Need Input. Final Fantasy VII Retranslation.

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Yes, I could keep this to the Reunion thread but then none of you buggers would see it!

The issue is this.  Reno (or Leno if you want it proper) has a quirk with his speech.  Quirks like it were used in the other titles and localised accordingly (Wakka uses "Ya", Raijin uses "Ya know" for example).

Reno uses something like "Yo" "to" and  "zo"  which doesn't mean anything, it is just a quirk.  Now, I need to localise this into some form of quirk that will work with a western audience.

I chose

Yeh (yeah)
Eh (as in What do you want, eh?)
and Heh.

However, Covarr tells me that "Eh" is not really used all that much in America and is seen as Canadian.  If this is the case, perhaps we need a rethink on how best to add this quirk to FF7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eh

Let's look at a few:

Leno
“Never mind.
  C'mon, back to work,
  back to work, eh.”

Leno
“Don't trample on
  the flowers… yeh?”

Leno
“Drink up, Rude! How long
  have we been a team, eh?”
“Being a Turk's tough at times,
  but after all's said and done,
  I'm glad to be one.”
“And I got to meet a bunch
  of weirdos like you, heh.”

The speech quirk does not need 3 variants, but I would go with 2 to mix it up.  Or, do you think the current way works fine.

Let me know, and give me some ideas.
 
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That's a problem.  I've used Eh all over the place (around 64 times) because in Britain  it is used for "huh"  and "huh" is seen more like "What?"  Although it can be both.

Are there any other ways of saying "What are you doing,eh" other than huh?  Original FF7 does use eh?  but only very rarely.

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  making his appearance, eh?”  lights are on upstairs, eh?”  this dude's a bit weird, eh?”  back to work, eh.”  Hmm? You like that, eh?”  So, you want the Keystone, eh?“A friend too, eh?  step by step. Eh, eh, eh!?”“New life, eh?”  Incredible, eh?”  guys to get you, eh?”  his trace here too, eh?“A Soldier, eh? Haw, haw,   of yours, eh? Liar!”“Bet that's news to you, eh?”  ye want {CLOUD} back too, eh?”  save the planet, eh?”“No point hidin' it now, eh?”  have the Highwind for, eh?”“Midgar, eh?”  …But, eh, dinnae blame me“Pays off in the end, eh?”“So you're in the same boat, eh?  Don't take it personally, eh?”“Hope, eh?”“Hope, eh?”  could come true, eh?”  A know-it-all, eh?”  Think the army's a joke, eh?”“Combining materia, eh?“{CLOUD}, eh? I'm…”“Shin-Ra soldiers, eh?”  go an' make noo, eh…?”  friend that bad, eh?”“{TIFA}'s childhood friend, eh!?  Something to look forward to, eh? ♥”“Tough times, eh, pops?  secret from {BARRET}, eh?”“So that's Soldier's big secret, eh!?”  What a blast, eh?”“5 gil, eh?”“Vitamin snake-oil, eh?“Stamina supplements, eh?“Muscle ointment, eh?“You know about that, eh? “Oh, too much for you, eh?“Why doncha say somethin', eh!?”“Nice village, eh?”“The village, eh?”  Not as slim as you look, eh?”  linked of late, eh?”  goes, eh?”“What are you doin', eh?“‘Missing’, eh!?”“You're working hard too, eh!?”“An unconditional surrender, eh?”  with all that bleepin', eh!?”“Heh! The cool type, eh!?  so spoiled, eh?”  have we been a team, eh?”“If you knew, then get lost, eh?  at making a run for it, eh?”  out of each others way, eh?”  a close one, eh?”
 
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I can't think of anything besides being corny and using something like bro which is kinda out of place.
 
They were gibberish sounds originally, yes? Why not psh, tsh, and tch? Gets that distinctive manner of speech across, doesn't mess with meaning at all.
 
A note on this "eh" business.  The original localization used it right at the start of the game.

{CLOUD}
“…{CLOUD}.”
------------------------------
Biggs
“{CLOUD}, eh? I'm…”
Click to expand...
and

http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/197344-finalfantasy10/faqs/43142

FF8 uses it around 14 times  (counting only main characters), 3 by Zell, 3 by Seifer, 4 by Irvine.
FF9 uses it around 20 times through game, 4 of them by Zidane.
FF10 uses it all way through the game (30 times).  Especially from Wakka.

Breath of fire III uses it 79 times (continually through game by main characters).

The only occurrence I could find in Metal Gear Solid was this one by Liquid:
Sleeping late as usual, ...eh Snake?
Click to expand...
A punk in the Terminator even uses it "Nice night for a walk, eh?"


Whether it is seen as Canadian or not, it seems it is fair game for localization (especially given a main character continually uses it in numerous games).

Our localization uses it 68 times. 12 by Reno.

Some of the 68 may need to be cut down a little.  But not much, really.  There doesn't seem to be any real rule against using "eh" basically, even by Square.
 
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It depends on the context. It is commonly used in America at the end of a sentence after a comma, used as kind of an invitation for input from the person you are talking to, whereas Canadians use it kind of like slang that doesn't really mean anything. It is fairly acceptable to use eh in this case.
 
It depends on the context. It is commonly used in America at the end of a sentence after a comma, used as kind of an invitation for input from the person you are talking to, whereas Canadians use it kind of like slang that doesn't really mean anything. It is fairly acceptable to use eh in this case.
Click to expand...
Yeah from what I am reading, it is fairly common across the board (Africa, Britain, North America, Australia)for sentences to invite questions with "eh" but Canadians use it all over the place which is where this parody thing has come from.  In any case, given that it is widespread through FF and other games, I'll be using it.  If people don't like it they can just do a search replace on ,eh? for ,huh?

If other games had been severely restricted in its use, I definitely would have opted against it.
 
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I'm from DC and use eh quite a bit. I may not enunciate it the same way Canadians do, or Americans do while making fun of Canadians, but I'd say it's still common enough in the States. Granted I'm half Irish so could be a family thing.

I think it works better than anything else it could be replaced with at least.
 
I'm not sure there is an American equivalent that's universal to regional slangs. Something like "ya hear?" would be close. Trying to get the point across that he thinks that what he's saying is important enough to listen to, but he's arrogant enough to explicitly point it out at the end of all his sentences. I believe that's what excessive uses of the "yo" in Japanese says about a person's character.
 
I've also asked Alexander O. Smith about this and he says it is up to the localiser.  He said whatever works best is ok, as long as it isn't used stereotypically like a Canadian would, and fits a character.  He uses it too.
 
Hello it's me again.  This is the last time I'll use this thread.  We have a new problem.

1 character in the game speaks in a foreign accent.  I think Luksy said it sounded kind of Chinese.    Anyone here have any ideas what kind of foreign dialect we can use?  Australian perhaps? What would work good in game for this very small part at Midhir (Mideel)?
 
What accent are we presuming everything is speaking in in your retranslation? British English? US English?

Australian middle-class (ie not "throw an'tha shrip on th' barbie, mate!", but more still a little casual) would be a decent fit if it's British, but US, maybe it'd be Canadian? It's difficult to do text-based either way...

(But if Australian is decided, I'm happy to localise that :P)
 
Well the localization can be changed to American spellings with option sooo.   But it needs to be something that both audiences will know.  Australian (or any major dialect) would work out OK.

The passages that need to be updated to a new dialect are:

“Welcome.
  My shop of tranquillity and rest
  is needed now more than ever.
  How may I be of service?”
------------------------------
“We're low on stock,
  but please come again.”
Click to expand...
and

“Welcome to my shop
  of tranquillity and rest.
  How may I help you today?”
------------------------------
“Thank you!
  Please come again.”
------------------------------
“Welcome to my shop
  of tranquillity and rest.
  At least it would be,but…”{NEW}
“…that customer over there
  has taken everything.
  I've got nothing left.”
------------------------------
“…Hehe! Only joking!
  Now,what can I do for you?”
Click to expand...
 
I'd say take a gander at Advent children Complete. I personally think they did a good job keeping Reno's character intact.

My two cents, wouldn't the Canadian be more of an ay (think The Fonz) rather then eh? i always though of eh making a short E sound. So Reno saying Eh would be fairly accurate. "Eh.. What do you mean Rude?" for example or "eh! you're stepping on the flowers" i think it is very American to use "eh" in the beginning of a sentence. So i think you just have it backwords.

I do agree with Covarr about pft, and tch.

Not sure if my advice is worth anything. But hey, cant hurt :P
 
Advent ignored the quirk in the English ( absolutely awful localization "Dilly dally shilly shally" lmao!) because no one would have got it given the original game ignored it. In fact in the correct translation of Advent, Tifa says (while on the phone with Leno I think) "Oh, I remember you 'zo to'!" taking the mick out of his quirk.  This was completely left out of the English version.

The Japanese with subtitles seemed good but not sure if that was on the DVD.  Advent did a good job of showing what the characters are supposed to be like if you use the Japanese voices.  The mannerisms were spot on.
 
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Why not "get it" and "got it" (and maybe "gotcha" for a third)? It fits at the ends of sentences, it means roughly the same thing... and it nicely ties into his KH doppelgänger Axel (Got it memorized?) without actually sacrificing accuracy.
 
Well whatever we use, "eh" by ordinary characters has been cut down and now stands at 14. Leno as he stands is at 13.   

So down from 60+ eh to around 30.  Which is perfectly acceptable.
 
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