Censorship is mandated by some local authorities or pressure groups (and if a publisher doesn't obey, you will probably get into some kind of trouble).

Localization is something the publisher does even though they don't necessarily have to. It may be related to fears of censorship, e.g. hiding the female nipples in Citizen Kabuto because US folks can't stand nipples, but overall localization is done in order to maximize sales and profits.

If I've understood correctly, in US it is not the authorities (government) who necessarily make the rules what is censored and what not, but it is all those civil lobbying and pressure groups like Vocal Minority or whatsitcalled, and that also leads to publishers creating their own local rules in order not to step on their toes.Isn't e.g. the US movie age rating system from the movie industry itself, in order to make sure government won't decide to set rules for them instead?

Sometimes the line between censorship and localization may be blurry. For instance German versions of games that have no swastikas and no humans but robots with green blood: I'd call it censorship (by the authorities) even if there is some theoretical way the publishers could still sell the game in Germany untouched (I presume only in adult XXX stores hidden in the backroom, you are not allowed to advertise the game etc... poor Doom/Quake). The games are localized because selling them otherwise in the said country would be too hard and restricted.

Censorship vs Localization: To me they are the same thing (especially in the current "Scare the crap out of game maker climate" that's going on)

On this Fire emblem fiasco: I have to ask, "In what context was the incident to the overall story?"

I see it like the situation with Sarah in "the last of us", should that be localized/censored out just because the players don't like it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV-fXI5Ti4E

Actually, I disagree that changing the text was laziness, especially since the resulting text is actually funny and actually fits where it was placed.

Incidentally, in the same part of the game, there was something that was actually censored in a funny way. In the Japanese version, there is some drug trafficing that you need to investigate. In the US version, the illegal drug was changed to bananas ("For some reason, bananas are not allowed in this world."), which is rather silly, but it works.

I believe there is some censorship involving Dad's relationship with Lyn (or was it Lyn's mother) that was censored in a way that doesn't make sense.

Anyway, that's enough for now; I have a few other interesting translation/censorship examples, including Final Fantasy 5 (a game that's interesting in that there are at least 3 different English translations), Wizardry 5 (where Nintendo's censorship destroyed a pun), and even Might and Magic 5 (how the Japanese version handled the puzzles in a certain area) that I could talk about.

This isn't technically a case of censorship or localization so much as a gutless decision – Capcom changing some camera angles in Street Fighter 5 because “we don’t want to have something in the game that might make someone uncomfortable” according to the producer Yoshinori Ono. I think they changed it for all versions and not specifically for Western audiences.

So Mika’s butt slap was basically removed from the frame of Street Fighter 5 which bothered me as a former pro-wrestling fan. It's a classic wrestling taunt. I compared it to X-Pac’s crotch chops and said what if the camera inexplicably panned upwards when X-Pac signalled the Bronco Buster. It would take all the oomph out it. A special move needs a setup, and X-Pac’s chops told us several things – that he’s about to initiate a signature move, that he’s about to use that part of his anatomy to destroy that guy’s face, that he’s a member of Degeneration X (he reverses his chops in an X-sign), and that the character has an attitude. The butt slap serves the same function. I doubt those who applauded the change knew shit about wrestling.

Pressure groups can't mandate censorship, but they can have an inluence on actors to impose self-censorship. Which is a huge difference. One is backed up by legal authorities, the other by public opinion without legal authority.

I think the word censorship is thrown around way too much when debating changes in games, and tbh it's kind of tiring. It isn't necessarily bad If publishers and developers change a game to follow local laws, or make changes in a game because they think it's a good idea to follow local public opinion. I think especially the last part of that sentence is ignored most of the time when talking about these things, publishers and developers may agree that some aspects of a game should be removed. And they have the artistic right to exclude certain things from their creations, wether people like it or not.

I think that adapting to a culture is already censorship. In a way you are changing the original meaning, that is in the best case you are creating a derivative work differing from the original which may or may not get liked more by some of the target audience and in the worst case you are applying terrible censorship.

A pure translation is only that, i.e. it only tries to tranlate the orginal meaning as accurately as possible.

If I play a japanese game I want to have the choice to play it the way it was meant to play, not an adapted version, although if the adapted version would also be available (additionally and completely optionally) I would not mind about it.

Just imagine someone translates GRRM and leaves out all the gory details - it would not be GRRM anymore.

I apply the line actually at small things. Small tricks to convey the original meaning better, to translate humour and so are okay. Changing the age for example is not okay but deliberate censorship. In the case of the japanese games I hope fan translation mods can give a better experience.

censorship is bullshit.
when you make a translation you have to respect the original work, censor something is lack of respect.

I understand there are law... but I know that some law are wrong.
censorship law are just wrong.

I think that when you have to translate something you have to localize only what it's necessary.
if you buy a japanease product you know that it's not an american product (or italian in my case) so you know that something can be strange for your culture... you don't have to localize what it's strange... if you want you can explain it, but never change the sense of the original product.

And, if you are a professionist, you have to know if you can do better.

"thanks" to 4kids in italy we got a censored and shit version of Yu-Gi-Oh anime (because they decide to use the american version instead the japanease version)... Now I have a fansub who tries to bring the original version in italy. I know that the translations resulting from 4kids have changed the meaning of the series completely..

Holy shit. That kind of thinking also means some sexual orientations are to be persecuted because one culture finds them ''creepy''. There is no ''different cultures'', only human cultures which have the different values but MUST have some identical basic stuff that trumps ''cultural sensitivities'' ; like freedom of expression and self determination in life choices or right to marital union regardless of sexual orientation.

I didn't downvote, it but maybe its because you rarely address criticism and its making people angry? Either way, power to you and heres a +1 to stave off your path to negative rep.

If you *really* want to play the game as it was originally meant to be played, you need to play it in the original language, as some things can't be translated losslessly. Unfortunately, this may involve actually learning the language the game was originally written in, but it is sometimes the only way to appreciate things like wordplay and puns, not to mention language-based puzzles.

Here's an example of something that doesn't translate smoothly: In SaGa 1, there is a mysterious man who appears at a few places in the tower. In the Japanese version, this man (unlike the rest of the townspeople) speaks to you in formal language. In the English version (Final Fantasy Legend), however, this nuance is lost.

Another example from the same game: There is a shrimp enemy called "Ebiru", I believe, which means "evil". It just so happens that "Ebi" means "shrimp". This sort of thing just does not translate well.

There are other factors, like the fact that in informal Japanese, men and women use different words; even the word for "I" is different.

Incidentally, this sort of thing is one of the arguments I have that region locking is bad: Some people actually want to play the game in the original language rather than a translated version.

Inserting jokes where they do not exist, does not a good translation make. The Re;Birth games are a very good example of this.

The nuance could have easily been kept by giving the character a different style of speech. English is fully capable of handling that too.

That's a text book example. In real life, you'll find it's not so cut and dry. The primarily used words (when they are used, which is not as much as in English) are "ore", "boku", "watashi", "atashi", "uchi". You'll easily come across women who use any of those, and that includes "ore" which text books tell you is used by men. Text books may still tell you that "boku" is used only by men too, but at least some acknowledge that it's used by women, especially in songs. With men, I've heard everything except "atashi" being used. Now that's not even getting into the fact that "boku", for example, doesn't just mean "I" (another common usage is to address young boys).

As for the other different words that may be used by men and women. Even that is not true of real life usage. And yes, that even includes the ending particle "wa" which most text books teach you is strictly used by women. In other words, actual word usage, like in English, primarily depends on the person themselves.

I'll agree that names which make use of puns are difficult to translate, but as Splatoon has shown, it's not impossible.

I played the first neptunia, it's really weird to hear them speak japanese, read the text and both having different meanings. Luckily doesn't happen to me often as all I know about japanese is from anime. :P

C'mon, being "banished to the shadow realm" is so much funnier than just dying.

If you are referring to my Final Fantasy Legend 2 example, it was not a case where a joke was inserted where there wasn't one; the original actually had a joke that didn't translate, so they inserted a new one instead.

By the way, when quoting me, please don't just delete the entire quote, as it makes it impossible to tell which point of mine you are replying to.

(Also, why are my posts in this topic being "low rated"? They're quite informative and aren't offensive to anyone (to my knowledge).)
I have experienced this in Baldur's Gate 2, which is even worse because both the voices and text are in English. When it comes to common townspeople (that is, characters not important enough to have fully voiced dialogue), there are times when the voice will say something and the text will say something different.
I wouldn't consider Final Fantasy Legend to be a shiny example of localization, especially since they (accidentally, I believe) changed the Glass Sword's durability from 1 to 50. The game says that the Glass Sword shatters every time you attack with it, but the sword remains intact, just with one fewer use.

Also, even if the translation did give him a different style of speech, it still isn't exactly like the original, so I think purists will still complain that they changed it.