013, for Android on September 25 the same year and for Windows on September 24, 2015. A more enhanced re-release of the game as part of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series, was released on November 10, 2021 for Android, iOS, and Windows, for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on April 19, 2023, and for Xbox Series X/S on September 26, 2024.

<i>Final Fantasy III</i> 1990 video game

Final Fantasy III is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Family Computer. The third installment in the Final Fantasy series, it is the first numbered Final Fantasy game to feature the job-change system. The story revolves around four orphaned youths drawn to a crystal of light. The crystal grants them some of its power, and instructs them to go forth and restore balance to the world. Not knowing what to make of the crystal's pronouncements, but nonetheless recognizing the importance of its words, the four inform their adoptive families of their mission and set out to explore and bring back balance to the world.

Dragon Quest, previously published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005, is a series of role-playing games created by Japanese game designer Yuji Horii, character designer Akira Toriyama, and composer Koichi Sugiyama and published by Square Enix. Since its inception, development of games in the series have been outsourced to a plethora of external companies until the tenth installment, with localized remakes and ports of later installments for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch being published by Nintendo outside of Japan. With its first game published in 1986, there are eleven main-series games, along with numerous spin-off games. In addition, there have been numerous manga, anime and novels published under the franchise, with nearly every game in the main series having a related adaptation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Square Enix</span> Japanese entertainment company

Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing game franchises, such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, among numerous others. Outside of video game publishing and development, it is also in the business of merchandise, arcade facilities, and manga publication under its Gangan Comics brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fan translation of video games</span> Unofficially translated media

In video gaming, a fan translation is an unofficial translation of a video game made by fans.

<i>Dragon Quest VII</i> 2000 video game

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is a 2000 Japanese role-playing video game developed by Heartbeat and ArtePiazza, and published by Enix for the PlayStation. The game was produced by Yuji Horii, who has presided over the Dragon Quest series since its inception. Artwork and character designs were once again provided by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, the artist responsible for all previous Dragon Quest games. It was released in North America in 2001 under the title Dragon Warrior VII. The game received a remake on the Nintendo 3DS in Japan in 2013, released in English under the title Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past in 2016. A version of the game for Android and iOS was released in Japan in 2015.

<i>Dragon Quest II</i> 1987 video game

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, titled Dragon Warrior II when initially localized to North America, is a role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a part of the Dragon Quest series. Enix's U.S. subsidiary published the American release, Dragon Warrior II, for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. Dragon Quest II is set one hundred years after the events of the first game.

<i>Dragon Quest IV</i> 1990 video game

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, titled Dragon Warrior IV when initially localized to North America, is a role-playing video game, the fourth installment of the Dragon Quest video game series developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix, and the first of the Zenithian Trilogy. It was originally released for the Famicom on 11 February 1990 in Japan. A North American NES version followed in October 1992, and would be the last Dragon Quest game localized and published by Enix's Enix America Corporation subsidiary prior to its closure in November 1995, as well as the last Dragon Quest game to be localized into English prior to the localization of Dragon Warrior Monsters in December 1999. The game was remade by Heartbeat for the PlayStation, which eventually was available as an Ultimate Hits game. The remake was ported by ArtePiazza to the Nintendo DS, released in Japan November 2007 and worldwide in September 2008. A mobile version based on the Nintendo DS remake was released in 2014 for Android and iOS.

<i>Final Fantasy XII</i> 2006 video game

Final Fantasy XII is a 2006 role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. The twelfth main installment of the Final Fantasy series, it was first released for the PlayStation 2 in March 2006. It introduced several innovations to the series: an open world; a seamless battle system; a controllable camera; a customizable "gambit" system, which lets the player control the artificial intelligence (AI) of characters in battle; a "license" system, which determines what abilities and equipment can be used by characters; and hunting side quests, which allows the player to find and defeat increasingly difficult monsters in the game's open world. Final Fantasy XII also includes elements from previous games in the series, such as Chocobos and Moogles.

<i>Dragon Quest VIII</i> 2004 video game

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. It was released in Japan in 2004, in North America in 2005, and in PAL regions in 2006. It is the eighth installment of the Dragon Quest series and it is the first English version of a Dragon Quest game to drop the Dragon Warrior title. A version of the game for Android and iOS was released in Japan in December 2013, and worldwide in May 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander O. Smith</span> American translator and author

Alexander O. Smith is a professional Japanese to English translator and author. While his output covers many areas such as adaptation of Japanese novels, manga, song lyrics, anime scripts, and various academic works, he is best known for his software localizations of Japanese video games including Vagrant Story, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, and Final Fantasy XII. He currently resides in Kamakura, Japan, where he operates his own contract localization business, Kajiya Productions, and is co-founder of a translation and publishing company, Bento Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Woolsey</span> American video game translator

Ted Woolsey is an American video game translator and producer. He had the primary role in the North American production and localization of Square's role-playing video games released for the Super NES between 1991 and 1996. He is best known for translating Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger during his time at Square. Limitations on text length and strict content guidelines forced Woolsey to make many script changes in his translation work, which became known as "Woolseyisms" in popular culture and were both praised and criticized.

<i>Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions</i> 2007 video game

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). The game is an updated version of Final Fantasy Tactics made for the PlayStation, which was released in 1997.

<i>Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII</i> 2013 video game

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. It is a sequel to Final Fantasy XIII-2, it concludes the storyline of Final Fantasy XIII, and forms part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis subseries. It was released in 2013 in Japan and 2014 in North America and PAL regions, and was ported to Windows in 2015 and Android and iOS through cloud gaming in 2016 in Japan. Lightning Returns employs a highly revamped version of the gameplay system from the previous two games, with an action-oriented battle system, the ability to customize the player character's outfits, and a time limit the player must extend by completing story missions and side quests.

Richard Mark Honeywood is a video game localization director and professional English/Japanese translator. He grew up in Australia and moved to Japan after graduating with degrees in computer science and Japanese from the University of Sydney. Honeywood initially worked for several Japanese video game developers as a programmer, but transitioned to localization after joining Square in 1997. He is credited with founding the localization department at the company which has been praised for its high-quality translations. During his tenure at Square, Honeywood expanded the team's role from text translation to becoming a partner of the development team, creating localized text and graphics and ensuring that the video game code supported multiple languages easily. In 2007, Honeywood left Square Enix for Blizzard Entertainment, where he served as the global localization manager for World of Warcraft until November 2010. He then moved to be the translation director for Level-5.

References

  1. ↑ Darryl (March 23, 2016). "Final Fantasy XV Adding Support For Multiple Languages". FFUnion. Archived from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  2. ↑ FF Compendium (June 2004). "Talk: Richard Honeywood". FF Compendium. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Chris Collette (December 2003). "Spotlight: Final Fantasy II". Lost Levels. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fenlon, Wesley (April 28, 2011). "The Rise of Squaresoft Localization". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Q&A - Square Enix's Richard Honeywood". Edge Online. February 2006. Archived from the original on May 17, 2006. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Parish, Jeremy (March 11, 2007). "GDC 2007: The Square-Enix Approach to Localization". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  7. 1 2 Jeriaska (April 27, 2007). "Localization Tactics: A Conversation with Alexander O. Smith". Square Haven. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  8. 1 2 Tong, Sophia (September 7, 2009). "Final Fantasy XII vets talk game localization". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  9. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (November 19, 2008). "The Last Remnant Interview". VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
  10. ↑ Nutt, Christian (October 27, 2008). "Q&A: How Square Enix Cracked Simultaneous Release With The Last Remnant". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  11. 1 2 3 "In-Depth: Kajiya Productions On The Art Of Localizing Tactics Ogre". Gamasutra. February 15, 2011. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  12. ↑ Minako O'Hagan; Carmen Mangiron (August 29, 2013). "3: Game Localization: A Practical Dimension". Game Localization: Translating for the global digital game industry. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 143. ISBN   978-90-272-2457-6.
  13. ↑ Masaharu Shibayama, Hikaru Taniyama (2012). "Audio Localization Done Right: Simultaneous Scripting and Recording (full)". GDC Vault. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  14. ↑ Masaharu Shibayama, Hikaru Taniyama (2012). "Audio Localization Done Right: Simultaneous Scripting and Recording (chaptered)". GDC Vault. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  15. ↑ Miki Tsuda (January 10, 2014). "The challenges of Game Localization: A blue ocean to survive multilanguage simiultaneous development". JTF. Archived from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  16. ↑ Parish, Jeremy (April 9, 2014). "The Final Fantasy Team Responds to Your Thoughts on English-Language Localization". USGamer. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  17. ↑ Parish, Jeremy (March 18, 2014). "Final Fantasy's Producer Asks: What Makes a Good (or Bad) English Localization?". USGamer. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  18. 1 2 Vestahl, Andrew (2000). "Vagrant Story Game Review". GIA.com. Archived from the original on June 27, 2007. Retrieved May 2, 2007.
  19. ↑ Cidolfas (May 30, 2004). "Interview with Richard Honeywood". FFCompendium. Retrieved September 6, 2008.
  20. 1 2 Szczepaniak, John (August 31, 2009). "Localization: Confessions By Industry Legends". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  21. 1 2 3 "Fantasy Quest: Interview with Ted Woolsey". Super Play . 1 (23). Future Publishing. September 1994. ISSN   0966-6192.
  22. ↑ Parish, Jeremy; Cifaldi, Frank; Gifford, Kevin (December 2003). "Classics Column #1: Desperately Seeking Seiken". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  23. 1 2 Cunningham, Michael A. "Inside Gaming - Interview with Former Square Enix Translator Tom Slattery". RPGamer. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  24. ↑ Birlew, Dan (2001). Final Fantasy X Official Strategy Guide. BradyGames. p. 268. ISBN   0-7440-0140-4.
  25. ↑ Bob Mackey (February 8, 2016). "True Tales from Localization Hell". US Gamer. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  26. 1 2 McCarthy, Dave (April 17, 2008). "Breaking the Language Barrier". IGN. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
  27. ↑ Shoemaker, Brad (May 11, 2006). "E3 06: Final Fantasy XII English Version Update". GameSpot . Retrieved March 10, 2007.
  28. ↑ Interview with Alexander O. Smith Final Fantasy XII Collector's Edition Bonus DVD (DVD). Tokyo: Square Enix. 2006.
  29. ↑ "Final Fantasy XII Developer Interviews". Final Fantasy XII Collector's Edition Bonus DVD (DVD). Tokyo: Square Enix. 2006.
  30. ↑ Wes (April 15, 2012). "Quarterly Interview: Richard Honeywood on The Rise of Square Localization". GameSpite. Archived from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  31. ↑ Dekeles, Jon (1990). Video Game Quest: The Complete Guide to Home Video Game Systems, Video Games, and Accessories. DMS. ISBN   0-9625057-2-2.
  32. ↑ Kennedy, Sam & Steinman, Gary (August 2001). "Milking The Final Fantasy Franchise". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine . No. 44. p. 99.
  33. 1 2 "Days of Slimes and Roses". Nintendo Power. No. 238. South San Francisco, CA: Future US. February 2009. p. 84. ISSN   1041-9551.
  34. 1 2 "The GameSpy Hall of Fame: Dragon Warrior". GameSpy. February 1, 2002. p. 1. Archived from the original on June 16, 2004. Retrieved October 9, 2009.
  35. ↑ Kennedy, Sam (December 2, 2005). "Dragon Quest vs. America". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
  36. ↑ Parish, Jeremy (January 27, 2012). "Why Final Fantasy IV Remains a Masterpiece After All These Years". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  37. ↑ Brownlee, Paul. "Einhänder". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  38. ↑ Craig Harris (May 16, 2007). "Interview: Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings". IGN . Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  39. ↑ "Dissidia: Final Fantasy Interview". BitGamer. May 5, 2009. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
  40. ↑ Kauz, Andrew (August 21, 2010). "The rubbing of breasts on faces in Dragon Quest IX". Destructoid. Archived from the original on September 25, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
  41. ↑ "Q&A for Final Fantasy VIII". Final Fantasy VIII European website. 1999. Archived from the original on May 3, 2004. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  42. ↑ "Final Fantasy Retrospective: Part XII". GameTrailers. October 26, 2007. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
  43. ↑ Beckett, Michael. "Final Fantasy VI – Staff Re-Retroview". RPGamer. Archived from the original on September 13, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  44. ↑ Next Generation staff (October 20, 1998). "Rumored to never see the light of US day..." Next Generation Magazine . Archived from the original on November 9, 2004. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
  45. ↑ John Tanaka (March 10, 2008). "Square Enix Aims For Simultaneous Worldwide Releases". IGN . Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  46. ↑ Robert Fahey (September 16, 2004). "Going Online With Square Enix". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  47. ↑ Thomas Nickel (January 1, 2006). "Hiromichi Tanaka - Final Fantasy III". g wie gorilla. Archived from the original on June 25, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  48. ↑ Alaiing (January 29, 2007). "Final Fantasy XI: Entretien avec Hiromichi Tanaka". Mondes Persistants (in French). Archived from the original on March 14, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  49. ↑ Toriyama, Motomu; Maeda, Akihiko (October 2010). "Post Mortem Final Fantasy XIII". Game Developer . 17 (9): 24–29. ISSN   1073-922X.
  50. ↑ Gordon, Jonathan (August 20, 2009). "GC 09 Final Fantasy XIII Interview". NowGamer. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  51. ↑ Van Duine, Erren (July 30, 2012). "Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Developer Interview". RPGSite. Archived from the original on April 11, 2014. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  52. ↑ Parish, Jeremy (July 2013). "Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Full E3 Interview". USGamer.com. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  53. ↑ Jeremy Parish (September 17, 2013). "TGS: Agito, Type 0, Fan Support, and the Intimacy of Portables". USGamer. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
  54. ↑ Minamida, Sakura (June 10, 2014). "Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Coming to PS4". PlayStation Blog. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  55. ↑ "Epic Center: The Rising Sun". Nintendo Power . No. 79. Nintendo. December 1995. p. 51. ISSN   1041-9551.
  56. ↑ Dillard, Corbie (April 1, 2009). "Interview with Brian Fehdrau (Secret of Evermore)". NintendoLife. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  57. ↑ Suszek, Mike (February 25, 2014). "Lightning Returns with Japanese voice overs and Moogle costume DLC". Joystiq. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  58. ↑ Fahey, Mike (February 5, 2014). "Drakengard 3 Comes To North America In May. Preorder Now Or Else". Kotaku . Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  59. ↑ Sato (March 31, 2014). "Bravely Default's Success In The West Is Making Square Enix Rethink Their JRPGs". Siliconera. Archived from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  60. ↑ Sato (August 1, 2016). "Dragon Quest X Is Marching Its Way To China". Silicon Era. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  61. ↑ Casey (September 26, 2016). "Square Enix Might Look Into Localizing Dragon Quest X If There Are Enough Fan Requests". Silicon Era. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  62. ↑ Edge Staff (August 26, 2012). "The Making Of: Final Fantasy VII". Edge. Archived from the original on December 9, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
  63. ↑ "Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Images". IGN. September 11, 2002. Retrieved March 11, 2007.
  64. ↑ Gantayat, Anoop (September 8, 2010). "Final Fantasy XIII Xbox 360 Confirmed For Japan". IGN. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
  65. ↑ Boulette, Bryan (May 9, 2007). "Final Fantasy IV Remake, XII International Announced". RPGamer. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 9, 2007.
  66. ↑ "Dirge of Cerberus, Drakengard Become Ultimate Hits" (in Japanese). RPGFan. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  67. ↑ Parish, Jeremy (March 6, 2012). "Square Enix Localization Looks to the Future". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  68. ↑ Hsu, Tim. "Xenogears - PS Review". Game Revolution . Retrieved August 31, 2008.
  69. ↑ Bartholow, Peter (April 2, 1998). "Xenogears Review". GameSpot . Retrieved August 9, 2008.
  70. ↑ Katayev, Arnold (January 16, 2001). "The Bouncer (import)". PSXExtreme. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  71. ↑ Liu, Johnny (December 1, 2001). "GameRevolution: Final Fantasy X". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on November 2, 2009. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  72. ↑ Bramwell, Tom (June 16, 2002). "Final Fantasy X Eurogamer Review". Eurogamer . Retrieved March 13, 2008.
  73. ↑ Smith, David (December 18, 2001). "Final Fantasy X Review". IGN . Retrieved November 23, 2008.
  74. ↑ Long, Andrew. "Final Fantasy X - Review". RPGamer. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
  75. ↑ Minako O'Hagan,Carmen Mangiron (2013). Game Localization: Translating for the global digital entertainment industry. Benjamins Translation Library. ISBN   9789027271860 . Retrieved December 24, 2016.
  76. ↑ Square Enix North America site staff (2004). "FINAL FANTASY X-2 wins for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance at Seventh Annual AIAS awards". Square Enix North America. Retrieved March 12, 2006.
  77. ↑ Kasavin, Greg (October 31, 2006). "Final Fantasy XII for PlayStation 2 Review". GameSpot . Retrieved March 4, 2007.
  78. ↑ Zdyrko, David (May 22, 2000). "Vagrant Story". IGN. Retrieved May 8, 2007.
  79. ↑ Schleicher, Keith. "Final Fantasy XII: Return to Ivalice Review". Gaming Trend. Archived from the original on March 16, 2008. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
  80. ↑ Ron Duwell (October 15, 2015). "Final Fantasy XV director responds to localization criticisms, promises more discussion". Techno Buffalo. Retrieved December 24, 2016.

See also

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.