Father of Dragon Quest: Japanese game loses its “flavor” when translated into English – Game News

Yuji Horii, creator of the series Dragon Questbelieves that many Japanese games often lose part of their “flavor” when translated into English, due to the simpler nature of this language compared to Japanese.

This sharing was given by Horii in an interview with the magazine Famitsuwhere he spoke with Takanari Ishiyama, writer and director of Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse. Ishiyama worked on the development process Dragon Quest X before implementing your new project.

During the conversation, Ishiyama said Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse supports multiple languages, including English and Chinese in addition to Japanese. However, he admitted that he was very careful when choosing how to write dialogue in the game, because if he focuses too much on the nuances of the original language, when translated into another language, the meaning may change or be difficult to fully convey.

In response, Horii said that “loss of flavor” when translated into English is quite common for many Japanese games. According to him, the lines when converted into English often become simpler than the original.

Ishiyama then gives an example of how Japanese people use various first-person pronouns to address them. In Japanese, a person can use words like “ore”, “boku” or “watashi” to talk about themselves, and the choice of words depends on gender, age or the formality of the communication situation.

For example, women often use “watashi”, while men can alternate between “watashi”, “boku” and “ore” depending on the situation. In contrast, in English, speakers almost exclusively use a single pronoun, “I”, regardless of gender, age or level of formality. According to Horii, this difference causes part of the character’s nuances to be lost when translated.

Horii said he has accepted that English is a relatively simple language compared to Japanese, so it is inevitable that some nuance will be lost in translation. However, he also thinks that the addition of voice acting in modern games has helped improve this problem somewhat.

According to Horii, voice acting can convey a character’s personality through tone and expression, thereby compensating for linguistic details that cannot be preserved when translated into another language.

In a previous interview, Horii also talked about the big difference between Dragon Quest and series Final Fantasy. According to him, although he does not consider this a direct competitor, he still follows this series to see what they are doing.

Horii believes that the most obvious difference is in Final Fantasythe main characters often talk to each other and have clear dialogue. Meanwhile, Dragon Quest maintains the tradition of the silent protagonist, allowing players to immerse themselves in their own characters.

In addition to its contributions to the gaming industry, Horii also received recognition from the Japanese government. In November 2025, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun Gold Rays with Rosette in the government’s fall awards.

This is an award for individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the country in various fields, and Horii became the first game designer to receive this honor.