It's rumored that East isn't exactly happy with West for some of these excessive changes, so to speak but... that's nothing that I can speak to confidently, nor do I really want to. My only wish is that we can eventually get localizations that make every effort to be faithful to authorial intent.
It's something of an open secret amongst FF fans in particular who speak both languages that SE NA is notorious for this. (Recall that parts of the English version of VII Remake had to be retconned in preparation for Rebirth b/c of actual narrative discrepancies that were too severe to gloss over.)+
1) A great many westerners do indeed not understand what goes into localization beyond mere translation, and can wax *incredibly* petty based on this ignorance. 2) Bad localizations or those taking way too many liberties with story beats, philosophy & themes, or characterization do in fact exist. +
Saw some discourse on JP->EN localization over on Twitter, and decided I'll weigh in here...where it's safe(r). 😅 My sister, who has a very good friend who works for the NHK, dug into this once, and based on the feedback she got, there are two things that are concurrently true: +
...I emphatically deny the first part of this statement. The second part, I refuse to address without a lawyer present. 😆
Both are very good boys. 🐶
The game goes out of its way to have Clive emphasize to us that Barnabas was Ultima's eager, willing tool, but the way some folks talk, you'd think the former was nothing but the latter's hapless, unsuspecting victim w/ little self awareness & a desperate desire to reclaim his humanity. Headcanons.
I know I've said it before, but I swear it's like people's brains leaked out of their ears when they got to the Interdimensional Rift. (And don't get me started on how much woobification happens with Barnabas in service of forced Ultima hate. The intellectual dishonesty is astounding.)