The Monster Hunter series is not exactly known for its riveting narratives. In fact, there isn't much of a story at all — you hunt gigantic beasts, carve their carcasses for materials to make better armor and weapons, then rinse and repeat. As such, you might think that translating and localizing the latest Monster Hunter is no big deal. Not true at all.
Capcom's Andrew Alfonso, serving as Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's Localization Director, has given fans a glance into the process of bringing this latest installment to the West. One of the first things he clarifies is that this game "has more text than titles such as Dragon’s Dogma and Ace Attorney." And rather than copy and paste text from past games that is associated with returning content, the team re-translated a lot of it for the sake of improved quality.
The localization process was different this time compared to Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Instead of sticking with the localization team, the director (Alfonso) sat with the developers for the entire project in order to get a first-hand verbal account. One benefit of this arrangement can be seen in the user interfaces and tutorials:
We were able to tinker with them in ways that we weren’t able to do in the past. We consulted with MH4U director Kaname Fujioka and lead designer Yuya Tokuda about what we wanted to do for the western release and received their blessing to change the UI and tutorials in subtle ways that will make the experience smoother for players overseas.
Of particularly fascinating note is that the first new creature to be localized was the flagship monster, Gore Magala, because it was going to appear on Uniqlo merchandise well ahead of the actual start of localization. Its name is simply a Romanization of the Japanese "Goa Magala," although "Goa" was changed to "Gore" to evoke the creature's brutal nature.
Alfonso will continue to post blogs about the localization process on Capcom Unity, so keep following if you are interested. Meanwhile, hold out for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on 3DS, set to release early this year.
