Xenoblade Chronicles 2 released for the Nintendo Switch recently to glowing reviews across
the board.
The title is the latest game in Nintendo's Xenoblade series and follows 2015's Xenoblade
Chronicles X.
Its predecessor made numerous different changes when it was localised for Western countries.
Due to this, questions began to arise over whether the localisation of Xenoblade 2 would
have similar changes.
And so, this video will be taking a look at Xenoblade 2's localisation and some of the
ways it was changed outside of Japan.
The first thing to bring up is the many name and terminology changes that were made to
the Western release.
Listed here are the names of the characters displayed on Nintendo's official website and
the Japanese version is displayed to the left and the English on the right.
As you can see, numerous of the characters were renamed outside of Japan.
Pyra, for instance, was originally called "Homura" over in Japan.
Both names are similar in meaning, with Homura being a Japanese word for flame and Pyra being
a Greek word for flame.
It's possible that the localisers felt that the latter would be more natural sounding
for Western audiences, but there are no official statements on why changes like these were
made.
Whilst Pyra's name change kept the original Japanese meaning, many of the other changes
either don't or make the meaning more obscure.
For example, Dromarch wasn't called Dromarch in Japan but Byakko.
Byakko is the name of one of the four mythological creatures in the Chinese constellation and
represents the White Tiger of the West.
For the English version though, it's not really clear where the name originates from.
Additionally, as stated, many of names were changed and not just main characters like
those listed here but minor characters, names of places and organisations, terminology and
more.
There are so many changes like these that Censored Gaming should really make a separate
video sometime taking a look at them all.
Out of the 17 characters listed here however, 12 of them were altered outside of Japan and
all of these have interesting points to say about them.
To move away from that though and on to Xenoblade 2's visual presentation -
You may recall how the previous game made many changes outside of Japan to things like
costumes, with this leading to the Western designs being less revealing in nature.
These changes also affected male outfits and was also accompanied by the complete removal
of the chest size slider in the character creation.
Xenoblade 2, however, has been handled very differently.
There have been no changes like this discovered in the Western version and all graphics have
been kept the same as in Japan.
Many of the characters will still also be quite provocative at times in terms of their
appearance, such as the ice-themed blade Dahlia.
Whilst the graphics were kept consistent between the versions though, the same can't be said
for the game's dialogue.
It wasn't just the names and terminology altered in the Western release but also some of the
conversations that characters will have.
This leads to things like personality changes for certain characters and differences in
characters' stories.
Some of these changes also toned down potentially objectionable content.
To begin with Tora's grandpa Soosoo, who's not visually depicted in the game but will
be brought up in the dialogue in many different scenes.
In one of these scenes, you can ask Tora what sort of person his grandpa was and this leads
him to describe his grandpa as a bit of a shut in, who was focused very heavily on his
work.
In the English version, he is described as spending large amounts of time looking at
"photo books of Blades" and that he was really passionate about their appearance and mannerisms.
It is then said, that due to this passion, Poppi became the blade she is today.
The original intent behind this scene is somewhat hinted at in the English version, but over
in Japan, it is very direct and explicit.
The "photo books of Blades" were also vastly different.
In the Japanese version, instead of locked away studying photo books of Blades, it is
erotic books of women.
It is then these erotic books that led to Poppi's different designs.
Poppi also mentions that his activities "seems like a crime".
So, there you have it, that's the Japanese back story of Tora's grandpa Soosoo and what
would ultimately lead to the creation of Poppi.
But to move away from that and onto Poppi herself -
The first thing to bring up about Poppi is a change that was made to her name outside
of Japan.
In the Japanese version, her name is instead "Hana", which is Japanese for flower.
The English name Poppi is also, of course, flower-related and so with this the localisers
kept the original meaning in-tact.
There was another change made to Poppi's name though and this applies to all 3 of her different
forms.
In the English version, she will either be called Poppi α, Poppi QT or Poppi QTπ.
In the Japanese version though, she will be called either Hana JS, Hana JK or Hana JD.
The significance with the Japanese version is that all of these acronyms are used to
describe different Japanese education years.
The idea is that as Poppi's model develops, the education year acronym goes up too and
this was something that wasn't carried over to the Western release.
An example of a scene involving Poppi being changed is the bunny armour scene.
You can't actually see the armour in either version, but the scene involves the characters
discussing some new armour that's been designed for Poppi and, in the English version, this
is a fluffy bunny costume.
Poppi says that its additional function is to cheer up Tora with "extreme cuteness" but
the other characters are dubious about this and believe that's the armour "only" purpose.
There's also a "tail-wiggle dance" special feature, to boost the cheer up effect even
further.
This leads the gang to scold Tora for dressing Poppi so ridiculously.
Tora then goes on to blame his grandpa and father for the designs, which Poppi confirms
and says the bunny armour had been passed down through generations, with each of them
improving on the design.
But, she then goes on to add that it was Tora who finally completed the design, by adding
the tail-wiggle dance protocol.
And so, the harsh criticism directed towards Tora continues from the other characters.
The Japanese version, however, goes pretty differently.
Instead of cute bunny armour, the armour was originally "bikini armour".
The bikini armour's special feature was changed to match, with this now being an "armour purge"
feature, where, when it takes an attack, the section of the bikini that gets hit falls
apart.
Like the English version, it is revealed that Tora isn't responsible for the overall design
but his father and grandpa.
However, also like the English version, it is then revealed that Tora was the one to
finish it by adding the armour purge feature, which leads the other characters to get mad
at him.
Another of Poppi's scenes that was changed was the scene with Poppi QTπ, where she is
asked about additional functions.
In the English version, she activates what is called "Dog Mode" and starts barking like
a dog...
This embarrasses Tora who tells her to immediately shut it off.
He explains that this mode was for walks in the park but was sealed so that people wouldn't
think he was weird.
Zeke then agrees, saying it's more than a little weird, and then asks Tora why he doesn't
just get a real dog.
Over in Japan, however, the mode is a little different.
This is what happens when the function is activated in Japan.
As you heard, the dog-like barking is much more minimal.
She does still make dog barking noises though, with the Japanese onomatopoeia for dog barking
being the word "wan", but unlike the English version, she has much more dialogue than this.
The Japanese script has her saying that she will be all cute and sweet for everybody and
basically she turns into a sort of cute and innocent servant.
The Japanese version also makes no mention of walking dogs in the park, with Tora just
saying that people will be very "suspicious" of that personality and so she must seal it
off.
Zeke doesn't mention Tora getting a dog either, but instead scorns him and asks if this is
his hobby.
Another character that has some notable script changes outside of Japan is Sheba.
Sheba is a rich girl who only cares about beauty, wealth and banquets.
She travels around in a floating bathtub, in search of an entourage full of "charming
ladies", so that they can have graceful tea parties.
The "charming ladies" part is something that will be reflected very much in her character.
She will pay most of her attention to the female party members and will often give them
compliments.
She also has skills such as "Entitled Entourage", which increases damage by 20% for each female
in battle and "Eye for Beauty", which looks for girls to add to her entourage.
Over in Japan though, this is all very different.
She isn't looking for an entourage in the Japanese version.
Instead she is looking for "cute girls" to form a harem.
A harem is a type of relationship where one person will receive love and affection from
many different people.
And, in Sheba's case, she is looking for as many cute girls as possible.
This implies that Sheba has strong lesbian feelings in the Japanese version.
To go along with this, her Japanese dialogue will be much more flirtatious in nature when
talking to the other girls.
These are just a few example of ways that suggestive or potentially objectionable dialogue
was toned down outside of Japan.
Another example, for instance, occurs when Pyra says that she will be able to help in
raising money, to which, gramps replies "nothing illegal, I hope!".
In the Japanese version though, he says "You don't mean... your body?"
- referring to prostitution or some other taboo form of her raising money with her body.
Overall though, Xenoblade 2 is a very big game and toning down moments like these is
pretty rare.
To just bring a few more of the name and terminology changes mentioned earlier though -
Elysium, the fabled location that supposedly rests at the top of the world tree, is instead
called "Rakuen" in the Japanese version.
Rakuen is a generic term for paradise and can be used for all manner of religions.
Elysium, on the other hand, is a form of the afterlife from specifically Ancient Greek
beliefs.
Within Xenoblade 2, Elysium was a true utopia and the people there lived in bliss with their
creator, The Architect.
However, one day they were suddenly cast out and made to live in the world below.
The Architect in the Japanese version instead goes by the name "Sōsei no kami", which means
God of Creation.
The Aegis, Xenoblade 2's legendary weapon that carries Pyra and Mithra as its incarnations,
was also renamed in the West.
In Japan it is called "Ten no seihai", meaning Heavenly Holy Grail.
Its English name, however, is based on a shield from Ancient Greek mythology.
There are other changes like this and from them, it appears that perhaps the localisers
wanted to tone down certain religious elements for Western audiences.
As mentioned at the start of the video though, the script changes to the game are vast and
extend well past toning down provocative elements.
For example, some of the changes are pretty random in nature, such as this scene.
Here Rex asks Pyra what date it is and she says that it's "Amathatober 5th, 4058"...
In the Japanese version though, there isn't a month called "Amathatober" at all.
Originally, she just said that it's "September 5th, 4058", meaning this is something the
localisers decided to add in themselves.
Visual-wise however, as previously stated, there have been no changes found between the
Japanese and English versions.
It's only when you take a look at the game's writing can differences be found.
What are your thoughts about how Xenoblade 2's localisation was handed?
Please leave your thoughts in the comments below and, if localisation changes like these
are an area of gaming that you are interested in, please make sure to subscribe and set
notifications to on.
Until next time, thank you for watching.
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