#sf2 rick

[peak-widow]

rick fighting a worm on the bridge to tristan

[claire-starsword]

What if I stopped crying that SF2 doesn't have as much cool stuff to translate as the first game and just posted it anyway. Who could stop me. Anyway here's the prologue and character info from the manual.

A big island to the west of the continent of Parmecia, Grans. In this island lie the countries of Granseal and Galam, and they were allies.

A long time ago, in Grans Island, stood three demon lords. One was a fallen angel of supreme magical power, Lucifer, another was a skilled general of great wisdom, Darksol, and then there was one who surpassed both in power, the savage devil, Zeon. In the place where currently stands the castle of Granseal, a place called Arc Valley, the three fought a deadly battle to conquer the evil power that gathered there. But Zeon, who boasted being the superior force throughout the whole conflict, had his magic sealed in a jewel by Darksol, and having lost his power, sank into the ocean of flames in Arc Valley. The remaining two lords were also at the end of their strength, and were driven out of Arc Valley by the gods.

The evil power that gathers at Arc Valley was sealed in the ancient tower in the northeast of Granseal's castle. It is said that, should the seal in that tower be broken, that evil power will immediately resurrect Zeon. The tower is sealed by the two jewels in the ancient shrine... the Jewel of Darkness that represents the devils, and the Jewel of Light that represents heroes.

Well now, plenty of treasure hunters have heard rumors of these jewels, and dared to come to the ancient shrine. However, as they tried to take them, a mysterious power prevented them from even touching the jewels, and they went back home empty handed. Having heard of that, the noble thief Slade attempted it as well, and somehow! He could touch the jewels, and succeeded in getting both of them.

But, because the jewels were taken out, the seal of the ancient tower was broken. Dark clouds covered Grans Island, and lightning struck the tower as a terrible storm poured. And the shadows of devils drew near Granseal's castle...

Notes so far:

I didn't bring up Lucifer in this blog before because I thought it was a known localization problem, but I'm a nerd who spent my teen years in fansites so perhaps a have a skewed vision of how well known things are in a fanbase. Anyway! Lucifer and this lore are brought up in game in the lore dump at Tristan. It's no wonder why the western version had to do away with a name like Lucifer, but they complicated matters by replacing it with Dark Dragon's, who supposedly has nothing to do with this.

The rest of the lore itself is not that off in the official translation, but I'm already here, so:

"Arc Valley is an impure place! Evil power gathers there. One who rules over Arc Valley shall become the king among kings to the devils.”

“Lucifer, Darksol and Zeon fought as they all desired Arc Valley. Their battle was extremely fierce, scorching the land, staining the ocean, and parting the skies.”

“Zeon was victorious, and all devils called him the king among kings. The other two lords envied him, and attacked, sealing his power in a jewel.”

“With his powers lost, Zeon was swallowed by the ocean of flames in Arc Valley. Zeon's wails torn apart the mountains, and he was buried along with the valley.”

“A wise god lamented the devils' conflict, and created a righteous power. The righteous power chose a young person, and that person forged a sword at the wise god's mountain.”

“Given power by the wise god, the young one fought the two demon lords with the forged sword. The sword shone with a pure light, and the devils were driven off of Arc Valley.”

“The impure place of Arc Valley was sealed with the ancient shrine. It should never be violated, lest the great demon lord revive.”

“Should by any chance the evil power return, the power of the gods will choose another young one. Trust that righteous power! Take the sword and strike it into the devil's mouth."

[ignore the graphical differences in the english version i just used an unfinished sprite hack]

So unlike the english version, the original leaves it ambiguous if the "righteous power" created by the god is the Jewel of Light, but it's still not hard to infer that. Specifying a mountain also makes it way more obvious that the god is Volcanon, but, no surprise either. The whole lore about the sword does imply it was not meant to be the Chaos Breaker (since that one sounded specific for sealing Dark Dragon), but who knows, maybe light swords get around. Final Conflict is better anyway so it has the right to retcon whatever it wants to.

Anyway none of this is too worth noting, what I actually wanted to note was that Lucifer is the antagonist for the novel, though that's basically all I know on him.

Enough shallow lore, let's head up to shallow character bios. While I usually stick to the characters' english names, this game did the weird decision of sharing names with english Gaiden 2, so for once I'll use the JP names at first and comment on this stuff.

Protagonist (Bowie)

A boy from Granseal. He has trained to be a swordsman as a pupil of the sage Astral. As Granseal becomes isolated after the incident with the ancient tower, he sets out in a journey to deepen ties with the other species.

Species: Human Class: Swordsmen

As I've mentioned before in my playthrough, the japanese version puts a lot more emphasis on Granseal being unfamiliar with other species, even generalizing it as a human country sometimes. It makes no sense given you starting team and the countless centaurs in Galam's army, but it's there.

Sarah

A pupil of Astral's. The big sister kind of girl who enjoys taking care of others. Skilled with healing magic.

Species: Elf Class: Priest

The Gaiden 2 priest is also called Sarah in the JP version, making this a rare case where the names were already repeated in the original versions.

Huey

A pupil of Astral's. A boy with a lot of pride that relies on his leg strength to act in the battlefield.

Species: Centaur Class: Knight

The Gaiden 2 archer was the one originally called Chester.

Jaja

Yet another pupil of Astral's. Scatterbrained, but his physical strength is huge.

Species: Hobbit Class: Warrior

Yes, "Jaja". The english version was fully right to tweak it a bit, actually english Jaha is superior in all ways. Meanwhile the Gaiden 2 warrior was called Aaron in the original.

Kazun

A mage that tries to look calm and collected, but can't help being juvenile at times.

Species: Elf Class: Mage

Yet another minor name tweak I barely remember, having to pay extra attention to this. Anyway this description is everything to me.

Jippo

The true culprit behind the incident at the ancient tower. A noble thief that steals for the poor.

Species: Scavenger Class: Thief

The Gaiden 2 priest was originally called Sain. Slade is thus a name fully made up by the english versions. And it's a great name! I just wish they hadn't given it to both the best and worst character at once!

Also, Slade's species. The term スケイブン (sukeibun) seems to come from Warhammer's skaven race, which is pronounced a bit different than the word scavenger (which would be something like スカベンジャー(sukabenjaa) in katakana instead). However, the term first showed up in this series for those rat enemies at the start of Gaiden 1 and SFCD translated it as Scavenger so I'm going with that. Honestly, I'd rather just call him a ratguy.

Kiwi

A mysterious character. Somewhat of a mascot for the Shining Force!? It's unclear.

Species: Green Turtle Class: Green Turtle

I usually stick to the official class translations but, TORT has always been a weird one.

Peter

A phoenix chick. He's a boy brimming with curiosity, who was raised by the god Volcanon.

Species: Phoenix Class: Phoenik

Matilda

A wild and free ranger who loves nature and runs through the hills and fields. Skilled with a bow and arrows.

Species: Centaur Class: Ranger

The Gaiden 2 wizard was called Marian in the original. The name May was likely taken from the SF1 knight, and then romanized different, and, given to a foxling mage as well?? Good localization™

Gerhalt

A beastman with little body hair, looking just like a human. Has a strong sense of justice, and fights enemies head on.

Species: Beastman Class: Beastman

Ludo

The prince of the birdmen country, Bedoe, and a great friend of Peter's. The mobility he gets thanks to those wings is his strong point.

Species: Birdman Class: Birdman

The Gaiden 2 monk was called Bill in the original, and as most know by now, SF1's Luke was originally Lug. That's right, we went from zero guys named Luke to three of them. Still not the worst name situation yet! Hold tight to your seats!

Lloyd

A middle-aged scholar who joins the force because he wishes to drive an ancient vehicle, the Caravan.

Species: Human Class: Brass Gunner

Rohde is actually a pretty clever adaptation of "roido" that also kind of puts a "rode" pun in the middle. But the "Lloyd" romanization is so much more common and stereotypical for a studious guy I felt like pointing it out. Meanwhile, the Gaiden 2 dwarf was originally called Games. Not like the word "games", more like gah-mes. Does anyone even remember who I'm talking about? I'm having trouble remembering the guy myself, all dwarves are generic in this series but the CD ones take the cake.

Mick

A knight who lives in the town of Hassan. Timid, but shows his power once brought to a few battles.

Species: Centaur Class: Knight

Yes, Mick. They changed one letter of it.

His description here, despite repeated in guide books, is a bit off compared to the game, where he has just arrived at Hassan, and has no plans to stay. Describing him as timid is also very off from the wakuwaku yahoo funny boy we get in game.

Most you can say is that in JP he isn't as hyped in HQ, but it's still more of a focused thing than timid:

"We centaurs are the main fighters in a battle, so we can't ever let our guard down."

now you know why he has the best defense among knights. Not that my screenshot reflects that lmao. Also a rare moment of the localization adding exclamation points instead of robbing them.

Polnaref

A resident of Fairy Woods. He is rescued by the protagonist while struggling and stuck in a spring.

Species: Elf Class: Archer

Elric

A calm and courteous knight, who has been shrunk due to certain circumstances. A noble.

Species: Centaur Class: Knight

Congratulations. You have reached Worst Name Situation.

That is not a typo. He was called Elric in the original. They changed it to Eric, and then gave the og name to a different guy in the same game. Meanwhile, the Gaiden 2 knight who also got the name Eric was called Kreid in the original. Little did they know that a single game after there would an actual Erik, who I romanize with a k in a futile attempt to minimize this mess.

But it doesn't even end there. There's Shining Soul 2. In japanese, the warrior's default is Alex.

Guess what they changed it into for the english version

Twiggy

A female priest with a kind heart and a good head on her shoulders. Yet another one who has been shrunk down due to circumstances.

Species: Human Class: Priest

You read that right, human. Both this manual and every guide book I know lists both her and Taya as humans despite the ears. This happens to Ruburan as well in the Final Conflict manual (and you can note his overworld sprites lack pointy ears), but the guide book lists him as elf. The novel apparently goes around this by calling her a half-elf.

Dongo

Another one shrunk down. A rough and rowdy sort, but has a nice side as well. His destructive power is huge.

Species: Dwarf Class: Warrior

The Gaiden centaur was the one originally called Randolf.

Piper

A high-minded middle-aged mage who has been shrunk down. Has more physical strength than expected for his class.

Species: Elf Class: Mage

Janet

A resident of Fairy Woods. A girl whose skill with the bow is on par with Polnaref's.

Species: Elf Class: Archer

Higins

Captain of the army of the country of centaurs, Pacalon. His mobility and strength are nothing to complain about.

Species: Centaur Class: Paladin

I don't think i need to tell you that the Gaiden 2 ninja was actually Hanzou, right? It certainly wasn't a ninja called Higins, that's for sure.

That's not what matters here. What matters here is that a japanese onomatopoeia for horse clopping is "pacaran pacaran".

They live in clopclop town.

If I have to know this fact you have to know it as well.

Fielder

A birdboy with a strong body and wings boasting outstanding movement. He's modest and polite.

Species: Birdman Class: Birdbattler

Not exactly a name repeat, but the name Skreech is likely inspired by Gaiden 2's Shriek, who did have that name in JP as well.

Linda

A shrine maiden who turned to stone by orders of the goddess Mitula. She can control spirits of nature.

Species: Human Class: Sorcerer

Sharol

A priest of Moun, of pretty old age. Can use many kinds of healing spells.

Species: Hobbit Class: Vicar

Hobbit discourse! Some guide books call him human instead. His proportions are very different from the other hobbits/dwarves in the series so I'm willing to believe that more.

Also, I never brought it up before as I don't know much on religion but guess I'll do it now. The word used for the priest class is 僧侶 (souryo), which refers to buddhist monks. The word for the promotion, officially translated as vicar, is 司祭(shisai), which means catholic priest.

The word describing Frayja here is 神官 (shinkan), which is apparently a shinto role.

I don't think it's just my lack of religious knowledge making this look like a mess.

__

Anyway, look at that totally inconspicuous repeat of Bowie's art randomly in this page! Exactly in the position another character bio could go! And we have an even number of characters, so there was no reason to break this display of two side-by-side, right?

In case you haven't heard, Jaro is basically non-playable in the japanese version. There was an oopsie in the code as he joins, and he never stops being AI controlled like in his first battle. Guide books straight up refer to him as a NPC.

This game was A Lil' Rushed.

So yeah, my bad, Jaro doesn't get lore. Not that anyone is getting lore, but he really gets nothing. His japanese name is Falcon, if you're wondering.

Gyan

A hot headed man who can't stand still when others are in trouble. His strength is terrific.

Species: Hobbit Class: Gladiator

More hobbit discourse! Gyan calls himself a dwarf in-game, i’ll just use the english screenshot since it’s accurate.

Told you to not care about this. Some guide books do call him a dwarf as well.

Also, the bear beastman from the Gaiden games was called Teddy in the original games.

Sheela

A former pupil of Astral's. She joins the force to avenge her lover, killed by Galam's army.

Species: Human Class: Master Monk

Bacchus

He was once just junk lying around in the ancient pathway. A highly-skilled fighting machine.

Species: Robot Class: Robot

Rude, manual, rude.

The wording is a bit ambiguous here as in, maybe he was made of junk found in the pathways. But he remembers ancient times, so I doubt that's it. Unless he was already made of junk material back then, which makes this some pretty resistant garbage. I love recycling.

Oneia

A rare kind of mage, active and enthusiastic. Lives in the town of Yeel, currently in danger.

Species: Human Class: Wizard

I don't think it's that rare for mages to be enthusiastic in this setting, and he doesn't even act much like it in game, but he does seem to be confused by his own feelings in HQ:

"I usually seem gentle but, I'm thrilled when in battle. Perhaps it is in my nature to like conflict?"

Lemon

The commander of the Galam army. An enemy general who was possessed by a devil and committed one slaughter after another.

Species: Human Class: Red Baron

Mud

An inorganic creation given life, that is, a golem. Skills are yet unknown. A curious existence.

Species: Golem Class: Golem

Final name discourse. According to the dictionary "mud" is more commonly written as マッド in katakana instead of マード here, but I still don't see anything else it could be. The Gaiden birdman was called Barry in the original, so Claude is fully a localization name, though I suspect it was initially thought for the birdman since, you know, sounds like cloud.

Sage Astral

A retired sage who lives in Granseal. Teacher to the protagonist, Sarah, Chester and others. He awaits their return while helping to rebuild the country.

Astral is mostly referred to as a sage in game, or by some honorific like -sama or -dono. The localization lumped all of this into "sir", like it usually does. It's not perfect but I struggle a lot with adapting honorifics as well so I tend to go with it.

King Granseal

The king of Granseal. Has suffered greatly since the incident of one year ago, as he lost his beloved Princess Elis, and faced against the neighboring country of Galam that used to be his ally.

Princess Elis

The daughter of King Granseal. When the seal of the ancient tower broke, she was taken by King Galam, who had been possessed by a devil, and dragged to the Demon World.

Volcanon

The great god who lives in a volcano at South Parmecia. Also a father figure to the phoenix chick, Peter. He is angry at the people of the surface who revived Zeon.

Oddler

A boy met at the village of Polca. His eyes are injured, and he doesn't remember a thing from his past. At the village chief's request, he begins to travel with the protagonists. Is being targeted by the devils.

Creed

A misanthropist great devil who lives in a mansion in the Devil's Tail in the Parmecia continent. He comes to know of the demon lord Zeon's revival, and to help stop it, lends some of his warriors to the force.

Yeah. One of them.

The term I translated as great devil is 大悪魔, different from the one used for Oddeye, Cameela and Zalbard, 悪魔軍隊長, which the game adapted as Greater Devil, but is more like Devil Army Captain.