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Rosa: Deceptively Smart

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Rosa: Deceptively Smart Credit: Square Enix Rosa is, perhaps, a beacon of joy amongst female-writing in video games. Actually, so is Rydia. Actually, this entire game is great for female writing. Because sure, Rosa is the centre of a love-triangle, but how much of her dialogue is her cooing over the two men that go after her? How much of her character exists solely to prop up the male characters that surround her? Not much at all - and especially not for 1994 standards. In a word, I love her! So, what do the translation differences tell us about the differences and similarities between the Japanese and English Rosa? Well, unlike Cecil and Kain, she’s not all that different! But one thing that does stand out is that she really is deceptively smart. Let’s start with a little history lesson. Well, not so much history, really - but let’s talk about White Mages. The white mage, I think it’s fair, has never been associated with many smarts. Female, sure, often beautiful: ...
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Kain: The Shooting Star

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Kain: The Shooting Star (Credit: Yoshitaka Amano) Now I’m going to have to head this post off with a disclaimer: I love Kain. He’s the best. Kain > Cecil every day of the week. So yes, there may be some bias towards how awesome he is in this post but, interestingly, that does actually have a lot to do with the writing and translation. Let’s take a look, shall we? Shooting stars are full of passion and spirit and energy…. and then they fall as lumps of cold, hard stone. Kain, in a similar vein, is full of passion and emotion in the Japanese translation…. and is cold and often emotionless in the English version. I should say, there’s nothing inherently wrong with either: they’re two very legitimate styles of writing. But when we compare the two versions, it’s interesting to note the differences it builds up in his character - right from the start to the end. In the very early stages of the story, Kain and Cecil are ordered to go to Mist and, upon seeing the l...
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Final Fantasy VII Remake - A Brief Look at the Translation

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Final Fantasy VII Remake - A Brief Look at the Translation Credit: Square Enix Given the recent release of Final Fantasy VII - Remake-, I thought it was only natural that I’d start this blog off again with a small appraisal of the translation job in this game! Now it’s no secret that the original game had some… interesting translations. (‘you are sick!’, anyone?). But now isn’t the time for going into that. And I’m not trying to cast aspersions onto the original translators either - Final Fantasy VII is text-heavy, even by today’s standards, and I don’t know who those translators were and what the circumstances they were working in were like. Although, given the industry’s reputation back then, I’d expect it was probably with little resources and an even littler amount of time. So, I think it’s high-time that Final Fantasy VII got a new, polish translation and, my main take-away is: it's great! Of course, it’s time for a few disclaimers here. I don’t have full ...
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