"Death" returns to Final Fantasy VI [update 1]
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Jan 26th 2007 at 7:25AM }
Siliconera notes that upcoming GBA port Final Fantasy VI Advance is sorta like a director's cut. When the game appeared some years ago on Super NES, as Final Fantasy III, localization efforts toned down some of the stronger language. Thus, "death" became "doom," "pub" became "cafe," and "holy" became "pearl" (huh?). Even instances of minor nudity, pixelated as they were, got covered up.
Pictured above, "Doomgaze" (SNES version name) has been properly restored to "Deathgaze" in FFVI Advance. Could the final release retain all of the original Japanese creation's edginess? Will "Terra" -- *gasp* -- be rightfully named "Tina"?
Update: corrected Terra/Tina mix-up.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Phil @ Jan 26th 2007 7:39AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be Terra named Tina? I kind of like the name Terra actually.
RYAN @ Jan 26th 2007 7:42AM
man I can not WAIT for this to come out!!!
Well...either here or on my wii vc console...but in reality I'd probably buy it for both :(
2kings @ Jan 26th 2007 9:29AM
im so excited for this one
games today still cannot surpass the quality of this game!
Grunge @ Jan 26th 2007 7:45AM
"Will "Tina" -- *gasp* -- be rightfully named "Terra"?"
That's a little too edgy ... there will be kids playing this thing, you know? I'm not sure I can condone that kind of edginess ...
Nz @ Jan 26th 2007 7:46AM
Phil is right, it's Tina in the Japanese version and Terra in the US version, so could "Terra" --*gasp*--be rightfully named "Tina"?
Ultros was also originally a squid but they changed him to an octopus--*gasp*--an octopus for the US version.
Keif @ Jan 26th 2007 7:52AM
They all ready gave the game the right translation when they ported it to playstation 1
Tim @ Jan 26th 2007 7:55AM
I still have my SNES copy as it's by far the best Final Fantasy game ever made and one of my favorite games of all time, and I hate to break it to you, but the original US release already used Terra as her name anyway....not sure where you're getting this 'Tina' stuff.
onepointfivevolt @ Jan 26th 2007 8:04AM
considering none of the other names in that screenshot are changed, i'm going to guess non, monsieur.
LordAlu @ Jan 26th 2007 7:59AM
onepointfivevolt got to it first. Sabin was known as "Mash" (maybe he liked potatoes?) in the Japanese version, but since he's called Sabin in that screenshot I would think they'd stick with Terra :(
baby sea tuna @ Jan 26th 2007 8:11AM
I think they changed her name to Terra during the port when they realized that the fantastical name they came up with for her in Japan (Tina) was really a common English nickname. As far as I'm concerned, she's as much Terra as Aeris was Aeris...
TravistyOJ @ Jan 26th 2007 8:29AM
You mean Aerith? :)
Yoshi Likes Boys @ Jan 26th 2007 8:25AM
You have your comment backwards about what it's "rightfully named" and it's stupid anyway because as it was properly noted, Tina sounds exotic in Japan, but here, it's just Ike Turner's punching bag.
Miharu @ Jan 26th 2007 9:11AM
Terra will not change. Otherwise that picture wouldn't have Sabin but Mash.
burn @ Jan 26th 2007 8:45AM
cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait, cant fucking wait!!!!!
D00M @ Jan 26th 2007 8:48AM
FF nerds...lolz
White Rose Duelist @ Jan 26th 2007 8:59AM
Areis became Aerith in Kingdon Hearts, so both are acceptable now. (I was annoyed by people who thought they were cool for using Aerith pre-KH, but FF7 fanboys are among the most annoying in any case.)
I was a little confused as to why the "ultimate damaging white magic spell" kept getting renamed (and was "Pearl" really worse than "FADE"?), but I can't bring myself to care about the censorship. It's just another silly artifact of gaming history, and the difference between "death" and "doom" doesn't affect my enjoyment of the game.
I was glad to hear that they fixed the clock speed problems between FF4A and FF5A. I was worried FF6A would end up being the easiest game in history.
TRUTH @ Jan 26th 2007 9:24AM
Final Fantasy Fans + Wii = Weirdos
The Wii & Final Fantasy really is not that great.
360/PS3 is much better.
Dragon Quest is much better.
Demaar @ Jan 26th 2007 9:36AM
The weeaboo in me wishes for name corrections, but the nostalgic loser in me wishes for them to be left alone.
Confliction.
Jason @ Jan 26th 2007 9:33AM
Instances of minor nudity? I'm guessing thats when Terra/Tina is in her Esper form. Is that right? Just wondering.
Side note: Careful with the minor nudity, JT might flip out and try to get it banned, because, ya know, he's crazy like that.
White Rose Duelist @ Jan 26th 2007 9:37AM
For info about censorship (ad pixelated siren butt):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_fantasy_vi#Localization_and_censorship
White Rose Duelist @ Jan 26th 2007 9:38AM
Gosh, my spelling sucks today.
Jeff @ Jan 26th 2007 9:49AM
"I was annoyed by people who thought they were cool for using Aerith pre-KH"
Well, same here, and I *am* a Final Fantasy nerd.
There is no Japanese pronunciation for "Aerith". I've always half-believed this romanized name was just an example of Engrish in action. The pronunciation of Aerith in Japanese is basically Aeris, and in fact that's pretty much how her name is spelled in Japanese (if I remember right, it's actually e-ri-su, which is pronounced like Aeris). So "Aeris" is closer to the original Japanese name than "Aerith" would be in English, even despite the romanized spelling Square gave the name in Japan.
As for FFVI, you guys realize this has already been re-released once in the US, right? "Death", "holy", etc. were fixed long ago on the PlayStation. It would be pretty odd for them to go back to FFIII (US) nomenclature at this point.
WedgeTalon @ Jan 26th 2007 12:27PM
"16. Final Fantasy Fans + Wii = Weirdos
The Wii & Final Fantasy really is not that great.
360/PS3 is much better.
Dragon Quest is much better."
*snicker* So, Dragon Quest is much better? Really? The Dragon Quest which is having games exclusively released on the *snicker* "inferior" DS and Wii?
webrunner @ Jan 26th 2007 9:52AM
Wait, you corrected the order of Tina and Terra, but you didn't correct that the question is silly anyway (since it's more or less answered by "Sabin" being in the screenshot instead of "Mash"?)
Karmakin @ Jan 26th 2007 9:53AM
I'd LOVE to see a FFVI director's cut. Except I don't want the names changed.
What I want, is to blow up the 2nd airship (or at least delay it until much later in the game), so the game remains "on-track" for longer. After you get the second airship, most of the character interatction disappears in favor of individual story strands, because you could do things in for the most part any order. The game comes back together for Phoenix Cave/Kefka's Tower, but between there feels empty to me.
jadenguy @ Jan 26th 2007 9:54AM
i like terra better because of how well it plays off of celes. you know, earth and sky.
and who's to say that i didn't like ANYTHING ol' woolsey did? maybe those guys in the localization team were actually really excellent writers and the japanese version is full of fart gags? ok, ok, i know for a fact that's not the case, but MOST fans don't.
you guys really hate the work that final fantasy iii(u) was? that was a magical experience for me. a new translation might be like star wars iv a new hope, as opposed to star was a new hope. extra footage, more bling, a closer vision to what the creator had intended, but i just don't necessarily need it.
that said, i'm gonna play the HECK out of the new version. i love these gba remakes!
dru @ Jan 26th 2007 9:55AM
TINA! EAT YOUR HAM!
TRUTH @ Jan 26th 2007 10:11AM
@27
*snicker* I was talking about *snicker* the ones on the *snicker* old systems *snicker*. The Wii is *snicker* in a different category *snicker* because of the crappy *snicker* controller *snicker*
whosmav @ Jan 26th 2007 10:23AM
I'll be renaming Tina to Terra for sure. I love this game. True RPG fans know this is the hottest FF. Damn where is my GameBoyPlayer!
Xenikos @ Jan 26th 2007 10:24AM
I'm gonna summon Siren so much more now!
moofree @ Jan 26th 2007 10:28AM
They've fixed the evade bug in the gba version, which is excellent.
If you don't know, the evade bug effectively means that on all (unpatched) released versions of the game, including the psx re-release, the evade statistic is completely useless, as all evasion, magic and physical, is calculated using the M. Block stat.
This throws off game balance in certain cases, and makes a few things completely worthless (ie: being blind doesn't affect your hit rate).
See below for more ff6 bugs.
http://masterzed.cavesofnarshe.com/GameDocs/ff3bug.txt
Crono @ Jan 26th 2007 10:32AM
"Aeris" is actually the japanese pronunciation for the english "Earth". Which is why "Aerith" entered into it at all.
FF7 is almost as bad as FF6 as far as localization goes.
Ritz @ Jan 26th 2007 10:41AM
WHAT? Whhhhhaaaat? How on Earth did I not learn about this release earlier? I have been sitting and waiting and waiting for this news. Looks like I have reason to keep my Cube/Gameboy player around. w00t.
Christopher7xii @ Jan 26th 2007 10:44AM
Regardless of how much Japanese you know, Square-Enix has professionals that get paid phat salaries to translate, completely fluent in English and Japanese. They're also backed up by S-E in having the official word... So stop crying about how you'll call her Aeris cuz Aerith isn't a real Japanese word. In most cases of a name ending in a non-vowel, they just throw a vowel on the end of it (So like Aerisu, or Spike-o).
Oh yeah, plus they published an official release back in like 2002/2003 saying that Aerith is her name (when Kindgom Hearts came out). That from here on out, she is officially known as Aerith. So feel free to call her Aeris, just know that the company that INVENTED her believes you're dumb.
As for FF6's translations. Meh, not too exciting, as they said, been done before. Fixing the evade stat, now that's good news!
Vince @ Jan 26th 2007 11:03AM
Truth, this has nothing to do with the Wii, and I'm getting extremely annoyed by the fact that you have to bring up your hate for the Wii in every fucking comment section. The Joystiq staff really need to establish a BAN system.
Fucking retard.
TRUTH @ Jan 26th 2007 11:10AM
Thanks for being such a nice guy Vince.
whosmav @ Jan 26th 2007 11:26AM
Hey TRUTH
So you just go around each comment section and talk shit about the Wii. You're retarded.
Cynders @ Jan 26th 2007 11:31AM
Let's think here, OP. Did they re-translate Sabin's name. No. They're probably not going to retranslate Terra's then, either.
Plaid Ninja @ Jan 26th 2007 11:41AM
I'll be happy this time as long as there's no dumb character names like Cloud or Kefka... oh wait.
Square should make a Kafka RPG. Turn into a roach and live your life. Though someone will find a way to hit your belly to inflict massive damage.
Meophist @ Jan 26th 2007 12:27PM
Just to say, Sabin's Japanese name is NOT Mash, it's Matthew.
Thad @ Jan 26th 2007 12:43PM
Keif: "They all ready gave the game the right translation when they ported it to playstation 1"
"Command to the Empire Force in particular. Commence to launch the attack on Narche, the coal mines city."
I suppose I can see how somebody who thinks "already" is two words might think that was a good translation.
Meophist: "Just to say, Sabin's Japanese name is NOT Mash, it's Matthew."
Er, there's really absolutely no difference between the two in Japanese.
BPM @ Jan 26th 2007 1:29PM
Crono (#31):
Incorrect! The katakana spelling for the English word "Earth" would be "aasu."
DarkTetsuya @ Jan 26th 2007 2:26PM
I'm just waiting to see if the translators added any of that 4chan/SA internet meme bullshit like they did for FFIVA/FFVA, that's the last thing I want in FFVI.
Tyler @ Jan 26th 2007 3:17PM
@22
learn japanese 'su' as in eriesu can be translated at 'th'
but yeah, FF6 owns all FFs many times over
Alex @ Jan 26th 2007 8:39PM
Why even bother complaining about the names in a game where you can manually change them?
Brinstar @ Aug 6th 2007 12:15PM
Cool. I'm glad they restored the original names.
GhaleonQ @ Jan 27th 2007 12:05AM
I will weep with joy when this is released.
Kincyr @ Jan 27th 2007 12:52AM
I just wonder if there will be a higher character limit for names. 'Stragus' is much better than 'Strago'
Fun Fact: For the PSX re-release they changed 'Fenix Down' to 'Phoenix Down' but Locke still said "Fenix Down" after the Phoenix Cave.
WatTsu @ Jan 27th 2007 12:40PM
It's cool that they're retranslating it and all (though I think other folks in this thread were right when they say the Origins release had the correct translation - I wouldn't know, because I can't suffer through the emulation again to find out), but let's face it. They could replace all the dialogue with the characters just saying their names over and over again, and this would still be the best Final Fantasy.
Can't wait.
Anony @ Jan 27th 2007 5:18PM
I love how people talk shit about the U.S. FF6 translation, yet, they seem to disregard the fact that it was probably one of the best translations in that "generation". Until Woolsey came along, most SNES/NES translations were garbage. Ultimately, Woolsey catches a lot of flak for, what, doing what a lot of translators these days do and spruce up the dialogue?
Also, I much prefer "Terra" to "Tina". Tina reminds me too much of the Turner.