Author Topic: !OUTDATED INFORMATION! -- The Novella: Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eternal Cost~  (Read 110784 times)

oceanicparadox

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Hello! So, I'm new here and have been following the thread outside of the forum for a few weeks and I've got a few things I'd like to add myself if you guys don't mind. First off, I have a personal view I'd like to share about canon. Basically, to me, I follow whatever format the first introduction came in on, in this case a video game. From there I'll look at other avenues like novella or animation and whatnot. Of course you will find something that doesn't agree with the original storyline on some level. My thoughts divide, however, when the 'extension' like the novella blatantly ignores key points of the story. I've read numerous things in this thread that suggest that same thing: ignoring Yuna's and Tidus' last words at the end of the 'good ending' in X-2 is a great one. Now, the thing I wanted to point out that I didn't see here yet (maybe I skipped it or maybe it really hasn't been mentioned) was not just the good ending but the 'perfect ending'. Anybody here get that one yet? I know it's been years but maybe some people haven't...

SPOILER! You know, in case you haven't seen it...
Doesn't the perfect ending have both Tidus and Yuna in the old Zanarkand ruins? Now, correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the novella immediately kick off right after Yuna and Tidus arrive on the beach and straight into the celebration that night? Why bother head off three days later to somewhere else if they had another trip to Zanarkand? Weren't Yuna and Tidus fine then too? I don't know, maybe there's something I'm not seeing, but it seems to me that the novella is stomping not only on 'Last Mission' but also the extended ending (thats what I like to call it) of the second game too.
SPOILERS OVER

I've heard a lot about the creators wanting people to interpret things their own way and that the novella and audio drama are there to extend the story for people...but that honestly does not sound like the two were meant to be considered canon. I don't know. It feels strange to me :(

Excuse me please for talking so much and possibly not making sense. Also, side note, I am a big fan of Tidus (alot of the non-brooding characters lately get picked on :( ). It sucks that SE did this to such a great character....
Let's Blitz! :D

Rob2112

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Oceanicparadox on point it totally skips the perfect ending

CrystalOfLies

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Sweet! Another fan of Tidus makes me a fan of you. :3

But yeah, the fact that this novel seems to ignore key points established by canon is really pretty weird to me. I have heard that other game-related novels in Japan play along this formula; ignoring parts of canon and having a darker and more violent tone to it than usual, usually because it's the writer's true vision of the game without any supervision from a company or Quality Assurance. This isn't the first time that Nojima displayed his disturbing visions on the game: originally, Tidus was going to be the unsent of the party, but it was given to Auron due to Sixth Sense having a similar plot point. The fact that Tidus is a zombie-like being at the end of the novel and in the drama could stem from Nojima's desire to have him be an unsent.

However, it's not like Square hasn't stripped a novel of its stance as canon before. I remember people talking about how VII's novel (On The Way To A Smile) completely screwed up the storyline of Nibelheim, and they had Crisis Core completely rewrite it to revoke the complaints. I've also heard rumours that Square dismissed the creation of an X-3 due to the worldwide backlash that Will and Eternal Cost got, only saying that it was to 'expand the universe' rather than make a sequel. On that note, it could be possible for them to start an X-3 from scratch and ignore the two added bonuses, especially seeing as how Eternal Cost was only released in Japan, and it's unlikely that we'll get an international release. Will could be seen as a 'what if' story. Or a dream. I dunno.

On another note, I was browsing a thread on Mognetcentral yesterday, and I found some other questionable details from the guy who first suggested the 'boat sex' theory. First up is the fact that during blitzball practice, Tidus has gotten worse at blitzball and can't catch up with the Aurochs. I don't know if it's just rust, though. Either way, it makes him really sad.

Second is at this point, Yuna is still talking to the vilage elders. Tidus then figures that if he made the elders 'disappear,' everything will return to normal and he'll have Yuna to himself... Yeah. Granted, I don't competely blame him, but picturing this depressed Tidus planning a serial murder just... it's disturbing.

Lastly, Tidus spirals further into this depression and starts wondering if Yuna even missed him at all, and begins to hate himself over it.

I can't really say that this is all true seeing as how the 'boat sex' thing was all wrong, but... that predicted what was going to come for us. Reading all the details we have so far makes me wonder if Nojima has a major grudge against Tidus or something. Seriously, this isn't normal. Loneliness, depression, out-of-place behaviour, decapitation and mental alteration, as well as physical hindrance and heartbreak in Will... I mean, damn. There better be a good reason for all of this, like setting up a revenge or redemption story. Some people might find Tidus' suffering brilliant to them, but hell no! This is creepy as f***, and don't you deny it!

Makes me wonder if Spoony struck a deal with Nojima to let him write Tidus' fate, seeing how much he resents the poor guy.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2014, 09:16:49 am by CrystalOfLies »
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city

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I can think of a simple way SE could rectify the situation.

1) State that the Novel was not cannon!

2) Develop the Audio Drama further.  How about something like this:
...(mind; we are ignoring the Novel)...





2 Years have passed since Tidus came back to Sipra and the Vegnagun incident occurred, and 4 years since the demise of Sin/YuYevon.

This has left a lot of people uncertain, as we saw evidenced in X-2 with the introduction of the new Factions; New Yevon, et al.  However the trauma caused by the Vegnagun incident combined with the fear of uncertainty in a time where these peoples' religion have been ripped away from them has left the majority of Spira scared. 

Some new Factions have arisen in the midst of this; and they have proposed radical action.  To completely seal the Farplane from the world of Spira.  This has caused great anxiety for a huge number of people, but Summoners and former members of Yevon formost. 

The majority of the Spirian population is actually on side with this proposal.  The theory is, once the Farplane is completely closed off, the pyerflyes and spirits will be forever sealed; effectively keeping the "fear of the unknown" exactly that, unknown.  The re-occurrence of deceased memories at the Moonflow and Sin's appearance have only furthered peoples fear of the Farplane.

We know since the events of X the Farplane was "unstable", and during the events of X-2, the "instability" was due to the anger of some unsent and their actions caused by their use of the Farplane and escape into the mortal world. 

The new plan to completely close the Farplane off has Yuna terrified of the reprecussions.  This would mean completely losing touch to all of the benefits of the Farplane, and she fears she would lose some of herself.  As a Summoner, she had first hand experiences with unsent in the form of the Aeons, not to mention Tidus.  She fears that the closure will cost everyone in Spira the loss of their identity.  She fears for the loss of Tidus.

A new Faction, let's call them the "pro-closure" Faction is leading this change.  They are not necessarily EVIL, but maybe a bit sly.  Yuna and Co. might go on an adventure to meet with this new council and discuss options.  On this journy Yuna and Tidus re-establish their relationship, and a theme of "never losing who you WERE" is a very important factor to the story.  We saw in X the moral of "it's not the destination it's the journey", and we saw in X-2 the moral was "stand up for what you believe in/learn to say "no"/ be yourself etc."  Now, in X-3 we can see that both of these journies were just a set up for "knowing who you are and how you became that way". 

There is an opposing faction who claims that the destruction of the Farplane will destroy Spira.  They oppose Yuna and Co and are fought and seen as enemies of the party, while Yuna is still conflicted with her decisions.

The story will climax with Yuna and Co realising that the Farplane is a hinderance to the evolution of Spira, and they will resolve to close it finally.  They jouney to the heart of the Farplane/Guadosalam or wherever the link between the worlds exists with all intentions of destrying the link. 

Only once there, it is reveled (ala X Yunalesca style), that the destruction of the Farplane would destroy Spira etc. etc..  This will also reveal that the "pro closure" Faction was in fact evil and they were hoping to destroy Spira for XYZ reasons.  Purify it, what have you.  They are also responsible for the re-emergence of Sin to perpetuate fear in the people.

This leads to the finale; where Yuna and Co to do exactly the opposite (like Kindgom hearts, opening the door); they release the Farplane from it's confines (Avatar Kora style), and release it into the mortal world.  This is hugely beneficial to the world of Spira and we see it's effects immediatly; Macalania starts to re-grow, the clouds above Gagazette clear, the storm in the Thunder Plains rolls to an end.  It is revealed that Sprira needs the Farplane to be one in the same.  And it is emphasized that you cannot throw your past away; it is always part of you.  (see Deanery's quote from ASoIAF, "If I look back I am lost" - untrue.)  You can only look to your past to see how your future will grow.

Tidus regains his strength.  He and Yuna have fully reconciled.  Pyerflyes explode into the mortal world as beautiful fireworks, everyone cheers etc. etc.  The story concludes on a happy, satisfying note. 



....


There you have it SE, that is how you can save the story.
« Last Edit: May 28, 2014, 09:17:21 pm by city »

Pyreflies_of_MJ

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@ CyrstalOfLies

Whaaaaaat!?

Daaaaaaaamn, Tidus is so ****ed.

They are really killing me here. And I heard about Last Mission being edited to hell, wow, I'd been looking forward to that for years and it was one of the major reasons I bought the remaster! Square Enix, what did we do to deserve this!?

Ananda

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I just wish they could fix all this, they seriously need to do someyhing about this crazy stuff.
FFX ;-)

Noctoura

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Hello everyone,

I was reading this thread all day after I finished X-2 and listened to the FFX Extra/Credits.

First of all: I was playing FFX from 2002 until now, the hd remastered version. When I first played the game I realized how awesome the story was. At first pretty confusing but the love story was so intens that I almost cryied. I never played X-2 before the remastered version. I only watched my older sister playing through the game. Now I have "finished" the story of the game, I was wondering about these extras in the menu. So I clicked on it and keep listening after the opeing with Tidus' voice. At the end I was like 'hm I really want no second sin coming, I was pretty happy beating him finally.' The novel is pretty bad actually. I want to tell you this, because I am a huge fan of FFX and Tidus - Yuna - Love Story and share my thoughts with you.

I can't believe that they did this. I mean Tidus got another chance but SE just throw it away and make it so chaotic. The Story was straight. You was fighting for something but in the novel it seems like it doesn't matter how hard you fight you will still loose it ?

I like X-2 actually besides some mini games which pretty made me angry, but the character experience and how yuna grows up is still not bad. You can indentify yourself with them and see different aspects. In the novel there is no kind of message. It is just a story. So the audio file. There is no message and I don't understand what the heck they are doing. Square Enix should have stopped right after X-2. A Final Fantasy X-3 would be awesome but please not with this side story crap. The Storys in the novel and from the audio file were not that bad, that I would say hell dumb this right now. I don't like the fact that Tidus is "dead" because if they will go and fight sin he will disappear again and the struggle will find no end. My heart got really broken after I read that novel. Final Fantasy X is one of my favourite games of all time and this unfinished 'maybe we will - maybe not' is ridiculous. Also Final Fantasy X was my first Final Fantasy I ever played and I got so many good memories from it but with this novel and audio file SE is killing it right now.
« Last Edit: June 23, 2014, 01:26:37 pm by Noctoura »

Grellotine

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Finally I caught up with this thread. It's all very scary and disturbing but I'm keeping my mind open... but what happened to all the translators? (mainly the last one)
That's the creepiest part of this whole ordeal.
Also the rumours about a FF XII HD remaster are back and stronger than ever, meaning X-3 has a chance.

CrystalOfLies

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That's what I'm worried about also. SoraxWare disappeared, and so did her Facebook page. Nobody seems to like talking about the X-2.5 novella. Not even gaming websites or sites like siliconera and Kotaku talk about it. They all just seem to ignore its existence.

I had a crazy theory that Square Enix is removing all evidence of the novella pages outside of Japan from the internet, and is warning or bribing experienced translators interested in the novel to keep quiet. Because they know that if it's fully translated and can be read globally by the English fanbase, their reputation will be damaged beyond what it's like right now.

How else am I going to explain why the novella seemingly goes undetected by even the most devoted fans?
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Grellotine

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That could actually be the case, but that means square is keeping a close eye on a large portion of the internet.
The thing is , I have a friend who is studying Japanese at university and he wants to go into translation once he's finished the course. I asked him if he would like to translate this novella and he seemed interested.
However, he is still playing FF X and when I mentioned that it could spoil the game for him he seemed discouraged. Either way I can still try and see where this goes, I just need to find scans of the book.
Also he's a really close friend so if he disappears I can just show up at his house (if square hasnt killed him,that is).
Wish me good luck and I'll let ya'll know if this is going anywhere

PS: That said, does anyone know where I can get scans of the book? I'd buy it but I've got no funds at the minute, so any scans would be greatly appreciated.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2014, 01:23:56 pm by Grellotine »

CrystalOfLies

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All right! In that case, when he finishes his course (when, if you don't mind me asking?) then I can rally everybody up to revive this dead wasteland of a forum. I'm pretty much the only one left. I'm like the lone ghost who wanders the battlefield endlessly after the war. :/

To be fair, a simple Google search of 'ffx-2.5' brings up topics, articles and many rants about the subject. Square Enix could totally hijack any posts with access to the novella if they could. Unfortunately, scans are very hard to come by (we only found three page scans! Three! And those might just be scans provided from a translator who actually had the book!) and the only chances of you hoping to find any more would be lurking around Japanese or other foreign language sites, and even those are mysteriously disappearing from the Google Search radar (the 2chan discussion boards for example).

You're right: this whole thing is eerie. I can't believe seven months have already passed since the novella was first exposed. What caused a MASSIVE outrage amongst the FFX fan community has now slipped away into nothingness, only brought up occasionally by that one person who was late to the party.

Unless rumours are true and X-3 is announced. Then the storm will pick up again, like the good old days of December 2013. :P
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Grellotine

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Hah, the golden age, eh?
My friend still has 3 years or so left of his course, but he can get practicing now. I asked and he said he is willing to try, although it will take a while (I'm not sure how long we're talking here , but he's very talented ).
I looked for scans and only found the pages you mentioned, which sucks. Fortunately I found the novella cheap on yesasia.com and maybe I'll be able to purchase it next month.
The whole process might take a while, but I need to know the rest of the book!
As of today I've created topics on certain anime communities about X-3, to see if anyone is aware/remembers the whole uproar the novella caused. So far, no response  :'(
But please don't abandon the forum, we're like, the last ones left in a zombie apocalypse :p

Ananda

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Re: The Novella: Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eternal Cost~
« Reply #357 on: August 02, 2014, 12:35:39 am »
It is true that SE is into something weird, i always try to find scan pages of the book but the only one i came up with were with the ones that are already here, I think SE realized the disaster they made with the book and they are deleting all kind of information, and the last translator dissapeared. And I'm sad that they have left all this madness in a cliffhanger, I don't even think they'll try to fix this. And I'm sad because as much as I hate that book for ruining such a beautiful story, I am also curious for knowing what was the stuff in that creepy book that pissed off so many people. This is sad, SE, you definitely destroyed one of the best, if not, the best Final Fantasy in your franchise :-(

P.S: And its also sad that this forum is so dead already :(
FFX ;-)

Pyreflies_of_MJ

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Re: The Novella: Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eternal Cost~
« Reply #358 on: August 08, 2014, 07:14:46 pm »
"On another note, I was browsing a thread on Mognetcentral yesterday, and I found some other questionable details from the guy who first suggested the 'boat sex' theory. First up is the fact that during blitzball practice, Tidus has gotten worse at blitzball and can't catch up with the Aurochs. I don't know if it's just rust, though. Either way, it makes him really sad.

Second is at this point, Yuna is still talking to the vilage elders. Tidus then figures that if he made the elders 'disappear,' everything will return to normal and he'll have Yuna to himself... Yeah. Granted, I don't competely blame him, but picturing this depressed Tidus planning a serial murder just... it's disturbing."


If it's true about Tidus not being able to keep up with the Aurochs, damn. Can we just talk about how unrealistic that is for a moment? Tidus lived, breathed, and ate blitzball since he was in diapers. For all intents and purposes I think we were supposed to consider him as one of the fittest people in Dream Zanarkand as well as Spira. Now they're trying to tell us that he couldn't keep up with the Aurochs, who we all know suck hard core balls - I'm pretty sure there are little league blitzball teams beating them. To make an analogy using music, the Aurochs are like the Vanilla Ice of blitzball, ain't nobody out there for them and they haven't had a hit in over 20 years . And Tidus is supposed to be the Michael Jackson of blitzball. (Ha ha, snuck that one right in there, Crystal. :3)

Tidus was destined to be a star and talent's in his DNA - he's not just going to lose it. I don't care if he was literally sleeping in the ocean for two years, he should've been able to out jog them bishes. We all know that the Aurochs just sit around eating the Spiran equivalent of cheeseburgers and m*sturbating, they are not conditioned athletes. So in conclusion, Tidus having inferior game to them is just f***ed up.

If this is true, they've successfully taken the two things that matter the most to him in the world - Yuna and blitzball. Square really stabbed his heart, it's like they're the diabolical villain trying to go after Tidus's biggest weaknesses, hm, did we just segue into a plot for Spider-Man?

After awakening from a coma induced by saving New York City from the most dire evil yet, Peter Parker has discovered his arachnoid powers are defunct, street vandals have stolen his costume and Mary Jane is screwing the Green Goblin.

This might just make Tiida into a serial killer...... I'm not gonna' lie, that'd be totally cool.  :-X  Just, it would have been nice if they made such a plotline separate from the main one. You know, it's something that's just fine for fanfiction but not actually in-game universe, canon for serious and not for lulz.  >:( I wonder what they're thinking about all this at Square headquarters. Are people giving Nojima the side-eye, are they laughing at us? To be a fly on the wall who speaks Japanese. :/

« Last Edit: August 08, 2014, 07:24:12 pm by Pyreflies_of_MJ »

Ananda

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Re: The Novella: Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eternal Cost~
« Reply #359 on: August 09, 2014, 01:35:06 pm »
Exactly, Tidus was like the Michael Jackson of Spira (except he was an athlete and Michael was a singer) but anyways, to think that SE wants to ruin one of his strongest protagonists of the series is just...wrong.

P.S: i love Michael Jackson so much :3
FFX ;-)