Apparently ‘Unicorn Overlord’ Already Has Issues With Its Localization

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarde ... f960653fed

In yet another case of Japanese games receiving bizarrely edited localizations, it seems that Unicorn Overlord is the latest of these to be affected.

With the release of Unicorn Overloard pretty imminent, fans are eager to play the full version of Vanillaware’s latest and greatest gaming epic.

As I already covered the excellent demo, it seems that some fans are understandably upset with the game’s highly edited localization.

The full breakdown of this situation is worth a read, but the following Twitter/X thread (shown below) also goes into a lot of helpful detail.

Put simply, it seems that the localization changes a lot of the intent from the various characters and consequently the game’s story. This is a real shame but by no means the first instance of this happening in gaming.

For some reason, Japanese games are particularly affected by overly invasive localizers, trying to make their creative mark where it should not exist.

Localization is a complex and difficult process at the best of times, having people misunderstand their role and try to inject their own creative take on a translation far exceeds their remit and negatively impacts the games they are work on.

This is becoming a worryingly common trend with Japanese localizations apparently (not just in games either, but anime too). In this case at least the changes don't seem ideologically motivated which is often the case, but it's still an annoyance. Accurate localizations shouldn't be so difficult.

[Booyakasha]

Yeah, I'm with you. If a concept isn't utterly alien to Westerners, you should be able to do a straight translation----------in fact, I think I'd argue you're doing the source material an injustice otherwise.

I read some direct translations of the original lines, and they seem fine. They sound authentic, like 'Empire Strikes Back' or something. That's a good thing. Snappy dialogue is better. Don't say 'thou' if you can't carry it off.

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

Yeah, the original dialogue comes off a lot more natural. The only game that can pull off the Shakespearean kinda style that I've played was Final Fantasy Tactics, it really worked there. I assume it's because it was probably written in an equivalent manner originally or just had more skilled localizers.

[Booyakasha]

Right.

'Soul Blade' and 'Soul Calibur' are actually set in the sixteenth century, and there isn't a 'thou' to be had. Don't 'thou' me--------wow me!

[Booyakasha]

By the way, I'm gonna go ahead and get this out of my system just once.

...it is just the most absolute garbage that I can't play this on my Xbox One. It isn't out of the One's processing capabilities at all (if it were, there wouldn't be a goldang PS4 or Switch version)--------------it is simply being held out of my grasp because I haven't upgraded to a Series X yet, and that sucks. That sucks my ass straight through my pants. For all eternity and the day after.

...ugh. I am so flipping furious I could spit blood. I wanna play it. Let me play it-----------I've got sixty bux right here. Oh, what's that? My sixty bux need four hundred friends? Hahaha okay i'll get right on that

...okay. Sorry. I've been holding this in for multiple releases over the last couple years. I don't mind if the store says I can't play the most brutally system-taxing games on my current rig----------I feel personally insulted to be told I need an XSX to play 'Pizza Possum'. Bite me.