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Best JRPGs

baturinsky

Arcane
Joined
Apr 21, 2013
Messages
5,526
Location
Russia
I really don't understand why anyone would defend "Tina" in the english translation. Yeah, that's the original name. But that name was picked for an audience to which it would sound exotic- nobody in japan is named fucking "Tina". So in translation, you would expect her english version to have a name no english person would have, not something incredibly mundane.

They did the same thing with the holy sword in Chrono Trigger- in japanese it's named the "Grand Leon". Not the japanese word for grand, they used the english word as the name. Which I'm sure sounds cool as fuck to a nip, but it sounds dorky to us. So when they translated it, they renamed it to the "Masamune". Which to a japanese person would make little sense, as it's the name of a significant historical/mythical figure. It'd be like naming the sword "Lancelot" or "Edward" or something. But for anyone who isn't a total weeaboo, you're not going to know who the fuck Masamune was, so it just sounds like an exotic and fancy name for a sword, like Excalibur. Actually, they did this same shit in FF6 as well with the "Ultima" weapon being changed to "Atma" because the former is corny sounding in english.

Masamune was a legendary swordsmith. Referring weapons by their makers name is very common. See Kalashnikov.

Tina sucks, because Terra ("Earth") is a counterpart of Celes ("Heaven").
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,980
Yeah but shoving a japanese swordsmith into a european fantasy game as the maker of a very european sword doesn't make any sense for a japanese audience. Especially since the sword already had a specific maker: Melchior. It'd be like naming the sword Smith & Wesson or Ford or something (sadly there are no famous english sword smiths.)
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
Developer
Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Messages
5,703
Location
California
I really don't understand why anyone would defend "Tina" in the english translation. Yeah, that's the original name. But that name was picked for an audience to which it would sound exotic- nobody in japan is named fucking "Tina". So in translation, you would expect her english version to have a name no english person would have, not something incredibly mundane.

If conservatism of the original text doesn't appeal to you, consider consistency. In an pseudo-Anglophone universe with Edgars and Lockes, a Tina is not out of place like a Terra would be. If the exoticism is something to be conserved, all these Anglo names are equally exotic to the local audience, so why change one and not the others for the West?
Wandering in mid-conversation here, but shouldn't Terra's name stand out from the "Anglo names" (which, as noted, are not consistently Anglo)? I mean, she's a shape-changing monster from another world. . . .
 
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aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
i did not know the etymology behind celes! wow! that is very cool. now i dislike the "Tina Translations" even more than before. Now i dislike them in an intellectual level; they dared to sever the poetry of the two female leads' even more than before.

i was giving the o.g. translation team credit before for naming her Terra as an obviously artistic decision that was made to BETTER THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE SCRIPT; i now give them 1 million brofists as well.

what is celes japanese name? i assume it is not a celestial, as that would mean that the island dwarves weren't even creative enough to name them after that dichotomy. I also assume this means celes' name was also an artistic interpretation. A much better one i'm sure.

edit: now i'm thinking about ALL of the cast's english naming. I especially like the name they chose for Relm. the first obvious thought is "Realm", of course, and yes the word realm was derived from the old french weord reume, so it does mean that. the french derived their word from the middle english rewme who used it to denote royalty.

Relm is strago's lonely granddaughter who grows up isolated and is very much a prototypical child princess. she is also able to manipulate the power of dreams in a way, and can channel the energy from art. All of those things fit with the royal motif.

thanks google!
 

baturinsky

Arcane
Joined
Apr 21, 2013
Messages
5,526
Location
Russia
Yeah but shoving a japanese swordsmith into a european fantasy game as the maker of a very european sword doesn't make any sense for a japanese audience. Especially since the sword already had a specific maker: Melchior. It'd be like naming the sword Smith & Wesson or Ford or something (sadly there are no famous english sword smiths.)

Most Kalashnikovs are not made personally by Kalashnikov either. Masamune may refer to design, or even just an idea ("sword that does not kill needlessly").

Needless, but interesting and related links:
http://pooleysword.com/en/Evolution_of_Swords_-_Swordsmiths_in_England
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-famous-deadly-swords.php
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,980
Most Kalashnikovs are not made personally by Kalashnikov either. Masamune may refer to design, or even just an idea ("sword that does not kill needlessly").
Most Kalashnikovs are not referred to as The Kalashnikov either, and are not mythical, unique weapons. I mean, you're basically suggesting the idea that swords in the chrono trigger setting were invented by someone named Masamune, but then none of the other swords in the entire game are named that way except one particular one which definitely wasn't made by him and bears no resemblance to it's real world counterpart.

Cool list of swords though. Hadn't heard of most of those.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,980
Well, most of this just comes naturally. If one were to write a fantasy story, one would instinctively avoid giving characters mundane names. This kind of stuff is just plain intuitive. But it gets fucked up when people who aren't even reading let alone writing the story get involved in translating it and making decisions. Kind of like when they make awful movie versions of games. The guys just have no idea wtf they are doing.
 

baturinsky

Arcane
Joined
Apr 21, 2013
Messages
5,526
Location
Russia
8MqdDZ2.jpg
 

TreeMan94

Barely Literate
Joined
Jan 9, 2016
Messages
1
ff4,6-9
legend of mana
secret of mana
vagrant story
saga frontier 1-2
chrono cross
chrono trigger
xenogears/saga
.hack
 

miles teg

Scholar
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
130
You have pretty much suggested the best, so at the risk of being labelled as retarded (again) I'm going to suggest Dragon Quest 8 and Dark Chronicle (dark cloud 2 in NA) only because they kinda remember the games the OP said he likes
 

Tito Anic

Arcane
Shitposter
Joined
Dec 27, 2015
Messages
1,679
Location
Magalan
So many suggestions and no...
lwHm332.jpg

It has everything: space western flavor, interesting companions, humor

ION STORM :love:
 

sullynathan

Arcane
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Messages
6,473
Location
Not Europe
Is that even a JRPG? I played 5 minutes of Anachronox though

Why am I no longer getting notifications for a thread I created?
I'm guessing it is safe to slip final fantasy 1 and just go straight to 4, right?
 

Siveon

Bot
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
4,509
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
It's a western title, but the combat and structure is very reminiscent of a JRPG.
 
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aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
sure, ff4 is much more memorable than ff1/2/3 but ff1 (and dq1) both hold up incredibly well mechanically mostly due to them being solid and being simple. both are genius first games in an rpg franchise and both are also first entries in a series that are much better overall than most of the later entries (less so in the DQ series; there is not as much decline incrementalism prevalent in the DQ series).

anyway if you really and truly are looking for a bonafide masterwork jrpg to play _RIGHT_NOW_ then just go play either Earthbound for the SNES or Mother 3 (basically Earthbound 2, but no story connection) for the GBA.

once you've done that then feel free to play other inferior jrpg's.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,980
You probably need to talk to a specific NPC to trigger something. Speak to everyone in every town you can get to, twice. One of the ancient jrpg rituals.
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
OP, it's like this:


Why ask for a list of 'best' games without any qualification? Did you even look at the stickies on this forum? Like for instance:
Best S-RPGs of all time?
Old/obscure/underrated JRPGs
JRPGs with interesting systems



Also if i were you, i'd also look at other things than RPGs if this is the first time emulating or owning a console. I know this forum is 'about' rpgs, but having a DS and not playing, say, Ghost Trick once, is almost a crime.
 
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aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
what's Ghost Trick about? I could google it, but i'd rather get it from a fellow codexer.
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,805
what's Ghost Trick about? I could google it, but i'd rather get it from a fellow codexer.

Basics:
- You start game and you find yourself dead due to some circumstance
- Your soul can posses various objects and go back in time to start of scene.
- You try to find way to save someone by possessing various items and try to figure out why you are dead and who killed you.
- it plays like adventure/puzzle game

I played it half a year ago and it is really fun game with interesting twist.

Also this guy is the best dog ever.

Missile_Ghost_Trick.jpg
 

RuySan

Augur
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Messages
777
Location
Portugal
Now it's widely accepted that ff6 is a good RPG? What happened to the codex I knew? Mainstream jrpg s used to be the epitome of decline.

I like ff6 by the way, even if it's not among my favourites.
 

Hobo Elf

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
13,998
Location
Platypus Planet
Now it's widely accepted that ff6 is a good RPG? What happened to the codex I knew? Mainstream jrpg s used to be the epitome of decline.

I like ff6 by the way, even if it's not among my favourites.

I, too, miss the days when we'd only discuss quality RPGs, like Oblivion and Dragon Age.
 

RuySan

Augur
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Messages
777
Location
Portugal
By the late 90's, the west was releasing Fallout, while the east was releasing FF7, which was a glorified "press X to go forward" thing. FF6, wasn't that different from 7 really.

Now with Mass Effect and all those ubisoft map-ocalypse games it's easy to see jrpg's as the good guys.
 
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