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8-4 Company Will Not Handle Localization of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Game

Bing back the British team! Ryen time baby!

Lord Dcast wrote:

Bing back the British team! Ryen time baby!

I'd be all for the British team to tackle it. Switch is region free anyway so it wouldn't matter if only released in Europe now anyway. :3

The only thing that was a bit weird about the first Xenoblade dub was Fiora, which was a shock. I mean she wasn't bad per se, but compared Jenna Coleman's performance on Doctor Who it seems like the directing was off to make her sound more monotone.

Of course this doesn't rule out that other U.S. studios will do the localization like Nintendo's Treehouse for instance.

Lord Dcast wrote:

The only thing that was a bit weird about the first Xenoblade dub was Fiora, which was a shock. I mean she wasn't bad per se, but compared Jenna Coleman's performance on Doctor Who it seems like the directing was off to make her sound more monotone.

Fiora? Aren't you referring to Melia whom Jenna Coleman voiced?

Would you prefer Treehouse doing it?

So... slightly higher chance of not being a butchered localization? Maybe?

Heh, it's interesting to see the criticism Treehouse gets for games like the Fire Emblem series and now this, whereas they get heaps of praise on the Super Mario and Pokémon games.

I will say this though: I really like what they've done with the Paper Mario series over the years.

I do wonder though: What is the cause of this difference of opinion? They're the only localization team I can think of that's seen as the devil by some and idols to others for doing the exact same thing. I've never played a Fire Emblem game or a Xenoblade Chronicles game, so I'm not in a position to say. Is it the Japaneseness of the franchises and how much they appeal to anime fans?

I wouldn't say Pokemon isn't without criticism. I don't really approve of the whitewashing it gets in the west, but other people have said they insert a lot of bad memes and jokes. Mario localization seems fairly moot since the only thing changed is names since their stories are paper thin, but I do remember them changing Vivian from a crossdressing guy to a girl in the west.

Xenoblade and Fire Emblem are heavily censored though. About what you would expect from a kids-focused company like Nintendo. They are more anime-like than Nintendo's other stuff. Sexual content, violence, etcetera. The localization removes most instances of that stuff. Xenoblade had swimsuits altered to be less revealing, while Fire Emblem has had massive more changes. Entire characters were rewritten, fanservice elements were taken out, gameplay features like skimpy costumes or dating/touching removed, and in general was sterilized for US audiences.Basically the criticism companies like 4Kids got back in the day.

- Stuart Smith