I would disagree. Localization in Nintendo era RPGs from Japan almost guaranteed complete sabotage of "translation true to intent".Originally Posted by Kawaii Ryűkishi
It might be truer to the letter, but not the intent. It's translation without localization, resulting in seemingly nonsensical garbage.
In many cases, "localization" actually meant censorship to comply with American norms. I'm not sure if you could ever argue that translating the spell "holy" to "pearl" is translating truer to intent, when a blatant religious allusion gets turned into a type of gem.
The names are the most obvious examples. Tina is supposed to be an exotic name, whereas Terra just sounds like a latin/romance-language reference. Cayenne is a spice, where Cyan is a color, simply replaced to comply with the 6-character maximum of names.
I'm assuming you either haven't played the various versions, or are unaware of the "true intent" you speak of from the Japanese FFVI. Because I don't think you could seriously argue that the American localization of FFVI was truer to intent and not get laughed out of the room.
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