Koji Fox talks Final Fantasy localization, from FFXI’s trial by fire to FFXVI’s English-first script

Square Enix localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox used an Otakon panel to look back on his work across Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, and Final Fantasy XVI, with a lot of focus on how much the job has changed over the years.

Fox, who many fans know from Final Fantasy XIV events and streams, said his Square Enix career started with Final Fantasy XI after years teaching English in Hokkaido. His first big lesson came quickly: direct translation wasn’t enough. The goal, he said, was to preserve intent while making the English text actually work as entertainment.

That became especially clear on FFXI, where he worked under Richard Mark Honeywood and ran into characters like Shantotto, whose rhyming, alliterative dialogue made the localization process much harder than a simple word-for-word pass. Fox said the team’s in-house setup mattered because translators could ask writers directly when context wasn’t clear.

On Final Fantasy XIV, Fox said localization had an unusually broad view of the original 1.0 version because it touched quests, items, battle text, UI, and story. That also meant the team could see pieces not coming together before launch. He stressed that nobody was trying to make a bad game, but the project was already too far along by the time those issues became obvious. The later arrival of Naoki Yoshida and the rebuild into A Realm Reborn gave the team something to rally around.

Fox also talked about his work with composer Masayoshi Soken, including lyrics and vocals that eventually helped lead to The Primals, the official Final Fantasy XIV band featuring Soken and Fox among its members.

Final Fantasy XVI was the biggest shift. Fox said Yoshida wanted English to be the primary language for the game, which was unusual for Square Enix. The localization team worked from an early Japanese script, adjusted pacing and flow for English, then reviewed those changes with writer and creative director Kazutoyo Maehiro. English voice recording, motion capture, and facial capture came first, with the Japanese version following that lead.

Fox also said he suggested Jill’s surname, Warwick, partly to distance the character from Resident Evil comparisons after hearing the names Clive and Jill. After FFXVI shipped, he worked on the recently released Final Fantasy XVI Lorebook Logos, including letters written with returning voice actors Ben Starr, Stewart Clarke, and Christopher York.