From what I understand, FF4 has four different official translations: SNES, PSone, GBA, DS. Which of these four is the most faithful to the original.
I know it's not the SNES as this was heavily looked upon by Square Enix as being poorly done.
From what I understand, FF4 has four different official translations: SNES, PSone, GBA, DS. Which of these four is the most faithful to the original.
I know it's not the SNES as this was heavily looked upon by Square Enix as being poorly done.
I've never heard of SE criticizing the DS script before, where did you hear that?
As far as I know, that one and the GBA script are likely the closest to the original, outside of possible emulation but you'll always find changes based on localization choices since it's nearly impossible to translate certain cultural idioms and unique speech/writing patterns. So unless you speak Japanese, you'll likely get some variation due to making the work accessible for your language. As far as I'm concerned, any version of the script done after the PSX version are both the closest to the original and still actually written well enough to not sound weird reading aloud.
What the actual hell, the DS script is sublime
My mistake, it was the SNES that was poorly received by Square. I apologize.
The only thing keeping me from playing the psp version of FF4 is the translation. It's a heavily edited version of the GBA with a few lines from the DS. For those of you who have played it, how would you rate the script compared to other versions?
The DS maybe better but I prefer traditional 2D over 3D.
The PSP version’s translation is still very good. It’s the same thing as the GBA one, just with some terms taken from the DS translation. While the DS one is IMO better simply for being more... idk, poetic? I still think that the GBA/PSP version does its job very well and is the optimal choice out of the 2D versions, even including fan translations (I’ll reserve my gripes with those for another time)
At least the SNES translation, unlike virtually every other translation, was decent enough to conceal the contents of what you're delivering to Mist. What?! The "BombRing" releases a bunch of bombs? Shocking! There are probably other aspects in which it is superior too. The SNES translation is far too looked down upon by translation purity elitists. I don't care if Bomb Ring is a technically more accurate translation, it is 100% certainly a crappier translation.
DS translation uses Carnelian Signet. Waaaaaaaay better imo
Ok. I have to admit that's pretty badass and I forgot that.