Script Changes
It has come to our attention that Capcom has decided to restore DGS1+2 as well as Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice to PlayStore and iOS, the latter also getting a refresh of Ghost Trick, which we recommend you to play if you haven’t done so yet. As of the time of writing this, DGS has not been restored on 3DS eShop. Update May 26, 2021: both games have been restored to the 3DS eShop with the same changes.
Both DGS1 and 2 have also received what Capcom calls a “minor bugfix”, but when we looked a bit closer we found something quite interesting. For the first time, an update for either of the DGS games involves changes to the script. Not just small typos, it looks like specific words have been removed, 野蛮 (barbarian) and サル (monkey). Of 13 changed passages, 10 are said by Jezail and nearly all of them are said in a racial context. As the small number suggests, this certainly doesn’t cover all instances of racially charged passages in the game, and one instance of 野蛮 remains in DGS1 in which it appears the context isn’t racially charged but could be taken as such. Many other cases remain in the game, mostly remarking on the appearance, intelligence or honor of Japanese people in an insensitive or insulting manner.
This makes us wonder why they did make these changes. If the objective was to tone down racist rhetoric, then they failed to do their job right, since equally bad or even worse passages remain in the games. Someone theorized it could be a change in certain rating board rules which could force higher ratings on games that feature specific words. We do not know at this point and welcome any input from someone who does.
It stands to reason that these changes will also find their way into the upcoming Chronicles version for PS4/Steam/Switch, which we are very much looking forward to. Hope you all managed to place your preorder on time!
Since only 13 passages were actually changed, we documented them all so you can see for yourself and come to your own conclusions. For your convenience, we added our current translation and a rough translation of the changes.
19 thoughts on “Script Changes”
Thanks for the updates. We appreciate them!
I don’t understand why they would want to tone it down. It’s basically cherry-picking historical information. Most of the changes seem to be centered around the first episodes though.
I totally agree with you, I think that was silly!
Any clue what the changes were for Ghost Trick ?
Probably just making it run on modern versions of iOS.
I was shocked when I found out that they released Ghost Trick on iOS very shortly after the DS release.
“Hope you all managed to place your preorder on time!”
What do you mean? Did I miss something?
The great ace attorney chronicles has been revealed DGS 1 and 2 on a collection in english in Playstation switch and steam
I know. But why should I have to pre-order on time?
If you pre-order the game, then you’ll get the DLC ‘From the Vaults’ Features:
25 additional pieces of art for the Gallery
29 additional pieces of music for the Auditorium
Is there a chance of ever making a “mod/patch” for any perversions of the names and words used in the upcoming English version?
I know that they changed some names for Sherlock holmes related copyright but I would had liked there to be a fan patch for one of the versions, maybe the PC one
It’s probably possible, but we can’t say until it releases.
Honestly having played it now.. I think prefer Scarlet’s translation overall. The accents added to some of the dialogue I find annoying and it seems to be based on the revised script for the mobile versions where they’ve toned some of the racist lines
Can you please just allow a villain to be racist? I mean she’s literally a murderer, but a racist is worse somehow?
I saw this one coming but yeah. They should’ve just remained with the script and leave no changes after the release for it has already been around for 5 years. If this is to cater towards snowflakes and SJWs, then I’m sticking to fan translations. It sucks that we had to erase the reality from the past when it should serve as a lesson to us so we become better individuals and leave history as it is. A racist and a murderer are both bad people but I’d say taking another person’s life is worse than spouting offensive words.
Apparently the Chronicles release has removed quite a few slurs. I was thinking it’d be fun to replace Herlock and Wilson’s names with their real names, but changing all the cut slurs is just too much.
I just want to be able to actually play the game, but if I see Jezail not call someone a monkey, I will feel such pain and depression that I’ll be bedridden for days.
and of course talking about it devolves into whether it should be done or not (obviously the slurs should be kept), then it turns into petty stuff and saying that “Scarlet Study added slurs where there were none,” and that just makes me more sad.
Scarlet Study’s translation of DGS1 is such a great work and nearly the ideal translation for me. I wish more games included translator’s notes, but I guess that’s too much of a taboo for any company to consider.
Anyway, I do hope you guys can provide a patch to Chronicles. I think all the text files are stored as .gmd files, which even I was able to open and edit.
Uwabami-sama, any updates on the last 2 episodes?
any update on the status of AAI2 Android English patch?
You guys are super cool for the work you did in translating DGS1. It was really quite something just how well done it was. I’d never bought a Japanese copy for a game before seeing that your team did a full translation of DGS1, modding my 3DS was solely so I could play the translation patch! I didn’t get to experience DGS2’s first 2 cases using your team’s methods, but I did play the official localization of both games on Steam. I’m dumb, I guess, so finding out character names were changed whenever I play Japanese games that are localized irks the shit out of me. I wish Ace Attorney overall didn’t get localized until later on, and I wish the first game was localized by a team who thought preserving the Japanese setting and names was a must.
All this to say, I personally think there is still merit in a retranslation patch for the localized DGS1+2 that restores the Sherlock Holmes trademark names, and goes for a more faithful translation — basically just what you guys were already doing, obviously. I know this group does what it does as a hobby, and I guess I just wanted to reassure you guys that there are still people out there who prefer your translation to the official localization. Just in case interest in completing the project was waning due to the massive praise and success that the official localization is getting. I don’t know. I’m rambling but I hope the team is doing okay, your work is great.
If you do disband or have decided to halt your work entirely, then just know I really appreciate what you guys did. You were the first group to release a complete translation for DGS1! That’s really fucking awesome!