Final Fantasy VII Remake Script Comparison: Chapter 14+15

The crew returns to Elmyra and Cloud is newly convicted of his desire to save Aerith after getting a stark reminder of exactly what Shinra is capable of. The question of whether Aerith is in fact the last Ancient comes up again, and both the Japanese and English confirm that Cloud is operating under the assumption that she is the sole survivor.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
クラウド　神羅の地下施設で　人体実験のあとを見つけた	Cloud We found an underground Shinra lab where they’ve done human testing.
クラウド　俺の方が神羅という組織を知っている	Cloud This wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.
クラウド　話を聞いただけで　エアリスを解放するとは思えない	Cloud I know these people, and I know they’re never gonna let Aerith go.
クラウド　この世界で　たったひとりの古代種となれば　科学部門が黙っていないはずだ	Cloud She’s the last living Ancient on the planet. Think about what that means to Shinra’s scientists.

Also, “We’re all just meat and numbers to him” is such a good line. The Japanese is roughly just “(He) doesn’t think of people as people.” The way the English is phrased is so much more visceral, really hammering in Cloud’s contempt for Hojo while still getting the same sentiment across.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
クラウド　科学部門には　宝条という　人を人とも思わない	Cloud Especially to that son of a bitch Hojo. We’re all just numbers and meat to him.

Night falls and Cloud has a chance to talk with Aerith, Tifa, or Barret, depending on whose affection level is the highest. This is similar to the date mechanic from the original, which wasn’t triggered until much later in the game.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
バレット　休めるときに　休んどけよ	Barret You should rest up while you can.

In the morning, they resolve to set out to save Aerith.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
クラウド　呼ばれている気がするんだ　だから……	Cloud She’s calling out to me. I can feel it.
ティファ　私からも　お願いします	Tifa We all can. So please.	ティファ「私も行くから」	Tifa “I’m coming with you.”
ティファ　助けたいんです　友達だから	Tifa She’s our friend. We have to help her.

Barret has a conversation with Marlene, touching on a lot of the same points from his discussion with Elmyra in the original. He wants to stay with Marlene, but he can’t because he feels that he needs to put a stop to Shinra.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
マリン　行っちゃうの？	Marlene Are you going?
バレット　すまねえな　マリン　そばにいてやれなくて	Barret I’m sorry, honey. I wish I didn’t have to.
バレット　父ちゃんだって　いつもいっしょにいたい　ホントだ	Barret I wish I could be with you all the time. I really do.	バレット「でもよ、答えはでねえんだ。　マリンといつも　いっしょにいたい。　でも、それじゃあ戦えない」	Barret “But you gotta understand somethin’… …I don’t got any answers. I wanna be with Marlene… But I gotta fight.”
バレット　でも　それじゃあ戦えない	Barret But if I stay here, I can’t fight out there.
バレット　悪い奴らが星を壊そうとしてる	Barret Some bad people are…trying to hurt the planet.	バレット「戦わなければ星が死ぬ」	Barret “‘Cause if I don’t…the Planet’s gonna die.”
バレット　実はな　父ちゃん　そいつらと戦ってんだ	Barret And Daddy…Daddy and his friends are trying to stop those bad people.
バレット　星やスラムのみんなを守るのが　父ちゃんの仕事だ	Barret The slums, your friends, the whole planet—it’s Daddy’s job to protect it.
バレット　だから　行かねえと	Barret And that’s why I’ve gotta go.
バレット　マリンを助けてくれた　お姉ちゃんを　今度は　オレたちが助けにいくんだ	Barret You remember that nice girl who came to find you? Well, now we have to go find her.	バレット「エアリスを助けにいくんだろ？　すっかり世話に　なっちまったからな」	Barret “You gonna go help Aeris, right? She’s done so much for me…”
バレット　助けてもらった　お礼　ちゃんと言わねえとな	Barret And when we bring her home, you need to say thank you, okay?
マリン　うん	Marlene ‘Kay!

Marlene starts to say something about Aerith, but stops herself and only asks them to save her. In the original, she told Cloud that Aerith was asking her about him, but the scene in Remake didn’t include anything like that so instead it seems to reference whatever vision Aerith gave her.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
マリン　あのね　あのお姉ちゃんね	Marlene That girl… She was kinda…	マリン「あのね、あのね、エアリスがね　いっぱい聞いてたよ」	Marlene “Guess what? Guess what? Aeris asked me lots of questions.”
バレット　どうした？	Barret What?
マリン　ううん　助けてあげて	Marlene Nothing. You should help her.	マリン「とうちゃん、ティファ、クラウド！　ちゃ～んとエアリス助けてきてね」	Marlene “Daddy, Tifa,
			Cloud! Please bring Aeris back!”

She then makes Barret promise that he’ll come back, like Elmyra does in the original.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
マリン　帰ってくるよね	Marlene You’ll come back…right?	エルミナ「……そうだねえ。　でも、必ず迎えにくるんだよ。　死んじゃいけないよ」	Elmyra “…You’re right. But promise me that you’ll come back to her. Don’t get yourself killed.”
バレット　ああ　絶対だ	Barret Of course, I promise.

As soon as they’re out of the house, Barret gets excited to exact revenge on Shinra and Cloud reminds him that that isn’t their main goal. This is brought up a couple of times in the original, but we’ll be seeing a few more instances of it in Remake as the group infiltrates Shinra HQ.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
バレット　よし　神羅ビルに乗り込むか	Barret Aight! Time to get some payback.
クラウド　目的を忘れるな	Cloud Don’t forget why we’re doing this.	ティファ「忘れないで！　私たちの目的はあくまでも　エアリスを助けだすこと」	Tifa “Remember, we’re here to save Aeris.”
バレット　わかってるよ　エアリスの救出だろ？	Barret I know, I know. To rescue Aerith.	バレット「わかってるって！」	Barret “Hell, I know that!”

They discuss how to proceed and settle on going to Wall Market, like they did in the original.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
ティファ　でも　上までどうやって行く？　鉄道は動いてないよね	Tifa So, how’re we supposed to get topside? With everything that’s happened, the trains still aren’t running.	ティファ「神羅ビルにはどうやって？」	Tifa “How do we get to the Shinra Building?”
		バレット「もう、上に行く列車は　使えねぇ…」	Barret “There ain’t no train that goes up there anymore…”
バレット　んじゃ　線路を歩くか	Barret Well, we could walk along the tracks.
クラウド　今は非常事態だ	Cloud The city’s on high alert.
クラウド　表立ったルートは　封鎖されていると思った方がいい	Cloud All the roads and public transit have probably been locked down by now.
バレット　じゃあどうすんだ　裏ルートがあんのか	Barret So what’s the plan then? You know another way up?
ティファ　そういうこと　知ってそうな人って——	Tifa No, but I think I know someone who might.
クラウド　コルネオか	Cloud You mean Corneo.	ティファ「とりあえず、　【ウォールマーケット】に　行きましょう。　あそこなら何か　いい手が見つかる　かもしれないわ」	Tifa “Well, let’s just go to Wall Market. We might be able to find something there.”

As they leave Sector 5, they hear Kyrie drumming up hostility towards Avalanche. This is similar to an NPC line in the original, where it seems that there was a rumor going around that Avalanche’s anti-Shinra stance was only a cover for wanting to bring about as much destruction as they could. This time, though, the claim is that they’re actually working with Wutai: an idea that Shinra is trying to spread.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
キリエ　反神羅なんて　たいそうな看板を揚げてるけど	Kyrie For all their claims about fighting for the slums…	「おもてむきは、　反神羅がどうしたとかって　声明がでてるらしいがよ。　真相はな……」	“On the surface they say they’re an anti-Shinra group, but in reality…”
キリエ　実際は　ウータイの手先　というか　ただの使いっ走り	Kyrie they’re nothing more than pawns of Wutai—puppets dancing to the tune of their foreign masters!	「無差別大量殺人が　目的だってうわささ」	“they say they’re just out to kill as many people as they can.”

Barret then talks about how they need to keep fighting Shinra no matter what, kind of like he does when he’s trying to console Tifa in the original.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
バレット　こっから先は　もう　ただただ　ひたすら前進あるのみ	Barret All we can do is keep moving forward. Keep following this path we chose.
バレット　何があろうと　反神羅の火は消さねえ	Barret Wherever, so we can say we did all we could.	バレット「神羅を倒すまでオレたちの戦いは　おわらねえ！！」	Barret “Our fight ain’t never gonna be over until we get rid of them!!”
ティファ　うん	Tifa I know.	ティファ「……わからない」	Tifa “…I don’t know.”
ティファ　でも　今は…… 　前だけじゃなくて　周りも見て	Tifa But…right now…instead of looking forward, you need to look around.	ティファ「ちがう…… 　わからないのは　自分の……気持ち」	Tifa “It’s not that. I’m not sure about…me. My feelings.”
ティファ　みんな　おびえてる　だから　お願い	Tifa Everyone here is terrified. So I’m asking you…don’t.

This time the trio goes to Corneo’s mansion to find a way to the top side of the plate, instead of buying batteries from the weapon store owner.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
ティファ　私たちプレートの上へ行く方法を探してて　コルネオなら何か知ってるかもって	Tifa Well, we need to find a way to get topside as quickly as possible, and we figured Corneo oughta know one.

Corneo is nowhere to be found, and the crew runs into Leslie instead. They agree to help Leslie, hoping that he’ll show them a way to get topside, but their alliance is an uncertain one. Towards the end, Tifa says 信じるよ？ (shinjiru yo?), which is literally just a hesitant “Trust?” with no information on who is trusting who about what. I feel like this is one of those lines where you can’t really be sure exactly what is meant unless you ask the writer directly. I personally interpreted it as her saying “(I/We) are going to trust (you), okay? (So don’t betray us)” but E Remake took it as “Trust (Cloud when he says he will kill you).” To be fair, my interpretation has her ignoring Cloud’s grim statement completely, and it might make more narrative sense for her to hone in on that (like E Remake has her do in Chapter 3), especially because Cloud’s violent nature has clearly disturbed her in the past.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
クラウド　裏切れば　斬る	Cloud He betrays us, he dies.
レズリー　それで　かまわない	Leslie Fine by me.
ティファ　信じるよ？	Tifa He means it.

Before following Leslie down, Cloud can explore the mansion some more and find Kotch trapped in the basement, like he was in the original. Kotch explains that Shinra raided the mansion. E Remake interprets Shinra’s complaints as being directed at Kotch specifically. This is probably because the このざまさ (kono zama sa ; roughly something like “and this is how it turned out”) now comes immediately after that statement and thus seems to imply that that was the reason Shinra imprisoned Kotch. The E PC translation, on the other hand, sees Shinra’s complaints as being directed more generally toward Don Corneo and his henchmen.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
コッチ　てめえ……じゃなかった　　あなたは　頼む　助けてくれ	Kotch You mother— Uh, I mean… Hey, there. Would you mind helping me out? I’m kind of in a bind, as you can see…	コッチ「あ！てめえ……じゃなかった　あなたは！」	Kotch “Hey! You’re…not them… you’re…”
		「たのむ、助けてくれ！」　　　助ける　　　放っておく	“Please, help me!” 　　Help him 　　Leave him
コッチ　助かった！	Kotch Thanks, you guys!	コッチ「助かった！」	(1) Kotch “Thanks!”
コッチ　神羅の連中が　ドガドガやってきた　と思ったら……	Kotch Man, these jerks from Shinra showed up outta nowhere!	「じつはあのあと、神羅の　連中がドカドカやってきて『情報をリークした』だの『役立たず』だの……」	“You know what? After you left, some Shinra guys forced themselves in here saying someone ‘leaked information’ and we’re ‘good for nothings’.”
コッチ　情報をリークしただの　役立たずだの言われて　　このざまさ	Kotch Accused me of leaking information and called me “useless.” And, well the rest is history.	「ドンはむりやりどこかへ　つれていかれて、　それっきり…… 　オレもこんなザマさ」	“They took Don somewhere and that’s it… I’m still here.”
コッチ　ふへへ……ふう　それじゃあ　あばよ！	Kotch Well, anyway, thanks for helping me out. Peace out!	コッチ「おっといけねえ！　またあいつらがきたら…… 　オレはいくぜ、アバヨ！」	Kotch “Oops! They’re here again… I’m outta here! SEE ya”

While on their way through the sewers, Tifa asks Leslie why he helped her and Aerith in Don Corneo’s mansion earlier in the story. In Japanese, Leslie roughly says “(Because) I wasn’t able to put my life on the line that much,” referencing how he couldn’t save his fiance. E Remake makes this a little clearer by having him say “I couldn’t bring myself to let it happen again.”

Japanese Remake	English Remake
ティファ　聞いてもいい？	Tifa Can I ask you something?
ティファ　オーディションのとき　どうして　助けてくれたの？	Tifa Why did you help us out before? You could’ve lost everything.
レズリー　アニヤンに　頼まれたからだ	Leslie Andrea. He told me to.
ティファ　それだけ？	Tifa That really it?
レズリー　おれは　あそこまで　捨て身にはなれなかった	Leslie And I couldn’t bring myself to let it happen again…
レズリー　ほら　早く行ってくれ	Leslie It doesn’t matter. Let’s go.

Later, Leslie reflects on how his fiance left him. During the flashback, his fiance references 花言葉 (hanakotoba ; “flower symbolism”) in Japanese, while English goes for “But one day…” to make it clearer that she does hope to see him again.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
レズリーの恋人　夢を見てたんだよ　わたしたち	Leslie’s Fiancée It was all just a dream, wasn’t it…
レズリーの恋人　花言葉	Leslie’s Fiancée But one day…

Leslie finds Corneo and confronts him. Corneo goes on a rant, divulging that Shinra plans to abandon Midgar and build a new city of paradise. This was originally only brought up in the Shinra Building during the meeting of Shinra’s leaders and when the President monologued to Cloud and company after they were captured. The latter scene doesn’t happen in Remake, so perhaps they wanted to add another reference to it here so that the player is fully aware of Shinra’s plan.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
コルネオ　ここだけの話　神羅はミッドガルを捨てて	Don Corneo I’ll let you in on a secret. Shinra’s going to abandon Midgar…
コルネオ　新しい楽園を作るつもりだ	Don Corneo and build something close to paradise.
コルネオ　俺はそこで　新生ウォール・マーケットの　ドンになるはずが	Don Corneo I was invited to be a part of it—don of a new and improved Wall Market.
コルネオ　今は　お尋ね者	Don Corneo I’ll be lucky to live another week.

Corneo then summons his pet, Abzu. This was translated as “Aps” in the original game, and indeed that is how the Japanese spells it (アプス ; apusu). But it’s likely that this is a reference to the concept of a primeval sea in Sumerian mythology, which appears to be more commonly spelled as “Abzu” in English.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
コルネオ　それじゃあ　アプスちゃん　あとは　よろしく	Don Corneo Good Abzu! Feel free to play with your food!

After the crew deals with the beast, Leslie wonders what his fiance was trying to tell him. In Japanese he repeats her words 花言葉 (hanakotoba ; “flower symbolism”). Except that she never referenced flower symbolism in the English translation, so E Remake instead has him wonder if the return gift of the necklace was itself a message. Tifa then chimes in to tell him that the flower on the necklace symbolizes “reunion.” In this way, both the Japanese and English reach the same conclusion, but through slightly different routes.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
レズリー　花言葉……	Leslie Was it a message?
レズリー　どういう意味だったんだろうな	Leslie What was she trying to tell me?
ティファ　再会だよ	Tifa “We’ll meet again.”
	Leslie Huh?
ティファ　花言葉は”再会”	Tifa It’s a symbol of “reunion.”

Once they get back above ground, Leslie gives them all grappling guns. In Japanese these are called ワイヤーガン (“wire gun(s)”), and then shortened to just ワイヤー (“wire”). This may be to reference the “golden shiny wire of hope” they climb in the original game.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
レズリー　ワイヤーガンだ	Leslie Grappling guns.
レズリー　打ち出したワイヤーを引っかけて　上昇することができる	Leslie You can practically fly with the souped-up motors on these babies.
レズリー　あの壁を越えれば　七番街だ	Leslie Sector 7 is on the other side of that wall.
レズリー　ワイヤーがあれば　壁も　瓦礫の山も登っていけるはずだ	Leslie The guns’ll get you over and past it, along with any number of other obstacles.	バレット「よし！　このワイヤー、のぼろうぜ！」	Barret “Awright! We’ll climb the wire!”

If Cloud has done all the sidequests in this chapter, Barret will talk about how his impression of Cloud has changed. This is similar to the original game, where Barret admits that he was wrong about what kind of guy Cloud is.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
バレット　最初はよ　不愛想　気取り屋　過剰な自意識	Barret Used to think you were a little shit with a big attitude and a bigger inferiority complex.
バレット　いけすかない奴　堂々１位だったが　さすがに　わかってきた	Barret Quite possibly the worst person I have ever met. But that was before I figured you out.	バレット「あんたでも他人のために　戦うことがあるんだな。　見直したぜ」	Barret “So even you will fight for someone else. Guess I figured you wrong.”
バレット　本当のおまえは　ちがう！	Barret All this? It ain’t you.	バレット「いや、なんていうか…… 　いろいろ悪かったな」	Barret “I’m just sayin’ mebbe I was wrong…”

They prepare to use their grappling guns as the chapter closes…

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
ティファ　エアリス　待ってるよ	Tifa Aerith’s up there waiting for us.	ティファ「そうね、エアリスを救うために　残された道は、これだけだもんね」	“You’re right. This is the only way to save Aeris…”
バレット　カッコ良く乗りこもうぜ	Barret Then we better get a move on, huh?	バレット「よし！　このワイヤー、のぼろうぜ！」	Barret “Awright! We’ll climb this wire!”
クラウド　行くぞ	Cloud Ready?	クラウド「行くぞ！」	Cloud “Let’s go!”

The trio begins their ascent of the wreckage.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
ティファ　あそこを　登るんだよね	Tifa So that’s where we have to climb?

Cloud has to remind Barret again that they need to keep a low profile if they want to save Aerith.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
クラウド　捜索か	Cloud Kill team.
バレット　上等だ！	Barret We can take ’em.
クラウド　目的を忘れるな	Cloud We need to stay on mission.	ティファ「忘れないで！　私たちの目的はあくまでも　エアリスを助けだすこと」	Tifa “Remember, we’re here to save Aeris.”
バレット　わかってるよ　まずは　エアリスの救出だろ	Barret I know. Saving Aerith is our top priority.	バレット「わかってるって！」	Barret “Hell, I know that!”

E Remake once again has nice military-like lingo when Cloud communicates with Shinra on the radio to keep their cover.

Japanese Remake	English Remake
無線　何があった？	Radio Hunter 2-2!
無線　応答しろ　おい！	Radio Respond, dammit!
クラウド　問題ない	Cloud This is Hunter 2-2.
クラウド　モンスターが出たが　こっちで対処した	Cloud Just had to put down a few monsters. Over.
無線　アバランチめ　仕事を増やしやがって	Radio Roger. Friggin’ Avalanche making us put in OT…
無線　どうせ　怯えて隠れてるんだろ	Radio Probably cowering in the dark somewhere.
無線　見つけ出して　モンスターのエサにしてやれ	Radio If you find the shitheads, make ’em suffer. 2-3 out.

As they survey the wreckage from higher up, Tifa and Barret talk about building another bar and ask for Cloud’s help. Cloud gives his usual response, but by now it’s obvious that he doesn’t really mean it.

Japanese Remake	English Remake	Japanese Original	English Original
バレット　また　店やろうぜ	Barret I guess…we’ll build another bar.
ティファ　うん　やろう	Tifa Yeah. We will.
ティファ　クラウドも手伝ってくれる？	Tifa You’ll help too, won’t you?
クラウド　安くないぞ	Cloud For a price.	クラウド「お引き受けしましょう。　しかし、安くはない」	Cloud “OK… but it’ll cost you.”

Before they can get all the way to the top, the crew has to fight one of Shinra’s aerial weapons. This boss was fought during the escape from Shinra HQ in the original game.