25 réponses à ce sujet

[Fedupwizea]

Dear Bioware,

 

I know you are getting a lot of flak for the DRM platform you're required to use and the issues with geo-blocking. I know the technical aspect should be on EA Answer HQ (and I have written there) but it is useless if your customers don't tell you their issues here, on your boards.

 

English is not my first language (it's french) but it's the language I want to play games (more budget goes into the original language and it's simply a habit). Like many Europeans, I worked in different countries and I currently am for months between Poland and the Czech Republic.

 

I wanted to avoid Origin because of the known language issues. In my own country, which has 4 official languages, it's German for everybody (my German is pretty bad).

 

I finally tried Origin after reading that you could buy a physical game in a store, use your code and download the game in the language you indicate in the client. I did the test three months ago with Mass Effect 3 and it worked, hurrah! I would still see the store and everything in Polish, but the downloaded game would be English. Still not professional from Origin but at least I could play the game.

 

I just bought Dragon Age Inquisition. Now it seems that for this one, EA added some kind of added geo-blocking and limited the Polish-Russian version to those languages. So after installing (and agreeing to errr... stuff), I ended up with a game with English voices (through a downloadable pack, thank you for that) and Polish text. I had to go look for shady solutions to change the LOC files to English. This is not acceptable, as a paying customer. I am a long-time fan and enjoyed many Bioware games, but at some point you have to tell your partner to get their act together or use several DRM platforms.

 

tl;dr I'm ready to pay to play a game, I can even pay more if that is the issue - Steam is giving me Swiss prices but fair enough, I'm paying with a Swiss card and at least I can play the games in the language I choose.

[darksnow]

The Origin Store localization problem is at least five years old and it's ridiculous that they haven't yet managed to solve it. 

 

Yes, EA, people travel around the world but would like to have the options to see the Store in a language they understand, especially since they are going to spend money in it. 

[Jeffry]

I know this is not a solution at all, but if you'll be ever buying any BioWare games in the future and will still be in the central Europe region, go for the czech version. Since the Czech Republic is such a small market (and riddled with piracy), EA is simply not translating BW games anymore here, because it would cost more than they would make from increased sales. So we have only the english version. (It is not so with all EA games, especially sport games or Battlefield are still being translated, because they are generally not so dialogue-heavy as those by BW).

[DarkAmaranth1966]

That is an long standing EA issue. It's best to change the region on both your computer and ALL EA sites to US or UK if you want English.

[Panda]

People should just stop dubbing and subbing games, that's just silly unless they are for children.

[SpiritMuse]

People should just stop dubbing and subbing games, that's just silly unless they are for children.

I agree on the dubbing (I'm seeing a lot of cartoons that I saw subbed as a child now broadcast dubbed, and they suffer for it...), but subbing is still very useful if you have an incomplete grasp of the language. Not everyone speaks English perfectly.

[Alex Hawke]

I suggest to purchase the boxed version of the game from another region (pre-ordered the ROW version from amazon.ca). Though it might be expensive (shipping) and time-consuming (the same reason).

[Kantr]

You could use a VPN to buy in another region

[Noelemahc]

People should just stop dubbing and subbing games, that's just silly unless they are for children.

You realize that you would then have to learn Polish to play Witcher, right? Most everyone on this board would not manage that.

[Caja]

I just bought Dragon Age Inquisition. Now it seems that for this one, EA added some kind of added geo-blocking and limited the Polish-Russian version to those languages. So after installing (and agreeing to errr... stuff), I ended up with a game with English voices (through a downloadable pack, thank you for that) and Polish text. I had to go look for shady solutions to change the LOC files to English. This is not acceptable, as a paying customer. I am a long-time fan and enjoyed many Bioware games, but at some point you have to tell your partner to get their act together or use several DRM platforms.

 

 

I live in Germany and I downloaded the English language pack, too. (For this I am actually very grateful. It was easy.) And it worked fine for me. After I had installed the English language pack, I switched everything to English in the option menu of DAI. After that the whole text (menu, subtitles) was in English. It surprises me that you had to change the LOC files .

[Abelas Forever!]

I agree on the dubbing (I'm seeing a lot of cartoons that I saw subbed as a child now broadcast dubbed, and they suffer for it...), but subbing is still very useful if you have an incomplete grasp of the language. Not everyone speaks English perfectly.

You don't have to speak perfect English in order to understand what is happening in a game. I know this because in my country my only option is english subtitles and I wouldn't say that my english is perfect. There aren't any games which are traslated but I have used to it. Well maybe some children games  are translated but anyway. But you are right. Subtitles are useful if you have incomplete language skills.

[Panda]

You realize that you would then have to learn Polish to play Witcher, right? Most everyone on this board would not manage that.

 

Well with english subs of cource. But others aren't really needed, subs if someone really wants to do them are okay but dubs always water down whole thing.

[Noelemahc]

Well with english subs of cource. But others aren't really needed, subs if someone really wants to do them are okay but dubs always water down whole thing.

 

People should just stop dubbing and subbing games, that's just silly unless they are for children.

Make up your mind. Are you for or against subbing? Or you have a "if it's you, it's okay" policy for English?

It's confusing feedback like this that lead to the current idiocy of UNoptional subbing in regional releases of movies and games.

 

I wouldn't mind, really, if the translation quality wasn't such utter **** (f.e. the Witcher's Russian version is very well-done, especially when contrasted with the crapathon that was every Dragon Age).

[Panda]

Make up your mind. Are you for or against subbing? Or you have a "if it's you, it's okay" policy for English?

It's confusing feedback like this that lead to the current idiocy of UNoptional subbing in regional releases of movies and games.

 

I wouldn't mind, really, if the translation quality wasn't such utter **** (f.e. the Witcher's Russian version is very well-done, especially when contrasted with the crapathon that was every Dragon Age).

 

English subs can't be helped since everyone can't learn all languages. I was more thinking of country specific subtitles.

[Noelemahc]

Country specific subtitles are the exact problem this discussion began with: for regionlocking purposes, some versions of the game were shipped with English audio but not-English-only texts.

 

The problem is twofold:

 

- Can't sell game in these countries at world prices because local economy makes world prices unfeasible (Russia's political and economic situation is a popular example) and the publisher wants to get more sales so they agree to take the margin hit

- Can't have game sold cheaply in Country A be available for resale into normal-priced Country B (let's say, USAica)

 

The NORMAL and SANE solutions are:

The Steam way:

- Specific regions get cheaper games, but the keys for these games cannot be activated for accounts tied into other countries. Language options are unaffected.

 

The Nintendo way:

- Specific regions get cheaper games, the keys for these games aren't available in resellable forms (hard copies are prices at around world prices, electronic copies are console-tied), the only resellable keys are sold at world prices; language options unaffected.

 

The Sony way:

- Specific regions get cheaper games which can be resold, but the game is fully localized, hence you're reselling the local-language version; if you don't want it, you can go buy the world version

 

The Ubisoft way:

- Specific regions get cheaper games which can be resold, but the game is fully localized, hence you're-- wait, isn't this the Sony way? It is?!

 

The CD Projekt Red way:

- All versions get all languages, that's about it.

 

And then there is...

 

The EA way:

- Specific regions get seemingly cheaper games which can be resold, but the game is crudely localized, regions with identical pricing models are sometimes given differently crimped versions (f.e. the Russian and Mexican releases are identically priced, yet the Mexican version has full English and partial Spanish support, whereas the Russian version only has partial Russian and that's it), you can't buy the world version digitally in a direct manner, your only option is to import a physical release from overseas (extra surcharge for delivery!).

[Fedupwizea]

Go for the czech version. Since the Czech Republic is such a small market (and riddled with piracy), we have only the english version.

 

Thank you for the tip!

 

 

That is an long standing EA issue. It's best to change the region on both your computer and ALL EA sites to US or UK if you want English.

 

You cannot do that. It's geo-blocked, so unless you use a VPN to hide your location, you cannot choose a language whatever your option :|

 

 

I live in Germany and I downloaded the English language pack, too. (For this I am actually very grateful. It was easy.) And it worked fine for me. After I had installed the English language pack, I switched everything to English in the option menu of DAI. After that the whole text (menu, subtitles) was in English. It surprises me that you had to change the LOC files   .

 

From what I read, only the Russian/Polish version had the geo-blocking and extra security.

 

 

The NORMAL and SANE solutions are:

The Steam way:

The Nintendo way:

The Sony way:

The Ubisoft way:

The CD Projekt Red way:

 

And then there is...

 

The EA way:

 

 

Your post should be sent to EA...

 

And that's without the Store language issue. I repeat: in my own country, I don't get to shop in my mother-tongue-official-language - nor in english.

 

It is insane.

[Jeffry]

Thank you for the tip!

 

Np. But beware, despite the fact that fewer games are translated each year, even some of the biggest ones still are, but in the vast majority of cases you can freely switch between czech and english subtitles or choose the subtitles language during installation. I now can't think of a game from the past few years that would have only czech subtitles or god-forbid voice over. BW games are english only here ever since DA2 and it won't likely change.

[DaemionMoadrin]

The whole geo blocking is so annoying. I live in Germany but want Origin and my games in English. After I managed to change Origin's language, I went to the store... but that's in German only. No big deal if you understand German and even without, you can find the game and click on Buy. Still, very annoying. There's even a select box for your language at the bottom of the store page... but it only offers German.

 

I downloaded ME3. The store page said Deutsch (DE), English (CA), English (US), Español (ES), Français (CA), Français (FR), Italiano, Polski, Русский язык but I never got asked which language I wanted to use. Of course, after starting the game everything was in German and I had to edit an *.ini file to get the English version. Not okay and very annoying, but I can deal with that.

 

DA:I never asked me for a language either. The English Voice Over DLC was out before the game was released in Germany, so I installed that before launching the game for the first time. Everything was in English. Perfect. Only problem: If I ever wanted to change that, I'd probably have to re-install the game because this time there is no *.ini or option to change it.

 

I'm still frustrated over Dead Space. Origin only allows me to download it in French and German. Why? EA, you gave that game away for free, are you so concerned that someone might resell a digital copy or why is this geo locked?

 

I never had those problems with Steam.

[Eshamae]

Comme Suisse Allemande, je ne savais pas que mes compatriots sont ignorés par EA. C'est incroyable, inexcusable et inacceptable. Personne n'expecte sérieusement une traduction en Rumantsch, mais que difficile peut-il bien être de nous laisser choisir entre Français, Italien et Allemand (et Anglais)?

 

Arrrgh, my French is so rusty. Took me way too long to compose those sentences.

EA: Multilingual country does not mean that every person born there speaks all those languages perfectly. Soooo sorry that's inconvenient for your forced localisation (not really). At least youtube has the good graces to throw advertisements at us in all three major languages. It's kind of funny acually, and an opportunity to brush up on your foreign languages.

 

 

edit: The following paragraph was supposed to be a quote from the post above this one, which got messed up somehow.

"DA:I never asked me for a language either. The English Voice Over DLC was out before the game was released in Germany, so I installed that before launching the game for the first time. Everything was in English. Perfect. Only problem: If I ever wanted to change that, I'd probably have to re-install the game because this time there is no *.ini or option to change it."

 

I still have to move the German files from the loctext folder after every patch. I think I installed the DLC after starting and realising everything was in German. Could that be the reason?

[DaemionMoadrin]

I seriously have no idea. I'm just glad it worked for me... if I had to tinker around to get the language I wanted, then I would have rated the game even lower as I have now.

[Caja]

@ DaemionMoadrin: I agree, changing the .ini file for Mass Effect (and spending some amount of time on Google to find this solution) was indeed annoying. But with DAI you should be able to change the langue via the game's option menu. It works fine and I haven't experienced any problems with it.

[turuzzusapatuttu]

I'm currently playing with the English subtitles because the Italian translation is bad, IMO. Listening to the English dialogues while the Italian subs were activated I've noticed that many phrases have been translated by someone who didn't even know the previous games or the lore (same for the novels).

[Jeffry]

I'm currently playing with the English subtitles because the Italian translation is bad, IMO. Listening to the English dialogues while the Italian subs were activated I've noticed that many phrases have been translated by someone who didn't even know the previous games or the lore (same for the novels).

 

Well I can tell you how DAO was translated into czech language back in 2009. In EA localization center in Madrid. By a handful of people who didn't know the context of the dialogues or pretty much the context of anything. Maybe the italian translation worked in a similar way.

[DaemionMoadrin]

@ DaemionMoadrin: I agree, changing the .ini file for Mass Effect (and spending some amount of time on Google to find this solution) was indeed annoying. But with DAI you should be able to change the langue via the game's option menu. It works fine and I haven't experienced any problems with it.

 

It only offers me English in the options menu. Nothing else. Which is fine for -me- but someone who wants to switch back to German would have a problem.

[Caja]

That's strange. In that case you're probably right and you would have to delete and then to install the game again.