Author Topic: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth  (Read 31725 times)

UltimaGriever

  • Crusader
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Believe in Yuna.
  • Location: Brazil
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #315 on: September 10, 2015, 04:33:26 pm »
The only thing I care to wonder is if this novella would be better accepted if those faux translations didn't leak. Or that the events of a bloody war would be roses and flowers and pyreflies were fireworks.

The hypocrisy is glaring. Never mind the enlightenment to Spira's history this work provides us, it's all about real-world issues not being even remotely possible in a work of fiction for the sake of being fiction and it's even worse if that fiction's couple starts to disagree on how to act because it's the first time they can actually be honest with each other. Wow.

-Will- is canon, it has been provided by an official and legitimate source (FFX/X-2 HD Remaster Blu-Ray) and it references events from the novella, which was also provided by an official and legitimate source (Nojima), which makes it canon, too. I hated with all of my guts that FFVII is getting a remake because it's lame, but it's going to happen anyway and there's nothing that can be done about it. So yes, the audio tale is canon, the novella is canon, get over it. SE might not release FFX-3, but, if they do, they will most likely base themselves off the audio and the novella.

Star Wars EU books were written by licensed authors, they were basically licensed fanfiction, so it's understandable that Disney regarded them as non-canon because they didn't come from the original creator and they conflict on various points. But this novella was written by Nojima himself, the man who wrote the whole FFX history and created the characters, it's in his right to write whatever he wants and SE is in their right to consider it canon.

Danko Kaji

  • Guardian
  • *
  • Posts: 75
  • One step at a time.
  • Location: Antioch, California
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #316 on: September 10, 2015, 04:44:40 pm »
To demonstrate, I've made up my own little timeline. Apologies if you can't read my handwriting, but you see what I'm getting at, right? :P

and no, the ff7 connection doesnt exist, it's all in the mind

OMG, your timeline is asjfgjhgfg luv ur little Sin, but anyway. Ahem. Hrm. You honestly think there's room for a split timeline from the Good/Perfect Ending? Because the Good/Perfect timeline goes like this:

FFX-2 --> Good End --> FFX-2.5 --> Last Mission (three months after Chap 33 of novel) --> THEN Perfect End (six months after novel events, apparently) --> THEN finally Will.

Where would the split happen? Humor me cuz I am legitimately curious
Lost in the winds of change~

"There's some things you can't do alone,
but they become easy with friends beside you."

Consider me a wandering 'Maechen' of FFX/X-2 lore.

Danko Kaji

  • Guardian
  • *
  • Posts: 75
  • One step at a time.
  • Location: Antioch, California
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #317 on: September 10, 2015, 04:58:00 pm »
I agree with you, UltimaGriever. There's just not enough words to adequately describe the utter frustration we feel towards the astonishingly negative reception of FFX-2.5. I always imagined Yuna and Tidus would have those kind of arguments, based on their different priorities and values growing up. I liked it actually, because it revealed Yuna's true feelings about post-Sin Church and what she wants to do about it. I mean, really stop to think about this:

Yuna disassembled Vegnagun (with the help of her friends, again). She put Shuyin to rest. She saved a friend from the clutches of a psychopathic Unsent. Things were different this time around. She didn't have to lose friends in order to win. She saved them. Then she ran into Bahamut, who made a ridiculously vague offer disguised as a rhetorical question: "Do you want a moment to walk with him again?" /something to that effect, and she said yes because who wouldn't? Wishful thinking. Yuna bids goodbye to her new friends and decides to go home, leaving the Gullwings (without seriously considering she may actually seeing Tidus again). We know from Last Mission, that all she does is babysit Vidina and feel wistful watching her best friends be a happy, little family. In the three months since the game ended. And in the novel, her argument with Tidus heavily implied she had been planning to restore the idle clergy, or at least answer the old folk's concern.

Reuniting with Tidus had more repercussions than we thought, because that changes Yuna's priorities entirely.

I think we've severely underestimated the internal conflicts Yuna struggles with. Yuna's the type of character whose wants and needs are always in conflict, ever since FFX. Not downplaying the importance of Tidus/Yuna or anything, but I'm thinking about Yuna as an individual and how her world keeps constantly changing, for better or for worse. Yuna post-FFX-2 has such fascinating, potential issues that are never seen in plain sight, but they're always there, just bubbling beneath the surface of her smile.
Lost in the winds of change~

"There's some things you can't do alone,
but they become easy with friends beside you."

Consider me a wandering 'Maechen' of FFX/X-2 lore.

mamboitaliano

  • Guest
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #318 on: September 10, 2015, 06:46:48 pm »
Ultimate G, you're forgetting something!! The scene in FFX-2 Last mission that coincides with the "perfect" ending in FFX-2 has already been retconned!! They completely threw the whole thing out! It was the original ending to the same scene that this book starts out in. This book is retcon of that scene!  :D :D
« Last Edit: September 10, 2015, 06:51:42 pm by mamboitaliano »

Danko Kaji

  • Guardian
  • *
  • Posts: 75
  • One step at a time.
  • Location: Antioch, California
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #319 on: September 10, 2015, 07:45:27 pm »
Oh, yeah... I forgot about that. It's true, huh? XD

Whelp, I guess they don't care when it comes to retconning happy scenes into bittersweet, depressing ones.
Lost in the winds of change~

"There's some things you can't do alone,
but they become easy with friends beside you."

Consider me a wandering 'Maechen' of FFX/X-2 lore.

UltimaGriever

  • Crusader
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Believe in Yuna.
  • Location: Brazil
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #320 on: September 10, 2015, 07:55:56 pm »
I couldn't really imagine it being that happy for them either way. It's not that Yuna outgrew Tidus, just that they'd meet a lot of resistance from the elders (who wanted her to settle down and get married to someone respectable) and problems would arise eventually, because Tidus doesn't respect Yevon and authority in general while Yuna does.

mamboitaliano

  • Guest
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #321 on: September 10, 2015, 08:15:27 pm »
Personally, I just find this novel completely unnecessary and I honestly believe it will be disregarded. There's no reason why they can't just start from the audio drama and flesh out a story.... which is what I thought they were going to do. The overreactions towards the drama were incredibly short-sighted, considering the fact that it was clear that Sin's return was a side-effect of a larger problem, not just "SINZ BACK GUYZZZ" . It's also completely normal for Tidus & Yuna to have relationship problems and was made obvious that Yuna broke it off in order to be the world's savior again... (which I bet a plot twist in the first 30 minutes of X-3 would've made that irellivant).

All of that being said, there's no salvaging this novel to me and I think there's a reason it wasn't made widely available, whereas the audio drama was put onto every release of the HD collection - complete with voice acting. I honestly think the novel was written for the heck of it and shouldn't be taken seriously... not sure why some seem to take it as the word of god. Even its ending makes it pretty obvious that it was quickly thrown together.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2015, 05:34:02 pm by mamboitaliano »

CrystalOfLies

  • Administrator
  • Summoner
  • *
  • Posts: 184
  • Boathouses, man.
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #322 on: September 11, 2015, 10:37:07 am »
Guys, guys. Now this is just my opinion, but we have to remember that not all of the FFX community are die-hard fans (I used to be one but now I've mostly turned to AUs and concept designs). Games aren't the niche, 'nerdy' things that they used to be 15~ years ago; now they're a hobby to lots of people from hardc*re to casual. Remember that for in order for something to succeed, they need to appeal to the widest audience. Not all of the fans want to be bludgeoned with overly-complicated and deep themes. Nor do all of them want to read an entire novel just to get a vague understanding of another 30-minute long drama with no visual stimuli. Leave that to the medium that people can choose to adapt as headcanon. Like fanfiction. M'jai's fanfictions for example; should we just disregard and force everyone to write off absolutely everything in the Spira's Dream series just because it isn't canon?

Yes, Nojima expressed that he would like to see an X-3. But he writes scenarios. He can tell a story about how Tidus and Yuna become heavy drug addicts and how Yevon forces everyone in Spira to do the Macarena for five hours every day, but if it's disapproved and rejected by Square, it's not happening. Square owns the rights to FFX and ultimately decides what happens with it. It's up to the higher powers to decide if an X-3 would be a good idea or not. And you all know how divided the FF community gets when anything is announced, especially for older games. Sad but true.

I think we should keep this speculation light-hearted, free of tension and not point any bitter fingers to the rest of the fanbase. It's not good to be a hipster who jeers at any of the filthy casuals, even if we did just translate an entire novella that a good portion of the fanbase doesn't even know exists. :P

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to plan a fanfiction for the Bad Ending timeline. :D
« Last Edit: September 11, 2015, 10:56:57 am by CrystalOfLies »
The official 'Shinra' of the FFX boards.

Wanna know stuff? Ask me. "I know everything."

I somehow can't answer? "... I'm just a kid."

mamboitaliano

  • Guest
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #323 on: September 11, 2015, 11:09:53 am »
haha I'm that casual fan Crystal. Gaming's one of my favorite hobbies but I've never taken any of it seriously, like gotten into fandoms, read fan-fiction, or whatever...I'm not even sure how all of that works.. :P I just do it all for fun. Hearing the bonus audio drama at the end was enough for me to get excited for X-3. I randomly heard that there was a novel where Tidus gets his head blown off, googled it out of curiosity, and came here to find this site. That's why I think this novel wasn't meant to go anywhere or be anything more than just something to throw out there. It just isn't accessible enough if that makes sense.

« Last Edit: September 11, 2015, 11:32:31 am by mamboitaliano »

CrystalOfLies

  • Administrator
  • Summoner
  • *
  • Posts: 184
  • Boathouses, man.
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #324 on: September 11, 2015, 11:29:52 am »
Exactly. Don't you find it strange that in close to two years since its release, Square issued a Japanese and French release for the novel but not an English one? This may just be country bias, but I'm sure that the most-used language in the FF community, alongside Japanese, is English. Why make it inaccessible to a majority of English fans, then? It makes me think that Square didn't think the novella was entirely a good idea, but didn't want to disrespect Nojima in that regard.
The official 'Shinra' of the FFX boards.

Wanna know stuff? Ask me. "I know everything."

I somehow can't answer? "... I'm just a kid."

mamboitaliano

  • Guest
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #325 on: September 11, 2015, 11:42:50 am »
That's my point. I'm not sure which, but English speakers are either the largest or 2nd (to Japan) largest consumers of Final Fantasy. So the book's lack of availability to us is not a coincidence imo. The audio drama's wide availability led me to believe that if they do something, they'll piggy-back off of it and probably ignore the novel. No disrespect to Nojima. It's just business.

Btw, I'd totally play that game. The drugs get them through the Macerana. :D
« Last Edit: September 11, 2015, 01:02:25 pm by mamboitaliano »

CrystalOfLies

  • Administrator
  • Summoner
  • *
  • Posts: 184
  • Boathouses, man.
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #326 on: September 11, 2015, 12:41:51 pm »
I just realised: If Chuami really is telling the truth about being Auron's daughter... she's technically the only living relative Tidus has left if Auron had filled out adoption forms.

His only family is his adopted stepsister. Such tragedy. Many angst.
The official 'Shinra' of the FFX boards.

Wanna know stuff? Ask me. "I know everything."

I somehow can't answer? "... I'm just a kid."

behindthewheel

  • Crusader
  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #327 on: September 26, 2015, 09:16:29 am »
Hi everyone!
I know this is all old news by now but I've been out of the loop for quite some time.
Had a flash of nostalgia a few weeks back and googled for some FFX related stuff and one of the first suggestions are "Tidus Yuna break up", so of course I had to look in to this further and found this site.
Been lurking a few weeks reading the novel and listening to Will.
Massive amount of work done here with the translation, thank you very much for all of it!

I kind of have to side with those not too fond of the novel. A lot of it having to do that I am a huge sap XD
But I also have a realistic side and I could've taken T & Y growing apart in time but killing him like right after she gets him back is just rude.
I also find it interesting that he is seems weak already before he dies, and is really bad at blitzball all of a sudden, and then in Will he is a star again, even though he is weak still and seems sick (well dead). I'm not sure how they put those pieces together.
I also have such a hard time coming to terms with Yuna going back with Yevon, after all she knows and went through. Even if it is for the elders or finding out more about her summoner powers, there must be another way than re-joining the church who kept everyone in the dark for 1000 years.
Yuna acts so strangely in Will, even more stiff than in FFX, that I'm wondering if she is possessed.
She also says that the final aeon is the only way to beat Sin, which we all know isn't true. Why would she of all people claim that?
And that Kurgum(spelling?) all of a sudden proclaims his love for Yuna, someone he just met, makes me think more of the possession-theory.

I read now in the end the post about Ifahnal killing Tidus and the reasons why, but I still don't see why he would have to die for Ifahnal to use him and Yuna for his purposes. It just remains a gimmick -_-

However it is quite exciting who would beckon Sin, and some of the other parts of the stories, I feel that it is quite cliffhanger-y but at the same time the ending of a new game would be either similar to X or X-2, it would be very much of a repetition, I think.
Sorry for the long post but I just really needed to get some of the stuff out.
Have been rageing for weeks about my OTP and all but this didn't turn out to screaming haha

Izunia

  • Crusader
  • *
  • Posts: 2
  • Location: Eos
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #328 on: December 24, 2016, 07:05:39 pm »
If I shout here, will I hear my own echo?
Seems like this board isn't very active since September 2015. What happened here? For me, the board seemed very active. Or are you moved to a new host?


Well, anyway, there is a chance this here won't read anyone. I just registered to send you my best regards for the translation. I currently read your translation and I actually enjoying it, the translation, and the story (surprise). Of course, as somebody who own a Blog about Literature with a focus on translations, I will always prefer a translation direct from the source of the original language the book was written in. I'm from Germany, this is also my native language and most translations from the japanese here are coming direct from the japanese version, unfortunately, there are still publishers who are translating from english source. And I'm not the biggest fan of official english translations, cause most of them are translated pretty liberal.

Reading your translation from French to English is, however, pretty fluid, not over the top and it's a pretty quick read so far. I really envy you because, we most likely never see an official english or german translation. I spotted the french translation on Amazon, I was happy till the moment the description told me this is French, and the last time I had something to do with french was in 7th grade, gosh, feels like an eternity, I'm turning 30 next month.

I was really curious to read X-2.5. I never played through X-2 but I have quite the overview of the story, plus, there is a summary in X-2.5. For over 2 years now, I'm looking for a fan translation, but never found one. I thought, it can't be so hard to find something like that because the Novel is quite short. Your translation is finished since last year if I see correctly. It took me a lot of different search queries and pages via Google to find this board here. I almost gave up and it was absolutely random that I have found you. And it really seems like people were deeply turned off by X-2.5, maybe because of many false information that were spread by emotional people who actually learned a little japanese through Karaoke Clips.

Since I'm away pretty often I created a PDF and sent it to my Kindle, of course not without to give you guys credits. But since I'm the only one reading this, this wasn't even necessary, but I still felt it was the right thing to do, even if only I read this PDF.

My post is coming to an end. Thanks for your effort and the translation. Nice holidays and a fine ride in the year 2017. I would love to see this board blooming again, count me in for contributing to fill the now empty halls with content.


Best regards,
Chancellor Izunia
Revenge is a fool's errand

Danko Kaji

  • Guardian
  • *
  • Posts: 75
  • One step at a time.
  • Location: Antioch, California
    • View Profile
Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #329 on: December 24, 2016, 10:25:41 pm »
Hello~ [echo echo echo...]

Nah, we didn't move to a new host. Or at least, I don't believe so. Many of us have trickled away and moved on to other sites, such as Tumblr and stuff. My reason, I've always meant to return, but life got in the way, and my personal lack of motivation for anything (that's really on me, tho), but behind the scenes I have been re-reading those translated chapters and slowly been rewriting them.

It's definitely nice to see you've liked the novel, at least! Or making the best out of a crappy situation. XD

Thank you so much for swinging by! I really ought to do the same. I would love for this place to bloom again, but who knows, right? :3

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
Lost in the winds of change~

"There's some things you can't do alone,
but they become easy with friends beside you."

Consider me a wandering 'Maechen' of FFX/X-2 lore.