Random Scientist

[Strangelove]

I don't think 力尽きた really sounds like he necessarily died. After deciphering those two words, he just ran out of strength/couldn't work any more.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

That's the feeling I get as well.

 

[DLPB]

I think it would be silly if he had died....I can just see him now, trying to cling to the alter like in a bad hollywood movie

 

[Strangelove]

If translating two words killed him, he deserved to die

 

[DLPB]

If translating two words killed him, he deserved to die

HAHAhahahahaha

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

If translating two words killed him, he deserved to die

He's even more CBA than you us.

 

[Strangelove]

CBA is a serious condition and I'd thank you not to mock me it.

I would thank you, but cba.

 

[knit_lace]

CBA is a serious condition and I'd thank you not to mock me it.

It's also a chronic condition.

 

[Glaurung]

I just thought it was literally a random, nameless scientist never to be thought of again. Does every character have to be someone we already know? I never assumed that Gast was the only dude around studying the Cetra.

Referencing unnamed characters happens all the time in fiction, there is nothing wrong with that...the reason it is an unknown person is BECAUSE it is a tiny reference. It would be far sillier to have an established character having been everywhere

I'm not saying only one scientist ever made it there. I'm not even saying it wasn't definitely Gast. It could have been. I'm just saying it ALSO could have been a no name scientist, hell, several no name scientists (or adventurers, wanderers, whoever) over long periods of time, because 2000 years is a LONG enough time for more than one person ever to stumble upon a gigantic city that people know is there anyway.

All these are good points, though I never understood that the scientist died after translating those words (maybe my Spanish copy is to blame ). In the Spanish version, for what I can remember, Bugen said that the scientist spent all his life studying the Cetra and translating those words. It's very likely that Gast wasn't the only one who studied the Cetra but, given the lack of information in the game, the first name that came to my mind was Gast.

Does someone remember if the archeologists in Bone Village told you something about someone getting the Lunar Harp before you? (not counting Aerith and the Sephiroth clone)

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Does someone remember if the archeologists in Bone Village told you something about someone getting the Lunar Harp before you? (not counting Aerith and the Sephiroth clone)

Apparently there's multiple harps in the ground there:

"The girl in pink that just went in also used a Lunar Harp to get through."

 

[Cat Rage Room]

...

As much as I enjoy FFVII, in retrospect it's pretty obvious how many things encountered in the setting are just storytelling devices without the greatest thought to overall coherency. Tiny Bronco, anyone?

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I think it would be silly if he had died....I can just see him now, trying to cling to the alter like in a bad hollywood movie

I think it's even more silly to imagine he went all that way, translated two words, got tired, lost interest, gave up and went home.

 

[Neo Bahamut]

I figured there were multiple Lunar Harps. If you "have" to get it & a few different characters go there in a few different trips...yeah.

I don't think that the scientist necessarily "lost interest," just that that was all he had managed to translate on that slab before dying.

Lastly, in retrospect, I don't think there are many plot inconsistencies. Eh, sure, there're things like, "Why was Rufus following Shinra himself?" but...why do Kefka & Gestahl do that in the preceding game?

 

[Cat Rage Room]

"Why was Rufus following Shinra himself?"

You mean his dad, or the company? If you mean his father, don't forget he tried to have his dad offed multiple times. And remember that Rufus isn't completely insane, and therefore probably doesn't have the heart (understandably) to shoot his dad in the face himself, and also has a more tactical mind to consider the political consequences.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I think NB meant to type "Sephiroth" there.

 

[Neo Bahamut]

Yes. Yes I did.

 

[Smaddy]

I had always thought that the line about the scientist "using up the last of their energy" meant they may have spent their entire life researching the Cetra language.

I don't think it means the person literally died on the spot at the altar, just that a lifetime of research and study went into trying to crack the code on the Cetra language. It implies that it's such a difficult language to decipher that the person could only figure out those two words.

Which still doesn't answer who that might be. Maybe it was Gast, but then the question is, did Ilfana teach him anything about the written form of the ancient Cetra language? (I don't recall if Aeris could actually read the "Hieroglyphs" on the wall in the Temple of the Ancients, or if she was just picking up on the energy/spirits in the air...)

 

[Neo Bahamut]

I don't remember the 2nd part, but I don't think Gast necessarily only figured out those couple of words. He may have the entire language figured out, for all we know, but he just didn't leave anything there besides those 2 words. In other words, it was earlier in his carreer.