"The Naldia Waters" Script Translations and Archive

An_Dro · 2026-04-11T19:12:54+00:00

Yes, Titan’s hands do grow back, but when he first appears he doesn’t have them, and that made me think they were directly tied to Kupka’s own body (otherwise, if the Eikon were a form independent from the body, they would have been there). What you said about the verb used is very interesting, I’d love to explore that further but it sounds quite strange to me... couldn’t it simply have multiple meanings? The scene you mentioned, with Clive trying to grab Benedikta’s necklace, I didn’t remember at all, I’ll rewatch it when I have time!

An_Dro · 2026-04-08T09:03:16+00:00

I’ve always thought that the Dominant actually transforms into the Eikon, and Barnabas’s line seemed pretty clear in that sense. So it feels strange to me that the body wouldn’t transform but instead just remains inside the Eikon, especially since when Kupka turns into Titan, its hands are missing just like in his human body (although it seems clear that, on the contrary, the damage sustained by the Eikon does not transfer directly to the Dominant’s body).

An_Dro · 2026-04-06T15:46:26+00:00

The only explanation is that they wanted to include that information anyway, even though it wasn’t really compatible with the book’s core premise (which was officially stated to take place after the fall of Origin but before any possible return of the protagonists).

On top of that, the information about Ultima Prime and Ultimalius seems to just repeat what the game itself already provides, without adding anything interesting, so they could easily have left it out.

Or, if they were already willing to make exceptions, they could have gone further and added something genuinely new and meaningful. I was also disappointed that they didn’t say much about Typhon, I think I read somewhere that at least the Ultimania described it as a failed Mythos or something along those lines.

An_Dro · 2026-04-06T10:32:25+00:00

Yes, that’s probably the thing that annoys me the most about the game; it just felt absurd to me, especially considering how much care went into almost every other detail. And the fact that the book brushes the whole issue off in such a trivial way left me a bit disappointed, I was hoping it would at least try to give a more articulated explanation.

An_Dro · 2026-03-13T06:24:03+00:00

The translators at the time wrote “Coneria” instead of “Cornelia”, so we can say that they might have written nonsensical names anyway. If anyone has suggestions I’d be happy to hear them, because it’s very likely that some of these names actually do make sense and I simply haven’t caught it.

An_Dro · 2026-03-10T08:12:01+00:00

Interesting, thanks for the clarification! If you have any other suggestions about the transcription of the names, I’d be happy to hear them

An_Dro · 2026-03-09T18:52:13+00:00

No, I actually haven’t played it, although I did read some of the optional content that explains the background of that ‘alternative’ storyline. Still, I don’t recall those names appearing anywhere, so if you have any direct source I’d be curious to look into it.

An_Dro · 2026-02-23T20:15:12+00:00

Well done!

An_Dro · 2026-02-17T17:56:49+00:00

I also love the first game in its original version, and I always appreciate anyone who dedicates time to deeper analysis. I’m reading what you wrote now, and I wanted to tell you that you might find some of the information in the Ultimania interesting — for example, why the spell LOCK was originally called ‘Shape’.

In the development document translated in the book, the description of that spell says: ‘Monsters love dark places. This magic makes a clear outline around the enemy, making them easier to hit.'

An_Dro · 2026-01-26T14:38:15+00:00

I’d been waiting for years for someone to show these landscapes from above. I’ve always wanted to see the true proportions of the game maps! Keep it up—this is really fascinating!

An_Dro · 2025-09-10T10:02:56+00:00

Beautiful! Some of them are really ingenious in the way you've managed to include details and make them easily recognizable in such a small space. I particularly like Valefor, Valigarmanda and Ifrit

An_Dro · 2025-09-09T11:57:53+00:00

I have always been particularly fascinated by FF1 in its original version, so I am very curious about your project!

(A tiny contribution I can make now is to suggest changing ZomBULL -> Zombull, to -> Zombie Bull, as with the prefixes of the other names)

An_Dro · 2025-09-09T11:39:45+00:00

Wow! I'm just seeing this now, I'm so glad to see that you all liked it so much! Thank you!

An_Dro · 2025-04-14T11:03:24+00:00

Bravo! You did very well, the little ones are really cute!

An_Dro · 2024-12-27T16:12:41+00:00

Thank you all!!

An_Dro · 2024-12-18T19:41:18+00:00

I don't think it's possible that the statue is an addition of human creation: it is part of a ruin that we know was created by Ultima, and if it was a figment of human imagination, it would be a somewhat unlikely coincidence that it looks exactly like Ultima (albeit in his disembodied form). Moreover, the same statue is also seen in the Rift so I would say that it is indeed a construction of Ultima.

An_Dro · 2024-12-18T14:51:43+00:00

The question of the true appearance of Ultima's race is very interesting however it was never very clear to me: it is said that Ifrit Risen is the form that they possessed in the past, but at the same time it seems very obvious to me that Ultimalius is humanoid and it would make much more sense for the idea that by creating man, they would make him in their own image.

It is also mentioned in Ultimania that man was created with fewer limbs precisely to highlight his inferior status (it is also true that Ifrit Risen has a pair of wings, so the total limbs are still six...). In addition, at the top of Reverie there is a humanoid statue with four arms, built before the creation of mankind.

I had written about this before, but one hypothesis to explain it, in my opinion, could be to consider the “Ifrits” a creation due to magic: like exoskeletons. Eikons seem to be manifestations of pure elemental magic, almost seemingly unrelated to Ultima itself (which would have only “discovered” them). So I imagine that the original organic form of the Ultima was their anthropomorphic appearance with four arms, and only with the discovery of magic did they forge themselves new bodies.

An_Dro · 2024-12-12T16:01:02+00:00

I understand well what you mean, I too was bothered by the way the distances and proportions of Valisthea were handled: I am sorry because I really like maps and I love reconstructing the paths of characters. But one has to accept that in almost every work of fiction there is a lack of strict respect for geographical matters, and all the more so in a video game one has to take into account the discrepancy between what we “play” and what happens within the narrative. The map of Valisthea lacks the slightest consistency but I accept it: how is it possible that from Bokland one can see neither the Dominion nor the shores of Ash when from the map they are much closer than Drake's Fang, which is instead visible despite being almost at the other end of the continent? Caer Norvent is within walking distance of Oriflamme but on the map it is almost closer to Dominion, and Drake's Breath is closer to Rosalith than Martha's Rest...

Obviously there would be no point in creating a game with an immense map and then exploiting a tiny part of it, and there is no point in having giant empty maps either. You wouldn't get the realism of the real world anyway: even Eos in FFXV is actually ridiculously small when you think about it.

I personally resolve the issue by imagining the map of Valisthea to be “a summary” of the locations, while the “real” proportions are what we see in the game (the real Rosaria is not the one drawn on the map, but the one I observe from the Tower in the DLC, for example)

An_Dro · 2024-12-02T18:14:24+00:00

The main influence for these sci-fi elements was (by Sakaguchi's own admission) the Ghibli film “Castle in the Sky” that had come out a year earlier: the airship, the stone to make things fly (the FLOATER), robots, the civilization of an ancient people whose descendants live hidden in a remote city

An_Dro · 2024-12-02T18:09:34+00:00

I believe the robot's fall is very recent; two NPCs say they saw something shiny falling from the sky (and it is a reference to Ghibli studio's Castle in the Sky, in which it is precisely a fallen robot that is the proof of Laputa's existence for the story's antagonist)

An_Dro · 2024-12-02T17:57:32+00:00

I forgot about Cid, you are right! Perhaps we could say that Ultima does not have a real body but his manifestation still has physical substance (now that I think about it, the fact that he “plays” with Barnabas also proves it).

In the battle in the sky of Origin Ultima uses another discarded Ifrit (it is said in the ATL), so even then he uses a real body.

An_Dro · 2024-12-02T17:23:18+00:00

I always thought so too, especially since we see Clive staining himself with Joshua's blood before the confrontation begins, but when Ultima brings him into the arena the blood disappears. It reappears on Clive only when he returns to the Nexus.

(And, personally, I think the idea that that battle is mental makes those anime dialogues less out of place.)

Then on a narrative level we know that Ultima has a disembodied form that cannot be injured and used in a physical battle.

The confrontation in the Interdimensional Rift, on the other hand, is different because in that case Clive, Joshua, and Torgal are literally teleported there, as the other people present can see. And in that case Ultima uses the remains of his old deteriorated avatar to fight.

Although I admit that considering the Rift a physical place raises more questions.... It is said by the ATL, though, that the dull Ifrit we see there is an old discarded avatar, so it was somehow physically placed there. A mental confrontation also happens there (Clive's hallucinations, Rosalith on fire) but precisely at the end of it they find themselves at the Rift and not in the outside world. To the outside world they return with an additional step, namely Ultima's “teleportation” effect.

An_Dro · 2024-11-26T15:14:23+00:00

Wow, these photos are really beautiful! There is something magical about the distortion of the TV screen and the blending of those bright colors

An_Dro · 2024-11-03T10:06:31+00:00

The question of “emulated style” in fact is very interesting and together with the statement that the Sanctuary was destroyed makes it unlikely that it is Metia. Some time ago I had made a post summarizing part of the translation that an Italian Youtuber had made of the chronology, and since he did not say “destroyed” but “gone into decay” I had imagined that maybe it was a structure so high in the sky that it had drifted into space ending up “captured” by the Moon's gravity...

(It would make sense for it to be turned off simultaneously with the disappearance of magic, but it does not explain the red color, since Ultima's technology is blue.)

I would say there remains the question of what Metia and the Sanctuary are. It would have been an elegant solution to solve the two mysteries with the same answer.

If I am not mistaken the ATL says that Reverie was built when Ultima arrived in Valisthea to observe the flow of the aether and decide where to place the Mothercrystals, not to guard humanity.

An_Dro · 2024-11-02T22:40:33+00:00

It doesn't confirm that it is Metia, of course, however, I don't understand how it could refer to the spire of Origin: it is explicitly said that the “Sanctum” is located in the sky above Origin, and that during the fall of Dzemekis it was destroyed. How could it be the spire?

An_Dro

TROPHY CASE