Which FE do you you think was the most well-written?

[General Banzai]

But still, that has to be the reason for the change. Nintendo is all about letting anyone be able to play their games these days after all. What other reason would there be to change Soanevalcke or Skasasher.

the fact that those are shitty, unrecognizable and impronounceable names?

[NinjaMonkey]

but you know, to be fair, Awakening has it's multitudinous amount of stupid jokes and memes, and that's a supposedly professional localization, the latter being much more appalling since it caters to the dross half of society

All of which fit a lot more seamlessly than an "... In America" joke (seeing as America doesn't exist in any FE world).

the fact that those are shitty, unrecognizable and impronounceable names?

For a supposed English Major, you clearly aren't a very good one (it's "unpronounceable", not "impronounceable").

Edited November 24, 2013 by NinjaMonkey

[General Banzai]

For a supposed English Major, you clearly aren't a very good one (it's "unpronounceable", not "impronounceable").

we deconstructed the need to spell words correctly years ago get with the program pl0x

[NinjaMonkey]

I'll pass on that...

Edited November 24, 2013 by NinjaMonkey

[Axie]

"Skasaher" looks and sounds like a bunch of random letters put together; it's a completely pointless name. I wouldn't even mind if they just named him "Scathach" because at least that's an actual name - pronounced "SKAH-ha", different enough from "Skasaher" to actually sound like a name. But either way, I prefer Ulster (I preferred Lakche over Larcei though but the latter still sounds like a name at least).

I don't really have an opinion on the Soanevalcke/Stefan issue but if they changed Stefan's name, they should have just changed the name of Soan the ancient hero to Stefan too, for consistency.

Edited November 24, 2013 by Axie

[Refa]

Or maybe they could change it to Stefanie, so they'd share the same "root" without being literally the same name.

[DomesticHausCat]

the fact that those are shitty, unrecognizable and impronounceable names?

Then we are in agreement.

[Rewjeo]

I like Skasaher, though :( Not sure what the big problem with pronouncing it is, either. Same with Soanevalcke. That's probably just because I've known them forever, though.

I don't really mind them changing Skasaher, but choosing Ulster does bug me. That and going with Leonster. I can understand not wanting to go with the Irish names, but I wish that they had just gone completely away from it instead of just sort-of having it there.

[Soledai]

All of which fit a lot more seamlessly than an "... In America" joke (seeing as America doesn't exist in any FE world).

Quality over quantity, eh? Even though I never encountered it, I think one very bad joke=a ton of memes

"Skasaher" looks and sounds like a bunch of random letters put together; it's a completely pointless name. I wouldn't even mind if they just named him "Scathach" because at least that's an actual name - pronounced "SKAH-ha", different enough from "Skasaher" to actually sound like a name. But either way, I prefer Ulster (I preferred Lakche over Larcei though but the latter still sounds like a name at least).

I can't believe the localizing team, or anyone for that matter never thought of dropping the 'HA' in Skasaher's name, he could've been Sukasa with no trouble at all... Man... Larcei wouldn't be a bad name at all..... IF it weren't Lakche's it was trying to replace

Edited November 25, 2013 by Soledai

[General Banzai]

the in america discussion is distracting from the point that shaya's translation is generally wooden and lifeless and could use the touch of........

.....

....

AN ENGLISH MAJOR

[mai]

"Skasaher" looks and sounds like a bunch of random letters put together; it's a completely pointless name. I wouldn't even mind if they just named him "Scathach" because at least that's an actual name - pronounced "SKAH-ha", different enough from "Skasaher" to actually sound like a name. But either way, I prefer Ulster (I preferred Lakche over Larcei though but the latter still sounds like a name at least).

I don't really have an opinion on the Soanevalcke/Stefan issue but if they changed Stefan's name, they should have just changed the name of Soan the ancient hero to Stefan too, for consistency.

Wow, so Skasaher is supposed to be Scathach? Then why did they change it for Ulster when there was a perfectly usable option? Seems pretty pointless, especially since it could create confusion since there's also Alster and Manster and all that... also Scathach one of my favorite SMT demons, so...

[Cymbalina's Revenge]

Wow, so Skasaher is supposed to be Scathach? Then why did they change it for Ulster when there was a perfectly usable option? Seems pretty pointless, especially since it could create confusion since there's also Alster and Manster and all that... also Scathach one of my favorite SMT demons, so...

Might've changed it since the Scathach from myth is female, but who knows. But if they like naming people for places, If Shanan and Lester ever get localized I hope to see "Shannon" and "Leicester" in their stead, ha hah.

Anyway, given Lenster(Leinster) was turned into "Leonster" for the DLC, I don't see why the Ulster/Alster thing is necessarily an issue. There's no guarantee they'd ever localize the cities as Alster(Ulster), Manster(Munster), or Conote(Connacht). Some of the localizing teams appear to go out of their way to keep real place-names out of the game, so you end up with Medon instead of Macedon in the NoE Shadow Dragon.

[Axie]

I can't believe the localizing team, or anyone for that matter never thought of dropping the 'HA' in Skasaher's name, he could've been Sukasa with no trouble at all... Man... Larcei wouldn't be a bad name at all..... IF it weren't Lakche's it was trying to replace

Sukasa doesn't sound like an improvement at all if I'm being honest. I think it was just too hard for them to get an intuitive romanization for the name so they gave up on it.

Also Lakche becoming Larcei isn't a big deal because it's almost the same thing but I just liked the K sound there lol

Edited November 25, 2013 by Axie

[Rewjeo]

Ireland stuff

I think they're going away from the Irish names because the game is now being made available to people who know those references well. I mean, it would be sort of like if they were called California and Kansas. But NoA didn't do a great job of going away from them. Ulster is still Irish, and Leonster is pretty darn similar to Leinster.

[dondon151]

Wow, so Skasaher is supposed to be Scathach?

i hope i'm not the only one who reads this as "scat hatch"

[Axie]

I think they're going away from the Irish names because the game is now being made available to people who know those references well. I mean, it would be sort of like if they were called California and Kansas. But NoA didn't do a great job of going away from them. Ulster is still Irish, and Leonster is pretty darn similar to Leinster.

Well, the Norse references are quite a bit more known than the Irish ones, and they've kept those around...

[Rewjeo]

Ulster/Leinster/Munster/Connaught are still the provinces of Ireland. I don't think they're significant for governing purposes anymore, but they're still there all the same.

[Axie]

Oh, I thought you were talking about going away from Scathach/Skasaher because it's an Irish name.

Still, they routinely name countries in Fire Emblem after actual locations and only NoE does something about it, so I'm not surprised that they are keeping all of this

[Celice]

Oh, I thought you were talking about going away from Scathach/Skasaher because it's an Irish name.

Still, they routinely name countries in Fire Emblem after actual locations and only NoE does something about it, so I'm not surprised that they are keeping all of this

Silesia is still a real place (or to some, were), and NoA has created two different names for that country in FE7 and FE13 :/

[General Banzai]

Thracia is also a real place

[Rewjeo]

And Gallia. And Lycia. And Ostia. Clearly the localizations have not always steered away from real names. I would guess there logic here, though, is that they don't have an English speaking market that's going to say, "Oh, hey, I've been to Silesia!" while a fairly significant number might know about Ireland.

[General Banzai]

isn't Gallia just a name for France

[Robert Stewart]

isn't Gallia just a name for France

Plus Belgium

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaul

Edited November 26, 2013 by shinpichu

[Axie]

And Gallia. And Lycia. And Ostia. Clearly the localizations have not always steered away from real names. I would guess there logic here, though, is that they don't have an English speaking market that's going to say, "Oh, hey, I've been to Silesia!" while a fairly significant number might know about Ireland.

Well, I get this logic and it may even be right, but then again, NoA didn't change the name of Bern, which is a bigger deal as an actual location than the Ireland locations

[Celice]

Well, I get this logic and it may even be right, but then again, NoA didn't change the name of Bern, which is a bigger deal as an actual location than the Ireland locations

Was it changed in the NoE version? I figure most of the European names got shifted around so NoE's audience wouldn't be wondering why they were attacking real places in a fantasy setting. Not every name gets axed, but there is probably a little sensitivity to that in the localization.

An interesting question when dealing with changes like this is whether a localizer ought to find a replacement with an equivalent sense of exotic (such as the Tina-Terra from Wooseley), or whether the name choice is a little more intentional (such as Soanevalcke and Stefan), and how to spot the difference.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Celice