Espers: the meaning of the word? (spoilers)

[TheSpoonyBard]

Last night I was unfortunate enough to watch a film starring David Hasselhoff called Nick Fury: Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was one of the most poorly made and clichéd film I've ever seen, second only to Street Fighter (Jean Claude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue). However, suffice to say there was one thing that was mentioned that made me prick up my ears. This secret government organisation, S.H.I.E.L.D., has various departments, and one of them is comprised of people with extra-sensory perception (ESP for short). They called themselves ESP'ers, or Espers.

This made me think back to the sequence between Terra and Ramuh in Zozo when they are communicating using telepathy. Could it be that Espers are indeed people with extra-sensory perception that were locked away due to their power?

[Takara]

As it was explained in the game, Espers were once humans that got caught in the middle of the fight between the three goddesses and were transformed as they were hit with the goddesses' powers. You could say they are mutants, in a sense. As a result of their transformation, they gained the ability to use magic. Some can also fly and communicate telepathically, but probably not all of them.

Besides, I believe they were called Phantom Beasts in the original version, but I could be wrong.

[theundeadhero]

You are correct.

[Captain Maxx Power]

Last night I was unfortunate enough to watch a film starring David Hasselhoff called Nick Fury: Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was one of the most poorly made and clichéd film I've ever seen, second only to Mortal Kombat (Jean Claude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue).

Never mock the Hasselhoff. The guy's got a cult around him, and you never know who a member is. O, and that was Street Fighter, not Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat was the clichéd film with Christopher Lambert and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa that's actually quite fun to watch if you're in the right mood.

[KoShiatar]

Esper originally meant someone who could use ESP powers, which is sort of psychic powers that give you supernatural capacities, like mind reading and the like.
But since I believe that FFVI espers were originally called Phantom Beasts like in FF IV (in my version of the game they were called just like that) I think they actually have little to do with Final Fantasy. I'll bet 'Kishi or one of the administrators knows.

[Armisael]

Besides, I believe they were called Phantom Beasts in the original version, but I could be wrong.
Is this reffered somewhere?

[MecaKane]

They stole the word from Blade Runner, it never happens in the game, but assuming photographs exist in FFVI's world the Espers would be very good at zooming in on them without losing quality, in order to solve replicantmagitech releated crimes.

[KoShiatar]

Besides, I believe they were called Phantom Beasts in the original version, but I could be wrong.
Is this reffered somewhere?

No, but I have a version of the game that seems to be more faithful to the original in many respects (including the name Holy not being changed into Pearl) and they were called Phantom Beasts.

Guess what? I'll try and find out a Japanese page about FF VI so we'll solve any doubt.

[TheAbominatrix]

They are called Phantom Beasts. http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/final_fantasy_iii_differences.txt
http://www.ffmusic.info/ff6.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210061/

[KoShiatar]

Someone came rightfully claiming the computer and I had to give up.
But tomorrow I'll try downloading a japanese version just to see.

[Hroth]

The Phantom Beast idea isn't bad. Espers sort of resembles Esprit in french which would mean spirit in english and spirits are often refered to as being ghosts which would make Phantom a valuable explanation. But then again nothing proves that Square would base Esper off french so this is just plain speculation.

[TheAbominatrix]

Esper more closely resembles the words Esperia (or something to that effect), which is hope in French, and something else in Spanish.

[theundeadhero]

Which would make since since Banon called Terra his ray of hope.

[Hroth]

Espoir is hope in French. Espera is wait in Spanish. Whatever it is, it resembled French the most so it must have descended from French origins.

[Necronopticous]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esper


However, in certain circles, the word Esper is most familiar via the Square Co., Ltd. Super Famicom console role-playing game Final Fantasy VI (originally released as Final Fantasy III in North America), in which beings called "Espers" are essentially demigods who wield Dungeons and Dragons-esque magical abilities, and can be killed to allow these abilities to be transferred to others. Although weak, ubiquitous magical beings exist in Japanese folklore and mythology (kitsune, for example), there are no analogous beings in European myth or the English language; thus, the English translator of the game, Ted Woolsey, picked the closest word he could find, and that word happened to be "Esper."

[The Redneck]

Mortal Kombat was the clichéd film with Christopher Lambert and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa that's actually quite fun to watch if you're in the right mood.
"The right mood" meaning "very, very drunk".

And as I had understood it--at least from my SNES version of the game, espers were beings of pure magic. That's why when the goddesses were killed the espers disappeared--and likewise when espers were killed they turned into this magicite stuff rather than a body.

[eestlinc]

Esperi means 'hope' in the invented language Esperanto. I'm pretty sure the word derives from the latin root which has to do with hope.

[Poopcannon]

You know, even though I'm pretty sure you were taking the piss, in latin, to hope is spero. I'm also pretty sure that this had nothing to do with choosing the name espers. I doubt espers was meant to be anything other than a "cool" sounding word to make idiots like us wonder about the meaning of a word that has no meaning...