Wow, another grammar post. Well, I suppose there are some points to your argument, but I say that by 22XX, that's how the english language has evolved. Put it this way, at least it didn't turn out to be l33tspeak.

LOL

I said I'd do it for free, and I meant it. This issue is trivial at best.

None of you would do it for free.

I sure wouldn't, but given the extraordinary effort players put into mods, testing, and the like I'm quite sure a number of people would be willing, and happy, to do it for free. Some people have already rewritten the text for their own personal enjoyment (and to add much needed variety).

RODY it says "all your base are belong to us" i have a screenshot of it, and its not bad grammar or anything, thats the way it should be.

Actually, it is horrible grammar, and it also is how it should be, because it is based on an example of bad translation in an arcade console video game.

The way Universities are going, it won't be long now before your forum posts can be used to qualify you for your English Competency entrance exams. Better L33T than never at all, I guess.

I agree with Spathi. It is sloppy.

How do you put together an entire game (not an easy feat) and then make these common, silly errors time and time again?

I don't get all the hostility to improving the game in this thread. I too noticed the occasional misspelling and poorly worded sentence, and while it's hardly a game breaker there isn't really any reason *not* to fix it . . . I say this with as little egotism as possible, but some of us really do enjoy reading well-written text. Of course editing the text is a low priority task at the moment but what's the harm in pointing it out?

Also, any minor grammatical error's in Antharxis' original post aren't really relevant. . . The context of a forum post is completely different from that of a published game . . .

And yes, I completely understand that the general style of the game text is playful and conversational . . . I don't have issues with that at all. Who doesn't like "all your base"?

I myself had already considered sweeping through the game text files and cleaning things up a bit. For example, one passage that caught my eye the first time is the message the Drengin give when refusing to trade you military techs:

"As much as I like that offer, my overbearing advisors keep insisting that trading Weapon technologies over to the [YourEmpireName] wouldn't be prudent.I don't think it matters... I know how the warriors instinct works, and you [YourLeaderName] do NOT have a warriors' instinct, but unfortunately I have to say no."

The idea is fine, but personally I'd reword it a bit. Maybe something like this . . .

"As much as I like that offer, my overbearing advisors keep insisting that trading weapons schematics over to the [YourEmpireName] wouldn't be prudent. I myself don't think it matters. I know a fellow warrior when I see one, and *you*, [YourLeaderName], are no warrior. Still, I must decline your proposal for the time being if only to silence my annoyingly persistent counselors."

Yes, it's hardly a perfect grammatical specimen itself, but I at least think it's an improvement. The point is that it would be relatively painless to clean up the text like this, and doing so would make the game that much better.

I'm not suggesting that it be done now (or any time soon). The Stardock crew seems to be on fire recently with updating the AI and UI, and I definitely appreciate that. Still, there's no reason to dismiss other minor improvements that can be made sometime in the future . . .

Some pretty lame and repeated errors. Maybe SD should release a text-fix which is not part of a patch. This way people who feel the errors 'add flavor' acn choose to opt out.

None of you would do it for free. The amount of information you'd have to proofread would most probably discourage you. It's not a single-man job. It would probably take two to three people to revise eachother's work. I doubt any of you who criticized me have University degrees or work experience in the domain, so pipe down. "

I love how people with university degrees often think they're better than people without them. Get over yourself, you're not necessarily more intelligent or successful than anyone else. Why point out things the devs already know? Obviously they would realise that there are grammatical and spelling errors through playtesting. Really you're just beating a dead horse. (Oh yes that's right big, scary University person, I used an idiom, how common and typical of people like me who don't have a degree).

I doubt any of you who criticized me have University degrees

I have two undergraduate degrees, a B.A. and a B.S., a masters degree, and my JD. Do any of them satisfy you?

I for one disagree with Spathi, Striken and Skyjack. No one is perfect, ok ? Give Stardock a friggin break here.
Again I say the errors are miniscule in nature. Mispelling does what to the game? Nothing. IF it is that heinous to you, you can fire up a text editor and fix those files. Do I fault Stardock for errors like that? No. This is by far a game that is close to perfect, and I caveat this by saying compare it to its contemporaries and rivals. There are no huge bugs and definitely not any show stoppers. For God's sakes peoples you are arguing over spelling and grammar!

If it really bothers you that much, all the text in the game are moddable, go fix it. If you really want attention for yourself, you can post your fix for everyone else to use. Frankly, I don't see why people complain about this saying that it would be so easy for them to fix it, and yet even though it is just as easy for you to do it, you don't. That's just, what's the word for it? hypocritical.

Yes, the text in the game is spotty and unprofessional. We all notice it, and we've all already gotten over it. I think it was fair to make a post, though. This way the developers can see that it does make a difference, and it is noticeable, but we still want to play their game. No reason to hate the OP. Kalin is right too, we could mod it. I think a mod that replaces the game's text would be a great community project, myself. I actually thought of it before I saw this post. I wonder how we could get the ball rolling on something like that? We probably would need a dedicated thread in the Modding forum, for starters.

[Edit: Okay, thread started. Go to the Modding forum if you care to make a difference.]
=$= Big J Money =$=

While this is a valid issue, I see it as more of a pet peeve among some than a serious concern. I would describe my spelling knowledge as well above average and grammar as above average. While I'm not fit to be an English professor or even a professional proofreader, I must simply say that I have noticed very few of the errors either professional would and it has had no impact on my enjoyment of the game.

Well the bad grammar actually gives it that "original Japanese game" flavor Memories of my early Nintendo RPG's...

What I do find a bit annoying is the funny/careless descriptions of techs and ships. I mean they say things like, "This tech is way cool, and will let us, like, really go places!" or "I fight. That's what I do." I don't even read them anymore.

I think every professional game ought to have its spelling and grammar correct. I`m always impressed when I see this in a game. Baldur`s Gate II was one where the writer knew his spelling very well (with the odd error, but who doesn`t sometimes miss a letter?)

Also, the cheap shot of picking on the OP cos he spelt a word wrong or his grammar was incorrect, DOES NOT APPLY here. This is a FORUM, not a quality product being sold to others. The OP is NOT working in a professional manner here, he`s just POSTING a concern about the end product of GC II.

It may be a small point, but it does wonders for how a finished product comes across.

Reading the 1.1 change log (now in the journal section) they are adding in more text. I'm still going to bet the grammar won't be perfect...and this time we'll know it was done on purpose.

Our native language is Klingon.  Your Earth langues are strange and mysterious to us.

I know-who thought French would be a good language? Only French people speak it-and who wants to speak to them?!

He-he. Following this thread, I was immediately reminded of something I’d read in the user manual for another space exploration game called "Space Rangers".

The Game Publisher had come up with a brilliant excuse to cover the fact that the in-game text had been poorly translated from the Developers native language of Russian to English:


Future-Speak!
Space Rangers is set over 1,000 years in the future and you may find that when reading the in-game text that you come across terms or technology that you in the year 2005 are unfamiliar with. This is understandable, as even in the year 3300 there are people that do not fully appreciate why things happen! Additionally you may find that the language used, although it appears to be English, slightly odd. Again don't worry as in 2300 it was modified by the non-Earth races to make it easier for their translation software to convert.


Ironic, isn't it? Our children are being brought up on games like this today with bad grammar and spelling in them. Not to mention what it’s already like in the online gaming world.
Little Billy Ha><0r KillNooB D3@thMaster94 who knows how to spell the word “own” with the letter "p" will be writing the games for our grandchildren when he grows up. So 3000 years from now communications with aliens are probably going to be that bad anyway!

Hi, @Li3n dudesz i am form teh planet earht and we humanz Roolz becos were L337. Prepare to be pwned - Massage Endz.
p.s. LoL, RoFL, Muaaaaa-ha-ha, only kiddin m8 pleaz don’t kill us! (Too late – Humanity ends!)

To OP and others that agree with him:
How arrogant of you, to think everyone in the entire galaxy must speak in perfect english when only a very small part of this tiny planet use it?
Thinking like this is dangerous to us and our children.
So please stop.

Frogboy: "Our native language is Klingon. Your Earth langues are strange and mysterious to us."

Col. John "Hannibal" Smith: "I love it when a plan comes together!"

I doubt any of you who criticized me have University degrees or work experience in the domain, so pipe down.

[sarcasm] Yeah, most PC gamers are high school dropouts, and not very intelligent.[/sarcasm]

And who cares if I didn't write my post in revised English? This is just a dumb forum, not a University entry exam. Oh yeah! 'Misspelt' is acceptable too. Duh!

Well, it *is* quite ironic that you started a thread in which you complained about grammar and shared how amazing you are at editing the written language, but then type like those inferior and uneducated posters you mentioned.


"This is just a game, not a University entry exam."

Am I the only one who finds the hostility in this entire topic . . . disturbing?

To OP and others that agree with him:

I suppose this includes me . . .

How arrogant of you, to think everyone in the entire galaxy must speak in perfect english when only a very small part of this tiny planet use it?

It's an artistic matter really. Watch any movie . . . does anybody stutter or misspeak accidentally (as in not intended by the script)? It would be more realistic if they did, as none of us go a day without butchering one word or another. However, in a movie these everyday mistakes would distract us from the real substance being presented. As for the presentation in this particular game it's really a subjective matter. There’s no reason to take personal offense like many here seem to be doing . . .

This forum is a place where we identify and suggest improvements to the game, is it not? Some of us see a little rewording as a possible improvement. If Stardock never does it, fine. I'm not going to burn their offices down, and I'm certainly not going to stop enjoying the hell out of this game. I don't even think it's a remotely pressing issue. Still, I at least wanted to make sure that our suggestions were noted by people who are officially in a position to implement them.

Thinking like this is dangerous to us and our children.

That's funny, I was thinking the same thing about some other posts in here . . .

So please stop.

Will do. It's getting a little hot in here anyway, and I have more important things to attend to than spewing any more flames . . . important things like subjugating the galaxy planet by planet in order to send their inhabitants to grammatical reeducation camps of terror.

EDIT: I'm only talking about the "grammar nazi" issue here. I can see where some people may have been offended by other posts about university degrees and such. Still, please don't let that distract from the real point of the thread. This game is already the long awaited MOO2 killer, but since the Stardock team has expressed an interest in improving it further I'd love to see it develop into something even better . . . Something only GalCiv3 will be able to outdo .

EDIT2: You rule Frogboy . . .