User blog comment:Kogath/Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate for the Nintendo 3DS/@comment-5324971-20140720220025/@comment-5489419-20140722050148

Haven't posted here in a long, long while. While I understand people are really bent out of shape with some of the names, I'm going to go out on a VERY THIN LIMB, ONE THAT IS GOING TO CRACK AND FALL AS SOON AS I STEP ON IT:

Some people (I'm not going to group one or all of us together for the sake of the conversation going even more South) just don't want English names altogether. They are fairly used to watching Japanese anime, a very popular form of hand-drawn, animated television series, and thus are also fairly used to or even more attracted to Japanese-style names. I can understand that from the standpoint of the Japanese audience, or anime lovers, this is a great thing! For the Western audience, however, and for the people that are either not fond of anime or used to Japanese names, the localization team is doing their best to "Westernize" the wyverns' names to make it sound cool for us, too--and they're doing a great job at making names sound cooler for us Westerners. Nibelsnarf was no exception: I thought the name was more adorable than anything, yes, but I believe the name catered toward the adorable side of the leviathan than anything!

I, for one (and probably only), think "Nibelsnarfing" on names should be kept to a minimum. I'd rather praise their efforts in localizing Monster Hunter for us than just sending them mean comments on how their naming team "sucks" or that " is horrible." If you practice, you get better. If you say the name Najarala a few times, you can say it for the rest.

Gore Magala sounds relatively more sinister than Goa Magara. Zinogre was just the name I was hoping for when Jinouga was revealed. I don't even remember Brachidios' old Japanese name just because the localized one rolled much better off the tongue--likewise with Duramboros. These names are fine, and they are not a chore to say.

If there was a hulking monster in your neighborhood that everybody feared, that rose up from the depths of the sewers to prowl the nighttime streets for loose humans still roaming the sidewalks, and the monster was named Cutie-Patootie, would you stare the monster in the face and laugh at it as it charged you with its strong arms yanking its large body toward you, powerful jaw open with teeth bared? I don't think so! You would turn and run like the rest of us--and fear the carnivorous beast named Cutie-Patootie just as much as the world did.

I suppose that didn't drive much of a point home when it comes to video games (and you playing a man or woman unafraid of large beasts and dragons), but I think there's something to take out of it. It doesn't matter too much what the monster's name is as long as it's hard to fight and puts up that challenge, the same argument that fancy graphics does not equate to a great game. The name of the monster is just your opponent--the wyvern itself is your challenge, or the "meat and potato" of the game.

You are free to hate on this post, but I hope there is some okay-ish points in there that soften people up to these new names, as I'm tired of this "Ugh, " drivel. Even a "You know,  maybe isn't so bad!" would be great once in a while.