rionaleonhart | And All The Roads Lead Me Back To My Home.

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And All The Roads Lead Me Back To My Home.

THERE IS A ZOMBIE DRAW POINT IN THE TRABIA GRAVEYARD.

HORRIFYING.

Also, Squall thinks (I didn't turn out okay at all) when he's flashing back to little-kid Squall saying 'I'll be okay without you, Sis,' and I just want to hug him. He would probably just stand there awkwardly and give me a strange look, but I want to hug him anyway.

Really, it's amazing that Squall ever manages to improve his behaviour at all, with the way everyone says 'GASP, SQUALL, THAT'S NOT LIKE YOU' whenever he tries to say something comforting. I can feel Squall's frustration whenever he makes an effort and everyone says 'MY GOODNESS, SQUALL IS ACTING AS IF HE CARES ABOUT SOMETHING, THE WORLD MUST BE ENDING.'

I love all the characters! I do! But making a huge deal out of it whenever Squall takes a tiny step in the right direction isn't going to help him, guys. When Squall is teased, he closes himself off. You should know this. Take this scene:

Squall: (Man, she's really down.) Come on. I'm sure you can still do something.
Selphie: Squall... being sensitive? That's weird. You're the last person I expected to cheer me up. I must really look depressed.
Squall: (What's so weird? I care just like everybody else. It's just that there are too many things that can't be helped. So why bother talking about everything?)
Selphie: Uh-oh! There you go again into your own little world. And you're not gonna share anything, huh?
Squall: ...Yeah, whatever... (Why is she teasing me? I was just trying to help.)

I know Selphie's just poking fun, as she is when she responds to Squall's saying she's been a great help with a laugh and a 'That's not like Squall at all!', but what she's saying is that being closed-off and self-absorbed is 'Squall' and caring about others is 'not-Squall'. The implication - not intended by her, but there to be inferred by Squall - is that Squall is always going to be Squall and therefore incapable of openness or caring, so why make the effort?

Possibly I am becoming a little too worked up over a group of fictional characters' treatment of another fictional character, but I've fought with social-interaction problems myself, and I can tell you that 'good Lord, you're actually speaking to someone?' is rarely a helpful comment.

I swear it cannot be healthy to identify this much with Squall Leonhart.

On a less 'help help I cannot differentiate myself from a fictional character' note, here is a rather delightful description of a bazaar good from Final Fantasy XII:

Contains one (1) firearm and one (1) pouch of shot, made from hardened mud. The intent, of course, being to cover one's foes in mud, rendering them blind. And muddy.

My goodness, I love the Final Fantasy XII translation.

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Things like that are why Mitchell and Vinny are having trouble communicating.

Erm, never mind.

That translation makes me smile so hard. It sounds quite a bit like something off Gaia, actually.

EDIT: I think 'flashing-back' is more correct that 'flashbacking'; 'flash' is the verb portion of the word whereas 'back' is the adverb telling what kind of flash, ie, "I'm flashing back to this memory" rather than "I'm flashbacking to this memory". Sort of like "sisters-in-law" instead of "sister-in-laws".

Edited 2009-09-05 16:18 (UTC)

More or less everything in the Final Fantasy XII script is beautifully translated. The way everything is phrased is one of my favourite things about the game.

I think you're right; 'flashing back' is fairly obviously the correct term, but that only occurred to me when I reread this entry before posting it and realised I'd somehow written 'flashbacking'. I left it in because it amused me.

Ah. Well, you had asked (well, questionmarked) and I love debating the correct conjugations of words.

As an English language student, I understand entirely!

I thought you might.

None of the characters in VIII can be relied upon to know how to structure healthy social interaction.

After a quick mental runthrough of primary, secondary and tertiary characters and coming up only with 'um, maybe Raine?', I have to conclude that you're right.

I'm only familiar with Squall through Kingdom Hearts, but the quotes above are wibble-worthy! Look at him, he's trying and everything! D:

I think it's human nature to get worked up with characters we identify with or particularly like. I get worked up over Spider-Man! It's incredibly lame of me, but I can't help it! We all probably have a character we feel that way about.

I know! Squall makes me wibble so much!

And it's reassuring to hear that you get worked up over fictional characters as well. Thank you!

I always wonder if it's the FF8 translation that makes it feel so... off. Rinoa bothered me on my first playthrough, but I gradually came to realize she wouldn't have come off as so annoying if they didn't translate her lines as if she were about five.

It really bothered me when Rinoa was about to die (... this happened several times, actually) and everybody stood around encouraging Squall to save her as if he was the only one who would do it. Weren't they... you know, worried about her? Beyond her being Squall's love interest? I admit that this is why the romance sounded a little forced to me.

Oh, Squall. I'll also admit this: I didn't want him to change at all. He's a little awkward, but I think he would've been fine, teasing or no teasing. When Selphie teased him, I assumed she knew he was perfectly capable of openness and caring, and she was saying that he doesn't need to force himself to verbalize it, because she understands. Then again, it's Squall, so I think that implication would've gone right over his head.

Also, WHY IS THERE A ZOMBIE DRAW POINT THERE? OH MAN.

Rinoa bothered me on my first playthrough, but I gradually came to realize she wouldn't have come off as so annoying if they didn't translate her lines as if she were about five.

From the Final Fantasy Wiki article on Rinoa:

One development point that did not make the Japanese-to-English translation was Rinoa's habit of forming cutesy words (much like Selphie). One such word was oHARO~ ("ohayo" (good morning) and "HELLO" put together).

So I'm not sure the slight childishness was just a translation issue.

Yes, the bit where all the other characters are going 'Oh, no, Rinoa is hanging off the edge of the Garden! OBVIOUSLY THIS IS THE PERFECT TIME TO MATCHMAKE. SQUALL, YOU ARE THE ONE WHO MUST SAVE HER' perplexed me a little as well. There's generally not quite as much connection as I'd like between Rinoa and the characters who aren't Squall, I feel. (Apart from Zell's rather adorable possibly-a-crush on her. I sort of want to write some Squall/Rinoa/Zell, but I have no idea how I'd go about it.)

I didn't really want Squall to change either, because, as I've said, I really, really identified with him and I didn't want him to become a character I couldn't connect with quite as closely. But the change wasn't too drastic, if I remember correctly. He learnt that he could rely on others (AND THEN TIME KOMPRESSION RIPPED HIM AWAY FROM THEM AND LEFT HIM ALONE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, WAY TO MESS WITH SQUALL'S ALREADY FRAGILE MIND), but he's still quite quiet and serious and not entirely open even at the end of the game.

I may be misremembering. I suppose I'll find out during this replay.

I DON'T KNOW. WORST PLACE FOR A ZOMBIE DRAW POINT EVER.

Okay, a character who says oHARO~ isn't childish, that's just awesome.

And Rinoa and Zell would make a totally fantastic couple. They would be completely unstoppable. Also I think they would throw incredible parties.

Actually, you might not want to translate Rinoa's speech directly from Japanese, in that case. Rinoa's style of speaking in the Japanese script is in fact the "child" form of speaking, so the translators were just staying true to the form of the script. I'd compare her to Usagi of Sailor Moon or Miaka of Fushigi Yuugi in terms of temperament (minus the appetite).

The connotations for that kind of speech pattern in Japan are a little different from how we'd interpret them here. It's more acceptable, even expected of heroine figures to behave in this way, as girlish naïvete is seen as a sign of feminine virtue, where in the west, it's looked on as silly and stupid. It appears to me that the translators tried to strike a balance between translating the text correctly and tweaking it a bit into something more palatable to an English-speaking audience. Unfortunately, in some cases ("MEANY!" might truthfully have made more sense if they'd just had her say "HYPOCRITE!") it falls a little short on both sides of the equation.

HELLO, RANDOM DRIVE-BY COMMENT, but... I was wondering if I could friend you? I found out you exist since you are on

lacidiana's flist and she's my best RL friend, so sometimes I'd see her poking through her flist and go "OH HEY THAT PERSON IS TALKING ABOUT FFVIII OR MGS OR..." And then I went looking through your userinfo and saw we have a lot of similar fandoms, so... yes? Please?

/stalker

Hello! You are absolutely welcome to friend me. For my part, I was sold the moment I saw both Final Fantasy and Pokémon listed amongst your interests on your profile, so I'm adding you back immediately.

It's very nice to meet you!

It's nice to meet you, too! Yay! And yes, I've been playing a decent amount of Pokemon lately. :[ Game is way too addictive. But thanks!

"Yeah."

(After all, he's a classic introvert in an environment chock full of extroverts... If hell is other people, that would be doubly so. And while there's nothing wrong with being an introvert, stuck in an environment like that, his frustrations have closed him off more than normal, leaving him excessively isolated...)

Playing Dissidia: Final Fantasy has further reminded me of what a socially awkward dip Squall is. He's a lot more aware of his social awkwardness in Dissidia, which is strange to me, especially when he readily admits early on that a) he wants people to care about him, b) he's afraid of being a burden, c) these people he wants to care about him, he considers friends and d) HE ACTUALLY SAYS SOMETHING LIKE "GOD, WHY AM I SO BAD WITH PEOPLE?"

It's very strange. It's like an older wiser Squall. I guess the ideal of Dissidia is that they've already gone through their respective games and come out on the other side, but the cognitive dissonance with Squall is so strange!

And yeah, I think it's the same thing with poor Squall's sense of humor. No one ever expects him to make a joke so they overreact when they realize that he has, in fact, been making jokes for a long time. Of course, overreacting doesn't help anything, but I can't say I don't understand why they did it.

I identify with Squall a lot too. It's okay.

(And yes, the FFXII translation is amazing.)

Dissidia sounds so interesting! It's almost enough to tempt me to buy a PSP. Maybe when they're cheaper and Birth by Sleep is out. (Oh, Square, why can't you pick a console and stick to it?)

I can certainly understand why they overact, and I know they don't mean any malice. Still: poor Squall. Poor, poor Squall.

(Every so often, I want to load FFXII and go around just talking to everyone and reading everything. Such love for the language!)

Oh god, the end of Shade Impulse in Dissidia.

It's just the bit where Squall is all "We should do this again sometime." and Cloud just goes "...Not interested." AND FOR SOME REASON PEOPLE SEEM TO THINK SQUALL WAS BEING SERIOUS. yes, i'd totally want to have to avert the end of the world all over again. how does next saturday sound?

I love how about three quarters of Squall's lines in the game are internal. :D Talk about broody!

Random:

I actually really liked the Squall and Seifer dynamic in my last playthrough. Seifer seems to have an idea that Squall is the only one in any way worth bothering with in that he's good at fighting, even if he thinks he's an imbecile at times - you see on the mission that they actually work alright together, and can banter with eachother.

The reason I bring this up is I thought Squall's most interesting internal monologue was when he heard of Seifer's "death"... He understands how Seifer operates when it seems other people just confuse him (like Selphie!).

I think as well as these comments not helping, Quistis' at the beginning of the game didn't either with her "understanding" of Squall... which is quite funny but in a realistic sense not too helpful, Quistis!

Also, lol at FF12.

Ahahaha, I love that too. If I had the patience to go through a script and determine which percentage of Squall's lines are thoughts, I would.

The Squall and Seifer dynamic is fascinating. Seifer seems to respect Squall in a way he doesn't respect anyone else, and he seems to be the only person with whom Squall really feels any connection at the beginning of the game. I'm not a Squall/Seifer person, but I do love their more-than-rivals relationship.

When Squall realises that Seifer has joined Edea, he thinks:

(If I were to face the sorceress directly...)
(Would I have to go through Seifer?)
(...That's the way it goes as a SeeD. You can't choose your enemies...)

Even with all their sparring and slashing each other's faces open, Squall doesn't want to be on the opposite side to Seifer. I love that.

Yes, the other characters' tendency to finish Squall's sentences or say they 'know him too well' also makes me bristle slightly. It's all meant in fun, obviously, but there's still the implication of 'why should I bother speaking if you can provide my part yourself?'

It always frustrated me a bit that the people around Squall really didn't do much except misinterpret him; when he reached out, they slapped him away, and when he backed off, they didn't reach for him. Rinoa, if nothing else, was not guilty of this; although she tried to "break through" a little too hard in the beginning, I think, the fact he was so put off did not deter her, and I think that such persistence in trying to communicate with him was something he desperately needed.

EDIT: Also, Rinoa, unlike most of the others, watches people very closely. Everyone else is so wrapped up in themselves, but Rinoa is very concerned with other people, so she pays attention. She's the only person who was able to figure out WHY Squall freaked and stormed out of the reception room at Galbadia Garden. Even if it wasn't until later, I think the fact she said it back to him was very, very profound. Squall had to realize then, someone was paying attention, and was intelligent enough to begin to understand what he was going through. Something as small as that is enough to make someone not feel alone.

Edited 2009-09-06 10:50 (UTC)

Rinoa, if nothing else, was not guilty of this

That's something I've noticed on this playthrough, and it's a good part of the reason I'm coming to appreciate the Squall-and-Rinoa romance more. Rinoa has her flaws, but when Squall retreats she doesn't just leave him to mope in his room, and when he reaches out she is more inclined to praise than to mock him.

I feel kind of like a dunce because I have nothing intelligent to add to any of these posts (partly because everyone beats me to it and partly because I am not good at wording anything), but man, I just always love it so much when people talk about Final Fantasy VIII (which no one does anymore because I guess it is kind of old now, isn't it), especially in a way that doesn't consist solely of I HATE IT AND IT SUCKS AND MAN THAT SQUALL WAS SUCH AN EMO LOSER AND RINOA WAS ANNOYING AND USELESS AND ALSO THE GRAPHICS ARE TERRIBLE.

(Regarding relating to Squall so much, no, it is probably not, but at least there are enough of us around to relate unhealthily together? Bonus Jecca-Facts Story: Back in the worst times of my own social-interaction problems, I actually had a friend who was familiar with FFVIII and liked to compare me to Squall, and despite being well aware of how much it didn't help when the characters did that whole 'that's not like you!' thing, she would then, in all seriousness, do the same stuff to me, and I always wanted to call her on it but of course I never actually did.)

ALSO YEAH THE ZOMBIE DRAW POINT... That was kind of awful.

There are people who think Final Fantasy 8 has terrible graphics?!

And there was me always thinking "wow, they're really pretty and haven't aged that badly".

I've never seen anyone complain about just the graphics, so I like to imagine they're really just listing anything they can think of, however potentially irrelevant it may be, as another reason to hate it, because, yeah, I think they're just fine. (Clearly it's actually just the nostalgia talking, or that we're both lunatic Square-apologists, or something.)

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And All The Roads Lead Me Back To My Home.

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