Final Fantasy 15's incredible Spanish localization

I noticed that the Spanish versions of FFXV make several creative decisions that set them apart from English. But I couldn't find mention of this anywhere so I've spent some time compiling a bunch of noteworthy changes to share. Espero que les interese!

El don Lux

The most prominent change in the Spanish versions is that Noctis's hereditary powers are in Latin. It's called "the gift of Lux" and every teleportation-related ability has that title. I checked, and this is unique to the Spanish versions of the game. Not even the original Japanese does this even though the main characters's names are Latin in every language. It's a truly inspired choice that's canon as far as I'm concerned - it adds to the light vs. dark themes, it sounds much cooler, and it's literally Noct's family name (Noctis Lucis Caelum).

Every gift of Lux and its lame English equivalent:

Español	English
Lux Impetus	Warp-Strike
Lux Itineris	Point-Warp
Lux Evasio	Warp Out
Lux Mortis	Warp-Kill
Lux Contra	Death Drop
Lux Fatua	Warp Decoy
Lux Custodia	Impervious
Lux Vigilosa	idk but it's real i swear

El Coro Espectral

The weapons that Noct robs from the tombs of his ancestors are collectively called "the Spectral Chorus" instead of "the Armiger." And the group attack when you press L1 + R1 twice is called the "Spectral Nova" instead of the "Armiger Chain." The English names are accurate I suppose, but the Spanish names are more poetic.

What's more, each individual weapon is named after the monarch that it belonged to. I don't know where these names come from because they're not mentioned anywhere else in-game, I think? This is also unique to Spanish. Other languages give the weapons wordy names that are more of a description, really.

Every Royal Arm (spoilers!)

Español	English
Salomón	Sword of the Wise
Deva	Axe of the Conqueror
Vaiu	Bow of the Clever
Jano	Swords of the Wanderer
Iaksa	Blade of the Mystic
Fukuryu	Star of the Rogue
Goliat	Sword of the Tall
Galatea	Shield of the Just
Ragnar	Mace of the Fierce
Bautista	Scepter of the Pious
Vajra	Trident of the Oracle
Beatrix	Katana of the Warrior
Caelum	Sword of the Father

The titles for these monarchs are different too, but I want to highlight the three associated with Prompto, Ignis, and Gladiolus in particular. In Spanish the connections make perfect sense, but in English they really don't (What's clever about Prompto? When does Iggy ever wander? Gladi is tall tho I'll give you that)

Español	Translated Spanish	English
el Diestro	the Dexterous	the Clever
el Inquieto	the Anxious/Fretful	the Wanderer
el Indómito	the Indomitable	the Tall

Juegos de Palabra

In English, some quests rhyme while most have generic titles. In Spanish the opposite is true - every sidequest rhymes with few exceptions. Spanish added a great pun to diners too: you can order "Batidas de caza" from them which means "Hunting raids." It's pronounced the same as "Batidas de casa" meaning "Homemade shakes." The fact that chefs tell you to hunt monsters makes no sense in other languages.

Here's some more text changes that I think are improvements, funny, or otherwise cute:

Español	Translated Spanish	English
los Sidéreos	the Sidereals	the Astrals
la Sideralia	the Sideralia	the Hexatheon
la Santálita		the Crystal
la Chocoberiza	it's a play on Chocobo + stable	the Chocobo Post
Academia de Eos	Eos Academy	Tutorial
Álbum de Prompto	Prompto's Album	Auto-snaps
Caldo Curacrudas	Hangover-curing Broth	Quillhorn Soup
la Cocina de doña Quina	the Kitchen of Mrs. Countertop	Iron Shelf Recipes
Nocberto		Noct Gar

Also, it's adorable how the Pop camera filter is named the Prompto filter in Spanish and the Random setting is called "as much as Prompto wants" (al gusto de Prompto).

Also also, I like the Spanish description of Cid's hammer more:

Español	Translated Spanish	English
A quien ni a martillazos se le ablanda la cabeza	For someone whose head can't be softened even through hammer-smashings	Property of Mr. Hammerproof Thickskull

Errores

In Latin Spanish, the node that increases attack incorrectly says it increases health. Spanish Spanish doesn't have that mistake.

A more substantial error is the description for the healing nodes: both Spanish versions describe Gladiolus's nodes differently than Ignis's and Prompto's. That is, they say that Gladi will heal himself automatically when he's at low health, but Iggy and Prompto will heal only when they trigger an assist skill or when Noct commands them to attack. In English, all recovery nodes have the same description and they all say that the healing is automatic. I don't know which of these are correct but they can't all be.

But by far the most interesting mistake is the names these languages give to the Aztec bosses:

Español	España-ol	English
Quetzalcóatl	Quetzal	Quetzalcoatl
Mictecacihuatl	Cihuatl	Mictlantecihuatl

As you can see, Spain-ish abbreviated the names. But Nahuatl is a language like German in that its big words are composed of smaller words. So by chopping them in half, Spain changed their meanings entirely.

Here are all the relevant words:

Nahuatl	English
quetzalli	big, beautiful, green feathers
coatl	serpent
Mictlan	Hell
cihuatl	woman

So Quetzalcoatl means "Serpent of Beautiful Feathers" and Mictlantecihuatl means "Mistress of Hell." But in Spain those gods aren't the bosses you face. No, instead you fight against a pile of pretty feathers and some random woman LMAO

And if you're curious why the goddess of Hell has different valid names, that's because there are different dialects of Nahuatl and variations of spelling. El Gran Diccionario Náhuatl.

Español vs. Españaol

Besides Spain being wrong about Mexico, it also has different descriptions for all the lore. I skimmed it ngl so the only difference that stood out to me is that the havens from the endgame dungeons were made dry. They don't have unique names or poetic rhyming though they do in both Latin Spanish and English. Also for some reason, Spain calls the Bestiary the Database.

Spain is also weirdly specific for the outfits without jackets. English and normal Spanish simply label them all as (No Jacket) or (desabrigado) but Spain will specify (sin levita), (sin guerrera), (en camiseta), (sin casaca), (sin chaqueta), etc.

Otras Cosas

• The highest rank you can get after a fight in Spanish is ⭐. In English it's A+ and in Japanese it's S
• The main menu is in ALL CAPS IN ENGLISH but not in either Spanish
• In English, the text above each character's experience is "To Next Level: " and in Latin Spanish it's "Siguiente nivel" without a colon and in Spain it's "Nivel ⬆"
• Bandersnatch and Jabberwock are Zamarrojo and Galimatazo in Spanish. What are the hispanic names referencing? Beats me.

The date formats used in the Ω-files are wildly different:

Español	Españaol	English
24-10-745	Día 296, Año 745	M.E. 745-X-24th
25-11-745	Día 328, Año 745	M.E. 745-XI-25th

Finally, the line Noctis says to his bros in the last camping cutscene is more or less the same between these languages.

spoiler for the thing I just said

Español	Españaol	Spanishes Translated	English
Bueno... ¿Qué quieren que les diga? Chicos... Son los mejores.	Bueno... ¿Qué queréis que os diga? Tíos... Sois los mejores.	Well... What do you want me to say? Fellas... You're the best.	Well... What can I say? You guys... are the best.

I heard he's more affectionate in Japanese, but I don't know the language so if anyone could translate what he's saying, I'd much appreciate it!!!! Please tell me what he says in all the other languages too! I really want to know! If you've read this far and know Japanese, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, or Russian then I obligate you to tell me.