Final Fantasy IV Translation Comparison: Baron 3

Peeping Cid

Now that Cid has joined the party, let’s check out his stats and stuff!

It looks like his stats are all the same, except for the fact that he starts with a higher attack accuracy rate in the Easy Type release. This is actually due to a change in his equipment’s stats, though, not due to any changes to Cid himself. This same thing happened with Edward earlier in the game, if you recall.

Incidentally, in Japanese, his job name is something like “technician” or “engineer”. In the original English release, he’s called “Chief”, I’m assuming because “Engineer” was too long and would look really strange if you tried to shorten it. In fact, the PlayStation translation does just that – it calls him an “Enginr”. Later translations fit the entire word in, though.

Cid has a special ability in battle that lets him check enemy stats and weaknesses. In Japanese, this skill is called something like “Check”, “Inspect”, or “Investigate”. This was translated as “Peep” in the English release. Later translations call it “Study”.

So Brave

An old man in the city of Baron has a slightly different line:

His mention of the Dark Knight and his own sense of surprise are missing from the English translation.

An Empty Throne

The lady walking around in Baron is worried about what will happen now that the king is gone.

The English translation has weird grammar issues and changes the hearsay into a question. It also rephrases her final observation into a question, which actually isn’t that bad at all in this case. I guess this is why I never even thought about the king’s successorship when I first played this back in the day.

Early on in the Japanese version of the game, Cecil remarked that the king raised him like his own son, although this was written out of the English translation. So when he becomes the king at the end of the game it’s actually a perfect fit – he not only saved the world and all, but he always had that close connection with the original king anyway.

Senior Citizen Cid

Cid’s daughter has something to say to her father:

This is mostly okay, but there are a few nitpicks:

• The English translation should capitalize “Dad”. It’s so strange, because normally the English translators loved to capitalize everything more often than necessary.
• Her line about Cid’s age is completely missing. It also kind of changes the context of the original line, in which she knows her dad is a workaholic and can’t trust him to show restraint.

An Admirer

The little girl in the Baron inn is glad to see Cecil.

In the English version, she apparently knows Cecil by name. In the Japanese version, she only recognizes him as some guy from before. She also more clearly compares his new look with his old look in the Japanese version.

Also, she talks with a decidedly feminine speech pattern in Japanese.

Refreshing Times

The bartender is a lot happier now that all the recent craziness is over.

It’s interesting that the translators went with “refreshment” again – the original line had no specific alcoholic reference at all. It’s literally, “Would you like a drink?” or “Will you drink?”

The English translation is also missing the friendly line about relaxing, as well as the guy knowing Cecil by name.

Actually, now that I think about it, this bartender never called Cecil by name until now – he only called him “Sir Dark Knight” before.