Tellius Recollection (Vol 2) Translation / Discussion Thread

[Extrasolar]

I remember back when I used to pronounce Lyre's name like "Liar," instead of the instrument. I was a young and very not knowledgeable about medieval instruments... But I wish we could have gotten more screen time out of Lyre too, and more development out of her and Lethe's relationship. Seeing a bit more big sister Lethe would have been good, especially considering these two's contrasting personalities. It would almost be a female version of Oscar/Boyd, lol.
 

1 minute ago, Soul~! said:

Why are people so literal. It's obvious they meant he's just femenine or might even be a homosexual. I'm rooting for the former, since it's possible to be femenine without being homosexual.

Oh, it's entirely possible...but considering they gave Kyza the same very feminine speaking style as Devdan/Danved and in his case downright stated that he was in love with Ranulf, I see them trying to imply the same with Devdan/Danved. Not to mention, in Japanese media, men who use "Atashi" often have questionable (in the sense that it's very ambiguous) sexuality/gender identity, like Orochimaru from Naruto.

[Samias]

1 hour ago, Soul~! said:

Why are people so literal. It's obvious they meant he's just femenine or might even be a homosexual. I'm rooting for the former, since it's possible to be femenine without being homosexual.

In this case, as has been stated many times, Kyza is a stereotypical feminine man in Japan, which strongly implies homosexuality especially with how he fights over Lyre for Ranulf's attention. He's just a bit more like the bara archetype. Japan doesn't really delicately deal with gender identity in most things, instead playing it up for comedy.

[fangpoint333]

From Lyre's profile "not fit to be on the battlefield"- That's believable lol

I wasn't aware that Kyza was supposed to be the feminine type. That's something that I'd be fine with simply because it makes him more memorable.

[Samias]

1 hour ago, fangpoint333 said:

From Lyre's profile "not fit to be on the battlefield"- That's believable lol

I wasn't aware that Kyza was supposed to be the feminine type. That's something that I'd be fine with simply because it makes him more memorable.

Well, they scrubbed out a lot of Kyza's femininity in the English version, but mostly because it was a potentially offensive stereotype. Although I think the implication that Kyza is gay is actually still in the English script, but he expresses his loyalty to Ranulf as extreme bureaucracy and brown-nosing. I actually think Kyza's unique personality comes out pretty well in the very few scenes he has dialogue in compared to others, but since he only has roughly 2 base conversations and no main story presense I don't anything could really pull him out of "doomed to obscurity" territory.

And yes, it's completely believable that Lyre should not be on the battlefield. If I were Ranulf, I'd definitely put Kyza in charge over her any day of the week.

[NinjaMonkey]

15 hours ago, Extrasolar said:

I remember back when I used to pronounce Lyre's name like "Liar," instead of the instrument.

Except they are pronounced exactly the same...

[Extrasolar]

Just now, NinjaMonkey said:

Except they are pronounced exactly the same...

Huh? I thought the instrument was pronounced like "leer"?

[Junkhead]

Seriously called her "liar" for years, honestly.

[Kirokan]

Sorry for lack of updates, that spam filter with captcha kept failing to connect so I couldn't edit my initial post. xD But here are the three I did since then:

060 Geoffrey

061 Bastian

105 Lethe

[Extrasolar]

31 minutes ago, Kirokan said:

Sorry for lack of updates, that spam filter with captcha kept failing to connect so I couldn't edit my initial post. xD But here are the three I did since then:

060 Geoffrey

061 Bastian

105 Lethe

So wait, if Geoffrey is 24 by RD, then he'd be 21 in POR. Wasn't Elincia around Ike's age at the time - 17? And if Lucia is the oldest of the three, wouldn't that make them a few years older than Elincia? I guess if that's the case, her "big sister" attitude toward her makes sense, as well as Geoffrey's protective attitude over her. I always thought they were around the same age, though.

Have to say that Geoffrey's description makes him seem like the most adorable of cinnamon rolls.

"He has a tendency to blurt our immature responses whenever Queen Elincia faces opposition at meetings or anywhere else."
 

Spoiler

Elincia: We should do a thing.
Noble: I disagree!
Geoffrey: [murderous aura] You stupid fucking asinine waste of space, I will end you.

Lol.  I mean it did say he was bad at politics

Also "His conviction is so great that he feels a sense of disgrace if he slips up in his duty in even the slightest of ways."
 

Spoiler

Geoffrey: "Lady Elincia...asked me for a glass of water with a couple of ice cubes in it.... And I gave her one with three ice cubes in it. I AM A FAILURE OF A KNIGHT AND DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED!"

 

Edited March 13, 2017 by Extrasolar

[Anacybele]

lol, Extrasolar. XD I'll spoiler the next part since it goes slightly off topic.

 

Yeah, I can work with Geoffrey being more devoted to Elincia than Crimea itself. In fact, my writing him the way I did makes even more sense now. I had Elincia leave, so theoretically, this could definitely make him feel like his life has lost a lot of meaning, since he'd devoted himself to her, and despite his best efforts, her opinion about herself as a ruler plummets, the man she loves (Ike) disappears somewhere, and she decides to depart as well. This would be a sudden and big change for the guy, I can definitely see it hurting him a lot and possibly making him end up PTED for a time just like my co-author and I had done (that's Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder, btw. It's like PTSD, except it involves more anger and bitterness and causes a person's character to change a good bit to where they'd do some pretty OOC things because the trauma and stress just messed them up that much). Oh, and he definitely felt like a disgrace after what he did. He even tried to commit suicide until Kieran and Marcia stopped him (the other focus of this story was a love between those two. Another factor in Geoffrey's PTED was that everyone but him seemed to have found some kind of happiness and all).

I was accused of making Geoffrey look bad here just to make the Ike x Elincia pairing look better, but that was NEVER my intent, I swear. I can understand where this accusation came from, because I later learned that other authors have indeed done similar things (making a character look bad to make another or a pairing look better). So I understand why people said this to me (though back then, I didn't understand it as well as I do now, admittedly). But I do swear on my life I didn't intend to do this and I hadn't known other people did it. I'm sorry that those kinds of fanfics happen too, I think that's a pretty stupid idea. Also, Geoffrey gets a happy ending anyway. He finds new meaning to his life and becomes a pretty famous general in time. He also finds a wife (it's the girl who treated him, in fact. He became her first "patient" as a sort of nurse for troops and other people suffering mental/emotional problems) and they have a daughter. His PTED scenario was very temporary, as you can see.

Lethe is just as expected, as is Bastian. Bastian is amusing sometimes. lol

Edited March 14, 2017 by Anacybele

[Interdimensional Observer]

Like the contrast between Geoffrey and Bastian. One is dedicated to a person above all else, the other to the State (or is it Nation?) of Crimea. Bastian, ah what shame you are terrible in gameplay in both games, your personality and background are all too good for such crap stats.

[Kirokan]

Extrasolar's Geoffrey "quotes" were great. xD

Today's page is 059 Lucia !

They spent a long time praising her abilities in comparison to others (leaving men ashamed/outclassed, leaving Bastian impressed, etc).

[Extrasolar]

15 minutes ago, Kirokan said:

Extrasolar's Geoffrey "quotes" were great. xD

Thanks to both of you guys, lol. Seriously, if I ever got around to making a "Tellius Abridged" series that's exactly how I'd characterize Geoffrey just based on what the book says XD

I like how this profile goes into detail about the Ludveck shenanigans, and how Lucia wasn't even mad at Elincia for prioritizing Crimea (a super difficult decision, no matter what) over her. She was like "good job, little sis. You did a wise thing. Lucky the spotlight-stealing squad Greil Mercenaries were here to save me!"

Also Ludveck was the worst villain just because he was like "oh lol jk i was actually testing you please don't kill me" when he gets defeated...at least jarod has the balls to stay true to his beliefs even when the goddamn Black Knight was facing him down
 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Lucia being older than Geoffrey seems a little odd, but, I like it. She is a little irrational leaving Geoffrey to die in PoR IIRC. But, she is a rather likable character, the chaperone thing in PoR is a bit ridiculous, but otherwise her mere 3 supports are rather good (Ilyana's is eh, but that's because Ilyana), as are her Base Convos in both games. A pretty strong female character.

(Lucia gameplay wise is mediocre. In PoR Stefan joined long ago and is flat out better ('course without a guide, I doubt you'll get him), and the two trainee myrms are better too. I never noticed her 12 Magic though, not shabby for a potential SS/RS user (Tanith, Mia+Mage Band, and Mist exist though). In RD she's invaluable for her Azure Army (love that name) chapter, but is mediocre again in Part 4, but it's only her Strength that's really lacking, and she's forced into the Hawk Army so you can catch her up easily.)

[Anacybele]

We've always known that Lucia was older. xP It's not odd to me at all. I didn't feel that she or Geoffrey were that great as characters. They just didn't get enough screen time or anything to get fleshed out. And yeah, I also never liked Lucia for wanting to leave Geoffrey to die like that. I ended up liking Elincia, Kieran, and Marcia a lot more because, well, they had a lot more screen time and supports and stuff. Kieran and Marcia are just plain entertaining too. <3

Edited March 16, 2017 by Anacybele

[Luchi]

Lucy!!! :D :D :D

[Samias]

I do often wish that Lucia and Bastian were both better units, because their characters are so great. I always really liked that moment in PoR when Elincia finally reunites with the people she's known all her life and her spirits are lifted by their survival. Even though she learns to trust in Ike and the mercenaries, she's still on edge about appeasing Begnion until she finally sees the people she grew up with. But by the time RD rolls around though, Elincia has been taught by Ike, Lucia and Bastian that she is a capable leader of Crimea and is resolved to make sacrifices to protect the values of her country. Actually Geoffrey is perhaps an anomaly in all of this. He's devoted to Elincia over the needs of Crimea, so I kinda wish we got to see more of his reaction too. He has no mind for politics, and is a hell of a lot more emotional than Lucia and Bastian are. Hmmm.

That said I really do love Part 2 of RD. The Crimean Civil Uprising was really the grey area this game really needed to prevent it from making Crimea the perfect goody two shoes country.

[Rafiel's Aria]

Oh man...this is so much nostalgia right now. I feel like I've spent the day just sifting through all of these wonderful translations. Thanks a ton for this! You rock, Kirokan!

Oh Bastian... I absolutely adore him. I never got much use out of him as a unit, but he was such a fun character. I like that he got a bit of a more important role in RD. And his banter with Lucia was always priceless. Lucia was a pretty great character too. She rocked that short hair like a boss. 

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 3/16/2017 at 3:03 AM, Samias said:

That said I really do love Part 2 of RD. The Crimean Civil Uprising was really the grey area this game really needed to prevent it from making Crimea the perfect goody two shoes country.

I'm in agreement. I love Part 2, it works as almost its own standalone short story. Sure, it was really rocky gameplay wise, and another chapter or two could have helped the plot a bit more. But it was a light yet serious interlude that quite possibly was better executed than the Parts 1&3 it rests between.

And yeah, Elincia's dear Crimean retainers needed more supports in PoR, but they joined so darn late. Better than Ena or Nasir though who joined so late they couldn't get anything.

As for the skeletons of supports in RD, it makes sense from a gameplay perspective with the Part system constantly changing your team and everything around it. Though they still could have attempted a bit more I feel.

[Extrasolar]

On 3/16/2017 at 0:03 AM, Samias said:

That said I really do love Part 2 of RD. The Crimean Civil Uprising was really the grey area this game really needed to prevent it from making Crimea the perfect goody two shoes country.

I do like that it added more depth to Crimea (though I wouldn't call it a perfect goody two shoes country, cause we do see even in POR that Crimea is full of a bunch of racist assholes just as much as Daein and Begnion are), but the part of the game was woefully short, so everything comes off a bit rushed. I would have loved a longer Part II, with around the same amount of chapters as Part I to properly flesh out the story, motivations, and whatnot of the characters, not to mention give more time to Ludveck as a villain.

He was the weakest villain of RD for me, and a woeful way to end Part II. Just giving up and inventing some story about "testing" Elincia's readiness to be queen, when you've managed to get your own countrymen slaughtered and generally stress out the townsfolk? Yeah... No, buddy. You suck. Lol. Especially compared to Jarod.
 

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

As for the skeletons of supports in RD, it makes sense from a gameplay perspective with the Part system constantly changing your team and everything around it. Though they still could have attempted a bit more I feel.

Yeah... I think their "everyone can support with everyone" idea is interesting and/or good in a vacuum...But when you have to write quality supports for every single pair in the game, a lot of the time you just don't have writing ideas. I wish they could have paired it down to at least Awakening/Fates levels... I mean, while there are plenty of Awakening/Fates conversations that are generic and/or not interesting, they're better than the same generic template being used for every single conversation (not that the latter two didn't use templates every now and then - I'm remembering the generic Kana conversations...)

Edited March 17, 2017 by Extrasolar

[Interdimensional Observer]

3 hours ago, Extrasolar said:

He was the weakest villain of RD for me, and a woeful way to end Part II. Just giving up and inventing some story about "testing" Elincia's readiness to be queen, when you've managed to get your own countrymen slaughtered and generally stress out the townsfolk? Yeah... No, buddy. You suck. Lol. Especially compared to Jarod.

Ludveck is self-centered and wanted to save his own skin, better living in prison than dying a rebel if all you wanted was power for yourself. I think the question must be asked whether he really meant all he said, namely this line:

“Exactly, Your Majesty. If you truly had the power to quell the civil war… As long as I could affirm that, even if I were executed as a traitor, I would have no regrets.

Was that the truth. Or was he just saying that to improve his bargaining position?

It is possible he did honestly ideologically feel Elincia was a weak leader and Crimea needed a replacement, and also that he thought he was the only one suited for the task. Basically, he could have been both egotistical and selfless/ideological at the same time.

Plus, he had Lucia captive when he got captured. Ludveck thought Lucia would work to emotionally bring down Elincia, who would then free him and give in to his demands. He never expected Bastian to prepare a countermeasure for that (now that I think about it, Lucia owes Bastian big time).

[Extrasolar]

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Ludveck is self-centered and wanted to save his own skin, better living in prison than dying a rebel if all you wanted was power for yourself. I think the question must be asked whether he really meant all he said, namely this line:

“Exactly, Your Majesty. If you truly had the power to quell the civil war… As long as I could affirm that, even if I were executed as a traitor, I would have no regrets.

Was that the truth. Or was he just saying that to improve his bargaining position?

It is possible he did honestly ideologically feel Elincia was a weak leader and Crimea needed a replacement, and also that he thought he was the only one suited for the task. Basically, he could have been both egotistical and selfless/ideological at the same time.

Oh, I don't doubt that Ludveck is ultimately a coward that wimps out to save himself. But that's precisely what I don't like about him. He talks grand about how he wants Elincia to prove herself and how he thinks she's a weak ruler, only to prove himself the weakest person of them all in the situation. Basically, a giant hypocrite. Not to mention, he doesn't seem to give a shit about making the Crimean Knights have to cut down their own countrymen and the fact that his own troops sacrificed their life for his scared ass. Just makes him come off as slimier than ever.

I like my villains to stick to their guns, even if their guns are extremist views and the villains themselves are assholes. That's why I consider Jarod to be the best minor villain of the game. Guy was the ultimate douche, but brave as hell. He didn't even shiver when the Black Knight was in front of him! Talk about badass, lol.

I'm hyping Jarod a lot lately...

Edited March 18, 2017 by Extrasolar

[fangpoint333]

I always felt that Ludveck was trying to seize power for himself and only used his "I was only testing you" to try to assume the moral high ground and establish himself as being more worthy of being a ruler. I liked part 2 as a whole and it had enough importance overall to me despite the length. Elincia's decision in part 3 would not have had the same impact if it wasn't for this whole side story

I wasn't sure of their exact ages, but I didn't expect the age gap between Elincia and the siblings to be so big. No real new info on Lethe sadly.

 

[BrightBow]

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Ludveck is self-centered and wanted to save his own skin, better living in prison than dying a rebel if all you wanted was power for yourself. I think the question must be asked whether he really meant all he said, namely this line:

“Exactly, Your Majesty. If you truly had the power to quell the civil war… As long as I could affirm that, even if I were executed as a traitor, I would have no regrets.

I'm sure he was talking out of his ass. In the extended script they even discuss why he didn't simply assassinate her and it's because of the unrest it would cause and the lack of satisfaction he would get from killing her that way, no word of him simply trying to test her.:

“If I wanted you killed, it would be maddeningly simple to do so. Your Majesty is not cautious, in the slightest, of anyone and easy to get close to. I could just hide a blade or perhaps prepare some poisoned wine, while saying some pleasing words to you, slowly befriending you. Yet if that were the case… I fear even at death you wouldn’t have suspected a thing and would just smile happily at me. Moreso, Crimea would enter another time of turbulence. The nearby nations would declare me a traitor and use it as an excuse to invade Crimea. To prevent this scenario from happening, I had to have Your Majesty abdicate out of your own free will and then appoint me as the new king.”

Not to mention when Elincia informs him of her decision to let Lucia die, he tries to convince her otherwise and paints her as selfish. It's also the only time we see him loose his composure. Even after Elincia left and he was talking only to himself, he still says that he hopes that she will crawl back to him and imagines that scenario with glee. So yeah, Elincia actually prevailing was clearly not an acceptable outcome for him.

4 hours ago, Extrasolar said:

Oh, I don't doubt that Ludveck is ultimately a coward that wimps out to save himself. But that's precisely what I don't like about him. He talks grand about how he wants Elincia to prove herself and how he thinks she's a weak ruler, only to prove himself the weakest person of them all in the situation. Basically, a giant hypocrite. Not to mention, he doesn't seem to give a shit about making the Crimean Knights have to cut down their own countrymen and the fact that his own troops sacrificed their life for his scared ass. Just makes him come off as slimier than ever.

I like my villains to stick to their guns, even if their guns are extremist views and the villains themselves are assholes. That's why I consider Jarod to be the best minor villain of the game. Guy was the ultimate douche, but brave as hell. He didn't even shiver when the Black Knight was in front of him! Talk about badass, lol.

I'm hyping Jarod a lot lately...

I wouldn't call Ludveck a coward or weak. The heroes get the better of him several times during the arc, yet he always keeps his composure and simply adjusts his plans accordingly. It's actually quite impressive how he keeps this up even in captivity. It's too bad we didn't get to see his reaction when he learned that he was thoroughly beaten.

Edit:

And I suppose I also wouldn't call him a hypocrite either because he sincerely believes that the lives of ordinary people simply don't matter. This is another thing that fell victim to the abridged script we got, so here is the part where he spells this out:

Elincia:
“Didn’t you say before that you caused a rebellion in order to protect the country? Then let me ask you, what is country? Isn’t it civilians who make a country? Think about it. Throughout this conflict, do you realise how many lives you’ve simply thrown away?!”

Ludveck:
“Ha, such naive reasoning. What is wrong about using civilians!? Without even lifting a finger, civilian numbers will rise by themselves. Human live are as cheap as grass, isn’t that the truth? These small insignificant bundles of life don’t have any impact on the country’s well-being. However, a king is different. Without a king, a country cannot stand. A country needs its king. It needs a powerful king!”

 

Edited March 18, 2017 by BrightBow

[Extrasolar]

14 hours ago, BrightBow said:

I wouldn't call Ludveck a coward or weak. The heroes get the better of him several times during the arc, yet he always keeps his composure and simply adjusts his plans accordingly. It's actually quite impressive how he keeps this up even in captivity. It's too bad we didn't get to see his reaction when he learned that he was thoroughly beaten.

Edit:

And I suppose I also wouldn't call him a hypocrite either because he sincerely believes that the lives of ordinary people simply don't matter. This is another thing that fell victim to the abridged script we got, so here is the part where he spells this out:

I call him a coward simply because he surrenders after being beaten at the end of Part II, rather than going down with the ship like Jarod did. Now, cowards don't necessarily panic after every single setback, but at the end of the day they don't have the courage to stick to their beliefs when it's clear they're not winning or on the verge of defeat. It's like the Kobayashi Maru test of Star Trek fame - the point of the test is to see how the captain conducts him/herself when in an unwinnable scenario.

Jarod was monstrous in a lot of ways (killing civilians in order to lure the Dawn Brigade out, for one), but I'll give the guy credit: He died cursing Micaiah, Daein and the Dawn Brigade with his last breath. He knew he was in for a loss, but he wasn't about to throw up his hands and beg for mercy like Ludveck did. He stood up to a guy he had exactly zero chance of beating, because he would be damned if he was going to surrender to any of them, and give them that satisfaction of seeing him beg for mercy. (Plus, he was pissed about Alder's death.)

Ludveck, on the other hand... Yeah, for as much shit as he talked to Elincia about her being weak and not a good ruler, and as much as he tried to hype himself up as the strong king and best option for the country, the guy himself didn't have the brass to stick to his own guns when shit started hitting the fan and there was no way back. The least he could do, even if Elincia beat him, is refuse to cooperate and submit to her. If he truly, truly believed himself to be a better ruler than her, he would die for his cause, believing that he'd become a martyr and the cause would be taken up by his allies. But he didn't. He was nothing but a coward playing at bravado. Granted, he didn't completely lose his mind like Zant of Twilight Princess did when he was about to be defeated, but he sure as hell went down the coward's route by surrendering.

He's ultimately a selfish, boastful without the means to back it up, slimy guy who doesn't have the backbone to stick to his guns. "A powerful king" my ass, basically.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Extrasolar