Final Fantasy XVI is notable in how it has introduced a number of not-seen-before
elements to the long-running series. And one way that it has taken a
new direction is by becoming the first mainline game to receive a mature rating.
Characters frequently curse, risqué content is depicted explicitly,
and violence is more graphic than previous titles.
However, it wasn't any of this that saw the game banned in Saudi Arabia
and the United Arab Emirates. While an official release was
planned in these countries, the game saw its release pulled at the last minute.
The Saudi regulators confirmed the decision in May—where they said it won't be possible for the
game to be released due to Square Enix refusing to make necessary changes to the game's content.
While not officially confirmed, the move seems to be due to the game
featuring a gay couple who briefly kiss. These regions are among the strictest in
the world in regards to the depiction of LGBT relationships—and this stance has seen many
other games either banned or censored, such as the ban imposed on 2020's The Last Of Us Part II.
The game has also not been released in Russia due to the war in Ukraine. However,
while the war is what has stopped an official release, it would not be possible even without
the war due to an expansion of the country's 'gay propaganda' law earlier in the year.
The law now imposes a blanket ban on expressions of LGBT relationships,
which means that modifications would be necessary to release the game in the country.
However, the game does still feature a full-text translation for both Arabic
and Russian. And so it is still possible to import the game and play it in these languages.
But to now speak more about the game's translation, and for that, it's important
to give some background information. Unlike most Japanese games,
the translation process was more complicated than simply taking the Japanese script and
localizing it into different languages. The game was first written in Japanese, then
adapted into English by the localization director Koji Fox, and the English version was used for
the lip-synching in all versions due to wanting to closer match the feel of medieval Europe and
being inspired by media such as Game Of Thrones. And then finally, the script was then translated
back into Japanese and the other languages. However, it is inaccurate to say the Japanese
version is very similar to the English script, as there are many differences in dialogue.
Furthermore, the Japanese script is often very different from the lip-synching. And so,
perhaps the final Japanese script is closer to the original Japanese script.
Koji Fox also doesn't have a full writing credit, as he is only credited as the
localization director, whereas the Japanese team is credited as the creative director,
original screenplay, and scenario writers. To add this, there is quite an interesting
discrepancy with the French translation, as it displays a message in the menu
saying that it is based on the Japanese translation and not the English one.
The difference between translations are similar to what can be found in quite a lot of media when
released outside of Japan. And as the game allows you to select different voice tracks,
even people who don't understand Japanese will be able to pick up on differences.
For example, quite often, dialogue will be either much shorter or longer between versions. But
then there are also things like personality changes, differences in tone, and so forth.
An interesting difference between English and Japanese is also how
the English version adds lots of swearing that isn't featured in the Japanese version.
This is something else that is quite often seen in English releases. And to summarize,
the Japanese language doesn't really have curse words like English does. While it has
very specific curse words that can be directed at people, the linguistics and culture of more
general curse words being uttered to oneself or directed at others don't really exist.
However, sometimes localizers will feel it's appropriate to add cursing
to English versions. But this practice is something that can be controversial at times.
A good example of this can be found in the opening section of the game.
First up is the English version. Now again, the "you cock" translation
wouldn't really be appropriate in Japanese, and so both the Japanese and French versions
simply say the character's name, Hugo, instead. And so, while the swearing is not present in
Japanese, it's important to keep in mind that this shouldn't be seen as an act of toning things down.
However, perhaps the same isn't true for a few other discrepancies between English and Japanese.
For instance, a scene during the game's intro sees the characters given a mission to eliminate
the Dominant of Shiva—Jill. And in the English version,
one of the characters makes a remark about this, saying: "No one else? Where's the fun in that?"
However, in both Japanese and French, the character says,
"Is it a female?" And then he laughs and says that there won't be any mistakes then.
This is clearly supposed to portray the character as saying that due to the target being a female,
the mission will be laughably easy. And so, if this was featured in the very first Japanese
script before being translated into English, it would appear that this was made less provocative
in English due to concerns over sexism. The biggest case of toned-down dialogue
between English and Japanese revolves around a scene between Jill and Imreann,
and this is something that affects the story. In the scene, Jill confronts Imreann and,
in English, she says… And so this plot point is quite dark
in English. But in Japanese, it is more so. Unlike the English version, in Japanese,
Jill says that the children were female and that Imreann violated
them and then killed them right before her eyes. The main term that is used here is "tegome." And
that, along with the context, makes it clear that this was the intent behind the dialogue.
Interestingly, in this example, the French version is a direct copy of
the English translation. And despite the message saying it's based on the Japanese,
this is something that can be found in other places, and the French version actually appears
to be a combination of both English and Japanese. And so, again, while it's impossible to know for
sure, perhaps this was a deliberate act of toning things down outside of Japan.
Generally, however, despite the large amount of discrepancies between the
English and Japanese scripts, there aren't many other instances where things are more
or less provocative between versions. Furthermore, the game doesn't make any
alterations to the graphics. And perhaps the biggest difference between versions outside
of the translations is a difference between the music when playing with Japanese audio.
When playing with Japanese audio, the song that plays during the ending scene and the song that
plays during the credits are switched around. Although, there's currently not
been any comment on why this was decided. But one more thing to point out is that,
despite it being rated mature in North America and 18+ in most of Europe, the German version is only
rated 16+ and the Australian version only 15+. Again, there isn't any censorship between
these versions, and so this is quite an interesting difference in how the differing
rating systems judged the game's content. As always, let us know your thoughts in the
comments below, and until next time, thank you for watching.