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PoR JP/EN script differences overview: (Part 7) ch #18

The bird conversations were getting too long, one chapter this time.

→ Main Index — Begin reading here ←

Chapter 18

1) Liberation Army is actually 再興軍 - Reconstruction/revival army.

Ike doesn't add "Put on a funny hat or something?", only "What should I do?"

While Ike's in-game class becomes "Lord", Elincia actually grants him the title of "Knight". The same word as in "Black Knight".

2) Misattributed to Ike on Serenes, but both "Once we cross that great wall" and "Look there" paragraphs belong to Tanith. Not a mistranslation, since it seems to be correct in the game.

3) EN!Tanith: "You see, a plague had struck the capital, spreading out to affect the surrounding region of Nevassa and beyond. […] In the entire history of Tellius, no calamity has claimed the lives of so many beorc and laguz -- not since the great flood. Two years before, it struck Begnion, and the entire population of Serenes was nearly obliterated. The year after that, close to a thousand beorc -- nobles and peasants alike -- perished in Daein."

I think it's not an error exactly, but a bad choice to phrase it as if she was talking about the epidemic both times, but she only says that those unrelated events happened one after another and many beorc and laguz died in quick succession, which never happened outside of war since the great flood.

Same base convo has a small clarification on the Daein/Begnion relations and a remark on the former king.

EN!Tanith: Begnion and Daein both keep close watch over their borders, and their patrols fought in many skirmishes. Although there was no war to speak of, these land disputes did end with Daein claiming a small portion of Begnion soil.

JP!Tanith: Begnion and Daein had clashed with each other many times over territorial expansion. During the reign of the former King of Daein, who was of a relatively mild nature, they had carved out a piece of Begnion territory, albeit only a small one…

4) Pre-battle convo. The original conveys a somber/resolute mood, while the translation made Ike flippant. Particularly this part feels like a bad choice.

EN!Ike: There's no need to look so worried. We're well prepared. And we've got you as our good luck charm. EN!Elincia: Thank you for that, but… Do be careful, my lord Ike.

JP!Ike: Don't look so anxious, keep a cool head. You are the banner of this army. JP!Elincia: I know that. But… Lord Ike……

5) Pre-battle, Shinon doesn't say "You'll know it soon enough". In fact, he says absolutely nothing.

There are no significant changes in his boss/recruitment conversations, except Boyd doesn't explicitly wish him dead.

Post-battle, the translation implies that Shinon and Ike have another fight right away. Originally, I don't think that's the case. Shinon says "…The next time we fight, if I win, I'll get the commander position, agreed?" Ike agrees, but nothing indicates that this fight happens at all.

6) Ike talking to Nasir has interesting vibes that are slightly different.

EN!Nasir: Use what you've been given, and great things will happen. You have it in you to lead, Ike. JP!Nasir: People grow according to the vessel they are given. You are [given] the vessel of a general, Ike.

(Talking about Greil)

EN!Ike: "If you treat others in good faith, they will follow you of their own volition." That's what he taught me. JP!Ike: He taught me that if you live being true to yourself, people will naturally follow.

#fire emblem #path of radiance #ike fire emblem #shinon fire emblem #elincia fire emblem #tellius #fe9 #localisation #tanith fire emblem #seems like they were trying to make ike and elincia's convo lighthearted and really mangled the actual vibe

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PoR JP/EN script differences overview: (Part 6) ch #16 - ch #17

The Oliver and herons show.

→ Main Index — Begin reading here ←

Chapter 16

1) Oliver appears prominently. There is nothing much about him except one detail: as we start to notice in the chapter before this one, the localisation liberally sprinkles "fat" and its synonyms into speech of every other character as a means to insult Oliver. The original script doesn't have it even once.

2) Sanaki debriefing Ike/Tormod. There is a small detail that wouldn't be noticed if the translation choice wasn't tonally dissonant.

Ike: You want to expose the depravity of the inner circles of power. But you don't want the general public to know that the majority of the senate is involved in slavery. Sanaki: I thought you were as untutored as a wild monkey. You're actually quite bright.

EN!Ike: I didn't figure it all out by myself. I have companions whom I trust with my life. They helped.

"Trust with my life"? It was a simple consultation, not a life and death situation.

JP!Ike: ……I'm not thinking about it alone, you know. I have companion(s) to rely on.

What makes the original choice notable is 頼りになる ("reliable"), because Ike uses it again in Epilogue vs Sephiran:

JP!Ike: I've always had people by my side that I could rely on. That's why… it was possible to do it.

And, to lesser extent, it's the qualifier that Soren uses in his A support with Ike instead of saying "I have no friends".

JP!Soren: I have… only you to rely on.

I'm not sure if it's the same "reliable" as in "Likes: Reliable people" in Soren's official profile, but — it's likely. All in all, it seems somewhat significant for the game.

3) Muarim☆. Personally, I dislike it when Tellius translation dances around the word "love" when it should have used it, because it's a major motif in FE9/10.

EN!Ike: I know I don't know everything that's going on, but you shouldn't be trying to push Tormod away. He's dedicated to you […]

JP!Ike: I don't know what your reasons are, but don't force Tormod, who adores you so much, away from you.

Lesser detail from the same base convo points out once again how polite Muarim was trained to be. He is the only person we recruit who uses the standard "Nice to meet you" phrase and Ike replies with a standard polite phrase as well.

EN!Muarim: "May our friendship be true and enduring." JP!Muarim: "From now on, I'm looking forward to working with you."

4) Titania goes sneaking around Oliver's mansion with Mist for a reason.

EN!Titania: If we get stopped, we can talk our way out of it. JP!Titania: If something happens, women can talk their way out of anything…

5) Devdan has recruitment dialogue that is largely repeated. The only thing to note is that Soren is visibly pissed off (with ellipses) when Devdan calls him a kid twice. Sothe uses the impolite "you" on him, while Soren uses the polite "you", Rolf and Mist use "uncle" and Tormod uses "old man" plus the same "you" as Sothe. Devdan alternately calls himself a man of honor, an ally of justice (twice), an ally of kids, and once he says he will do his best.

6) Oliver says "shit" (just before Ike and co discover Reyson). It's official.

Chapter 17

1) The original script tells us that Oliver is somehow the dead last of senators.

JP!Soren: Duke Tanas is still a senator, even if the last/most junior in position… He must still have a large number of private troops with him. Surprisingly, he's a tricky opponent…

2) EN script uses "seid magic" to describe singing of herons. That is a decent choice, because JP script says "herons are galdrar, meaning singers of galdr", which is complete bullshit. "Galdrar" is the plural form of "galdr" — thankfully the localisers knew as much.

3) Unfortunately, FE10 didn't happen yet.

EN!Nasir: Herons are highly attuned to the forces of balance. JP!Nasir: They are a race that is as close to "Order" as possible.

And later.

EN!Tibarn: You must not let yourself be ruled by despair! Each member of the heron tribe is an embodiment of balance! Do this, and you warp your very existence! JP!Tibarn: Don't let your feeling of hatred take over! You heron people belong to Order… and if you violate that, your existence will be distorted!

4) Speaking of Reyson, he is getting murdery.

EN!Reyson: With permission or without, I do what I must! It is retribution for genocide! Retribution for this forest! JP!Reyson: Even if I don't get your permission, I will do it! It's my clan's revenge…! The forest surely wants it too!

6) Still speaking of herons, after they sing the revival galdr the translation says "heart of the forest has returned", but the original calls it "lords of the forest have returned".

7) Boyd making fun of Mist (about Leanne's weight) and getting a well-deserved kick is even more deserved originally.

EN!Boyd: Did you know you're two times heavier than she is!? I'm glad I don't have to carry you around! It'd be like wearing an extra suit of armor! JP!Boyd: You're "twice" as heavy as that white girl. From what I can see, your hips and thighs are suspiciously…

#fire emblem #tellius #path of radiance #fe9 #localisation #ike fire emblem #soren fire emblem #reyson fire emblem #oliver fire emblem #boyd fire emblem #devdan fire emblem #muarim fire emblem

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PoR JP/EN script differences overview: (Part 5) ch #14 - ch #15

This part was so long tumblr editor started glitching.

→ Main Index — Begin reading here ←

Chapter 14

1) The dialogue with Sanaki replaces Elincia with Ike in one instance and gives Ike more filler remarks in general. It's not just a misattribution/bug, since they have a different speech style.

EN!Ike: So…you knew we were coming. You knew who we were all along.

JP!Elincia: So you knew… that I would be visiting?

EN!Ike: Madness!

JP!Ike: ……

2) Sanaki is more direct in insulting Ike and at the same time much less invested in insulting Elincia.

EN!Sanaki: Even if we harm her fragile feelings, for the sake of her country's future, she must stand by and say nothing. In fact, she is in no position to do anything but beg for Begnion's favor. Or…hadn't you noticed?

I have much to consider. For now, I shall take my leave of you. I will meet with my senators soon and discuss this state of affairs. Crimea's future will not be uncertain for long. Until that time, I suggest you rest and relax. Perhaps you could try your hand at our courtly games of…wit and words?

JP!Sanaki: However offended you may be, you are in a position where you must keep Begnion in good humour in order to rebuild your country. Do you not have the brains to realise this?

Think it over. For now, I shall retire. The matter of the Crimea will be discussed in the Senate, and then I will inform you.

Until then, you may relax and enjoy yourselves.

3) Ike's to-go insult for nobles is "stupid", not "mad".

4) Gatrie comes off as a creep in his base convo, even if it's a joke. He, age 25, says to Ike, age 17, that "the girls who serve in the palace are beautiful" using the word for children and cutesy names, giving off a strong vibe that they are Ike's age or younger. The localisation tries to brush it off, inserting the word "buxom", which implies grown women (and maybe they were right doing it), but I'm comfortable saying that the original meant this part to portray Gatrie as sleazy.

5) Astrid base convo sort of misrepresents her desire.

EN!Astrid: I may now be a knight, but my hands still shake when I draw my bowstring. So perhaps my goal was not simply to become a knight. Perhaps my true goal was to become stronger.

JP!Astrid: …… I'm going to be a knight, I say…… but sometimes my hand shakes as I hold the bow. Perhaps it is rather my heart that desires to be strong.

6) Sanaki's job description has a clarification:

EN!Soren: "Stop the band of merchants traveling on the old highway, and seize their cargo."

JP!Soren: "Repelling a gang of men dressed as merchants traveling on this old road. In addition, seizure of their cargo."

With this, it makes sense that Ike says "I don't know who we're facing".

7) Peddler's ambitions get hilariously inhibited.

EN!Peddler: Think what you could buy with all that gold. A new axe… Oh, and some furry boots, too!

JP!Peddler: What to do with the gold you've got… booze, of course. And good food and, oh, let's not forget good women.

8) Makalov about Marcia.

EN!Makalov: Oh, she's going to be so mad…

JP!Makalov: I wonder if she will cry again.

9) We first encounter the word for "Feral" laguz. The original uses "narisokanai", which means "Failure" or "Defective".

10) The meeting of laguz royals.

Caineghis claims that "Gallia and Crimea initiated many ambitious cultural projects in an attempt to bring our divided people closer."

What are those ambitious projects that players never hear about? Original is a lot tamer: "We have been willing to make various attempts to cooperate, such as exchanging our people."

11) Dheginsea is more direct in avoiding wars and doesn't consider Begnion an ally (quite logically so).

EN!Dheginsea: What good will your piracy do you if it earns the wrath of Begnion? Continue at this pace, and there's no telling when the hostilities will end.

JP!Dheginsea: I suggest you refrain from pirating Begnion vessels. If you continue like this, a battle may break out at any moment.

EN!Dheginsea: Blood leads only to blood, and violence begets violence. Nothing more. Revenge is simply another name for murder.

JP!Dheginsea: Revenge only leads to more revenge. It only links the never-ending circle of battles.

EN!Dheginsea: If we were to form a laguz alliance against Daein, we would drive Begnion to Daein's side and lose a valuable ally.

JP!Dheginsea: Begnion's Empire would be forced to join Daein. We must avoid that.

Chapter 15

1) Sigrun only talks about infantry having difficulty moving in the desert, but not cavalry. (No idea if it corresponds to any changes in the gameplay, never heard about it tbh)

2) Ike talking to Makalov seems to say that Soren paid back the poachers, not "the other debts", so Makalov's assumption that the debt "vanished" was incorrect.

EN!Ike: Debts are debts, and you have many. Those peddlers weren't the only people who were owed coin by you… Right? We can't have debt collectors hounding the company day in and day out. My staff officer repaid the rest of the money you owe.

JP!Ike: A debt is a debt. I don't want my mercenary group to get into that kind of trouble. My staff officer paid those guys back.

There is also a funny moment that's very in character for JP!Ike. It's a common expression "to do something with the intention of dying" (meaning to give it your all), but from Ike — who hates to use "roundabout words" — it sounds like a threat.

EN!Ike: Until your debts are completely repaid, don't even think about leaving the company. Or getting sick. Right then! I trust you'll do your best.

JP!Ike: Don't think you can run away from the group until you're out of debt, okay? Well then, do your best or die trying.

3) Before the battle. I can only go from the pegasusknight wiki, but it seems like the whole chunk of text from Ike saying "So, it's time for the desert!" to right before Tormod asks "Who are you?" is absent in the JP script. For once, it looks like a good change in localisation, because filler chatter allows Soren's distress to come into focus without changing anything.

4) Stefan's character in his recruitment conversations is changed drastically. While the text content is pretty much the same, EN!Stefan is super upbeat for some reason, while JP!Stefan is calm and maybe a tiny bit sarcastic. I've analyzed Stefan's support with Mordecai in the past and we can only assume that this change falls in line with the localisation deciding to cover up Stefan's bitterness and internal turmoil altogether.

5) While not related to localisation, an interesting thing to note in this chapter is that Muarim does not consider Soren a child for his purposes of refusing to fight children. We'll later find out that Devdan does mistake Soren for a child, as does Tibarn.

6) Muarim calls Tormod "young master" originally.

7) In the final dialogue of the chapter, Naesala says "Let [duke Tanas] wait until tomorrow morning", but this information is replaced with "Just make sure that mountain of suet stays hidden" in the EN script. (Since the next chapter starts during the daytime, Oliver did wait.)

#localisation #tellius #fire emblem #path of radiance #fe9 #ike fire emblem #sanaki fire emblem #stefan fire emblem #muarim fire emblem #dheginsea fire emblem #astrid fire emblem #Gatrie fire emblem

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#soren fire emblem #fire emblem #tellius #fanart #what if soren but modern au #i just think he would dress sharply

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love and everything hereafter

There is a detail in FE10 endgame that became a source of endless jokes, but people rarely seriously stop to consider. That is the placement of 4-F-5 base conversation "Soren" just before the final fight with Ashera.

So Ashera just stands there while Ike has a sudden pressing need to talk to Soren about his newly regained memories… for no reason at all? They could have moved the conversation to the epilogue altogether, right?

Yeah, but… infodumping is probably not the only point.

I have an idea that the placement has to do with the content of the following pre-battle script, specifically on Hard mode. There are two main thematic beats we get a reminder about from the conversation: the treatment of branded and the way Soren influenced the PoV character, Ike himself.

For the first point, let's see what Yune says in the pre-battle text:

Ashera… I’ll tell you a secret you didn’t know. Children can be born to a beorc and laguz parent. Very rarely, a child with a brand appears among their offspring.

These children look like beorc, but their substance is different. They have longer lifespans and various special abilities, like the laguz. They are still very few in number, but if allowed to flourish, mankind will surely change again. The laguz and the beorc… two separate species that evolve… and after a long time, they will transform into another, even better species.

I want to see the evolution of mankind. You can’t just bring that to a halt.

Yune, of course, found that out from Stefan. But the players could do with a reminder for extra impact and that immediate reminder was Soren. In a way, Yune's sentiment also brings a note of hope to his rather bleak tale.

For the second point, there is a thing that Ike says that was skipped in the "easy" script entirely:

But even the most foolish people have a heart that is able to love their family, love their friends, love… someone[*]. This is a thing that can never be lost.

Now it begins to make all the sense that the dialogue "renewing Ike's affection/love for Soren", as the Recollection book describes it, is placed immediately before the part where Ike has to talk to Yune/Ashera about love for people. It's the conclusion of Ike's two-games arc right here. Not the battle with Zelgius that's borderline assisted suicide, but his clarity and will to fight the goddess herself.

Considering everything, it's almost a shame that the conversation is both optional and pretty hard to get. FE10 can be a mess narratively sometimes, but this was a perfect fit…

[*]"people" and "person" have no distinction here. I feel that the word makes more sense as singular because of "even… can love a person" emphasis.

#fe meta #tellius #fe10 #ikesoren #soren fire emblem #ike fire emblem #fire emblem #radiant dawn #i just needed to get this off my chest

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Tellius: How to accidentally mess up the lore by making "better" localised names

Here's a separate small post so the topic doesn't get lost mid-chapter. I will imply certain "writer's intent", but it is, of course, my opinion of the intent.

Appearing in the lore and, well, prominently in the games, there are two sets of three-fold "concepts" on Tellius.

First, the goddesses. Ashera, Yune and Ashunera. The first one is a name everyone will recognize as a real historical goddess name from our myths, the second one at least sounds like a name. The third one — the most important one — is more like "well… a choice was made". The combined name bears no particular meaning aside from containing the letters.

There is a reason for that. This highly legitimate reason is that neither Yune, nor Ashunera was mentioned by name in Path of Radiance. And that someone on the localisation team of Path of Radiance decided that one historical goddess is just as good as another, or maybe better.

Let's look at the original names: Astarte, Yune (Yunnu), and — Astartyune. Makes sense now? Yep, literally "a star tune". You know. The galdrar. Which are sort of important to the plot and all that.

The second set of named entities are Beorc, Laguz and Zunanma, which have much the same relationship as the first set. One side, the other side, the combination. I have no "legitimate" explanation for whatever happened to them, because they all get a mention in PoR.

So what are the names meant to be? Berkana, Laguz, Mannaz. Those are the names of certain runes: ᛒ , ᛚ and ᛗ. The first two were pretty obviously chosen to visually combine into the third one.

Imagine, someone even recognized the jp spelling of "Laguz" as the real word they should use, but then went literal with the "Beorc" spelling for some reason and deliberately mangled "Mannaz". I have zero ideas on what the goal was.

Please don't take all of the meta series as me purely shit-talking the PoR localisation. I'm sure they had, uhhh, their constraints. They even had little funny ideas. But at times, it's only possible to read the translated script like this:

#tellius #localisation #fire emblem #path of radiance #fe9/10 #ashunera #beorc #laguz #meta

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PoR JP/EN script differences overview: (Part 4) ch #12 - ch #13

Where things are moving slowly and Gatrie has way too many conversations that are almost the same.

→ Main Index — Begin reading here ←

Chapter 12.

1) Nasir, Ike and Mist talk with marginal changes. Main additions:

JP!Ike outright asking: Nasir... you're beorc, aren't you? If you're a beorc, why are you working with laguz?

JP!Nasir: No, I'm a genuine laguz.

In the translated script, Nasir also says that he has financial reasons for involvement. No such thing originally.

2) JP!Zihark cutely saying "I've never met such a cosy mercenary group before" instead of grandstanding about how he's "finally able to do the kind of good I've longed to do for years."

3) Mistranslated Nasir talking about crows attacking the ship.

EN!Nasir: We're still out of their range, but airborne foes can be especially troublesome.

JP!Nasir: We're not in their territory, so I've let my guard down...

As we learn later, those were indeed Goldoa's territorial waters, not Kilvas.

4) A rare missed joke, instead of adding a joke. Apparently, Ike was initially hoping to move the ship from the rocks with a large piece of driftwood (there was none in vicinity). Then, he was arguing with the dragon soldiers for a while, making it more clear how Kurthnaga had time to get over to the shore and interfere.

5) A remark on Greil's child-rearing methods in Ike talking to Kurthnaga.

EN!Ike: My father had a great deal to say about my lack of etiquette.

JP!Ike: My dad used to harshly scold me for not speaking properly…

The literal verb here is "to be hit", but the meaning is "to be scolded/yelled at for some failure". Poor kid just trying to navigate the neurotypical world. That said, we will eventually find out that Greil did literally hit Ike, but not for this.

I'll say this again after reading the whole Kurthnaga dialogue — the translated Ike is too smooth-talking too often, compared to what the original intent was and the text itself says in constantly focusing on his rudeness.

Chapter 13.

1) Worldbuilding clarification:

EN!Soren: No, but it's extremely unusual for Begnion to send an envoy to meet a princess whom they do not even acknowledge.

JP!Soren: It is not natural, though, to go to the trouble of sending an emissary for a princess who is not recognised by the public.

2) JP!Tibarn and JP!Janaff (and Reyson later) pretty much exclusively use the curseword "humans"/ningen in this chapter, but their EN versions use "beorc".

3) Ike/Mist/Soren/Titania looking for the apostle joke originally front loaded some information - because the apostle's (messenger of the goddess, literally) gender wasn't obvious, since it was possible to skip gendered language for a while. Compare:

EN!Ike: I'll do what I can to find her, but I don't even know who I'm looking for...

EN!Soren: I think it's safe to assume she will be a woman of stature, a noblewoman of some sort.

EN!Titania: Well, I suppose all I have to do is keep my eyes peeled for any stowaway--anyone I don't know.

vs

JP!Ike: ...I'll be searching, but.. I don't even know what the person looks like... ...a messenger of the goddess, the emperor of Begnion ...... A fat, dignified-looking, old man?

JP!Soren: Ike, the apostles in Begnion have been women for generations.

JP!Titania: So, a woman of grace and high status, then.

Damn, there was a lot of script, but most fudging/misunderstanding of the text was really boring and not worth mentioning.

#tellius #localisation #fe9 #soren fire emblem #ike fire emblem #nasir fire emblem #zihark fire emblem #tibarn fire emblem #path of radiance #fire emblem

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I was reading your post concerning the 10&11 chapter and it got me curious... can I ask how many times does path of radiance hint that Soren has "powers" related to being branded?

To answer that, let's decide what Soren's special powers are anyway. I will offer that the game implies those:

Unnaturally good spacial awareness/internal compass.

Magic ability beyond that of a normal beorc mage.

(possibly) Perceptiveness of other people's "spirit"

It's not a lot.

1. They try to keep consistent that Soren never gets lost and would give advice on direction. The most obvious mention is Chapter 17, when they search Serene's Forest for 3 days and Ike outright asks about always knowing where he is when no one else can make sense of the dead forest. I'm almost sure that the writers tried to insert more believability to Soren's backstory of crossing vast distances of the continent as a 6 year old kid.

2. It only really comes up a couple of times. Once as recalling the sage that took Soren in, thinking that the kid was extremely talented. The second time when Kalil explains to Tormod that they, ordinary mages, shouldn't sell their soul to the spirits — unlike Soren, who definitely gained his powers this way and is on the whole different level from them.

3. Related to Reyson's explanation that some laguz tribes are more perceptive than the others in context of sensing Leanne's "presence". He puts dragons as the most perceptive of all, and while it doesn't obviously point to Soren at that moment, there are very few other characters this fact would be relevant to. Neither Nasir, nor Ena seem to require being the most perceptive for explaining their actions. Dheginsea — obviously not. Kurthnaga — maybe, but that's not relevant until RD. Soren's part of the story of looking for Ike (and again, improbably finding him) is already solidified in PoR, and with Titania also insisting that Soren is perceptive, this vague "power" seems to apply to him on some level.

ETA: Also worth considering Soren being the first to notice Elincia in Chapter 4. It's not a supernatural event in itself, but it's his join chapter and he is being established with many little indicators of his character.

The last one has a lot of handwaving. However, I felt that the theory is worth a mention, because Soren is a "core" character: his arc seems to be decided early on and influences design/features of other characters (for instance, Kalil/Bastian getting knives or Petrine getting a magic-based lance).

#soren fire emblem #tellius #path of radiance #fe9 #fire emblem #branded

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I was wondering, you know how ike depends on soren as much as soren depends on ike in both games, right? but is it more noticeable in the japanese version? just curious since it's more or less subtle in the english location

If you allow me, I'd like to answer in a roundabout way. This question touches on the fundamental issue of translating mostly anything but technical texts: languages existing not in a vacuum, but in a cultural context.

So when we (as someone translating for someone else to read) ask ourselves: is this detail noticeable? is this word meaningful? — we also have to add the main caveat to the questions: TO WHOM and WHEN. Without keeping that in the back of our minds, the translation can become accurate yet not truthful.

You and I, we are outside the bulk of cultural context that created the Japanese language. We are quite a bit removed from 2005 already, as well. We operate on different concepts of subtlety. We may or may not think that a hug is a big deal, even between cultures speaking the same language.

With all that said… I can only relay my impression of PoR which I have not read fully to the end as of writing this, although I'm familiar with key moments of Soren and Ike's interactions.

The localisation team tries very hard to make their interactions unambiguously friendly, even going so far as to add the word "friend" several times, when they don't use it at all originally. I think the native impression is more on the side of "commander/commander's right hand", "the people who trust each other completely", although the level of politeness/address suggests that they are equals. Therefore, I would say that the impression that Ike relies on Soren and "pursues" him, in a way, is more prominent originally, at the localised cost of going through "friendliness" motions. Ike is said to be not a talkative person, not even in "wow, this is awful to hear" way, and there is not much pure textual info I can glean from him. But as I've said… context.

One easy example off the top of my head that rings differently is Ike's introduction of Soren and Mist to Tibarn (who, in his infinite lack of perception, considers Soren a kid, not a branded, unlike most other laguz). On paper, nothing changes.

"This is Soren. My tactician. And this is Mist. My sister."

Which sounds completely throwaway, but introducing "your" (not your group's) tactician in the same beat as, and actually before, your only real family member, is supposed to be a bit funny/rude/noticeable, a display of Ike's attitude. It's a bigger deal for the native speakers to just go ahead and say "mine".

I don't want to be misunderstood here. Ike and Soren are at ease with each other and can joke with each other, even if the games don't give them a lot of space to do so (what with all the time spent sending Soren into an existential crisis or two). They are bantering in the audio drama. They are de-facto friends. But the original sort of presses more on the loyalty and reliance bond, as this is something that is culturally understood and expected by native players to go beyond "mere" ties of friendship.

#I don't even know if I answered the question… but I don't have anything more for now #ikesoren #soren fire emblem #tellius #fire emblem #localisation #ike fire emblem #fe9

[docidoci]

Bump for update and clarification

Index

This list will be updated and linked in every post in the series for ease of access.

Reblogs do not reflect the changes on the original post, so I don’t exactly advise to reblog the index until it’s complete, but I can’t forbid it either.

Main script

Part 1 — Chapters 0-8

Part 1.5 — Notes on direct speech

Part 2 — Chapter 9

Part 3 — Chapter 10-11

[…in progress…]

Supports

Stefan/Mordecai support

#tellius #fe9 #meta

[docidoci]

PoR JP/EN script differences overview: (Part 3) ch #10 - ch #11

→ Main Index — Begin reading here ←

Chapter 10.

1) Ranulf explains the use of "human", so a note on that. As a curseword, "Human" = ニンゲン (ningen), it is phonetically the same as the normal "human" but written in kana to stand out. However, "sub-human" is originally "Half-beast" = 半獣 (hanju). That explains why Ike initially doesn't consider it an offensive term, which is fairly impossible in the translation.

2) Narrative introduction again implies that Crimea is still having a dependent position to Begnion, while the localisation adds a lot of words to say that they are currently independent.

JP: The support of the suzerain Begnion was absolutely essential for the rebirth of the Kingdom of Crimea, which had been born as a domain of the Empire.

3) Meeting Volke. Where the original is reasonable, the localisation confuses measures of time to a great effect.

EN!Volke: Stop into any tavern along your way. Tell the barkeep you've need of a fireman. You'll see me within an hour.

JP!Volke: Any tavern in a little town will do. Just tell the owner, 'I need a fireman'. I'll be there within a week.

Volke himself indeed comes off as abrupt and rude to the point where even Soren calls him rude.

4) Kieran is mostly the same person. He is slightly less wordy, like for instance he isn't describing torture to Brom, but his attitude is accurate.

Chapter 11.

A lot of subtle foreshadowing is going on here… or should have been going on.

1) A little worldbuilding note. It's not super important, but we are introduced to the concept of Kingdom of Crimea being non-monolithic and the possibility of internal conflict, even if it's not happening until RD.

EN!Soren: Perhaps this is due to the temperament of its rulers, but the country hasn't seen serious warfare for centuries.

JP!Soren: Perhaps it is because of the gentle temperament of the royal family that there are few conflicts between territories, and there have been no major — country-wide — wars for hundreds of years.

2) Talking about Soren right after he gives the famous "no sympathy" speech (which is translated very well).

EN!Titania: Soren's a very empathetic young man. The emotions of this place may have proven to be too much for him.

EN!Ranulf: Ignoring impending doom because you cannot prevent it... Fatalism is by nature a disheartening beast. Well, for all those born with nothing, there are those born with everything. Perhaps those who never notice the difference are the ones we should envy.

Some really weird choices here that seem to fit badly with the rest of the script. What is actually happening?

First, Titania has the role of implying Soren's non-beorc perceptiveness.

JP!Titania: …Senerio is a sensitive kid, so he can't stand this kind of atmosphere, right?

After that, Ranulf, in fact, continues talking about him being Branded. When you know that the Branded are considered "born without a blessing", everything he says becomes clear.

JP!Ranulf: Sometimes, even if we know something we pretend not to know, because we can't do anything about it…… I wonder if those who were born without a blessing are envious that those who were born blessed live their lives without realising it?

Ike: What's that supposed to mean?

Ranulf: Oh, I was talking to myself. Pay me no mind.

And now it becomes natural that Ranulf doesn't want to explain anything to Ike, since he sort of "pretends not to know" as well.

3) Brom ☆

Small, but strange choices erase the foreshadowing that he is a dad to Meg and give him parents instead.

EN!Brom: We never had much money, so my parents gathered some stones from our farm back home and put them in this leather pouch. It's not much to look at, but it means a lot to me. Every day, I take them out and talk to them like they're my family.

"How is everyone?" "I'm out here doing the best I can." "Don't worry. I'll be home soon."

JP!Brom: We're poor, so I have a worn-out pouch full of pebbles that each of us picked up... That's all. But for me, it's very important. I take it out and talk to them every day.

"How is everyone?" "Dad is doing his best here." "I'm gonna make it back alive."

4) Ranulf talking about Nasir.

EN!Ranulf: You'll be met there by a man with a dusky pallor.

JP!Ranulf: There's a dark-skinned man called Nasir waiting for you with a boat.

The unfortunate word choice makes him say that Nasir is sickly greyish in complexion instead of merely dark-skinned. Again, it's not super important, but really baffling…

~~TBC~~

#fire emblem #path of radiance #fe9 #soren fire emblem #tellius #ranulf fire emblem #brom fire emblem #nasir fire emblem #volke fire emblem #titania fire emblem #localisation #branded

[docidoci]

Index

This list will be updated and linked in every post in the series for ease of access.

Reblogs do not reflect the changes on the original post, so I don't exactly advise to reblog the index until it's complete, but I can't forbid it either. Please reblog the posts themselves.

Main script localisation differences

Part 1 — Chapters 0-8

Part 1.5 — Notes on direct speech

Part 2 — Chapter 9

Part 3 — Chapter 10-11

Part 4 — Chapter 12-13

Part 5 — Chapter 14-15

Part 6 — Chapter 16-17

Part 7 — Chapter 18

[…in progress…]

Supports

Stefan/Mordecai support

Other meta/Requests

On Soren's abilities

On Soren and Ike's friendship dynamic

How to accidentally mess up the lore by making better names

Love and everything hereafter (FE10)

#path of radiance #fire emblem #meta #localisation #fe9 #tellius

[docidoci]

Path of Radiance JP/EN script differences overview: (Part 2) ch #9

→ Main Index — Begin reading here ←

There was a lot of text to go through in Chapter 9.

1) Mordecai ☆ conversation

It's not exactly a difference in meaning, but only after reading the original it comes into focus that this pretty memorable convo is a lot of fluff around an instruction for recruitment conversations.

JP!Ike: Isn't it enough to talk to your companions?

JP!Mordecai: That's not true. Even when you're about to fight... You can avoid unnecessary fighting by talking. So it's better to have a lot of words be understood.

About the way Mordecai (Mordy) communicates: his speech uses a mix of simple kanji and different types of kana, so for a native speaker it's clear, but somewhat difficult to read (think phonetic spelling). He primarily talks about himself in third person.

2) Lethe, talking about travelling from the border to the Gallia capital. Exact numbers are removed for some reason, again. With some hindsight, we can imagine that crossing through Gallia was a huge undertaking for kid Soren.

EN!Lethe: Beorc are such a weak species. A distance like this is nothing. Any laguz worth his claws could cross it in a single bound.

JP!Lethe: Beorc are such a weak species. Three days would have been enough for us [laguz] to cover this distance alone.

3) Lethe, pre-battle conversation. The command "Direct" to order the "partner" units is originally called "Request", so the whole idea becomes a bit more polite.

EN!Lethe: This is a beorc fight. If you don't Direct us, then we have no reason for being here. So spoke our king.

JP!Lethe: Originally, it was a battle between Beork. Our superior has told me not to interfere without your 'request'.

The superior in question is almost certainly Ranulf. When they talk about Caineghis otherwise, they use the word "king" directly.

4) Recruiting Marcia.

About the way JP!Marcia communicates: No verbal ticks. She is an upbeat, but serious girl. Speaks like a reasonably polite soldier. We are supposed to understand that she is disciplined, yet in dire circumstances.

5) Caineghis, talking about Greil and Elena. His words make it extra clear that he doesn't know any truth at all.

EN!Caineghis: Once, over ten years ago... and after your mother had been slain[…]

JP!Caineghis: More than ten years ago... when your mother was killed by her pursuers[…]

6) Elincia, an important detail about Begnion/Crimea relations.

EN!Elincia: […] we should make of Begnion a formal request and gain the support of their shields.

JP!Elincia: We should make a formal petition to our suzerain Begnion and ask them to back us up.

It's a weird thing to drop, since Begnion being the suzerain state clarifies literally every aspect of what happens between them later.

~~TBC~~

NB: Not doing supports now, may look through them after the main script is finished.

#fire emblem #tellius #path of radiance #caineghis fire emblem #marcia fire emblem #lethe fire emblem #elincia fire emblem #mordecai fire emblem #localisation #fe9

[docidoci]

WHAT DO YOU MEEEEAN SOREN WAS PLANNED TO BE A WOMAN

What do you want me to answer to that? I quoted exactly what JP FE fans keep quoting and I have zero reason not to trust them. However, the Tellius books cost a metric shitload of money, so I can't pull the original interview from anywhere.

What is done is done, it wasn't some last moment decision for the developers. History went the other way.

#and we all are better off for it

[docidoci]

Path of Radiance and localising quirks: Part 1 ½

→ Main Index — Begin reading here ←

It's a good time to very briefly talk about translating character speech patterns and what FE9's localisers chose to do about it. I expect most fans reading this to have heard of the topic in one way or another; treat this note as a refresher on the main characters.

First things first, the OG JP scripts tend to be curt in places, for a lack of better description. A literal translation would have been rather dry and might be unable to convey the "mood" information available in the degrees of politeness or the choice of grammatical structures not present the target language.

English localisations normally choose to deal with this situation by piling up extra descriptions. On one hand, it allows FE readers (players) to perceive the script more like they would perceive a native language fiction book and suspend their disbelief about characters not talking "like real people"; the text flows better. On the other, adding that extra flavourful wordmass allows to accidentally add information that is contradictory with the rest of the story/character. (At times - not so accidentally.) Add not being aware of plans for FE10 to the situation at hand and we'll see it plenty of times in FE9.

One funny thing we see a lot of in the JP script is characters talking with ellipses. Ike does it a lot, Soren does it a lot, and I'm sure other characters don't manage to do it as often because their screentime is limited and they need to use it more productively. Readers are expected to understand the context around it: whether the character is disapproving, or sad, or too lost for words. I'll be blunt, most of those occurrences are simply replaced with remarks and exclamations that don't mean much. Only more noticeable/often quoted places might be pointed out further on.

Outside of that, JP!Ike is generally not a super talkative person, especially with strangers. Unlike his EN counterpart, who sounds like a somewhat "middle-class" guy, if without any knowledge of the world, JP!Ike sounds like whatever education he had really didn't stick to him. He addresses everyone in the same "low politeness" language using not many "complicated" words or phrases. It seems that when he does use an uncommon word, like when talking to Sanaki about "remuneration" at one point of FE10, it's almost certain that Soren used it before. Would JP!Ike use low-key cursewords like shit? Absolutely, yes. Would he say We were greatly aided by your arrival? Not really.

JP!Soren also talks in the same language to everyone, which is "neutrally polite". I would call it "newspaper language", neither using the rude/plain tone nor the extra polite one. He doesn't ever curse, it's the content of his speeches that is brutal. His vocabulary is as big as you would expect it, of course to the constraints of a game aimed at a teenage audience. He is a mostly restrained and outwardly non-emotional sort of character, at least before going through his existential crisis. EN!Soren being portrayed as a rather angry guy, while an understandable consequence of trying to translate the original perception of his coolness as rudeness, also lessens the effect of him suddenly showing emotions the few times he does.

JP!Titania talks like a normal educated person who you would expect to see in Crimean Knights. Bless her. She is not quite as sassy as EN!Titania, I don't think she uses cursewords, but she is definitely assertive in speech. From the way they communicate, I would note that JP!Titania is not in any sort of personal conflict with JP!Soren. Surely they are both standing for their position, but the EN script kind of makes it feel personal for entertainment value.

…This is getting long for a brief reminder. I'll give notes on some side characters when we meet them in the script.

#tellius #ike fire emblem #soren fire emblem #titania fire emblem #fe9 #localisation #english is not my native language either but doing my best

[docidoci]

As an aside. Going over chapter 4 of PoR in detail brought up my impressions from playing it for the first time, completely oblivious to the plot.

I don't think FE fans used to the classic FE plots realise how incredibly freaking suspicious it is to find a "harmless" person fainted near a battlefield where everyone else is dead. In a more traditionally western sword and magic fantasy story, it would probably be a spy/mole, an assassin, or just the person who killed everyone on the battlefield in the first place.

At the moment Soren advised to leave the strange person alone, which was my knee jerk reaction as well (if for different reasons), I knew that this character would all my moral support to deal with what the story has in stock for him. It turned out to be a pretty accurate assessment…

#soren fire emblem #my boy has the range to carry both drama and comedy parts of the script #unfortunately the range is still underused in the rather simple plot #I like him for being a paranoid little tactician

[docidoci]

Path of Radiance JP/EN script differences overview: (Part 1) ch #1 - ch #8

The question of what exactly is the roster of random localisation changes in FE9's script has been floating around Tellius' fandom conscience for a while. The info is pretty disjointed as of the moment of this post.

So I got curious to fill this void a bit with the help of the scripts available on https://www.pegasusknight.com/wiki/fe9/. Since the task is enormous, the main focus is to highlight bits of info that add clarity to the plot or characters. For the same reason, it will be a series of posts.

→ Main Index ←

Chapters 0 - 3 don't have anything of interest. Very simple script and motivations. What stood out is that Titania sees withholding blessings of the goddess as a credible curse to the bandits. Good worldbuilding, the "blessings" will come up a lot.

Chapter 4. Roadside battle. After the battle, Soren suggests taking a shortcut back through the forest. It's a throwaway line, because right after this Elincia gets into the picture, but the JP script is more clear that this is supposed to be the first time that Soren's supernaturally good sense of direction comes up.

Chapter 7. Greil fighting Black Knight. JP!Greil directly says "You think that you surpassed me, your teacher, in just over ten years?" It's unclear to me why, since it refers to the point 11 years ago when Ike was 6 and implies that Gawain taught Zelgius until shortly before that point, but it doesn't seem possible.

The other point from this fight is that BK doesn't mention Mist at all. He indeed briefly threatens to kill Ike, but EN!BK goes completely overboard with the scale and emotion of threats.

Chapter 8. Ike becoming the commander.

a) Ike promising Mist not to leave comes up often with people complaining about Ike leaving Tellius. The actual dialogue at this point is slightly different:

JP!Mist: "I don't want you to leave… without saying anything."

JP!Ike: "I promise that."

b) Another promise of Ike to Mist.

JP!Ike: "I will protect both you and everyone in the mercenary company."

EN!Ike: "And I'll protect you all. You, the princess... everyone."

This makes very little sense of Ike to mention at this point of time, since Elincia is the ward of Gallia and out of immediate danger; his family, the GMs, on the forefront of his mind.

c) JP script is implying that the final decision to make Ike the new commander was Titania's. Of course, she just follows Greil's wishes, but still neat to know.

d) EN!Ike's speech to the corps about his inexperience has a slightly weird arrogant turn, much better (IMO) explained originally.

EN!Ike: "I have no intention of giving up command of this company."

JP!Ike: "I don't want to give up my role of protecting this group."

e) EN!Soren has a moment of truly weird insecurity since he has been an acting member of the GMs for a while; JP!Soren raises the point that Ike might have opinions that are very different from Greil.

EN!Soren: "…Ike. I'm not sure what help I could be to you. What place is there for me in a mercenary company, anyway?"

JP!Soren: "…Ike. Will I be able to help you? In your mercenary group… is there a place for me?"

~~TBC~~

#tellius #fe9 #soren fire emblem #ike fire emblem #titania fire emblem #mist fire emblem #greil fire emblem #i'm soren and titania fan sorry if it shows #localisation