SPOILERS LTD Remake — It's like New Coke except ... no, it's exactly like New Coke

[eleamaya]

@LunarTarotGirl I dont like Cloti too, lol. Slow burn and the childhood friends things aren't my taste, and Tifa? She's cool but not my preference so how could I be invested to that pair. But, LS sequence show me how Cloud is hopeless romantic, like... well, he loves Tifa, period. Nah, I usually love that trope, guy who is hopeless romantic. So, I think it changes my mind... I mean, I'm sucker for tragedy and/or tragic romance, that's why CA is more appealing to me, thus I insist "Well, Cloud loves both", and this is before I swifted to ZA.

If based on the OG alone, I can see how he got where he got in writing ZA (I'm also pretty sure Matsuyama took stuff from the early dev notes too that weren't fleshed out in-game), but I still feel like the approach wasn't the best. He didn't have much to work with. The CC chapter story passages he did are better-ish.

To me, Matsuyama still Anti-ZA lol. In the section you mention, he wrote "They attract to each other by mutual feelings similar to friendship, because they’re both juvenile, if you call it love…" which CA love to use it. This is funny while in the interview section, Nojima mention that "Although I call it romantic love (恋愛, read: ren'ai), the two are still young..." So, I prefer how the official call them, budding romance, blooming relationship.

 

[eleamaya]

Btw, folks

［インタビュー］PC版「FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH」がついに配信開始。北瀬Pと浜口Dが語る，リメイク第2弾の魅力とPC版ならではの特徴

　スクウェア・エニックスは本日23：00，PC版「FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH」の配信を，SteamおよびEpic Games Store にて開始する。今回，2024年2月末にリリースされたPlayStation 5版に対する反響や，PC版の特徴，そして3作めの進捗といった気になる部分を，プロデューサーを務める北瀬佳範氏と，ディレクターの浜口直樹氏に聞いた。

www.4gamer.net

4Gamer:
　Do you ever think, "I didn't mean it that way"?

浜口氏：
　いやぁ……。それはあります。とくに翻訳が入ることによって，ニュアンスが変わったりしますからね。
　例えばクラウドの母親のセリフで，「あんたにはねぇ……ちょっとお姉さんで あんたをグイグイ引っ張っていく そんな女の子が ぴったりだと思うんだけどね」というものがあります。日本語で要約すると，「クラウドは，積極的なガールフレンドのほうが相性がいいと思う」みたいなニュアンスなんですよね。
　ただ，海外版ではそこまで詳しく翻訳されていなかったので，このセリフについて海外のメディアから質問を受けたんです。そのときの私の回答が翻訳されてニュアンスが変わってしまった結果，「クラウドとエアリスの間にあるのは，恋愛感情ではなく姉弟愛である」と解釈する海外のファンがいたんです。

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浜口氏：
　はい……。
　あらためてお伝えしておきたいのですが，我々クリエイターがゲームの外側で「クラウドはティファが好き」「いや，エアリスが好き」みたいなことを公表することはありません。ゲームの中で表現していることがすべてですから，質問されても回答はできません。ご了承ください。浜口氏：
　

x.com

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[null]

Yeah I like characters starting indifferent and not liking each other myself. Conflict is a good thing it keeps things interesting. If they start off happy all the time there's less conflict. And good stories need conflict. Hence why I don't think characters to get along all the time or that it's bad that if there's any friction in their dynamic.

I can see that. I think it's a nice dynamic despite my obvious distaste for childhood friends to lovers I understand why people like them. Being there for eachother is nice to see and yes bonding over a shared past. We didn't see that much in OG so it's nice in Rebirth. Seeing them rely on each other and basically meet each other again and overcome obstacles is nice.

I'm all for the Ships In That Night trope CA has. (Meeting someone and only knowing them a short while while never forgetting them and parting). It reminds me of stuff like 5cm Per Second and Your Lie In April and honestly most Jpop songs lol talking about how "we're connected even if we're far apart, I'll never forget you etc" and the characters met for like a few days lol. And that aesthetic of life and meetings being fleeting being (mono no aware) And a Love That Can Never Be as well as the tragedy aspect myself.

I'd also recommend Frieren: Beyond Journey's End for anyone into fleeting, bittersweet ships. It's about a long-lived elf who fails to appreciate her brief time with humans, realizing the most important person to her had already come and gone. Frieren herself is the polar opposite of Aerith (aside from being OP as all hell) but the way her feelings blossom for someone out of reach, and only intensify as time passes, is something I think CA fans would vibe with.

(I was going to watch 5cm/sec but the premise makes me irrationally angry, lol. Maybe someday.)

 

[LunarTarotGirl]

I'd also recommend Frieren: Beyond Journey's End for anyone into fleeting, bittersweet ships. It's about a long-lived elf who fails to appreciate her brief time with humans, realizing the most important person to her had already come and gone. Frieren herself is the polar opposite of Aerith (aside from being OP as all hell) but the way her feelings blossom for someone out of reach, and only intensify as time passes, is something I think CA fans would vibe with.

(I was going to watch 5cm/sec but the premise makes me irrationally angry, lol. Maybe someday.)

I 100% agree and I personally really love Frieren. One of the best animes I've seen in a while. I'm in the middle of it currently.

5 sec per Second makes me angry every time too so I get it but I also love it lol. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. There's several stories by that director and they're all the opposite of happy endings and that one to me is the least tragic.

 

[MelodicEnigma]

To me, Matsuyama still Anti-ZA lol. In the section you mention, he wrote "They attract to each other by mutual feelings similar to friendship, because they’re both juvenile, if you call it love…" which CA love to use it. This is funny while in the interview section, Nojima mention that "Although I call it romantic love (恋愛, read: ren'ai), the two are still young..." So, I prefer how the official call them, budding romance, blooming relationship.

Lol Yeah that and other stuff, which I equate mostly to interpretative outcomes. That example is rough because it translates poorly grammar-wise to english, so if understanding it in japanese, I'd argue the "if you call it love" blurb is meant to have a "is this love?" feel, as opposed to, well whatever negative thing people understand that line as. I've seen many takes. As far as I'm concerned, it's doing the same function as describing their "enjoyment from simply spending time together as akin to a platonic-romantic love [プラトニックな恋]" (incidentally, another quote CAs don't understand because they translate it to "platonic love" and miss the usage of the koi)—it just emphasizes the fact that for Zack and Aerith, their relationship wasn't completely led by like, direct sexual actions. Emotionally it was all romantic, but in an "innocent" way because they're still teenagers, which I'm sure is inspired by the fact that our resident puppy dog is revealed to be more innocent/naive than playboy.

 

[LunarTarotGirl]

Btw, folks

［インタビュー］PC版「FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH」がついに配信開始。北瀬Pと浜口Dが語る，リメイク第2弾の魅力とPC版ならではの特徴

　スクウェア・エニックスは本日23：00，PC版「FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH」の配信を，SteamおよびEpic Games Store にて開始する。今回，2024年2月末にリリースされたPlayStation 5版に対する反響や，PC版の特徴，そして3作めの進捗といった気になる部分を，プロデューサーを務める北瀬佳範氏と，ディレクターの浜口直樹氏に聞いた。

www.4gamer.net

4Gamer:
　Do you ever think, "I didn't mean it that way"?

浜口氏：
　いやぁ……。それはあります。とくに翻訳が入ることによって，ニュアンスが変わったりしますからね。
　例えばクラウドの母親のセリフで，「あんたにはねぇ……ちょっとお姉さんで あんたをグイグイ引っ張っていく そんな女の子が ぴったりだと思うんだけどね」というものがあります。日本語で要約すると，「クラウドは，積極的なガールフレンドのほうが相性がいいと思う」みたいなニュアンスなんですよね。
　ただ，海外版ではそこまで詳しく翻訳されていなかったので，このセリフについて海外のメディアから質問を受けたんです。そのときの私の回答が翻訳されてニュアンスが変わってしまった結果，「クラウドとエアリスの間にあるのは，恋愛感情ではなく姉弟愛である」と解釈する海外のファンがいたんです。

=====

浜口氏：
　はい……。
　あらためてお伝えしておきたいのですが，我々クリエイターがゲームの外側で「クラウドはティファが好き」「いや，エアリスが好き」みたいなことを公表することはありません。ゲームの中で表現していることがすべてですから，質問されても回答はできません。ご了承ください。浜口氏：

x.com

x.com

So basically...

Well . It's just exactly as I figured. Especially the whole: No one will make comments on Who Cloud likes. Which was what my post in response to this was trying to say basically.

Here he says he was referring to Claudia's line and he did mean chottoneesan as a trait like I said not as a sisterly relationship how we see it in the West. And he was taken out of context and now he's admitting it was taken out of context.

Wow, I never realized he'd actually admit this much though .
And Kitase too.

So basically again nothing new was being said there he was just saying how he views Aerith's personality. Which is just always how she's been described. The kind that leads people around without hesitation in all her profiles.

Thanks for the share.
Kitase also talking about the Aerith surviving trick and saying he's glad talk didn't go in that direction is very telling. Despite the fact that trick actually does exist as a glitch lol I'm also glad that's not the focus of that scene from the devs intentions.

Well.

They're just straight out saying things directly now.

Where did this sudden fortrightness come from lol?

Edit:
I deleted my first post because
Sorry I needed to go confirm the source and..

Whoa. This came straight from him. He posted the English translation himself. What on earth happened to lead him to this point I wonder. It says in the articles he got questions from overseas and overseas but very rarely do devs ever actually respond. Edit: Some people say it's due to the PC version releasing. Maybe.

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So yeah case closed then on if it's a legit source. But wow okay

So my thoughts are just.

Good for him. Good for all the devs speaking on their creative vision.

 

[MelodicEnigma]

So basically. It's exactly as I said. He was referring to Claudia's line and he did mean chottoneesan as a trait like I said not as a sisterly relationship. And he was taken out of context and now he's admitting it.

Wow, I never realized he'd actually admit this much.

So basically again nothing new was being said there he was just saying how he views Aerith's personality. Which is just always how she's been described. The kind that leads people around.

Thanks for the share.

Kitase also talking about the Aerith surviving trick and saying he's glad talk didn't go in that direction is very telling. Despite the fact that trick actually does exist as a glitch lol I'm also glad that's not the focus of that scene.

They're just straight out saying things directly now.

Where did this sudden fortrightness come from lol?
Sorry I needed to go confirm the source and

Whoa. This came straight from him. That's huge. He posted the English translation himself. What on earth happened to lead him to this point??? I hope he wasn't harassed him over his comments??? It says in the articles he got social media references but very rarely do devs ever actually respond.

x.com

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To me this is kind of funny. lol Because it's less about the translation and more about people's understanding of JPN and it's typical usage like for what you're talking about. The "sister" aspect comes from the JPN, in which that is what people refer to when pushing the brother-sister angle, as it did with the other latest interview. And to be honest, "assertive/active/forthright/etc.", any number of synonyms + the official of "older", as a total replacement—these still don't capture the natural interpretative layers in that sisterly description, which most people's go-to has been more towards different connotations to make it fit either character, or both for those neutral. That's one of those things that can be hard to capture, but if you understand it from the JPN culture, you know what it's about.

 

[LunarTarotGirl]

To me this is kind of funny. lol Because it's less about the translation and more about people's understanding of JPN and it's typical usage like for what you're talking about. The "sister" aspect comes from the JPN, in which that is what people refer to when pushing the brother-sister angle, as it did with the other latest interview. And to be honest, "assertive/active/forthright/etc.", any number of synonyms + the official of "older", as a total replacement—these still don't capture the natural interpretative layers in that sisterly description, which most people's go-to has been more towards different connotations to make it fit either character, or both for those neutral. That's one of those things that can be hard to capture, but if you understand it from the JPN culture, you know what it's about.

That's extremely true. But also I've been a fan of Japanese media for decades and these mistakes happen all the time and this is maybe the second time I have ever seen a creator correct a language misconception like this. It's usually ignored and I guess it's because it might be a hassle to explain nuances or it's considered harmless.

Yeah I always figured it basically just means the gui gui type. A word that doesn't exist in nuance in English.


I'm just honestly in awe he said anything, personally.

Kitase too. But that's good. Because that's what everyone wanted. The devs to be direct and well I don't think it gets more direct than these interviews. Everything else as he said will be shown clearly in the content. And that's always how it should be anyway. Looking for clues in interviews tends to be a dead end anyway, good content always shows not tells.

Again good for them.