[Spoilers] Material Ultimania Plus discussion

[TurquoiseHammer]

I don’t follow. Can you spelll out what the possible translations could be, ambiguity included?

Sorry, should have quoted the earlier post.

 

[Torrie]

"Upper floors...maybe near the top...That's where you are."

I have just checked the German version.

Barret: Und wo sind die? (So where is she?)
Cloud: Oben... denk ich mal. Ganz oben. (Up top... I think. At the very top. (literally, high... very high.))

Again, no liberies

in French (just checked) she says "We know how you feel, but please..." (to Cloud's "It's as if destiny was calling me. I must go." which is yet a little different from the JP but does convey something else too than just Aerith's resolution)

This scene in German:

Cloud: Ich glaube, sie ruft mich. Deshalb... (I think she's calling me. So...)
Tifa: Cloud hat recht. Aerith braucht uns. Ich will ihr helfen. Wir sind Freunde. (Cloud is right. Aerith needs us. I want to help her. We're friends.)

So the emphasis is that "the calling" is not literal as if he can hear her in his head but he kind of senses that she's in need for help. At least that's what I would see in these lines.

 

[ultima786]

Sorry, should have quoted the earlier post.

Hmm.

Maybe the Lifestream is a type of timeless, eternal reflection of souls. Meaning, you may be alive or dead, but your soul is always connected to the Lifestream. People like the Cetra can access the part of themselves within the Lifestream to be able to speak to the planet. What you then find of yourself in the Lifestream are memories. In the end, there is only one soul and one self, but an eternity of memories of yourself. Hence, "an Aerith closest to the memories of the future..."

I am invested in the technicalities here because i hate the idea of multiple characters running around. I just don't think that is what is happening in the story.

 

[Eerie]

I am invested in the technicalities here because i hate the idea of multiple characters running around. I just don't think that is what is happening in the story.

I don't think it's the characters that are running around, but their memories. In the OG, Sephiroth mentions that he has travelled through the Lifestream and absorbed the memories of the Ancients (IIRC). So while you can get characters up in the Lifestream... they are either:

- Cetras (Aerith, Ilfana)

- very strong (Zack certainly can/could for at least 2 years, but we know his fate is to dissolve in the Lifestream; Sephiroth still hasn't given up and haunts it like a cockroach)

Up until now, that is how the Lifestream has been presented, and one of the reasons why I do not think that the Zack we see at the end of Intergrade is dead.

 

[TurquoiseHammer]

I think there's no doubt the way "time travel" works in the FFVII universe is deeply entwined with the mechanics of the Lifestream. I don't think anyone would argue that Sephiroth physically time travelled by stepping through a portal or what have you, but rather by reaching back through the spiritual continuum of the Lifestream.

Anyway, when I see that line about "[an] Aerith who is closest to memories of the future," I take it to mean that "our" Remake Aerith, at the time she is imprisoned in the Shinra Building, is now more in touch with her future sight (i.e., connection to the Lifestream memory continuum or whatever you want to call it) than at any point in the story before. This is borne out by her speech at the beginning of Chapter 17, where we get a sense that her abilities have drastically increased, to the extent that the whispers are now targeting her for "correction" and trying to siphon her visions away.

Edit: So in this sense I disagree with the interpretation that the Aerith in the resolution scene is a straight up OG Aerith pretending to Cloud to be the one he knows. I think, rather, that for Aerith the lines between present and future are beginning to blur, and all instances of herself within the Lifestream are sort of harmonizing into one being.

But then the question would still stand: whose is the consciousness that allowed our Aerith to appear in front of Cloud if it wasn't her own?

 

[Eerie]

Anyway, when I see that line about "[an] Aerith who is closest to memories of the future," I take it to mean that "our" Remake Aerith, at the time she is imprisoned in the Shinra Building, is now more in touch with her future sight (i.e., connection to the Lifestream memory continuum or whatever you want to call it) than at any point in the story before. This is borne out by her speech at the beginning of Chapter 17, where we get a sense that her abilities have drastically increased, to the extent that the whispers are now targeting her for "correction" and trying to siphon her visions away.

Yes, I thought your translation was very on point; it makes sense, with the huge sudden influx that the Lifestream just had with the plate fall that Aerith would get boosted too.

However I still wonder if she's aware of it by the end, considering she's fought Whispers and they always try to steal her knowledge?

 

[Obsidian Fire]

It's honestly ridiculous at this point how the English can go against theory making, no fun.

It's worse given the OG. Where sometimes the English is so far removed from what the JP is saying you wonder how they got there from the JP. Which for the OG, at least that was in the early days of video-game translating and the localizers didn't even have the scenes in order or knew what was happening in the story.

The problem is that that same trend is there for all of FFVII... just not to the extreme of the OG. From what I've seen, Crisis Core does it *the least* and is the most literal translation. Remake is more on par with DoC. Which is still miles better than the OG's translation is, but still...

The English FFVII experience is just constantly plagued by the localization being too idiomatic and not literal enough. For whatever reason, the ENG FFVII gives a lot more wiggle room for what *could* be happening than JP does... and not for an... understandable reason. So you have a localization that confuses more than it clarifies when it comes to a lot of nitty-gritty lore concepts/references.

Like... doing a very literal translation of something usually makes it more confusing and/or phrased awkwardly, compared to a offical localization. Doing that with a lot of FFVII stuff that sound like they have wiggle room for interprenation (or are lore concepts)... tends to make things *less* confusing and more straightforward over all. And I kinda don't know if that's considered a feature or a bug by this point...

 

[TurquoiseHammer]

It's a tough balancing act for sure. Idiomatic localization should be the goal; but the problem is that the localization staff don't have access to the canon and roadmap that the native writers share, and so while there is room to be flexible with translations, the localizers do not and almost always cannot know which direction to take. The solution is to have localization teams who are completely debriefed on the lore and subtext and maintain a clear channel of communication with the scenario and dialogue writers; but that's basically impossible from a fiscal and logistical standpoint.

 

[MelodicEnigma]

It's not THAT impossible considering how SE has their localization team setup—any information they'd need is a lot more accessible than we think. On a more micromanaged level however, it just depends on whether it occurs they need it or not. Which like, completely depends on what the text and context is of what they're translating. In most cases it isn't as apparent that it'd be needed until situations like this where people are wanting to make theories that conflict with what the ENG localization wrote, which may or may not even be contextually off concretely. (as in, is it the accepted notion to believe for the scene as well)

Edit: Btw, did anyone see anything in the Voice Scripts in the Ultimania about that scene? If there'd be any underlying information, like hinting at Jenova being the one calling, then it might be written there based on how I've seen other sections written.

 

[TurquoiseHammer]

It's not THAT impossible considering how SE has their localization team setup—any information they'd need is a lot more accessible than we think. On a more micromanaged level however, it just depends on whether it occurs they need it or not. Which like, completely depends on what the text and context is of what they're translating. In most cases it isn't as apparent that it'd be needed until situations like this where people are wanting to make theories that conflict with what the ENG localization wrote, which may or may not even be contextually off concretely. (as in, is it the accepted notion to believe for the scene as well)

Edit: Btw, did anyone see anything in the Voice Scripts in the Ultimania about that scene? If there'd be any underlying information, like hinting at Jenova being the one calling, then it might be written there based on how I've seen other sections written.

I think part of the difficulty would be having to go through the process with at least the three primary localization teams. You'd then have to hope the staff stay for the lifetime of the project and don't cycle out, otherwise you're kind of back to square one. It's a big ask from technical and general program managers, and when you consider that only a sliver of your fanbase is passionate enough to seek out discrepancies in the presentation of lore between native and localized versions, you can see why executives would vote not to make the effort.

I'm pretty sure that the Chapter 14 morning scene with Elmyra is not in the Ultimania Plus. I can check in a couple days if no one else has by then.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

The trouble is that this isn't just a single game... but a game series... so there very well might be things coming up in the future that *would* impact how something is conveyed or talked about... and the head devs haven't even talked about it with most of the other parts of the development team. It depends on who is doing the writing/scripting too and what their relationship is with the localization team.

It also depends on how... "final" the JP script is when the other localization teams get it. If it is "final, then that's more or less what the localization team has to work off of and has to match up to. When the English script *doesn't*, but other languages *do*... that's... kinda weird. At least if all the languages didn't match up to the JP meaning/script then you could make the argument of "this section isn't too important, so everyone did their own thing". Rather than... "these three languages do it this way, but this one does it different". It gives the feeling that the way the majority of languages indicate what something meant/came off as is how the fourth language *should* have done it too.

 

[Tetsujin]

Regarding the subject of how Square Enix handles localization, I think this would be an interesting read:

● Surely the FFVIIR localization team also used the latest translation tools and techniques. Can you give any examples of how changes in localization culture over the last several years played into the FFVIIR project?

Sabin (English):
Way back when, it used to be that a translator somewhere was given the text files for a game and just told to dig in. Nowadays, many of the titles we translate are done by people in-house who often sit near the writers and programmers. This not only allows for a freer flow of information between translators and developers, but also gives us an opportunity to be more involved in the project as a whole. For example, multiple songs were only sung in English, and we were often tasked with taking lyrics the director had written and turning them into English (complete with a line-by-line explanation of our choices). I also remember cooperating with the developers to help standardize location names between the Japanese and English versions of the game. Even if we ended up using different terminology, at least all parties involved knew where the other was coming from. I don't think that level of collaboration was possible when games were first being translated.

Sautière (French):
20 years ago, we had to work with simple text files that were often organized in an inconvenient order, so we had to puzzle a lot of things out. Nowadays, although things aren't perfect yet and we still sometimes have to try and find what goes where (but such is the nature of video game development), we have internal localization tools with powerful search functions and other conveniences that make things way easier.

Ueda (LPM):
Whereas games were often localized after everything was complete in Japanese, many are now localized while development is ongoing so all versions can be released simultaneously. As is the nature of game development, myriad instances of the Japanese source text can change drastically throughout the development process, and keeping up with the vast amount of changes while still making sure to hit the release date is no small feat.
One thing that helped for this game was our use of the translation file management tool Byblos, developed by the Localization Division. Its tracking features enabled us to stay updated on both the many changes made to the Japanese text and the progress each language was making.

the sauce: https://na.finalfantasy.com/topics/218

 

[MelodicEnigma]

Thankfully SE does have a certain pool of in-house translators, so you see the common pick very often for their games, including that of others on the localization staff too. I don't particularly fret about it because even if you get someone new, information can still be held from project to project I imagine, or just good ol' getting context during development. And in any of the places of which the texts between the localizations don't "match", I would still have to consider the fact that it doesn't really HAVE to. (On an interesting note, though, how Sabin became the lead for the ENG version when he's only done like a few games at this point for SE, while most others have been with SE for a REALLY long time. He must've been very seasoned somewhere else.) This probably doesn't belong in this thread really (as opposed to the Significant Differences ENG thread), but I want it to be known that I DO understand the frustrations that can come with how understanding of concepts can feel, blurred, because of how something is said. But I think perspective on what really is or not is an important factor too—I think conversations of content don't also have to cross into that of production, not all the time anyway. For all the information that does exist out there about SE and their localization division, I think a little benefit of the doubt is loss due to, uhh, "past localization trauma", we'll call it. lol

In any case, let me know @Ultimasamune because I'll be curious as well!

 

[jeangl123]

It's a tough balancing act for sure. Idiomatic localization should be the goal; but the problem is that the localization staff don't have access to the canon and roadmap that the native writers share, and so while there is room to be flexible with translations, the localizers do not and almost always cannot know which direction to take. The solution is to have localization teams who are completely debriefed on the lore and subtext and maintain a clear channel of communication with the scenario and dialogue writers; but that's basically impossible from a fiscal and logistical standpoint.

This does seem to be the case based on some of the compilation/lore references lost in translation. Based on the data-mined script, the Zack scene almost had different lines from the Crisis Core version.

ev_sbil0_7640_0010_zax_0After walking that long road home, this is the welcome we get.Zack
ev_sbil0_7640_0020_zax_0Figures.Zack
ev_sbil0_7640_0020_zax_1Freedom never did come cheap.Zack
ev_sbil0_7640_0030_zax_0Pay the price...Zack
ev_sbil0_7640_0040_zax_0Pay it gladly... Make 'em earn it...Zack
ev_sbil0_7640_0040_zax_19'Cause if a SOLDIER's got anything...he's got his pride!Zack
ev_sbil0_7640_0050_zax_0I'm home, boys!Zack

ev_sbil0_2721_0010_zax_0You'll be my living legacy.Zack
This line was also not in the game but it was placed in the script during the moment where Hojo says Cloud is not a soldier. So maybe Cloud's headache blocked it out. Is there anything in the Ultimania script for this scene?

 

[Obsidian Fire]

It's really interesting comparing that interview with the FFXIV localization interview done by the same source... https://na.finalfantasy.com/topics/265

My biggest take-away from the FFVII Remake localization Q and A is that... not a lot is going to change from the Compilation in terms of localization. Nostagia is just brought up so often as a basis of the localization... which is... a shame given how bad the OG localization is. The French Translator is at least able to admit that the OG French localization job is known for being not a good localization. I kinda wish the English localization team could just admit that too.

Laurent Sautière (French Translator):
Unfortunately, the French version of the original game isn't renowned for its quality, so even though we wanted to stay as true as possible to the original, we had to make a lot of changes. We did sometimes think about including some weird lines from the original French version as Easter eggs, but it's not an easy task, as things have to make sense for people who never played the game before.

Ultimately though, the nostalgia factor is king of the localization effort in Remake. They're not going to change stuff that references how older content was talked about, even if how it came off in the OG was... really not accurate. Which is probably why the most accurate translations all happen in the *added* sections of Remake that aren't in the OG. There, they have no nostalgia factor to deal with and can just convey what the JP is conveying in English.

I think they learned this in the Compilation entries after Remake. CC and DoC are *much* closer to the JP than the OG is... which really effected a lot of characters characterization in English. It's not *quite* to the point they are different characters... but it's getting there. There's... a lot of people who played the OG who don't like the Compilation characters because they feel so different, and that's probably one of the main reasons why.

Doing more literal translations of the OG is... almost like discovering a side of the OG characters you never knew was there, but was there the entire time. And then people were surprised when the hidden side was brought out in the Compilation seemingly out of nowhere.

TLDR: OG localization continues to be referenced and relied on in the Remake for localization even when it's a death of a thousand cuts of inaccuracies...

This line was also not in the game but it was placed in the script during the moment where Hojo says Cloud is not a soldier. So maybe Cloud's headache blocked it out. Is there anything in the Ultimania script for this scene?

This seems to be something slightly different. And probably is linked more to Nomura, Kitase and Nojima's *initial* plan of not having a lot of changes from the OG in Remake. There is a lot of notes in the Ultimania Plus of places Zack would have been mentioned or referenced and Cloud would have gotten headaches and mini-flashbacks to him. And almost all of those instances wound up being cut from the final game.

A theory going around is that they were initially going to be there and Zack *wouldn't* have been shown at the end of the game as being alive... And when it was later decided to be shown that Zack *would* be shown in the end, those scenes/references were cut as they would have given away that Cloud and Zack were related too soon or it would have gone overboard. The fact that they *were* in the script so late they got localized even though they were cut later is very interesting.

It does match up very well with what Nomura and Nojima say here though... Including how they ended up removing scenes after they decided to include more major changes from the OG...

- In regards to the story's important key points, there must be a flashback scene from here on out, right?

Nomura: At first, the direction we took was that we did not want to put any of these hints while still in Midgar.

Nojima: Right, we originally planned to have the storyline diverge only slightly.

Nomura: We thought to have only a subtle change where in the ending you see Biggs alive,which makes you think, “Wait, this is weird..." and gives a slight sense of unease. But then thestaff thought, well if there's room for more scenes, then let's just add it (laughs). When we didthat, there were scenes that we had to say, “No this won't do,” and removed it from the story. We didn't add too many new things, but we did leave a few scenes in.

Nojima: I myself added about two or three scenarios to that too....I'm not too sure what happened to those scenarios at the end. (laughs)

 

[TurquoiseHammer]

ev_sbil0_2721_0010_zax_0You'll be my living legacy.Zack
This line was also not in the game but it was placed in the script during the moment where Hojo says Cloud is not a soldier. So maybe Cloud's headache blocked it out. Is there anything in the Ultimania script for this scene?

Oooh that's neat. I know that scene isn't in the Ultimania because I went looking for it in the hopes it would indicate whether Hojo could see the whispers, which is ambiguous in the Japanese.

@Obsidian Fire That theory makes a lot of sense. I totally buy it.

 

[jeangl123]

A theory going around is that they were initially going to be there and Zack *wouldn't* have been shown at the end of the game as being alive... And when it was later decided to be shown that Zack *would* be shown in the end, those scenes/references were cut as they would have given away that Cloud and Zack were related too soon or it would have gone overboard. The fact that they *were* in the script so late they got localized even though they were cut later is very interesting.

That makes sense. I'm guessing that some CC music could have accompanied those flashbacks since there was a photo of the Soundtrack in the data-mine as well. https://archive.md/5yVPN

We had an AC song at one point in Remake and then DoC in Intergrade so I was wondering why they didn't use anything from CC. Though I guess nothing from BC was featured either.

There's... a lot of people who played the OG who don't like the Compilation characters because they feel so different, and that's probably one of the main reasons why.

Yeah they even mentioned that they tried to stay closer to OG with Barret specifically. I think his VA might have said this.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

I was around for a lot of the datamined stuff from back then... There was some seriously fun stuff in there and seeing how people reacted to it at the time (particularly the stuff that turned out to be *canon* to Remake) was... wild.

The solution is to have localization teams who are completely debriefed on the lore and subtext and maintain a clear channel of communication with the scenario and dialogue writers; but that's basically impossible from a fiscal and logistical standpoint.

FFXIV all but did this for literal *years* before Covid hit. It's also not a coincidence they also have a *very* different development style and philosophy than the FFVII Remake devs have. So I know it's possible (and that the localization that results from it is a lot less problematic when it comes to getting lore concepts across accurately). They're also *very* open about not doing literal translations but instead wanting to get across the *idea* of what is being conveyed in all the languages to the point it would be really hard to tell it wasn't originally written in whatever language you're reading it in.

Granted, this *is* the development team that just announced they finished recording the *English* VA work for FF16 before they even started on the JP VA work and will be using the English performance capture instead of the JP stuff. So they're very much okay with experimenting around with how localization is usually handled....

 

[jeangl123]

I was around for a lot of the datamined stuff from back then... There was some seriously fun stuff in there and seeing how people reacted to it at the time (particularly the stuff that turned out to be *canon* to Remake) was... wild.

Lol it certainly was wild. I remember people freaking out because they thought Genesis was the black cloak that leaked. Don't remember what they based that theory off of, but I guess they weren't happy about the banora apples and mentions of G-types in the script.

 

[ultima786]

@Ultimasamune does the book say anything about chapter 5’s “anomaly” that Heideggar mentions after the Crab Warden boss fight? It was so emphasized I wonder if something more was meant by it?

Though the anomaly is probably just “we build a junky robot and cloud beat it up”

 

[ph14basicbitch]

Wasn't that kinda answered by the infantry on the line after when he says their sensors were borked? Intermission also adds the context that Crab Warden is an older model used in Wutai war, which also gives you the impression that this older model was re-furbished for use in the chapter 5 boss fight.

 

[TurquoiseHammer]

Yeah I think the error was just caused by Cloud, Barret, and Tifa wrecking the machine. Don't think there was any sort of sabotage or other stuff going on behind the scenes.

When I get back home tomorrow I'll list out the scenes for which scripts have been provided in the Ultimania Plus and link any full or partial translations by the community, just so everyone is on the same page.

 

[ultima786]

Yeah I think the error was just caused by Cloud, Barret, and Tifa wrecking the machine. Don't think there was any sort of sabotage or other stuff going on behind the scenes.

When I get back home tomorrow I'll list out the scenes for which scripts have been provided in the Ultimania Plus and link any full or partial translations by the community, just so everyone is on the same page.

Sweet

 

[TurquoiseHammer]

Here's the list of content from the dialogue script section of the Ultimania Plus. I've added links to English fan translations, mostly from Audrey, plus some stuff from Stan and myself. Note that some of Audrey's script translations are only partial. Let me know if you'd like to know more about anything listed here. There's still plenty of stuff without translations.

Also, a note on these scripts: there is a combination of longer dialogue scripts, short dialogue snippets, and interview questions with Toriyama. I listed the long and short dialogue scripts together separated by chapter, and then all the interview questions in a separate section at the end. The dialogue and notes in these scripts do not always match what appears in the final product (and in some cases they explicitly call for ad-libbing).


MAIN SCENARIO

Chapter 1

-Mako Reactor 1 Infiltration (from entering the reactor to the end of the first elevator ride)

Chapter 2

-Taking In the Damage from the Blast (the first five lines after leaving the escape route at the beginning of the chapter)

-A Specter of Sephiroth Amid the Flames (from the beginning of the hallucination to the end)

-Encountering Aerith (from the moment Sephiroth appears to the fight with the soldiers)

-The Soldier Who Recognizes the Buster Sword (two lines from soldiers before Cloud jumps onto the oncoming train at the end of the chapter)

Chapter 3

-Returning to Seventh Heaven (from approaching the front steps to leaving the bar with Tifa)

-Cloud’s Past (from after changing the filters to before choosing Tifa’s dress)

-A Forgotten Promise (four lines in the bar where Tifa alludes to the promise Cloud made her)

-Jessie’s Advance (three lines from Jessie when she meets Cloud outside the door to his room)

Chapter 4

-Those Who Share Their Pain (from meeting with Biggs and Wedge by the train station to leaving for Corkscrew Tunnel)

-A Growing Friendship (some lines between Cloud, Biggs, and Wedge as they walk the streets after leaving Jessie’s parents’ house)

Chapter 5

-More Trouble for the Shinra Middle Manager (a brief exchange between the Shinra Middle Manager and Barret on the train)

Chapter 7

-Airbuster, the Giant Mobile Mech (from the appearance of President Shinra’s hologram to the beginning of the Airbuster battle)

Chapter 8

-Reuniting with Aerith (from when Cloud opens his eyes to the beginning of the Reno battle)

-A Clash of Wills (some lines from Cloud’s exchange with Rude on the path to Elmyra’s house)

-Aerith Speaks with Flowers (covers the “Language of Flowers” discovery scene)

-Elmyra’s Anxiety (some lines from when Cloud is introduced to Elmyra)

-A Midnight Ambush (from when Aerith meets cloud at the exit of Sector 5’s central slums to when they begin walking)

Chapter 9

-Memories at Evergreen Park (from reaching Evergreen Park to before Tifa’s carriage appears)

-A Dance Show at the Honeybee Inn (from getting on stage with Andrea to exiting the Honeybee Inn)

-Reuniting with Tifa in Corneo’s Mansion (some lines from the scene where Cloud awakes in Corneo’s dungeon)

-The Bridal Audition (from exiting the dungeon to when Tifa and Aerith bust into Corneo’s bedroom)

Chapter 10

-Overcoming Anxiety (from after crossing the trunk line to before reaching the Sector 7 sewers)

Chapter 11

-The Turks’ Dilemma (from Reno and Rude’s conversation to Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith exiting the sewers)

-A Flower in Each Hand (from approaching the facility entrance to Cloud entering it with Tifa and Aerith on his arms)

Chapter 12

-Trapped by the Turks’ Helicopter (from climbing the 7F support pillar stairs to Cloud reuniting with Tifa)

-Go Help Marlene (some lines from when Tifa asks Aerith to rescue Marlene from Seventh Heaven)

-Aerith and Marlene and Tseng, Too (from finding Marlene in Seventh Heaven to exiting with Tseng)

-Parting with Jessie (from finding Jessie on 13F to after her death)

-Fighting to the Death on the Sector 7 Support Pillar (some lines from after Reno and Rude are defeated)

Chapter 13

-Before the Smoldering Slums (from meeting up with Barret by the collapsed gate to the end of Cloud’s hallucination)

-Barret Runs Ahead (some lines from Barret’s conversation with Elmyra)

-Allies Who Will Never Return (some lines about Jessie and Biggs as the party leaves the collapsed Sector 7)

Chapter 14

-Tifa’s Tears (the script for Tifa’s resolution scene)

-Barret’s Thoughts (the script for Barret’s resolution scene)

-A Dream where Aerith Appears (the script for Aerith’s resolution scene)

-The Flower That Means “Reunion” (some lines from the conversation with Leslie after defeating Abzu)

-Before Scaling the Wall (some lines between Cloud, Barret, and Tifa at the very end of the chapter)

Chapter 15

-Seeing the Full Extent of the Destruction (some lines between Cloud, Barret, and Tifa as they survey the rubble of Sector 7)

Chapter 16

-An Interview with Insanity (some lines from Hojo as he torments her from the other side of her glass prison)

-Encountering Red XIII / The Voice that Calls Cloud (from when Red XIII is freed to when Cloud faints in front of the elevator)

Chapter 17

-Aerith’s Speech (from talking to Aerith in her childhood room to the TV screen turning on)

-Face to Face with a Fateful Enemy (some lines from when the party sees Jenova in her pod across the bridge)

-A Fierce Battle with Rufus (from when Cloud meets the others at the helipad to when Tifa saves him from falling)

Chapter 18

-Those Who See the Arbiters of Fate (some lines from when Rufus and Tseng enter the president’s office)

-Destiny’s Crossroads (from approaching the end of the highway to before entering the portal)

-7 Seconds till the End (the script for the conversation at the Edge of Creation



INTERMISSION

Chapter 1

-Yuffie Stands on the Outer Walls of Midgar (the script for Yuffie’s introductory monologue)

-Yuffie Arrives at the Sector 7 Slums (from when Yuffie exits the junkyard to after she meets Zhijie)

-Encountering Sonon (from when Sonon returns to the hideout to when Nayo takes them back outside)

-A Near Miss with the Other Avalanche Faction (from when Yuffie spots Barret’s faction to when the group continues on)

-Rocked Around by the Train (the script for the train car scene)

Chapter 2

-Running into Scarlet (from before Yuffie and Sonon get on the elevator with Scarlet to when the pair get trapped behind the forcefield)

-Hometown Ties (the script for the scene where Yuffie gives Sonon a Da-chao bean)

-Scarlet’s Secret Plan (from after Yuffie and Sonon defeat Scarlet to when they leave her)

-Sable Blades That Spring from the Darkness (from when Yuffie and Sonon enter the Testing Grounds to when Sonon “dies”)



INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

-About Cloud's Nibelheim flashback before the Mako Reactor 1 elevator

-About the various forms of Sephiroth and what they have in common

-About Sephiroth’s “cherished memories” of Cloud

-About the conditions for seeing the whispers

-About Cloud’s attitude when he hands Tifa Aerith’s flower

-About Cloud opening up to Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge in Chapter 4

-About Cloud’s vision when he reunites with Aerith in the church

-About Aerith already knowing Cloud is a mercenary

-About Cloud’s emotional reaction when Aerith walks away at the end of Chapter 8

-About Cloud’s headache when Aerith mentions Zack in Evergreen Park

-About adapting the Honeybee Inn crossdressing sequence from the original

-About adapting Don Corneo from the original

-About humanizing Reno and Rude vis-à-vis dropping the Sector 7 plate

-About what happened when Aerith embraced Marlene at Seventh Heaven

-About whether Jessie is still alive based on what we saw in the ending cutscene

-About the lines Aerith speaks to Cloud during her resolution scene

-About Red XIII’s aggression and why the whispers didn’t intervene

-About Aerith’s remark that yellow flowers are "guiding the way" for her

-About why Rufus returns to his father's office by helicopter

-About the implications of Sephiroth’s “Seven seconds till the end.” line

-About the nature of Nayo et al.’s Avalanche cell

-About why Chapter 2 of Intermission takes place in the Shinra Building basement

-About the Da-chao beans introduced in Intermission

-About how Yuffie escaped Midgar after the collapse of Sector 7

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

@Ultimasamune
Thanks for all you've been doing.