Squall is such a B****

[Kenryoku_Maxis]

spdk1 said:

Kenryoku_Maxis said:

blaydcor said:
Frankly, I don't have the time to write a thesis paper on why Squall is an inelegantly written and clumsily executed character. When a character has a clearly intentionally planned trademark phrase and that phrase is 'whatever', theres not much more that has to be said.

And its been well documented that Squalls 'whatever' doctorine was actually a lazy effort by the translation team to translate a myriad of different phrases (all with completely different words such as 'Hey, but you're a teacher' or 'I don't think that's a good idea').   All different phrases from the Japanese that have no coorilation to the pointless 'whatever' stick Squall has been labeled with in the west (see image below).  And its pretty sad that Squall haters make such a big deal about it since he also says it much less frequently than they make it out to be and mostly only in the first quarter of the game.  Heck, the first two instances of it are more than 5-6 HOURS apart (from the fire cave to the Balamb dance).

So I think you guys should really go back and either a) Replay the game to really see how Squalls character pans out or b) Bring up some solid character points besides the things that are brought up in every thread like this.

Hmm...sure looks like more characters than a simple 'Whatever' to me....

Thats fine, but I speak english, so the version I played had "whatever" Squall.  Its kind of like the anime Naruto, folks rave about it all the time, but I can't stand the main character because of his annoying  "BELIEVE IT!!!" crap that they dubbed in, and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.  Its kind of unfair to brush the "squall haters" opinions aside just because we never played the "true" version of squall.  I honestly doubt a few changed lines would make me like him any more.

And what I'm trying to say is there was a lot more going on than a 'few changed lines'.  Or do you dispute that there's a major difference between Squall saying 'Whatever' or thinking to himself '...But you're a teacher?'  Or in a later scene, just brushing off Rinoa's advance with yet ANOTHER '...whatever' or actively saying '...I don't think so.'  Aka, the Japanese version of the game showed CHARACTER.  The English version showed a lazy localization staff with a trend of redundancy.

In either case, even with the 'Whatever' script added, those instances of him saying it are few and far between and have only become connected to his character because of an internet meme.  Mostly perpetuated by people who hated the game as a whole and were looking for individual things to mock in the game.  In other words, its a pretty weak thing to focus on since its so easy to argue was caused by mistranslation and only appears in the first quarter of the game.