I’m excited for Unicorn Overlord, but other people seem to be writing it off. But is it for something smart? It’s usually not. People are getting in a whole uproar about its localization, something we’ve been talking about here and there on the blogs.

There was a whole Twitter thread talking about how the localization changed, and butchered the original translation of Unicorn Overlord, and I’ll admit, the wording is different from the straight translation. But…is that always a bad thing?

Yes, it’s not the raw translation, but it's still the same thing. Even though it’s not written in the same way, it still keeps the meaning of the original text, while making it not sound so bland or boring. I think localization is bad when you change something completely from its original meaning. “I’m going to the store fast” compared to “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure I get to the store as fast as I can.” is okay, but “I’m going to the store fast” compared to “Don’t rush me! I’ll get to the store faster if you stop mansplaining things to me.” Is bad, and cringy.

And sometimes, and translation can seem bad.

Could just be us not knowing, Japanese enough.

Unicorn Overlord is just putting flair in the text where it makes sense. They’re in a fantasy, medieval type of setting, so talking in this way is no problem, and for me, adds to the setting. There’s time to actually complain about bad localization, but this is not the time.

What do you think of the localization? Do you think people are complaining over nothing? Should games just use the raw translation? Tell us in the comments.