Hilarity in Gaming #1 – Well Do ya, punk?!?
Sometimes game developers deliver narrative so rich and deep that it feels like you are having a great author read you their work. However, most times you can feel the seams of your credulity restraints tearing away as you read or listen to some of the absolute garbage these characters are saying. Add in the need for translating game dialog from another language and you are transported to another realm of possibilities.
Still, finding truly unintentionally hilarious moments in game writing is every bit as hard as finding truly cathartic moments. So when you find one, and are lucky enough to get your finger to the screenshot key quickly enough, it is pure gold.
The game is Two Worlds, released last week. The game is an open world RPG which was obviously broadly influenced by recent games in the Elder Scrolls and Gothic series. The scene – you have been tasked to eliminate a bandit in order to open up a trade route between two towns (the trade is in illegal moonshine, so the guards won’t intervene). Being ever the Paladin, I try to negotiate with the bandit and avoid the fight. Here is what my character says:
And given that my character sounds something like Arnold Schwarzennegar it makes it even funnier. I was truly waiting for the ‘well do you punk’ moment …
Forsooth thou mayhap want to see the full screen, thou shouldst clickest here.
August 29th, 2007 at 11:04 am
I could not get Two Worlds to run properly on my Radeon X800. Considering it handles Oblivion fine, I find that unacceptable. :sigh:
August 29th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Have you tried the “TwoWorlds_RADEON.exe” in the program directory? That is supposed to help. The forums are filled with stability issue reports yet I’ve not had a single crash or other issue.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
I’ll never understand how developers can spend millions on the engine, graphics, testing, etc., and then spend nothing on the voice acting and writing.
Yeah,
I’m looking at you Capcom (and 90% of the industry, really)
August 29th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Yeah, I like to refer to that as “small European developer syndrome.” The distressing part is that it isn’t limited to small European developers.
August 29th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Video Games cannot be funny, not even unintentionally. Why? Something so morally bankrupt cannot be funny to anyone unless they are like-wise morally bankrupt. You probably all lthink killing hookers in Grand Theif Auto is funny too.
August 30th, 2007 at 2:37 am
LOL
August 30th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Whoa there, Captain. Overgeneralization is bankrupt of common sense and reason. Of course killing hookers in Grand “Theif” Auto is not funny, and no one here claimed it was.
The author is talking about odd translations or funny-sounding expressions that happen to occur in a game, nothing more.
Perhaps you should check out the sister site to this one, http://www.gamerdad.com/ to have your concerns about video games addressed in a rational and informed manner.
August 30th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Wow! Less than two weeks to your first troll! Congratulations, Bub!
September 3rd, 2007 at 8:53 pm
It’s interesting that a similar problem exists in the boardgame publishing world. There are numerous examples of boardgames with exellent games and cool little plastic pieces (expansive to produce) but then have poorly translated rules (or even poorly written rules if the game is developed in English!)