Final Fantasy II

aka: FF4, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy IV Advance, Final Fantasy V, Zui Zhong Huanxiang 4
Moby ID: 4572

Trivia

Localization

The original SNES release of Final Fantasy IV in the West was dubbed Final Fantasy II removed several abilities the player-controlled characters could use in battles, and was generally noticeable easier than the Japanese version. It also changed some of the character's names, e.g. Gilbert the Bard was renamed Edward, the summon monster Ramuh became Indra, etc. That release also omitted or censored some dialogue lines and scenes: * Dancers wear their dresses all the time as opposed to the bikinis they wore in the Japanese version * The blade that was dangling over Rosa's head in the Tower of Zott became a big iron ball * Much of the dialogue concerning the relationship between Cecil and Rosa and another character's jealousy was removed * Most of the swear words were removed, especially Palom's lines * Cecil and Kain had more developed background stories in the original version * Cecil and Rosa shared a passionate kiss after he rescues her in the Tower of Zott. The animation of them kissing was taken out * In Castle Jiott, there was an entire room removed: the Programmers's Room, where the player could talk to developers and even fight some of them. That room also contained a Porno Book that caused Cecil to have "dirty thoughts" when used.

The Western PlayStation re-release of the game included in Final Fantasy Chronicles restored all the features of the original version, with the exception of the character named Edward and a catch-phrase related to him, as described below.

You spoony bard!

The English translation of the SNES version contained a phrase that later became popular. At a certain point, the old mage Tellah gets angry at the bard Edward and tells him: "You spoony bard!". The awkward phrase became a cult favorite among fans. When a new English translation was made for the Playstation version, "you spoony bard" was kept intact, for the old time's sake.

But what does Tellah really call Edward (or Gilbert, in Japanese version)? In fact, the only word he says is 貴様 (kisama), literally "precious image", one of the many Japanese words for the pronoun "you". Despite the noble etymology, "kisama" is a very rough, insulting kind of "you"; using it is an equivalent to calling a person "bastard" or "son of a bitch" in English. We can only guess how this insulting "you" ended up translated as "spoony bard".

Awards

  • EGM
    • 1992 Buyer's Guide - Best RPG
    • February 2006 (issue 200) - #29 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time"
  • Game Informer Magazine
    • Augst 2001 (issue 100) - #40 in the Top 100 Games of All Time poll
  • GameSpy
    • 2005 – #5 GBA Game of the Year
    • 2005 – GBA RPG of the Year

Information also contributed by Big John WV. PCGamer77, and Satoshi Kunsai

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Trivia contributed by Unicorn Lynx, Alaka, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, Dawgbb.