Alright, so moving on with the translation for this brief but very dialogue-heavy segment:
Yeah, the script site claims it's Piet saying this line while the group are in the escape pod, but given it's a fan-made script, I'm willing to believe the site maintainer made a mistake.
No, it is indeed Piet who has this line; you need to talk to him before talking to Ellone while in the escape pod, and he'll provide the information. This is the same in the Italian version, too.
And I also have no idea why the oxygen tank have a 20 minute duration and then an extra emergency 5 minutes, instead of simply having 25 minutes; I do think that the fact they're two separate things implies the need for manual activation of the emergency tank (since, otherwise, why not simply have one tank with more air? auto-activation makes even less sense here), but that's still not explicitly stated anywhere. Very weird.
- The Italian line, right before the mental dive into the past, is slightly different from the English one; in both he's begging Ellone to send him back, but while in the English version it's "I've never felt like this before", which is ambiguous over whether he's speaking of Rinoa or something else, in the Italian version it's "I've never been this certain I wanted something in my whole life", the something in question being "saving Rinoa" here. It adds a bit to the intensity of the scene that Squall is being so decisive here, with no ambiguity in what he wants, which has been a staple of his character so far.
- In the scene where Rinoa speaks with Zell, while the choice of words is mostly similar, the way their reactions are framed make it clear that what Rinoa would find awkward is "go ask Squall to give me a ring", because of the symbolic implications; that's a pretty common way for somebody in a relationship (traditionally the woman of a man-woman couple, in this specific cultural context) to ask "when are we getting married" in a cheeky way, which Rinoa might perhaps not have felt was the right thing to ask Squall at that point in their relationship. It's interesting to me how the spoken words aren't different, but the cultural context changes their meaning to make what's being discussed a bit clearer.
- The Italian translation of Artemisia's line when talking to Seifer would be best rendered in English as "only then shall the Sorceress bring your dream back". This suggests that she's specifically referring to Seifer's heroic dream of being the knight defending a non-evil Sorceress, which is what he was pursuing before and seems to be his primary motivation with sticking to his role. I get the sense that this is partially Artemisia's vibe-based mind-control we've seen her exercise before, but also partly Seifer being more susceptible to it due to sunk-cost fallacy: if he doesn't keep going, then all of his actions so far would have been meaningless, and he might not be able to accept that. At least, that's how I would interpret this particular passage.
- Squall's talk with Ellone after the mental time-travel is also a bit different; he still says "I have to help Rinoa right now", but then follows it up with "How can I do that?" rather than the "it's the only thing I can do, right?" line of the English version. This is interesting because, while in both cases he's seeking emotional support from Ellone, the nature of the support he's seeking changes; English Squall is looking for confirmation that he's doing what is right, while Italian Squall, in a continuation of his previous "I'm never been so certain of something before" line, has already decided what he's doing is right, he just need something actionable to turn his desire to help Rinoa into effective actions. Thus, he's looking at Ellone as guidance on what to do, rather than as an authority figure confirming his correctness, and while both work for the sibling relation they share, I feel like the Italian take on it is a bit more familial, and I just personally find it more to my taste.
- Ellone's line when launching Squall's into Rinoa's "just one minute ago" past is "I'm taking you to the present, the moment closest to her future", which makes it a bit clearer what she's trying to do. I also would like to point out that using Ellone's power this way makes it pretty much the equivalent of faster-than-light unlimited-range telepathy; that's a lot more powerful than Ellone first appeared to be, especially in a world with no worldwide communication, and it's probably just scratching the surface of the out-of-context applications her power could be used for. It's a shame Ellone never had the gumption to truly experiment with her power before this, it might have made for a more entertaining story if she hadn't been inadvertently sandbagging herself the whole game.
- The sequence where Rinoa is drifting through space is an amusing case of the game self-censuring in a "never say DIE" manner, with the translators doing their very best to translates Rinoa realization with euphemisms like "I can't do it" or "I'll keep drifting forever" and such. Most interesting in the whole sequence, however, is that, while in the English version of events she says Squall's name twice, once during her slow resignation to death and then once again later when Squall's mental voice finally reaches her, in the Italian version only the second one is retained; this makes it seems like she wasn't thinking of Squall at all during the mental breakdown, and that being reminded of him, whether by his voice or by the ring or by both working in tandem, is what gives her the strength to persevere and push the emergency air button, instead of simply surrendering to death. I think that adds a bit more nuance to the scene, and explains why she didn't push the emergency air immediately. How she knew about it remains a mystery in both version, with "she read it out of Squall's memory when their mind touched" as the only even half-reasonable explanation for it, but not one with any clear support in the text.
- Quistis line here is changed to a more reasonable "it's too dangerous right now!", which suggests she might be trying to think of an alternative solution, rather than the darker implication of her "come back!" in English, which (to me at least) feel more like she had given up on Rinoa surviving at this point.
- After the rescue in space (which I didn't need to press triangle for, just adjust with the directional button; perhaps that's due to the PAL/NTSC difference in frame-rates?), the dialogue between Rinoa and Squall is strange; Rinoa's lines are the same ("thank you", "I heard your voice" and "are we gonna make it?"), but Squall's lines are completely different; whereas English Squall answers Rinoa's thanks with "I can't believe it", which suggest he's surprised this worked, Italian Squall says "no need for thanks", emphasizing once again how this was his choice. Then, when she asks if they're gonna make it, while the sentiment is the same, with "don't worry" vs "I'll save you", the latter, which is the Italian version, has him taking up the mantle of responsibility that he was so hesitant to accept before, once again adding some subtle development to his character arc.
- The Italian translation does a better job of calling back to the discussion at Galbadia Garden about Seifer being dead and Squall not wanting to ever be a memory, in that Rinoa uses the exact same words Squall used back then. Still, even in the English version, it was very obvious to me what she was calling back to. Memories are a pretty big theme of the story, after all.
- The conversation between Squall and Rinoa in the Ragnarock auto-scrolls to keep up with the singing of "Eye on Me", so I'm not sure I was able to catch all the small differences, but two things did stand out to me. The first was the "good things in life" line; in Italian, Rinoa says something more along the lines of "you missed so many chances to be happy", which is more grounded in that it actually imply that he'll be able to be happy now, instead of the more confused sentiment of the English sentence.
The other is that, since in Italian Squall doesn't actually use the "Whatever" catchphrase constantly, instead splitting the role between it and "Sorry", he uses the latter here, apologizing to Rinoa for having caused her "headaches and disappointments", with her quoting it back at him and laughing showing that she doesn't mind that he is like that. I feel like this soften Squall a bit, in an instance where using "Whatever" made him come off as a bit rude instead. It's my understanding that the Japanese version also alternates between "Whatever" and "Sorry", and uses the latter here, so this isn't just a softening of Squall as we've seen in the past, it's actually the English translation making him harsher to keep the translator's chosen catchphrase going. I'm unsure what to think of it.
- During the conversation after leaving the Ragnarock, after the Esthar people tell Rinoa that she'll be sealed, they actually phrase the follow up sentence as "you'll be kept in the sorceress memorial", rather than just "we'll be heading there", which adds some extra information on what Esthar's plan is: they're putting her in the same seal as Adel, only without launching it into space because she's coming willingly (and probably because of the ongoing Lunar Cry). They also specifically ask her "do you have any last words for your friend?", which is somewhat more polite than just "are you ready", for whatever that matters when they've just decided to confine her into lifelong solitary imprisonment.
- Then, when Squall asks Rinoa to not go, she answers with "I don't want people to hate and fear me, I'd rather go before that happens", which makes her motivations a bit more explicit then the English version's "I have to". I appreciate that, since this section is confusing enough without needing to puzzle out character motivations as well. Also, it makes the point that Rinoa would rather be imprisoned than feared, which I think is something worth putting a pin in for future reference.
- Quistis doesn't have the weird "I'm home!" line upon finding Squall brooding, instead greeting him with a more subdued "Hi." I wonder what the Japanese original was here - this is a difference that doesn't really matter, but it's curious for the translations to be so different here.
- The scene where Squall finds his resolve and decide that he'll save Rinoa no matter what is exactly the same, word for word in most cases, which is good because it's written exceptionally well. The single difference, which goes back to the start of this update but I didn't really mention until now, is that Squall doesn't switch to "sis" in the dialogue when referring to Ellone, on the Lunar Base or at any point afterwards - he just keep calling her by name. I suspect this is because the Italian equivalent term wouldn't really work for the tone the game is going for here, but it seemed something worth mentioning at least once.
- Irvine calling out that "Selphie is just amazing" remains the same, and is as true as ever. The Ragnarock is also awesome... although, in the Italian version, they renamed it; specifically, it's called
Lagunarock. Whether that's just because the two names are written the same or not, it does detract a bit from the general coolness of it, but overall I still think it easily takes the title of best airship in the series until now.
And with that, we're caught up - the fourth Rinoa rescue scene (for those keeping tracks, first time was in Deling City from the Iguions, second time was during the Battle of the Gardens, and third time was after the Lunar Cry in space) at the Sorceress Memorial proceeds with no changed dialogue, and even pressing triangle on the Ragnarock has the character on board say the same things in both Italian and English.
Which means it's finally time to go get my favorite GF, plus a few other things.
Speaking of,
@Omicron, now that the group is taking a break from the plot is also the best time for you as a player to explore everywhere you can get with the Ragnarock; there's a lot of new spots accessible, and a lot of side-quest you can now complete. Also, you really want to have finished the CC Card Club sidequest at Balamb Garden before the next plot beat comes up.
I would suggest to try and collect everything you can find and make that the core of the next update(s), and then, before moving on with the plot, you can have us tell you what you've missed so you can do a second round of that (if you want to), without compromising your ability to explore on your own first. Just my suggestion, but this is really the best time to complete as many sidequests as you possibly can.
Also, you might want to go over the codex - there should be a lot of new information added in now! And some of the old pages (such as that on the succession of Sorceresses) will make more sense now that you have a better grasp of what's going on with the plot.
Well, that's my suggestion, anyway; of course, you can do whatever you want. Looking forwards to whatever you choose to do next!
Does Edea actually have any non-para magic outside of her limit break (which are weird in how they fit into the story in some cases anyhow, looking at you blue magic and slots)?
She doesn't. I think the point there is that she never uses her magic for anything at all in everyday life, so she didn't realize it wasn't there anymore to use because she didn't even try. Which is a bit contrived, but on the grand scale of FFVIII contrivances, it's barely a blip on the radar - a PTSD victim staying away from things that remind them of the very recent source of their stress comes to mind as an easy comparison to justify such a behavior from Edea.
Not just anybody can decide to own and operate an orphanage in the ass-end of nowhere in a Final Fantasy world
While I do like the imagery, Edea did tell us she was a Sorceress since the age of five. So, when she formed the orphanage, she did have her Sorceress powers to fall back on if she needed them.
That said, the way Limit Breaks are manifested in Final Fantasy VIII suggest that they're closer to the individual commands that characters in FFVI sported than they are to the "special superpowerful moves" that characters in FFVII could use. Irvine just shots his gun and his options depend on equipment like Edgar, Quistis can apparently use a monster's body parts to replicate their abilities through study or something like Relm/Gau/Strago, and Rinoa just has an extremely well trained dog she calls upon. So... it's entirely possible that Edea initially learned how to call the Ice Strike by using her Sorceress powers for it somehow, but eventually got so good at it that she can do it even without having her Sorceress powers, simply using whatever source of non-Sorceress magic Selphie uses to call up her Slots; which is why she doesn't realizes she's lost the powers.
...Selphie having asked Edea to teach her how to pulverize monsters with magic when she was a kid is suddenly seeming like a very likely bonding experience for those two, for some reason.
Remember this?
