I'm working on a Fan Fiction that takes place thirty years after D

[Lord Mrakainus 0]

I stated on the Dragon Warrior Board, that I was working on a Fan Fiction of a series of events taking place about thirty years after the events of DW II, but I have a question that's nagging at me... which names should I use? Granted, I have played both versions, I played the NES long before the GBC version was released, but when the GBC version was released, and used the names that were closer to the original adaption then the NES names (Loto instead of Erdrick), a lot of people, namely at GameFAQs, suddenly started hating on the NES names. I grew up with the NES names, and in my original draft of the story, I decided to use the GBC names, as it was my intention to someday send the story to a website.

 

Long story short, the original program I was writing the story on, Student Writing Center, suddenly stopped working (probably because I upgraded to Windows 2000, and the Student Writing Center hardly worked on Windows 95), and after several rerformattings, my original document is long gone. However, I have always wanted to redo this fan fiction, and now I have some motivation to do it... however, one thing still nags at me, the names. Should I stick to the NES names, which I love, or the GBC names, which I'm tolerable with as well? Hopefully this poll will help me decide.

[Skitter the Scorpion 49]

Do the one YOU want, this is your fan fiction, after all.

 

But I'd prefer the NES names since it came first.

[Lord Mrakainus 0]

I was thinking the same thing myself, but then again, I did appreciate a few of the GBC names. However, I will always be under the thinking that Midenhall sounds cooler then Lorasia, that Cantlin sounds cooler then Mercado, and that Erdrick sounds a thousand times cooler then Loto. Just my thinking though, I did grow up with the NES Games in America.

[unabletowatchmits 2]

As long as you're not worried about readers who won't read a story simply because the names are "different" than what they're familiar with, you'll be fine with using the names that you like.

 

Pay attention to the personalities and aspects of the characters in your story, as it makes it that much easier for readers to recognize who is who, even if the names are different. (E.g. Which Prince can use magic? Is there a battle or event in your story that illustrates this, or is it told in the narration of another character describing him? Who is from the castle nestled in the woodlands, and who is from the castle that was turned into a wasteland in an attack?) You can think about how the these characters and places might come across to a reader completely unfamiliar with the game as an exercise.

 

You could always throw in a note beforehand, running down a list of the names of characters and places (NES vs GBC), and you shouldn't have to do anything more than that, to be honest.

 

Anyhow, good luck with the fan fiction!

[Lord Mrakainus 0]

Yeah, that sounds right to me gang. Good, I really did want to use the NES names over the GBC names.

[Striffen_Cloud 0]

I'd definitely say NES. but a few names that you think REALLY need to be changed you can go ahead and trade with their GBC counterparts.