AISubs v3.7
Why, hello everyone! Welcome back to Final Fantasy VII on Playframe, the original Final Fantasy VII in all of its PS1 glory!
Tch, are we newer on the job and we are the veteran?
You really gotta work sometimes with this localization to understand what
they're trying to imply.
I guess we run the bar tonight.
Everyone okay?
Explosions, explosions! Oh man, Avalanche is so cool!
Financially, there must have been about a billion gil worth of damage.
And that ain't all — a lot of innocent people got killed, too!
If the explosion had been in the middle of the night, that would have been one thing.
At least the people could have gone in their sleep.
Casts a bit of a darker light on our eco- terrorist... activities, but...
I like that they... don't... like... shy away from it.
I'm not opening up — go away.
Okay, well...
I guess it's been an eventful night.
It's also amusing to me that inconsistency in what they do and don't censor swears wise.
It's... it's a very charming localization.
Uh... and not a great one, but charming.
I... by the way...
So... um... sorry, I know I'm going on a lot of tangents and rambles.
I'm sure that'll... stop eventually, maybe.
Um... if you find the topic of localization and translation of video games interesting —
especially from this kind of older era —
uh, there is an amazing video series, uh, on YouTube that I recommend going and finding.
Uh, it was on Kotaku, I believe, on their, uh, YouTube channel.
Uh... created by Tim Rogers, and I think it's called "Let's Mosey".
And he basically does this series of videos going through more or less the entirety of Final Fantasy VII, accelerating the further he gets into the game,
looking at the... original localization that we're seeing here, and the original script in Japanese of Final Fantasy VII, because he's bilingual, he speaks both, and he's worked in the game industry in both, like, the North American and Japanese industry — he worked at Sony for a while —
and he goes through and basically compares the localizations and explains "here are some other ways that they could have translated this line from Japanese", or "here are some of the added layers of meaning or subtext that this original line had that the newer line doesn't have", or — and sometimes, like, he's complementary to the new localization — it's like, "here is some added flavor that feels more natural, that the localizer brought out with their translation into English that wouldn't have been there if you just translated this literally as it reads in Japanese".
It's a very fascinating watch — I highly recommend to do it — I recommend Tim Rogers' videos in general, because he's one of the best people on YouTube, but that series in particular is a fascinating watch if you are a fan of this game or just a fan of, like, getting a look inside the localization process and all the interesting ways you can take language from — or, take a script in one language and transform it into a script in another one while trying to preserve as much of the original intent as possible.
Anyway...
Whew! Ah, jeez, I'm blitzed! I just love them homemade cocktails — but they sure do creep up on you!
I can't do a yurry, low and tall voice, it turns out — this is Johnny, though!
Uh, red hair gives him away.
He doesn't show up nearly as much in the original as he does in the remake.
But, uh... it's Johnny.
Anyway, sorry, Barrett.
Okay, going ahead...
I will, thank you.
Cloud, we scared her off.
Welcome home, Cloud. Looks like everything went well.
Did you fight with Barrett?
Hmm...
Not... really. I irritated Barrett. I don't know if that counts.
I definitely annoyed Barrett, but I think I might... just have that effect on people.
Not this time.
Hmm... you've grown up.
When you were little, you used to get into fights at the drop of a hat.
This is Tifa, if you didn't already know.
And what you're hearing is Tifa's theme.
Which is nice.
Flowers? How nice!
You almost never see them here in the slums.
But... a flower for me?
Cloud, you shouldn't have.
No big...
Hmm, I could give it to Tifa or give it to Marlene.
Hmm...
Giving it to Marlene would probably help to win us some points with the kid.
And it's probably what I would go with, but Tifa already noticed it and assumed that the flower was for her, so this...
Giving it to Marlene now would create an awkward situation.
And I don't know if there's any hope for impressing Marlene at this point, so here you go, Tifa.
Thank you, Cloud. It smells wonderful.
Maybe I should fill the store with flowers.
Maybe so. Let's check in with everybody. Figs?
Ah, nothing like that first drink after a job.
Why don't you have one too?
I know, yeah, why not?
I'm being friendly.
Ah, that's more like it.
Even if you were with Soldier, you're still a rookie here, so you better listen to whatever I tell you.
Turns out I also can't do a Gideon Emory doing an American accent voice.
We're learning a lot today.
It's a charming little bunch.
Trying to calm down a little bit?
Let's just... fun little...
animator... brain... exercise here for a second.
Let's... try to see what we can read...
from... the... animation loops each of these characters is playing right now.
And it's... like... it's a little hard to tell with some of them because of the original resolution of the game.
It'd probably be... maybe a little bit easier to... tell on like the PC or a modern port version which...
has similar graphics but does play back at a higher resolution.
So... Marlene... is kinda like... a little bit more closed off kinda arms tucked in close and brought up and a little bit more defensively so she's... like...
they're trying to sell her as a little bit more... nervous and... standing next to Tifa... sort of beside an adult... protector she trusts so she's like...
she reads as a little bit more... nervous and uncomfortable probably with me being here.
Tifa... pretty neutral... pose and it's not even like an animation loop it's just in like a...
locked in... stance similar to Cloud like our... there's no... idle animation... here.
You'll see an occasional blink on their eyes but... there's no... sort of like a ambient movement... on the body at all.
As opposed to... some of these other characters who have more loops going on.
Biggs is... drinking...
with... two hands... so I guess...
Yeah these two are actually playing the same animation I think.
That's kinda one of the benefits they'd have gotten... switching to 3D... uh...
There's possibility for...
creating an animation and then being able to apply it to multiple characters, if their proportions are... more or less similar...
just depending on how things are set up under the hood.
So... creating this one drinking animation for Biggs, let's say... uh...
could mean that they could apply the same animation to Wedge, but Wedge is also switching between kinda that drinking animation and the eating one...
which... could be read as a little bit of characterization if you want it, like...
Biggs stops every now and then and pauses and sits and thinks and then... does some more drinks...
Wedge is... drinking, but also eating as well...
which might be... you could like, read as a suggestion that... of just like... Wedge being way more into the food...
or... Biggs just being... just here for the drinks.
In either case, it's like a subtle little bit of characterization just in choosing which animations the two of them play.
Jessie's is the hardest to read, I think just because of both the resolution and the angle here being a little bit harder... to tell...
it looks like, though...
from what I can tell...
that like, she's got like a hand up to her chest and is...
maybe like breathing really hard like my... maybe trying to...
calm down like maybe she's just kinda having an anxiety spike or something.
It's really hard to tell, but that would be my guess especially based with the dialogue she... had... where she's like...
trying to calm herself down.
Sorry, this may just be interesting to... me as the... animator who does this for a living...
Uh... *chuckle*
But uh... especially this early on in games where everything is so simple...
it's...
I... I find it fun kinda digging in and trying to...
read what they are trying to communicate...
with the simple stuff they've got here...
and the limited tools at their disposal.
And it's neat like...
this sort of drinking animation has a little bit more...
it's still very pantomime-y, but it has a little bit more subtlety than...
they could have done with the old... uh... original... 16-bit sprites...
on the Super Nintendo era.
Like... this sort of a...
Even though it's a little bit hard to read this animation here on Jessie,
this is a more subtle, like, heavy breathing, like, "oh, calm down, calm down," sort of a...
motion, than... they really could have easily done, uh...
back on the Super Nintendo. I don't even know how they would have tried to sell this on the Super Nintendo, probably just dialogue alone.
I've been rambling way too long on this now. Let's, uh... talk to you again?
Sorry, Cloud. Marlene seems a little shy.
Oh, come on. I'm great.
No.
No one believes me when I tell them I'm great.
Oop.
Papa, welcome home!
Oh, that's cute.
You alright, Barrett?
Great!
Get in here, fools! We're starting the meeting!
I can already tell this is one of those playthroughs that's going to require a lot of "tea" to get through.
I guess maybe the quantity of dialogue may chill out a little bit after we get through the initial hours, but still...
Sit down.
How about... something to drink?
Hmm...
Are we a spoiled sport?
Or are we... trying too hard to impress someone? (laughs)
You know, I'm relieved you made it back safely.
What's with you all of a sudden? That wasn't even a tough job.
I guess not. You were in Soldier.
Make sure you get your pay from Barrett.
Don't worry. Once I get that money, I'm outta here.
Cloud, are you feeling alright?
Yeah. Why?
No reason. You just look a little tired, I guess.
Well, I did commit terrorism and have to ride a train from the top at high speed, so like... I've had a night.
Soldier, no. Hey, before we move anywhere, I need to see.
In the... in the remake, inside this bar, there is a neon sign that simply reads "pizza".
And I love that sign. And I need to know, is that sign in here anywhere?
There is...
Okay, even better. There's a sign that says "Texas".
I never noticed that before and I don't know why it's here, but that's... very charming.
I mean, the... the bright lit one that says "beer"? That's... self-explanatory. It's a bar.
"Texas", though...
That...
That suggests things about this setting.
And also, there's the...
Floor mat that... seems to say "Tyler".
Or "tifer"?
Not sure...
In either case...
Wild.
No pizza sign, though.
Alas, maybe downstairs.
"Texas", are you kidding me?
Love you guys, hideout.
Do you have a pizza sign?
No? Yo, Cloud, there's something I want to ask you. Was there anyone from SOLDIER fighting us today?
None, I'm positive.
You sound pretty sure.
If there was anyone from SOLDIER, you wouldn't be standing here now.
Don't go thinking you was so bad just 'cause you was in SOLDIER...
Ah! Biggs, are you okay?
Yeah, you're strong. Probably all them guys in SOLDIER are.
But don't forget that your skinny ass is workin' for Avalanche now. Don't get no ideas about hangin' on to Shinra.
Stayin' with Shinra? You asked me a question and I answered it. That's all.
I'm goin' upstairs. I wanna talk about my money.
And that's that, I guess.
I don't care about Avalanche or the planet for that matter.
I don't care about anything. Everything sucks, I'm goin' to my room.
Cloud... you say you don't care, but you came to talk to me.
Cloud... you just want friends. Isn't that right?
(laughs)
Oh, this feels in-character... as long as we're roleplaying.
Yeah, well... you look kinda lonely to me.
If you ever got anything you wanna get off your chest, you can always talk to me.
You're a good one, Wedge. And, um... you're a dead one, Biggs.
Rip, Biggs.
You doin' okay over here?
Money...
Oh my, it must've been for a lot of it.
Sure, well, what the hell? It's a verbal agreement. Now let me figure this out.
(laughs)
Can I... check the TV? Yes.
Oh, is President Shinra saying... giving an announcement here?
That's right, he's not raspy. He's... I was... like, hearing Heidegger's voice in my head. That's not right.
Well...
Anything else from you?
Straighten things up with everyone for me?
Well, I've tried... best I can.
Think Wedge still likes me.
Guess we better head out.
You're just gonna walk out, ignoring your childhood friend?
What?
How can you say that or "sorry"? Well, I mean, it is what I was about to do, so...
Saying that seems... in line.
Sorry, I guess.
You forgot the promise, too.
Promise?
So you did forget.
Remember, Cloud. It was seven years ago.
Look, the well. Do you remember?
Yeah, back then.
I thought you would never come, and I was getting a little cold.
Oh, it's baby cloud and Tifa.
Sorry I'm late.
I like the little feet kicks. It's a good touch.
I'm gonna be the best there is. Just like Sephiroth.
Sephiroth. The great Sephiroth.
Isn't it hard to join, soldier?
I probably won't be able to come back to this town for a while.
It looked like she was sort of chuckling there for a second.
What?!
Come on! Promise me!
Alright. I promise.
I really like the simple blocking in that scene.
Again, all still very simple, but effective.
The characters could have just been sitting there, kind of dangling on their feet that whole time, but having
Cloud get up and kind of like, climb up the back of the tower and up onto the top of it,
and her occasionally looking up at him and just... yeah, like, just really nice
blocking around that little set for that scene.
It's good touches.
You remember now, don't you? Our promise?
I'm not a hero, and I'm not famous. I can't keep... the promise.
But you got your childhood dream, didn't you? You joined SOLDIER.
So come on. You've gotta keep your promise.
Wait a sec, big-time soldier.
A promise is a promise. Here.
Ugh, the money's for Marlene's school and...
Two thousand.
Thanks, Cloud.
Looks like we're sticking around a little longer.
Just crashed here, I guess.
And everyone else is up.
Can I punch the — no.
Anything else I can interact with in here?
Goooood morning, everyone.
Good morning, Cloud. Did you sleep well?
That seems... maybe out of line. Um...
This is also maybe a little mean, but...
preferable, I think. Let's behave ourselves, Cloud.
Barrett's snoring kept me up.
Psst, psst. Keep it down, they'll hear you.
Barrett's always edgy before an operation.
I'm going this time.
Oh, good!
And you will be attending bar today?
Marlene, make me something hard.
Marlene? Marlene?
Marlene, I'm thirsty.
Y-yes, I know, Tifa, I'm... Marlene!
I'm a paying customer!
I'm being ignored.
Our target's the Sector 5 reactor. Head for the station first.
I'll fill you in on the train.
Yo, Cloud!
Before the next mission, I got something I wanna ask you.
I, uh... I don't really know how to use materia.
I'll give you that materia you found. Just teach me how to use it.
(sigh)
I'll explain it. Be nice, Cloud.
Make friends.
Dweeb.
Here's our tutorial. You can tell because it's flashing in the bottom-left "tutorial".
Sure, I'll explain how materia works.
First, access the menu.
You know the basic functions.
The triangle button brings up the menu. Directional buttons move the cursor.
Like this. (chuckle) Yes.
Select each menu by using the "OK" button.
If you wanna leave the menu, just push the "cancel" button.
See? Let's go ahead.
Now you're in this menu.
Select "materia" submenu.
Yes, Cloud.
Select who you want to use it.
Now look at my weapon here.
Each weapon and armor has slots in it.
Choose which slot you want to put materia in.
Now select the materia you want to use.
This is curative materia.
If you want to know what its effect is...
Line the cursor up with "check"...
and push the "ok" button.
It's just like selecting battle commands.
Just line the cursor up to "magic"...
and you can see that the available magic has increased.
That... is a weird way of saying it, but yes.
Now you can use new magic, "cure"...
and that's all there is to equipping materia.
See? It wasn't that tough.
When you want to remove any materia...
it's as easy as pointing to the materia slot...
and pushing the triangle button.
There's just one thing you have to be careful of.
Whenever you equip materia...
your situation changes.
Parts of you may become stronger...
while others get weaker.
Normally, when you equip magic materia...
your magic power will get stronger, but your physical strength weakens.
So materia is kind of a double-edged sword.
On the left side of the screen you can see the materia's effect on you.
It's wise not to overuse magic materia...
but try out various things.
Push the "cancel" button to exit the submenu.
Okay, that's about it.
I'll give you some advanced tips later.
Cloud, I got a message from the weapon shop man upstairs. He has something he wants to give you. Don't forget.
Marlene, you watch the store while we're gone.
Alright, good luck!
Now will you fix me a drink?
Take care!
Fine, I'm going.
So then, let's see, um...
Can we check in with everyone?
I hope he doesn't get hurt.
That worries me the most.
Johnny E., what's up?
I'm leaving. Going far away. But when I come back...
I'll be a better man. This is goodbye!
Hey, childhood friend, you better take good care of Tifa.
Oh... yes, okay.
Yesterday, everyone in town was peeking at the two of you from outside the bar.
Tifa's childhood friend, that's a good one.
Ah, now I ain't got no one to pick on!
Who were you picking on? Was it Johnny?
I'd believe you if it was Johnny.
He seems very pick-on-able.
Let's explore a bit. There's... shops and stuff... around this place... before we leave.
We should probably stock up a little... before doing any more missions.
So there's a weapon shop upstairs, is there?
But not upstairs in this building, I don't think. I think it's upstairs, like...
over this way.
Can I get in here?
Yes.
Hellooo.
Ah, another slow day.
If this keeps up, this store's going under.
Can't sell any really good medicine in a slum like this.
Oh! Look at this!
This doesn't happen every day? Are you a... customer?
Yes, welcome!
We sell, we buy!
I'll be the judge of that.
Umm...
I don't have fire materia yet. Let's get that.
And...
It's tempting to get another restore materia. I will hold off for now...
just in case there's like weapons and gear I could be stocking up on.
Thank you.
Let's see now...
Umm...
Yeah, let's start going through here.
Umm...
Here's...
ten gil. Go.
Oh man, oh man!
Go ahead and help yourself to the room!
This... thank you.
Weird.
Hey, hey! Wait a minute, you! You can't just walk out of here without buying something!
Might be unhealthy for you, if you know what I mean!
I just... I just wanted to shop!
Okay, alright, here's some new stuff.
We got the assault gun for Barrett already, don't need that.
Uhh, this looks like a consumable...
attack weapon, which I don't really want.
These will improve our defense, though. I will take...
Let's start with two.
Might as well equip 'em now, actually. Let's see.
So...
the bronze bangle...
really doesn't do a lot for us.
Worse defense and also doesn't even have a materia slot or anything.
Iron bangle's better across the board.
So...
let's give you...
Fire. So as I sort of showed in that tutorial a little bit, the materia system is great. I really love this magic system and character customization system.
So with fire materia, we can equip it to any one of these slots and it will reduce her, like, tifa's strength here, but increase her magic, as it's sort of said in the tutorial.
You also, like, as you use materia in combat, it levels up and eventually, like, we've got like one star fire materia here. If we keep using it, it'll become two star and then three star and we'll get more and more versions of this fire spell, like increasingly strong ones.
As you see the ability list down there — fire, fire 2, fire 3 — if we keep on leveling this materia up, we will be able to cast stronger and stronger versions of fire. If we completely master it, that will not only just make it fully maxed out, but also it will give us a new, free, fresh, unleveled copy of fire materia in addition to the mastered one we already have. So just make a duplicate copy of itself that we can start leveling up.
And this fire materia — we can have it on tifa and she can be leveling it up — but we could transfer it to somebody else, like cloud could equip it and it would preserve all of the AP that it gained while tifa had it equipped. It's a really nice character customization loadout system — I like it a lot.
Cloud's got lightning and ice. I don't know if that's — you know, that's fine for now. We'll stick with that. Let's give you the other iron bangle for now.
There's no other materia to give.
There's a weapon shop upstairs, though?
I'm led to believe.
And a... bouncing save point.
Tch. That was weird.
How to save, how to heal your allies, curative magic, weapons and armor, how to apply materia, effective ways to use materia, how to form your battle party...
Uh, status... limit status, other things to watch out...
I'll... I am familiar enough with this that I'm not gonna go through all of this here.
It's... most of it is pretty self-explanatory if you're used to the conventions of Japanese RPGs.
We'll cover it as we go.
The kids are fighting, I guess.
But yes, that's a... handy demonstration of how the, uh, limit break stuff works that I was mentioning.
Those little, uh... limit meters we have there.
As we take damage, they fill, or as each character takes damage, that fills and then they can use their unique abilities.
The more we use those unique abilities, the more... distinct, like, abilities we unlock for them.
And there's other ones that you can just find out in the world.
As I said earlier, limit breaks are one of the ways these characters become more distinct in combat.
Because everyone could swap out whatever materia they have equipped at any given time,
that sort of means that anybody could technically be your healer or your main magic caster or your main physical damage dealer, depending on how you build them out.
Some of them are better at it inherently with their stats than others, but they're very customizable.
But that means that limit break stuff is really one of the only ways that they really are completely unique in battle.
Very different from the remake in that regard.
This is the fabled save point. At a save point you can use a tent and/or select "save".
There's more, too — look for something called "secret" — what?
Even if you're wiped out, if you save you can restart from that same point.
That way you don't have to worry when you've been wiped out.
This is jumping ahead a little bit, but when you leave Midgar, once you get to the world map you can save anywhere you like, remember that.
It's a good tip — I don't know what you mean with the "secret" thing, but...
That should be all you need to know about the save point.
I'll probably see you again somewhere on the road. Take care!
Thank you.
Go!
I'm a treasure chest! Beginners make sure and keep an eye out for me!
Cute.
Hey soldier, tell us about battles! We'll even pay you!
I'm not hard up enough to take money from guys like you, but I'll rap with you for a while.
Cool lingo, Cloud.
About ATB...
Uhh...
The numbers on the screen about "change" and "defend", about "escape", about the gauges...
I'm gonna save us all time and not go through all of this since I am more or less familiar with all of these basics.
If anyone does have questions about like how...
What any of these things are or how some of the fundamentals of combat work...
I'll try to explain as we go, but feel free to also ask in comments. There are...
Definitely a bunch of people who will be able to help explain everything.
Very possibly better than I could, actually.
This is not a weapon shop, though.
Wait... it looked like there was materia or an item or something over there.
At the bottom.
Can I have it?
Oh, materia! Hooray!
Hey, you got one right off!
That was materia. Next, take this treasure chest.
Wow, these just dropped from the sky, huh? Thank you.
In ether. Lovely.
Now listen, hidden in these treasure chests are a lot of items.
There are box types and bag types, so make sure you don't overlook any.
Good to know.
So now we have... all materia.
Which is a cool thing. Let's, uh, remove... ice here... and we'll, uh...
Yeah, we'll equip it down here, that's fine.
But... notice here that these two slots on this buster sword are linked.
And that means you can equip materia that can modify each other.
So we have lightning here and we can cast lightning on an opponent.
If I... attach all in this slot, though...
That'll make it to where I can cast the lightning spell on all enemies if I want to.
Which is just another really cool aspect of this system that I... very much like.
And different gear is gonna have different amounts of materia slots.
Some of them will, uh... make it to where they... you gain AP for materia faster if you have it equipped in the slots in that weapon.
There's... lots cool about this system that I like.
Anyway...
Anything else?
Oh, wait, this is back downstairs.
Oh, wait, the ladder, of course.
Is this the shop or is this the kids' room that we're allowed to crash in...
...as a paying customer?
Whew!
A weird start to our adventure.
But now we're all rested up, I guess.
Cool room, kid.
I'm starting to think that this must have been the weapon - no, not this one - that the thing downstairs must have been the weapon shop.
Or I just haven't found it yet.
It does seem to be like a source of light overheat - no, no, that's just, I think, just debris against the wall.
Assuming this is the weapon shop and it sure looks like it. Kid, I'm not - no. Child, I wasn't talking to you. Watch your language.
Let's grab one more of these.
Might be unnecessary, might be that we pick up something as good or better very soon after, but why not?
We got the cash.
Maybe... in... here?!
This does not look like a weapon shop.
How lonesome it gets.
Are these Johnny's parents?
Is that what's going on?
I am unsure.
Tell you what I am sure about, though — I have not found —
there's a big sign that says "Texas" up there, too.
I don't know how I never really noticed that before.
What a very strange detail.
There's not an "upstairs" in here that I'm somehow missing, is there?
[translator's note]
No. Okay, it is just...
another translation quirk.
That's fine.
We'll be fine.
Let's catch up to the group.
Or actually, here.
We'll save, 'cause we're about to go starting off on a whole new mission and everything.
Thank you all very much for watching — I promise, the pace will pick up a little bit...
as we go — it's just the early explanations of stuff, you know.
Take care, everyone — I will see you Thursday for some more Final Fantasy VII — goodbye!