How Context Shaped the Voices — JP Translation Case Study

The premise

When an AI model translates 30,000 lines of dialogue, how much does it matter that you tell the model who is speaking, when, and how that person speaks?

Two AI-assisted Japanese fan translations of The Thaumaturge exist. The first one shipped in 2024 — the mod that let Japanese players actually play the game. The second, mine, followed in 2026, built on a pipeline that gives the model a per-character voice profile, a maintained glossary, and per-scene context for every line. Same English source text, two different philosophies. This page lays them side by side, character by character.

The framing throughout: this is not "the new one beat the old one." The earlier mod shipped the first usable JP translation of a game that had none. The AI tooling moved a long way in the months between the two releases. This page is an honest accounting of what that progress made possible.

39named characters with voice profiles

30,000dialogue lines under that discipline

8characters featured below

What a "voice profile" is

For each of 39 named characters, before any line of theirs was translated, I wrote a small structured description and handed it to the model alongside the line itself: their first-person pronoun, the sentence endings they use, their register, how they address the player character, their personality in a few sentences, their relationship to foreign-language code-switching tags. The model then translated each line knowing who was about to speak.

As a concrete example, here is the actual profile written for Ligia, the protagonist's younger sister:

Multiply that by 39 character profiles. But the character profile is only one of the four layers the pipeline gives the model alongside every line. The other three matter just as much:

A setting profile. 1905 Warsaw under Russian occupation, multilingual (Polish/Russian/French/German/Latin/Yiddish all live in the source text), partition-era political tension, period-correct vocabulary expectations. This is how the pipeline knows to write 「一八九一年」 (kanji digits) on a tomb instead of 「1891年」, 「衣装箪笥」 instead of 「ワードローブ」 for a 1905 gentleman's wardrobe, 「製鉄工」 instead of 「鉄鋼労働者」 for a period ironworker. Without a setting profile, the model defaults to modern flat Japanese, and the world stops feeling like 1905.
A maintained glossary of in-game terms. So 「魔術師」 vs 「ソーマタージ」 vs 「神秘術師」 doesn't drift across 30,000 lines. So an item called bibuła reads as 「地下出版物（ビブワ）」 every time it appears, not as 「パンフレット」 here and 「印刷物」 there. The glossary is updated by the pipeline as new terms are settled on, then re-injected into every subsequent translation.
Per-scene context. Who is in the room, what just happened, what the speakers want from each other in this moment. This is how the pipeline knows that Skalon is in cop mode (儂 + 貴様) at the police station but in formal-social mode (私) at a ball — same character, two different scenes, two appropriate registers.
A running memory of how each character has spoken in earlier scenes. So Wiktor's 僕 doesn't suddenly become 私 in act 3, and Wanda's 〜じゃないか closing rhythm holds across her entire arc.

None of those four layers is in the source string itself. All of them shape the rendering. The character profile is the layer this case study foregrounds because it produces the most visible per-line differences — but the setting profile is doing comparable work in parallel, and the comparisons in the variety section at the bottom of this page are mostly the setting profile speaking, not the character profile.

Below, the same approach examined character by character. For each: the voice profile in narrative form, then four to five paired lines (English source, the previous mod's rendering, the new one) where the difference is visible.

Wiktor — the first-person pronoun decides everything

The player character. A bookish, sardonic young thaumaturge in his late twenties. His profile pins down: 僕 (never 俺, never 私), だ調 declarative endings, prone to interior reflection. His pronoun matters because the un-profiled translation defaulted to 私 — the gender-neutral, slightly formal "I" that AI models reach for when they don't know who is speaking. 私 makes Wiktor sound like a polite stranger talking about himself; 僕 places him as a specific man, with a specific class background, talking in his own voice.

When 私 quietly turned a misreading into a serious one

Lead with the most consequential single example in the entire dataset.

EN: Wait, wait… I think he's the one who ripped me off yesterday… JP (Prev): 待って、待って...昨日私を犯したのは彼だと思う... JP (New): 待て、待て……あいつ、昨日僕から金をふんだくったやつじゃないか…… English "ripped me off" is a colloquial idiom meaning "scammed me" / "took my money unfairly." Read literally, though, "ripped" can suggest violent tearing — and that is the reading the un-profiled rendering took, choosing 「犯した」, which in Japanese reads unambiguously as rape. Wiktor — a man — ends up appearing to accuse another man of having raped him the previous day. The voice profile didn't fix this directly; what fixed it was the surrounding pipeline knowing who was speaking, what scene this was, and what register Wiktor uses (待って→待て, 私→僕). Once that scaffolding was in place, the model had enough context to pick the correct sense of the idiom. Voice profiles aren't only stylistic polish; they prevent catastrophic misreadings.

Wiktor reflecting on the family photo

EN: Our family portrait… I can remember when it was taken. The year was 1884, and Ligia and I were nine years old at the time. JP (Prev): 私たちの家族写真…いつ撮ったか覚えています。1884年で、当時リギアと私は9歳でした。 JP (New): 我が家の家族写真……いつ撮られたものか覚えている。1884年、リギアと僕は九つの頃だった。 Long introspective monologue, the kind a man would think to himself in front of a photograph. 「9歳でした」 is grammatically correct Japanese but reads like a school-essay entry. 「九つの頃だった」 reads like a man remembering. Same with 「私たち」→「我が家」, and the consistent shift from 〜です to 〜のだ across the whole paragraph. One paragraph of internally consistent voice instead of a flat polite gloss.

Pushing back on a political accusation

EN: How can you be sure that I am not a socialist? Socialist ideals are close to my heart. JP (Prev): 私が社会主義者でないとどうして断言できるのですか?社会主義の理想は私の心の奥深くにあります。 JP (New): 僕が社会主義者じゃないと、なぜ言い切れる?社会主義の理想は僕の心に近いものだ。 Wiktor is being told what he is by someone who has no business doing so. 「断言できるのですか」 is formally deferential — the rendering of a young man speaking up to authority. 「なぜ言い切れる」 is peer-equal challenge. Wiktor in this scene is not deferential to this interlocutor, and the profile knows it: he speaks across the table, not up at it.

A typical line, just to show the baseline shift

EN: I don't think so. I think he also wants me to follow him. JP (Prev): そうは思いません。彼も私について来てほしいと思っていると思います。 JP (New): そうじゃないと思う。彼は僕にも、後をついてきてほしいんだ。 Nothing dramatic happens in this line. Just the baseline 私→僕 plus a small restructuring into more natural Japanese word order (〜と思っていると思います → 〜んだ). Multiply this kind of small shift across thousands of lines, and the cumulative effect is that Wiktor sounds like a person rather than a translation surface.

Three first-person markers in a single emotional line

EN: Lie to you? Me?! Would I ever lie to you? JP (Prev): あなたに嘘をつくの？私に？！私があなたに嘘をつくことある？ JP (New): 君に嘘を？僕が？僕が君に嘘なんかつくと思うのか？ In a single line, three first-person markers all shift, plus the second-person あなた→君 (closer intimacy register), plus the rhythm rewrites itself. This is the compounding effect — once one piece of context is in place, it cascades.

Ligia — the relationship the line is happening inside

Wiktor's younger sister. Sharp-witted, educated upper-class Warsaw, drops French phrases. The profile pins: 私, 〜よ・〜わ used sparingly (no stereotyped 〜わよ heaps), and crucially, how she addresses Wiktor — 兄さん casually, ヴィクトル in confrontation, お兄様 mockingly-formal. That last field changes how she sounds in every line where she speaks to him.

あなた → 兄さん

EN: I meant the people who stand in your way. JP (Prev): あなたの邪魔をする人たちのことを言っています。 JP (New): 私は、兄さんの行く手を阻む人たちのことを言ったのよ。 The clearest illustration of what relationship-aware translation does. The English second-person "you" gives both versions the same starting point. The profile-aware version knows the speaker is talking to her brother — so 「あなた」 (generic you) becomes 「兄さん」. The non-profiled version cannot make that move because nothing in the source string itself tells the model who is being addressed. Plus 邪魔→行く手を阻む (more literary), and the closing 〜のよ that lets emotional content sit in the line.

When the whole sentence rearranges itself for natural Japanese rhythm

EN: God knows how I feared for you. JP (Prev): 私がどれだけあなたのことを心配していたかを神は知っています。 JP (New): 神様だけがご存知よ、私がどれほど兄さんのことを心配したか。 This isn't just a vocabulary swap — the entire sentence is restructured. The English (and the literal version) leads with the subordinate clause; the profile-aware version leads with the emotional core (「神様だけがご存知よ」) and explains afterwards. This is what voice-aware translation looks like at the syntax level, not just the vocabulary level.

Gratitude, in a sister's register

EN: I'm glad you're helping the University. It means a lot to me. JP (Prev): あなたが大学を助けてくださって嬉しいです。私にとってとても嬉しいです。 JP (New): 兄さんが大学を助けてくれて嬉しい。私にとって大事なことなのよ。 Same content, two registers. 「とても嬉しいです」 is grammatically fine but slightly stiff — the polite repetition reads as if the speaker is at arm's length. 「私にとって大事なことなのよ」 carries actual emotional weight because it's letting 〜のよ do the closing work. The first version sounds like a stranger thanking another stranger; the second sounds like a sister thanking a brother she has known her whole life.

Sister's concern

EN: I care about your safety more than anything else. JP (Prev): 私は何よりもあなたの安全を心配しています。 JP (New): 私は何より、兄さんの安全を大切に思ってるのよ。 Short, clean, and shows 〜のよ doing the emotional work that 〜ます can't. 「心配しています」 reports a state; 「大切に思ってるのよ」 stakes a claim.

Educated, but not clinical

EN: Ever since I got back, Konechkin has been watching me or meddling with my business. JP (Prev): 私が戻って以来、コネチキンは私を監視したり、私の事に干渉したりしています。 JP (New): 私が戻ってきてからずっと、コネチキンは私を見張ったり、私の仕事に首を突っ込んだりしているのよ。 Educated upper-class Ligia would not say 「干渉する」 (clinical, official-document register). She would say 「首を突っ込む」 (vivid colloquial idiom). The profile told the model she's spirited, not bureaucratic; the un-profiled version stays in administrative language.

Rasputin — the line as incantation

The mystical, paternal-archaic Russian monk. The profile pins: 儂 (with occasional 我 for high-rhetoric beats), 〜のじゃ / 〜であろう endings, addresses interlocutors as お前 / 我が子よ, biblical cadence. Period vocabulary: 罪なき者, 救うた, 施す. Of all the characters in the cast, Rasputin is the one where the per-line difference is the most dramatic, because his voice is the work he does. Spoken in modern flat Japanese, he sounds like hospital reception. Spoken in 〜のじゃ / おる, he sounds like a man who could put you under a spell with three sentences.

Three voice markers in one passage

EN: I meant I don't know if I'm able to help you. My gift is something I've received from God. Some I have helped, others, I can't say… JP (Prev): 私があなたを助けることができるかどうかは分かりません。私の才能は神から受け継いだものです。 JP (New): 儂が言うたのは、お前を救えるかどうか分からぬということじゃ。儂の力は神より授かったもの。救えた者もおれば、そうでなかった者もおる…… 儂 + 言うた (archaic past) + 分からぬ + じゃ + おる, all in a single passage. The single best per-line demonstration of what register does in this dataset. Same information transmitted, two completely different speakers transmitting it.

The hypnotic incantation

EN: Focus on my voice… You are safe. As long as you can hear my voice, you are safe. JP (Prev): 私の声に集中してください…あなたは安全です。 JP (New): 儂の声に意識を向けるのじゃ……お前は安全じゃ。儂の声が聞こえている限り、お前は守られておる。 This is Rasputin doing his actual work — mesmerism on a patient. The rhythm of 〜のじゃ / 〜じゃ / おる creates a literal incantation. The flat polite version reads like a customer-service script. The voice profile is the difference between "Rasputin's mystical power" and "polite hospital staff."

A sermon, not a polite refusal

EN: Give it to the needy — your riches mean nothing to me. JP (Prev): それを困っている人に与えなさい。あなたの富は私にとって何の意味もありません。 JP (New): それは貧しき者に施すがよい。お前の富など、儂には何の意味もないのじゃ。 Substantive vocabulary shifts, not just particles. 「困っている人」 → 「貧しき者」 (period biblical vocabulary); 「与えなさい」 → 「施すがよい」 (archaic imperative form 施す + permissive がよい). Same gesture — refusing a rich man's money — in two different centuries of Japanese.

Period vocabulary across an entire list

EN: Even without my powers, I can tell that hope is bringing people here from all three Partitions. Miners, steelworkers, governesses, maids, speculators, thieves… JP (Prev): 私の力がなくても、希望が3つの分割から人々をここに連れてきていることがわかります。鉱夫、鉄鋼労働者、家庭教師、メイド、投機家、泥棒… JP (New): 我の力を借りずとも分かる。三分割地のすべてから、希望が人々をここへ運んでおるのじゃ。鉱夫、製鉄工、家庭教師、女中、相場師、盗人…… Notice how the entire list shifts together. 「鉄鋼労働者」 → 「製鉄工」 (period word for ironworker); 「メイド」 → 「女中」 (period word for housemaid); 「投機家」 → 「相場師」 (period word for stock speculator). Not just first-person shifts; the whole vocabulary inhabits 1905 when the model knows it's writing for Rasputin's voice. Note also the slip from 儂 to 我 here — Rasputin alternates between his grandfatherly and his scriptural-imperial mode, and the profile permits both.

Biblical certainty

EN: But I'm sure we saved an innocent soul because God is with me. I have the power to heal. JP (Prev): しかし、神が私と共におられるので、私たちは罪のない魂を救えたと確信しています。私には癒す力があります。 JP (New): だが我は確信しておる。罪なき魂を救うたのだとな。神は我と共におられる。我には癒しの力がある。「我」 in scriptural-formal register; 「救うた」 (archaic past); 「罪なき」 (literary). A short, scriptural cadence. Closing line for Rasputin's section.

Wanda — class lives in the particles

The household servant. Has known Wiktor and Ligia since they were children, scolds them like a third parent. Profile: あたし, 坊ちゃん when affectionate, 〜さ / 〜じゃないか / 〜ってば endings, working-class blunt-but-warm. Comparing her lines is one of the clearest demonstrations that Japanese class register lives almost entirely in the closing particles — not in the content of what's being said.

A "date" with the sound of crumbling tyranny

EN: With pleasure. Just us and the sounds of a crumbling tyranny would be the perfect date. JP (Prev): 喜んで。私とあなたと、圧制が崩れる音。完璧なトライストのようですね。 JP (New): 喜んでね。あたしらと、崩れ落ちる暴政の音だけ。完璧なデートじゃないか。「トライスト」 is a literal romanization of the English "tryst" — a word essentially nobody in Japanese uses. The profile-aware version reaches for the natural word ("デート") and lets the closing 〜じゃないか do the working-class warmth. Plus 「私とあなた」→「あたしら」 (informal contraction). One line that shows both vocabulary modernization AND class register working in step.

Eight characters, total class shift

EN: Keep your hands away from me. JP (Prev): 私から手を離してください。 JP (New): あたしに触らないでおくれ。「〜ください」 is polite-distant standard. 「〜でおくれ」 is period working-class warmth — the form an older domestic worker would use to push back at someone she has known their whole life. Eight characters of Japanese; the entire class of the speaker shifts.

Working-class wisdom dressing-down student revolutionaries

EN: It's not my fault you're playing revolution here. That play comes at a price. JP (Prev): あなたがここで革命を演じているのは私のせいではありません。このような楽しみには代償が伴います。 JP (New): あんたたちがここで革命ごっこしてるのは、あたしのせいじゃないよ。お遊びには代償がつきもんさ。「革命を演じている」 → 「革命ごっこしてる」 — the diminutive 「ごっこ」 is a devastating editorial sneer ("playing at revolution"). 「楽しみ」 → 「お遊び」, 「伴います」 → 「つきもんさ」. Wanda is dressing down student revolutionaries, and the voice puts decades of life experience behind the line. The flat-polite version sounds like a contract clause; the profile-aware version sounds like an older woman who has watched young men play at politics before.

A sentence-level restructure, not a word-level swap

EN: I would prefer that you lose all interest in me and my evening plans. JP (Prev): 私の好みは、あなたが私や私の夜に興味を持たないことです。 JP (New): あんたには、あたしや今夜の予定への興味を全部失ってもらいたいんだけどね。 The first version is structurally calque-of-English: 「私の好みは…ことです」 mirrors "What I'd like is for you to..." word-for-word. The second restructures into natural Japanese implied-imperative ("〜してもらいたいんだけどね"). A sentence-level shift, not a word-level one.

Wanda is competent, not deferential

EN: I'll gladly sort them out myself. JP (Prev): 私自身で喜んで整理させていただきます。 JP (New): そいつらの始末は、あたしが喜んでつけてやるさ。「整理させていただきます」 is the language of a humble shop assistant offering a service. 「始末はつけてやるさ」 is the language of someone who is fully capable of doing a hard thing and is letting you know that. Wanda is competent. The profile knows that.

Madame Samira — intimacy through formality, not against it

The salon proprietor. Knowing, in-control, slightly Eastern flair. Profile: わたくし, 〜ですわ / 〜かしら / 〜でしょう endings, addresses Wiktor as ヴィクトル様 / あなた (intimate-but-distant), drops French freely (preserved with the <fr> tag in original Latin script, never transliterated to katakana), very_formal_feminine. Her voice is interesting because it shows that intimacy in Japanese can be carried through very formal forms, not against them — a salon hostess flirts in 〜ですわ.

Three voice markers in a single line

EN: Will you tell me my fortune, <fr>madame</>? JP (Prev): 私の運勢を占っていただけますか？、<fr>マダム</>？ JP (New): わたくしの運命を占ってくださるかしら、<fr>madame</>? わたくし + かしら + foreign-tag preserved in Latin script (the <fr>madame</> kept as Latin characters, where the un-profiled version transliterated to katakana マダム and lost the typographic distinction the engine's foreign-language tag exists to mark). Three markers in a single line.

Knowing salon hostess, not Wikipedia entry

EN: <fr>Madame</> Samira can see more than others. She's the one who made Sara realize her thaumaturgist nature. JP (Prev): マダム・サミラは他の人よりも多くのものを見ています。サラに自分の奇跡論的な性質を気づかせるのは彼女です。 JP (New): <fr>Madame</>サミラは、他の人より多くを見通せましたの。彼女がサラに自分のソーマタージとしての本性を気づかせたのですわ。「奇跡論的な性質」 (a literal calque of "thaumaturgic nature" through "miracle-theoretic") becomes 「ソーマタージとしての本性」 (uses the established in-game term plus the more natural 「本性」). Plus the closing 〜のですわ rhythm. The first reads like a Wikipedia entry; the second reads like a knowing salon hostess letting a confidence drop.

Tentative emotional reveal, in salon register

EN: And it's not easy for me, but… I think I would trust him. JP (Prev): それは私にとってそう簡単なことではありませんが...私は彼を信頼すると思います。 JP (New): そして、わたくしには容易ではないけれど……あの方なら信じられそうですわ。「彼」 → 「あの方」 (formal third-person reference befitting Samira's salon manners); 「信頼すると思います」 → 「信じられそうですわ」 (intimate-tentative ですわ). The intimacy comes through the register, not against it.

A hostess gently correcting a guest

EN: You're the one who doesn't trust me. JP (Prev): まだ私を信用していないのはあなたです。 JP (New): わたくしを信用しておられないのは、あなたの方ですわ。 Even when matching the basic structure, the voice markers (わたくし + 〜ておられない + ですわ) make it sound like a hostess gently correcting a guest, not a peer pushing back.

Surprise, in salon style

EN: <fr>Madame</> Samira, what a surprise! JP (Prev): <fr>マダム</>サミラ、驚きました！ JP (New): <fr>Madame</>サミラ、なんという驚きでしょう! 「驚きました」 is functional past-tense shock. 「なんという驚きでしょう」 is theatrical-exclamatory in salon style. Plus the Latin-script <fr>Madame</> preserved again. A short example, useful as a closing.

Skalon — the bullying cop register

The brutal Tsarist commissioner. Profile: 俺/儂 mix depending on context (formal social spaces vs barking at subordinates), 貴様 to civilians, contempt baked into the imperatives. The profile permits a deliberate within-character register shift — he uses 私 in formal social settings (introducing himself at a party) but switches to 儂 + 貴様 + rough imperatives the moment he's in cop mode. That's not inconsistency; that's a real police officer code-switching between his uniform and his civilian self.

Five characters of difference, total register shift

EN: Then get out of my sight. JP (Prev): じゃあ私の前から消えてくれ。 JP (New): なら、儂の前から消えろ。「私の前から消えてくれ」 is polite-imperative — sounds like a tired bureaucrat. 「儂の前から消えろ」 is raw command. Five characters of Japanese; total register shift.

Four voice markers in one short line

EN: What do you want? You're supposed to keep order, not bother me. JP (Prev): 何がしたいの？秩序を保って、私に迷惑をかけないで。 JP (New): 何用だ?貴様は秩序を守るのが仕事だろう、儂を煩わせるな。何用だ + 貴様 + 儂 + 煩わせるな — four voice markers in one short line. The flat-polite version lifts a weak imperative; the profile-aware version puts boots on, in voice.

Class contempt at a party

EN: Yes, as we all are. It's just that some are indispensable for the tsardom, and others, like you, act as a backdrop at parties. JP (Prev): はい、私たち全員がそうです。ただ、中にはツァーリ国家に欠かせない人もいれば、あなたのようにパーティーの背景として機能している人もいます。 JP (New): そうだな、皆そうだ。ただ、ある者は皇帝にとって不可欠であり、貴様のような他の者は宴の背景でしかない、いうだけのことだ。「あなた」 → 「貴様」 thrown at a party guest is genuinely insulting in Japanese — it carries the contempt that English smoothed into "you." Also 「機能している」 (clinical) → 「背景でしかない」 (cutting). Same content; different person speaking.

The institutional voice

EN: I understand… The situation is under control — my best men are keeping you safe. JP (Prev): 分かりました。…状況は制御されています。私の最高の部下があなたを安全に守っています。 JP (New): 理解した。…状況は掌握している。儂の精鋭が貴様らの安全を守っている。「最高の部下」 → 「精鋭」 (military-period vocabulary); 「制御されています」 → 「掌握している」 (the verb a commanding officer would actually use). The institutional vocabulary that comes with the rank, when the profile knows what he is.

Even when his daughter is hurt, the rough register holds

EN: Their magic hurt my daughter, but not only her. Let's leave it. JP (Prev): 彼らの魔法は私の娘を傷つけましたが、…そのままにしておきましょう。 JP (New): 奴らの魔法は儂の娘を傷つけた。それだけではない。だがこの話はやめておこう。 Even when Skalon talks about his hurt daughter, the rough register holds (奴ら / 儂の娘 / 〜だ) without losing the emotional weight underneath. The flat-polite rendering softens what should be a barely-contained anger.

Lazarev — the same uniform, a different voice

The cold spymaster. Also Tsarist apparatus, like Skalon — but the profile sets him in a completely different register: 私 / 儂 mix, 〜ぬ archaic negative, 貴様, 〜である closures, archaic-formal Okhrana operative tone. Crucially, mystical loyalty to Rasputin (refers to him as 「あの方」, never just 「彼」). Skalon and Lazarev are both Russian state officers; they sound nothing alike, only because the profile told the model that one is a brawler-in-uniform and the other is a fanatic-priest-in-uniform.

The rallying threat — sword-of-judgment fanatic, not low-paid bureaucrat

EN: Rasputin will never forgive you. And when he returns, he will reward me for bringing you to justice. For I am his hammer that crushes witches! JP (Prev): ラスプーチンはあなたを決して許さないでしょう。…なぜなら私は魔女を打ち倒す彼のハンマーだからです！ JP (New): ラスプーチンは決して貴様を赦さぬ。…私こそ、魔女どもを打ち砕く、あの方の鎚なのだからな! 「許さないでしょう」 → 「赦さぬ」 (archaic negative form, plus the kanji 赦 carrying the religious-judgment register that the standard 許 does not); 「彼の」 → 「あの方の」 (Lazarev's mystical-loyal third-person reference for Rasputin); 「ハンマー」 → 「鎚（つち）」 (Japanese kanji for hammer, biblical-judgment vocabulary). Lazarev sounds like a sword-of-judgment fanatic; the un-profiled rendering sounds like a low-paid bureaucrat reading from a script.

One word, total register shift

EN: I did what I did. It needed to be done… JP (Prev): 私はやるべきことをやった。やらなければならなかったことだ… JP (New): 私はやるべきことをやった。せねばならんかったのだ…… 「やらなければならなかった」 (modern flat) vs 「せねばならんかった」 (archaic-militaristic). One auxiliary phrase, total register shift.

Devotional fatalism

EN: It's not for me to guess his intentions. JP (Prev): 彼の意図を推測するのは私の仕事ではありません。 JP (New): あの方の意図を推し量るのは、私の役目ではない。「彼の」→「あの方の」 (Lazarev's reverent address pattern), 「推測する」→「推し量る」 (more thoughtful verb), 「仕事」→「役目」 (role/duty, more period). Lazarev is devoted to Rasputin; the un-profiled version makes him sound like a polite functionary describing his job description.

Reaching for the natural Japanese idiom

EN: What am I, blind? I can see he's a magician, but he's not the one. JP (Prev): 私は何、盲目なの?彼が魔術師なのはわかる、でも、彼は魔術師じゃない。 JP (New): 私の目が節穴だとでも?魔術師なのは見ればわかる。だがこの男は探していた相手ではない。「節穴」 (literally "are my eyes peepholes?") is a vivid Japanese idiom for accusing someone of treating you as blind — the natural rendering of the English "Am I blind?" rhetorical. The flat literal version 「私は何、盲目なの?」 lands as awkward direct translation; the idiomatic version makes the line work as a Japanese sentence.

Three thuds, no soft particles

EN: There are no coincidences in Rasputin's plan. I was looking for you, and I found you. JP (Prev): ラスプーチンの計画には偶然などありません。私はあなたを探していました。そしてあなたを見つけました。 JP (New): ラスプーチンの計画に偶然などない。私はお前を探していた。そして見つけた。 Clipped, declarative, no soft particles. Three sentences, three thuds. The polite past 〜ました repeats in the un-profiled version, softening the menace into mild courtesy. The profile-aware version uses 〜だった/〜た cleanly. A closing line.

The Skalon ↔ Lazarev pair is the cleanest demonstration in this case study of what voice profiles do at scale. Two characters in similar uniforms, both servants of the Tsarist apparatus, end up sounding completely distinct only because the profile told the model how each one talks. Without it, both would have collapsed into "polite middle-aged Russian official" — and the cast would have lost two of its most memorable contrasts.

Stanisław — the father as a line of fathers

Wiktor's father. Imperial-archaic register, addresses his son as お前, uses 〜ぬ negatives and 〜のだ / 〜である closures. The voice profile lets the model read Stanisław not as "a modern dad" but as the bearer of a line of fathers — an old-Polish patrician with all the weight that brings.

Cold father, lecturing his heir

EN: You've never grasped the science of spotting the perfectly obvious. Can you still not see?! JP (Prev): あなたは、明らかなものを見分ける科学を一度も理解したことがありません。まだ見えないのですか? JP (New): 明々白々のものを見抜く術を、お前は遂に身に付けなんだ。今もまだ見えぬのか！「明らかなもの」→「明々白々のもの」 (period-formal); 「科学」→「術」 (avoids modern Western connotation, period-correct — "science" used loosely in this line means "the discipline of, the art of"); 「理解したことがありません」→「身に付けなんだ」 (archaic 〜なんだ closure); 「見えないのですか」→「見えぬのか」 (negative-archaic). The flat-polite version reads like a polite-distant tutor; the profile-aware version reads like a god-emperor disappointed in his heir.

An archaic insult lands harder

EN: You'll lose, idiot! You always do. You're even losing against yourself. JP (Prev): 負けるよ、バカ！いつもそうだ。自分自身にも負けている。 JP (New): お前は負けるのだ、愚か者め！いつもそうだ。己自身にすら負けておる。「バカ！」 (modern casual) → 「愚か者め！」 (period-archaic, much heavier); 「自分自身」 → 「己自身」 (archaic reflexive); 「負けている」 → 「負けておる」 (古い continuous form). Same accusation; two different centuries.

When the closing particle changes the entire weight

EN: …You have so many Flaws already — what use do you have for one more? JP (Prev): …あなたにはすでに欠点がたくさんあるのに、さらに欠点を一つ増やす意味がどこにあるというのですか？ JP (New): …お前にはすでに数多の「欠点」がある。これ以上、何の役に立つというのだ? 「たくさんある」 → 「数多の」 (literary quantity); 「のですか」 → 「のだ」 (declarative-final). The father isn't asking; he's pronouncing. One sentence shows how the closing particle changes the entire emotional weight: 〜のですか asks; 〜のだ pronounces.

"My father's way" vs "the way of fathers"

EN: Then you reject what was meant for you. You reject your father's way. JP (Prev): そして、あなたは自分のために定められたことを拒絶するのです。父親のやり方を拒絶するのです。 JP (New): ならばお前は、お前のために定められたものを拒む。父の道を拒むのだ。「父親のやり方」 (modern-parental locution — "the way Dad does things") → 「父の道」 (ancestral, with the Confucian register of "the Way of the Father"). The father here isn't the speaker's modern dad — he's the bearer of a line of fathers, one inherited path among generations. The profile carries that weight.

Triple-archaic in a single accusation

EN: You can't see, but can you at least hear? You're weak, stupid, and blind! JP (Prev): 君は見えないけど、少なくとも聞こえるかい？君は弱いし、愚かだし、盲目なんだ！ JP (New): 見えぬのなら、せめて聞こえるか？お前は弱く、愚かで、目が見えぬのだ！ A triple-archaic sequence (お前 / 〜ぬ / 〜のだ) in a single accusatory line. A punchy mid-section example.

Beyond dialogue — the same approach across the rest of the game

The character spine is what carries this case study, but the same context-aware pipeline shaped the rest of the text too — ability tooltips, in-world readables, codex entries, item descriptions, achievement names. One example per category, briefly, to dimension the pattern out.

Ability names — a word-sense disambiguation, just like Wiktor's first line

EN: Stunning Combo JP (Prev): 素晴らしいコンボ JP (New): 失神連撃 "Stunning" in this name means stun-inducing (a combo that inflicts the Stun status), not "impressive." The un-profiled rendering took it as the praise word and produced 「素晴らしいコンボ」 ("excellent combo"). The pipeline knew the surrounding context — abilities that apply combat statuses — and disambiguated to the correct sense. Same kind of small word-sense choice as the Wiktor 「犯した」 → 「ふんだくった」 line. Different stakes, same mechanism.

A 1905 tomb inscription — matching the genre, not just the words

EN: Here lies Jan Chmielec, our dear friend, / In 1891, he met his end. / What he is now lies deep below. / What he was, ask not. JP (Prev): ここに、私たちの親愛なる友人、ヤン・フミエレツが眠っています。 / 1891年、彼はこの世を去りました。 / 彼が今どうなっているかは、心の奥深くに眠っています。 / 彼がどんな人だったかは、(問わないでください) JP (New): ここに眠るは我らが友、ヤン・フミェレツ。 / 一八九一年、その生涯を閉じる。 / 今あるは、地の下に深く伏す。 / かつてあった姿は、問うことなかれ。 This is a poem on a 1905-Warsaw tomb. The flat-polite rendering reads it as polite prose ("ここに、…が眠っています" — the kind of sentence you'd find on a museum placard). The genre-aware rendering writes it as an actual epitaph: 「ここに眠るは…」 (period inversion), 「一八九一年」 (kanji digits for the year, period-correct on stone), 「〜なかれ」 (archaic imperative for "do not [ask]"). Same content, two completely different objects in the world.

A codex entry — the period vocabulary fits the period

EN: We got to the Tsarevich's birthday ball, got our bearings and, drawing barely any attention, made it to the emperor's private chamber. We managed to convince him to support our demands… JP (Prev): 私たちは皇太子の誕生日パーティーに忍び込み、状況を把握した後、ほとんど注意を引かずに皇帝の私室にたどり着きました。私たちは彼に私たちの要求を支持するよう説得することに成功しました。 JP (New): 我らはツェサレーヴィチの誕生日舞踏会に潜入し、状況を把握し、ほとんど注目を引くことなくツァーリの私室にたどり着いた。彼を説得し、我らの要求への支持を取り付けることに成功した。「皇太子」 (modern generic crown-prince) → 「ツェサレーヴィチ」 (the actual Russian-imperial title for the Tsar's eldest son); 「誕生日パーティー」 → 「誕生日舞踏会」 (a 1905 Russian imperial party would be a 舞踏会, not a パーティー); 「皇帝」 → 「ツァーリ」 (matching the rest of the game's vocabulary); 「私たち」 → 「我ら」 (literary first-person plural). Plus 〜ました → 〜た throughout, fitting Wiktor's journal-entry voice. Same paragraph, completely different period.

Inventory item — period vocabulary inside a label

EN: Dark pewter pants are an indispensable part of every modern gentleman's wardrobe. JP (Prev): ダークピューターパンツは、現代の紳士のワードローブに欠かせないアイテムです。 JP (New): 濃いピューター色のズボンは、現代の紳士の衣装箪笥に欠かせぬ一着である。 Five vocabulary shifts in one short sentence. ダーク → 濃い (Japanese for dark color); パンツ → ズボン (the period word for trousers; modern Japanese 「パンツ」 also commonly means "underwear" — a problem for an item label); ワードローブ → 衣装箪笥 (period Japanese for "wardrobe-as-furniture"); アイテム → 一着 (the proper counter for a piece of clothing); 〜です → 〜である (essayistic register matching item-description prose).

An achievement name — preserving the joke by preserving the form

EN: Not My Clay, Not My Problem JP (Prev): 私の土じゃない、私の問題じゃない (問題に関与したくない) JP (New): 我が粘土にあらず、我が問題にあらず The un-profiled rendering translates the line literally and then adds a parenthetical explanation (「問題に関与したくない」 = "I don't want to get involved") — translation by exegesis. The profile-aware version preserves the parallel structure ("Not my X, not my Y") and uses 「我が…にあらず」 (archaic-negative form) so the achievement reads like a folk maxim. The joke survives because the form survives.

The same kind of context-aware shifts run through tutorial text, status descriptions, glossary terms, character bios, newspaper articles, and item flavor text. Roughly 60% of the mod by line count is non-dialogue text; the per-line lift on each is small, but cumulatively the world the player wanders through reads like 1905 Warsaw rather than like a modern UI translated into Japanese.

One related case study sits next to this one: What Polish Taught Us — a source-language audit of the same JP mod against the original Polish text. Same pipeline, different question: how much did the English intermediate quietly lose between Polish and Japanese, and how much could be recovered by going to the source?

What this looks like in aggregate

The pattern across all eight characters is the same: the source text doesn't change, but what the AI knows about who is saying it does. The earlier mod treated the corpus as flat dialogue (and that was a reasonable approach for the tooling available at the time); the new one treated each line as belonging to a specific person with established speech.

The line-by-line difference is small. Cumulatively, over 30,000 lines, it isn't. By the time a player has heard Wiktor say 僕 a thousand times and Wanda say あたし three hundred and Rasputin close a sentence with 〜のじゃ another hundred, the cast feels like distinct people instead of variations on a default voice. The Skalon-vs-Lazarev pair is the cleanest single demonstration: same uniform, completely different voice, only because the profile told the model how each one talks.

The cost of the pipeline is upfront: writing 39 voice profiles, building a glossary, threading per-scene context. The benefit is per-line, and it doesn't show up in any single sentence; it shows up in the aggregate experience of moving through the game and feeling that the people in it are actually different people.

Mod state at time of writing: v1.2.4 (the current release). This version also normalized 45 foreign-language tag entries (<fr>, <ru>, <ar>, <yd>) to keep the original Latin / Cyrillic / Hebrew script inside the tag instead of katakana — a quiet QA sweep that fell out of writing this case study.

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