I noticed that the Spanish versions of FFXV make several creative decisions that set them apart from English. But I couldn't find mention of this anywhere so I've spent some time compiling a bunch of noteworthy changes to share. Espero que les interese!
El don Lux
The most prominent change in the Spanish versions is that Noctis's hereditary powers are in Latin. It's called "the gift of Lux" and every teleportation-related ability has that title. I checked, and this is unique to the Spanish versions of the game. Not even the original Japanese does this even though the main characters's names are Latin in every language. It's a truly inspired choice that's canon as far as I'm concerned - it adds to the light vs. dark themes, it sounds much cooler, and it's literally Noct's family name (Noctis Lucis Caelum).
Every gift of Lux and its lame English equivalent:
| Español | English |
|---|---|
| Lux Impetus | Warp-Strike |
| Lux Itineris | Point-Warp |
| Lux Evasio | Warp Out |
| Lux Mortis | Warp-Kill |
| Lux Contra | Death Drop |
| Lux Fatua | Warp Decoy |
| Lux Custodia | Impervious |
| Lux Vigilosa | idk but it's real i swear |
El Coro Espectral
The weapons that Noct robs from the tombs of his ancestors are collectively called "the Spectral Chorus" instead of "the Armiger." And the group attack when you press L1 + R1 twice is called the "Spectral Nova" instead of the "Armiger Chain." The English names are accurate I suppose, but the Spanish names are more poetic.
What's more, each individual weapon is named after the monarch that it belonged to. I don't know where these names come from because they're not mentioned anywhere else in-game, I think? This is also unique to Spanish. Other languages give the weapons wordy names that are more of a description, really.
Every Royal Arm (spoilers!)
| Español | English |
|---|---|
| Salomón | Sword of the Wise |
| Deva | Axe of the Conqueror |
| Vaiu | Bow of the Clever |
| Jano | Swords of the Wanderer |
| Iaksa | Blade of the Mystic |
| Fukuryu | Star of the Rogue |
| Goliat | Sword of the Tall |
| Galatea | Shield of the Just |
| Ragnar | Mace of the Fierce |
| Bautista | Scepter of the Pious |
| Vajra | Trident of the Oracle |
| Beatrix | Katana of the Warrior |
| Caelum | Sword of the Father |
The titles for these monarchs are different too, but I want to highlight the three associated with Prompto, Ignis, and Gladiolus in particular. In Spanish the connections make perfect sense, but in English they really don't (What's clever about Prompto? When does Iggy ever wander? Gladi is tall tho I'll give you that)
| Español | Translated Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| el Diestro | the Dexterous | the Clever |
| el Inquieto | the Anxious/Fretful | the Wanderer |
| el Indómito | the Indomitable | the Tall |
Juegos de Palabra
In English, some quests rhyme while most have generic titles. In Spanish the opposite is true - every sidequest rhymes with few exceptions. Spanish added a great pun to diners too: you can order "Batidas de caza" from them which means "Hunting raids." It's pronounced the same as "Batidas de casa" meaning "Homemade shakes." The fact that chefs tell you to hunt monsters makes no sense in other languages.
Here's some more text changes that I think are improvements, funny, or otherwise cute:
| Español | Translated Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| los Sidéreos | the Sidereals | the Astrals |
| la Sideralia | the Sideralia | the Hexatheon |
| la Santálita | the Crystal | |
| la Chocoberiza | it's a play on Chocobo + stable | the Chocobo Post |
| Academia de Eos | Eos Academy | Tutorial |
| Álbum de Prompto | Prompto's Album | Auto-snaps |
| Caldo Curacrudas | Hangover-curing Broth | Quillhorn Soup |
| la Cocina de doña Quina | the Kitchen of Mrs. Countertop | Iron Shelf Recipes |
| Nocberto | Noct Gar |
Also, it's adorable how the Pop camera filter is named the Prompto filter in Spanish and the Random setting is called "as much as Prompto wants" (al gusto de Prompto).
Also also, I like the Spanish description of Cid's hammer more:
| Español | Translated Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| A quien ni a martillazos se le ablanda la cabeza | For someone whose head can't be softened even through hammer-smashings | Property of Mr. Hammerproof Thickskull |
Errores
In Latin Spanish, the node that increases attack incorrectly says it increases health. Spanish Spanish doesn't have that mistake.
A more substantial error is the description for the healing nodes: both Spanish versions describe Gladiolus's nodes differently than Ignis's and Prompto's. That is, they say that Gladi will heal himself automatically when he's at low health, but Iggy and Prompto will heal only when they trigger an assist skill or when Noct commands them to attack. In English, all recovery nodes have the same description and they all say that the healing is automatic. I don't know which of these are correct but they can't all be.
But by far the most interesting mistake is the names these languages give to the Aztec bosses:
| Español | España-ol | English |
|---|---|---|
| Quetzalcóatl | Quetzal | Quetzalcoatl |
| Mictecacihuatl | Cihuatl | Mictlantecihuatl |
As you can see, Spain-ish abbreviated the names. But Nahuatl is a language like German in that its big words are composed of smaller words. So by chopping them in half, Spain changed their meanings entirely.
Here are all the relevant words:
| Nahuatl | English |
|---|---|
| quetzalli | big, beautiful, green feathers |
| coatl | serpent |
| Mictlan | Hell |
| cihuatl | woman |
So Quetzalcoatl means "Serpent of Beautiful Feathers" and Mictlantecihuatl means "Mistress of Hell." But in Spain those gods aren't the bosses you face. No, instead you fight against a pile of pretty feathers and some random woman LMAO
And if you're curious why the goddess of Hell has different valid names, that's because there are different dialects of Nahuatl and variations of spelling. El Gran Diccionario Náhuatl.
Español vs. Españaol
Besides Spain being wrong about Mexico, it also has different descriptions for all the lore. I skimmed it ngl so the only difference that stood out to me is that the havens from the endgame dungeons were made dry. They don't have unique names or poetic rhyming though they do in both Latin Spanish and English. Also for some reason, Spain calls the Bestiary the Database.
Spain is also weirdly specific for the outfits without jackets. English and normal Spanish simply label them all as (No Jacket) or (desabrigado) but Spain will specify (sin levita), (sin guerrera), (en camiseta), (sin casaca), (sin chaqueta), etc.
Otras Cosas
- The highest rank you can get after a fight in Spanish is ⭐. In English it's A+ and in Japanese it's S
- The main menu is in ALL CAPS IN ENGLISH but not in either Spanish
- In English, the text above each character's experience is "To Next Level: " and in Latin Spanish it's "Siguiente nivel" without a colon and in Spain it's "Nivel ⬆"
- Bandersnatch and Jabberwock are Zamarrojo and Galimatazo in Spanish. What are the hispanic names referencing? Beats me.
The date formats used in the Ω-files are wildly different:
| Español | Españaol | English |
|---|---|---|
| 24-10-745 | Día 296, Año 745 | M.E. 745-X-24th |
| 25-11-745 | Día 328, Año 745 | M.E. 745-XI-25th |
Finally, the line Noctis says to his bros in the last camping cutscene is more or less the same between these languages.
spoiler for the thing I just said
| Español | Españaol | Spanishes Translated | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bueno... ¿Qué quieren que les diga? Chicos... Son los mejores. | Bueno... ¿Qué queréis que os diga? Tíos... Sois los mejores. | Well... What do you want me to say? Fellas... You're the best. | Well... What can I say? You guys... are the best. |
I heard he's more affectionate in Japanese, but I don't know the language so if anyone could translate what he's saying, I'd much appreciate it!!!! Please tell me what he says in all the other languages too! I really want to know! If you've read this far and know Japanese, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, or Russian then I obligate you to tell me.
I 100% agree that the game felt rushed at the end, particularly after the timeskip. I played the game totally blind so I didn't even know there was a timeskip and I got whiplash from the way Noctis just... goes to bed for a decade in a single cutscene. The boys are said to have gone their separate ways in the meantime, only regrouping occasionally, and I so badly want to know how that went down. FFXV is all about the boy band, the writers can't just leave out ten years of their character development like they can with everyone else!
Regarding Lunafreya, she feels like three different characters to me. In the movie, she's principled and courageous. In the book, she's preachy and won't shut up about Noctis. In the game, she hardly has any presence but whenever she is there, it's tropey as hell. She's a Damsel in Distress, Love Interest, Heroic Sacrifice, Precious Princess and it suuuuuucks. I agree that there were too many cooks because there's so much going on with her that surely the chefs had forgotten what they put in the pot as they were ~~burning~~ cooking the script.
More than anything though, I despise the "romance" between her and Noctis. They only ever met a few times as children and that was 12 years in the past by the time of the game! Their only communication has been passing notes and they haven't even managed to fill a single notebook since then! And they're both bad texters! Their union is a literal political marriage to unite the Lucis bloodline with that of the Oracle! And this marriage was decided for them at birth, by force! BY ARDYN!!! I can't express in words how much I fucking hate how the game ends with them kissing, how the game's logo is the pair of them together, how the book had the chance to take a different path but instead doubled, tripled, quadrupled down on this godawful ship for the true ending. Surely, surely the writers lost track of everything they wrote down?
Also, FFXV has acts? Haha to be honest I didn't even parse what happened until well after I finished the game. But the story isn't what drew me in anyway. The chemistry between the guys is what FFXV is all about and it's why I don't mind that everything else is pretty shit. If I were in charge, I'd've put even less effort on the plot in favor of more time with the group because it's sorely lacking in non-Noctis interactions. We the fans deserve to see more of the Gladi/Prompto, Gladi/Iggy, and Iggy/Prompto dynamic.