Fire Emblem Fates Fan Translation Project Shuts Up Shop

Part of me is hoping that one of the reasons for the delay between the US and EU release is due to a lot of changes in the translation (see the differences between Triforce Heroes) but given there's voice acting involved? Doubtful, so it's a wait and see.

Here's an update from a former member of the translation team.

''Regarding what will become of the fan-translation, here it is:

A Discord was formed earlier, and a new team was formed. After some debate, the new members decided to split Team If into two divisions, and they would be Team If's Division II. In exchange, the existing Fan Translation infrastructure, meaning all the files and tools we have, will be transferred over to them. Team If Division I members (the original fanslation team) will help them get accustomed to the system and files. They will continue and finish the project.

If there is any controversy over remaining as a part of our team, know this: Every member on the team is new. They are fresh. And they want to work on this. I don't speak for them, and they will soon populate over this thread.

So in short: The fanslation was revived by a new set of around 15-20 people, who have decided to become a second division in our team. So it's not dead anymore. ''

I'll just go learn Japanese if I want to be bothered by regional and localization differences.

Hats off to the translation team for getting as far as they did despite having no work obligations to. I'm disappointed with some things in the localization (the butchering of Izana's character, for instance, and highlighting of tropes in general) but I don't much see the point in continuing when the game's out and mostly the same, outside of a few characters and the change to spotty english voice acting (and the touching game/swimsuits that nobody should care about). Apparently another team picked it up though, so I guess those who feel they need it will get it anyways. Guess I have to respect their efforts.

@FierceRagnar Id love to meet the person who said that O.o. "Text is optional in an RPG"...thats definitly a first.
Thats stuff i did as a child.
Anyways, the translation is botchered and pretty imature and full of stuff, Capcoms localisation team made a bullet point of in one of their presentations: "Dont drive to meme county".
Its full of memes and ... pickle references...
My prefered way to cope with the translation is not to buy it. Saves a lot of money, considering its 2.5 games.

@Splatburst Sure, thats a thing you can do on a lazy sunday

@Einherjar
There are other reasons bigger than videogames why I've been thinking of learning Japanese actually.

@Einherjar Just out of curiosity, did Capcom's localization team enjoy a tasty Jill sandwich after that talk?

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

@TimLatshaw Im not even sure its the same people anymore. That conference was about the localisation of MHX and it was decided to not opt for memes and pop culture references.
But yeah, RE had some really questionable lines...but it was the natural evolution of Capcoms generally shoddy localisation jobs. They arent infamous for their engrish for no reason

@Splatburst Knowing japanese does have its perks, no doubt. But is definitly a lifetime achievment. Not many people are able to learn it on their own accord, let alone solo.
Here in germany, you can learn it an an university over the course of 4-5 years. Sadly, its ridiculously expensive.
Buit thats the crux with learning a new language with a completely different character set that isnt even remotely close to your own.

There's no point to this anyways. The official localization gets the job done and the game and dialog is A+

I know because I've played through Birthright and half of Conquest. It's absolutely fine. I think some people have made the mistake of equating changes during localization as automatically bad, or riske dialog as automatically superior, but that's not true at all.

I'm just happy they are still making FE games, and localizing them, and they're not doing any major tinkering (all things considered, petting in My Quarters and language translations are the least of my concerns).

Of course, I'm all for more direct translations (that's not a bad thing to want) and I'm perfectly ok with any movement to advocate for this. I just personally don't care that much because the game is already excellent.

I'll just wait for the EU release. I can almost guarantee that there will be dialogue changes from the US version of the game.

I heard the project got restarted with a different team. You may want to update the article.

Lol. Alrighty then

@Einherjar You can learn the basics in two 3 week courses in Bochum/Germany, and yes, it's not exactly cheap (except you're a student). How long it will take to get one's skills to al level sufficient for understanding a game like Fire Emblem is a different question though. But i don't think it takes 4-5 years, if you constantly use it.

@Einherjar True, true. I love Capcom and its history, yet I couldn't help but find the humor in them talking about memes when some of their past wonky localisation has achieved meme status all on its own. : )

Didn't even know it was a thing. What's the point?

Seems like a lot of work for something that's already translated to English. Are people this desprete to pet their pretend anime girlfriend's face?

I guess localization isn't as easy as they thought it would be.

@JaxonH Hey Jax how do like Conquest compared to Birthright? I can't decide if I want to play Conquest or Revelation. I'm only probably going to get one or the other.

@Einherjar That's rather ironic of you to be complaining about the English localization while you're butchering the English language yourself. It seems to me that you wouldn't be able to fully appreciate a better English translation even if you got one. Shouldn't you be focused more on the German localization than the English one?

Seemed pretty silly to translate something that was going to be done professionall anyway
We should at least thank them for revealing how broad a definition of "localization" Nintendo of America has though.

That's fine. Another team is working on a de-censor, anyway.

@Mr_Zurkon
It's fantastic! And I mean that in every sense of the word. The maps are hands down among the best in the series. The Chapter 10 "Defend 11 Turns" map and Chapter 12 "Defeat the Boss or Escape in 16 Turns" map is absolute perfection.

Also, no opportunity to grind XP- even the DLC maps won't give you XP in Conquest like they do in Birthright (except the actual XP DLC map- btw the DLC maps are EXCELLENT- the Ghostly Gold and Beach Brawl in particular are exceptional!).

And the gameplay is truly, TRULY amazing. They've balanced pair up system into offensive and defensive stances, they've eliminated limited weapon use (except staves) in favor of a buff/Debuff system...

I could gush on and on about this game. Yes you should definitely get it. I will say the story in Birthright was kinda bland, until the last stretch of chapters which escalated into a climax of awesomeness and (IMO) was such a great ending it redeemed the rest of the game's story. I've heard Conquest story isn't as good (I've found it better so far, but probably doesn't have as good an ending, which is what people remember games by). Heard Revelation's story is superb though- miles beyond the main 2 paths.

@Mr_Zurkon
Also, I have 2 extra Conquest DLC codes I'm selling for $15/ea. So if you bought Birthright, you could get Conquest for just $15 more as DLC.

Just thought I'd throw that out there. And Birthright is good too- make no mistake. Lots of "Route the Enemy" and "Defeat the Boss" but the maps are still glorious, gameplay is still immaculate, story ended in an emotional blaze of glory, and the allowed XP grinding makes for a very relaxing experience.

Really don't care about it, FEFates is one of the best games ever made. I'm very happy with all 3 paths (and with my sweet swwweeeettt special edition).

@LinkSword That's good to hear! It's understandable for the old team to have burned out after so long, so I'm glad they handed it over to new blood. Nintendo Life should do an update!

@JaxonH Streetpass message: BANANA SLAMMA!

Kana: Rawrarawarawrrrrrrrr! That means, "I love you" in dragon!

Belka: ...
Saizou: ...
Belka: ...
Saizou: ...
"The support level of Belka and Saizou has risen to level C!"

There really isn't much point to translating it. Most of the dialogue, outside of Japanese suffixes like kun or san, is word for word the same. An example is Effie: in the English version she talks a lot about getting strong so she can protect Elisse. In the Japanese version she usually says she wants to get strong because she doesn't want to be weak like when she was a kid and then will add wanting to protect Elissa in her B or A conversations. Camillia's conversations with everyone is the exact same outside of they replaced "Ufufuf" with "Hehehe" .There really isn't a reason to play the JP version unless you REALLY need to kiss your 3DS screen or See the sexier swimsuits on the female characters. Because you can still get the swimsuits in this one. For the younger characters you can't see as much belly or thigh skin and there's practically no cleavage. But characters like Camilla and Charlotte are there in all their glory.

@PlywoodStick
Lol

That comment made me chuckle

Awww
Glad the restoration project isn't affected though.

@BulbasaurusRex Oh look, the resident language police is on the move. Am i arrested for not being a native speaker officer ?
How many languages do you speak perfectly fluent Mr. Shakespear ?

Shut your pie hole and go play with your toy guns you ninny
Was that english enough, or do you need a localisation for that ?

Meh, the dialog is fine, except for a few typos here and there.
And Saizo and Beruka C support. That needs to be changed.

Waiting for the restoration patch.

"we don't care" HAHAHAHAHAH IM YELLING NOBODY CARES ANYMORE. They started this project when everyone was pissed off for nothing. WE CANT PET THE ANIME. Now they wasted part of their life on squat and they're right. Nobody cares but them and a few angry nerds who didn't get caught by the screen

@JaxonH
I agree that the localization was well done and people over reacted for nothing. The whole face rubbing thing was something I can live without and isn't needed in FE. At the end of the day the core strategy gameplay is still there. Also when Mystery of the Emblem DS wasn't localized I knew the series was in trouble. So glad we're still getting localized games.

I'm still waiting for that patch that makes Iago playable. 👌

I understand it's a grand undertaking that they're not getting paid for, but it's a shame.

It is a lot more work translating games than people realize. I think these guys bit off more than they could chew and with little to no budget there was little reason to go on, especially for a text heavy game like this.

Nice to know it's still alive in some capacity.

Sounds to me like internal strife between team members or the scope of the project is too much for them. I give them props for trying and for releasing some of their work.

@BulbasaurusRex It's fine that you're a non-native English speaker on these boards. I just don't get why you care about the localization efforts for a language in which you aren't fluent and wouldn't need to bother with in the game itself. Go complain about the German localization, but leave the critique of the English version for those of us who are actually qualified to do so.

@JaxonH I'm just tossing this out there Jax, any interest in trading for the code included in Hyrule Warriors Legends? I am getting it tomorrow for 3DS and I don't have the Wii U version so the code is pretty useless for me. If you are not interested, no problem.

@Mr_Zurkon
I've actually got the game coming myself. Otherwise I'd be interested.

@JaxonH no prob, thx for letting me know.

Too bad, I saw this project as a way to not get depressed after my failed attempt at buying the full games card. But in the end, I won't have the real game nor the translation I wished...
Now wondering if I will ever play this thing.