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I've been enjoying a playthrough of the Lion War, revisiting the story for the first time since I last touched FFT 1.3 in... 2009? Curious at how FFT modding has developed, I took a peek into FFTactext and EntryEdit and looked under the hood. I wondered how difficult it would be to adjust the game's script and it seems... very possible to achieve a certain 'vision' I have for the game.
The way I see it, there are problems with both the PSX and PSP translations of Tactics.
The PSX translation is non-sensical at parts. Sometimes crucial parts. The end of Chapter III comes to mind, with Ramza saying "I didn't think the God made holy stones but...more evil... Well... Lucavi made them to hand in this world..."
The WOTL translation is sensical but at times unnatural and some of the names make more sense while others seemed to have been changed a bit unnecessarily. The original Japanese for Teta is 'ティータ' or Tīta. Tietra may help readers pronounce the first syllable more accurately but the 'r' is superfluous. I do also prefer the dramatic punchiness of lines like "Blame yourself or God." over "'Tis your birth and faith that wrong you, not I."
There is a third option, a fan translation made by Sugnuf buried in the forgotten archives of theGermonick Scriptures GameFAQS. Sugnuf's version is sensical and its vocavulary is somewhere in the middle of the punchy directness of the PSX translation and the flowery elegance of the PSP translation.
While I can't read or write Japanese, I'm a pretty competent writer. Enough to get paid for it on occasion. If the Lion War mod is supposed to be the definitive way of playing FFT, a synthesis of the PSX and PSP versions, then I'd like to make a script which is similarly a synthesis of these three translations. I think I can do it.
The biggest challenge is likely keeping the text all within the same general character count. I fear if I just copy and pasted Sugnuf's translation, the words would run outside of the speech boxes. That being said, a lot of speech boxes in FFT's english translation contain empty spaces that would give some wiggle room if you're creative. Notice the second line of Barinten's speech here is shorter than the third. I believe myself to be creative enough to work around the limitations and to take advantage of the opportunities.
But really, there's the other problem. Creative liberties and nostalgia. Any story, when translated, conveys a different tone.
For example, the Japanese version very clearly has Ovelia praying to plural Gods. 'Kami-gami' in Japanese. The PSX version (and Sugnuf's translation) just uses the singular 'God' while the WOTL translations goes with 'O Father'. Both official versions also seem to pull some punches with the Catholic allegories. Marge Funeral's job and title is indeed Pope in Japanese and not High Priest or High Confessor. So the Japanese text sends mixed-messages about the Glabados Church being both polytheistic and papal. I have noticed WOTL's translation borrows a bit from Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire, and things like 'O Father' might be an effort to draw on the same impression George R.R. Martin gives with his own church-like faith of the Seven, which has seven gods (including 'The Father') who are one like the trinity in Christianity. Both plural and singular. The holy trinity is a somewhat esoteric concept even for westerners, much less Japanese video game developers in the era before wikipedia. It's hard to determine whether the use of plural gods 'Kamigami' was a deliberate attempt at vagueness, a deliberate attempt at conveying polytheism, a deliberate attempt at conveying a concept like the holy trinity, or... maybe it wasn't deliberate at all.
So then... do I think Marge Funeral should be called Ivalice's Pope? Do I think that the Glabados Church has one God or many? Or perhaps a God with several aspects like the Trinity? Is Ovelia praying to the Braves like they're saints and not strictly gods? I'm not really sure.
That's why I'd like to use this thread to ask for your input on various topics.
Here's a big one, in addition to the whole 'gods' issue above. Hokuten/Nanten.
So these names are clearly inappropriate and out of place for Ivalice. It's just straight up untranslated in PSX. These words translate literally to 'Northern/Southern Sky Knight Troop' which WOTL translates to Order of the Northern/Southern Sky. Both of these are... verbose and likely would be a real pain to fit in the text boxes. Sugnuf uses 'Knights Aquilor' and 'Knights Austeron', for the northern and southern winds. It sounds cool and I like it but I think it loses some of its meaning to the average reader unless you're versed in Roman mythology...
I myself am partial to 'North Sky' and 'South Sky' for informal speech and 'North Sky Knights' (or Knights of the Northern Sky, if space permits) for formal usage. Gafgarion and the Death Corps would likely speak informally while the prideful Dycedarg would try to say the whole thing.
There is another option, which requires departing from the translation more drastically. Using words like 'White Lions' or 'Black Lions' in the informal manner. In the War of the Roses, the historical period that FFT draws heavy inspiration from, the Duke of York's supporters were called 'Yorkists' and their foe the 'Lancastrians' from the House of Lancaster. I think 'Largist' and 'Goltanist' could also be plausible as a name for their supporters/retainers/knights... but that kinda sounds dumb in my head.
What do you think?
The way I see it, there are problems with both the PSX and PSP translations of Tactics.
The PSX translation is non-sensical at parts. Sometimes crucial parts. The end of Chapter III comes to mind, with Ramza saying "I didn't think the God made holy stones but...more evil... Well... Lucavi made them to hand in this world..."
The WOTL translation is sensical but at times unnatural and some of the names make more sense while others seemed to have been changed a bit unnecessarily. The original Japanese for Teta is 'ティータ' or Tīta. Tietra may help readers pronounce the first syllable more accurately but the 'r' is superfluous. I do also prefer the dramatic punchiness of lines like "Blame yourself or God." over "'Tis your birth and faith that wrong you, not I."
There is a third option, a fan translation made by Sugnuf buried in the forgotten archives of the
While I can't read or write Japanese, I'm a pretty competent writer. Enough to get paid for it on occasion. If the Lion War mod is supposed to be the definitive way of playing FFT, a synthesis of the PSX and PSP versions, then I'd like to make a script which is similarly a synthesis of these three translations. I think I can do it.
The biggest challenge is likely keeping the text all within the same general character count. I fear if I just copy and pasted Sugnuf's translation, the words would run outside of the speech boxes. That being said, a lot of speech boxes in FFT's english translation contain empty spaces that would give some wiggle room if you're creative. Notice the second line of Barinten's speech here is shorter than the third. I believe myself to be creative enough to work around the limitations and to take advantage of the opportunities.
But really, there's the other problem. Creative liberties and nostalgia. Any story, when translated, conveys a different tone.
For example, the Japanese version very clearly has Ovelia praying to plural Gods. 'Kami-gami' in Japanese. The PSX version (and Sugnuf's translation) just uses the singular 'God' while the WOTL translations goes with 'O Father'. Both official versions also seem to pull some punches with the Catholic allegories. Marge Funeral's job and title is indeed Pope in Japanese and not High Priest or High Confessor. So the Japanese text sends mixed-messages about the Glabados Church being both polytheistic and papal. I have noticed WOTL's translation borrows a bit from Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire, and things like 'O Father' might be an effort to draw on the same impression George R.R. Martin gives with his own church-like faith of the Seven, which has seven gods (including 'The Father') who are one like the trinity in Christianity. Both plural and singular. The holy trinity is a somewhat esoteric concept even for westerners, much less Japanese video game developers in the era before wikipedia. It's hard to determine whether the use of plural gods 'Kamigami' was a deliberate attempt at vagueness, a deliberate attempt at conveying polytheism, a deliberate attempt at conveying a concept like the holy trinity, or... maybe it wasn't deliberate at all.
So then... do I think Marge Funeral should be called Ivalice's Pope? Do I think that the Glabados Church has one God or many? Or perhaps a God with several aspects like the Trinity? Is Ovelia praying to the Braves like they're saints and not strictly gods? I'm not really sure.
That's why I'd like to use this thread to ask for your input on various topics.
Here's a big one, in addition to the whole 'gods' issue above. Hokuten/Nanten.
So these names are clearly inappropriate and out of place for Ivalice. It's just straight up untranslated in PSX. These words translate literally to 'Northern/Southern Sky Knight Troop' which WOTL translates to Order of the Northern/Southern Sky. Both of these are... verbose and likely would be a real pain to fit in the text boxes. Sugnuf uses 'Knights Aquilor' and 'Knights Austeron', for the northern and southern winds. It sounds cool and I like it but I think it loses some of its meaning to the average reader unless you're versed in Roman mythology...
I myself am partial to 'North Sky' and 'South Sky' for informal speech and 'North Sky Knights' (or Knights of the Northern Sky, if space permits) for formal usage. Gafgarion and the Death Corps would likely speak informally while the prideful Dycedarg would try to say the whole thing.
There is another option, which requires departing from the translation more drastically. Using words like 'White Lions' or 'Black Lions' in the informal manner. In the War of the Roses, the historical period that FFT draws heavy inspiration from, the Duke of York's supporters were called 'Yorkists' and their foe the 'Lancastrians' from the House of Lancaster. I think 'Largist' and 'Goltanist' could also be plausible as a name for their supporters/retainers/knights... but that kinda sounds dumb in my head.
What do you think?