#... how do i tag this so that it doesn't show up in the ff14 tags...

[schluesselschwert]

Small info for my mutuals who play Final Fantasy XIV: I now know enough about the game to understand (some) spoilers when I see them, so I'm now blocking the tags (with a very heavy heart bc I love this game and I love seeing fanworks for it)

If anyone thinks something isn't a spoiler and I should see it / might like it you can tag it as 'dia look' and I'll do exactly that! ... You can also do that for stuff that isn't FF14 actually if you want to :')

Love you all, thanks for filling my days with all the wonderful stuff you share! <3

[tainbocuailnge]

Hey, sorry to send an ask without us knowing each other 😅

But I just saw you in the tags in the post about jrpg translations, saying that FF14 has better translations in other languages.

Can you talk more about that?😊

I played in English before and it was okay. I tried German too, but was a bit disappointed. So hearing you say that, I'm genuinely curious to hear more!

I've been replaying msq in german and wrapped up tsukuyomi just yesterday and it's insane the extent to which german is more thematically consistent and has stronger and more nuanced characterisation than english. i think the german script is more poetic too, despite english trying so much harder to sound flowery and important. I've been translating bits and pieces to my friends and I keep feeling like I'm presenting them with that botched jesus painting restoration because I just don't know how to convey how beautifully constructed some of these sentences are. the german translation team are genuinely very good writers.

as an example of what kind of differences we're dealing with here, and since it's what I finished most recently, in german from the start there's a lot more emphasis on how it was systematic mistreatment from the "good old" doma that lead yotsuyu to where she is, and that her cruelty is specifically retribution for the way doma has failed her (as opposed to english trying to frame it as in large part to satisfy her personal sadistic impulses). gosetsu is repeatedly shown to be sympathetic towards her for this even while she's actively trying to hurt and kill him (as opposed to english having him be sarcastically dismissive of her), which makes it make way more sense that he'd take tsuyu in his care later even without the "also she reminds him of his dead daughter" bit (that they do still tack on at the end but doesn't feel like a handwave excuse as much because of aforementioned consistent sympathy).

in english hien has several lines showing he's hostile to and wary of tsuyu and waiting for the right opportunity to kill her, but in german hien brings up killing tsuyu one (1) time and when gosetsu argues for her right to live hien agrees, and the difficulty in keeping her around is not his personal dislike but that it's hard to guarantee her safety when the doman people will want violent retribution in turn (in clear parallel to lyse trying to keep fordola from getting lynched without a fair trial). because german hien is not constantly talking about how he wishes he could just kill yotsuyu for her crimes, it doesn't read as pathetically incompetent of him to let her sneak out of the mansion multiple times because he was treating her as harmless citizen of doma instead of an enemy of the state (because german in general emphasises a lot that she SHOULD have had a place in doma), and her backstory is taken seriously as part of his motivation to create a better doma that she perhaps could've had a peaceful life in

there are many cases like this where german displays a nuance that english doesn't, and from very early on. in english arr cid ran away from the empire out of moral disagreements, in german it's clear that he also holds a complicated resentment over losing his father to project meteor and then his replacement father figure gaius to a similar mad search for power, something that in english doesn't come up until all the way in shadowbringers with bozja. in english castrum meridianum livia says she's going to kill you because gaius is hers, in german she's mad at you because you killed her friend mr cape westwind and is going to kill you before you can take gaius from her too.

in german heavensward thordan sounds much more convinced of his principles. when you defeat him in english he's horrified of how you could possibly overcome the amount of faith he's powered by, in german he's horrified that the future of ishgard will be thrown into chaos in the name of your pursuit of truth. gaius sounds more convinced of the ideals he spouts too, and it feels more plausible that he has people willing to die for him and his ideals. in german the similarities between nidhogg and estinien are clearer, and when nidhogg possesses him he insidiously frames it as an act of kindness.

in german, many random moments of misogyny in the english script outright don't exist. matoya doesn't make fun of alphinaud for looking like a girl. alphinaud isn't dismissive of alisaie in binding coils. most of the lines in english that insult or dismiss yotsuyu as an evil whore don't exist in german, and lines that weren't about her at all in english turn out to express sympathy towards her in german. in english hydaelyn had minfilia fuse with her by force, in german it was minfilia's idea. in english i was bothered by lyse being made head of the resistance because she sounds so unsure of what to do and think right until the end, in german she's full of conviction and clarity of purpose. I'm sincerely convinced the english team hates women.

because german doesn't go out of its way to sound like some kind of ancient wizard prophecy at every turn, several scenes which in english were confusing convey their information clearly in german (I'm particularly thinking about the minfilia anitower scene here). characters talk clearly and with a lot of personality that english fails to achieve because everyone has to speak faux old english. and because most characters talk like real people instead of ancient wizards in german it's extra cute that urianger does in fact talk like an ancient wizard.

as a more personal gripe, I have noticed several moments where the english script centers the warrior of light and their importance and struggles, while in german those scenes where about, like, the character the scene is about. german wol is still hydaelyn's favourite freak of nature and everyone loves them obviously, but as the example most fresh in my memory there's the scene in early post-stb where you visit fordola in her cell and she unwillingly looks into wol's past thanks to her fake echo. in english, she asks wol how they can bear all the suffering other people have put them through. in german, she asks how wol manages to stay sane when the echo makes you so deeply aware of the suffering of others. in the flashback of her past you see in that scene the german script also mentions that her face tattoo is an ala mhigan design, which makes it clearer than it was in english that she was specifically trying to rise the ranks of the imperial military as ala mhigan and makes her motivations more coherent - namely wanting to prove both the ala mhigans who hated her for being garlean and the garleans who hated her for being ala mhigan wrong by achieving success as both (and the power to lash out at both).

there have been very, very few moments where I actually thought the english script was better (shiva's trial lines and like, one line hien says at the steppe, that's it), and the vast majority of the time german is anywhere from about the same quality as english to just insanely better. the english script is so concerned with sounding cool and important that it becomes scared of letting characters be motivated by emotion. it's plagued by the kind of insincerity and insecurity that plagues so much of western media and leads to movie superheroes making fun of their own costumes. the english script will write one good line and then keep repeating that line ad nauseam and yet still fail to achieve the amount of internal thematic consistency the german script has, because english is relying on this handful of cool lines to carry its emotional core instead of actually letting the emotional core drive the characters. combined with the consistent pattern of dumbing down and/or vilifying female characters frankly I want to beat koji fox with hammers.

I'm actually very curious what about the german script disappointed you. the german voice acting is not good so if that's what turned you off I completely get it (I play with jp voices myself) but that's separate from the actual writing. these kind of things will ultimately always come down to personal preference so i won't judge but as you can tell from these several paragraphs i feel very strongly about the quality of the german script so I find it hard to imagine why you think that

[mrslittletall]

I got tagged by @girlvinland, thank you very much!

Favorite colour: Pink. Pink. PINK!

Last Song: I was listening to Garlemald Express from the FF14 soundtrack. It is one of the dungeon themes.

Last movie/TV Show: I kinda don't have a dedicated TV show I watch right now, so mostly I watch stuff when my husband has the free TV going on and the last thing I actively watched with him was an episode of Bluey.

Next on my watch list: I got the Blurays of Ancient Magus Bride here so I want to do a rewatch of it with the German dub eventually.

Last game: Last game I actively played was Final Fantasy 14, but that is a service game which encourages you to look into it regularly, so I will put the last game I finished. And that was Lies of P. I needed a while and I almost gave up, but I managed! I beat every boss, every mini boss and found a large portion of the hidden items. Now I am waiting for the DLC.

Sweet/savoury/spicy: Sweet. I am a sweet tooth.

Relationship status: I am married. However, my marriage went through a big challenge after my spouse got very sick and just refused to get better and a part of me wanted to run away and live in a foreign country and never think about this happening again. However, I talked it out with him and it is better now. Now I hope his last wound finally heals.

Last online search: All my jeans have holes but buying new ones is not in my budget right now... is there someone near me who can fix jeans? Oh there is! Just a town over! Nice! I am going to place an order on Monday!

Current obsession: My newest OC, my Final Fantasy 14 WoL, my darling cat boy who I finally found a story for. I should see and write some fics with him in it to get him out there.

Greatest flaw: That is something I only noticed once my husband got sick, like REALLY noticed. I've got anger issues. If stuff doesn't turn out well in my life I can get unreasonably angy and then I have the desire to hurt people or smash stuff. I even did it once, smashed two bowls out of anger and only after the shards were around me did I notice how wrong that was. I am trying to calm down now when I feel the anger rising. That thing really did wake me up. One day I am smashing something that can feel pain. I cannot let that happen. I am tagging @justbabyme @inspireddragonwriter @feliciadraws

[hdawg1995]

Get to know me!

I GOT TAGGED IN A THING! I don't remember the last time that happened! Tagged by: @haelleno Share your wall paper:

its a pixel art i made titled over and over.

Last song you listened to: From Now On We're Enemies. Its a mood and also just makes me feel better on days where I feel too stressed from the nothing I did.

Currently Reading: I'm not gonna lie, i'm currently reading all the non shippy RE fanfics that have sprung up because of the RE4 remake AND a YA book called The Black Dragon Codex. a lot of books haven't been able to draw me in (even this one didn't get my attention right way, i only bought it and started reading it cause its a extension of a fantasy encyclopedia i read as a kid) which really sucks cause i miss reading.

Last Movie: I think it was Glass Onion. Watched it with my mom but she had a hard time paying attention so i spent most of the movie explaining things than enjoying it or following along with the mystery.

What Are You Wearing Right Now: Red Wings shirt number 365 and some running pants. my PJs basicily.

How Tall Are You: i'm 5 foot nothing and some times i'm mad about it but most of the time i'm just glad i don't have to duck into a car or dodge tree branches.

Piercings/Tattoos: they're the same answer so i lumped them together. No. Never gonna happen. I think they're dope on other people but I wouldn't want them.

Glasses/Contacts?: Yup! for most of my life actually! my current pair are blue metal frames that tint blue in the sun. bonus: they have that yellow/blue light layer so looking at screens doesn't hurt my eyes, and i'm told it makes the whites of my eyes tinted blue.

Last Drink: a cold pepsi. nothing special, was just the pop that was in the fridge today.

Last Show: Ghosts (the 2022 version). I watch it with my mom every week, we're having a good time with it and although its mostly second hand embarrassment I like that it puts it on it's head every now and then.

Last Thing You Ate: Dinner! box pasta and some shredded chicken. I wanted to try one of the recipes i found on here but i didn't have most of the stuff i needed.

Favorite Color: Orange! If its orange i'm going to love it and its bright and warm. Runner up colors are blue and green.

Current Obsession: Resident Evil. A friend of mine is playing the remake and i've been watching him stream! and of course the fanfics (although the RE fandom is drinking their horny juice so there isn't actually a lot for me to read at the moment).

Unrelated Obsession: I have been writing little ficlits of my WoL oc being friends with Thancred Waters from ff14 and nothing will stop me from writing about how they are buds.

Any Pets: sadly no. Had a dog who died in 2020 (she was 14 if my math is right). right now closest thing to a pet I have are the three stray cats who use the backyard as a in between since its the only yard without a dog.

Do You Have A Crush On Anyone?: I've given up on perusing crushes. I still have them but I've accepted i'm better off ignoring it than acknowledging it. honestly thought about ignoring this question but i've made it this far!

Favorite fictional character: Thats a long list i'm afraid, so i'll list the same number of characters Haelleno listed. Tomix (DF) Thancred (ff14) Liger Zero (Zoids) Leon Kennedy (RE) Yosuke hanamura (P4) and Arata (Digimon: Cyber Sleuth).

Tag Someone: no :3