Quote:Woah OB1, you assume too much. When did I ever say I prefer it when my entertainment uses stuff as close to America as possible? I enjoy looking at a lot of what other cultures believe and such. It interests me.
You said that you prefer dubs whenever possible. That's preferring your entertainment to be as close to American as possible.
Quote:And oh yes ABF, my point was more that Julius Caeser was a play that may as well have been written in the language of the culture it was based on. Julius Caeser, even in Shakespear's time, wasn't exactly a current event you know. It's not like all past events occured at the same time, "in the past". He actually chose to do the play in english.
You're comparing theater to movies and videogames? You can't exactly subtitle a play. ;)
Quote:The point is they really shouldn't be expected to use such an incredible amount of time and resources on something so minor just for mood.
Exactly my point, you see this as a "minor" thing. You don't seem to see the importance of language in cultures, and it appears to be all the same to you if it conforms to your culture.
Quote:With a LOT of work, they could get a mostly right translation (though humor would be the first thing lost in translation), but it's not WORTH it. It's just something minor really. Not a big deal. I see your point about it being a part of their culture though. There are things that are hard to translate. But, a translation of an English script into Chinese really wouldn't do it proper justice anyway, so why bother?
Poppycock! (I love that word) First of all it wouldn't be a lot of work. Not for Microsoft. They already translate their games into a dozen different languages, including voice work in many cases. And keeping the humor is a non-issue. You keep the English script, get it translated and voiced in another language, and there you have it. Simple. And a big deal. The whole point of voice acting is to immerse the player in the game, but when it's utterly ridiculous then what's the point?
Quote:Listen, when writers make these choices, it's not some huge ethical thing as you think. It all just comes down to resources and whether the end payoff is worth it or if it's just a waste of time that only a few will appreciate. In this case, it's the latter. Writers do try to tell their stories to an audience after all. They have to make it something they can relate to, and part of that is language. Writers through history have known this for a long time, this isn't some new thing.
I won't go on beyond that. I understand your point of view. For you, any sort of change when someone is attempting to present a culture is harmful, demeaning it somewhat. (Notice the very Japanese looking Death's Hand guy?) But, for me, I really can't expect 100% accuracy, nor do I truly desire it. I suppose it's all a matter of how important it is to you. At any rate, I don't think our Chinese friends are going to be offended by it.
Who's talking about ethics and offending people? I don't care what the Chinese think of Jade Empire. I care about the integrity of videogames as a whole, and I care about how much I can get into the experience. You lose all integrity in the work when you try to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Movies about Russian submarines where the entire crew speaks English in a Russian accent, or movies about ancient Rome where they speak in British English. How can these movies be taken seriously? I always laugh at such movies and pay no respect to them. For some people it makes sense, because they've lived their entire lives surrounding by a single language. So they don't even think about how silly it is. I don't ask for 100% accuracy, just 30%. And language takes up 70% in my book.
But hey, I'm not trying to force my opinion down your throat. If you don't feel this way then so be it, that's fine by me. I'm just defending my original criticism, which you contested.
Quote:I would love for games like Jade Empire to be dubbed, but, especially seeing as the game originated in the U.S., we are not going to see that happen for the vast majority of games. DJ explained it well saying that it all comes down to resources. Publishers are spending millions on these games and do you think they would spend a few thousand (hundred thousand?) more to dub a game in the appropriate language? The fact is the videogame industry is all about the Benjamins, and most people wouldn't want a dubbed game so it would be stupid for them to make one. If they created a game with both a dubbed and English version they would be spending money and wasting space on a feature very few people would take advantage of. We can't deny that most people embrace their own culture and are wary of trying out different cultures so I don't see this changing anytime soon.
Do you have any idea how cheap it would be to get Mandarin voice actors for the game? It would probably be even cheaper than getting professional American voice actors. So that's not an issue.
The real issue is the public, which I have stated is the case. Most people here are xenophobes, or are too lazy to read subtitles. It's very unfortunate.
Quote:Most games aren't going for 100% reality, so even though most companies will try to make their games as realistic as possible, they won't do so if it means a greatly increased budget.
You're saying the same thing DJ said. Who's asking for 100% realism? Jade Empire is fantasy. But it's a fantasy version of ancient China, and making everyone speak American English makes zero sense even within the context of this fantastical setting. To expand upon ABF's point, there needs to be realism within context. Like he said, ED is realistic. Fable is realistic. Jade Empire isn't realistic within its own absurd context.