TACTICS OGRE BITCHESSSSSS

[gogmagog]

Okay, so I may have squealed like a little girl (literally) when I read last night that Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is being remade for the PSP and brought to North America. Since LUCT is still one of my favorite games of all time, ever, this is amazingly good news for me. They're adding a new character, rebalancing the gameplay (you can now have up to 12 characters in battle, and enemies can have up to 18), giving it a graphical overhaul while still keeping it looking like the original (the battlefields are now in 3D and you can rotate them! Sprites are still squat little SD guys though).

Now, the bad: as you can see from the website, the translation is giving off distinct signs of that Ivalician lisp I remember so well from War of the Lions. While some of the new names are closer to the original Japanese (Dorgalua over Dolgare), others have gratuitous y's, bizarre consonantal shifts and a buttload of consonantal diphthongs (Overis to Oberyth, Zeteginea to Xyteginia [WHAT], Walsta to Walister). Other changes that I'm undecided about: Vice is now "Vyce," Kachua is now "Catiua" (which I really like, actually), and Bacrum and Gargastan are now Bakram and Galgastan.

Honestly, I just don't want them to change the fact that 90% of the characters are named after Goetic demons. If I start seeing "Barbath" and "Andrath" and "Folcath," I am gonna have to cut a bitch.

Edit: More info can be found on the main English Tactics Ogre fansite discussion forum, and here's clear versions of the various Famitsu screenshots (thanks to tastystirfry).

Edit 2: Comparisons of the original with the update, graphically speaking.

Comments

[braaaiiins.livejournal.com]

Ugh, God, modern translations. I don't see the appeal of translating something to English as it has never been spoken by anyone, ever. Old translations may have been awful, but at least they weren't obnoxious. Also, for the longest time I was way offended by how often people used the word "fete" in FFXII (so often. infinite times.). Wikipedia tells me that that word is commonly used in some non-American anglophone countries so... well, I'm still offended. Am I worse than Pol Pot? It's possible.

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

I actually don't have a huge problem with the deliberately archaic English in certain games - admittedly, the cod-Shakespearean dialogue isn't the greatest in games like Vagrant Story or FF12, but I can deal if it's something medieval-y in setting. (Since actual medieval English would probably be a bit difficult for modern audiences.)

However, it definitely can get kind of annoying when they go over the top with it (mostly because they tend to use a five-syllable world when a one-syllable word will do, like VS' repeated use of the word "escutcheon" over "shield"), and they tend to do so a lot. I much prefer a mix of casualness and formality, along the lines of Dragon Age (which had fantastic writing, albeit originating in English).