German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

[Chrono21]

German and French Versions Of Final Fantasy XI To Be Launched At Games Convention

Square Enix has issued a press release stating that two localized versions of the popular Final Fantasy XI will be unveiled at the upcoming Games Convention in Leipzig. From August 23 to 27, players can take the chance to test out the new French and German language versions Square Enix has prepared for the respective markets.

The game can be found in Hall 5 at the Final Fantasy XI arena. Visitors will not only be able to test the game in it's new languages but will also have a chance to meet the development team and enter unique competitions where exclusive prizes can be won. The French and German versions of the game will be available for both Xbox 360 and PC, fully playable at the Games Convention.

With the localised versions, Square Enix hopes to further extend the market reach of the MMO, which allows simultaneous multiplayer action across three different platforms (PS2, Xbox 360, PC). Currently, the FFXI servers are holding more than 500,000 player accounts and 1.7 million characters.

http://mmorpg.qj.net/German-and-Fren...g/49/aid/59980



Will they be playing on the same servers and NA and Japan? Will there be a updated translation system if thats the case? Sorry if this was posted before but I did'nt see a topic yet.

[Sabaron]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

Hmmm... I've already played with both French and German players on our own servers (specifically Asura), so I figure this is just a translation for them--JP and NA players already have integration into Auto-Translate, I assume this is just to increase interest among those who don't speak English quite as well and to help the EU players already in the game.

They might add a server or two if too many new players join, but I doubt if they'll be segregated. One of the neatest things about FFXI is that the servers aren't regionally segregated like say, Blizzards (I don't know if the WoW servers are regionally segregated, but the old USEast, USWest, etc... were regional).

[Mhurron]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

Yes everyone will be spread across the same servers. Yes the auto-translator should show those translated terms in the local clients language.

I thought they had done this already.

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

No. The game had been released in Europe, but until it's released in French and German later this year, it has not yet been made available in those languages.

[Lone Dragon]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

Why not spanish? If they really wanted to pull in more players, spanish is what they want.

[ikkleste]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

Nice. Might up the number of players on at EU prime times, even if there is a language gap. I often find that even if i put my flag up at 5pm GMT i won't get a party til 8pm when the US gets online. Hopefully this might fix that a little.

[Faulsey]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

I might try and get the French version of the game. I've been doing French for the past three years, about to go onto my fourth year of doing it (at school), and I think if I were to see everything in french, it would help somewhat to perfect my french.

Of course, most of the stuff in game won't relate to normal conversation, but it'd still help.

Moi, j'adore le francais ^.^;

[Feba]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

se had announced this at fanfest . I do find it odd that they don't have a spanish or chinese edition. I wonder if the french and german editions will have an easier way to input special characters.

something that may be of interest, they said at fanfest that fr/gr pol would be a free download.

[Icemage]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

French and German are more widely spoken in Europe than Spanish is.

While it's true that Spanish is more widely spoken than either French or German worldwide, we're also looking at the demographic of people who can afford to pay for the game. For instance, Spanish is spoken by a large percentage of South America, as well as Mexico, but it's unlikely that a sizable amount of any of those people would choose to pay for an MMORPG due to it being too expensive within their local economies. By the same rationale, this is probably the same reason the game is not translated into Chinese, where the per capita income in most Chinese-speaking countries is too low to support an MMORPG.


Icemage

[Eohmer]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

French and German are more widely spoken in Europe than Spanish is.

While it's true that Spanish is more widely spoken than either French or German worldwide, we're also looking at the demographic of people who can afford to pay for the game. For instance, Spanish is spoken by a large percentage of South America, as well as Mexico, but it's unlikely that a sizable amount of any of those people would choose to pay for an MMORPG due to it being too expensive within their local economies. By the same rationale, this is probably the same reason the game is not translated into Chinese, where the per capita income in most Chinese-speaking countries is too low to support an MMORPG.


Icemage

I've already met 3 girls that are playing FROM Mexico. I've yet to meet a German player.

[Mhurron]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

You might have met more Spanish players then German or French, but SE might know there are more players in Germany and French speaking areas then in Spanish speaking countries.

[Maju]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

/ramble mode on

Spanish people are horrible at MMORPGs. Russta's LJ and the Spinebreaker (renamed Spainbreaker by the community) WoW server are proof of the truthfulness of my huge generalization.

I'm not too happy about getting another large block of people who can't communicate without the translator to play with. The Japanese play at slightly different hours so they're not too bad, but I know there are lots and lots of people in the most populated European countries (Germany and France being two of them) who can't or refuse to use any other language than their own. I believe they are more numerous than those with sufficient English skills to communicate properly. I blame the way they dub everything from TV shows to movies to...well, everything that has voice. They obsessively translate everything and it alienates the people from other languages. The sillyness of dubbed movies probably doesn't do much good to a person's brain cells either.

My point is:

1. Europe almost always sees new game releases last or not at all because they need to be translated several times.
2. We need a million translators at EU meetings because the representatives of the major countries can't or refuse to speak English.
3. I want more people to play with in EU prime time but I don't want to drown in people who don't understand what I say.
4. Because of points 1, 2 and 3 the guilty countries need to change their ways!

/ramble mode off

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

To be fair, I knew a few German and French players in FFXI and they all spoke English fluently. I also played EQ with French, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, and Spanish players and we all conversed in English. Just wait and see what happens I guess, although I'd question just how many new players will join from those areas. The fascination with Japanese style games and anime kind of died out long ago here. That, and most of the Euro gamers I know who haven't already grown tired of WoW, are either playing that by default or just waiting patiently for Vanguard or Conan.

Oh, and we share the same birthday!

[Murphie]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

Maju, I really hope that was sarcasm. Because...wow.

[Sirius]

Re: German and French Soon to join Vana'diel

More players will do us good. I like the idea of playing with more countries.

If only we could get China... Yet, the economy may explode. They would all be RMTs.

Ah, MMO racism.