Daily Debate: Should the Adventure Log in Breath of the Wild Have Been Localized from Link’s Perspective?
Posted on September 07 2018 by Michaela El-Ters
In the English release of Breath of the Wild, Link’s Adventure Log tracks the main story quests and side quests while also logging information about enemies and creatures, and it’s written to benefit the player. The writing style is in the third person and reads more like an in-game player’s guide rather than an adventure log recording Link’s adventures from his perspective. Several months after the game’s release, it was discovered that in the Japanese publication of the game, however, the Adventure Log is written like a diary from Link’s point of view.
For example, one of the logs in the English Adventure Log can be read as follows:
“You’ve visited all 13 of the locations shown in the old pictures and recovered the associated memories of your days with Princess Zelda.”
The Japanese version, meanwhile, is translated like this:
“I finished visiting all 13 of the locations in the old pictures. I remembered everything I’ve been through together with Princess Zelda.”
You can read more of the translations here, but this really changed my perception of the Adventure Log when I realized that it’s Link’s personal accounts of his adventures, showcasing so many sides of his personality and interests, ranging from silly puns to thoughtful introspection. Because of how much it added to his character and showed how he retained much of the same, recurring personality traits found across all of Link’s portrayals, it’s disappointing that the English localization didn’t maintain its diary-esque qualities. I feel that it would have greatly enhanced his character in Breath of the Wild and potentially balanced out his portrayal in his Recovered Memories where he’s mostly expressionless and serious. For me, the English localization did a disservice to Link as a character by robbing him of his thoughts throughout his journey in the Adventure Log. But what do you think? Do you like the English localization, or do you feel it could have been better from the first person perspective? Let us know in the comments!
Michaela El-Ters is a Senior Editor for Zelda Dungeon. She is also an Senior Writer for Boss Rush Network, and writes blogs and streams games on Objection Network. Her favorite Zelda game changes with the seasons, but the series as a whole is near and dear to her heart.
