Graphics Enhancement, 23 Years Later!

Comments I have seen on Sephiroth’s labeled ruler today:

“This is the lore that matters”

“He writes like a teenage girl”

“NERD”

“It’s an AU where Lucrecia raised him and she labels all his supplies, so it’s her handwriting”

“His handwriting is so ugly 😭”

“DORK”

“We know his handwriting but not his birthday” 

“Sephiroth can fucking write”

“we should’ve known Sephiroth’s the type of kid who writes his name everywhere from the moment his theme had his name chanted multiple times”

“And mfs don’t think this guy is related to Chadley”

—

The teenage girl one has me dying lmfao.

DADDY DOM STATUS REVOKED. GET SCHOOL-GIRLED SEPHIROTH.

AERITH IN HER RED DRESS

A Clinical Analysis of Cloud's Psychology, Part III - Reintegration and Unconditional Love

This is the conclusion to my series on Cloud's psychology, where I will discuss identity reintegration. The original was posted on Reddit. You don't need to have read the other posts to understand this one, but it's highly encouraged so you can follow my overall train of thought. I'll still include a quick and dirty review of the important concepts from Part II that will be relevant here. To provide some background, I'm currently training in clinical diagnosis and psychotherapy to become a psychologist. I want to apply what I know to break down our understanding of Cloud in a clinical context.

Part I - Trauma, Dissociation, and Psychosis Part II - Identity, Self-Concept, and Mako Part III - Reintegration and Unconditional Love [you are here]

I find the term reintegration very fitting, considering that Cloud's recovery is portrayed by multiple Clouds coming back together again into one whole person. We've established how Cloud's sense of self was shattered through a combination of trauma, Jenova cells, mako poisoning, and his innate desire for strength. In the real world, he'd likely need therapy over his entire lifetime in order to reorganize his identity. But since this is Final Fantasy, Cloud has access to a special metaphysical experience. When Cloud and Tifa fell into the lifestream, he was able to literally pull Tifa into his subconscious and enable her to help organize his memories. I'm going to discuss how and why this works, as well as why Cloud needed Tifa specifically. I'm NOT trying to put a shipping angle on this, I'm just primarily interested in what it took for Cloud to heal, and it's impossible to ignore Tifa's importance in this case.

Quick Recap of Self-Concept

Self-concept, or your understanding of who you are, is made up of three main parts:

Ideal Self - Who you want or aspire to be

Real Self - Who you actually are

Self-Image - Your mental picture of yourself

A good self-image relies on congruence between the ideal self and the real self. Basically, the more similar they are, the better your self-esteem. If they are dissimilar, then it creates incongruence that reduces self-esteem.

Cloud's ideal self wants to be strong, but his real self never made SOLDIER, resulting in incongruence and low self-esteem for much of his life. After Zack's death, Cloud's ex-SOLDIER persona was born inspired by his ideal self, made to help him process his trauma. This boosted congruence but caused him to dissociate from his real self, leaving him vulnerable to manipulation.

The Importance of Tifa

The cornerstone of identity reintegration in the real world is relational support. Because the individual can't rely on himself to reorient who he is, he needs someone else that is able to do that for him, to contain his uncertainties. This often refers to the therapeutic relationship between a patient and his therapist, where the therapist's assurance provides support to the patient and helps him gain the confidence to safely explore his identity. It's clear that for Cloud, the person who helps him reorient his sense of self is Tifa. While Tifa serves the important role of helping Cloud clarify his memories, this alone isn't sufficient for reintegration, the same as how confronting people with the truth doesn't resolve their delusions. It's Cloud's relationship to Tifa that gave him a source of stability to ground him.

In Cloud's subconscious, Tifa helped Cloud remember key parts of his past that explain who he is in the present and why he knows the things that he does. In psychology, the subconscious contains information that isn't immediately part of a person's awareness, therefore this tells us that Cloud indeed still has his real self buried within him. One of the Clouds is different, a child version of him that is meant to represent his true feelings and therefore can be thought of as his real self. This child Cloud ends up explaining the roots of his identity, primarily his ideal self and how it came to be. Child Cloud explains to Tifa that the reason he wanted to join SOLDIER was because he failed to protect Tifa from falling at Mt. Nibel. This tells us that Tifa is at the root of Cloud's ideal self, something that I will keep emphasizing as the key to her importance.

Because Tifa is the root of his ideal self, she is also a massive determinant of Cloud's self-image. This is precisely why Tifa ended up being the final key to Cloud's breakdown at the Northern Crater. When a relational support is feeling anxious or overwhelmed, this spills over to the person relying on her. Prior to Cloud's disappearance after he gave Sephiroth the black materia, Tifa wasn't able to fully be there for Cloud because of her own confusion and apprehension towards Cloud's ex-SOLDIER persona. This only escalated when Sephiroth used her memories against Cloud, casting doubt on whether or not the Cloud she saw in front of her was Cloud from Nibelheim. Remember, the looking glass self draws self-esteem and self-image from how other people see the individual. When Cloud was unsure of who he was, he attempted to look to Tifa for reassurance, and in the moment she was unable to provide that.

Once they're in the lifestream, a large part of what Tifa did was help Cloud affirm that his memories are real. The spent a lot of their time in Cloud's subconscious comparing his memories to Tifa's. But, it was only when Cloud recalled memories that even Tifa couldn't recall that they truly began to make progress with Cloud's identity reintegration. Tifa didn't dig up Cloud's memories, but notably she prompted Cloud to recall why he wanted to join SOLDIER in the first place. Through this, Cloud was prompted to remember the failures that led to his enlistment. Cloud seemed hesitant to talk about his childhood memories related to this, but Tifa provided continuous encouragement as he walked through what happened. And, by recalling why he wanted to join SOLDIER, Cloud was reminded that he never lived up to that dream, directing them to reflect on the Nibelheim Incident again.

Unconditional Love

If we're trying to look at this from a psychology angle, I'd argue that confirming Cloud's memories isn't the most important thing Tifa did for him. The treatment modality that real world therapists use for identity reintegration is called unconditional positive regard, which is unconditional acceptance of a patient as he is. This is telling the patient, "I'm not here to judge you, I will see you and accept you for who you are." This is how the therapist helps the patient manage his fears and anxieties, creating the space for safely exploring his identity. But Tifa isn't Cloud's therapist, she's a dear friend who has a personal relationship with him. When talking about how loved ones help people experiencing identity problems, we say that their unconditional love is what supports the individual. This is why Cloud needed a loved one to be there with him in his subconscious, so that he could find the courage to explore it. Tifa's devotion in particular is so strong that she decided to stay with him in Mideel, when he was at his weakest. Cloud can easily find assurance that she is there to stay and that even when he is weak, she will still accept him. Also, it's worth mentioning that by allowing Tifa into his subconscious, Cloud is expressing unconditional love for her as well. He doesn't blame her for doubting him and still seeks comfort and reassurance from her.

Remember that Cloud's self-esteem is built upon his ability to protect those he cares about. However, Tifa's unconditional love allows him to reshape how his looking-glass self works. Crucially, she affirmed that Cloud did keep his promise, that he did protect her during the Nibelheim Incident. It's a fairly quick moment in the OG, but arguably one of the most important things Tifa says in the story. Cloud felt like he's been failing Tifa for years, but once Tifa tells him that he kept his promise after all, she is telling him that his real self is more congruent with his ideal self than he thinks. Remember, Tifa is at the root of Cloud's ideal self, which is why he cares so much about what she thinks. By providing affirmation, Tifa gave Cloud a means to reconceptualize his self-esteem in a more positive manner. Her unconditional love is also what gives him the courage to openly admit his facade to the rest of the party later on. There also, when Cloud explains how his ex-SOLDIER persona was an illusion, the party doesn't judge him or chastise him for it. They listen to him openly and accept him for who he is, providing unconditional love through their unyielding support for the main mission. This is another rather quick scene, but very necessary for Cloud nonetheless.

Tifa provided Cloud with unconditional love and affirmed congruence between his real self and ideal self. This positively affected his self-esteem and overall self-image, giving him a pathway back to accepting his true self and reintegrating it into his self-concept. It's very clever how the true retelling of the Nibelheim Incident manages to clear up their memories and provide Cloud with affirmation at the same time. I think this is why Cloud is able to reintegrate his identity so shortly after revealing that he was there at the Nibelheim Incident.

Final Thoughts

Something else that came to mind while thinking about Cloud's reintegration is the fact that mentally, he is still around 16 years old. Developmentally, Cloud is still in a period where he would be exploring who he is and looking to the people around him to affirm him. Self-esteem is important for everyone, but especially volatile during adolescence. Teenagers are especially sensitive to other people's opinions, which only highlights the fact that Cloud truly needed to hear affirmation and encouragement from someone else. Because of this, and because of the emotional growth that Cloud experiences, I'd argue that in some ways you could think of his character arc as a coming-of-age story.

Cloud's personal journey is my favorite part of FFVII, and it's amazing to me how well it fits in with real world psychological concepts. I believe that it will be largely preserved from the OG, with expansions to add depth and nuance to Cloud's experience. He's the hero that was never really meant to be a hero but ended up saving the world anyway, and one of my favorite characters in fiction. I hope that my analysis successfully conveys the deep appreciation I have for Cloud's character.

I also might do a similar analysis on Sephiroth eventually?

Reblogging because fundamentally I agree on everything but one point. Adding the "read more" line because I ended up writing more than I expected, it's late at night and probably it's filled with grammar mistakes and inconsistencies.

First of all I'm loving this article, it's really well written and I agree with its content.

The only point I disagree is the firm idea that Aerith will undoubtly die OR her presence will ruin other characters' arcs.

I'd say you're right if we could reasonably assume that from now on things will be going exactly like in the OG and that Aerith's survival is just the faint illusion of some fans. But after all the changes set in the first part of the Remake I don't see how things could be faithful to the OG anymore.

I think Aerith has a big chance to survive. The first part hinted her death way too often to just end up in the Forgotten City and let her die the way she did in the OG. Like "do you remember the tons of times Cloud foreshadowed her death and Aerith seemed to hope she could change her future? Well, it was useless she died anyway". Oh thank you Square Enix.

I don't want to degress too much on plot speculations and stay close to the shipping subject, but can we still assume this is just a Remake of the story as we know it? Maybe yes, probably no. If we defeated the "Whispers" I guess everything can happen from now on. As far as we know this could turn out to be a sequel, or even an illusion.

Aerith's survival is irreconcilable with the events of the original story just like Zack's survival but...actually he survived anyway.

The point is that whatever happens, wherever this Remake will bring us, her survival won't affect the romantic endgame. I am a CT. And not because I prefer Tifa over Aerith, but because I think that reading this story under the perspective of "Cloud will always love Aerith" is both inconsistent and turns Cloud into one of the worst jerks in the world. For a tons of reasons that CAs usually conveneintly ignore.

The big problem of this story is that SE never fully closed Aerith's character arc for what concerns the romantic aspect. In the OG she had strong feelings for Cloud, then there was the date (yes I think her date is the canon one), Cait Sith's prediction and...? She died and the romance died with her, and Cloud never talked about her until the end of the game. She saved everyone from the Lifestream, but what about her and her feelings? When we discovered the truth about Zack there was not a single word that closed their story. Zack said one line about Aerith and it is even not much of a great line. I get why Maiden was created, even if I'm convinced it's not a canon entry.

That's what caused the LTD not the fact that CT wasn't obvious. People who really like Aerith can't accept her being left alone in the Lifestream with Cloud and Tifa living happily ever after. They can't accept Cloud's feelings faded away when he regained his true personality, at the point that most of them refuse that Cloud had ever had a fake personality in the first place.

Crisis Core somehow tried to fix this flaw of the OG but the damage was already done and I lost count of how many times I argued with people who rabidly try to diminish the importance of Zerith. There's no other entry in the compilation where romance is more blatantly obvious than CC but this still happens too often: People trying to disminish the canonicity of CC in favour of Maiden. People saying Zack and Aerith weren't in a relationship. People saying Cloud didn't love Tifa at the time of Nibelheim incident. People saying Zack was in a relationship with Cissnei. People saying Cloud was always himself and trying to minimize his brain damage and the link with Zack. People claiming that Zack in AC was just a product of Cloud's imagination.

I could spend the whole day adding examples. All this to proof that even if Cloud lives with Tifa and raises children with her for at least 4 years (Case of Denzel is set after DoC) they live as totally strangers, because he'll pine for Aerith forever, throwing away all the themes of AC. It's so ridiculous that's incredible that someone could really believe it. But actually A LOT of people are convinced about this, sometimes it feels like most of the fandom thinks so.

SE knows it, they are aware of how many fans want a happy ending for her. Like you said, for many fans she IS the greatest, bestest and most importantest, and she can't be dismissed once again in the Forgotten City just to show up to save the day when Meteor is about to distroy the world. The devs have to give an answer to the expectations between Cloud and Aerith that they set 24 years ago. And they could do it by letting her survive.

The king of CA claims has always been: "IF Aerith survived she'd have been the love interest" followed by "she would heal Cloud in the Lifestream" and "She'd have the Highwind scene". They're debunkable under many perspectives but - at least when I tried to - it never worked. Withthe Remake the devs could let her survive and show that her life doesn't affect the bond between real-Cloud and Tifa. She can't steal moments that belong to other characters. She wouldn't even want to do it. The Lifestream scene will always be Tifa's scene, no matter how much some fans would like to see it played by the mage instead of the monk.

The devs already started to show this. Remake Aerith knows something about the future, and her flirtious attitude toward Cloud is different than in the OG. All their original flirting scenes were removed, most of the new flirting scenes heavily refer to Crisis Core (when they're not a copy&paste), reducing to a minimum the genuine bonding moments between them. Hell, of all the themes her resolution scene could revolve around, the core of it is the famous "You can't fall il love with me. It's not real." No matter how much some people try to distort this sentence to turn it in a love confession. It isn't. It doesn't matter how much people try to read Hollow as a CA love song, it starts when the camera focuses on Zack and Aerith. The devs are softly giving to fans the answer about the LTD in a way that her presence won't affect the outcome.

So I really hope she could survive. For one because I'm selfish, I like her and I don't want to cry her death in 4K. Then because if she dies again at the Forgotten City, the "IF" statements will be brought up again and again and again. Even if the devs would show Cloud and Tifa getting married, someone will always claim that deep in his heart he loves Aerith and Tifa is a rebound, and I don't really feel like keep debating again about who Cloud Strife loves over the next 25 years.

Dead or friendzoned, choose one: The Aerith uncertainty principle.

This article argues that while it might be possible for Aerith to be a love interest in FFVII:R, or that she might survive in FFVII:R, that these things can't both happen. disclaimer: I don't believe either will be happen. ______________________________________________________ Imagine this, the year is 2040, you're playing FFVIII:Remake. Rinoa is doomed out in space, just when she thinks she's about to die, she looks up and sees Squall coming towards her, in a move of unprecedented daring he had jumped out of the Ragnarok to go save her. Your eyes start tearing up as the last recollections of your childhood flood back into your mind and out your eyes. And then, suddenly, from the side of the screen.....Seifer comes floating into frame. Oh yeah, you had almost forgotten, Seifer didn't become evil during the remake timeline.

Afterwards, in the cockpit, Seifer hugs Squall and Rinoa as eyes on me starts playing. How big of an unwelcome intruder would Seifer be in that situation? How much of an insult would this be to one of Rinoa and Squalls most iconic moments? Clearly this would never happen, but why not? If Seifer hadn't turned evil, surely he'd have wanted to save Rinoa as well. Logically it makes sense for him to be there, and yet I think everyone would understand why Seifer isn't welcome there. So why on earth, when discussing final fantasy VII, do I honestly hear people say that if Aerith had lived, she'd have saved Cloud in the lifestream sequence and what's more, actually advocate for this to happen? People need to realize that even if you think Aerith is just the bestest, brightest, most importantest character in the universe, other characters still exist, and people love those other characters. And some of those people work at Square Enix, and they sure as hell won't elevate one character to the detriment of all others. Tifa and Cloud have moments together, important moments, iconic moments. There is Tifa choosing to stay behind and take care of Cloud in Mideel, there is the lifestream, there is the highwind. These are all beloved, iconic moments that fans are clamoring to see, and in each and every one of them Aerith is as unwelcome as Seifer is during "eyes on me", or Rikku during "Suteki da ne". Aerith is an ancient, the entire plot revolves around her, everyone loves her, she has magical powers and is the only person who can save the world! Imagine someone whose already that important, and then forcing her into moments belonging to other characters, there is no quicker way to aggravate a fanbase, or make a character distinctly unlikable. So Aerith, fundamentally, cannot be in those scenes, because those moments belong to other characters. But if Aerith is alive, and a supposed love interest, can she really be left out of those scenarios? Imagine Cloud is in a coma, imagine Tifa staying with him to take care of him while Aerith goes to save the planet. Imagine Tifa going into Clouds sub-conscious and pulling him out, then imagine Cloud and Tifa spending the night before the battle together, cementing their importance to each other, while Aerith goes to spend the night at Elmyra. Then, afterwards, the party defeats Sephiroth and Cloud rejects Tifa in favor of Aerith..... Cementing him as the biggest asshole ever, and Aerith as the most undeserving Mary Sue winner of a love triangle of all time.

Do you see any way of doing that that would not be a gigantic slap in the face to the character of Tifa? Who cared for Cloud while in a coma, who journeyed through his sub-conscious with him and spent her last night on this earth together with him? Fundamentally, the only way Aerith can survive, is if she takes a back in other story-arcs. People have tried to invent nonsensical ways in which Aerith could save Cloud from the lifestream, or suggest alternate routes where you still have the standard "Tifa route", but can also choose the "Aerith route". And all these ideas conveniently ignore the same basic thing. Aerith isn't the center of the universe. Every scene, every moment, every piece of importance you give to her, causes her to cast a larger shadow on the rest of the cast. People want her to be the love interest because they look at her importance to the plot, to her powers as an ancient. They look at how much of a main character she is and their first reaction is somehow "lets give her more". But her importance is exactly why this can never happen, because in order for her to take up the roles played by other characters, those characters need to take up the roles she leaves behind. And Tifa cannot do that. No matter how alive Aerith is, no matter how in love Aerith and Cloud are, Tifa will never be able to summon holy, she will never be able to save the planet by talking to the essence of life. Tifa can never fill Aeriths role, which is why Aerith can never fill hers. Because both matter, and if the thing that makes one special is taken from her, and given to the other, then you've insulted your characters, your fanbase, and your legacy by making one character the sad shadow of who they were, a pathetic ant compared to 'the Mary goddessue'. Aerith cannot do everything. Which means that if you love Aerith, you have 2 choices. You can either have Aerith be a genuine potential love interest, and have that plot point die with her. Or you can have her survive, and sit by as she takes a backseat to other characters, or you can have neither, but you can't have both. Or, you can do the worst of all worlds and argue that the entire story will change to fit this new harlequin romance novel you've invented and antagonize all your fans by removing all those iconic scenes altogether.....yeah, I don't see that happening.

Thank you for the tag!

Now I’m even more convinced that they were meant to be a pair. 

Before writing the post I checked a list of OG accessories to see if there was anything similar to the “Crescent Moon Charm”. I noticed the “Earrings” and the small moons inside them, however I didn’t mention them in my post because I’m convinced they have nothing to do with the “Charm”.

“Earrings” recur in other FF entries and they are always used to increase Magic. In the specific case of the original FFVII, the stat is MAGIC +10.

The “Earrings” accessories in FFVII Remake have the same use: “Earrings” boost Magic by 5%, “Platinum Earrings” by 10%. The design changed a little but they still include the shape of a moon and the curled metal pattern. 

The “Crescent Moon Charm” has a totally different use, it reduces damage taken when equipped by non-active characters. It has nothing to do with magic. And there was no other accessory in the OG with similar use. 

The charm was created after Tifa’s earring of the OG, with a new use and, yes, probably it was meant to play a role in the scene between Tifa and Marle. I really hope said deleted scene will be in the Intergrade. From the trailer it seems it’s going to fill that annoying hole between the scene where Tifa and Barret escape from the Reactor and the one where Tifa goes to Wall Market.

Naysayers should understand that coincidences don’t exist in fiction. Fiction tries to recreate reality, but it’s NOT reality. If something in fiction seems to be an odd coincidence then it’s not a coincidence at all. 

If designers spent time and energies to create a brand new charm, make it identical to Tifa’s earring, describe it in a way that refers to the concept of love and relate it with the idea of protection - that’s the leading theme of Cloud and Tifa’s arc - IT’S NOT CASUAL. 

It’s such a nice and meaningful detail!

It’s not a coincidence, they’re definitely from the same pair

(the Crescent Moon Charm earrings, that is)

It’s not new to #clotination that the Crescent Moon Charm from FFVIIR is the same as the earring from Tifa’s mature dress and her OG dress, and they’re likely from the same pair because it’s just too perfect to be a coincidence. See: this Tweet, this recent, highly-recommended Tumblr post by @skystarsflowers , and this shameless self-promotion reblog from last year with the OG concept art.

I’ve seen some naysayers try to wave it away by saying that because there are three Crescent Moon Charms in the game (Marle’s gift, Tifa’s outfit, and the Whack a Box prize), “it’s not like it’s meant to be an earring or something, it’s probably just a normal in-world item and it’s just a coincidence that Tifa decided to wear it as an earring.” Weak, I know.

However, the side by side comparison of the inventory image vs. Tifa’s earring helped me notice something: they are absolutely earrings and they absolutely make a perfect pair.

(Source: the aforementioned Tweet)

Continua a leggere

Next big project is a calendar for 2020, starring FF characters from VI to XV, flowers, and wings. First up, these lovely ladies from VII.

As always, the project is funded by Patreon. Do have a gander over there for this, and other goodies, if you’d like to help us out!

The new tag will be FF Calendar Project.

Patreon | Facebook | Twitter

A question about Kingdom Hearts, but can be for other stuff too. Do you think some important context or subtext is lost in the translation process from Japanese to a second language, even if it's translated to the best of a translator's ability, and if so, do you prefer a more literal translation over an official dub?

Hello! Thanks for the ask.

To answer the first question, there's different points to be made given the case by case nature of the topic. Important or simply interesting (these are not the same thing) information absolutely can be lost in the process of translation, but there's a lot of things fans need to understand:

Per discussion, is it actually lost, whether in the specific line or that of the overall context elsewhere?

Is the meaning actually *important* or imperative for understanding context [subtext]?

If lost, is it something that could've been localized creatively within the limitations of its presentation (voice acting/lip-sync, text space, etc.)?

Was it something that couldn't even be translated literally within the corresponding localized language? And/or did it not naturally flow into the writing of the actual scene itself for the given language?

Keep in mind that some interesting nuances built within a language system is really tailored for THAT language, and doesn't have to (or can't be) be transferred to another language smoothly in the production process of localization—if it's actually important, they might have to find a way, and chances are a literal translation may not even be enough to accomplish this. So to the second question—it isn't really “literal” vs localization for me, because whether one or both of these things can get the job done is circumstantial. Ultimately, what I care about most is whether what is written makes sense and can still be seen to retain what matters contextually (and sometimes, this means you can even get MORE or something more direct from a localization as opposed to “literal”). I’m using “ “ because really, you don’t want literal, for the majority of the text, it just doesn’t work that way as smoothly as people think. But I understand sometimes literal is actually “close to definition as possible” for people. (sometimes, indeed)

Anyway, if there is an issue with what's written, I know a "literal" translation doesn't always solve the inherent factors dependent upon the specific nature of the JPN language. The "literal" definition doesn't always fully capture how the Kanji is contextually used in the writing for another language. If I ever felt something was completely missed within a localization, my instinct is to first check the nature of the JPN and how it's written contextually to see how it fairs.

Of course, if it's information that isn't really based on the nature of the Kanji and how it's used, that it's something just being misunderstood in translation, then that isn't even a matter of whether it was literal or not—it was just wrong, and could've been right in any form if the text was understood (meaning, I'd take it literal or localized as long as the information is correct). In comparison to the amount of important storytelling text actually localized in video game projects, this doesn't nearly happen that often, though.

To look at Kingdom Hearts:

There have been many, many examples, especially between #1 and #2 discussed within fandom over the last 20 years. lol The majority is very miniscule and inconsequential (if even non-existent of a difference with proper understanding)—in KH3 I tend to think of some scenes between Sora and Kairi that has been discussed. @phoenix-downer has some excellent JPN/ENG comparisons of Sora and Kairi's Paopu Fruit and Light in the Darkness scenes (plus more) that serve some examples—Phoenix might be more readily able to remember some things over the years than I. There’s also this line from Xemnas about finding the Ancient Keybladers in KH3—this one can reasonably create a misunderstanding, but at the same time we don’t exactly have all the information at this point in time anyway.

One thing I do tend to think of is the scene between Aqua/Terra/Ven and the Disney Passes—where the term hogosha 保護者 (guardian, protector, patron, parent) is used in JPN, while in ENG it was written as "grown ups". There's a subtext here that has been missed by some ENG speakers. Similar to #4 (about literal translations), this is one of those cases where contextually speaking, the ENG went with what made sense for the scene and all factors corresponding to it, while still retaining something similar to the concept context-wise. As you can see based on the definition, the term hogosha is very flexible in use due to its span of multiple different words, but in its usage, it always has the connotation of something "parental". But, translating it as straight up "parent(s)" doesn't always work because of the nuances of the word. e.g. From FFXIII, Lightning is a hogosha to Serah, but this isn't to say that Lightning is literally her parent/mom—the contextual nature of hogosha tells more than this but with the same connotation. Sometimes it can be directly "parents/legal guardians", like how it's used to refer to what is essentially PTA school meetings (hogoshakai 保護者会). There's a reason why hogosha is distinct from just more direct words for parent (like oya 親 or ryoushin 両親).

This flexible nuance isn't readily and neatly packaged in a single word in ENG, however, and while, say, “guardian” [parental] can fit in some situations on its own, the connotation of parental isn’t so readily available like it is for hogosha alone. (A good example is this post I made) So, contextually there are other ways to capture it, and that may have to be with a non-literal translation. But, its meaning was missed by some ENG speaking fans, so when they hear "Aqua and Terra are like parents to Ven", they have no idea where that's coming from. Of course, some people were able to understand how this is carried contextually by the word "grown ups" and the situation of the Disney Passes—otherwise, some people completely missed that parental nuance, which would be significant of representing the relationship between Aqua/Terra to Ven.

Sometimes it isn't a localization issue, but a perception one.

With that being said, if in the case of other fandoms/series? It's all over the place. I've seen it all, between something being lost (important or just interesting [unimportant]), something being a mistranslation, or something being retained and people are honestly just trippin' because of misunderstanding things. Straight up. #4 (literal translation/context issues) happens a lot, in that case.

For example, recently I made this post and a follow up post about functionalities of JPN pronouns for (I, me) and the differences that lay there—there's also an extra layer I think I didn't include, which is that between using a specific pronoun in the form of hiragana/kanji/katakana, sometimes it's a stylistic choice as well. (Don't worry about this if you're confused lol). Point is, in this situation I also talked about how this was something that only applies for the JPN language and not necessarily others (especially ENG).

But again, a lot of this is case by case and we'd have to consider the #1-4 above, and for me, I know that to get the job done, it doesn't even have to be literal in order for this to happen.

As an extra note, fans REALLY need to understand localization, if even for SE specifically, to really talk about it efficiently. A lot don’t, and don’t care to. There is a sea of information to gather to form a perspective, and if they had this information, it’d change what they think about the “changes” a localization will make. One of the most blunt translators I can think of (Tom Slattery) gave this thought towards this very topic, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg. So I’ll leave it with this:

Vocal fans on the internet often complain about translators "changing" things in the English versions of games. This always amuses me, as we're very often working alongside the team to help name those things in the first place. For example, on Final Fantasy XIII, we were asked to help with the naming of the roles--Medic, Synergist, Ravager, and so on. We were intending to use different names in Japan and the US/EU from the start, and we (the English translators) brainstormed and proposed both sets. For the Japanese version, they needed English words that (A) sounded cool when rendered into Japanese, and (B) would be understood by non-English-speaking Japanese players, so we worked with the writers to come up with a set of consistent-sounding terms that met those criteria. For the localized version, our focus was on creating names that would have a more sci-fi feel to a native speaker's ear, and also abbreviate to three letters in a way that looked natural and made the short forms quickly and easily distinguishable from one another. We didn't "change" anything; we just generated two different sets of names for two different audiences.

Retroactive integration of the English translation into the Japanese version happens on projects quite often as well. For example, we were asked to come up with a translation for the names of the transporters in the Nautilus theme park. The Japanese name at the time was not something that really worked for us, so we went with "Nautilift." A few weeks later, that started popping up in the Japanese script. That kind of thing is always a huge compliment. It's a collaborative process. No one is going out stomping all over each other's work just for the heck of it.

Great post!

I guess the problem and the cause of all these (convenient) misinterpretations is indeed her persistent presence in the compilation. Or better, all the characters are present in more or less all the entries but she is the only character who is always shown indissolubly linked to Cloud. Which is what bothers part of the fandom.

If her physical presence can't be ignored, the only other way to make her "unharmful" is to try to diminish her relevance in the story.

But is there a greater proof of her importance than the fact itself that fans need to spend so much energy in twisting her role to make her seem an ininfluent or even a villainous character?

So the Lifestream sequence becomes unimportant, she's irrelevant, she's bully, she's insensitive, she's just fancervice, she gets rejected, she's a rebound, she lacks a character arc...let alone Case of Tifa and Advent Children... She is just there watching the other characters playing their roles.

The question is: does it ever work?

Because whenever the fandom spent too much effort spreading misinterpretations SE took advantage of the following entries to debunk them. Remake is no exception.

And it's just part 1.

Tifa is important to the FF7 story (OG and Remake) straight up due to her abundant, consistent involvement in the story—you know, the actual events of what is being written. She has more than this, but that’s the most basic level that a character can be important to a story….by simply being a prime force within it. Get out of here with anything even less than this as this understanding shouldn’t be skipped over.

“Being Important” in storytelling is something I think people perceive very weirdly in fandom for characters. Importance can be judged on different levels, but the level of that for characters should be looked at on the level of story involvement first and foremost.

Any character that is one of the protagonists, a part of your party, and literally is involved and thus affects and interacts with all story beats—something so basic needs to be understood as important. Tifa is one of the heroes, she’s on the journey from the beginning and continues throughout…you can’t get any more straight forward than this for the story. Describing it as “just being there” or “occupying space” is just stupid, I won’t sugarcoat that honestly. And the interaction she has in the story obviously goes beyond that of just “Cloud’s love interest”. She’s not just standing around, T-posing in the background while being that, and it’s a gross view of how that information is even expressed in the story itself. Any good writer that has a character interacting so much with the story [actual events] is bound to have them interacting with plot [the “what”/overall story event chain that sets the “what”] , if not the overall narrative [”how and why”/purpose of plot and structure], eventually. That’s not always the case, at least directly anyway, but even in those cases it can be examined on a micro level. But even if it doesn’t track to the line of narrative, this won’t stop them from having an involvement with story and plot if they’re included all the way through these things.

Now granted, especially in an extended series, there can be a difference between being an “important character” and being “important to a story”. Both Tifa and Cloud aren’t the primary characters in Dirge of Cerberus or Before Crisis, but obviously they still remain to be important to FF7 (OG and Remake), AC, or even Crisis Core as their roles there interact directly with key plot points for FF7. So like, still, “Tifa isn’t an important character” doesn’t stand to be a thought from a knowledgeable mind of the series.

“As long as we’re together, I won’t be afraid.” “Yes, I promise.”

@zerith-week day 2: promise

Parallel #4

The first succesful high five

And of all the objects, scraps and debris that could be part of the environment...

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