Xenogears Plot Translations
by Zhou Tai An (
[email protected]) and other parties
Disclaimer :
I've decided, instead of spreading my numerous comments throughout this
document, to write most of them here instead. So bear with me ^_^.
Firstly, I've only had one year of Japanese study, without a teacher or
formal classes of any kind. My reference materials at present include one
Nelson's dictionary. Therefore, some errors are going to be found,
especially those in the important scenes (by those I mean ones with lots of
dialogue) Please take those with a pinch of salt; the exact amount of salt
being in direct proportion to the complexity of the scene. ^_^
Okay, enough excuses. Sanity dictates that I, a lowly student, should not
have attempted a task of this magnitude, but hey, since when did I consider
myself sane? However, ANY information, corrections and help will be
much appreciated, especially from people more proficient in the language.
Thanks!
And lastly, writing this thing is a lot of work. Please notify me before
using it for any purposes.
Whoops, very, very last note : this is a slowly evolving document; please
check back every update for new info. I will be providing an Update section
to assist readers.
******
Note following the news of the English release :
"...."
Next time Square, tell me BEFORE you decide to release a game. That was
162K of hard work you wasted.
Mumble moan grumble...^_^
Okay, I do believe I am justified in complaning a bit, but now let's get
down to business. Following lots of supportive comments from my readers,
I have decided to go ahead and finish translating the plot, but in a
reduced form this time - namely, a summary.
So I'm afraid you won't be getting my usual detailed as-close-as-possible
to the game style this time; however, the summary at the bottom should
clear up most of the Xenogears plot.
Now, Square better include my name in the Special Thanks section if they
rip from my FAQ. ^_^
******
Xenogears Translations - Version 1.38
This should be the last or next-to-last version, so hang in there.
Anyway, the latest edition of this will still be posted to Gamefaqs whenever
it's done, so don't worry. ^_^
Version 1.3 - Lots of info added, Disclaimer added, contributors credited
many corrections made and formatting redone. Basically a major overhaul.
Start of Versions list. If you got an earlier version than this it probably
sucked. ^_^
Version 1.32 - Added Unsure Scenes section, and translations till
up to the return to the Yggdrasil with Mal.
Version 1.33 - More corrections to some of the earlier scenes thanks to
Ben Chu, as well as some miscellaneous spelling errors. Did more corrections
after input from Joe Chan and Ignacio Delucas; corrected some mistyped names
too. Quite a big update; I'm getting much better with practise, so this thing
will hopefully be done faster. Covers up to after the fight with Dora and
the appearance of the red Gear.
Version 1.34 - Miscellaneous corrections made, as well as some plot and name
ones, thanks to input from Joe Chan of Playstation Gamer. Big additions in
the form of redone Unsure Scenes, very kindly supplied by Ben Chu, as well as
some corrections to the earlier scenes. Notes section added. Translations
till up to after Shebat completed.
Version 1.35 - Added two Notes. Made lots and lots of corrections to previous
scenes with the continued assistance of Tomo1657 and Ben Chu - I'd advise a
re-read to get all the new stuff. Thanks a lot, guys! Cleared up some
formatting problems and made many miscellaneous changes. Added translations
till up to the Second Disc. Yes, folks, I know this is late : you can
blame schoolwork, Parasite Eve, my other game FAQs, Starcraft, and a nasty
cold. ^_^ Redid Credits section.
Version 1.36 - Corrected some name changes in the text, took out some
clarified Unsure Scenes. Made lots of corrections thanks to Eiji Tanaka's
helpful mail to me. Decided on summary format to finish up the document.
I know this is VERY late guys...
Version 1.37 - Corrected even more stuff.
Version 1.38 - Almost there! Once again, the indomitable Eiji Tanaka has come
to the rescue with a ton of information, currently displayed here for your
reading pleasure. Corrected more miscellanous stuff. Just hang in there a
little longer - I should be done by Version 1.4 at least.
******
Credits (at the top for once)
Major assitance was rendered by :
1. Ben Chu, whose invaluable corrections and scenes account for much of the
information in the document.
2. Tomo1657, who also checks and adds loads of good stuff periodically.
3. Joe Chan of Playstation Gamer, for the very helpful corrections he
makes after every update.
4. Eiji Tanaka, for giving me the information required for a big update as
well as offering summary assistance.
5. Ignacio Delucas, for looking at things from a Japanese-illiterate
player's perspective, helping out with gameplay, including a link to this in
his Xenogears FAQ, and being a general all-around assistant and pep talk
supplier. ^_^
Lots of other people helped as well - these include :
Chris Cruz who corrected my mistranslation of "kyokai" or "Church" (my
previous being "Labs") and Joe Chan (a different one! ^_^)) for allowing me
to use some information from his own Xenogears translations, QueenVera, for
miscellaneous help and assistance, MistaKefka for sending Tomo my way, CJayC
for hosting this at Gamefaqs, Jens Liermann for the German words and any
others who have offered help or encouragement in the writing of this massive
document. Thanks a lot!
******
Scenes which I am still unsure of :
I think this will help in the general comprehension of the document and game
a bit more; I hope it will also assist contributors in deciding which parts
to double-check. I'll use this rating system :
* = May have slight errors; I didn't get all the dialogue. Not likely to
be far off. You can consider this safe; it's just me trying to be as
complete as possible.
** = A important word or two I didn't catch, uncertain terms, the text scrolled
too fast, a paragraph or so missed. Not so safe; might have missed some
important info. This will be noted in the actual translation itself.
*** = Big chunks of dialogue missing, a whole bunch of difficult kanji,
totally confusing (seeming to contradict) information and the like. Not to
be taken as correct at any time. Will be flagged in the text, don't worry;
hopefully, no scenes will be of this nature.
The Scenes : (in chronological order)
1. Jeekman's conversation with the masked woman and his aides - (*)
Amazingly, there are some words here which my very comprehensive dictionary
doesn't even have. No matter; I don't think I've missed out anything again.
2. Wiseman's conversation with Fei (*) - Just a check.
3. The whole long Solaris scene - (**) I'm actually pretty sure of this
one, but because it's so important to the game's storyline a check is almost
a necessity.
4. Scenes from Zeboim to Shebat - (*) I was simply playing too hard to
get everything. ^_^
5. Another flying heads scene somewhere in that area (**) - Forgot it
entirely besides some details.
6. Bart's coronation (*) - Missed two bits of info; see section below.
7. Discussion about third gate (*) - Missed how they discovered it's
location.
8. Flashback with Karuren (*) - Didn't get some lines.
9. Whole long Heads\Shitan discovery (**) - Difficult dialogue. As with
all info integral to the plot, a check will be much appreciated.
10. Shitan\Id conversation. (*) - Check needed.
BTW, I also missed one anime cut-scene; the one where Fei's dad is seen
talking to two others. However, expect a *** rating for that one; not only
does Fei's dad have a really deep voice and penchant for difficult words, my
vocal Japanese comprehension isn't all that hot either. ^_^
******
Notes, otherwise known as the ubiquitous Miscellaneous section.
1. I'm not doing every single bit of dialogue. You want that, you pay me. ^_^
What I am doing, though, is as complete a translation as I can possibly manage,
and leave out all the little unimportant bits. So if there's stuff in the
game, or a scene or two, that I didn't do, it's probably because it's not
important. However, the unlikely possibility exists that I may have missed
something - in that case, mail me and I'll fix it.
2. NO townspeople. I simply can't do that and have a life. ^_^
3. You will notice a lot of quotation marks in the document. There are two
instances in which I will use them; when they appear in the game and when
I'm quoting game text. Just a clarification.
4. Finally, when I write "something", or "some sort of" in the text, it
*usually* means that it's not so clear in the game, but it could also mean
that I'm slightly unsure of the scene.
5. In the case of corrections to my scenes, I will be editing them and
adding them straight into my version as a part of the document. (After
clearing with Ben Chu on the issue) This will, I'm sure, ensure a smoother
flow of the text.
6. I'll be using my own renditions of the names in the game, not the official
Square ones, simply because I want to. So there. ^_^
7. "Flying heads" is my pet term for the three people in suits who appear
during the sequences with orbs whirling around them.
All these disclaimers are because Xenogears is a very wordy game, with a lot
more talking (nearly thrice the amount, I think, in the entire FF7) than
many other RPGs.
******
On with the show!
******
The intro text at first is in English, so you should be able to understand
it without too much difficulty. The ship that comes into view is an
immigration ship carrying thousands of humans. In the cockpit, a warning
light suddenly flashes - the deck operators report that temperature is
rising and that energy is going out of control. The Captain orders a cabinet
exploded, but the operators report that it has no effect. The Captain then
calls up the engineer but doesn't get a responce. He orders a full ship
evacuation after hearing this. After going up to his room, Captain sees
that the ship's own security system is shooting down the evacuating planes.
He glances one last time at a photo of his family, and activates the ship's
self-destruct function. The ship blows up and falls to a nearby planet
where a woman wakes up in the middle of the debris. She observes two lights
landing far away...
("I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." comes from the actual
text of The Book of Revelation. It means god exists from the beginning,
and will remain until the end. The New Testament beginns with the letter
"alpha" and ends with the letter "omega", BTW. The opening movie is
acutally the "alpha" where it all began.)
In the opening, several things about the world are revealed. Firstly, there
seems to be a war of some sort between two countries, Kisreb and Ave. The
Gears are a product of that war; found in ancient ruins, they changed the
way wars were fought entirely. Also, previously, Kisreb forces were winning
the war because of the greater amount of resources they had access to, but
after Ave initiated a war program called Gebra, assisted by a man named
Graf, the terms were equalized. (Note that Graf is NOT part of Gebra,
merely an assistant.)
BTW, an important term is introduced in the opening. The word is "kyokai",
rendered approximately as "learning place." or "Church". I'll use Church
here, but will also use quotation marks around it when the word appears.
Apparently the "Churches" were created after the discovery of ruins.
Presently, they are a religious group that controls all Gear manufacture in
the world.
Basically the same as Ignacio's FAQ; you see Timothy, and Fei thanks him for
being his friend these years, especially as he can't remember anything about
his past. Dan, Alur's younger brother, then comes in the door and asks Fei
to talk to him in private. Fei wants to know why; it turns out that Dan
wants Fei to run off with his sister instead of marry Timothy. ^_^ Finally,
you go to see Alur.
BTW, Fei is not from the village; he was brought to the village by a
strange man three years ago and has been taken care of by Lee, the village
elder, for that time. However, Dan addresses him as "onii-chan" (older brother) a
common term of respect used for any older male.)
Alur talks about a strange wind that has been about lately. She and Fei seem
to have\had some kind of a relationship, romantic or otherwise, (they both
speak in a very stitled fashion, as if they want to say something more but
don't) but their speech gives no clue to as what kind it may be. When Fei is
about to leave, Alur tells him to wait and asks him to ask Shitan, the village
doctor, to lend her his camera. Fei agrees and then leaves; Alur looks at her
wedding dress and says that she was a fool...
(Note : Shitan is addressed as "sensei" by most people during the game. This
appellation is a sign of respect used to refer to any senior person, especially
one well-learned. Shitan is called this as he is very proficient in both
medicine and mechanics.)
Most of the villagers talk about the upcoming wedding of Alur and Timothy,
although there is one who gives you the Mermaid's Tears when you speak to him
(in the bar).
So off you go to see your sensei (Shitan) to fix Alur's camera. Upon getting
there you get to the Land Crab and natter for a bit with him until the music
box scene; Fei says he finds it sad and it brings back some memories, while
Shitan says that music is strange; it can make people sad or happy, help
them to remember or forget...Fei leaves to eat Yui's cooking, which
apparently is really good ^_^ (Shitan and Yui are married; it's revealed
later.) when the box breaks. Shitan is left wondering whether it was an omen
and whether or not "it has begun..."
BTW, the little girl, Midori, is very silent; even when Fei asks her to go
out and play she responds with "..."
After the meal, Fei goes back to the village when the village gets
attacked! They meet Alur and Timothy at the village gate; after a bit
of conversation, Fei and Shitan run off to find the missing Dan, while
the two fiancees escape. The Gear that Fei gets into suddenly appears and
kneels to him; Fei stutters a bit (he's surprised and confused) before
jumping in, followed by Shitan who exhorts his student to stop fighting, at
the same time wondering whether Fei has "awakened." yet. Shitan sure seems
to know a lot more than he lets on...
The first battle ensues. A bunch of Gears then surround Fei, whacking him,
when Timothy reappears; Dan having been saved from a burning house by
Shitan. The Gears blast Timothy after their leader commands them to with a
single hand motion; seeing this, Fei goes nuts and annihilates the whole
village (and enemies) with his Gear. VERY nice anime cut scene here.
Just a note; there seem to be many EVA things here still, just like in
FF7...Yui's name, Fei's "berserk" (Even Shitan says : "Fei no Gia shistemu
bosou da..." (Fei's Gear's systems went berserk), and some other stuff...
Fei then awakes in a clearing. Dan calls him a murderer and accuses him of
having killed everyone, "especially Alur-niichan and Timothy" and the
villagers run off, some screaming in pain and for their mothers, saying that
he's frightening and a monster (In fact, everyone except Shitan, including
Fei, refer to his Gear as "bakemono" or monster). After Dan demands that Fei
return his older sister, Shitan intercedes and says that is was because the
Gear went berserk (see above) to which Dan simply laughs and runs away.
Shitan advises Fei to head to Ave; seeing as the attakcing Gears were from
Kisreb, that would be the safest place to go to. Fei then runs off after
Shitan tells him about the "Forest of the Black Moon.", which leads to Ave
and where he's now going.
Meeting with Ellie in the woods, who backs Fei off with a gun, then realizes
that he's not "the one from Kisreb sent after me." (BTW, in the cut scene,
she speaks in another language before switching to Japanese.) She tells Fei
not to move, but he does, saying that he deserves to die anyway. After she
misses her first shot, he tells her to fire again, and at his heart this
time. Ellie then says that he's "strange" (probably because he seems like
he WANTS to die) just before a monster attacks her from behind and Fei has
to rescue her. (An important note : as Fei rushes the monster that attacked
Ellie, he says "don't touch Ellie!" But Ellie hasn't even told Fei her name
at this point...) This is not a script error; the name "Ellie" appears in
quotation marks.
After that, Fei asks Ellie for her name, and why she isn't talking to him
even though he helped her. Ellie finally replies and says that she is
surprised that a "Lams" is helping her, an "Abal." According to her, "Lams"
is the term she gives for those people living on the surface of the planet;
Abal are those who live above and are ultimately superior.
(BTW, literally, the "Abal" are the "Shepherds of the Flock" and the
"Lams" are the Cattle. This is yet another Bible reference.)
Fei then suggests that they both search for the exit from the forest, and
then asks her for her name again after giving his own; if they're going to
be cooperating they should know each other better. Ellie gives her name
(her real name is Elehayym) and they go to sleep.
In Fei's dream, Fei is watching a line of people, apparently dead, march
through the desert. He begs them to take him with them, but they walk on into
the horizon and he is left crying just as woman wearing the a cross on her neck
comes up to him and asks him if he'd like to come with her - just as Fei wakes
up.
The next morning, both search for the exit to the forest. Once they're across
the stone bridge, Ellie asks Fei about yesterday; Fei wants to know WHAT
about yesterday. Ellie replies by saying that he looked like he wanted to
commit suicide at that time. Fei begins to recount the tragedy at the
village; surprisingly, Ellie interjects halfway by telling him he's a
"coward".
(The flashback Ellie has here is of her and her comrades escaping from
Kisreb after stealing a Gear from them. One of her team is shot down, and
soon after, so is she. Fei is inadvertently blaming her as well in his
speech.)
Again, this time, not surprisingly at all, Fei demands angrily to know
why he's a coward. Ellie states her reasons as such; the attack wasn't his
fault, he tried his best and if he's now going to take the responsibility of
the attack on himself instead of doing better he's a coward. Anyway, why he
did he try to get in a Gear which he was not sure of operating instead of
helping the villagers evacaute? Fei retorts with "The stench of blood, the
sound of bones breaking, the cries of pain; did you hear those?" and some
other phrases, finally sitting on the ground in anguish. Ellie then runs off
