Concerned about the translation

[pkt-zer0]

So, while the game is looking great in all other aspects, the English localization seems to be pretty lacking currently. Which is doubly unfortunate considering that the original Russian version supposedly had pretty good writing. The bad translation was a common criticism leveled against Space Rangers 2 as well, so one would think there'd be some improvements on that front. Though with Atari publishing the game that might be a bit tricky - to cut corners on localization costs, they cut half of the dialogue from the English version of The Witcher (no wonder people were complaining about disjointed dialogues). Not sure whether they have anything to do with the localization, but it's a bad omen, anyway.

Without a good translation, the game could go from "excellent, a must play" to "a good game, if you can get past the broken English". What I'd like to know is whether the team has realized this as a potential issue or not, and if steps are being taken to improve the quality of the English text. Or, if all else fails, is the game relatively easily modifiable, so that fan-made patches could be created to improve the dialogue?

[Nike-it]

Originally Posted by pkt-zer0

So, while the game is looking great in all other aspects, the English localization seems to be pretty lacking currently. Which is doubly unfortunate considering that the original Russian version supposedly had pretty good writing. The bad translation was a common criticism leveled against Space Rangers 2 as well, so one would think there'd be some improvements on that front. Though with Atari publishing the game that might be a bit tricky - to cut corners on localization costs, they cut half of the dialogue from the English version of The Witcher (no wonder people were complaining about disjointed dialogues). Not sure whether they have anything to do with the localization, but it's a bad omen, anyway.

Without a good translation, the game could go from "excellent, a must play" to "a good game, if you can get past the broken English". What I'd like to know is whether the team has realized this as a potential issue or not, and if steps are being taken to improve the quality of the English text. Or, if all else fails, is the game relatively easily modifiable, so that fan-made patches could be created to improve the dialogue?

The team is working hard to present appropriate localization, so the game won't lose its authentic style and humor, and you will be able to fully enjoy the fantasy world of KB.

[hawker]

GameSpy preview says they've improved the translation in more recent versions, so here's hoping.

[Imperial Dane]

and unless the entire gamespy staff is suddenly composed of people who don't know English, they should have a point, also looking at the text in screenshots, most of the text is quite good actually with only a few oddities. And those were a few months ago..

Otherwise, wait for the demo and see it for yourself i suppose.

[pkt-zer0]

Originally Posted by Nike-it

The team is working hard to present appropriate localization, so the game won't lose its authentic style and humor, and you will be able to fully enjoy the fantasy world of KB.

That's reassuring. Hopefully the team will deliver in this respect.

Originally Posted by hawker

GameSpy preview says they've improved the translation in more recent versions, so here's hoping.

I've no doubt they've improved it - early screenshots showed awfully broken language, while some newer ones were less awful. Still had things like "elfs" and "wolfs" and whatnot. So it's not really an issue of whether it's an improvement on the old translation or not, but rather how much of an improvement it is. We'll see when the demo comes out, anyway.

A completely unrelated question (since I don't feel like making another topic for such a small thing): will the extra stuff like the deck of King's Bounty styled cards be available in the English version as well (presumably as part of a Collector's Edition)?