Dragon Quest 8’s British English translation faced backlash from Square Enix’s U.S. team: “They struggled to grasp it and were not pleased.”
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Ask any writer familiar with both British and American English, and they can point out numerous differences. While they share the same roots, their execution varies significantly. Veteran video game translator Richard Honeywood stirred the pot by opting for British English in his translation of Dragon Quest 8, aiming to differentiate it from the distinctly American Final Fantasy localizations, which didn’t sit well with the developers.
“I knew we had to tread carefully because sometimes references cross games, and we needed to maintain name consistency,” he explains. “I had to navigate those challenges. Given the comical, lighthearted fantasy tone, I wanted to incorporate British humor, but that didn’t resonate with the American team; they struggled to grasp it and really disliked it.”
To him, Final Fantasy represented “basically cyberpunk” in English-speaking regions, which naturally aligned with the US localization style. In contrast, Dragon Quest featured “more traditional fantasy” elements, with a “faux-Shakespearean vibe,” despite the American localization, which he could leverage. The cynicism was palpable.
Yutaka Sano, then-localization manager at Square Enix, feared it would alienate US players and suggested a compromise: they could only use two out of punctuation, spelling, and phrasing, with the third remaining American. “It’s one of the dumbest rules ever; it’s either British or it’s not,” Honeywood recalls.
He cites Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime as an example, where punctuation and phrasing leaned British, but spelling was more neutral, avoiding regional variations. This led to a greater presence of British English experts on Honeywood’s team, but a mandate required a single voice for American English.
Matt Alt, who worked on Dragon Quest 7, became the US representative for the team. “He was our gauge, especially with characters like Cash and Carrie, who were in a town called Baccarat,” Honeywood remembers.
“These characters were portrayed as very brash Americans, essentially British people poking fun at Americans. Matt found it hilarious and helped us amplify those American traits to the max.”
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Dragon Quest visionary Yuji Horii is set to release an RPG-style manga chronicling his journey in creating the legendary JRPG series.
