Dragon Quest producer on the challenges of localizing Dragon Quest VII for 3DS
Dragon Quest producer Noriyoshi Fujimoto recently spoke in an interview about wanting to localize all Dragon Quest games in the series, specifically mentioning the Dragon Quest VII 3DS port. Here’s what he had to say in a recent TechnoBuffalo interview:
For a game like Dragon Quest VII for 3DS, Koshimizu (Director of Localization) and Inoue (Head Translator) noted that “the sheer volume is what presents the greatest challenge” to localization. That involves a great level of consistency between the team of translators and coordinators, who need to know the game intimately before attempting a localization.
Fujimoto added that for Dragon Quest VII, the translation process itself would take at least a year to complete. But easing the workload isn’t a simple matter of distributing it among as many translators as possible.
“Each translator has his or her own style, and the more we add, the harder it becomes to maintain consistency on the whole,” he said. “We rely on a small group of highly talented writers to produce a superior translation, which is then handed to the editor, who sees to it the feeling and fun of the story never falters, from start to finish.”
What do you think, would you like to see them start the localization process even if it won’t be finished until much further down the line? You can check out what else he had to say here
