Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless is a new, but familiar, spin on the series. Like all Disgaea games, the localization is one that sets itself a part from other strategy RPGs due to how loose and fun the tone of the games usually are. This next entry looks to be no exception! We had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Senior Localization Editor Steve Carlton to pick his brain about how the series’ localization has remained so fun and consistent over the course of the series.
Kazuma Hashimoto: The Disgaea series is known for its unique script and distinct characters, in terms of localization are there any guidelines the team has to follow in order for it to remain consistent across multiple numbered entries?
Steve Carlton, Senior Editor: Luckily, I’ve been an editor on each Disgaea game since Disgaea 2, including all of the added storylines on the re-releases, so I’ve been around for all of these great characters. Because of that, we’ve been able to maintain the spirit of each of their unique voices. Also, we make it a point to keep track of the distinct laughs for characters that have them.
A lot of characters have distinct ways of speaking, were there any challenges in localization for specific characters for Disgaea 7?
Carlton: One such challenge came in the form of deciding how to spell Pirilika’s mispronunciation of Japanese food. We wanted to make sure that they were both spelled wrong in the dialogue boxes, and sounded wrong when heard in the voice acting. Another example is Yayaka, the Gambling Magistrate, because she speaks in two dialects, so we set out to replicate these with appropriate American accents, and the types of phrases that are commonly used with those accents.
Image via NIS America
The Disgaea series is full of jokes and lots of interesting wordplay. What was one of your favorite instances of this in Disgaea 7 that you can talk about, and what were the challenges in translating this?
Carlton: One that I can talk about is the name of the Ocean Magistrate, Sea Again. Luckily for us, because of the influence of Demmodore Opener, most of the 13 Magistrates have adopted Westernized names, so part of the wordplay on his name was based on an English loanword. Part of the joke is that he’s a recurring villain in this game, sort of like Mid-Boss and Axel in previous games. So, you will often see him again. Another part of the wordplay is a play on the Japanese term for predatory real estate practices (ji age). Unfortunately, we weren’t able to convey this properly in English, so instead, we decided to make a connection to his Ocean Magistrate duties, so we combined the homonym of Sea with the recurrence of Again to come up with his English name.
Given Disgaea 7’s distinctly Japanese setting and pulls from concepts like bushido, were there any words or phrases you forgoed translating from Japanese to English?
Carlton: Yes. Because of the setting, we felt it would be best to keep many of the terms in Japanese, such as the names of food, special attacks, and martial arts titles. Luckily, the wonderful voice actors were able to pronounce them pretty naturally, with help from one of the translators on the project, Nick, who—along with myself—supervised the voice recording sessions.
Is there a favorite character the team enjoyed translating dialogue for?
Carlton: A few come to mind, but the one that stands out the most was Yayaka, because of her accents.
Disgaea 7 will release on October 3, 2023 in North America, October 6, 2023 in Europe, and October 13, 2023 in Australia. It will be available for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, and PC. You can read out preview here.
