Posted By GlitterBerri on April 20, 2008

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The following article by Robert Seddon was reprinted with permission from Face of the Moon.

TIN_1

Robert Seddon says: TIN_1, the first carriage on the Midgar train (apart from the Cargo van), is the last of the regular maps with decent-sized chunks of unused text. One piece of dialogue in this file was actually moved around by the translators so that it wasn’t on its own between blanked-out slots. Another point of interest in TIN_1 is {0xFEDA}『ルートマップ画面へ』{END}, which corresponds to “To the Route Map Screen” in the English files: it’s placeholder text from development, and so it never appears in the game. Consequently I had to dig around in emulator memory to find out what the otherwise unseen FEDA did: it causes text to flash alternate white and grey. There’s another (glitchy) code, FEE0, which causes text to scroll upwards while the confirmation button is held down; according to the Loveless.exe help file both of these are operative in the PC conversion too, even though they’re not used anywhere in the final game proper. FEDF produces the same glitches but no other apparent effect. Other things I found while probing the dialogue memory: FC00 – FC18 replicate the kanji represented by FBE7 – FBFF for some reason. Elsewhere there are chunks of numbers which produce kana, but displaced downwards by several pixels (sometimes with the bottom of the character descending through the top of the line).

S, scared? I’m alright, I, I’ll protect you. (I give up.. I lost my nerve.)

(Please, go away!) I’m sure you’re good people. I, I’m not worried… honest.

Eek!! What do I do… What do I do…. (I wonder our destinies are connected? Or intertwined…?)

Sorry… I feel a little… It must be something I ate. That famous Midgar plate pizza…

Robert Seddon says: Robert Seddon says: Those lines, or at least some of them, presumably belong to the Shinra manager. Below is that looks like placeholder or debug text; the two blank lines are an odd detail.

To the door lock.

Jessie: Hey, Cloud. Are you listening?
1. Yeah…
2. Nope.

1a. Cloud: I see… Pretty detailed, huh.

2a. Cloud: I wasn’t listening… Let me hear it again.

1b. Jessie: Huh?! …Yeah. AVALANCHE has rules that we have to learn lots of things by heart. Anyway, it’s for a good cause. Barret often talks about things that are hard to understand. The true nature of Mako, for example. ???

2b. Jessie: Okey dokey. Leave it to me.

2c. Ready? The Mako city of Midgar is a manmade city built 50 meters above the ground.

2d. It’s a crystallization of the highest level of technology. Midgar, a city symbolizing humanity’s wisdom and power.

Thinking about Shinra’s technology, it’s great all over again.

Cloud: Shinra, huh…
1. Let me hear about Shinra.
2. I’m not interested.

1a. Huh? But Cloud, don’t you know more than me?

1b. Cloud: It’s been awhile. I didn’t work at headquarters or anything.

Jessie: Alright, alright. Shinra Company… The current enemy of AVALANCHE. This train, this sector, and, of course, the Mako reactors… Everything from our wallets to the government is in the grasp of this massive corporation.

The head of Shinra Company is a man called President Shinra. By actively pushing the construction of the Mako reactors he put Shinra where it is today.

We’re fighting a reckless battle. I wonder if we can win…

Jessie: Moving on.

Robert Seddon says: It’s easy enough to see why that might have been deemed redundant. The following, however, is another example of Jessie’s character development being cut back…

For those of us who live in the slums, this train is the only way to reach Midgar.

From the slum towns to Midgar… This train manages the transport of just about everything.

Anyway, riding this train makes you realize that those aren’t the only thing the city above absorbs. Kind feelings… Light hearts… They’re gradually disappearing.

I say no way to that. That’s why I joined AVALANCHE.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to talk for so long. But I wanted you to know my reason for fighting. I didn’t want you to think I was just a girl who’s bomb-crazy.

Voluntary Recall

Robert Seddon says: Maybe it was intended as some kind of notice…