FF6 - first post of many

Can't sleep, posting. I saved my FF6 game in the middle of the Phantom Train, because when you have, ahead of you, the goddamn Phantom Train and then Veldt-grinding, it's helpful to give yourself a bonus, like "there's a boss ahead that's killable with a Phoenix Down!" to entice yourself into playing that part.

Given that I actually snickered out loud at Kefka's line about "they don't deserve any mercy! Just as well, since I never have any of the stuff," you'd think I'd have bothered to memorize it or write it down or something.

Cyan's grammar has improved dramatically in the absence of the Woolsey. I always felt like poor Ted Woolsey was unfairly maligned by translation purists, but the grammar thing always drove me nuts... and it wasn't just him, because Chrono Cross had the same "'thee' and 'thou' are like the same word, right?" problem. So far so good. His reaction after the poisoning read much better, too.

Edgar's "he'd kill his own best friend if the price was right" comment on Shadow sacrifices adorably stupid Woolsey-ism for heavy-handed (if you know the game, at least...) dramatic irony. Go translators? I can't remember if Shadow's much-altered blurb was better or worse in the Woolsey translation; I just know the new one is different.

It's more clear from the beginning that Locke's obsessing over Rachel the whole way. His "why I joined the Returners" speech to Terra makes more sense as a result, though he still doesn't explain why the Empire bypassed Jidoor to invade, and then retreat from, Kohlingen. This is, I guess, good, though it disappoints the 'shipper in me. He does still tell Terra to wait for him at the Returner base, and he still vehemently denies her "nobody cares about me" thing, even if she does throw in "family and friends" rather than "significant other." :( We'll see if I can get through the opera scene without an eye-gouging.

octavius noted that the translation has Mama Figaro dying not long after the twins were born. I don't buy this; I've seen too many doujinshi where she was around while they were kids to believe the original game script had her definitively biting it that early. I'm guessing it was vague and the translators decided to fix that, though I haven't yet encountered that part to be able to guess for myself.

Edgar is somewhat less of a cheeseball now.

Bondage Celes and the beating are indeed gone. When you go to free her it still says her hands are bound, though. I don't care enough to try to determine if this was done in localization or when it was adapted for GBA. Her intro blurb is now more coherent - that whole "she's battle-hardened but pure as snow, DON'T ASK HOW" thing always bugged me - and she gets more lines when she tells Locke she's staying put to wait for death. Better still, those lines are consistent with the way I always characterized her in fanfic, woot!

Just about everyone gets more lines, presumably because of increased room for them. This gives people more room to elaborate on their lines and not sound like morons. Banon even does the English major preposition shimmy - "This is the girl to which the Esper reacted?" Yeah, Banon, that's the girl Tritoch reacted to. It makes more sense to have him doing it than Kain, at least (Kain pulled something similar in in the Playstation version of FF4.)

Terra's wonderful "bodybuilder who'd strayed from his gym" line (on meeting Sabin - um, I hope everyone reading knows this kind of stuff, but I note it all the same...) is replaced with a less-funny thing about confusing him with one of Vargas's bears, which at least makes his later line describing himself as a bear make more sense.

"Son of a submariner" go bye-bye. The Beavis snickering over the fire from Kefka's guards remains, however.

All I can think of right now. I become tired.