Helsionium

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I haven't found any discussion on this topic. Each month starts with a painting accompanied by a short etymology of that month's name. One of these paintings particularly struck my eye, as I immediately recognised it as a reference to a real-world Renaissance work of art: Pegasus Moon art: Pieter Bruegel, Hunters in the Snow (1565) The two paintings are not only similar in their general theme and composition, their similarities go right down to the details, e.g. the bridge in the lower right corner, including the person on top of it. I think no one can deny that the Pegasus Moon painting is an obvious reference to the latter painting, but that got me wondering: What about the other eleven month paintings? Are they also references to other real-world works of art? Some seem familiar, at least partially, but I'm not particularly knowledgable about art so I wouldn't know. I just happened to know Bruegel's painting since it's exhibited in a museum I once visited.

The chanting in "The Spirit Dais" clearly consists of Japanese syllables, but I can't make out any Japanese words, although my knowledge of Japanese is pretty limited. "Apex of the World" and the Main Theme seemingly use the same chant. The first "word" sounds like it could be "megami", goddess, but it's a bit hard to hear. One thing I can say for certain: It's definitely not Latin or any other European language. As for "God-Shattering Star", this is sung in a different language and clearly neither Latin nor Japanese. I don't know of any language that uses as many "sh" and "th" sounds as that song, so it may be an invented language. However, twice in the song "Fodla" or "Fodra" can clearly be heard, which is the Japanese name for Fódlan.

I just wanted to share my findings on the Cyrillic letters in Shambhala, since I found nobody else discussing this. They are not just random letters in the Cyrillic alphabet, but rather actual Russian words: СВЕТИТЬСЯ СВАЯ (svetit'sja svaja) "Light Pole" or "Shining Pole", probably referring to the Agarthans' weapon of mass destruction and ЗАКРЫТЫЙ ГОРОД (zakrytyj gorod), somewhat hard to read and misspelled with an О instead of the А "Closed City" or "Secret City", probably referring to Shambhala itself. I don't speak any Russian at all, but I consulted a dictionary and given the words make complete sense in their context, I'm pretty confident I got them right.

I was playing Verdant Wind's Shambhala chapter when the graphics glitched out in combat. Every time when fighting in the south-east room that's closed off at the beginning (the one with the Viskam controls), the floor completely disappeared, but only during battles. Seemed to be a purely cosmetic bug. I'm sorry I didn't record it.

Nazi symbols can cause legal repercussions in some countries, though. Nintendo wouldn't risk that.

I noticed that too! But it's gotta be just a coincidence. Nevertheless, it's strange that it's there and got past Nintendo's "censors" in the first place. That's the kind of content NoE/NoA would never allow in the games they publish.

In this scene, on a few occasions time appears to slow down around Seiros. Do you think that's just for dramatic effect or may this imply that Seiros might have been able to use the "Divine Pulse" or something similar to control the flow of time? Also note how she appeared to be completely unfazed by the attack that targeted her and got blocked only in the last split-second.

I can't comment on the Japanese or English game over screen quotes, but the German ones are clearly quotes from real-world people, sometimes a little bit paraphrased or shortened. The two I encountered so far are: "Justice without power is inefficient; power without justice is tyrannical." - Blaise Pascal (labeled in-game as "A Thinker") "Every adversity has the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit." - Napoleon Hill (misattributed in-game to "A Conqueror", obviously mixed up with Napoleon)