Atarlost wrote:Mayfair wrote:It's French. Just like they say frogs legs are delicious.
The problem is that to someone who doesn't speak French it just looks like bad spelling. In English writing foreign words are supposed to be italicized and only used where there isn't an English equivalent, usually for idiomatic phrases since if there really isn't an English term we usually plagiarize your lexicons until there is.
I'm not a native english speaker and french I don't speak a word. Also we all know Americans are notoriously bad knowing the right spelling for their own language, which I don't think is the same for English people or any others who natively speak english. What I'm trying to say I didn't know that many of us here would even mind a bit different spelling on a word people can't even properly spell.
A saphir/sapphire is a concrete noun for a well defined mineral with no real nuance to the definitions. There is no reason not to use the English term in the English localization of the game.
If DarkGod wishes to show patriotism through language insertion I would suggest using French terms where they do not appear to be misspelling to an English audience. Places where our ancestors chose to use the Anglo-Saxon term rather than the Norman.
I always love the mysterious sounding words, no matter what their origins. It adds a little touch in the games. Then again who are we to say Ancient Storm Saphir is or is supposed to be a sapphire? Especially if it's an artifact it could refer to a name and not an item, a bit like Stormlash instead of Storm Lash. There's an example of set-in-stone-name vs. proper spelling of the term.
Or having the Sher'tul speak French. I can't seem to complete the game with a non-antimagic character to use the staff for translation and I have a French-English dictionary floating around somewhere so that would be great.
That dude kinda looks like a slimy frog so it would be nice to have that french maid froglegs also speak french. I can imagine ToME getting voice acting in the future and how hilarious would it be to have him/her/it speak in french accent.
All in all I don't find Saphir in any way offensive. It has a sexy clang to it and doesn't need that much brain power to figure out what kind of item it is; even less so when reading the item description.
Stronk is a potent combatant with a terrifying appearance.