I’ll leave my major notes about the translation here so I don’t have to put in disruptive footnotes everywhere.
The Table of Contents will be listed in alphabetical order, but the actual list will be in order of additions, with new notes at the bottom. -Sevon
[ Updated 01/17/22 ]
For clarification, especially in the sections from the Ultimania, I’ll be using brackets. This won’t apply to information within tables.
Art/Spell/Ability names, Scenario names, and Role names will be written inside [ ] with matching icons when available, e.g. [
Jewel Strike], [
Life Water], [Wil’s Departure], [Gruegel], [Scout].
The SaGa games traditionally use two terms throughout the series: 技 waza for all Weapon Arts/Techniques, and 術 jutsu for all Spells/Magic. However, SaGa Frontier 2 adds a bunch of new terms into the mix, the most confusing being 術技, which has been localized as both “Spell Arts” and “Hybrid Arts” in the game. To avoid confusion for the purposes of this translation, I will be using the following conventions:
Arts will continue to refer specifically to Weapon Arts and abilities which consume WP.
Spells will be used as a general term for the sake of simplicity and unless otherwise specified, is implied to include Fusion Spells and Basic Spells ([ Tree], [
Stone], [
Water], [
Flame], [
Tone], [
Beast]).
Hybrid Arts will refer to Weapon Arts which consume SP and, for the sake of some Perfect Works explanations, also includes Anima Equipment Abilities which consume SP (e.g. [
Stone Axe], [
Wood Staff]).
Equipment Abilities will refer to any abilities tied to equipment, including Anima abilities (e.g. [ Stone Axe], [ Wood Staff]) and unique abilities (e.g. [ Megabolt], [
Comet Fall], [
Press]).
Custom Arts are only ever used in Duels, so the name will remain unchanged.
For reference, these are the Japanese terms used to categorize abilities:
技 Arts – All Weapon Arts
術 Spells – All abilities which use Anima/consume SP
術技 Hybrid Arts / Spell Arts – Abilities which combine physical Weapons Arts with Anima
合成術 Fusion Spells – All the Spells that can be equipped from the menu. These are called “Fusion Spells” because they combine multiple types of Anima.
基本術 Basic Spells / Basic Arts – The basic Anima Symbols used as abilities: [ Tree], [ Stone], [ Water], [ Flame], [ Tone], [ Beast].
装備固有術 Equipment Abilities – The literal translation is “Inherent Equipment Spells/Arts”, but it’s basically the same as “Equipment Abilities” from SaGa Frontier 1.
カスタムアーツ Custom Arts – Combinations of Anima commands in Duels that don’t synthesize into Fusion Spells.
技術 lit. “arts / techniques” – This doesn’t refer to any specific game mechanics, but is a general catch-all term for any type of ability or is used to refer specifically to both Arts and Spells.
There are four main Principalities in the Merchmin region, though only three are directly named in-game: Berth, Otto, and Nohl. The fourth was only mentioned in the game manual with the spelling Schud.
According to the Ultimania, the names of the Four Principalities are supposed to be ノール Nord (Nohl), シュッド Sud (Schud), オート Haute (Otto), and バース Bas (Berth), which respectively mean North, South, Highlands, and Lowlands.
For this translation, I will be sticking with the names used in the NA localization. In the case of Sud, I will instead be using the spelling “Sude” because I believe it’s closer to the original intention while matching the style of the other names.
The name being used for these countries is 侯国, which technically translates to “Marquissate”, but I intentionally chose “Principality” for the sake of variety. No one wants to read phrases like “Gustave, Marquis of the Marquissate of Berth” and Perfect Works always refers to important figures by their titles, anyway.
There were a handful of place names only mentioned in passing during the game (most notably during [Gustave’s Successor], but which have completely different spellings according to Perfect Works. In the following cases, I will be using the Perfect Works spellings:
パース Paas (mentioned once in the Remaster as "Parth", erroneously called "Berth" in the PSX version)
オーバス Eaubas (mentioned once in the game as “Opus”)
スライブール Seraybourg (mentioned once in the game as “Sleibul”)
ツーラ Tura (mentioned once in the game as “Toule”)
カルナック Carnak (mentioned once in the game as “Carnack”)
In the PSX localization, one of Cantal’s daughters introduces herself as “Nicolette Drangueforde”. However, her name in the Japanese version is ヌヴィエム・ドラングフォルド and is specifically romanized as “Neuvième de Langford” in the Ultimania. Thankfully, this has been corrected in the Remaster. Her name is significant because she’s the ninth child of Cantal.
The Japanese language has the convenience of being able to use different alphabets to indicate different meanings of the same word. The most infuriating thing I’ve come across so far is the difference between 道具 and ツール. Both translate to “tool” in English, but 道具 refers to normal everyday tools we’re familiar with in our world while ツール refers to the special Tools in the game which can be used as a focus for Anima. For this website, lowercase “tool” will always refer to mundane non-magical implements while Uppercase “Tool” will always refer to the magical Tools used everywhere in Sandail.
Sometimes the text uses the kanji 鉄, which most commonly means “iron”, but very rarely it can also be used for “steel”. I’ve confirmed from the Ultimania that the intended meaning is “steel”, so don’t be fooled if you’re reading the original Japanese text. I’m not sure why they refer to the latter half of the 1200’s as 鉄の時代 (lit. “Age of Iron”) when from the context, it should be something more like 鋼の時代 (lit. “Age of Steel”)… By the way, Steel equipment in the game itself uses the kanji 鋼鉄 (also “steel”).
If you’ve looked at various Japanese materials about SaGa Frontier 2 or played Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe, you may have heard mention of akebia. But what does it mean?
One of the more memorable scenes in the game takes place in [Gustave, 12 Years Old]. Gus sits on the dock, trying to process his complicated feelings, and Flynn tries to cheer him up. The dialogue goes like this in the US localization.
Flynn: Sir Gus, I got some berries for you.
What’s wrong, Sir Gus? It’s okay, no one saw me.
C’mon, Sir Gus, let’s eat.
However, the first line of the dialogue in the Japanese version goes like this:
| ギュス様、あけびを取ってきたよ。 | Sir Gus, I brought some akebia. |
Aha, mystery solved: the Japanese version specifies that Flynn picked akebia berries.
Kawazu commented on this in a Tweet from 2014.
[In this scene from SaGa Frontier 2], Flynn picks some akebia for Gustave. This brings up the question: does akebia exist in this world, too? And it’s a subtle detail that not all players will notice. Still, I wanted them to eat akebia together to demonstrate the connection between the two.
In the Japanese printed materials, Gustave’s name ギュスターヴ is romanized as “Gustav”. This actually isn’t a mistake, according to a Tweet from Kawazu in 2014:
Gustave’s name comes from Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden in the 17th century. His long-time rival was Duke Wallenstein of Bohemia. Because of the 8 character limit [in the Japanese version], his name is read the English way in RS2. The two clashed in the Battle of Lützen. King Gustav was killed in action, but the Swedish army still won.
In Perfect Works, Gustave XII (ギュスターヴ12世), Gustave XIV (ギュスターヴ14世), and Gustaf (グスタフ) also have their names romanized as “Gustav”.
For this website, I’m going to keep the spelling “Gustave” because why change a good thing?