Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Pt. 2 Rebirth

[Kanon]

I tried counterstance once against trash mobs and it didn't seem that useful compared to punisher mode since you had to time it so I never bothered with it again. I didn't feel hard mode was all that hard until the final two chapters, but with those tips, it must be a cakewalk.

Anyway, it's done. Started replaying the OG now. I was thinking of taking a break from FFVII for a while but was afraid of losing motivation.

[Shadow5YA]

It's harder to counter trash mobs because you have to divide your attention to multiple enemies, and because most of them go down quickly enough for you to never have to memorize their patterns.

With bosses, it's different. The mob density is lower, and you are more likely to memorize their attacks.

[NAJ P. Jackson]

Quick question: Between the sector 5 and sector 7 slums, which would you pick to live in?

For me it's Sector 5. I really like the vibe on it. And it has more greenery (which would makes sense as Aerith lives in it). The many kids running around also makes the town more alive somehow.

[Kanon]

I like the vibe of sector 5 better but if you live in sector 7, you can see Tifa every day just by going to her bar, so...

[Chosen_Hero]

Sector 7 has Tifa... there is no other choice.

[MeoTwister5]

Y'all are insane. Sassy mouth Aerith is probably the most surprising and refreshing remade character in the game.

[NAJ P. Jackson]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

Y'all are insane. Sassy mouth Aerith is probably the most surprising and refreshing remade character in the game.

A Man of Culture. Well she's always been sassy in the OG game. It's only post FF7 like Advent Children that they made her into something like a Virgin Mary character. But I agree, Aerith best girl.

Tbh the plate falling on sector 7 didn't really make it emotional cause I never got attached to it. Only a few people was note-worthy in it like the Seventh Heaven people, Marle and Betty. The other npcs were forgetable. If the plate fell in Sector 5 then that would make more impact on me.

[Tactics]

Originally Posted by NAJ P. Jackson

A Man of Culture. Well she's always been sassy in the OG game. It's only post FF7 like Advent Children that they made her into something like a Virgin Mary character. But I agree, Aerith best girl.

Tbh the plate falling on sector 7 didn't really make it emotional cause I never got attached to it. Only a few people was note-worthy in it like the Seventh Heaven people, Marle and Betty. The other npcs were forgetable. If the plate fell in Sector 5 then that would make more impact on me.

Not really. She's sassy in Advent Children as she gave her remark to depressed Cloud, and her praying pose is more about party regret about her death.
In Crisis Core, she's your regular teenager until time skip (Zack changed his hairstyle) which followed by implication that her personality might be shaped by Zack who boasted her as girlfriend to Tseng, Cissnei as well as Aerith herself.

[Wandering Soul]

There were some likable characters in Sector 7 but I preferred Sector 5.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by NAJ P. Jackson

Tbh the plate falling on sector 7 didn't really make it emotional cause I never got attached to it. Only a few people was note-worthy in it like the Seventh Heaven people, Marle and Betty. The other npcs were forgetable. If the plate fell in Sector 5 then that would make more impact on me.

It's not like any of the NPCs we interacted with even died when the plate fell. Missed opportunity here, I think.

I don't think the NPCs in sector 5 were that much better. Fiona's double life was surprising but that's about it. The best ones were in sector 6.

[NAJ P. Jackson]

Originally Posted by Kanon

It's not like any of the NPCs we interacted with even died when the plate fell. Missed opportunity here, I think.

I don't think the NPCs in sector 5 were that much better. Fiona's double life was surprising but that's about it. The best ones were in sector 6.

By Sector 6 you mean Wall Market? I like the kids in sector 5.

I mean the only ones we saw that survived that we know were Marle, Betty and Wymer. The other npcs like Katie the monster scoreboard chick probably died.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Kanon

It's not like any of the NPCs we interacted with even died when the plate fell. Missed opportunity here, I think.

I don't think the NPCs in sector 5 were that much better. Fiona's double life was surprising but that's about it. The best ones were in sector 6.

Arguably no one of note died during the plate incident this time around. Even the ones that appeared to legitimately die...probably didn't.

Heck the buildings survived a plate falling on top of them better than I expected .

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by NAJ P. Jackson

By Sector 6 you mean Wall Market? I like the kids in sector 5.

I mean the only ones we saw that survived that we know were Marle, Betty and Wymer. The other npcs like Katie the monster scoreboard chick probably died.

Yeah, Wall Market.

Shop owners also survived in sector 7.

[NAJ P. Jackson]

Aerith's Lustrous Shield Ability reminds me so much of Shirou Emiya's Rho Aias. It's very OP.

[Kanon]

I've watched a few videos with English subtitles or dub, and was pretty surprised how much liberties they've taken when translating. It's not a simple matter of localization, they completely changed some lines. That's a bit of a bummer for English players.

I played the game with French subtitles and as far as I could tell with my 15 years anime watching degree, it was very faithful. Amusingly enough, there were people who played the game with English voices and complained the French subtitles were bad because they didn't match what they were hearing.

Anyway, they should have made two subtitle tracks: one for the English dub for the hearing impaired, and one based on the Japanese dub for those who want as close an experience to the Japanese version as possible.

[NAJ P. Jackson]

Interesting. Someone should compile a list then on what lines were change in the English version.

[Shadow5YA]

There's too many to count and it's more hassle than it's worth. For the most part it's opting for more natural expressions, even if the slang doesn't match the Japanese.

Off the top of my head:

Originally Posted by when the ladder breaks

Japanese Aerith: Uso. (You're kidding/No way/I don't believe it)

English Aerith: Shit.

It's a fair (American) English expression for expressing disbelief/panic, so it's fine to me.

Originally Posted by when Tifa falls in the Shinra HQ lobby trying to jump for the security card key

Japanese Cloud: Tifa!
Japanese Barret: Aaaahh-aaahh-aaahh-aaahh!
Cloud: Bujika?! (You okay?!)
Tifa: Bikkurishita! (That surprised me)

English Cloud: Tifa!
Barret: Oh shit! Tifa!
Cloud: Are you okay!?
Tifa: I thought I was dead for sure!

Still an expression that expresses surprise, but personally that's a bit too exaggerated in my opinion, especially after considering she went through far more dangerous situations like the second bombing run or the plate collapse.
I probably would have went with "Didn't see that coming" instead.

[Klashikari]

That kind of expression does change the way how characters are perceived. Frankly, it is because of them I wasn't surprised they made Aerith say "so what? screw him", which is incredibly out of place when you think about the original script.

But then again, even the voice inflection is accounted in that. The difference between Aerith "I can't believe you" against "え？まじ？！" when someone is KOed is night and day. The former imply disappointment or even annoyance with the speech tone, while the latter is like "whoa, we are in trouble".
JP and EN Aerith have notable difference in term of personality.
Probably the reason why I dislike Aerith's English voice the most, especially her battle dialogues.

[Shadow5YA]

How characters are perceived is also heavily influenced by cultural context. Gentle cuteness in Japanese is not something that commonly exists in American culture and would be perceived as unnatural or even suspicious instead. Had the expression been translated more literally as "Huh? Seriously?" it would express even more annoyance and disappointment

Likewise, while Barret is brash and heavily informal in Japanese, it's not like he speaks like yakuza gangster. However, the reality is that brashness in American culture does have the common use of swear words that would be far less tolerable in Japanese.

While I don't agree with all of the changes, I would still caution against literal translations. Being able to sound natural is extremely important in a game with voiced dialogue.

[Klashikari]

I'm not advocating literal translation by any means, but there is a fine line not to cross.
Even if it isn't as obvious in JP as in EN, JP Aerith is still sassy while keeping her usual energetic side and whatnot. But from a characterization and narrative context, there are changes that look completely out of place. If I were to address my previous example, the original could be easily translated as "True, but we can still beat him!" or "True, but we can do it!" which are equally natural and don't suddenly make Aerith smug in the given situation nor suddenly making her "cutesy".
In comparison, Biggs and Wedge got some slight changes in term of adapted script, but still are pretty faithful in English. Barret is a different issue altogether. JP version is actually very very close to sound like a gangster/thug, which actually works in favor for the English version (although it became too tropey, which is funny when it is usually JP doing that).

I believe people should stop making the assumption that "Being faithful = being literal". No changes implies same intent as the original. Considering how languages work, you have plenty ways to convey the same message in multiple fashions, be it vocabulary or speech pattern. But when you pick words with strong connotations for certain quirks, it is where it falls apart if the localizer does a bad choice and doesn't think about the character integrity or story consistency. It is the same issue we had for old games, like Frog in Chrono Trigger. Making character sound natural require actual consistency in general. Using the "I don't want silted dialogues" argument is just as bad as "I don't want lose the nuance so I go literal" one, which is funny because both sides of the argument are missing the whole point of translation and localization.