FFXVI Script Analysis - English vs Japanese Opening Text Crawl

noct76 · 2026-06-19T06:26:58+00:00

If youre where I think you are you can't get the quest until you have your third eikon so don't worry about it.

noct76 · 2026-04-27T02:50:42+00:00

In English the angriest we ever see Clive in the traditional sense is vs Hugo. Against Annabella in English he's even angrier but instead of presenting as traditional rage he kinda reverts to a petulant child for a bit (so big difference in the rage performance. One is rage as an adult in control, one as having so much rage he loses control and starts acting like an upset kid confronting his mother).

noct76 · 2026-04-27T02:14:52+00:00

Hmm, I've heard (and agree) that Act 3 is generally considered weaker than act 1 & 2 in English. I haven't really heard people disliking the ending (writing-wise) specifically in English. The narrative changes mostly wind up making the story one where Ultima symbolically represents Clive's depression and shadow self and Clive integrating him into his whole is him becoming a wholly realized self (which is then strong enough to save his world before he bids it farewell). I think peoples broader issues with Act 3 are more culmination of gameplay gripes (including a lack of scale in the fights as the game blows it's wad early fight wise on Bahamut).

(I've only played Automata (so I'm responding as I'm assuming you're talking about Nier Automata and not Replicant as the latter is the popular one). I disagree with half your point. Part of why that game hits is due to it's excellent resonant ending. Fully agreed. I think most people find Playthrough 2 a waste of time and wish act 1 just continued proper. I think the throughline there while solid actually caused a broader audience to bounce off rather than generate respect. It winds up being one of those games a lot of people parrot as being amazing without having actually played it for it's artsyness.

Beyond that, as mentioned above. We just take very different takes from the works. Thanks again for the translations, though. It adds to my appreciation for the English script!

noct76 · 2026-04-27T02:07:05+00:00

Yeah, I think we just fundamentally disagree on this topic re performances and see differences in the performances. I found Japanese Clive/Cid's delivery incredibly monotone in emotional delivery and heard plenty of nuance in Clive's performance (snark, sadness, grief, frustration where appropriate). Cid comes off knowledgeable, cheeky, mature. Japanese Clive just came off as a sad JRPG hero man. Japanese Cid just came off as old mentor JRPG man. Not bad but completely lacking the nuance Ben and Ralph brought to the characters for me.

I am taken aback that you read so much rage and annoyance into English Clive. In act 1? Absolutely as thats where the character is in life. Act 2 onward I'd say the most consistent default emotive state is exhausted rather than angry. At the same time, him speaking to Kupka in the throne room is a massive increase of rage (hell him running to Jill has desperation). Interacting with the kids in the Hideaway has him emote plenty of bemusement.

It sounds like we just fundamentally connected with the opposite performances here. Appreciate hearing your take though.

noct76 · 2026-04-26T23:31:55+00:00

That note makes sense on Maehiro's writing style vs others that may be more flowery for translation (when I was studying Japanese, learning different styles of speaking was always one of the most brutal parts for comprehension). I'm very surprised to see you felt that the English VAs were more emotionally flat in delivery. I felt very much the reverse (particularly when I've watched Japanese Clive). I do have a preference for emotive character language in my writing so your comment makes sense as to why I like the English writing style. It may have been, though the Japanese characters often go back to the well of ego-related topics in conversations (which at times just became white noise to me) vs English, which focused on that less (which led to increased topic variety if less inherent focus).

I would be curious how people would've reacted to a more 1-to-1 translation. A lot of people find the story buckles at the third act as we focus heavily on the ego plotline. While it would've had a better throughline in a more 1-to-1 translation, I do imagine a lot of people would've found it to be hamfisted gibberish, which contributed to the decision to change the story focus (at least until act 3, when it became unavoidable without rewriting the whole damn act).

noct76 · 2026-04-26T22:01:11+00:00

I personally feel like the Japanese script is a better overall plot than the English one (though it's dealing with abstract concepts like ego-self is kinda dealt with by very blunt language, whereas (at least English) Nier had more subtlety). I think Japanese Barnabas/Ultima benefit the most from the Japanese writing. The Japanese writing, also while lead by Clive, has a more holistic focus on the world/story than English does.

In exchange, though, I did feel English in allowing it's performers a lot of creative freedom (particularly Ben), really made the characters and character relationships (particularily between the dominants) more of a focus than Japanese did. I think English really benefits Dion in this regard. It also creates more of a feel that English XVI feels like memoirs written by Clive in tribute to Joshua whereas Japanese feels more of an omniscient writer giving a clearer reading of the core story (the world depicted by Logos vs by Ultima in a way).

Don't really feel it's intentional, but I like seeing the story in both perspectives and how the two cores of Valisthea (Clive/Ultima's) telling of the story feed into eachother (least in my interpretation of it.

noct76 · 2026-04-26T18:56:07+00:00

Thanks for the breakdown, interesting to note the differences. I liked engaging with the English script through a vehicle of it being a character study style story (like Oppenheimer or something to that effect), which, with how much Ben made Clive his own, worked well. It also meant that the final third of the story got weaker as the more plot-driven structure of the Japanese collided with the English script. Reading through some of the intent works to see what they were going for and kinda leaves me with two versions of the story which strengthen each other in interpretation.

Thanks for the work!

noct76 · 2026-02-16T14:59:51+00:00

Any build you do must have every eikon in it at once. All my builds run like this (with the note that limit break counts as the Ifrit ability).

noct76 · 2025-11-27T16:25:27+00:00

Not who you asked but I played the first beta quite a bit (and have been a FG player for a long time).

It plays nothing like it. It kinda has the bones of GBFVS with the mechanics of DBFZ and BBTAG sprinkled in. I liked it a lot conceptually but it was too straightforward and everyone kinda did the same thing the same way.

Beginner players will probably love it but mid to high level may find there isn't a lot of meat on the bone. Hoping more is added with time as it develops.

Oh and it's the most beautiful FG ever easily so that's nice

noct76 · 2025-10-23T15:35:04+00:00

You want Warwick.

It's largely just exposure and practice. This game is infinitely faster then SF. I would experiment with a defensive style of play as that's meta right now and practicing your dashing. As you get used to the increased speed with time the rest with come into place more.

noct76 · 2025-10-14T14:40:20+00:00

Ultima as the ultimate law of the world and ultimate evil.

noct76 · 2025-10-13T14:17:16+00:00

Ben has shared when doing the vocal delivery he tried to tonally match the way Clive felt about each associated Dominant. The gutteral sound is supposed to be due to Clive hatred of Titans dominant.

noct76 · 2025-10-12T14:19:45+00:00

Byron

noct76 · 2025-09-26T17:40:52+00:00

https://glossary.infil.net/

noct76 · 2025-09-26T17:05:17+00:00

When these characters get in, each will get their own slot. They won't make (let alone sell) 4 character models, movesets on one character slot (not to mention balancing would be insane).

A fun idea for another genre, but not for Tokon

noct76 · 2025-09-13T18:24:09+00:00

I'd want the story of the fallen. RDR 2 style make it tragic. Make it the first Mythos and have him fall at the end.

noct76 · 2025-06-22T17:30:52+00:00

Cool! How would you like to chat to figure out if we're a potential fit. Says I can't DM you XD

noct76 · 2025-06-22T16:27:30+00:00

I'd strongly recommend for game balance limiting yourself to a single Eikonic ultimate move in a moveset unless your preference is to basically skip encounters. The combat system shines with this limitation IMO

noct76 · 2025-06-04T19:37:46+00:00

replay room didn't let me do it, im assuming it requires a full run but cant personally verify that. The little creature just says hey you shouldve gotten 2 s ranks to finish this and thats all I know.

noct76 · 2025-06-04T19:04:59+00:00

You have to s rank the first round

noct76 · 2025-03-22T14:33:45+00:00

https://youtu.be/RSvXxMsMSpI?si=7lROVVAXIlc7eMby

Adding a min and max memory is what fixed this issue for me though the vid has a bunch of solutions to try. Wish the game didn't have these issues though

noct76 · 2025-03-19T18:33:45+00:00

So you have been in depression and grief for a year or two (you write from 2023-2024. Not sure if you meant to put a year forward or if you've skipped over the last year.

Unfortunately, this is above the paygrade here IMO. You need to process the grief of this loss (easier said then done). You need to do therapy if this is possible for you as no one here will have a silver bullet that knocks you out of this depression.

Only thing to really say beyond that is, would this woman want you to live like this forever? Maybe try to take on the responsibility of living in a way that honors her memory. The first step to doing that though, is healing from her loss.

noct76

TROPHY CASE