[Interview] XSEED talks localizing Rune Factory 5 for the west

Rune Factory 5 has technically been around for a year, but only in Japan. But just this week, the game made its debut in North America and Europe thanks to the localization efforts of XSEED.

John Wheeler, Lori Snyder, and Katherine Sargent are some of the key people behind Rune Factory 5’s English version as they contributed to the project as the localization manager, assistant localization manager, and localization editor respectively. Recently, we were able to catch up with them to talk more about their work. You can read our full discussion below for insight into the localization of Rune Factory 5.

Can you tell us a little more about your background and what you do at XSEED Games?

LS: I’m Assistant Localization Manager, and I’ve been working at XSEED for about 3 years! I’m a longtime fan of both Rune Factory and STORY OF SEASONS. I remember picking up the first Rune Factory back in 2007, and I loved every second of it, so working on something like Rune Factory 5 now is (and always will be!) very humbling to me. While I do a little bit of everything these days, I mainly translate and localize text for our titles.

For Rune Factory 5, I initially helped localize character names and made sure the game’s localization matched the tone of the series’ previous entries. Later, I translated the voice script, oversaw voice recording sessions, and confirmed whether voiced lines were implemented properly.

JW: I’m XSEED’s Localization Manager and I’ve been working here for over 6 years. I’ve also played the Rune Factory and STORY OF SEASONS games since their early installments. For Rune Factory 5, I worked on overall project management while also helping to translate the main story.

KS: I’m a Localization Editor who joined XSEED about a year and a half ago. I’ve played STORY OF SEASONS since the SNES days and have long admired the Rune Factory series. In addition to translating, localizing, and editing text, I worked with the other editors to define the characters’ voices and establish the game’s overall tone.

How much of an undertaking was the localization for Rune Factory 5? Was it relatively large compared to what your team has completed before?

JW: In terms of the amount of text, Rune Factory 5 is similar in scope to Rune Factory 4 or one of the games in the Trails of Cold Steel series, so while the game has more text than the novel War and Peace, it isn’t exceptionally large by JRPG standards. One challenge that was unique to this project compared to Rune Factory 4 is that Rune Factory 5 was still in development for Japanese release while we were working on it, which meant the text we were localizing was being updated on a monthly basis as the game went through QA for Japanese release. This added a lot of extra work on our side making sure our text reflected those changes and that updates were being conveyed to the French and German localization teams who were working from our English text.

What is your team makeup and how many people did you have working on this localization?

JW: Our typical process for localization before QA is translation -> editing -> proofing, and ideally on a project like Rune Factory 5 with multiple translators and editors, we have a single proofer who is reviewing the work as a whole. Over the course of this project, we had more than 10 people in various roles worked on the text, with a tremendous amount of work done by our team to ensure consistency in voice and tone across the entire title.

Rune Factory 5 seems to be a more expansive title than Rune Factory 4, however, the English localization was completed in a shorter amount of time. How did your team accomplish this quick turnaround?

JW: As I mentioned above, it isn’t that it took less time, but rather that we started on it earlier in the overall process, while the game was still being developed for its Japanese release. Localizing text that is not final brings with it a lot of challenges and introduces significant potential for error, but is becoming more and more common as players have come to expect simultaneous global releases. Regardless of how quickly we can complete a translation, for global releases our schedule is also dependent on developer availability to implement the text into a build and fix bugs during localization QA. So even though we started earlier, we were always planning to launch 10 months after the Japanese version.

Are there any differences we should expect from the Japanese version in this localized version?

LS: Our translators and editors worked tirelessly to provide a Rune Factory experience that felt both familiar and new. We stayed close to the Japanese version’s tone while also highlighting the quirky characters and fun dialogue that fans loved so much in previous titles. I can think of two instances where the experience might be a little more immersive in the localization of RF5, however:

In the Japanese version, festival dialogue is quite simple and repetitive. Rigbarth’s residents all say something like “The festival’s tomorrow! I’m looking forward to it.” or “Nice job during the festival today!” on the days before and after, but it wasn’t all that personalized towards each festival/character. Our team decided to write unique reactions for every single character for every single festival…which was by no means a small task. So when you talk to everyone before or after a festival in the English version, they all talk about their own plans, or congratulate you all in their own unique way. Definitely something to check out as you progress through the game!

Another big one that the team worked incredibly hard on was for the character Fuuka, a were-animal who speaks an entirely different language. In the Japanese version, she’d speak only by saying “Gau gau gau!” on the first line of every text box, and then those “gaus” would be translated into something the player could understand in the next line. We felt that those noises, even if translated to barks or roars, weren’t going to cut it for English, as they were too repetitive and made Fuuka feel more distant from the rest of the cast. One of our translators suggested we give her a language, and we really liked that approach. Everyone involved contributed different ideas, which became an entire grammar and vocabulary system for the language, and it now functions like a real world language. Fans can actually pick up words over time and even guess what Fuuka might be saying before the translation pops up. There was an incredible amount of care put into perfecting this language, so I really hope fans take the time to get to know Fuuka!

JW: This is not a difference from the Japanese version, but rather something we didn’t include in Rune Factory 4 Special that we were able to localize this time this time: Rune Factory 5 features the Japanese voice actor commentary subtitled in all supported languages. I’m so happy we were able to localize these for our release, as I think players will enjoy hearing the actors behind the characters reflect on their performances.

Rune Factory 5 has voice acting for character conversations, a big difference from previous titles. What role did your team play in the voice acting and how did it affect your work process?

A: Rune Factory 5’s main scenario is more heavily voiced than many other titles in the series, so you’ll often find a few fully-voiced lines in an important scene in addition to the usual partially-voiced events. We knew about this before localizing the game, so our schedule accounted for a month and a half of voice recording.

Once our script was translated, edited, and proofed, we started working with Cup of Tea Productions for the game’s recording. Our team submitted suggestions for the cast, and the studio helped us fill in the blanks as necessary. We worked with them very closely during the course of recording; at least two XSEED staff were present at all times to help give actors a summary of their roles and to ensure the character’s voice matched our vision for them.

Also, I should note that while Rune Factory 5 has dual audio, the English and Japanese voice tracks differ in places. This was so we could provide a more personalized experience for each voiced language. While we were testing the game during Localization Quality Assurance, we noticed that certain partially-voiced clips didn’t entirely match the tone of some English conversations, and we wanted to fix it somehow. I was actually able to work together with the developers and tweak those clips for the English voice track so that each voice clip would feel more natural to each conversation, and I’m really proud of the results.

Do you have any conversations or text descriptions you can remember as being your favorite to translate?

KS: One character named Heinz throws out puns at every available opportunity in the Japanese text, so thinking up jokes for him that work in English required the efforts of many talented individuals. To give an example, if you win a Harvest Festival, he may congratulate you with “Can’t say that I’m surprised you won. You’ve always been a farmer outstanding in his/her field!”

Someone else we loved localizing is Palmo, a larger-than-life character who’s also a member of the series’ famous De Sainte-Coquille family. His lines overflow with superlatives, alliteration, and over-the-top enthusiasm. I think players will enjoy his dialogue just as much as we did.

Given this is a game about forging relationships, it opens up the possibility for cultural differences. How does your team approach cultural differences when translating for a global audience?

KS: In games such as these, players will often encounter items, attacks, and so on containing Japanese words. Deciding when and how to localize these (onigiri vs. rice ball, for instance) is a never-ending challenge, since some players may instantly recognize them while others may not. One example of an item we updated for Rune Factory 5 is the “Piyo Sandals,” which are now the “Cheep-Cheep Sandals” to describe the chirping sound they make while equipped (even during very dramatic cutscenes).

Rune Factory 5 obviously has a lot of character dialogue and over 30 characters that all speak in very different ways. How do you preserve each character’s stylish way of speaking when translating from the source text?

KS: We analyzed the source text, summarized each character’s general speaking style (casual vs. polite, funny vs. serious, and so on), and then decided what speech patterns made them unique. After writing in one character’s voice for a while, it becomes easier to choose words and phrases that suit them, but we also made a spreadsheet to keep track of all the details.

Once you’ve grown familiar with the cast, you can probably recognize any character based on their speech patterns alone. For example, the bachelor candidates Reinhard and Lucas both speak politely, but the former is a duty-bound knight whereas the latter is an inquisitive gentleman, so we conveyed these different personalities through their word choice.

Rune Factory 5 is now available on Switch worldwide. You can read our interview with director Shiro Maekawa here.