About the mod

Initially made for personal use, I started this project using Cindy's Text Editor tool to finish the old "English Subtitles for Japanese Voice-Over" by "FFXVT00L" and "The Box" mod uploaded on Nexus, and translated by "yu_eriyama". While their project was interesting (making subtitles that match the Japanese dub of the game instead of the English one), it was incomplete for players doing a full playthrough, and not organized in a sense of terms, terminologies, grammar pattern, and such (making difficult to recommend for new players). Thus, for those who want an immersive experience even outside the main story, "English Subtitles for Japanese Voice-Over" can break that immersion because of the inconsistence of that translation.

I started my own mod to finish theirs, but while I was creating new translations based on the Japanese voice-over and text, I noticed how flawed some of the passages can be in context of the whole FFXV Universe (e.g., Iris reaction to Lunafreya being in Insomnia during the signing ceremony isn't coherent to what's shown on Kingsglaive movie). Also, lots of Japanese dialogues can be more dry compared to the English ones, specially when it comes to the choice of words and/or some characters talking about their feelings. Beyond that, I did noticed how the in-game text for lore, bestiary, dossiers, load screens and such can break the fourth wall or not provide as much information in the Japanese text compared to the English one. Finally, I end up revising and changing the majority of the already translated text by the "English Subtitles for Japanese Voice-Over" mod for a number of reasons. First of all, "yu_eriyama" made the "Spellsdagger" website that was the basis for that mod, but her work is incomplete, so there's a lack of pattern for terminology and writting in general: most of my time during Cindy's Text Editor was spent rewritting and changing their work, not to be more faithful to the Japanese dub, but to make for a ~~hopefully~~ better experience for English readers and fans of the multimedia FFXV Universe.

In short, while it started as an personal project for myself to complete someone else's mod, ended up becoming an creative expression of how I would write some of the game's dialogues and text.

Mod goal

My foundations to this mod is creating an "new English localization" using the Japanese text for dialogue, the German and English text for lore and in-game information, and my own knowledge of the FFXV Universe to hold everything together, creating an experience for new and veteran players that respects the original game's script, while adjusting it to match the multimedia universe even better! Lots of texts were made by me from scratch (check out the Lore Guide in the Tutorial), including dialogue scenes (e.g. Iris' first reunion with the boys in Lestallum), but mostly I kept the Japanese dialogue and characters personalities mixed with the "English-version flavor" on it. In short, I don't prioritize a "coherent Japanese-based text", but rather an "non-plot hole" text.

Changelog

Check the "Flagrum's" changelog for a complete list of changes and progress made with this mod.

VERSION 1.2 "Crown Update"

Covered some radio broadcasts that I missed for some reason.
@TheVoyager helped me to restructure Cosmogony texts from scratch to better match Nadir's "biblical poetry" language.
Some lines during the "Regalia opening scene" and "Luna, Ravus, and Gentiana scene" were altered to better match the JP voice-over and to fix grammar errors.
The entire "Archive" section was restructured: instead of German-based text for Bestiary and Dossiers, they are now written with a new in-universe perspective by Gladiolus and Ignis respectively. Dossiers are 100% completed from Iggy's POV, while the Bestiary only covers creatures from Leide in Gladio's POV, but it will be completed soon enough.
NPCs' banters about Longwythe and Balouve Mines are covered to match Japanese voice-over.
More changes to the Lore Guide in the Tutorial.
Covered Cor Leonis' banters during chapter two to match his Japanese voice-over.
Few new bros' banters covered.
Lots of minor grammar errors are fixed.
Changes made for a better writting patterns.

VERSION 1.1

Changed Cup Noodles sidequest subtitles to match Japanese voice-over.
Fixed some grammar error in the Lore Guide.
Changed party's comments about taking photos during the night to match Japanese voice-over.
Fixed some loose instances of "Behemoth" to "behemot" without caps on "b".
Added a few Bestiary entries based on the German-text.

VERSION 1.0

Changed all the main-story subtitles to match the Japanese voice-over.
Changed all the majority of the sidequests subtitles, from start to finish, to match the Japanese voice-over.
Changes made in main and sidequest texts to better fit the mod's purpose.
All instances of "Cindy" and "Ezma" changed to "Cidney" and "Izania" respectively.
"High Commander Ravus" to "General Ravus", and Camelia is now "Prime Minister".
All the Hexatheon/Astrals terminologies are removed for the sake of matching the Japanese and German texts.
Changed all the load screens from the main 15 chapters to match German text.
Lore Guide and most of the tutorial is changed to match JP or my original text.
All Tours and Photo Ops' subtitles are changed to match Japanese voice-over.
Adamantoise hunt's subtitles are changed to match Japanese voice-over.
Changed all subtitles from radio broadcasts to match Japanese voice-over.
Some of the Document sections, such as Cosmogony, are temporarily changed to match my own original text.
"Holy Stone" is changed to "Sacred Stone".
"Astral War" and "War of the Astrals" are changed to "Magi Great War".
Lots of banters' subtitles are changed to match Japanese voice-over.
Lots of fixes and writing patterns created to make for an cohesive subtitle.

Credits

Mod was made using Cindy's Text Editor tool:
The core "fontandmessage.earc" file for this mod was used from "The Box" / "FFXVT00L" mod "English Subtitles for Japanese Voice-Over": English Subtitles for Japanese Voice-Over at Final Fantasy XV Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)
"The Box" / "FFXVT00L" mod uses "yu_eriyama" translation in the "Spelldaggers" website: About – FINAL FANTASY XV Translation (wordpress.com)
I used "The Lifestream's" article about localization differences as a source of study during my work: Observations about the translation and localization of FFXV - The Lifestream
I used "ff15.aikotoba" to check in-game text easily. This mod would not exist without this website: FFXV Full Lines (aikotoba.jp)
@TheVoyager Discord user for the Cosmogony texts help, and more of a "English poetry" to the game's world. Check out his work in Archive Of Our Own.

Notes

This mod is based on the Japanese text for dialogue, but not strict to it.
This mod is based on the German and English text for lore and in-game guide text, but not strict to them.
This mod's still a work in progress. May contain grammar and visual errors. Please, report any errors and problems so they can be fixed as soon as possible.
This mod will evolve even more with your feedback. So if you want specific changes or have any questions, feel free to ask.
This mod can contain temporary changes to the game's text (specially for DLCs and texts outside the dialogues) that will be adressed in the future (e.g. Cosmogony books will be changed again soon).
This mod is incompatible with any one that changes the "fontandmessage.earc" file, which includes mods such as "Lost Treasures" by "Kizari".

New English Localization