Dragon Quest localization history: Difference between revisions

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'''Introduction'''
<!--Admin Note:  This article should eventually be a full history of the various ''Dragon Quest'' localizations that have occurred.  This article will cover the high level information associated with these localizations, while other articles should be created to show comparisons between localizations.-->
 
[[Image:DQCampaign.jpg|right|The Bring ''Dragon Quest'' Back to the U.S. Campaign|thumb|An early web 1.0 example of international demand for the series.]]
Hello and welcome! I'm NekoKnight, and this is the very first internet article I've ever
This article seeks to provide a localization history of the {{DQSeries}}. The various English localizations of the ''Dragon Quest'' series are a result of three separate eras of the franchise in North America by [[Enix]] and [[Square Enix]]. This has resulted in three very distinct periods in the series' international history. This article will list the localization changes that Enix and Square Enix have made since the first English release of {{DQ}}.
written. So remember, that means I'm new to this whole thing. So if the article doesn't turn out perfectly or if I make a mistake or something, please go easy on me! ^_^
                                   
For a long time I've been too shy to really submit any kind of article to the internet, but seeing that this page had nothing written on it, I felt compelled to write my
own article about the "Lack of Uniformity" in the English localization of Dragon Quest,
a topic I and many others feel strongly about. This article will list many major and
unusual changes that Square Enix made for the English release of Dragon Quest, as well as
what changes have upset fans the most. I would like to express my deepest thanks to
Dustin Hubbard, The Dwaine, Woodus, zenithian, and all the others who have worked so hard to
create truly fantastic sites and spread the word about Dragon Quest throughout the Western
Hemisphere-and also for allowing people like us the oppurtunity to be able to create articles like this. Thank you very much, you are deeply appreciated.  


Now, let's get down to business.
==Nintendo, Dragon Warrior, and Enix America Corporation==
In 1989 [[Nintendo|Nintendo of America]] decided to market the series to North America, as the company's action RPG title, ''The Legend of Zelda'', had proven to be highly successful in the North American market. The original title was chosen instead of the then-most-recent and more sophisticated ''Dragon Quest III'' for unknown reasons, and was given a slight graphical update. All characters would faces the direction they walked in while moving, shore lines were added to the coast, and the Hero's sprite would show him holding a sword and shield when equipped. A battery back up save feature replaced the Japanese password system, and the syntax of the game relied on Elizabethan English.


'''A Brief History'''
The title was renamed to ''[[Dragon Quest|Dragon Warrior]]'' as a company called TSR produced a tabletop RPG called ''Dragon Quest'' at the same time, and owned the copyright in reference to all RPG context. Due to a combination of bad marketing, the primitive nature of the first game compared to its sequels, and the American preference to action games over turn-based titles caused ''Dragon Warrior'' to not perform as expected at retail at 500,000 units<ref>Famitsu issue #621</ref>, with the unsold copies being given away as a free title to subscribes of Nintendo Power magazine. This is how many Generation X children in America first encountered the series, and estimates of one million units "sold" persist. This failure to perform is not atypical for the time, as the original [[Final Fantasy]] sold approximately 700,000 units in the American market<ref>Interview with Yusuke Hirata, manager of Square Co. publicity department, Electronic Gaming Monthly 63 page 172, October 1994.</ref>.


In 1989, around three years after the first Dragon Quest game was released in Japan, Nintendo
Shortly after this, [[Enix Corporation]] established a localization branch in Redmond Washington, [[Enix America Corporation]], to localize additional ''Dragon Quest'' titles for North America.  Often called Enix of America, Enix America Corporation brought ''[[Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line|Dragon Warrior II]]'', ''[[Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation|Dragon Warrior III]]'', and ''[[Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen|Dragon Warrior IV]]'' stateside. Due to an absence of marketing in the pre-internet days, each title was sold fewer and fewer numbers, at 150,000, 95,000, and 80,000 respectively<ref>Famitsu issue #621</ref>. While Enix America Corporation wanted to bring the Super Famicom ''[[Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation|Dragon Quest VI]]'' over as ''[[Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride|Dragon Warrior V]]'', Enix had closed their North American localization branch at the end of 1995
of America decided it was time to introduce North American gamers to the Japanese RPG genre.
So they localized "Dragon Quest" and renamed it "Dragon Warrior" (a company called "TSR" owned the name Dragon Quest at the time, so they had no choice but to change the name to something else.) Shortly after, Enix of America took root and decided to bring the second game stateside, following the third and fourth. Sadly, Enix didn't localize any of the Super Famicom games, which meant that U.S. fans missed out on two of the best DQ titles, V and VI.


It also meant that many new, younger gamers weren't exposed to the series. And as the Final Fantasy games increased in popularity with it's new SNES titles being released stateside, Dragon Warrior was starting to fade into obscurity. It wasn't until the year 2000
As the ''Final Fantasy'' franchise's Super Nintendo titles were being released stateside, the ''[[Dragon Quest (series)|Dragon Warrior]]'' series entered a dormancy of eight years. Through sites such as [[Dragon's Den]] and the [[DQShrine.com|DQShrine]], fans in North America were able to form communities and kept hopes of a return of ''Dragon Warrior'' to North America alive. It was also at this time that many North American fans began referring to the series as '''Dragon Quest''', '''DraQue''' or simply '''DQ'''.
that Dragon Warrior miraculously returned in the form of "Dragon Warrior Monsters" for the
Gameboy Color, which helped to immerse several new American fans into the series (including
myself.) The game was followed by Dragon Warrior I&II,III,Monsters 2, Torneko, and Dragon Warrior VII. The games' translation was also improved, with the names of characters and such being more faithful to the Japanese version (one example being that the legendary hero "Erdrick" was renamed "Loto", which was a more faithful translation of his Japanese name, "Roto".) By then, Enix had established their own localization for the series. And while the localization was far from perfect, it was still "close enough" to the Japanese version for fans to truly enjoy it. The names of characters, monsters, spells, items, places, etc., had been chosen carefully to reflect the Japanese names, while still maintaining many traditions that had been established since the days of the NES. While the localization did suffer somewhat, the fans were still satisfied with it, and all the names used in the English versions were burned into their hearts and minds. As Enix continued to release the Dragon Warrior/Quest titles in America, it seemed as though the series was here to stay. But then, something unimaginable happened.


On April 3rd 2003, Enix and Square merged into one company to form "Square Enix". Many fans
==Eidos, Dragon Warrior Monsters, and Enix America, Inc.==
were ecstatic about the merger, and had high hopes for Dragon Quest's future. Perhaps now that Square and Enix  have  become one, Dragon Quest would  finaly get the recognition it  deserved, or so many thought. Little did we know just what the new Square Enix USA had in store for our beloved series.
In 2000 '''Dragon Warrior''' returned in the form of an spinoff [[Dragon Quest Monsters (series)|series]], {{DQM}} for the [[Game Boy]] Color. The game was followed by a reestablishment of Enix in North America, as [[Enix America, Inc.]], which released Game Boy remakes of ''[[Dragon Quest I & II|Dragon Warrior I & II]]'', ''[[Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation|Dragon Warrior III]]'', a dual version {{DQM2}}, ''[[Torneko: The Last Hope]]'', and the much anticipated ''[[Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past|Dragon Warrior VII]]''.


'''The Post-Merger Confusion'''
The portable games' translation was truncated to fit the smaller screen size of the handheld, which prompted the localization staff to opt for romanizations of certain Japanese names instead of the English names used during previous hardware generations; for instance, the usage of ''Loto'' instead of ''Erdrick''. The names of characters were more or less faithful to the original script, aside from instances of L and R being switched as in the Loto example above, but the names of monsters became abridged mashups consisting of ''AdjectiveNoun'' monikers with odd capitalization habits and spells/skills names being highly inaccurate, with the localization staff either not understanding the wordplay involved in the Japanese script or not asking the developmental staff for guidance.


Shortly after the merger, the fans began asking questions about the future of Dragon Quest
For example, the wind spells were given the English root word of ''inferno'' despite the Japanese name being an onomatopoeia for cold, blustery gales. This was presumably done to adhere to the names used for the [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]], but illustrates that the period was marred by an illogical adherence to poor localization tradition than a true reflection of the original naming conventions. Furthermore, inconsistent, self-imposed censorship continued despite the move to the more liberally-minded platform of the PlayStation, with abilities such as ''[[Pearly Gates|Grand Cross]]'' being localized as the nondescript ''multicut'' despite there being no external pressure on the company to do so after the establishment of the ESRB ratings board.
in America, and if we would be getting the PS2 remake of Dragon Quest V. However, most of the
 
people in the newly formed Square Enix USA were former Square employees, many of whom had
Enix of America continued to release the ''Dragon Warrior'' titles in America until 2003, with the merging of Japanese parent company with rival Squaresoft leading to the close of the American branch in favor of the latter's more established and professional branch. The final game localized and released by Enix of America was [[wikipedia:Robot Alchemic Drive |Robot Alchemic Drive]] for the Playstation 2 on November 5, 2002.
never even heard of Dragon Quest before the merger, and didn't really seem  to  care. The fans
 
were crushed. It seemed as though their voices were falling on deaf ears, and the future of
==Enix Merges with Square, and localization reboot==
Dragon Quest looked bleak. But when SE announced that Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2 would be
On April 3rd 2003, Enix and Square merged into one company to form '''[[Square Enix]]'''. Shortly after the merger, there was anticipation for the [[Sony PlayStation#PlayStation 2|PlayStation 2]] port of {{DQ5}} to be released in North America. However, this did not come to pass. In 2005, Square Enix announced that {{DQ8}} for the PS2 would be coming to the states and under it's original title, with the company having purchased all copyright registrations associated with the ''Dragon Quest'' name worldwide.
coming to the states, the fans once again rejoiced! But their rejoicing wouldn't last long, as
 
the game's English localization had the fans confused and dismayed at the several changes that were made which contradicted both the Enix localization and the Japanese Dragon Quest original. While some of the changes were welcomed, others were not. The changes of names and writing style proved to be very upsetting to fans who have become so familiar with the Enix translation, and who had expected Square Enix to carry on the traditions that had already been established in the Dragon Warrior series. This brought frustration to many long time fans who almost felt insulted by Square Enix for their new (and sometimes awkward) translation. We don't know if any of those in charge of the localization process had tried playing any of the Dragon Warrior games prior to translating DQ8, but it certainly would have helped if they did.
The game would be a complete reboot of the localization practice, with industry veteran [[Richard Honeywood]] proposing an adoption of British English for the series' syntax and to maintain an emphasis on wordplay to distinguish it from the growing number of competing titles in the RPG market both within and outside of the new company. In an effort to establish continuity between the old and new teams, Honeywood reached out to former Enix of America employees and recruited Matt Alt and Hiriko Yoda into his new team.
         
 
Not all of the changes were so bad. For one thing, some parts of the game were actually closer to the original Japanese, and taking any steps to achieve closer unity to the original Japanese counterpart is always welcome (Well, at least by most.) But some of the other changes are so pointless and far away from the Japanese version, it makes you wonder if they gave any consideration to the Japanese at all!
This proposal was approved by [[Yūji Horii]], who was displeased with the quality of the localizations of previous titles that failed to convey the clever wordplay he had personally written for every line of dialogue in the series thus far. Horii would weigh in and assess every localization suggestion presented by Honeywood's team, asserting his control over the series internationally to insure it met his personal standards. As a result, the emphasis on puns was restored, spell names became English onomatopoeia, skills became accurate translations for the first time, and monster names were no longer disjointed messes.
 
The follwing sections will take a look at how the series was altered from both it's American and Japanese traditions, almost to the point of being unrecognizable at times, as well as point out some of the advantages of the new localization over the old. The purpose of this article is
==Publishing partnership with Nintendo==
NOT to bash Square Enix, but to evaluate how they've handled the localization, and what the fans
In 2010, Nintendo of America published ''Dragon Quest IX'' in North America and Europe, marking the third time that a ''Dragon Quest'' game has been published by a company other than Enix/Square Enix. In 2011, Nintendo published the DS release of ''Dragon Quest VI'' in North America and Europe, and published {{DQMJ2}} and ''[[Fortune Street]]'' in these regions as well. Nintendo's marketing push for the ninth game was significantly stronger than Square Enix's had been for the eighth, with commercials staring actor Seth Green being aired for the Summer of 2010 and print ads for the 2011 titles.
have to say about it.
 
However, 2011 would mark the beginning of a second dormant age for the series, though thankfully a briefer one than that seen in the 90's. The 3DS entries in the ''Rocket Slime'' and ''DQM'' spin-off series would not be localized by Nintendo despite the lack of content for the handheld in its early years and no entry in the series as a whole would not reach international shores until the 2015 release of the original game on [[cell phone]] compatible hardware, followed in October of the same year with ''[[Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below|Dragon Quest Heroes]]'' for the [[Sony PlayStation#PlayStation 4|PlayStation 4]] and PC. This update of the classic and the action spin-off broke the drought, with both the latter and it's sequel being localized along side the first entry in the ''[[Dragon Quest Builders]]'' sub-series.
 
Each of these titles would not be ported to any Nintendo hardware for multiple years, which lead to rumors that relations between Square Enix and Nintendo had become strained--this assumption would be squashed with the surprise announcement of Nintendo publishing the international release for the 3DS remake of the ''Dragon Quest VII'' in 2016. This came almost precisely three years after the Japanese release in 2013, and many fans had taken it that the translation fees had rendered the game prohibitively expensive. All four titles performed better than Square Enix's sales forecast expected in the American and European markets, prompting the company to begin work on an enhanced, deluxe version of the eleventh game for international release. ''Dragon Quest XI'' has performed considerably better than past entries in the series, selling over one million units in North America alone, aided by Nintendo's publishing of the Switch version of the title and the year long marketing campaign the company presented for the game in 2019.


'''Voice Acting & Script Writing'''
The friendly business partnership between Square Enix and Nintendo regarding the series has lead to the appearances of several Heroes as playable characters in {{SSB5}}, further expanding awareness of ''Dragon Quest'' to the fighting franchise's widespread audience.


First, let's begin with Dragon Quest VIII, the first Dragon Quest game localized by Square
==Current Square Enix localization policies==
Enix. I would like to commend Square Enix USA for truly going the extra mile with DQ8, by adding
several new features including voice acting and the symphonic soundtrack to make for a really
enjoyable experience. Nonetheless, some changes were not so enjoyable.
Now the original Japanese version of DQ8 had no voice acting and simply used synthetic
music, and the added voices for the English version is a subject that many fans have
mixed feelings about. You see, Dragon Quest games have always been about being natural and
casual. And even though DQ games take place in a medieval-like setting, they really don't take
place in the Middle Ages. Rather, they take place in their own world with their own culture and
language, a language that is usually very modern and easy for people to relate to.
Enix understood this and transfered the casual atmosphere over into the Dragon Warrior
games. With the exception of Dragon Warrior 1-3 for the NES, the script had always been
very straight forward and "Americanesque". Dragon Warrior Monsters even had characters that
said "dude!", something that would be unheard of in medieval England!


But when Square Enix took over, they rewrote the script with a much more medieval "slant"
====Voice Acting====
to it, as well as adding voice acting from a British acting group to accommodate the new
''Dragon Quest VIII'' is the the first game localized by Square Enix. Square Enix USA added several new features including voice acting and the [[Dragon Quest VIII Original Soundtrack|symphonic soundtrack]]. The original Japanese version of ''Dragon Quest VIII'' had no voice acting and utilized synthesized music.
script. And the new script definitely has a lot of advantages over the old and all-to-often
straight forward script of Dragon Warrior. However, some of the names were translated without
much regard to the actual Japanese, and many fans were sad and frustrated to see that the names of monsters, spells, items, etc., had been rewritten. One example is that the Hero's pet was
named "Toppo" in the Japanese, but renamed "Munchie" in English.
 
And while the voices for many characters were entertaining (especially Trode and Yangus), others sounded very unnatural, exaggerated, goofy, and over the top, which makes the game feel too silly and really detracts from the more serious and emotional aspects. Sure, Dragon Quest has some silly apects to it, but the series itself is NOT silly. Not that I have anything against British voice acting, but I just think that Americans can relate better to characters who sound a bit more...well...American.
   
   
But perhaps the most annoying part about the voice acting is that the characters simply
Square Enix of Japan implemented voice acting in {{DQSwords}} for the Nintendo [[Wii]] as an experiment to assess the main fanbase's reception to the feature in a spin off. Voice acting would not be featured in Japanese releases of mainline titles until, appropriately enough, the [[Nintendo 3DS]] port of the eighth game in 2015. The first game to establish voice actors for several characters was 2015's ''Dragon Quest Heroes'' and it's 2016 sequel, with characters not present in either game being voiced in ''[[Dragon Quest Rivals]]''.
TALK TOO SLOW. Sometimes it'll take a character about fifteen seconds just to say five words! And Normal people, British and American alike, just don't talk that way. The voice acting reminds me of those old Rankin Bass action cartoons from the 80's like Thundercats and Sliver Hawks, both of which had dreadfully slow paced voice acting. But then again, I guess it's a matter of taste. Plus the voice acting doesn't quite seem to fit the anime style of the game. Perhaps SE should have looked into say... The Ocean Group or something to do the voices instead.
 
The tenth game would receive voice acting for certain key scenes in the Version 5.0 update of October 24th, 2019. The [[Nintendo Switch]] version of ''Dragon Quest XI'' would feature voice actors returning from ''Rivals''.  
{{Section-Stub}}
 
====Semantics====
Character names for party members are typically changed from the originals under Square Enix, with the purpose ranging from avoiding common place names, to reflecting a thematic element of that particular title, and to emphasize an aspect of a character. This is seen in the changing of ''Barbara'' to ''Ashlynn'', ''Flora'' to ''Nera'' (matching Bianca), and ''Hassan'' and ''Camus'' being changed to ''Carver'' and ''Erik'', respectively.


One good thing that came out of the voice acting, is that Square Enix of Japan took notice and  
Certain names are retained from the NES localization set, such as Ragnar McRyan simply gaining a surname that matches his Japanese name. This extends to titles and places as well, with Erdrick being reincorporated into the series with the ninth game and Middenhall being chosen over the [[Game Boy|GBC]] era's Lorasia.  
decided to implement voice acting of their own in Dragon Quest Swords for the Wii. Once again,
SE used the same British actors for the English version of this game,too. Which honestly
worked out quite well, as the British voices seemed to accommodate the more "elegant" style of
the game. Most of the cast sound great, although the characters still seem to talk a bit too slow, though not as slow as DQ8. The only flaw for me would have to be Fleurette. Sorry, but her French accent drives me up a wall.


Now let's tackle the game's script. A good scriptwriter knows that coherency is a major
Items, weapons, and armor pieces have remained fairly consistent through all three localization periods, with the precise wording varying between eras but keeping the same concept. One exception is the abandonment of ''water flying clothes'' for the more fluid and concise ''flowing dress''. Names for equipment in the GBC titles would use an icon showing the type of weapon or armor it belonged to in order to cope with the screen space.
factor in writing a good script. But some parts of the script are written with broken up
English that you can hardly read, like the dialogue of those guys who wear the yellow masks. The
new script doesn't quite seem to capture the spirit of Dragon Quest, and I still don't think  Square Enix truly understands the series all that well. It feels like they're trying to take a traditional Japanese RPG, and put a Western "spin" on it if you will, by changing the script around to make it feel less Japanese and more british-style. Now anyone whose played a good amount of JRPGs know that the Japanese have a different way of thinking than the western world does. And when JRPGs get localized for an English release, they should remain as faithful to the original Japanese as much as is nesseccary. Sure, I understand that they have to go through some sort of "Westernization" when brought over to the states, but they still need to retain their Japanese idendity, and localizers shouldn't be changing names around for no reason! Especially when some of the new names the come up with aren't even that good!


'''What's in a Name'''
Monster names balance between puns and the original Japanese terms, with some being literal translations (the [[Gold golem]], for example) while others simply abandon the Japanese name for a pun that works better in English. For example of the latter, the [[Moosifer]] monster's name in Japanese translates to "Uncle Horn", and does not make any sense in English.


One very peculier aspect of the new tranlsation, is that many monsters have been renamed without much regard to the traditional Japanese names. For instance, there is a monster called "Battle Rex" in the Japanese version of the series. And when Enix localized the Dragon Warrior games, they left it's name the same. But for SE's new Dragon Quest localization, they changed his name from "Battle Rex" to "hacksaurus" instead. Why would SE change a name that is perfectly understandable in English to something else? Changing a name like Battle Rex to hacksaurus is just plain pointless! And there were several other monsters that sufferd the same fate as well, including "Golden Slime" being changed to "gem slime", "Mirudraas" to "nimzo", "Galmazzo" to "dr.snapped", "Darth Wolfen" to "hellhound", and my personal favorite, "Death Pisaro" to "psaro."
Spell names have been focused on onomatopoeia to match the originals as closely as possible, an aspect that Horii was adamant about mandating. This has resulted in a series of names that perfectly conveys what element the incantation uses in the case of attack spells, and the effects of status altering spells. The latter are particularly more descriptive, with ''insulatle'' being more self-descriptive than the vague ''barrier''. Skill names have similarly become more coherent, with occasional English substitutes for Japanese terms being used such as in the case of ''Kamai-tachi'' becoming ''Wind Sickles''.
====Sound Design====
In the North American release of ''Dragon Quest VIII'', Square Enix replaced the original soundtrack with an orchestral version, and removed certain sound effects such as the screen transition. Battle sound effects, movement effects, and the three octave degrees used for unvoiced men, women, and children were retained.


Why would Square Enix go out of it's way to make these changes? Not only does it cause confusion for long time fans, it also poses a problem for the localization process of the future. For example, what if Yuji Horii invented monsters that were actually called "Gem Slime" or "Nimzo?" How would the localizers handle that? Since they already changed Golden Slime to gem slime and Mirudrass to nimzo, that means they would have to change the names of Yuji Horii's new monsters into something else, which would only result in more confusion. Another odd thing about the new localization, is that the names of monsters and items are no longer captialized, despite always being capitalized in the Dragon Warrior games. Sure, they may not be proper names, but capitalizing words is what makes them stick out from all the rest. A word that's capitalized says,"Hey! Look at me! I'm important!" Capitalizing names of monsters and such is what gives them significance, and it's something that had been done since the earliest days of videogames. Nintendo ALWAYS capitilizes the names of pokemon, and even SE's own Final Fantasy also has monster and item names capitilized. So why exclude Dragon Quest from all of this? Is Dragon Quest less important than Final Fantasy? Some of us are beginning to feel that SE thinks so.
The orchestral soundtrack was well received by international audiences, but due to hardware limitations this could not be replicated with the release of the [[Zenithia trilogy]] and the ninth game on the [[Nintendo DS]]. It would be implemented in all international versions of the eleventh game, however, with the Japanese receiving the feature as a part of the Nintendo Switch version. It is currently unknown if the orchestral soundtrack will be featured in a future update of {{DQ10}} or will be the worldwide default in the next numbered title.


Square Enix also changed almost all the traditional spell names, too. Spells like "Firebal" were changed to "Sizz" and "Vivify" changed to "Zing", which doesn't fly over well with fans of the old translation. While this may have been done to reflect the onomatopoeia of the Japanese spell names, they still could have done better. But there are some changes that are, at least in my opinion, better than the Dragon Warrior translation. For example, "Return" was renamed "Zoom" and "Outside" was renamed "Evac", which sound much better than the blandness of the DW names. They also changed some of the item names, which really aren't too bad, save for changing "Medical Herb" to "Medicinal Herb" and "Antidote Herb" to "Antidotal Herb", names which are somewhat of a tounge twister. Still, we would prefer they had stayed with the traditional names that had already been established by the Dragon Warrior translation.
====Religion====
In Square Enix's localizations for ''Dragon Quest VIII'' and subsequent titles, all references to God are replaced with [[Goddess]]. In the ''Dragon Warrior'' games for the Game Boy Color, Enix replaced all references to God with "gods". The references to God in ''Dragon Warrior VII'' remained intact, presumably due to the divine being in the game being a character who can be spoken to directly, and also accounting to the Christian theming of the title. This was carried forward into the 2016 3DS remake, where the character was named [[The Almighty]]--a synonym for God that has no other interpretation.


In the Japanese version, the usage of God and Goddess are conveyed by the genderless ''Kami'' instead of the katakana spelling of the English God. Sex is only applied to the divinity that the player can directly interact with, such as [[Rubiss]], [[Xenlon]], and the [[Zenith Dragon]]. Due to the structure of the Japanese language, a single usage of the word kami can also refer to multiple subjects at once.
'''Do You Hear What I Hear?'''


Square Enix also changed all of the traditional battle and spell sound affects were
The Christian crosses used as the series' symbol of the divine in all games up to the ninth were altered into tridents for the Square Enix releases. With the ninth game, a new symbol was developed for the church in the series that resembles a triple cross with edges that smooth out into curves resembling a Fleur-de-lis. This saves on development time as the symbol does not need to be changed for international release. References to certain equipment originating from past titles such as the priest's [[Priest costume#mitre|mitre]] from ''Dragon Quest III'' were changed to or retain the trident design.
removed, sound affects that have been around since the first DQ game and had become a staple
in the series. Now anyone who has played a Zelda game recognizes that "doodly doodly doo!"
noise whenever you unlock a secret. That noise is something that Zelda fans have come to
expect from the series. It just wouldn't be a Zelda game without that beautiful noise! Yes
well, DQ fans feel the same way about the sound effects in DQ. Removing those sound effects
makes the game feel less like Dragon Quest, and we are not happy to see them removed.
   
'''God is in His Heavens, All is Not Well with Square Enix'''


In Square Enix's new localization, all references to "God" are replaced with "Goddess", and
===8-4 Ltd. and Shloc Ltd. localization outsourcing===
Christian crosses have been distorted to look almost like forks. While it may be safe to
The Dragon Quest series was localized in-house by Square Enix from 2005 to 2010, with [[8-4 Ltd.]] being hired to translate ''Dragon Quest VI'' for its DS release in 2011. This would be the only entry in the series that the company would participate in the production of, but this instance would mark the first time that Square Enix hired a third party to bring Dragon Quest into another language and the fiscal logistics of the decision would make outsourcing the standard approach for the company until the eleventh game was released in 2017. Between 2015 and 2017, all titles in the series were localized by [[Shloc Ltd.]], a company co-founded by [[Oli Chance]], one of the members of Richard Honeywood's original team assembled for ''Dragon Quest VIII''. With his past experience with the series, Mr. Chance's participation would maintain the standards established in 2005 and reinvigorate the scripts for the [[Erdrick trilogy]] brought to smart phones while also easing the genre shift within the ''Heroes'' for RPG fans unaccustomed to muso-style games with familiar prose.
assume that Square Enix made these changes to avoid controversy, it still provides a problem
for the future of the Dragon Quest localization. For instance, "God" plays a major role in
Dragon Quest VII. And should that game ever be remade (for the DS perhaps), how would Square
Enix handle the localization? Would they change His sprite to a female and call
Him "Goddess?!" This is the kind of problem you run into when you replace an originally
masculine term with a feminine one. If Square Enix had opted for a different term such as "The
God" or "The One", this problem could be avoided much easier.
It also seems very unusual, since many video games contain references to God. Such games
include "Megaman Legends", "Megaman Battle Network 2", and even Square's very own "Threads of
Fate." So why would Square Enix preserve references to God in one of their own games, but not
the others? Even the Dragon Warrior games since Dragon Warrior Monsters maintained all of the
Judeo-Christian symbolism, and "Dragon Warrior VII" leaves in all the references to God. And
so far, I have heard of no such outcries from peoples concerning these religous themes.
Religion has always played a significant role in the Dragon Quest series, and while Square
Enix hasn't quite thrown out all of the religous themes, they have thrown out some of the
greatest traditions in the series, and it makes the games feel once again less like Dragon
Quest. An interesting side note is that Japan has taken notice of these changes and have
started using the distorted "Fork Crosses" instead of the Christian ones themselves, although
the references to "God" have remained intact.  


'''Remaining Faithful'''           
Square Enix would not hire Shloc Ltd. for the whole of the localization of ''Dragon Quest XI'' in 2017, but did hire the group to aid in project management with Olic Chance serving as the editor.


I and many others beleive that when Japanese video games are localized, they should remain
==See also==
as faithful to the Japanese version as much as necessary. Of course, Japanese games have to go
*[[List of name changes in the Zenithia trilogy]]
through some sort of "Americanization" when brought over to the states, but they still need to
*[[Spell List]]
maintain their Japanese identity. Which is why I believe that you should only change names and
such when they really don't make sense or don't sound good in English. For instance,
changing "Kukule" to "Angelo" in DQVIII. But localizers should't be changing names just for
the sake of changing names, especially when the names they came up with don't even sound that
good! The names are what the original author Yuji Horii intended them to be. And I feel that
to just change them like that for no real good reason is very disrespectful to the author. How
would you like it if you wrote a book and got it published, only to find that the publishing
company changed the names of all your characters to what THEY like? You would't be very happy,
would you?


'''In Closing'''
==Reference==
<references/>


One good thing about the new localization, is that it did seem to help Dragon Quest get more
{{cleanup}}
high tech if you will, with DQ Swords having voice acting of it's own and DQ 4-6 DS having
character portraits in battle. And we're getting almost every new Dragon Quest title released
in America! But their localization, I feel, is in need of serious revision. I think Square
Enix should really listen to it's fans opinions and take them in, and we in turn should remain
firm in our belief that Dragon Quest needs revising. But we should never be mean or rude to
Square Enix, and we should always thank them for bringing our beloved series statewide. There
are so many things left to write about, but I'll have to cut this short for now. I hope this
article was helpful to anyone who has played Dragon Quest, or is interested in knowing more
about the Dragon Quest series. Thanks for reading!

Revision as of 19:35, 13 October 2020

An early web 1.0 example of international demand for the series.

This article seeks to provide a localization history of the Dragon Quest series. The various English localizations of the Dragon Quest series are a result of three separate eras of the franchise in North America by Enix and Square Enix. This has resulted in three very distinct periods in the series' international history. This article will list the localization changes that Enix and Square Enix have made since the first English release of Dragon Quest.

Nintendo, Dragon Warrior, and Enix America Corporation

In 1989 Nintendo of America decided to market the series to North America, as the company's action RPG title, The Legend of Zelda, had proven to be highly successful in the North American market. The original title was chosen instead of the then-most-recent and more sophisticated Dragon Quest III for unknown reasons, and was given a slight graphical update. All characters would faces the direction they walked in while moving, shore lines were added to the coast, and the Hero's sprite would show him holding a sword and shield when equipped. A battery back up save feature replaced the Japanese password system, and the syntax of the game relied on Elizabethan English.

The title was renamed to Dragon Warrior as a company called TSR produced a tabletop RPG called Dragon Quest at the same time, and owned the copyright in reference to all RPG context. Due to a combination of bad marketing, the primitive nature of the first game compared to its sequels, and the American preference to action games over turn-based titles caused Dragon Warrior to not perform as expected at retail at 500,000 units[1], with the unsold copies being given away as a free title to subscribes of Nintendo Power magazine. This is how many Generation X children in America first encountered the series, and estimates of one million units "sold" persist. This failure to perform is not atypical for the time, as the original Final Fantasy sold approximately 700,000 units in the American market[2].

Shortly after this, Enix Corporation established a localization branch in Redmond Washington, Enix America Corporation, to localize additional Dragon Quest titles for North America. Often called Enix of America, Enix America Corporation brought Dragon Warrior II, Dragon Warrior III, and Dragon Warrior IV stateside. Due to an absence of marketing in the pre-internet days, each title was sold fewer and fewer numbers, at 150,000, 95,000, and 80,000 respectively[3]. While Enix America Corporation wanted to bring the Super Famicom Dragon Quest VI over as Dragon Warrior V, Enix had closed their North American localization branch at the end of 1995

As the Final Fantasy franchise's Super Nintendo titles were being released stateside, the Dragon Warrior series entered a dormancy of eight years. Through sites such as Dragon's Den and the DQShrine, fans in North America were able to form communities and kept hopes of a return of Dragon Warrior to North America alive. It was also at this time that many North American fans began referring to the series as Dragon Quest, DraQue or simply DQ.

Eidos, Dragon Warrior Monsters, and Enix America, Inc.

In 2000 Dragon Warrior returned in the form of an spinoff series, Dragon Quest Monsters for the Game Boy Color. The game was followed by a reestablishment of Enix in North America, as Enix America, Inc., which released Game Boy remakes of Dragon Warrior I & II, Dragon Warrior III, a dual version Dragon Quest Monsters 2, Torneko: The Last Hope, and the much anticipated Dragon Warrior VII.

The portable games' translation was truncated to fit the smaller screen size of the handheld, which prompted the localization staff to opt for romanizations of certain Japanese names instead of the English names used during previous hardware generations; for instance, the usage of Loto instead of Erdrick. The names of characters were more or less faithful to the original script, aside from instances of L and R being switched as in the Loto example above, but the names of monsters became abridged mashups consisting of AdjectiveNoun monikers with odd capitalization habits and spells/skills names being highly inaccurate, with the localization staff either not understanding the wordplay involved in the Japanese script or not asking the developmental staff for guidance.

For example, the wind spells were given the English root word of inferno despite the Japanese name being an onomatopoeia for cold, blustery gales. This was presumably done to adhere to the names used for the NES, but illustrates that the period was marred by an illogical adherence to poor localization tradition than a true reflection of the original naming conventions. Furthermore, inconsistent, self-imposed censorship continued despite the move to the more liberally-minded platform of the PlayStation, with abilities such as Grand Cross being localized as the nondescript multicut despite there being no external pressure on the company to do so after the establishment of the ESRB ratings board.

Enix of America continued to release the Dragon Warrior titles in America until 2003, with the merging of Japanese parent company with rival Squaresoft leading to the close of the American branch in favor of the latter's more established and professional branch. The final game localized and released by Enix of America was Robot Alchemic Drive for the Playstation 2 on November 5, 2002.

Enix Merges with Square, and localization reboot

On April 3rd 2003, Enix and Square merged into one company to form Square Enix. Shortly after the merger, there was anticipation for the PlayStation 2 port of Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride to be released in North America. However, this did not come to pass. In 2005, Square Enix announced that Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King for the PS2 would be coming to the states and under it's original title, with the company having purchased all copyright registrations associated with the Dragon Quest name worldwide.

The game would be a complete reboot of the localization practice, with industry veteran Richard Honeywood proposing an adoption of British English for the series' syntax and to maintain an emphasis on wordplay to distinguish it from the growing number of competing titles in the RPG market both within and outside of the new company. In an effort to establish continuity between the old and new teams, Honeywood reached out to former Enix of America employees and recruited Matt Alt and Hiriko Yoda into his new team.

This proposal was approved by Yūji Horii, who was displeased with the quality of the localizations of previous titles that failed to convey the clever wordplay he had personally written for every line of dialogue in the series thus far. Horii would weigh in and assess every localization suggestion presented by Honeywood's team, asserting his control over the series internationally to insure it met his personal standards. As a result, the emphasis on puns was restored, spell names became English onomatopoeia, skills became accurate translations for the first time, and monster names were no longer disjointed messes.

Publishing partnership with Nintendo

In 2010, Nintendo of America published Dragon Quest IX in North America and Europe, marking the third time that a Dragon Quest game has been published by a company other than Enix/Square Enix. In 2011, Nintendo published the DS release of Dragon Quest VI in North America and Europe, and published Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 and Fortune Street in these regions as well. Nintendo's marketing push for the ninth game was significantly stronger than Square Enix's had been for the eighth, with commercials staring actor Seth Green being aired for the Summer of 2010 and print ads for the 2011 titles.

However, 2011 would mark the beginning of a second dormant age for the series, though thankfully a briefer one than that seen in the 90's. The 3DS entries in the Rocket Slime and DQM spin-off series would not be localized by Nintendo despite the lack of content for the handheld in its early years and no entry in the series as a whole would not reach international shores until the 2015 release of the original game on cell phone compatible hardware, followed in October of the same year with Dragon Quest Heroes for the PlayStation 4 and PC. This update of the classic and the action spin-off broke the drought, with both the latter and it's sequel being localized along side the first entry in the Dragon Quest Builders sub-series.

Each of these titles would not be ported to any Nintendo hardware for multiple years, which lead to rumors that relations between Square Enix and Nintendo had become strained--this assumption would be squashed with the surprise announcement of Nintendo publishing the international release for the 3DS remake of the Dragon Quest VII in 2016. This came almost precisely three years after the Japanese release in 2013, and many fans had taken it that the translation fees had rendered the game prohibitively expensive. All four titles performed better than Square Enix's sales forecast expected in the American and European markets, prompting the company to begin work on an enhanced, deluxe version of the eleventh game for international release. Dragon Quest XI has performed considerably better than past entries in the series, selling over one million units in North America alone, aided by Nintendo's publishing of the Switch version of the title and the year long marketing campaign the company presented for the game in 2019.

The friendly business partnership between Square Enix and Nintendo regarding the series has lead to the appearances of several Heroes as playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, further expanding awareness of Dragon Quest to the fighting franchise's widespread audience.

Current Square Enix localization policies

Voice Acting

Dragon Quest VIII is the the first game localized by Square Enix. Square Enix USA added several new features including voice acting and the symphonic soundtrack. The original Japanese version of Dragon Quest VIII had no voice acting and utilized synthesized music.

Square Enix of Japan implemented voice acting in Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors for the Nintendo Wii as an experiment to assess the main fanbase's reception to the feature in a spin off. Voice acting would not be featured in Japanese releases of mainline titles until, appropriately enough, the Nintendo 3DS port of the eighth game in 2015. The first game to establish voice actors for several characters was 2015's Dragon Quest Heroes and it's 2016 sequel, with characters not present in either game being voiced in Dragon Quest Rivals.

The tenth game would receive voice acting for certain key scenes in the Version 5.0 update of October 24th, 2019. The Nintendo Switch version of Dragon Quest XI would feature voice actors returning from Rivals.


Semantics

Character names for party members are typically changed from the originals under Square Enix, with the purpose ranging from avoiding common place names, to reflecting a thematic element of that particular title, and to emphasize an aspect of a character. This is seen in the changing of Barbara to Ashlynn, Flora to Nera (matching Bianca), and Hassan and Camus being changed to Carver and Erik, respectively.

Certain names are retained from the NES localization set, such as Ragnar McRyan simply gaining a surname that matches his Japanese name. This extends to titles and places as well, with Erdrick being reincorporated into the series with the ninth game and Middenhall being chosen over the GBC era's Lorasia.

Items, weapons, and armor pieces have remained fairly consistent through all three localization periods, with the precise wording varying between eras but keeping the same concept. One exception is the abandonment of water flying clothes for the more fluid and concise flowing dress. Names for equipment in the GBC titles would use an icon showing the type of weapon or armor it belonged to in order to cope with the screen space.

Monster names balance between puns and the original Japanese terms, with some being literal translations (the Gold golem, for example) while others simply abandon the Japanese name for a pun that works better in English. For example of the latter, the Moosifer monster's name in Japanese translates to "Uncle Horn", and does not make any sense in English.

Spell names have been focused on onomatopoeia to match the originals as closely as possible, an aspect that Horii was adamant about mandating. This has resulted in a series of names that perfectly conveys what element the incantation uses in the case of attack spells, and the effects of status altering spells. The latter are particularly more descriptive, with insulatle being more self-descriptive than the vague barrier. Skill names have similarly become more coherent, with occasional English substitutes for Japanese terms being used such as in the case of Kamai-tachi becoming Wind Sickles.

Sound Design

In the North American release of Dragon Quest VIII, Square Enix replaced the original soundtrack with an orchestral version, and removed certain sound effects such as the screen transition. Battle sound effects, movement effects, and the three octave degrees used for unvoiced men, women, and children were retained.

The orchestral soundtrack was well received by international audiences, but due to hardware limitations this could not be replicated with the release of the Zenithia trilogy and the ninth game on the Nintendo DS. It would be implemented in all international versions of the eleventh game, however, with the Japanese receiving the feature as a part of the Nintendo Switch version. It is currently unknown if the orchestral soundtrack will be featured in a future update of Dragon Quest X or will be the worldwide default in the next numbered title.

Religion

In Square Enix's localizations for Dragon Quest VIII and subsequent titles, all references to God are replaced with Goddess. In the Dragon Warrior games for the Game Boy Color, Enix replaced all references to God with "gods". The references to God in Dragon Warrior VII remained intact, presumably due to the divine being in the game being a character who can be spoken to directly, and also accounting to the Christian theming of the title. This was carried forward into the 2016 3DS remake, where the character was named The Almighty--a synonym for God that has no other interpretation.

In the Japanese version, the usage of God and Goddess are conveyed by the genderless Kami instead of the katakana spelling of the English God. Sex is only applied to the divinity that the player can directly interact with, such as Rubiss, Xenlon, and the Zenith Dragon. Due to the structure of the Japanese language, a single usage of the word kami can also refer to multiple subjects at once.

The Christian crosses used as the series' symbol of the divine in all games up to the ninth were altered into tridents for the Square Enix releases. With the ninth game, a new symbol was developed for the church in the series that resembles a triple cross with edges that smooth out into curves resembling a Fleur-de-lis. This saves on development time as the symbol does not need to be changed for international release. References to certain equipment originating from past titles such as the priest's mitre from Dragon Quest III were changed to or retain the trident design.

8-4 Ltd. and Shloc Ltd. localization outsourcing

The Dragon Quest series was localized in-house by Square Enix from 2005 to 2010, with 8-4 Ltd. being hired to translate Dragon Quest VI for its DS release in 2011. This would be the only entry in the series that the company would participate in the production of, but this instance would mark the first time that Square Enix hired a third party to bring Dragon Quest into another language and the fiscal logistics of the decision would make outsourcing the standard approach for the company until the eleventh game was released in 2017. Between 2015 and 2017, all titles in the series were localized by Shloc Ltd., a company co-founded by Oli Chance, one of the members of Richard Honeywood's original team assembled for Dragon Quest VIII. With his past experience with the series, Mr. Chance's participation would maintain the standards established in 2005 and reinvigorate the scripts for the Erdrick trilogy brought to smart phones while also easing the genre shift within the Heroes for RPG fans unaccustomed to muso-style games with familiar prose.

Square Enix would not hire Shloc Ltd. for the whole of the localization of Dragon Quest XI in 2017, but did hire the group to aid in project management with Olic Chance serving as the editor.

See also

Reference

  1. Famitsu issue #621
  2. Interview with Yusuke Hirata, manager of Square Co. publicity department, Electronic Gaming Monthly 63 page 172, October 1994.
  3. Famitsu issue #621