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Weekly Loc Discussion: DEX or Dexterity, and more!
Salutations, Milletians! 'Tis your localization team, coming at you with a question that has caused much rumination, the sort that would cause one to tape a fake beard on their chin so they could stroke it as they pondered the issues at hand.
We recently held a meeting in which we discussed things we might do to shore up some standardization in Mabinogi's localization, and one of the big topics that came up was the way stats are represented in the game. Sometimes they’re abbreviated, sometimes they’re written out, and the inconsistency is driving us bonkers.
But maybe that's just a nitpick on our part; a flaring up of the editorial sensibilities. Maybe it's really a non-issue to you because you know what they mean and it doesn't negatively affect your game experience. But that's what we want to know! Do you think it would be a worthwhile endeavor for us to go in and standardize the way stats are written throughout the game? If we DID end up standardizing, do you have preferences as to whether to go with full names (Dexterity, Luck, Magic Attack), abbreviations (DEX, LCK, M. ATT), or some hybrid of the two? (Tangent: Strangely enough, I found that "Protection," despite being fairly long, had no abbreviation that was ever used for it in-game.) Keep in mind that the UI space in some windows might be limited.
Let us hear your take on this matter, and be on the lookout for more discussions like these in the weeks to come!
- The Mabinogi Localization Team
Comments
But not in the case where it'd cause the text to awkwardly have to wrap around to a new line or in the worst case get cut off due to space limits.
So I guess my vote would be for "Hybrid" because of that stipulation, but I really do prefer for it to be fully written out.
I agree with @Iyasenu that it's nice when things are fully written out; however, if it was awkwardly wrapped or cut off, abbreviations are best.
Personally, as long as it IS consistent, I wouldn't care which you go with.
Just...please make sure that Luck -> LUK, because I’ll otherwise keep wondering why I have so much Lick(LCK) on my character.
*Hybrid is an option*
*Long is an option, but it may cause issues*
Looks like it's kind of an easy answer, even if I prefer it written out, shortform is bestform.
Partial abbreviation where one has the option to either scroll over it or click on it to give a detailed explanation of the effects of their current stat.
And compound that with the effects of using skills.
That probably will be a lot of work though,
edit* just wanted to post this so it won't get overlooked: Lorna and Pan's 2nd title increases max damage, but it's listed as "M ATT" or soemthing similar.
Besides, other games abbreviate them out too so it shouldn't be that difficult.
Now when it comes to speaking in reforging terms? That's a whole new language.
Heck, it could all just be made up by tryhards. It probably is to be honest, but I can't understand a danged thing.
Also.. I could of sworn Protection was abbreviated as Prot. ? Kind of like in Magic Prot. .. OH like as it was never abbreviated.. ok ok I get it haha oof
The one thing the Loc team can do is to at least keep the abbreviated names consistent.
For example, call it "Magic Protection (M.PROT)" and always use "M.PROT" when there's limited space, instead of finding new and creative ways of shortening it every time.
(I love how Protection isn't shortened, that is strange)
How long should the abbreviations be? Sometimes Will is capitalised as WILL, as if it's an abbreviation like STR.
Four-letter abbreviations are common in Mabi, do four-letter stats really need to be made shorter?
What happened to shortening Stamina points to SP? I could have sworn that was a thing at one point.
Regarding Will: it makes more sense to me for it to be an abbreviation of willpower and consequently, if descriptions are going to be changed anyway, for the roll-over information to be made to reflect that (it currently says "Will").
The nature or connotation of the word "will", compared to that of the other stats, seems weak and out of place to me; having looked up its definitions only strengthened that feeling. Let me illustrate this:
When one says: "That person has strength/intelligence/dexterity/luck", it is an inherently positive statement, with a comparison being implied.
Going through its various definitions, the same doesn't apply to "will":
"That person has the independent faculty of choice." Yes, as does everybody else who isn't comatose.
"That person has conscious intent or volition." Yes, as does everyone else in any moment they make any decision.
"That person has a wish or desire." I'd like some ice cream.
"That person has a formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death."You get the idea. The only definition that makes sense for the stat is the one that means "determination" and even in that case "willpower", meaning "strength of determination", would be the better choice.
In short, please change the roll-over description of Will to refer to willpower and abbreviate the stat to WIL. Then abbreviate Luck to LUK so it adheres to the uppercase three-letter convention of the primary hard stats.