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General Discussion / Honey Bee Inn beta version video

« on: 2010-01-29 07:50:30 »

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DA5RrgIFPw

This appears to be an unused version of the Honey Bee Inn lobby, deleted from all except the original Japanese version of FFVII. Very interesting. I have yet to attempt a translation of the dialogue, and I don't think my Japanese skills are up to it. But there it is. I didn't discover or record this; I came across the video by way of Unseen64.com.

Frankly, I like this version a bit better than what we got.

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General Discussion / Re: Information Shinra - Attempting to make sense of FF7's English translation

« on: 2009-07-25 04:51:50 »

There must be a japanese script out there....

I've been using this site, which seems to include the full script (may not include all the dialogue branches though):

http://rosquare.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ff7p-index.htm

Anyone still interested?

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General Discussion / Re: Information Shinra - Attempting to make sense of FF7's English translation

« on: 2009-03-04 19:15:01 »

Have you played Crises Core?

Because in CC,
*SPOILER ALERT*
_{Zack had fallen through the Church roof too the first time she met him, and might have also claimed he was a jack-of-all-trades (although I can't remember).
It would explain why Aeris was giggling, recalling the coincidental similarity of what had happened last time someone fell through the roof.}
*SPOILER ALERT*

See, I suspected that too. But that brings up the question of whether the creators had that in mind for Zack and Aeris' first encounter when the original FF7 was written. After all, Crisis Core came out over ten years afterward. Still, it does make sense. 

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General Discussion / Re: Information Shinra - Attempting to make sense of FF7's English translation

« on: 2009-02-21 03:27:01 »

I just went over the dialogue for the scene where your party first meets Vincent. This was a prime example of how the shaky translation made an already confusing plot all the more puzzling:

After Cloud updates Vincent on the Sephiroth situation...

Vincent: Sephiroth knows he was created five years ago? And about the Jenova Project?

This makes no sense, as Sephiroth was definitely not created five years before. Even if we're still under the mistaken impression that Sephiroth was artificially produced, Cloud had been a fan of Sephiroth's since he was nine years old. And Vincent knows all to well the truth about Sephiroth's origins.

What he originally says is something along the lines of,

Vincent: Sephiroth learned the secret of his birth five years ago? About the Jenova Project?

This makes more sense. Five years ago wasn't went Sephiroth was born, it was when he discovered the "truth" about his creation and went crazy.

Vincent mentions Lucrecia, Sephiroth's mother. Cloud reacts by saying he thought Jenova was Sephiroth's mother. Vincent replies,

Vincent: That's not entirely incorrect, but it's just a theory.

Bzzzt! It seems like they confused "theory" and "metaphor".

それは……間違いではないがひとつのたとえなのだ

The best I can make of this is:

"That is...not entirely incorrect, metaphorically speaking."

It's not a theory; Vincent knows exactly where Sephiroth came from.

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General Discussion / Re: Information Shinra - Attempting to make sense of FF7's English translation

« on: 2009-02-21 01:44:05 »

The Mysterious "Highblow ST"

An unused bit of text refers to an item called "Highblow ST", which doesn't seem to exist in the game. It actually does; this is what Vincent's Supershot ST is called in the Japanese version (although I think it's supposed t  be Highbrow ST). This line of text was probably removed once they decided on the name change. See, sometimes they do try to get it right!

Other Item Oddities

-Red's "Spring Gun Clip" is supposed to be a "Spriggan Clip".

-Not a mistranslation so much as an unfortunate omission: The full name of Cid's "Scimitar" in the original was "Seiryuu Scimitar" - Seiryuu as you may know is one of the four suu-ling in Chinese astrology; he is the Blue Dragon representing the direction East and the season of Spring. The suu-ling (Seiryuu, Byakko, Genbu, and Suzaku) are frequently referenced in JRPGs/Anime, including the original SaGa/Final Fantasy Legend and Fushuugi Yuugi.

-The "Touph Ring" / "Tough Ring" gaffe hardly needs to be mentioned. Ditto "Fourth Bracelet"/ "Force Bracelet".

-Again, not translation errors, but I've always been curious as to what an "Edincoat" is, or a "Ziedrich".

6

General Discussion / Re: Information Shinra - Attempting to make sense of FF7's English translation

« on: 2009-02-21 01:26:37 »

The Aeris - Aerith debate will probably rage forever. Personally, I think Aeris sounds better, even though it seems Aerith is the "official" translation. Aerith sounds too much like you're thpeaking with a lithsp.

That said, I'd prefer if this thread didn't just become an Aeris vs. Aerith argument; there are far worse things to be fixed about the translation. =P

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General Discussion / Information Shinra - Attempting to make sense of FF7's English translation

« on: 2009-02-20 21:43:13 »

By now, we've gotten official retranslations of many classic RPGs; other than a few minor corrections on the PC Version, FF7's spotty translation has never gotten such a treatment, and it definitely needs it. Although my translation skills are highly rudimentary and I rely heavily on Jeffrey's Online Japanese Dictionary, I've been trying my hand at some of the more cryptic translations in the game. I've also listed a few that make more sense when you read Cathy Okada's old-but-excellent translations of certain key scenes, which you can find at FF7citadel.com. Her translations are astoundingly accurate when you remember that the US version hadn't even been released yet. So here I go, any help from more able translators would be greatly appreciated.

Note: I haven't included such mistakes as "This guy are sick", which are simple grammatical errors. It's still clear what they were trying to say.

Hojo: The mother is strong, yet has her weaknesses.

This line, delivered by Hojo during a meeting of the Shinra brass as they discuss using Aeris to find the Promised Land, has always bothered me. I wondered if it was a case of using the wrong tense, since Ifalna, Aeris' mother, is long dead at this point. Here's the line in the original Japanese:

母は強く……そして弱みを持つ

My best estimate: [Her] mother [particle: wa] stubborn...therefore weakness [particle] has.

I translated "強く" as "stubborn", rather than "strong". Also notice "そして", which means "therefore", not "but". It's a cause-and-effect relationship. Does he mean "Her mother was stubborn, so she'll have the same weakness"? At the time, they were talking about crossing Aeris and Red XIII to produce a sample capable of withstanding long-term research. Something along the lines of "if she is as stubborn as her mother, she'll be useful"? Like I said, I'm not the best translator. Any help?

"Right this way poo....I mean, sir."

Spoken by the bee girl that shows you to a room in the Honey Bee Inn. This confused me for a while, and she says the same thing in the Japanese version. As best as I can figure, she was going to say "pooch", a nickname given to Cloud by one of the girls in the makeup room. I suppose because he looks like a lost puppy. It makes as much sense as anything else in that scene.

Aeris: Sorry, bad timing on my part
It's not so much this line that confuses me, as what Aeris is laughing at in this scene. Cloud falls through the roof, they talk, Cloud says he's a jack-of-all-trades, then Aeris starts giggling for no readily apparent reason. Here's the scene in Japanese, if it helps.

クラウド
「俺はクラウドだ」
「仕事は……
　仕事は『なんでも屋』だ」

エアリス
「はぁ……なんでも屋さん」

クラウド
「なんでもやるのさ」

Presumably I'm missing something here. The scene seems to read about the same in English and Japanese.

Reeve: Not the President, to Sister Ray!
  Scarlett: Reeve, you talk funny!

This didn't make much sense to me until I read Cathy Okada's translation. As she explains, Reeve himself speaks in a formal dialect, whereas he uses a less-formal one when speaking through Cait Sith. It seems like they <I>tried</I> to reflect this in the English version by having Cait Sith occasionally speak in a sort of southern accent (I'm not even taking the Scottish accent he had in Advent Children into account), but because of the inconsistency of that translation, he only does this once in a while. On that scene on the Highwind when WEAPON is attacking Midgar, Barrett and the others realize Caith Sith is really Reeve because, in the chaos of the moment, Reeve slips and speaks like Caith Sith to Scarlett/like Reeve to Barrett. This didn't translate at all in the English version, which is a shame because it's pretty funny.

Received Tincture (Fort Condor battle reward)/Last Elixer!(Great Glacier)

It's obvious which items these are meant to be, although I think it's interesting that the translators were considering using Ted Woolsey's translation for Ether (see FF3us). These messages, along with many other inconsistencies in the translation, have me convinced that the English script was worked on in fits and starts by different teams who didn't talk to each other.

More to come next post.