FFT Complete: A grognard's journey.

[woodenbandman]

I figured that I should post this here. I've decided to take a bit of a break from 1.3 and play through good ol' classic FFT. I'm going to record my impression of the new translation here in this thread, sort of like a journal. I've always found issue with the old translation, but dammit, it's begun to grow on me after all these years. And since I've found vanilla easy for a while now, I'm going to do a Tactics Double Dare challenge, with Ramza and Junk against the world. Wish me luck.

[Cheetah]

I wish you luck, and I look forward to this. There isn't a lot of love out there for the new translation, but do me a favor and make not of all the story details that you don't recall understanding before and are clarified in this translation.

[woodenbandman]

Can do!

[woodenbandman]

Okay first the technical aspects: Junk and Ramza defeated Dorter with ease, Junk the Item Knight and Ramza the Punk (Priest-Monk) climbed the building, then Junk blocked up the hole and killed about 4 people. Ramza kept the team under protect and well-healed.

Second: New translation notes.

I love Algus now. At first I just hated him, but now I love to hate him. He's so much more complex, clever, and evil. Delita and Ramza come through much more clearly, and Wiegraf's been written in a much nicer way. He just seems less forceful and more reasonable. I remember misunderstanding the whole Marquis situation the first time around, not knowing wat was going on, but in this version, I got it immediately. It was clear, easy, simple. The marquis is visiting from gallione, his caravan was ambushed and he was taken prisoner, the "Corpse Brigade" is made up of ex-soldiers, and Thieves were running away from the Order and the cadets were sent to kill them.

Most of the banter between Ramza and Delita is clearer, and it makes it much simpler to gather that Delita is slightly sarcastic but still concerned about ramza, and Ramza believes he can take care of himself. Zalbag's dialog was MUCH better, I still didn't quite fully understand it until reading this new version. Also the plight of the Zeklaus desert soldiers is easy to get, and I actually feel sorry for killing them, as was probably the original intent.

Overall, excellent new translation, and while some classic lines are a bit more powerful, it's overall way clearer. I just wish there was a nice middle ground.

[woodenbandman]

Leveled up in randoms so that Junk learned Auto Potion and Ramza learned Martial Arts. Punched and Chopped my way through Zeklaus.

Ramza's line "These Sand Rats are long in the slaying" was, I feel, completely out of character. Ramza has this giant reputation of being a virtuous guy who doesn't care about rank, and here he is being classist.

Again, Wiegraf's character shows through. I feel like I'm gaining new understanding into wiegraf's character, as opposed to the last translation where he seems to jump between 3 different characters with the same palette. Delita... He's pretty much the same guy, so far. He seems to share a lot in common with Ramza at this point. I always thought he was the most interesting one, but so far, wiegraf and Algus are getting more limelight.

Algus can be seen as a bit more reasonable when he says nothing to delita stopping him rather than his old "UUURGH"

Ramza and Delita's lines at Igros are much dumber. "Ramza's Lying" is much more effective than "tis ramza's noble disposition that guides his tongue." Dycedarg's lines are MUCH better though, he seems like so much more of a badass. "Is it your intention to live up to your name, or drag it through the mire?" is classy.

Sideboard - Barbaneth = RAAAAGE

Anyway Larg provides a contrast to Dycedarg. It's much more evident how he's a genuinely nice guy and Dycedarg is a snake. Larg gives the feeling of having good intentions.

[woodenbandman]

Miluda's lines are a bit clunky and long-winded in bits (sup for months on not but broth of bean? Really?), but there are good pieces too.  Also "Animals Have No God" was way better, but the rest of Algus's lines are way more cruel.

Also the event is messed up. Miluda looks at Ramza, rather than Algus, when he's delivering his speech.

Algus seems a bit less evil in this new one, making the case that if Ramza spares Miluda, then they'll all be in trouble, rather than just saying that they should kill her because she's an animal. "A pox on your pity" is terribly forced, but the rest of that exchange is better. I particularly liked "as long as you bear the name beoulve you are my enemy."

EDIT:

The castle scene is pretty much the same.

Delita's line "As I thought." Wat. Really. He's supposed to be furious. If I were writing this, I'd have Algus interrupted by a punch to the face mid-sentence. I really liked Algus's new lines, though. Other changes are pretty much neutral in my opinion.

If I may make a request: Rename all the people whose names were mangled. Fuck all this Loffrey and Argath shit. Also a glitch. In zeklaus (or maybe everywhere), the explanation for Act is glitched.

[Archael]

you got that right (Dycedarg = snake)

[woodenbandman]

Yeah he is.

By the way, playing 1.3 has made this really easy, even with only 2 characters. I totally dominated miluda after only 1 reset. I killed her entire clan of thieves and even had time to save algus and delita's asses to see all the dialog.

[woodenbandman]

Mandalia Plains scene: It's pretty good, but I prefer the old translation. It was just better. Also, I hate people who say "am I not right" and stuff like that. "Are you unhurt?"

Goragroth is a total badass now, thanks to his new name. Milleuda is also better.

I like the new Lenalia plains exchange. "Your words are wind, and no amount of howling will set your sister free" is priceless. Miluda's PA was only 5 at level 9, which seems a bit low, but ehh. Delita's "What am I doing? What have I become?" makes waaaay more sense, I didn't even get that until now.

Windmill shed exchange is better in some respects and worse in some respects. "Why have you kidnapped this girl?" makes Wiggy seem more rational, and it was much more evident that he didn't want Gorgaroth to kidnap her.

[Cheetah]

This is great Woodenbandman. Your comment about Ramza being slightly discriminatory is interesting because I think that is part of his character development. The comment shows how he is slightly naive at first and is easily influenced by Argath. This drives a weg between Ramza and Delita, and is likely ultimately why Delita never sot out Ramza again. But Ramza learned his lesson when Teta died.

Your comment about Miluda looking at the wrong character is ringing a bell as happening in the original too. If someone could confirm I will have to fix it.

Can you explain the Act being messed up? Someone else mentioned this but without a screen shot I don't quite understand what is going on.

Sorry to say that I'm a purist when it comes to sticking to the PSP translation. If someone else wants to change all the names they can for a patch, but I feel like they are all about equal and we have just spent more time with the PSX ones.

[woodenbandman]

Thanks for the feedback Cheetah. You have got a good point about that line at zeklaus.

The act explanation (when you hit select) has 2 lines running through it at approximately a 30 degree angle.

[woodenbandman]

It should be noted that the windmill shed scene's tone has changed from somber to inspirational and hi-tension for me with this new translation. Wiegraf is coming into his own, he's really devoted to this fight. Gorgaroth seems more of a sympathetic character now, rather than just an asshole. Overall I get much less of the good/evil paradigm that I felt was present in the previous translation.

I noticed an error.

Dycedarg needed Lord Zalbaag's approval?

Ramza's parting shot was long winded, but the rest of the windmill shed scene was pretty G.

The fort scene starts off all right, but Gorgaroth's speech is funny in some places, and I didn't like the bit about the powder delivering them to the Father, particularly since there's been no mention of any sort of father-god. "gods have mercy" was also bad. I liked his shocked "what...?" better. more later, I accidentally killed Algus too fast with a Holy.

[Dominic NY18]

The line is correct. He doesn't mean Dycedarg needed Zalbaag's approval for the plan to get the green light, but that Zalbaag knew about the plan and it had his blessing.

Ramza and Delita's lines at Igros are much dumber. "Ramza's Lying" is much more effective than "tis ramza's noble disposition that guides his tongue."

Considering what was said before Delita said that line:

Delita: 'Twas I forced Ramza to go.

Dycedarg: Was that the way of it, Ramza? Delita led your better judgment
astray?

I think Delita trying to play a groveling commoner who made Ramza give into his "bad" judgment. In other words, he's trying to take advantage of the fact that he's a commoner and that Dycedarg likely looks down upon him because of that (you can see the bias in Dycedarg's above line).

[woodenbandman]

Huh. It's still confusing, it makes it seem as if Dycedarg had to ask Zalbag.

And Maybe it's just my bias against 'twas and 'tis, but I really dislike those new lines. I just really dislike it when people use a dozen words to say something that could be accomplished just as well or better with two words. It feels artificial to me.

[Dominic NY18]

No, it doesn't at all.

Dycedarg: Hey, I'm about to begin underhanded plan #234.

Zalbaag: OK.

In other words, Zalbaag knows about the plan and didn't raise any protests. There's nothing about the line that suggests Dycedarg needed to ask Zalbaag for permission


Anyways, what's your reaction to the changes outside of the script, like the item and ability names, for example?

[woodenbandman]

I might be getting confused because I'm under the impression that Larg had approved the plan. I understand that it can be interpreted that way, but Wiegraf mentioning that Zalbag gave approval implies that approval was needed. It'd make more sense if he'd said something like "zalbag was in on it" or "Your brothers planned it." What really throws it off for me is that he refers to Dycedarg, and then to LORD Zalbag, who is of a lower rank, making it seems as if he should have refered to LORD Larg, who is of a higher rank than Dycedarg. If he'd referred to either JUST Zalbag or to LORD Dycedarg and LORD Zalbag, it'd be much clearer.

New item names are okay, but I dislike stuff like Silken Robe. Why not just Silk robe? I'm obviously not far enough in to read all the new item names yet.

[Vanya]

If Zalbaag and Dycedarg both have land holdings they can both be given the title of Lord. It has nothing to do with their political/military rank in this case. The point of the statement here is meant to cast doubt about both elder brothers to Ramza. If anything it's the capitalization of the words that might confuse.

[woodenbandman]

Okay back to the translation impression.

"Animals are animals" was way better than what we've been given. "What do you mean" was clumsy and awkward, but other than that, pretty good, Algus was great though I prefer Delita's old lines.

I like the new thing that ramza says at the end of the chapter. It's smarter but still very close to the original. (Side note:"Ladd?" What the hell?) Agrias's new dialog is very different, her personality comes through much more, and she seems stronger, whereas in the original she seemed a bit weak to me. Gafgarion is a bit less of a douche in this version. At least when he's being crass, he's being classy at the same time.

Side note: Why are gafgarion and Agrias so weak? PA -wise? Agrias has 4, and Gaff has 5, wtf?

Dorter 2: This exchange is pretty much the same to me, updated but still pretty much the same. The thief strikes me as being too smart, though. His dialog should've been dumbed down a bit more. I like Besselat more than Bethla, oddly enough. And then I checked out Zierechele falls and my new respect for the names was shattered.

[woodenbandman]

If Zalbaag and Dycedarg both have land holdings they can both be given the title of Lord. It has nothing to do with their political/military rank in this case. The point of the statement here is meant to cast doubt about both elder brothers to Ramza. If anything it's the capitalization of the words that might confuse.

Yeah and I get that but referring to only Zalbag as lord, even though I know from memory that Dycedarg is a lord, brings the association that Zalbag is Dycedarg's Lord. Lord Zalbag and Lord Dycedarg works fine for me, so does Zalbag and Dycedarg. Dycedarg and Lord Zalbag doesn't. Couple that with the fact that in the previous translation, only Larg was ever referred to as "Lord," it's a pretty valid assumption that "Zalbag" should have in fact said "Larg".

To be clear, I KNOW that Dycedarg and Zalbag are both lords and that Dycedarg didn't have to ask Zalbag's permission, I'm saying that based on the previous translation, where the only lord is Larg, makes it seem as though Wiegraf's speech had a translation error. If I'd never played the original, I probably would've been in the mindset to accept that Lord is used differently in this translation.

[Dominic NY18]

Something you're overlooking is Wiegraf says in that line that Dycedarg is Ramza's lord brother. If Dycedarg didn't have a title, he wouldn't call him Ramza's lord brother.

Side note: Why are gafgarion and Agrias so weak? PA -wise? Agrias has 4, and Gaff has 5, wtf?

Neither of them had great PA in the vanilla game. IIRC, their PA multiplier is 100.

New item names are okay, but I dislike stuff like Silken Robe. Why not just Silk robe?

Because silk is a noun and silken is an adjective .