PS4 Exclusive Ghost of Tsushima's New Trailer Is Even Better in Japanese

@KratosMD I'm going to play this in English the first time around, then I'll switch to Japanese with no subtitles on new game plus for maximum immersion.

Assuming the voice acting is decent, and it should be, I'll always stick to English. I'd enjoy that more than reading subtitles. If I want to read, then I'll pick up a book.

I like both dubs, the English sounds pretty good, I'm probably going with the English dub for my first playthrough.

i'd probably play it with japanese subs - i use subtitles in all games since half the time i can't make out what people are saying anyway. but still not really sold on it.. had more than enough assassin's creed for a lifetime, and this would have to be something different from samurai's creed. still, the atmosphere, lighting and gfx look incredible. imagine how it's going to look when the inevitable ray-tracing patch for PS5 rolls out...

@KratosMD Eh. The event took place 750 years ago, on a remote island between Japan and Korea. I highly doubt that the language they spoke back then resembles modern Japanese in any way. And I don't think the Mongolians speak old Mongolian either. So from a historic perspective it doesn't really matter what you pick, since neither is accurate.

In fact, English VA allows me to focus on the cut-scenes without worrying about the subtitles too much, so I'm probably going to go with English.

I think it really depends on the game. I'll probably play this in Japanese, but I would give anything to have a little English in Dragonball Xenoverse 2. There's this radio/public announcements thing that Bulma's voice actor does, and they are the singular most irritating thing I have ever heard in a game. They're not translated or subtitled, they can't be muted and they are told every 30 seconds or so in the most annoying, jarring, exaggerated, whiny, japanese-girl voice you have ever heard. Makes you want to strangle her.... So, to sum it up, it depends, case by case.

It's funny that I didnt notice before but..is the game in a similar cinematic as the order 1886 I.e. screen cut at top and bottom ?

Definitely Japanese audio but sometimes it's difficult to focus on gameplay while having to read subtitles at the same time. Which is why I'll probably switch to English if I have to.

@KratosMD I've never seen a game use Old English as a standard in-game language.

Take for example Old English from around the year 1000: ''Hƿæt! ƿē Gār-Dena in ġeār-dagum, þēod-cyninga, þrym ġefrūnon, hū ðā æþelingas ellen fremedon.''

Even a Middle English Bible passage from 1384 becomes pretty much impossible to read: ''And it was don aftirward, and Jhesu made iorney by citees and castelis, prechinge and euangelysinge þe rewme of God, and twelue wiþ him; and summe wymmen þat weren heelid of wickide spiritis and syknessis, Marie, þat is clepid Mawdeleyn, of whom seuene deuelis wenten out, and Jone, þe wyf of Chuse, procuratour of Eroude, and Susanne, and manye oþere, whiche mynystriden to him of her riches.''

And that's just the grammar. Vowels shifts are huge, and are usually a make it or break it when it comes to understanding spoken language. Because it turns familiar words on paper into unrecognisable words when spoken, and the more time has passed, the more often this happens.

Both examples of Old and Middle English were used on the mainland. Islands, like Tsushima, are isolated from the mainland and have their own dialect on top of it. In short, if you were able to send a Japanese person from today back in time, they won't be able to understand a person from Tsushima from the 13th century.

Getting a historic language correct in a video game or film is virtually impossible. It's a huge undertaking, and while interesting, a big waste of money if the end goal is just to have fun with a game.

@Octane Unless you understand modern spoken Japanese to some extent, it probably doesn't matter to the average person how accurate the language in this game is to the time period. It's going to register to the ear as an asian foreign language and thus increase the sense of immersion in an exotic environment more than if they heard these characters speaking English.

If you play this in anything other than English then you should be ashamed! It's like people that played Sekiro in english...urgh! No!
Imagine playing Yakuza (like the ogs had) in english! TERRIBLE

Ooh kazuya nakai voicing Jin sounds badass. Perfect voice actor for him.

@Ralizah That is a good point.

Game: "Here's a trailer, packed with gorgeous visuals, in which you can understand everything being said!"

Me: "Excellent, thank you!"

Game: "Now watch it again in a completely foreign language, forcing you to constantly look down at subtitles and away from the expressive emotions we've animated into characters' faces, destroying your immersion and investment in the story and distracting you from the outstanding graphics! Don't even think about how similar subtitles will likely pop up during the fast-paced, skill-based gameplay, further causing you to lose focus!"

Me: "Um, do I have to?"

Game: "No, but..."

Me: "Then let me stop you there, otherwise you'll talk yourself out of a sale. I can barely speak English as it is, so thank you for giving everybody a choice and let's leave it at that, shall we?"

Game: "Fair enough."

Authenticity Purists: "You're worse than Hitler."

If a game is set in a different country I like to play the game with the foreign dub where possible. One issue though is that sometimes the subtitles can be difficult for people to read. This is a problem I'm having with Shenmue III at the moment. The subtitles keep blending in with Ryo's clothes. I've had to take drastic action and change his t-shirt. These are desperate times.

Will definately do a playtrough with Japanase voice-over.

@Octane It might not be exactly the same, but the general speaking can be preserved with updated spelling and such. It’s like the difference between the King James Bible and a modern English translation.

As with Persona 5 I will playing GoT in Japanese 🙂✌🏽

For sure I will play Ghost of Tsushima in Japanese with english subtitles. Wouldn’t feel right playing in english for me personally. Same way I watch anime as well.

Y’all are weebs

@Jaz007 The King James Bible is a lot younger though, so the spelling is more similar to modern day English. The invasion of Tsushima took place in 1200; 800 years ago. Modern Japanese didn't exist, and they spoke their own language/dialect on Tsushima back then, so it's kinda impossible to get that correct, and pointless, since nobody can understand it anyway, spare for a historian or two.

Depends on the facial animations. If it's all captured with english speaking actors, so their lips move accordingly,.and then just dubbed in Japanese, then I might go with english. Or not. As a Dane, I grew up with subs because movies and tv shows always have been sub'ed here.

Zorro of tsushima