32 réponses à ce sujet

[Ambivalent]

I don't know if it is in lore so forgive me if that's the case.

 

One thing that bothers me is every single species out there speaks and understands English or whatever the language you're playing your game as.

 

Happens in nearly all RPGs so i'm not complaining, much.

 

So since ME:A will have exploration won't it be good not to understand  much from an isolated species we just encountered? 

 

P: Protagonist S:Species that we just encountered T:Translator guy/gal

 

P: "Uh hello?"

S: *Uncomprehensible talk*

P: "Hey x, can you make any sense of it?"

T: "I think he means..."

 

Might be even cooler if there will be a way to understand/learn their language with training or "unlocks" or something.

 

Another thing that everyone in the galaxy could talk and hear. It would be cool to use "body language" to realise what some mute person meant. You know they exist. A mute race and a deaf one would be interesting to have for example.

 

PS: Used "isolated" because i'm not sure if we had some kind of translator built in in Shep's headphones or armor etc. in the lore. If that's not the case and since we'll play as new guy/gal let us don't understand Hanar, Quarian etc in start aswell.

[shit's fucked cunts]

There is supposed to be universal translator software installed on Shepard's omnitool, but even if that's the case, there should still be a delay while the the program translates the audio. It's something you need to ignore to enjoy the games. Learning language from an alien alien could be interesting, but unfortunately Javik's fingers can interpret all of English's nuances.

 

As cool as it would be to spend half a game learning an NPC's language, I imagine it will be the same in ME:A. It's just... easier.

[Ahriman]

Another thing that everyone in the galaxy could talk and hear. It would be cool to use "body language" to realise what some mute person meant. You know they exist. A mute race and a deaf one would be interesting to have for example.

Hanars couldn't produce any sounds, they use colours to talk.

Modern portable computers allow anyone with a few hundred credits of equipment to enjoy seamless real-time translation of alien languages, courtesy of handheld PDAs, computers in clothing or jewelry, or sub-dermal implants.
Governments provide subsidized software, updated through the public extranet "on the fly", often as users approach spaceport customs facilities.

I remember something about eye-implants as well for text translation, but I can't find anything in Codex.

[Toasted Llama]

So basically you want something among the lines of the Al Bhed language from Final Fantasy X that you can unlock letter by letter by finding pieces of the translation?

 

 

If yes...

 

 

I'm going to quietly hate you for me being too lazy to find the translation pieces and never being able to understand what these aliens would be saying.

[dgcatanisiri]

Aliens speaking english is pretty much a standard trope in sci-fi that we go along with - subtitles are frustrating and immersion breaking, overlap of two languages is even more frustrating for the audience, having two audio tracks, and requires mapping out an entire language, which isn't cost effective, and not having proper lip sync comes across as a glitch rather than an indication that the aliens are speaking their language and we're hearing our own.

 

Still, I'd like more care put in to the alien languages - we barely got any acknowledgement of alien words and phrases. I think 'ardat/kepet-yakshi', 'siha,' 'keelah se'lai', and 'bosh'tet' were about the extent of non-human languages we got, aside from alien planets and names. It got really annoying for me when the aliens were using human (specifically english) phrases, metaphors, and humor. These aren't even universal amongst human languages, they really shouldn't be familiar to aliens. And it's ridiculous to me that the asari use 'father' and 'dad' as actual terms. Liara using 'father species' in ME1 felt like a placeholder term, but then they ran with it in later games, and it's just... Why would a single race species have a gendered term like that?

 

Give the aliens their own phrases and sayings, have them not be familiar with human ones, have more alien words and concepts that don't have exact translations in english... Things like that make the aliens feel more real.

[AlexiaRevan]

I see an issue with the idea , forcing you to always bring that companion around for a translation . 

[Indigenous]

P: "Uh hello?"

S: *Uncomprehensible talk*

P: "Hey x, can you make any sense of it?"

T: "I think he means..."

Who does T think he is? P was clearly talking to x...

 

I think the body language idea is awesome. It would be interesting to see how it would work.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Evil species should speak with an English accent.

[Kabooooom]

There is a universal translator in Mass Effect...

That said, it should NOT be capable of translating the language of newly discovered species. That would be super cheap. So I hope first contact type events will involve a communication barrier.

Maybe that's the point with the Khet too. "why are they attacking us?" "too bad we can't ask them...guess we will just have to kill them for now".

[Broganisity]

Hanar have implants that let them communicate with other races, they also use such things as bio-luminescence with each other.

Advanced systems in one's omni-tool let them understand what other people are saying near simultaneously.

So I hope first contact type events will involve a communication barrier.

Maybe that's the point with the Khet too. "why are they attacking us?" "too bad we can't ask them...guess we will just have to kill them for now".

 
My problem with these types of scenarios is that they can really slow or otherwise bog down the story if written poorly, and my faith in Bioware's ability to pull this off is not as stellar as it used to be.

If there is an ally who serves as a translator you would either have to have them with you all the time if they were a companion, or would have to make them the ship's ensign like Kelly Chambers or that other one I whooped at Space Chess. While not a problem per say, if done poorly you'll get stuck in a loop of 'what? Huh?' as people exchange random gestures and all that.

 

I'd hope that these sort of things would not be something the player would have to actively go about collecting as that would require the player to, well, go around collecting words just to be able to understand what other people are saying. In terms of a game example, Star Fox: Adventures pulls this off well, as a translator for the Saurian language is worked on by Slippy as Fox progresses through the game, and is finished early on. Players who want to progress through the story shouldn't be punished for doing just that: Bioware is good at making stories, players shouldn't have to collect language blocks or 'power' in order to progress.

 

--------------------

 

My problem with a 'mute' character or 'mute' race is similar to this: Bioware recycled a lot of animations during the trilogy, and I'm not sure how dedicated they would be to make a large amount of new animations for one or a few characters to flail about with to get their point across.  If they aren't, it would be very lazily done and best left on the cutting floor. I've rarely seen mute/deaf characters written well in a game format, but perhaps they could pull it off. . .the best example of a mute character I can think of in a game would possibly be the character Christine from Fallout: New Vegas' DLC entitled Blood Money. . . but every action was conveyed to use through a dialogue box, so it wasn't that great. Maybe better examples exist that I haven't encountered or remember?

That said, it should NOT be capable of translating the language of newly discovered species. That would be super cheap.

Prothean VI did it in two seconds. But that's because Protheans.

 

[Ambivalent]

Who does T think he is? P was clearly talking to x...

 

I think the body language idea is awesome. It would be interesting to see how it would work.

 

Heh x was his/her name and s/he is translator You wouldn't call your companion as "Hey translator" but with a name huh? Can always make it more clear at OP though, dodging it right now

 

I see an issue with the idea , forcing you to always bring that companion around for a translation . 

 

That's why you should be able to learn foreign languages. I don't know about design but can be like SWG did to learn languages.

 

"A quarian teaches you their language", and in space age it shouldn't take months or years anyway. Maybe a few minutes, maybe cutscene etc. Maybe you'll learn basics but ask for detailed stuff to your quarian friend by having him near or radio contact.

 

Or you could always believe in "Ignorance is bliss" as an option and bring your translator companion with you.

 

Even better they can make all of these option. While your character can understand everything since start, mine can be clueless. Like old Fallouts did with intelligence or something

 

Edit: 

[LiL Reapur]

 

Quite possibly one of the funniest things I've watched here....

[In Exile]

There is a universal translator in Mass Effect...

That said, it should NOT be capable of translating the language of newly discovered species. That would be super cheap. So I hope first contact type events will involve a communication barrier.

Maybe that's the point with the Khet too. "why are they attacking us?" "too bad we can't ask them...guess we will just have to kill them for now".

The very idea of a universal translator is pure space magic. Translations for new species is basically no more implausible than translations for Council races.

[Ahriman]

The very idea of a universal translator is pure space magic. Translations for new species is basically no more implausible than translations for Council races.

How so? It's 2015 and we already have glasses which translate text on fly.

[LordSwagley]

I was personally thinking maybe... I dunno, we run into some alien commando bro and our suits translation software begins translating and vice-versa. Over the course of a mission with him he starts off unintelligible and slowly a couple words translate here and there. At the missions end we invite him aboard our ship to join our crew and to properly study his language off camera. Come next conversation we can understand him and he mentions how hot our asari linguist is or something...

[Han Shot First]

Quite possibly one of the funniest things I've watched here....

 

The low intelligence playthroughs of either Fallout 1 or 2 were hilarious.

 

 

[AlexiaRevan]

The low intelligence playthroughs of either Fallout 1 or 2 were hilarious.

 

 

Now thats smart dialogue 

[N7Jamaican]

I think the omni-tools in ME1-3 has a built in translator or they are speaking a "galactic common language"

[Broganisity]

I was personally thinking maybe... I dunno, we run into some alien commando bro and our suits translation software begins translating and vice-versa. Over the course of a mission with him he starts off unintelligible and slowly a couple words translate here and there. At the missions end we invite him aboard our ship to join our crew and to properly study his language off camera.

That's what I was thinking when I mentioned Star Fox Adventures.

[LiL Reapur]

The low intelligence playthroughs of either Fallout 1 or 2 were hilarious.

 

That myron guy tries to rape you if your a retarded female 

[Broganisity]

That myron guy tries to rape you if your a retarded female 

 

Meanwhile low-int playthroughs in Fallout 3 and New Vegas are. . .not as 'fun'.

[Farangbaa]

I always like how the universal translator 'forgets' to translate boshtet and keelah-selai

[Broganisity]

I always like how the universal translator 'forgets' to translate boshtet and keelah-selai

Some words defy simple word-for-word translations.

In english, the Welsh word hireath can be best summarized as: 'The home in which I long for but cannot return to, for it does not exist.'. It could be translated simply as 'homesickness' but that does not capture the true meaning of the word.

keelah-selai is summarized as: 'By the homeworld I hope to see one day'. . .could you imagine if a translator went through all the trouble to try and go through with translating these things?

[Farangbaa]

Some words defy simple word-for-word translations.

In english, the Welsh word hireath can be best summarized as: 'The home in which I long for but cannot return to, for it does not exist.'. It could be translated simply as 'homesickness' but that does not capture the true meaning of the word.

keelah-selai is summarized as: 'By the homeworld I hope to see one day'. . .could you imagine if a translator went through all the trouble to try and go through with translating these things?

Yeah, I could.

It's not like they say it every other sentence. Nor is it as difficult to translate as words like 'hireath' or the Dutch 'gezellig'. Keelah-selai is pretty straightforward.

[Broganisity]

Yeah, I could.

It's not like they say it every other sentence. Nor is it as difficult to translate as words like 'hireath' or the Dutch 'gezellig'. Keelah-selai is pretty straightforward.

 

You lose both the charm and true meaning of the words involved.

There's a difference between being homesick and not having a home to go back to.

 

EDIT: . . .the fact this whole homesick stance in this debate is related to Quarians amuses me greatly.