Funnily enough, I found myself thinking something similar about your own avatar.Eh, still.
Also, tasteful profile pic if I do say so myself
Variety is part of the fun of having stories from different cultures. The nuance of the social structure can be important to Japanese stories; that's why honorifics are preserved in good translations. The flavor reinforces that the relationships function a bit differently. I'm missing out if the translator sanitizes the language for English.
Here is the issue, you are debating a point I don't like as if it's going to change my mind in explaining why they are there, it won't.
If you want a game without honorifics, then play media that isn't Japanese in cultural origin. Yes, we don't use honorifics in the West, because we have a different culture. Stop demanding the culture it was created within be excised just because it's not what you enjoy. THAT is actual cultural appropriation. It's not "silly" or "cringey" (though bad voicework can be), it's ANOTHER FUCKING CULTURE. Learn some fucking respect.
I lost it at "To my beloved dude"
This line alone almost makes the questionable localization worth it.
For a joke translation, meant to just get some laughs, sure. Like that one hmanga that got an "australian translation", or the April Fools' "voice acting" addition to CrossCode, or the Funimation dub of Ghost Stories. But to do that SERIOUSLY and say that that's a proper translation of the original? Fuck no.
Well, since it'll be fixed within the month courtesy of whoever's working on that patch, I'm not upset. And since I'm not upset, I'm going to get as many laughs out of this as I can.
As far as I'm aware, and according to another commenter in this thread, it's going to be a name-fix for Yuki (to Yuuki), image-fix, and 'dude' fix only, so far. I do hope that it goes more in-depth, but that this is considered acceptable by translation companies at all is just terrible.
While I think it's good to do an in-depth correction, I think fixing the 'dude' and the other two problems might be enough? Or is there anything else about this translation other than these 3 problems that needs to be addressed? Well I didn't play the game at all yet so I don't know anything about the in-game content.
Well japanese names have meanings Yuki's name meaning does get mentioned in the story so it does matter...if you actually knew that fact from the start.
Considering that's my favorite genre I've got a pretty good list. Right now I'm playing through Wagamama High Spec again. I'm also currently chewing through Sabbat of the Witch, which so far seems to be going in the right direction for a pure love story. Other games I've played are Magical Marriage Lunatics, Majikoi, Chrono Clock, Hatsukoi 1/1, Dracu-Riot, Noble Works, Princess Evangile, Shuffle!, and SakuSaku Love Blooms with the Cherry Blossoms, just to name a few.
Not to beat a dead horse, but how does cultural norms being portrayed not add anything? This isn't just a Japanese thing. The same sort of honorifics can be found in Korea and probably China and most other asian countries. The idea of "senpai" is pervasive in every facet of life in these countries (school, work, any organization with hierarchy). Addressing someone by just their name would be extremely disrespectful. Sure, a good localization can be done if the translator is skilled, but character relations and even plot points could be altered. When they do a poor localization, you end up with something like "dude."
You just seem closed minded. America(UK) is the best! Other cultures suck! Why do they act like this? If you don't want to understand how other cultures might be different, maybe just stick to western games. FYI, addressing your SO with honorifics is not at all odd in east asia depending on the setting, especially if there is an age gap. I have more knowledge of Korean so I'll give an example. A girl calls her older senior in the workplace Sunbae-nim (Senpai). She may continue to call him this as they start dating. When they are going steady, she might start calling him oppa (kind of like oni-chan but can apply to any older male as an expression of endearment and farmiliarity). At no point would she call him by just his name unless she's fighting him or something. The guy would call her name-Sshi (like name-san). He could keep calling her this as they start dating. When they are going steady, he could just use her name or even just Ya (hey you). Eventually he will probably adopt a pet name for her or something. Would you throw this all out in this office love VN I just made up? Its a major plot point of how their relationship develops.
It matters whether or not you knew it from the start. Would you like it if, as your name is Zastinx, people called you Zastinky instead? It doesn't have the same meaning, but who cares that it's insulting you by calling you stinky; it's close enough that people understand, right? That's what your argument is, at its core. That it's close enough and you don't care for it to actually be accurate.
Everyone's entitled to their own opinions about how things should be translated as everyone has their way of appreciating games. There's no need to take it to a personal level.
While I think that Honorifics are important in VN with japanese Origin, I accept the opinion of @Avaron1974. Though I have to say, when a translator thinks he has to "westernize" a japanese VN to make it more "appealing" to the western community, you get what you got with "If my heart had wings". Totally changed story-parts, it was a very poorly done job. And of the people I know, not one of them liked the "westernized" version of that game and was more than happy to apply the restoration-patch.
