Mori_Yuki: I don't know what his name was changed to in the localized version, which isn't really the point, ...
Ancient-Red-Dragon: That quotation seems to be implying that because Western players have no way to acquire "Kanji" and/or "Shuten" in real-life, that somehow "justifies" the translators censoring the names of these items.
What I was trying to say was that knowing the English name isn't really the point, but rather that the translation automatically removed any reference to alcohol and the myth. I also intended to expand on this in a different part of my original post by pointing out that in Western games, such references to alcohol also exist and that they were never changed or removed - Dionysus or Bacchus, for one. There are also games featuring drinking and alcohol abuse, and they weren't m- or r-rated.
So I wasn't implying that Western players are incapable of acquiring Kanji - this would be utter nonsense and far from the truth. And many have at least seen 酒, either in isolation or on bottles 月桂冠純米大吟醸生酒, and know what it is and what it means. And no, there is no justification for censoring, altering, or removing parts by translators or localization experts, that's my whole point.
Ancient-Red-Dragon: Some phrases cannot be translated literally, word for word, from Japanese into English, and that point I accept and understand; but that is a different matter than the point about censoring the words Kanji and Shuten.
The Kanji haven't been censored, they have been removed and replaced by an English name, whatever it was. I would speak of censorship if there was also an Izakaya in the game, as dtgreene mentioned. In this case, you would normally find small flags with the individual Kanji on them, or a sign in front of it with 酒屋 (saya) or 酒蔵 (sakagura) pointing out that it is a place where people gather and drink sake. If they retained the Kanji in the localized version, for flavor, but changed them to 茶屋 (chaya) or 茶室 (chashitsu) and called the place Teahouse, if only to get rid of references to alcohol, this would be censorship.
Literal translation and dialects may not make a whole lot of sense, or they may get lost in translation, yet dialect words such as さぁ are still translated. In the case of Lian's dialogue, さぁ becomes Uuh,... You can as well translate a sentence without, for instance, in this one I made up just now: でもさぁ、やっぱり毎日、酒を飲むわけじゃないんだな。"But then, it's not like I drink alcohol every day." Same sentence: でも、やっぱり毎日、酒を飲むわけじゃないんだ。Same translation, maybe slightly different, But I don't drink alcohol every day. In both cases, the dialect wouldn't translate, so it doesn't matter and can as well be left out. Things become complicated when concepts such as 本音 and 建前 come into play, and things being said versus those that are implied - and usually end up as addenda to translations, as can be seen at the end of Lian's dialogue: 'Cause there's your answer.' (and I find the whole translation atrocious... even though I give it that it makes perfect sense in English, as a sentence.)
The bottom line is that even when there is no way to translate something directly, it doesn't mean that a translator can't stay true to the meaning to convey the sense in a way a foreign audience can understand.
Ancient-Red-Dragon: On another note: thanks for pointing out the apparent censorship in the other example you cited earlier. The screenshot you attached didn't load for me, but I will assume that the point of censorship you are pointing out is accurate, given that many/most other Japanese games suffer that same fate with their English releases.
Since you can't view the picture, here is her dialogue:
リャン
台詞:
「うーん、難しい事はわかんないだけどさぁ
ウチらの故郷に急に知らんヤツがやってきてさぁ
我が物顔で歩き回るなんて、やっぱ許せないでしょ、うん」