In more recent times, Square Enix has been trying to standardize the translations across the Final Fantasy series for remasters, remakes, and new games. Koji Fox (then localization lead for FFXIV, now localization lead for SE's Creative Business Unit 3) mentioned it when he was commenting on the different names for the various references in FFXIV.
Ehhh. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't - the things summoners call still get a different word damn near each game even though there's only ever one of two words for 'em in the Japanese
On the other hand, there's a reason Kefka is extremely popular and beloved mainly in America and wasn't as such in Japan until later, if at all, and that can very directly be traced to Woolsey's translation/character change work. I'll get into more details when we get to FFVI, but suffice to say that Japanese Kefka is a much different, and a much more boring, character. Woolsey had his faults, but I find it hard to claim Kefka was one of them.
Oh no, I didn't mean to say Kefka in general was a fault, Kefka's amazing, just that one specific claim of his without anything to refute it later that completely changes a main character's backstory.
In FFXIV, the Elezen are very obviously some kind of elf, but the Lalafell, the resident "small people" race, are more like… weird halflings/gnomes than they are dwarves,
Huh. That's an interesting contrast to FFXI, which has the Galka, which hit a lot of the 'dwarf' conceptual boxes except for being absolutely gigantic in comparison to everyone else. And then on the small side you've got Tarutaru, who are unquestionably the most magic focused race. Not sure gnomes or halflings quite seem to fit, maybe more like some of the lighter takes on the Fae?
Apparently the DS version uses a different English localization which includes the delightful line of Delilah calling the WoLs 'turnip-squeezing bashi-bouzouks,'
In the normal underwater section (not on the floating continent, as you found out the water there isn't deep enough to go underwater with the Nautilus) there's two optional dungeons filled with useful loot you can explore; I think they're intermediate in difficulty between your current level and the temple of time. The ultimate prizes at the end of each, on the other hand, you might not be strong enough to actually obtain, yet. Still, I would warrant they're at least worth checking out. As usual, FFIII thrives on exploration and secret areas. Speaking with everybody in Saronia castle should even produce hints to at least one location, the one which is otherwise very much impossible to stumble upon, but just checking every single inch of coastline with the Nautilus should be enough to find the other one.
Obligatory XIV references watch - Unei, Doga and Owen are all characters in FFXIV (Former two are the clones in Crystal Tower, Owen's research is an important part from 5.4 onwards)
I think Noah also gets a small mention, but is only a background detail there.
You meet Noah after you finish the Crystal Tower raids. His only purpose is to have you repeat the raids and provide some lore, and I dunno if he does anything besides that.
I think what Xande was given is supposed to be a human lifespan; the others are all very definitely Not Really Human - at least in terms of how long they can live - so that makes more sense than just 'oh here have the ability to die fellow non-immortal, i say as i lie on my deathbed'.
Which must have really fucked up Xande's 1153 year plan for comfortable retirement.
You meet Noah after you finish the Crystal Tower raids. His only purpose is to have you repeat the raids and provide some lore, and I dunno if he does anything besides that.
She; in the FFXIV setting, Noah was a woman, and possessed a woman in the present day to give you quests.
She's also apparently a party animal, and the unfortunate possessee, an introverted bookish researcher by the name of Koh Rabntah, often wakes up to find herself surrounded by empty booze bottles and men's undergarments.
In game mechanics, Noah is there to get players to rerun the Crystal Tower raids, back before Alliance Roulette was a thing. She does reward you with an item needed for the ARR relic weapons, but by now you can get the same thing with Poetics much more easily.
Also the research team who sends you into the Crystal Tower in the first place (Rammbroes, G'raha, et al) are called the Fellowship of NOAH, which I assume was intended to reference Noah, and then they added Noah herself into the game, so it's a bit redundant.
EDIT: The "minor mention" character FFXIV references is actually Desch.
Who is G'raha Tia's ancestor, and the one who got the Allagan Eye from the then-royal family of Allag. As such, whenever Desch showed up in this playthrough of FFIII, I mentally replace him with a catboy.
Welcome to the temple of time. Those chimeras are… A pain in the DS version. Remember how I said that lightning does like 800 damage in that version? Yeah… And they can come in threes. They do about 600 instead 800 due to not having the stats of Garuda, but it still hurts and if they get an ambush and triple cast that you functionally instantly lose the battle before it even begins.
Oh, by the way, One of the temple of time encounters is the Behemoth... which means I can finally show you the DS Opening cinematic.
Honestly, given how NOT Immortal Noah and friends seem to be, I think I'd put Noah's "gift" to Xande the "gift" of a life without inherited responsibilities from another.
All this speculation is fun to read; the game will provide its own answer eventually, although in the fashion of NES titles with limited space for dialogue, it's open to interpretation. Not that it makes Zande's annoyance any less understandable, nor his nihilism in reaction any more justifiable.
FFIII might not match FFVI in terms of weirdness, but when it does gets weird, it truly goes all in on it.
Yeah, it's one of those lore tidbits that's hidden deep in secondary sources; in this case, the Encyclopedia Eorzea lorebook. And Noah does seem to be relatively careful of Koh's physical wellbeing, if not her immediate reputation.
So when I read about Noah in this playthrough of FFIII, I was half-imagining that the great sage Noah knew his death was coming, because his liver told him.
Well, is there actually any reason to assume the Noha in FFIII was male? Other than the name being a male one, I mean. I don't offhand remember all mentions of Noha, but sage is a unisex term, and master is often used as one when it's a shorthand for teacher. Same goes for mage and wizard in some contexts.
Well, is there actually any reason to assume the Noha in FFIII was male? Other than the name being a male one, I mean. I don't offhand remember all mentions of Noha, but sage is a unisex term, and master is often used as one when it's a shorthand for teacher. Same goes for mage and wizard in some contexts.
Well a quick search indicates ff3 has a manga adaptation which depicts him with some VERY extensive facial hair, among other points, so he's probably at least meant to be male in 3.
Well a quick search indicates ff3 has a manga adaptation which depicts him with some VERY extensive facial hair, among other points, so he's probably at least meant to be male in 3.
That's not surprising, for the same sort of reason I wasn't actually surprised that Shiva and Siren are the two humanoid GF in FFVIII, but I like to ignore the author intention and apply my own preferred reading whenever the text allows me to do so, which is why I'm wondering if the actual text in FFIII is vague enough for me to make up a new headcanon for fun.
In more recent times, Square Enix has been trying to standardize the translations across the Final Fantasy series for remasters, remakes, and new games. Koji Fox (then localization lead for FFXIV, now localization lead for SE's Creative Business Unit 3) mentioned it when he was commenting on the different names for the various references in FFXIV.
Speaking of Koji Fox, FFXIV, and standardized translation, I have done a deep dive into one particularly interesting modern instance of it not happening and the English localization of a Final Fantasy storyline diverging massively from the original Japanese text. Not to toot my own horn but I think it's a pretty interesting look at something that doesn't happen all that much anymore. Take a look if you don't mind spoilers for a class storyline in FFXIV.
Huh. That's an interesting contrast to FFXI, which has the Galka, which hit a lot of the 'dwarf' conceptual boxes except for being absolutely gigantic in comparison to everyone else. And then on the small side you've got Tarutaru, who are unquestionably the most magic focused race. Not sure gnomes or halflings quite seem to fit, maybe more like some of the lighter takes on the Fae?
From a quick online look, FFXI's Tarutaru and FFXIV's Lalafell are very similar in physical appearance:
Although you can tell that their facial features are a little sharper, a little more human-like. The lalafell have some cultural connection with magic (the Thaumaturges' Guild is run by and composed mostly of lalafells), but for the most part the feature that's emphasized the most in the story is that they are by and large ruthless capitalists. And, likely as a direct callback, the most prominent lalafell characters in the game is named Tataru.
I don't know what that means, but it is my new favorite insult.
You are, in fact, correct. A bashi-bazouk (French: bachi-bouzouk) is an irregular soldier in the Ottoman army in the 17th to 19th century, with a reputation for bravery but also lack of discipline and brutality to civilians. The word is mostly famous as one of the most iconic of Captain Haddock's insults in Tintin, which is where your average French kid (or non-French Tintin reader) is most likely to run into it. I am almost dead certain Delilah's use of it as a pejorative is a direct homage by a translator fond of Belgian comics.
In the normal underwater section (not on the floating continent, as you found out the water there isn't deep enough to go underwater with the Nautilus) there's two optional dungeons filled with useful loot you can explore; I think they're intermediate in difficulty between your current level and the temple of time. The ultimate prizes at the end of each, on the other hand, you might not be strong enough to actually obtain, yet. Still, I would warrant they're at least worth checking out. As usual, FFIII thrives on exploration and secret areas. Speaking with everybody in Saronia castle should even produce hints to at least one location, the one which is otherwise very much impossible to stumble upon, but just checking every single inch of coastline with the Nautilus should be enough to find the other one.
Well, is there actually any reason to assume the Noha in FFIII was male? Other than the name being a male one, I mean. I don't offhand remember all mentions of Noha, but sage is a unisex term, and master is often used as one when it's a shorthand for teacher. Same goes for mage and wizard in some contexts.
While I know Japanese can get pretty funky with pronouns, at the very least in the English localization, Doga says "when Master Noah died, he gifted me with his magic," so Girlboss Noah is unlikely.
Ever since making that post, I ventured into the Gallery section of FF3, which I mostly avoid to avoid spoilers, and the knowledge I found therein has scarred me for life. It is now my great burden to share my torment with the world.
If you're familiar at all with Final Fantasy, you most likely know the Chocobo as this:
A good, wholesome, pleasantly fluffy yellow bird. Most likely some kind of relative of the extinct real world 'Terror Bird' (Phorusrhacids), domesticated in ancient history and sharing typical features of domesticated animals - it's simultaneously bigger and softer than its wild ancestor, gentler and more socially inclined, allowing its use as a mount - it essentially followed the same path as the real-world wild horse.
However, this is a modern design, which elaborates on a creature which originally existed only as small sprites on the limited NES hardware, necessarily leaving much of the beast up to the imagination. What 'true' design was intended for the chocobo can only imperfectly be reflected under such constraints.
This wholesome yellow bird is not what Final Fantasy concept artist Yoshitaka Amano thinks a chocobo looks like.
This is what Final Fantasy concept artist Yoshitaka Amano thinks a chocobo look like:
Yeah, as mentioned, the prize at the end might be out of reach yet, but the fact you reached the end is surely a step forward from the Temple of Time, right?