FE7 Localization: Ursula’s “my lady Limstella” [JPN vs ENG]

Happy new year to all! Really sorry about the lack of posts lately… life has just been so busy.

A short and very trivial post today, mostly for posterity! A thread on reddit regarding gender pronouns got me curious to check a line in Ch 26 of FE7, where Ursula refers to Limstella as “my lady Limstella.”

Fans of FE7 are aware that Limstella isn’t really clearly referred to as male or female throughout the game, so this line sticks out a bit with that in mind.

The question that arises is: does the JP script also clearly define Limstella in this line to point at any intended gender?

Short answer: No, the JP uses a gender neutral title (“-sama” 様), so the gender-specific title is unique to the ENG/Localization.

You can see more details below. (Please be wary of spoilers for FE7).

Pokemon Emerald: Does Camper Lawrence switch pronouns before and after battle? [JPN vs ENG]

From Koh’s playthrough.

Today’s post is a small one from a reader request:

I was on Bulbapedia, and the Hoenn Route 113 page said this:

“In the Japanese version of Pokémon Emerald, Camper Lawrence uses feminine first person pronouns after battling him, even though he uses masculine first person pronouns before battling.”

Is that true? If so, was that a mistake on their part?

This was pretty interesting to hear, and would be an oddly specific quirk for a one-time trainer to have, so I took a quick look.

Short answer: This is false. Camper Lawrence does not switch pronouns. In fact, he only uses one masculine pronoun after the battle.

Let’s take a deeper look!

XC2: Pyra, Poppi, and having a”sense of modesty!” [JPN vs ENG]

Today we have a reader request regarding a small scene in Xenoblade Chronicles 2:

…the line [on the screenshot] is from the Poppi QTpi quest when Pyra is lecturing Poppi about modest outfits… I mean really Pyra? lol was she saying this in Japanese or was this localisation maybe having some fun with irony with how Pyra herself is dressed?

I attached the screenshot of the line in question above! I thought it might be fun to look into. So what’s this like in Japanese?

Short answer: It’s mostly the same. It seems like both languages were going for a sense of irony as it revolves around Poppi wondering why Pyra is fine dressed as she is but tells Poppi to be more modest. However, English uses slightly different word choice to skirt around issues of skin exposure.

For those interested in more details, please keep reading. If not, then see you next article!

XC2: What was the “really likes being high” joke like in Japanese? [JPN vs ENG]

Today’s post is on the shorter side!

I wanted to take a look at a small line of dialogue from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (pictured above) which I came across while playing through the game recently:

Topopo, I hear, really likes being high.
…Hey, stop smirking! High up off the
ground, is what I meant!

The joke revolves around the pun between high (location, opposite of low) and high (slang for being intoxicated by drugs, etc). So naturally this will awaken the most trivial of all trivial curiosities!

So what was this like in Japanese?

Short answer: As you may expect, the joke is actually purely an invention of the localization. There was no equivalent in Japanese.

For those interested in more details, please keep reading. If not, then see you next article!

Pokemon: “We hope to see you again!” [JPN vs ENG]

Across the Pokemon series, the nurse at the Pokemon Center helpfully heals up the player’s Pokemon. When handing them back, however, she says:

We hope to see you again!

The line has been referenced in a lot of silly ways based on how it is a relatively “terrible thing to say in a hospital.” After all, hoping to see the player again means that Pokemon get injured and need healing…again. This rather dark outlook that spawned several humorous memes and webcomics.

So that made me wonder, what is that line in Japanese anyway? Can it be read the same way?

Short answer: “We look forward to serving you again!” is what the Japanese comes out to be. Similarly polite business speak, but it’s all about the little context and nuance which explains why it became a running joke in the English-speaking fanbase but not so much in the Japanese one.

Let’s take a deeper look!

Zelda – Windwaker: The “Complimentary ID” in Japanese? [JPN vs ENG]

Today, I look at what I would say is an example of good localization found in the Legend of Zelda: Windwaker.

The player receives something called the “Complimentary ID” which results in a silly dialogue exchange where it is literally an item that has the shop keeper (Beedle) compliment the player –rather than offering any actual tangible goods to your purchases free of charge. A different kind of complimentary than what one may expect!

And that is where the question comes in: What was the ID’s name, and the scene like, in Japanese?

In short: It does revolve around “compliments” (or praise), but the localization team seized the opportunity to make this even more fun in the English language with a pun that was different, yet worked with the original Japanese intent.

Let’s take a closer look!

FE7 Blazing Blade Localization: Comparing all of the Character Epilogues [JPN vs ENG]

Today’s post is a personal curiosity! After seeing the differences (or mistranslations) between the regions of the various epilogues of FE7, such as Guy and Priscilla, or Bartre and Karla, I decided to go through all the epilogues (paired and unpaired) to see if there were any other differences to find that may not have been noticed yet.

There were some differences indeed, but none as major as the ones this blog has already covered.

Please be wary of spoilers as we go through many character endings.

So let’s take a closer look at these!

FE7 Blazing Blade Localization: Did Guy elope with Priscilla in the JP version? [JPN vs ENG]

This post is part of a series on reader requested (and personal curiosity) comparisons between Fire Emblem games’ Japanese and English scripts.

Today’s post concerns a reader question via twitter regarding Guy and Priscilla’s A support ending in Blazing Blade:

https://twitter.com/MiloZ28997263/status/1269795838659686400

Short answer: Yes, it appears Guy did indeed elope with Priscilla in Japanese!

I had been unaware of this, but it was mentioned on Priscilla’s Fire Emblem wiki page under trivia, though with no source. So while this information may already be known to some, I write this mostly for posterity for those interested in taking a deeper look or wondering about its validity and wanting the original Japanese.

So let’s take a closer look!

FE9 Path of Radiance Localization: “I guess I’m a fish out of water myself…” [JPN vs ENG]

Today we look into what a reader brought up as part of a larger discussion of localization of the FE games:

Idioms tend to lack perfect equivalents in other languages, so what of Ranulf’s use of “fish out of water” in his Ike support in PoR?

They are referring to Ike and Ranulf’s C Support in Path of Radiance, where Ranulf says the following:

Then again, worrying about a beorc like this is definitely not normal laguz behavior. I guess I’m a fish out of water myself… Wait, did I just call myself a fish?

Short answer: Surprisingly, this idiom was rather well placed. He was still talking about being an oddball when it comes to laguz, and using imagery of floating on water like a fish in Japanese.

Let’s take a closer look!

Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade Staff Interview [Highlights] (Nintendo Dream May 2003)

Today I translated a summary (or highlights) of a developer interview on Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade from Nintendo Dream’s May 2003 volume. I could not find this magazine despite my searches for the full interview, so settled on translating a Japanese user’s summary of highlights instead.

If anyone has this issue, I’d love to take a look at the interview in full, as highlights may miss some of the fun tidbits!

Enjoy!