Localizing dialogue more naturally into English makes sense, and is quite necessary. Translations of Japanese that are too literal tend to sound awkward as all hell, so it doesn't bother me in most quests where the dialogue is vastly different from the text, but the point is still there. Keeper of the Lake was an interesting take, although from my point of view a bit overboard. It's one thing to give him character and make him sound ancient and majestic, but I think the localization went too far, and ended up muddling the significance of the scene by making him sound like an overly verbose, confusing asshole.
HOWEVER.
However. Differences in dialogue, however much or little is one thing on its own, and should be expected. Changing a scene, and the complete presentation of a character is another. There is literally no excuse for this. It's not something you can argue either by saying "well, characters like this tend not to exist in Western stuff!" or "it would be hard to localize!" because those are both retarded arguments. Observe.
Haurchefant in English:
[youtube]aVlPvBW0UJ8[/youtube]
Haurchefant in Japanese:
[youtube]Jb716z1_8fk[/youtube]
No idea what this is like in French or German, though I imagine it's closer to English. I feel bad for the people who watched in English, because they completely missed the presentation of what his character is clearly meant to be. Oh well.
HOWEVER.
However. Differences in dialogue, however much or little is one thing on its own, and should be expected. Changing a scene, and the complete presentation of a character is another. There is literally no excuse for this. It's not something you can argue either by saying "well, characters like this tend not to exist in Western stuff!" or "it would be hard to localize!" because those are both retarded arguments. Observe.
Haurchefant in English:
[youtube]aVlPvBW0UJ8[/youtube]
Haurchefant in Japanese:
[youtube]Jb716z1_8fk[/youtube]
No idea what this is like in French or German, though I imagine it's closer to English. I feel bad for the people who watched in English, because they completely missed the presentation of what his character is clearly meant to be. Oh well.
