Author Topic: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth  (Read 31561 times)

Ryurien

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Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #330 on: January 04, 2017, 10:54:37 am »
I discovered this topic and only now and, because I'm a Italian with a basic knowledge of English, I was curious to ask a few questions to those who knows, now, more about this novel that I would try to read in the next few days.
Because I've heard crazy things about this story, I wanted to know if finally it was confirmed the beheading of Tidus after kicking a bomb (It seems too absurd!  ???), and the whole question of sex behind the ritual of the pilgrimage etc. or if all of this things are only hoaxes invented because of the non-translation of the novel (I hope it...).

Thank you!

Danko Kaji

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Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #331 on: January 04, 2017, 09:46:09 pm »
Welcome, Ryurien!

So, first thing's first: Tidus's head did get blown off, but not because he shouted "blitzball!" like an idiot and kicked it (because how the hell does one get their head blown off kicking a bomb? I'm like, seriously?! Shouldn't his body starting from the feet and legs, be obliterated instead?). A bomb that was disguised as a blitzball was 'mysteriously' thrown in his direction, catching his attention. He then proceeded to walk over to pick it up and inspect it, since why would Tidus have any reason to suspect it's a leftover weapon from a thousand years ago, and then BOOM! His head flies off. If you read the novel in its entirety, you'll get the convoluted gist.

As for the plot device that is Deus Sex Machina (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeusSexMachina), I can't really tell you for sure 100% its legitimacy. Since I have yet to reach those chapters in my Fan Restoration Project (feel free to read that side-by-side with the original chapters) to analyze it thoroughly, I believe that the Bevellian Summoners' method of producing a "living Fayth" through an Aeon Core is a nod to an ancient spiritual Eastern practice called "Tantric sex," which is thought to expand consciousness and join together the polarities of masculine and feminine energy into a whole.

A link to the aforementioned subject: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-23332/tantric-sex-101-what-it-is-how-to-do-it.html

I could talk more about that and its examples within the novel, but I want you to reach the chapters first before I spoil it for you.

I hope this cleared up some questions? If you have more, you are more than welcome to ask!
« Last Edit: January 11, 2017, 04:34:29 pm by Danko Kaji »
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.

Izunia

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Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #332 on: January 11, 2017, 04:42:41 pm »
@Danko Kaji

Thanks for the warm welcoming. I think I will check your restoration project when you have completed it. And please don't get me wrong here, I actually like your restoration, but the main problem is, you have done this with your own words. So what we have is a translation from a French translation of a japanese book into English, including your own version which will even differ more from the original. That's the only reason I'm a little divided here.

So, I reached Chapter 21 now and there is definitely no "Deus Sex Machina". There are still a few chapters left, but even when Tidus head is blown off, it is not described very graphic. There is, of course, a lot of Yuna Fanservice and a little Rikku Fanservice included.

I have to say, the more I read, the more confusing this story gets. And I simply don't have any clue what is going on in Chapter 21. I do think the story is heavily complicated and written in a complicated japanese. These were the complaints I've read from readers who have read the original japanese version.

But in Chapter 21, the Translation from you guys isn't very good. There are Typos and you can read in every line, you had problems to translate the text. In one line, Bria is male, in the next line, you call him "Her", which clearly isn't the case here, because he is a dude. The most complicated chapters are the ones with Kush and Valm. The chapters with Tidus and Yuna are more accessible till the moment when Tidus head get's blown away.

Currently, the story is a really big mess and the translation is not on point anymore. There are still 13 chapters left, I sure hope there will be a little conclusion at the end.
Revenge is a fool's errand

Danko Kaji

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Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #333 on: January 11, 2017, 04:58:30 pm »
And please don't get me wrong here, I actually like your restoration, but the main problem is, you have done this with your own words. So what we have is a translation from a French translation of a japanese book into English, including your own version which will even differ more from the original. That's the only reason I'm a little divided here.

Wow, you don't mince words, do you? XD

Honestly, I am well aware of the fact my restoration will never be like the "official" novel, and that point did cause me to drop the ball on this... Many fans are rejecting this form of media as canon, and frankly, I believe my restoration is unwanted and unnecessary. However, it is a FAN Restoration. I'm embarking on it for myself, to better swallow and digest this story as canon, because I want to. I am canon trash, after all. I don't want to run away from it. I want to understand why Nojima decided to go for this sordid horror love story. If I were someone who was reading the restoration, not writing it, I would like to see it; I'm sure there are others who feel that way.

But yes, when I do publish it after I complete it, I will heavily emphasize and I mean heavily drive the point home it's a fan restoration, not a fanfic or a AU divergence. I will include everyone who participated in it, the translators, the editors, everyone. I will not take credit where credit is not mine. I simply want this (my interpretation) to be accessible, even if many haters and skeptics alike point out it's not the official product. I just want to share it.

I see the novel as like a skeleton, and my restoration is the meat and flesh on top of it. I'm doing my best not to outwardly change anything; the most I'm doing is rewriting dialogue and scenes to make more sense, or flow better. There was an actual line I included in Chapter 1 that wasn't in the novel, from Lulu... I plan to remove it, because it wasn't meant to be there. Otherwise, the chapters you see me post here are not finalized by any means. Think of it as a raw copy, or a second draft. I do plan to go over them again at a later time.

Now, moving on from that...

On the subject of the "Deus Sex Machina," I honestly don't know what to tell you. I'm not entirely convinced that Bevellian Summoners commit explicit sex, only that they form the bond through intimacy. It's infuriatingly vague about it; I dread to imagine how I'm going to interpret that part. But yes, the flow is okay to a point, and then everything in story quality goes downhill. Very confusing, very... lacking. But at the same time, because it has been translated twice through, I agree with you that the novel was written in complicated Japanese, on top of being a complicated story.

Yeah, I noticed the typos and such, too; I wasn't in charge of that process. XD But my friend did the best she could! They both did, translator and editor, especially when motivation was greatly lacking. I'm grateful we have an English translation at all. It beats having nothing.

Harsh critic! XD But you do have good points. I'm curious to see what you think of the ending.

« Last Edit: January 11, 2017, 05:12:34 pm by Danko Kaji »
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.

MacLarensPub

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Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #334 on: January 12, 2017, 05:50:50 pm »
So I have stumbled across this forum after going through a rabbit hole, and I've reached the point where I need to start asking questions.

First, the French to English translation, is there an ebook format for it anywhere? Epub, Mobi, PDF? Can I find it uploaded to any sites like FanFiction.net?

Second, regarding the Rebirth Fan Restoration project: what is the aim of this project? A polish of the story, or a tweak to make it more fan-accepted? Also, does this project plan to have an ebook format (I'm an avid Kindle user), and are there plans to upload to FanFiction.net?

I'm very interested in reading these stories, but reading on a browser is very hard on the eyes.

Danko Kaji

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Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #335 on: January 12, 2017, 06:18:52 pm »
The French to English translation is not available as an ebook, (but you're more than welcome to compile it as an ebook yourself; I know another user did). And it's not uploaded on any other sites such as AO3 and FF.Net.

As for my aim of the Fan Restoration Project: yes, it is both a polish of the story, and at certain parts a tweak (such as exploring unanswered/vague plot points or details) to allow fans to at least tolerate it. At least, that's what I would want from such a thing, thinking as a fan. Now that you mention an ebook format, yes! Why not? I wouldn't mind it as an ebook at all! But I'm horribly versed in the realm of ebook, so if I can't figure it out, I might ask someone who does know how to do it for me. I do definitely plan to upload it on FF.Net and AO3 for public viewing and fan discussion. My main motivating factor for sharing it is so that everyone can have access to this story (without needing to go through a rabbit hole, to quote you.)

I feel you. Plus, it's harder on organization and bookmarking, too.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2017, 11:58:29 pm by Danko Kaji »
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.

guest167

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Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #336 on: September 20, 2018, 07:14:16 pm »
Hey ya’ll! Not sure if anyone still visits this forum but nonetheless I joined. I’ve been a FFX/FFX-2 fan since my mid-teens (they were the first FF games that got me into the series!) and every now and then I still look up memorable cutscenes from either game or brush up on Spira lore. FFX’s storyline will always be my favorite in the series! I don’t play console games now, but I still try to keep updated on what’s new in the FF franchise.

I vaguely knew about the novel and audio drama when they came out a few years back but didn’t bother to look them up until now. To the people on this forum who bothered translating and restoring the FFX-2.5 novel from the French release into English, thank you! I was able to find this site on google and read all the chapters available, as well as some old commentaries and threads that are still here.

As for the novel...I thought that the best it offers is an expansion of Spira’s history and lore, particularly the time of the Machina War and what summoners/ the summoning arts were like before Yevon’s teachings took hold. I don’t care at all for the way Tidus’ and Yuna’s love story was treated (since the audio drama follows the novel, I don’t care much for it either). Was it always Nojima’s intent to keep these two as star-crossed lovers? Even after the perfect ending in FFX-2, these two can’t get a break can they.

I don’t like the idea of Tidus and Yuna breaking up as much as the next die-hard fan, but I don’t understand why Tidus had to die (arguably for a second time) in this novel and come back as an incarnate spirit. Why must Tidus only exist somewhere between physical reality and the Farplane? Yes, he had existed as a dream of the fayth and was destined to fade away once the Sin-cycle ended in FFX. It was a miracle he came back in FFX-2. I believe he returned to Yuna as a complete, human, and fully mortal person...only to be killed in a freak accident shortly after. Why can’t Tidus and Yuna be together and live their lives without the threat of Tidus fading away?

What do you think. Could Tidus and Yuna have a happy and relatively normal existence together as a couple (or friends) or must there always be something supernatural keeping them apart? If anyone who is a fan still comes here, I’d love to share more thoughts and ideas on this.

Also, has anyone mentioned how macabre were the ‘mechanical’ Bedohls in the novel? How horrifying. Nojima should leave Tidus and Yuna alone and give us more of the Spira from 1000 years ago. That’s far more interesting.

No sign of development for FFX-3 yet, but I’m ok with that. Especially if there were plans on building upon the audio drama or novel.

ChercheurObscur

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Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #337 on: October 18, 2018, 04:11:10 pm »
Hi Guest127 !

Thank you for your warm thanks addressed to me and those who help me translate the novel.  :D

About the story, there are lots of things people don't understand.

In fact, Nojima wrote the novel in a very particular way.
He crossed the relation between Kush and Valm, and the one between Tidus and Yuna, and when you understand that, you understand why Nojima wrote the novel like it is right now.

I did not found about it before reading the novel a second time, but then it all appeared clear to me.

Once you discover that, you will find out that Ifahnal has in fact killed Tidus, with this (too) famous blitzball bomb, and that he planned this before Tidus and Yuna washed up on the island.

I will give one hint to help you understand : Tidus and Yuna end up in the ocean because their boat has been destroyed. But did you try to find out what caused this ? If you read the novel correctly, you will find out that Tidus smells gunpowder before fainting. Does he ring a bell to you ? Don't you remember a similar scene somewhere else in the novel ? Yeah, Valm did exactly the same as Tidus while he was with Kush in some kind of appartment and that an enemy made a blitball explode. So what then caused the boat of Tidus and Yuna to be destroyed ? I think you know the rest :)

There are other parallels like this one in the novel, and they make you understand what exactly happens.
I'll let you find them, but feel free to ask, I'm all open to answer you.

The only part I don't still quite understand is why Ifahnal could not send Kush away. My theory is that he was not able to know where Kush was, and that he used the love relation between Tidus and Yuna, similar to the one between Valm and Kush (a love between a summoner and her guardian), to make them find the location of Kush, with the help of Tidus power.

Anyway, still waiting for my lovely FFX-3 !  :D



Serraphi

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Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #338 on: January 01, 2019, 08:47:50 pm »
Hello. I am a big fan of your work on the novel and I have read it five times already to better understand everything. I actually love the novel and think it is an ingenious extension to FFX original series. Are there yet any more complete translations of the book. Still waiting for official English localization :). Happy new year.

ChercheurObscur

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Re: Final Fantasy X-2.5 : The Truth
« Reply #339 on: February 18, 2019, 05:28:18 pm »
Hello Serraphi !

Thanks for your kind words :D

The translation of the novel is complete, but it's far from perfect since I'm not a native.
People are free to rewrite my translation as long as they don't change the meaning of what is said.

When an official english translation will drop, I'll delete my translation from this forum.
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