Localization butchering the game is not new:
- https://twitter.com/iuntue/status/1416860287240654850?s=20
- https://boundingintocomics.com/2021/07/08/neo-the-world-ends-with-you-localization-changes-script-to-insert-anti-capitalism-dialogue-line/
However, as SC points out, the results are even worse than initially expected with numerous screenshot comparisons.
As a fan of the series I bought this game as well 2 weeks ago but haven't opened it can i return this? . Oh god the translations are horrible and so immature. And "cultural appropriation" ? fuck off. . Are we seriously going to have to start creating fan translations of these games or do i have to learn Japanese and get the original one?
I would recommend learning Japanese if you're a fan of the original works, in either case. Luckily I did that before woke translations were a thing and when Chinese or Korean media were still pretty much irrelevant. If I were to start now, I wouldn't be so sure.
Why not?
It's just a personal general (and likely not very popular) impression, but the Japanese 'weeb' culture and its influence have been declining for years while the Chinese seem to understand what made it popular and are increasingly able to not just pull off cheap imitations. At this rate, as more original works come from the region, in the next years it might even start becoming attractive to learn Mandarin (from an utilitarian perspective it already is, putting aside possible dystopian futures).
When I started learning Japanese more than 20 years ago due to my interest in Japanese-only games and visual novels, as well as prior exposure to tons of anime and manga, Japan dominated what came out of Asia to the West, and the country was culturally very strong.
I'm still strongly biased towards Japanese media, but nowadays circumstances are different I'm not sure if younger generations in the West are culturally influenced from it like I was many years ago. So, to answer the question, if I was 20 years younger today, I don't know if I would be motivated enough to learn Japanese from scratch.