Game Errors
Final Fantasy VII, while critically acclaimed as one of the greatest role-playing games of all time, harbours many mistakes both gramatically and graphically. Documented below are just a few I have come across during my time playing the PAL release. For an indepth analysis of the changes to Aerith's name, please see the name information section of the site.
Translation
Anyone who has ever played the original English language version of Final Fantasy VII will have noticed evidence of pretty poor translation of dialogue, items, enemies and abilities. Many words have been misspelled, or in some cases inexplicably changed:
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| Tough Ring | Touph Ring |
| Demi | Gravity |
The dialogue is riddled with typographical and grammatical errors, which in some instances has made certain quotes all the more memorable. Aerith's "This guy are sick" line, when visiting the sector 5 slums is arguably one of her most famous, purely due to its glaring grammatical mistake!
However, in some scenarios the translation is so mangled that dialogue between characters makes little-to-no sense. For example, the short conversation between Aerith and Cloud, after Cloud has entered the Honeybee Inn:
Cloud: "...Hmm. That's how you'll fool them."
Aerith: ".........Hmmmmmmm. So that's how you fooled them."
This could either be in reference to Aerith duping the gawping men surrounding her into buying her flowers for extortionate amounts of Gil, or the fact that Cloud was allowed into the brothel. However, in either context the dialogue makes no sense.
The poor translation of Final Fantasy VII may largely be due to tight deadlines. Many rumours and conspiracy theories surrounding the game have been fuelled by the idea that its production was incredibly rushed, but have mostly proven to be untrue. However judging from the obvious lack of quality control in the English translation it is very possible that a tight release schedule is a major cause of so many errors being left uncorrected before the US release.
Visual Errors
Final Fantasy VII was graphically groundbreaking upon its release. However there are many continuity errors that appear amongst its various FMV cut-scenes and the game itself, for example:- Sephiroth's gloves are missing when he descends upon an unsuspecting Aerith in the first few frames of the FMV, but are clearly present a few seconds later as he withdraws his sword from her lifeless body.
- Aerith's position as she prays for holy in the forgotten capital differs from the FMV and the in-game sequence that follows.
- As Cloud places Aerith in the lake he is clearly standing in water that is waist height, however after he releases her body the water becomes infinately deeper, as she sinks far below.
The fact that one of these errors takes place in the same Full Motion Video just goes to show that while Squaresoft were determined to pull out the big guns to deliver one of the most ground breaking RPG's of all time, they were decidedly more lax about continuity!
Advent Children
In Advent Children a small continuity error can be seen in Aerith's character design. In the original game and promotional artwork, the sleeves of Aerith's cropped red jacket are trimmed with thick metal cuffs, not so dissimilar to the bracelets worn around her wrists. In Advent Children however, these cuffs have been replaced with more delicate leather straps, with silver buckles. Also, in Final Fantasy VII she is shown as wearing a length of thin black ribbon, tied in a loose bow, as a necklace. This ribbon is looped around her neck only once, and remains this way even as her lifeless body descends into the waters of the lake of the Forgotten Capital. However, during her small appearance as a spiritual guide in Advent Children this necklace is clearly looped around her neck twice, as it does in her modified design for Kingdom Hearts.