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The Witcher - 20% of the original English script cut

Lethal Weapon

Novice
Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
39
I've been reading about this for a while now, Polish gamers giving examples of their own and gamers from other countries describing the dialogues as 'getting the job done' but nothing special and occasionally bad and non-sensical. I probably wouldn't start a thread about this were it not for the fact that one of the guys in the localization team decided to post about this at gamefaqs under the user name Martin Pagan. This is what he has to say

The translators are not to be blamed in this case. The initial version of the translated script was much closer to the original and much better. Then for some reason the translated script was horribly cut, or rather butchered, and ended up what it is.

It seems like CDP put much effort into providing us with a good translation. If the initial uncut translation still exists how hard would it be to mod it into the game? Is there enough interest out there to justify such an effort?

I do not know who is responsible for this. Someone wanted the English script to be shorter for some reason, maybe to save on voice recordings.

Let me guess, Atari?

Let me give you an example.
One of the nasty grannies in the Temple district (or whatever the name in English was - the first part of Vizima proper you get to) says something like this when you barge into her house (in Polish): "Where the hell do you think you're going with all the dung on your boots?! Out with you!" which was cut into "Who are you? Get out!" in the English version.So you can imagine how much was actually lost in translation.

Not that dialogues are important in RPGs or anything. We just need the summary, right?

...in some instances the cut lines made no sense at all so whoever was doing it either had no idea about Polish or English.

No problema! We've all played Oblivion, so we know how to use our imagination to fill in the gaps! Hah!
Here is the evaluation of one of the guys playing the Polish version

More generally, I think the dialogues in this game are brilliant, one of the best I've ever heard (if not the best - the more I plat, the more I think that the last one is correct) in computer games. They are mature and serious, but extremely funny at the same time! It's not so easy to make the game that is amusing without ruining the dark, obscure atmosphere, but this time the developers managed to do that.

It would be interesting if some of the Polish readers here posted their own translation of some of the dialogues for comparison purposes.
It seems that nearly every vulgarism has been translated to 'bastard' too.Click here to read the whole thread.

Update: Editing down the original English adaptation has been confirmed by Sande Chen, another member of the localization team.

Update 2: Lead designer Michal Madej has confirmed shortening of the original script by 20% to meet agreements with Atari. He posts at Gamebanshee under the username Severian.

Update 3: Martin Pagan's post and Sande Chen's post I was referring to have since been deleted. I know it is normal for gamefaqs to delete old threads such as the one that Martin Pagan posted in but I have no way of knowing what happened to Sande Chen's post.
 

roshan

Arcane
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
2,426
That sounds really fucked up. Hopefully the original translation by CD Project will be released. I would rather have better writing than voice overs.
 

Lethal Weapon

Novice
Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
39
I'd rather have better writing and no voice overs at all. So far this has been the single reason I haven't started playing the game.
 

Nedrah

Erudite
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Mar 14, 2005
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So, does anyone know wether that applys to the german translation of the game, too?
Hopefully this is indeed modable, I hate knowing I'm not getting the full experience - same thing with Space Rangers 2, actually.
 

RK47

collides like two planets pulled by gravity
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Dead State Divinity: Original Sin
there's just some ridiculous dialogue translation that involves Geralt just muttering 'I believe you.' 'I don't believe you' to some npc statements.
 

Zomg

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 21, 2005
Messages
6,984
Are there subtitles? I'd imagine you could do a mod that uses the Polish VA with English subs from the original scripting.
 

spacemoose

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california
well, I can sorta decipher polish what with replacing the z's with soft signs and then reading phonetically. I'll try to get a polish version probably
 

The_Pope

Scholar
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Nov 15, 2005
Messages
844
I'd like Polish voice overs and well translated English subtitles. Anyone know if thats possible?
 

hpmons

Novice
Joined
Jun 17, 2007
Messages
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With enough people dissatisfied at how it is currently, Im sure someone will come out with subtitles eventually, whether official or unofficial.
 

caliban

Scholar
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Jan 16, 2007
Messages
476
Location
Krakow
The_Pope said:
I'd like Polish voice overs and well translated English subtitles. Anyone know if thats possible?
Probably. We'll have to wait for the toolset to be released to be sure, though. Then it shouldn't be all that hard to make an "unofficial" translation (or maybe use the full English script, if we can somehow get our hands on it), and substitute subtitles in the Polish version.

But as for now, I'll be enjoying my Polish version and laughing at Atari's stupidity. Hah!
 

VonVentrue

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Divinity: Original Sin Wasteland 2
That's simply unbelievable; yet another proof that publishers treat their customers like idiots.
An 'improved English subtitles' mod is a must in this regard.
 

denizsi

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We should contact that guy at Gamefaqs. Maybe they can be persuaded to release the official subtitles unofficially! Contacting Atari would be useless for sure, looking at their past practices. I too would prefer the Polish version with English subtitles (and English menus, perhaps).
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I don't care if the voiceacting will be fucked up when I mod the full dialogues in, but I want the full dialogues. I was already saving some money to buy TW, having heard so many good things about it, especially about athmosphere and dialogues, and now the English version has been crippled? WTF, Atari?

Is there any chance CD Project could release the original translation files as a downloadable mod?
 

denizsi

Arcane
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If Atari is indeed the publisher only and doesn't have a say on how things are to be handled, then that shouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, if that is the case, CD Project should sue the shit out of Atari for tempering with translation. If Atari does have a say on certain things, I'd wager no luck then.

edit: How can you find & reach a user at GameFaq forums? I just registered but I can't seem to find anything related.
 

Antagonist

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Jan 6, 2004
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Ah well, I was planning to order the english version of The Witcher next week. Instead I'll vote with my money and refrain from buying the game as until either a text update is released or this allegations are proven as baseless. I'm also curious if the german version has been dealt with in an equal manner although I'd be less than thrilled to buy a teutonic translation after some unsatisfying experiences with the quality of said translations in the past.
 

dagorkan

Arbiter
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Jul 13, 2006
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I thought the Poles were saying their project was completely independent of Atari and Atari was "just doing the distribution"? That's what people have been saying here for months. That CDP had all the money they needed and weren't going to cut corners

If it's true though, apart from the dishonesty and if it gets fixed it makes me more likely to get the game at some point. The bad dialog including the annoying over use of "you bastard!" is one of the things that put me off.
 

bylam

Funcom
Developer
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Oct 30, 2006
Messages
707
dagorkan said:
I thought the Poles were saying their project was completely independent of Atari and Atari was "just doing the distribution"? That's what people have been saying here for months. That CDP had all the money they needed and weren't going to cut corners

If it's true though, apart from the dishonesty and if it gets fixed it makes me more likely to get the game at some point. The bad dialog including the annoying over use of "you bastard!" is one of the things that put me off.

Localization is generally handled by the publisher, as they decide the regions where they wish to distribute.
I imagine that the Polish version of the game is CD Projekt's original vision, with them working closely with the Polish Voice Actors.
And Atari would have handled the other languages and VO actors.

As for the game itself...I don't know. The dialogue is fine with the occasional retarded line. Certainly not bad enough that people should miss the game. Hell, I just had a great conversation with a dwarf about "good vs evil" and the fact that "moral absolutes" are the root of society's problems. Such a great game.
 

Lyric Suite

Converting to Islam
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Mar 23, 2006
Messages
56,050
Re: The Witcher - English dialogues castrated

More generally, I think the dialogues in this game are brilliant, one of the best I've ever heard (if not the best - the more I plat, the more I think that the last one is correct)

Lol @ polish national pride.
 

Pegultagol

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Well, I guess it's time to learn some Polish.

Probably Aurora was not changed aside from graphics side of things. If the OC in NWN could be changed in the dialogs, then it could be possible to mod this Aurora powered game as well.
 

Micmu

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Argh I hate this. And the english version is just waitng for me at the post office. (Ok, I'd probably ordered it anyway...).

This translation business practice just pisses me off. I'm still waiting for non-babelfish translation of Pathologic - otherwise an awesome adventure game, but playing the demo and reading dialog gave me brain hemorrhage.
 
Joined
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edit: How can you find & reach a user at GameFaq forums?

You don't per se. At least there are no search features for finding members. You need to find a thread they're in, post in it, and hope they respond.
 

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