Seifer is trying to (as I've gathered) maintain every reference and name concept from the original, even if that means that English speakers will have to do more googlizing.
Aka he is preserving and protecting the original culture instead of turning it into English/American bullshit. I know that both Seifer and I are tired of Americans and Englishmen raping other cultures, you loose so much information if you change what doesn't sound cool in english into something that sounds cool but degrades the story or the characters.
I think all of you fanboys and girls should look at your game, and find what square has taken from other cultures and look more into the source material. When they made Final Fantasy VII or came up with it. They were picking parts from every great work of fiction or religion that exists. Midgard for example is a direct ripoff of the world of humans in norse mythology. If you break down Midgard you get Middle garden. Garden could be translated to world. So it's the world in the middle. The world between Asgard, (the world of gods) and hell.
And that is what they call the big city. The midgard zolom is something that the translators just dumbed down. Because the audience (Americans and Canadians) wouldn't see the connection between midgard and the midgardsorm. Midgardsorm is Midgards orm...orm is the word for snake or serpent in swedish. Making the literal english translation Midgard's serpent. Midgards zolom which may sound cool isn't the right translation.
Also If we break down Midgard, midgardsorm. Becomes the serpent of the world. That is the great snake Thor couldn't lift because it circled around the entire world. You should not dumb something down because the target audience can't understand it. Final Fantasy VII is a perfect example of raping cultures and mythology to cash in money fast. Hardly a work of art, it's a good game. Fun to play etc, but if you are not a 12 year old american. And a part of one of these other cultures that the japanese in this case raped. It's very offending.
What the japanese basically did, they toook the great stories from norse...hindu...christian and nature religions. Made a drama out of it, featuring villains dressed as goths and heroes being emos. Put in the average schoolgirl into it, made a cute puffy little marhmellow. Dressed the characters so they would appeal to the target audience...12-17 year olds...probably a bit higher. This is something you can't see, Final Fantasy VII isn't a original piece of art. It's a money sucker...
What makes the game great is what it rips off. The whole lifestream idea is a direct ripoff of some tribes religion living in the fillipines. I don't remember exactly, Sephiroth is a direct rip off of the angel Lucifer that was banished from Paradise by god. And wants to overthrow god and become a god himself. (Now you all know where they got the angel wings from.) Many many names has been taken directly from norse religion. For example Alfred, who I read in Seifers list of changed names. Isn't really a english name at all. I think Seifer already know this.
Alfred is a viking name. That could be broken down into All fred. Meaning all peace, maybe not what Square was looking at when they made the character. But still it's a example of something the english culture has indeed taken from the norse culture. The whole idea about Jenova, the name itself is taken from christianity. The alien idea isn't very original but it's something the american culture has spewn out. And it's not such a big deal maybe...Allien comes to my mind. And it makes sense as well, I think 2-3 of the alien movies were made just before they made Final Fantasy VII.
A coincidence, no it's not. They were movies popular at the time, and Square stole it. With sephiroth they have ripped of Frankensteins monster as well. And Dracula with Vincent. It's amazing how in every part of the game you can see traces from about every religion and culture in the world. Nanakati and the little mountain village they took from the Native american indians. The pyramid that the black materia is stored in. Again something they stole from Mayan/Egyptian culture.
If you look at the big cratar, which is suppose to represent hell. And lucifer on the last plane, Cloud IS VERY SIMILAR TO Dante. Dante too lost his wife because of his sins, and he wanted revenge on lucifer and traveled through hell to reach and kill lucifer and free his wife. Exactly what Cloud is trying to do. Sephiroth is not a original creation, or villain. No american created work of fiction is very original at all.
I can go on forever, so many things they ripped of making this game. I want all fanboys/girls to understand this. Final Fantasy VII is a game that has ripped of most of the epic stories of the world. Combined it with fashion and cute emo boys and school girls. To make it appeal to the target audience....btw why do you think Final Fantasy VIII takes place on a school?
When Seifer is translating or correcting the games original creation. He doesn't just make the game better. He also is giving better credit to the cultures the original creators of the game ripped of. Making it possible for maybe some fanboy or girls out there to discover some work of fiction that is even greater than the abomination that is Final Fantasy VII.
Yes personally I think Final Fantasy VII is a mess. But I give credit for Seifer for continuing on the translation. And fixing the errors that is in it. So at least what the original creators made makes sense not only sounds cool. You should stop talking shit on Seifer because he is changing what your bible sais. Your bible...as bad as it is. Is in need of some fixing. You should be grateful for him fixing it. If I would be Seifer I would not even post it here.
I encourage you to go out and find better art or create art yourself. Religion is a waste of time as is Final Fantasy VII. Maybe I should not be too harsh on you, I mean Final Fantasy VII contains so much religious and mythological references that it's probably very easy to become a believer...but remember you won't live forever. And any illusion what so ever is a waste of life. Even your lifes to some extent are illusions...but I won't completely slay you.
Just do me a favor and thank Seifer for making this translation ok??