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Shining Force II Localization Issues
This page is to discuss some adaptations, choices and mistakes done by the official english localization of Shining Force II, and explain some choices I make on my translations as well. Check out the List of Retranslated Scenes for comparisons of some scenes between versions.
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General comments
Shining Force II's localization is not that bad, at least compared to other JRPGs out there. The main plot, the characters' personalities and the atmosphere come across just fine. The english version does shorten or cut some details though, but I can understand that. Retro games lacked in both cartridge space and text box space, and japanese always has an advantage on that, as it can fit more content in less characters, especially given that this game's font admits quite a few kanji. Since this is a thing that happens through most of the text, I don't have the energy to document all instances of it, but I'll try to point out anything interesting that was left out.
Another thing that happens often is toning the punctuation down, having less exclamation points in a lot of dialogue. It's not like the localization shies away from the game's humor and energy otherwise, and plenty of characters still come off as energetic or excitable, so I have no clue why they did this.
The game does have typical censorship of mentions of religious or sexual content, as well as alcohol, which I'll elaborate more on the next sections. Interestingly though, it does not censor Volcanon and Mitula's status as gods, so it doesn't impact the plot much.
A far worse aspect of the localization is the mess it makes of the character's names, changing a bunch of them for no good reason and repeating them between this game and Gaiden II. That deserves its own section as well.
Finally, another interesting thing of this localization is that it has changes to gameplay as well, some of them being fixes for the original version, such as Jaro no longer being stuck as a NPC, and others being cut content, like the search function in battle.
Sexual Harassment censorship
Let's get the worse out of the way first. This series was unfortunately very fond of pervert character gags, and this game was no exception. Several HQ quotes mention Jaha harassing the girls. The english version did away with all that, replacing most of the quotes with new ones making fun of Jaha's height. Which is also not great! And makes the characters sound like jerks towards him instead! So yeah, this one is a very lose-lose situation.
I will bring my HQ quote translations here soon, but for now you can check them out on Tumblr.
A bit more known to western fans is that Sir Astral has the same issue. One of the books in his study is "Candid Pictures of Giggling Girls" (ムフフ娘にドッキリ). Unlike most books, Bowie does react to this one, being a bit interested in looking. This was replaced in the localization by a "SEGA GUIDE", which also gets an extra reaction ("...sounds good."). |
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While researching for this very page I found out that the original book title was used for an adult doujin of the series. Do with that information what you will.
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Another book in Astral's room is "Losing Shame is the First Step for Perverts" (ハレンチはエッチのはじまり), which also prompts an extra comment on how Astral might be indeed a pervert (or sages in general, the text does not refer to him by name so it's ambiguous). This was replaced in the english version with a book named "AN OLD GOAT", which still gets associated with Sir Astral, but in a way funnier than everything I typed in this page so far. |
While books aren't a big deal, the real bad part is that he has harassed Sheela, back when she was a student of his, no less. I've translated the whole scene here as it does contain some other interesting tidbits, such as Astral claiming to everyone else the scar he has from her was from fighting a dragon. The man's a complete scam.
An interesting thing about this scene is that some evidence of the censorship remains in the final english version. There, Peter asks Astral if he's not going to introduce them to Sheela, Astral answers "of course", and then the screen shakes for apparently no reason. The shaking is from the original dialogue, as there Astral is screaming and scolding Peter for calling him out on being a perv.
TCRF has documentation of an early translation prototype where some elements of the original scene still remain, but even there the actual mention of harassment had already been censored.
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