Hey Lunareste!
Thank you so much for the feedback! I don’t consider any criticism to be harsh, as long as it isn’t mean-spirited.
Regarding the original Japanese translation, I have read it many times, and I used it as an initial reference before creating my rewrite.
It is important to remember that the reason that she wants to achieve Time Compression is because the events of the game are going to be recorded into history, and the people of the future will persecute sorceresses as they await her arrival to try and destroy time itself.
Let me first say that I like this idea, and I appreciate that you brought it up. If this idea, and others like it, had been explored, or woven into the narrative throughout the story, I probably would have never had a desire to make this mod.
The problem is that this is not what the original text is saying. And this is one of the most common criticisms of the story, that Ultimecia has no clear motivation. (That’s a major reason why fans developed the ‘Rinoa is Ultimecia’ theory in the first place).
The original text is referencing classical interpretations of witches that we are familiar with in our world. And the assumption is that the people in Deling have similar preconceptions and biases against witches (or ‘sorceresses’). Why would Ultimecia be referencing future events that her current audience would have no knowledge or understanding of? Instead, she is referencing their past, and things the audience does understand and relate to.
But, if the people have this bias against witches, then the story has created a question: why do the people (including the president) support Edea as a leader now, despite such a bias? This is what my mod attempts to answer, primarily through the perspective of Seifer, but also through the explanation of the nature of sorceresses themselves.
And it is by this explanation of sorceresses that we come to a greater understanding of Ultimecia’s motivation. So if you’re looking for a deeper look into the mind and motivation of Ultimecia (or Edea), it is in other scenes, not this one.
The focus of this scene is to provide context for the events that are taking place in THIS scene. I attempted to clearly demonstrate how Edea is able to come to power, overthrow and murder the current president, and convince the people to love her for it.
Your changes make it seem like she's offering purpose or leadership to the citizens of the country...
...I think your changes come off a bit as a Rita Repulsa type monologue; clearly she's saying she's evil, but what is the point of her conveying this?
Please clarify, which is it?
And if it's both, then, to a certain extent, that's exactly what I intended. She isn't saying she is evil. She is saying the exact opposite. And the player is, of course, supposed to get the impression that she is. But the audience, however, (including people like Seifer) is being manipulated into supporting her. She is telling them what they want to hear, and they're buying it. That is the intent of the speech (and arguably most political speeches in general). And the reason for her poetic cadence is to imply that she is using a subtle form of coercive magic, and combining it with persuasive rhetoric to ‘cast a spell’ on the audience, so to speak.
I really did attempt to capture the spirit and intent of the original, while keeping the content of her speech practical and intelligible for a player on their first playthrough. In the original, she promised to lead the people into a fantasy of their own delusions. In mine, she makes fantastical promises, and her audience is deluded into following her.
Hopefully this helps you to better understand the perspective I’m taking with this mod!
Also, and I understand if this is too much of a stretch for you, but in the same way that I have written amnesia out of the story, I have also written Time Compression completely out of the story. This necessarily alters the view you had of Ultimecia’s past and motivation. It's something I have intended for a while, now, and for the final version of the mod, I’ll update the description to reflect that.
If this deviation is one step too far for you, I understand. I’ll be a little bummed, but I get it.
