Posted July 02, 2015
Probably not a very common issue among English native speakers and maybe not that common among GOG games either, but this is actually my pet peeve. I've said it before, but I'm still baffled how many games just seem to take it for granted what language I'd want to play them in, without even asking me (because apparantly my operating system is the one to ask, not me, the player), and worse still if they don't offer me an option to correct their choice afterwards. It's either lazy/sloppy/cheap design or outright patronizing, and I don't know which is worse.
And I have to admit that this really ruins the games for me, in some cases. I've bought games and hardly ever played them afterwards just because I was so pissed off about not being able to play them in their original language but being forced to endure unpleasant combos of original voiceovers but German in-game text or even inferior German voiceovers instead. So even though it's not quite GOG related I thought it could be useful to have a thread that warns about games that do this, so that others know before buying and can make an informed decision.
Off the top of my head, these games I recently tried are all guilty of forcing your OS language on you:
- Castle of Illusion (no way to change language apart from messing with your OS settings)
- Ghostbusters: The Video Game (apparantly no way to change language apart from messing with your OS settings)
- Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Content Under Pressure (it's nice to have the voiceovers by German rapper Afrob, but I'd still prefer to also get access to the original voiceovers by Talib Kweli, thank you very much)
- Back To The Future - The Game (no way to change language apart from messing with your OS settings)
- The Wolf Among Us (at least the GOG version, apparantly, reported by thomas001)
- Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (in this one the language can be changed by a workaround, but I don't remember how, in any case no in-game or installation options for language)
- FATE (can be tricked into a language change in a very roundabout way, by overwriting all the files in your OS languages with files from the folders of your preferred language)
- Dust: An Elysian Tale (fix: if you rename your language folder, so that the game doesn't find it anymore, it defaults to English; apparantly there's no easy fix for playing in other languages than English or your OS language though)
- Tengami (the DRM-free version from Humble; the Steam version actually pays attention to Steam's language settings, unlike the other games above)
- Spore (only partially fixed by copying the files from the us-en subdirectory into the subdirectory for your local language; reported by Wishbone)
- Mushroom Men: Truffle Trouble (defaults to OS language without giving you the option to change it; even worse, at least the German translation is terrible, Google Translate quality, with no regard for grammar and making sense)
- Batman: The Telltale series (GOG, reported by Telika)
- Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days (apparently removed from stores, reported by Telika)
- Haimrik (GOG, reported by MarkoH01)
I'm sure there were more that I don't remember right now. Can you add to the list?
And I have to admit that this really ruins the games for me, in some cases. I've bought games and hardly ever played them afterwards just because I was so pissed off about not being able to play them in their original language but being forced to endure unpleasant combos of original voiceovers but German in-game text or even inferior German voiceovers instead. So even though it's not quite GOG related I thought it could be useful to have a thread that warns about games that do this, so that others know before buying and can make an informed decision.
Off the top of my head, these games I recently tried are all guilty of forcing your OS language on you:
- Castle of Illusion (no way to change language apart from messing with your OS settings)
- Ghostbusters: The Video Game (apparantly no way to change language apart from messing with your OS settings)
- Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Content Under Pressure (it's nice to have the voiceovers by German rapper Afrob, but I'd still prefer to also get access to the original voiceovers by Talib Kweli, thank you very much)
- Back To The Future - The Game (no way to change language apart from messing with your OS settings)
- The Wolf Among Us (at least the GOG version, apparantly, reported by thomas001)
- Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (in this one the language can be changed by a workaround, but I don't remember how, in any case no in-game or installation options for language)
- FATE (can be tricked into a language change in a very roundabout way, by overwriting all the files in your OS languages with files from the folders of your preferred language)
- Dust: An Elysian Tale (fix: if you rename your language folder, so that the game doesn't find it anymore, it defaults to English; apparantly there's no easy fix for playing in other languages than English or your OS language though)
- Tengami (the DRM-free version from Humble; the Steam version actually pays attention to Steam's language settings, unlike the other games above)
- Spore (only partially fixed by copying the files from the us-en subdirectory into the subdirectory for your local language; reported by Wishbone)
- Mushroom Men: Truffle Trouble (defaults to OS language without giving you the option to change it; even worse, at least the German translation is terrible, Google Translate quality, with no regard for grammar and making sense)
- Batman: The Telltale series (GOG, reported by Telika)
- Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days (apparently removed from stores, reported by Telika)
- Haimrik (GOG, reported by MarkoH01)
I'm sure there were more that I don't remember right now. Can you add to the list?
Post edited August 05, 2018 by Leroux