Final Fantasy IV Translation Comparison: Loose Ends 1

After Cecil and his party return to the surface, the story quickly leads them back underground. But first, maybe it’s best if they share the bad news about everyone who’s died in the past few segments of the game.

No Fooling

The head priest in Mysidia is aware that Palom and Porom turned themselves to stone. So he’s now surprised to learn that Tellah has died too:

The English version of his line is missing the entire second text box in which he calls Tellah a fool. The missing line is so short that I can’t tell if it was cut for memory-saving purposes or if someone on the translation team just messed up.

A strange double-space also appears in the first English text box, almost as if someone edited the translation but didn’t clean up the spacing afterward.

Never Say Die

Yang’s wife responds to news that Yang sacrificed his life for the heroes.

In Japanese, she says something like, “My husband? Don’t be stupid! He’d never die that easily! Never…” In English, however, the translation skirts around the word “die” by saying “gone” and “perished” instead.

And, as we’ve seen before, the English translation doesn’t reflect the wife’s unique speech style.

Missing in Action

Back in Baron, Cid’s daughter asks Cecil a favor and a question – at least in the Japanese version, anyway. She only asks one thing in the English translation.

Side-by-side, we can see that the first line was dropped entirely. But why? There are a number of possible reasons, including simple forgetfulness, but the two main reasons that come to mind are:

• It was done to shave text down to fit within certain memory limitations
• The missing line uses the Japanese phrase yoroshiku onegai shimasu which is notorious for having a million different possible translations – you can read more about it here. In this case it’s actually pretty easy to translate, but given that this game was mostly translated by a non-native English speaker, it might’ve been clumsy enough that one of the editors decided to cut it entirely later on.

Hovercraft Clarification

Once back on the surface, Cecil and friends head to Baron Castle and meet with Cid’s apprentices. The apprentices attach a hook to the airship that can pick up the party’s old hovercraft.

Before the apprentices leave, they explain how to grab the hovercraft. The explanation is a little different between the original Japanese release, the Easy Type release, and the English release:

The change here is pretty simple and understandable – recall that the original Japanese version of Final Fantasy IV lets you reassign buttons and use multiple controllers. This feature was removed from the Easy Type and English versions, presumably to streamline the process and prevent players from accidentally messing up their controller scheme.

As a translator, I personally like how much clearer the instructions are in the Easy Type line. It spells out all the details and offers the player a helpful visible guide.

Just Dying to Die

Before the airship modification scene ends, Cecil tries to tell the apprentices that Cid killed himself. The apprentices interrupt him, though:

There are three things that stick out in this short exchange.

First, in the Japanese script, it’s clear when a new apprentice line starts – it doesn’t actually list their names or anything, it just shows some “this is the start of a new quote” punctuation. Knowing this, we can see that the apprentice text is made up of three separate lines shared between the two apprentices. Someone on the English localization team didn’t recognize this, though, so now it looks like there’s just one apprentice saying all three lines.

Second, the reference to killing and dying was glossed over and replaced with “But I won’t blame you!”

Third is the actual reference to killing and dying itself: “He’s not the kind of guy who’d die even if you killed him!” If you’re a fan of anime or have been around on the Internet for a while, you might instantly be reminded of these meme-y images:

This is a sort of set phrase that’s common in Japanese entertainment, and it’s a great example of how literal translations aren’t always the best way to go.

Even without an explanation, you can probably make sense of what this phrase is trying to say. Basically, it makes more sense in translation if you think of it as “staying dead” instead of just “dead”. We have other phrases that fit the bill in English depending on the situation too, like ones involving “nine lives” or “too stubborn to die”. There are so many ways to translate it that I could easily see it being on a translation agency’s test to see how qualified and creative applicants are.

So how did this “he’s not the kind of guy who’d die even if you killed him” line get handled in all the other Final Fantasy IV translations? Let’s take a look!

Again, we can see how the PlayStation translation lived on for like 10 years in the GBA and PSP translations. In all cases, the actual literal translation was dropped for a more proper English localization.

A Miner Change

There’s a cave on a tiny little island that couldn’t be accessed until now. Inside are a father and child who collect animal tails. As the kid explains, if you can bring them some rare tails, they’ll give you a rare metal in return.

There’s not much to say about the English translation here. The original Japanese line was updated for Easy Type to use handier formatting and the word “metal” instead of “ore”. The change was probably done with younger audiences in mind.

Treasure Hunting

A castle in the Eblan Kindom has been destroyed. If you go inside and explore, you’ll find lots of hidden treasure and some tough enemies hiding in treasure chests. These treasures changed between the original Japanese release, the Easy Type release, and the English translation:

There are so many hidden treasures here that I feel like I might not know about every single one, even after all these years. So it’s possible there’s more to add to this list!