Update #8: New Digital Tier, Novella by Chris Avellone, and Translations at $2.2M

[entrerix]

i really like the look of Edair. very reminiscent of AD&D artwork

[RosesandAshes]

Edair looks a bit bland and uninteresting.

Edair is a man who does not want to draw attention to himself. I wanted his design (specifically) to be subdued.

 

The whip intrigues me on Edair, huntsman, slaver, Indiana Jones fan? That and the name reminding me of the legendary firefighter Red.

 

Edair looks kind of world-weary to me. I think having an ex-slaver "atoner" companion would be awesome.

 

Anyways, he looks great!

[Lexx]

I'm not a fan of literal translations in general, though.

 

nobody is. you can't translate literally without damaging the language you are translating to - that's the balance and what makes a good localization.

 

I'm well aware of the second part and I agree, but...

 

I've actually been in a lot of debates regarding that issue. There ARE people around that seem to think you're performing a crime against the original product if you don't translate everything literary.

 

The reason why I only play in english nowadays. The german translations are jumping just too much between "big shait" and "good"- with big shait often being in the majority. Also the voice over often is really bad. Just remembering New Vegas right now, german translation *and* voice work was so god damn bad. Impossible to play in german, imo.

 

 

Besides, it is good for the own english skills to play it in english. :>

Edited September 25, 2012 by Lexx

[Gfted1]

Please restrict replies to English so we dont have to translate everything. Thank you.

[dlux]

It might also take day or two before the news about translations hits the german/french/spanish gaming news-sites so we might see the influx of pledges in day or two.

I have already been looking, the news is starting to come up but hasn't hit the larger sites in Germany like computerbase.de, pcgh.de, pcgames.de, 4players.de, gamona.de, krawall.de.... etc. Maybe tommorow.

Edited September 25, 2012 by dlux

[Semper]

Just remembering New Vegas right now, german translation *and* voice work was so god damn bad. Impossible to play in german, imo.

 

goddamn bad?! i've played in both languages too and while most of the voices were arguable, compared to the original ones, the translation itself was good. can't think of any faults, let alone goddamn bad examples.

[The Dark One Avoozl]

Nicht um eine ganze Übersetzung schrecklich zu finden (und ich lebe schon mein ganzes leben lang in Deutschland. Danke.) Aber der Name Weißlauf hört sich einfach schrecklich an im Vergleich (oder Einsamkeit im Vergleich zu Solitude oder Flußwald im Vergleich zu Riverwood). Es hört sich einfach schlecht an.

 

das liegt aber einzig daran, dass der englische name schon total bescheuert und inspirationslos ist. für dich hat es aber sofort einen anderen klang, da du, bedingt durch die fremdsprache, nicht sofort die eigentliche bedeutung assoziierst, sondern einen "fantastisch" klingenden namen. jetzt stell' dir einfach mal die ganzen engländer/amerikaner vor, für die solitude eben "einsamkeit" ist. mal ganz davon abgesehen, dass es falsch übersetzt wurde.

 

It's not that they're more fantastic. Believe me I've spoken English long enough that when I do it I think in English too. For me the English names just have a better flow when spoken. Of course it's not always like that. I never said that but we're talking here about a really low budget game and I guess getting the good translators would be kinda hard. I have absolutely no problem with Bilbo Beutlin.etc. you get what I mean. But the voice acting and translations in localized games most of the times are pretty jarring from my experience.

 

wenn's dich also so stört, dann spiel' doch einfach auf englisch. deswegen aber direkt komplette teile des marktes zu ignorieren wäre keine alternative. viele kaufen sich eben spiele und leben mit einer evtl. schlechten übersetzung, sofern sie das überhaupt mitbekommen, wenn sie dafür dem spiel bzw. den texten ohne probleme folgen können. ständiges nachschlagen im wörterbuch nervt dabei einfach nur.

 

I'm not saying not to localize at all. I'm just saying either hire someone that's really good at what he or she is doing (in fact lets go see who did most of the German translations for Lord of the Rings and suggest them to Obsidian) or if it's someone who doesn't know what he's doing tell him to stay away from names. Feel free to translate the rest of the dialogue.

[C2B]

I'm not a fan of literal translations in general, though.

 

nobody is. you can't translate literally without damaging the language you are translating to - that's the balance and what makes a good localization.

 

I'm well aware of the second part and I agree, but...

 

I've actually been in a lot of debates regarding that issue. There ARE people around that seem to think you're performing a crime against the original product if you don't translate everything literary.

 

The reason why I only play in english nowadays. The german translations are jumping just too much between "big shait" and "good"- with big shait often being in the majority. Also the voice over often is really bad. Just remembering New Vegas right now, german translation *and* voice work was so god damn bad. Impossible to play in german, imo.

 

 

Besides, it is good for the own english skills to play it in english. :>

 

Yup. But, again there are also a few exceptional ones where I enjoy the german version more (Though, in most of these cases the english version itself was already a translation)

 

Come to think of bad localizations, it's always fun when two best friends in a bar apparently only call each other "Sie".

[entrerix]

I wonder if edair is a bounty hunter. got that rope. trying to look inconspicuous. tracking someone down perhaps?

[Auxilius]

About translating names. Arcanum's names were translated in french and it gave a great Jules Verne's feeling to it.

I'm cool with translating names since then.

[dlux]

I'm not a fan of literal translations in general, though.

 

nobody is. you can't translate literally without damaging the language you are translating to - that's the balance and what makes a good localization.

 

I'm well aware of the second part and I agree, but...

 

I've actually been in a lot of debates regarding that issue. There ARE people around that seem to think you're performing a crime against the original product if you don't translate everything literary.

 

The reason why I only play in english nowadays. The german translations are jumping just too much between "big shait" and "good"- with big shait often being in the majority. Also the voice over often is really bad. Just remembering New Vegas right now, german translation *and* voice work was so god damn bad. Impossible to play in german, imo.

 

 

Besides, it is good for the own english skills to play it in english. :>

If you want to hear bad voice work then play a Bethesda developed game in English. Horrible.

Edited September 25, 2012 by dlux

[Cantousent]

Great point, dlux. I've played some games that I swore must have been bad translations only to find out they were developed in English from the start. lol Some of that... radiant? whatever exchanges in Oblivion were like that.

[C2B]

If you want to hear bad voice work then play a Bethesda developed game in English. Horrible.

 

He did, I did too. At least in the case of New Vegas I can confirm the englisch version is better. (Not saying it's good, but it has good voice work for major NPC's.)

Edited September 25, 2012 by C2B

[Semper]

but it ain't developed by bethesda. obsidian chose all the voice actors.

[Lexx]

Just remembering New Vegas right now, german translation *and* voice work was so god damn bad. Impossible to play in german, imo.

 

goddamn bad?! i've played in both languages too and while most of the voices were arguable, compared to the original ones, the translation itself was good. can't think of any faults, let alone goddamn bad examples.

 

No idea, maybe you played a different game then. Or we have different expectation of a (good) german translation.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Lexx

[dlux]

but it ain't developed by bethesda. obsidian chose all the voice actors.

And you can hear it too. The voice acting in New Vegas is very good - in English at least. Dunno about the other languages.

Edited September 25, 2012 by dlux

[L'invité]

About translating names. I'm ok if all the names are translated.

Otherwise, you mustn't translate names.

In the "Song of Ice and Fire" French translation, we have some French names and some English. It's horrid. It seems the names are coming from different universes.

Edited September 25, 2012 by L'invité

[Semper]

@lexx: could be. but could also be that you overdo the whole thing just for the sake of it.

[Lexx]

Nope, I don't think so. "Karmesinrote Karawanenkompanie", "Pulverbandit" etc. This just sucks. Especially the name changes / translations compared to Fo1/2 are annoying the hell out of me. Instead of trying to get it in line with the previous games, they did it all anew, which makes it stick out a lot (if you know the old games of course).

[Ryuzaki]

About translating names. I'm ok if all the names are translated.

Otherwise, you mustn't translate names.

In the "Song of Ice and Fire" French translation, we have some French names and some English. It's horrid. It seems the names are coming from different universes.

 

 

That, unfortunately, is a problem of the French, who often tend to change the words (for example "computer" in "ordinateur").

I do not know the other parts, but fortunately here in Italy are often kept their original names. :D

[Semper]

well, crimson caravan company and powder ganger don't sound any better. what would be the better translation in your opinion? especially powder gangers made sense in this context, because originally only vorarbeitern were given access to dynamite. after the riot the whole gang was called pulverbanditen.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Semper

[Lexx]

You just don't translate such names. It's as simple as that. But this is not the only problem I have with the translations. Some sentences are totally off or just plain wrong.

 

But I don't want to transform this into a "FNV german translation sucks" thread. Just wanted to point out that in most cases it is better to simply play the original. Especially if you can read and understand english.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Lexx

[Rink]

In the "Song of Ice and Fire" French translation, we have some French names and some English. It's horrid. It seems the names are coming from different universes.

 

For german they translated all the names and it sounds horrid as well! I think most german speaking players will want the names of places and people to stay in the original language.

I will not care, because I will play the english version of course (although my english could be better.. sorry about that).

 

I think it is great, that translations will be there and it is a nice milestone to reach. I just hope enough people will spread the word, so people that may not read here because of lacking english will also back the project.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Rink

[Lynchbread]

I agree no boob plate, if anyone questions me then read this first. http://madartlab.com/2011/12/14/fantasy-armor-and-lady-bits/

[Godwin]

I'm happy they haven't gone with the outlandish massive sword and unrelistic armor as are most people. I'm also pleased he looks believable, I really don't like seeing perfect hot unblemished skinned teens portaraid as warriors.