Final Fantasy VII Script Comparison: Second Mission

Cloud and company get on the train to find it pretty much deserted.
Barret tells the crew to split up, saying roughly “It’s not like (we’ve) rented this car (all to ourselves)!”
E PC cleans this up a bit.

Japanese	E PSX	E PC
「こいつぁ、貸し切り列車じゃねえぞ！！　散れ散れ！！」	“Looks like this ain’t no private car!! So split up!!”	“This ain’t no private car!! So split up!!”

Barret then confronts a man on the train, noting that the car is strangely deserted.
It’s not that regular people just filed out of the train, suddenly making it empty, but that it was oddly empty to begin with, which is what Barret is suspicious about.

Japanese	E PSX	E PC
バレット「おいっ！！　ずいぶんすいてやがるな」	Barret “Yo, look at that!! It got empty alluva sudden.”	Barret “Now look at that!! It got empty alluva sudden.”

Tifa gets Barret to leave the man alone, and they discuss the mission.
Technically, Barret has already told Cloud what their target is today. In Japanese he’s just asking what the plan of attack is.

Japanese	English
クラウド「今回の作戦について　聞かせてくれ」	Cloud “So what’s our next target?”

They finish their discussion and Cloud is free to wander the train for a little bit and talk to people.
Barret is actually calling Cloud’s bluff here. 知ったかぶり (shittakaburi) means to act like you know something when you really don’t. So Barret’s basically saying “C’mon, I wanna hear your bogus break down.”

Japanese	E PSX	E PC
バレット「へッ！元ソルジャーの物知りさんよ！　五番魔晄炉のあたりは、くわしいんだろ！」	Barret “Yo, Mr. know-it-all, big time SOLDIER! You oughta know the area ’round the No. 5 Reactor, right!”	Barret “Yo, Mr. Know-it-all, big time SOLDIER! You oughta know the area ’round the No. 5 Reactor, right!”
「おまえさんの知ったかぶり説明が　聞きてえもんだな！」	“So let’s hear YOUR explanation!”

E PC only noted when it differs from E PSX

The train ID check happens sooner than expected and flags an unidentified ID, triggering a security lockdown. Cloud and company rush from car to car in order to escape it. But Cloud can still talk to NPCs as he goes.
ドタドタ (dotadota) is an onomatopoeia expressing a loud noise like that of heavy footfalls, referring to how they’re dashing through the cars.
E PSX reflects this with “you’re making such noise,” but the main intention of the line is to point out that they’re not acting like proper adults. Thus the slight rewrite in E PC.

Japanese	E PSX	E PC
「もぅ！！　いい大人がドタドタと」	“Gosh!! You’re adults, but you’re making such noise.”	“Gosh!! You’re adults, but you’re acting like kids.”
「列車のなかでは　おぎょうぎよくしてね」	“Please behave while you’re in the train.”

E PC only noted when it differs from E PSX

Another context issue pops up in one of Tifa’s responses to not making it out of the train car in time. She literally says, “This is absolutely no good!” Which in this context could be written as “We weren’t nearly fast enough!” or “Now we’re stuck!”

Japanese	English
ティファ「ぜんぜんっだめね！」	Tifa “That didn’t do anything!”

Shortly after the above line, Tifa says this before jumping out of the train car. She’s not psyching herself up, but rather telling Cloud something along the lines of “Try to get it together!” since he just messed up their escape plan by being too slow.

Japanese	E PSX	E PC
バレット「こっから飛び降りるぞ！！　オレに続け、高給取り！！」	Barret “We’ll jump from here!! Follow me, you ‘spensive leech!!”
ティファ「ふぅっ～！　しっかりしてね！」	Tifa “Phew- – – – -! Be strong!”	Tifa “Phew– – –! Be strong!”

E PC only noted when it differs from E PSX

Sooner or later, Cloud and company jump off the train. Then they walk along the tracks until they find this chute.
The translator may have mistook this for ぞっとする (zotto suru) which means “to shudder.” ぞっとしない (zotto shinai) on the other hand, is an expression meaning “pretty disgusting / not very appealing.” Though either way it’s clear that Barret isn’t looking forward to going down the chute.

Japanese	English
バレット「でもよ、ゾットしねぇな」	Barret “But, damn man, that thing gives me the chills.”

Cloud can find the rest of the AVALANCHE crew as he makes his way to the reactor. Here, Jessie talks about how the special ID she made for Cloud is likely what triggered the alarm on the train.
E PC tones down Jessie’s crush on Cloud by using “modified” and “did my best.” The original translation is closer to the Japanese, saying she made it special and poured her heart into it.

This follows the earlier instance of E PC changing Jessie’s lines at Seventh Heaven to be about Wedge instead of her fangirling over Cloud. It’s possible they thought Cloud had too many girls falling for him, but I bet they just didn’t pick up on Jessie’s feelings.

Japanese	E PSX	E PC
「クラウドのIDカード。　私の特別製にしたから…… 　あんなことに」	“I made your ID card special…… So that’s why it happened…”	“I modified your ID card… And that’s what did it…“
「心をこめたつもりだったんだけどね。　失敗しちゃった」	“I put my heart into making it. But I failed.”	“I did my best… But I failed.”

They finally make it to the reactor. Barret stands watching at a distance, and Cloud comments on it.
Rather than “watch” or “chaperone,” it might be better to change this into a verb like, “I know. You’re watching/keeping an eye on me, right?”
Barret’s response is translated rather literally. What he means is the fact that Cloud being Tifa’s old friend isn’t enough for Barret to immediately trust him.

Japanese	E PSX	E PC
クラウド「わかってるさ。　あんたは俺の見張りだろ？」	Cloud “I know. You’re my watch, right?”	Cloud “I know. You’re my chaperone, right?”
バレット「そういうことだ」	Barret “Damn straight.”
バレット「ティファの幼なじみ…… 　それだけじゃ不安なんでな」	Barret “Tifa’s old friend… That ain’t good enough.”

E PC only noted when it differs from E PSX

Cloud has another flashback.
Once again, the original translation is slightly more accurate. Tifa already knows that Sephiroth did it and is asking a rhetorical question here.

Japanese	E PSX	E PC
ティファ「パパ……」	Tifa “Papa…”
ティファ「セフィロスね！」	Tifa “Sephiroth!?”
ティファ「セフィロスがやったのね！」	Tifa “Sephiroth did this to you, didn’t he!?”	Tifa “Did Sephiroth do this to you?”
ティファ「セフィロス……ソルジャー…… 　魔晄炉……神羅……ぜんぶ」	Tifa “Sephiroth…SOLDIER… Mako Reactors…Shinra…Everything!”	Tifa “Sephiroth…SOLDIER… Mako Reactors…Shinra…”
ティファ「ぜんぶ大キライ！」	Tifa “I hate them all!”

E PC only noted when it differs from E PSX

They set the bomb and leave the reactor, only to run into Shinra soldiers and President Shinra himself.
The Japanese uses 目の輝き (me no kagayaki; lit. “glimmer in (one’s) eyes”) here, which is translated as “look in your eyes.” In any other situation, this would be a preferable translation, since the phrase is usually used metaphorically in Japanese. But in this case, SOLDIERs’ eyes do literally have a specific glow/glimmer to them that sets them apart from regular people.
Later lines referencing Cloud’s eyes in the English translation do correctly note their glow/shimmer.

Japanese	English
「アバランチとやらに参加して　いるという元ソルジャー。　たしかにその目の輝きは　魔晄を浴びた者……」	“You’re the one who quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I knew you’d been exposed to Mako, from the look in your eyes…”

Barret butts into the conversation and President Shinra is not amused.
In the Japanese, President Shinra calls our crew “worms/maggots” and Barret comes back with “Well, you and Shinra parasites!”
言うに事欠いて (iu ni koto kaite) is roughly “that’s not a nice way of putting it” or “you didn’t need to go and say that.”
“That’s all you can say” definitely fits the tone better. Something like “You’ve got the gall to call US vermin?!” might’ve worked too.

Japanese	E PSX	E PC
バレット「んなこたぁ、どうでもいい！　もうすぐここはドッカン！！だぜ！　ざまあみやがれ！」	Barret “Don’t give a damn ’bout none of that! This place’s goin’ up with a big BANG soon! Serves y’all right!”
プレジデント神羅「そうだな。　キミたちウジ虫を始末するには　高価すぎる花火ではあるが……」	President Shinra “And such a waste of good fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you…”
バレット「ウジ虫だと！？　言うに事欠いて、ウジ虫だと！」	Barret “VERMIN!? That’s all you can say…VERMIN!”	Barret “VERMIN!? That’s all you can say? VERMIN!?“
「キサマら神羅は、この星を死に　追いやろうとする寄生虫じゃねぇか！　その親玉であるキサマが　何をえらそうにホザク！」	“Y’all Shinra’re the VERMIN, killing the planet! And that makes you King VERMIN! So shu’up jackass!”	“Shinra’re the VERMIN for killing the planet! Guess that’d make you King VERMIN! So shu’up jackass!”

E PC only noted when it differs from E PSX

President Shinra makes his exit, sending out the Air Buster.
The English is nice and morbid here, but from what I can tell the Japanese is just:
“The battle data we get by having it fight you will be a valuable sample for further development.”
With the implication being that they’ll record how the fight goes.

Japanese	English
プレジデント神羅「我が社の兵器開発部が試作した　機動兵『エアバスター』だ」	President Shinra “Meet ‘Airbuster’, a techno-soldier. Our Weapon Development Department created him.”
「君たちとの戦闘データは　今後の開発の貴重なサンプルとして　利用させてもらうよ」	“I’m sure the data he’ll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments.”