- Location
- Singapore
- Pronouns
- Singular They
I've completely forgotten the mechanics of these Errands, so I have a potentially silly question: is this an actual piece of equipment, or is it just a symbolic reward game-mechanically? Can Mustadio use this AK-47?
Also pedantically I'm a little curious what the Japanese term for "machinegun" is here, because that's clearly an assault rifle that may or may not be select-fire, but if it's actually fully automatic it would use up that magazine in like five seconds. It also looks noticeably smaller than actual machine guns. Chances are it's just 機関銃, "kikanjuu", which is literally "mechanical gun", and could plausibly be used to describe any modern firearm.
"Auracite" is probably one of the terms standardized from the current Square Enix translation/style guide, applied across games. The Japanese term is 聖石, "seiseki", which translates as "holy stone". For another possibly connected example, "magicite" (as seen in FFVI) is 魔石, "maseki", which means "magic stone", with the additional context of 魔 also being used for "demon". ("Magic" in Japanese, "魔法", is literally "demon method".)
So I'm not sure if this is just the original writers going "let's put 'holy' and 'stone' together as a name", or if there is an actual reference and counterpart to magicite, if only in the easter egg meta-reference sense.
Also the dialogue just before this in Japanese doesn't have the Swordsman mention auracite. He just goes "give it to us!" and Mustadio goes "It? What is it? What are you talking about?" Since the dialogue immediately names "Auracite" (emphasized via punctuation in Japanese), it's probably just a minor Dramatic Reveal of the term that doesn't need to be drawn out in the English translation.
I admit defeat on trying to figure out the literal translation from the Japanese. The ability name is ハメドる, "hamedo-ru", and I have no idea what it's supposed to mean. It's also a little risky to Google it up, because the first two katakana is a common term for, er, the act of copulation.
I think it is, although the "Machinist" Job would get backported as Edgar's Job class in newer remasters of FFVI. Which matches with many of FFXIV MCH's abilities being from Edgar's Tools.
The Japanese name for the Job is 機工士, which is "machine work user". (The first kanji is the same as the first kanji for "machine gun" above.)
The Japanese name for "Baert" is simply バート. Which is commonly the transliteration for "Bart". Possibly "Baert" is the fancy version and short for "Baertholaemeau".
The company is referred to as バート商会, "Baert Company", and their business is 貿易商, which is usually translated as "trader" but intended to mean "trade in foreign goods". The translation seems to combine that into "Baert Trading Company", possibly because going "The Baert Company, the company that trades" is redundant.
It's interesting to ponder, because while Ovelia acts quite humble and kind, she also clearly knows how to say the proper words for the occasions when she is being shown deference. The WotL translation's high style suits her well, and she speaks with a sort of learned formality. Ovelia talks like she had etiquette drilled into her, but specifically the etiquette of a noble lady, with retainers and servants, rather than the etiquette of a servant (or a lay sister in a convent, for that matter).
Just from her speech style, Ovelia sounds like the character archetype of a kind and empathetic noble lady who is used to her privileged station, but never abuses it, and indeed tries to make everyone else feel at ease while never dropping her polite formality. When considered in the context of her history of being shut inside a monastery/convent for most of her life, I begin to speculate Ovelia might not have personal experience with being shown deference, but she might have been prepared for that position through lessons and strict practice.
This interpretation might also be influenced by how Ovelia sounds a bit more casual, and certainly less formal (albeit still using a moderately high level of politeness), when talking to Agrias, and only to Agrias so far. Ovelia is clearly more comfortable with Agrias, while she still treats everyone else as basically strangers.
Yeah, it is probably deliberately vague what the "Crown" means when it comes to giving orders to the Lionsguard. Which probably matches RL history.
The term used is 王家, which is literally "king's house", and usually translated as "royal family". And as we've seen (in both English and Japanese), the term "family" is highly nebulous and elastic, so the Lionsguard and Agrias being loyal to "the royal family" is full of loopholes for what "loyal" and "royal family" might mean.
My read is Agrias considers "the Crown" as some sort of high Platonic ideal, more a concept than the actual royal family as currently exists. So she (at least in her mind) pledges her loyalty to what the royal family is supposed to be, rather than the messy reality of what it is. Just as she follows her own idea of what a "proper Knight" is, rather than what knights have actually been through the 50 Years War and the current civil war.
This runs into potential issues when Agrias extends this faith in the Crown as a given for other people, like Cardinal Delacroix. It sounds like she thinks Delacroix is just as loyal to the Ideal Crown as she is, when Delacroix might have other, more tarnished versions of the Crown he is loyal to.
I get the feeling Agrias is using her role as the Lionsguard protecting Ovelia, who is currently part of the "royal family", as a way to follow her own desire to protect Ovelia based on her personal admiration and closeness to Ovelia. So when Agrias talks about "loyalty to the Crown", she is likely subconsciously meaning "loyalty to the one specific portion of the Crown that is Princess Ovelia".
This is especially amusing, because it is entirely accurate to what Agrias says.
The Sellsword (named as "Ludovich's Mercenary" in Japanese) goes "hand over Mustadio obediently and we won't have to get violent, how about that", and Agrias shoots back with "in that case, you will withdraw obediently, how about that".
And she does this still talking in the high Shakespearean style, while using the same phrasing as the rougher speech of the Sellsword. It's fun to read.
I have the same question, honestly. Alma is friends with Ovelia during her time at Orbonne Monastery, and friends with Tietra in Chapter 1, and I can't really see Tietra being also at a monastery (Orbonne or otherwise) while experiencing the "commoner girl at a noble girl's school" stuff like being bullied.
And Alma and Tietra could take time off to visit home, possibly during school vacation, which put them in place for Tietra to be kidnapped at the end of Chapter 1. So Alma's claiming that she has always been in a monastery is immediately false.
The Japanese text is of no help; Ovelia's recounting of Alma also says Alma has been in monasteries her whole life (literally "since she was born"), so the translation is accurate.
On the one hand, the Japanese name for the ability is indeed a katakana transliteration of "yell".
On the other hand, katakana "yell" (エール) is interpreted more like cheer, as in "cheerleader".
So the mental image is not Ramza running around screaming like a drill sergeant, but rather Ramza bouncing around with pom-poms doing cheer routines.
Shiva: "Wind, as it vanishes into the silence of the waves of light. Become our strength..." Very close. "Waves" here is 波動, which does directly translate to "wave movement", and is the same kanji as the famous "Wave Motion Cannon" or "Wave Motion Fist"/"Hadouken".
