Because 14 + 8 is 22, see?

I haven't gotten super far in FFVIII because I've been playing FFXIV--I'm just after Edea shows up and takes Seifer away--but some people mentioned being curious about further differences between the Japanese and English and there were some points that stood out with me. I'm pleased to report that both Rinoa's introduction and Selphie's train song are the same in both languages:

リノア「君が一番カッコいいね。ね、踊ってくれない？もしかして、好きな子としか踊らないってやつ？ふ～ん……私のことが……好きにな～る、好きにな～る。ダメ？」
スコール「……踊れないんだ」
リノア「だいじょうぶ、だいじょうぶ。知り合いを探してるの。１人じゃダンスの輪に入れないからね」
Rinoa: "Oh, you're the best-looking one here. Won't you dance with me? Or maybe, you only dance with girls that you like? Well... you're...going to like me... you're...going to like me... No good?"
Squall: "...I can't dance."
Rinoa: "It's fine, it's fine! There's someone I'm looking for and I can't go dancing alone."

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セルフィ「あたし、乗り物好きなんだ～。きしゃ～♪きしゃ～♪はっし～れ～♪ぼっくらをのせて～♪とおっくへ～♪ぼっくらをつれて～♪みら～いへ～♪　気持ちいいよね～。あ、先に部屋はいってて。あたし、もうちょっとここにいるから」
Selphie: "I love trains. Traaain, traaain, go go, take us away, to a far away place, carry us to the future. Isn't it wonderful? Oh, go on ahead, I'll be here for a bit longer."

I really expected more from the Rinoa scene but the original translation was spot on.

In about ten hours of play (ignoring the three hours or so I spent grinding fish on the beach to get No Encounter and various Refines), I've only seen a single instance of Squall actually saying "...whatever." It's on the train to Timber just before the first Laguna temporal flashback, when Zell is getting hyped about the train room and Timber and asks Squall if he knows about the history of Timber. The two choices are どうでもいい and いや、別にいいよ, both of which could be translated as "...whatever" or "I don't care," though the first is more dismissive than the second.

Squall is still a huge jerk, though. He blows off Quistis when she's trying to confide in him:

キスティス「何か言ってもらおうなんて思ってないわ。話を聞いてくれるだけでいいのよ」
スコール「だったら壁にでも話してろよ」
Quistis: "I didn't want you to say anything! Just listening to me would be enough."
Squall: "Then go talk to a wall."

and he tells Rinoa after the failure of her capture President-for-life Deling mission that it's better not to care about anything because then you'll never be disappointed. He's still unlikeable and I'm curious to see at what point the redemption occurs.

More news as I discover it.

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In Final Fantasy XIV, I beat the Stormblood main scenario through 4.0 three weeks ago--it's not as good as Heavensward because the split between the Othard storyline and the Ala Mhigo storyline harmed the narrative, I think, and the main villain was far less compelling--but I've just been leveling jobs and doing side content since then. I did the Return to Ivalice raids together with sashagee, and by our powers combined we understood all the references--she's played FFXII but not FFT, I've played FFT but not FFXII--and just last weekend we finished the Omega raids. I've unlocked all the non-Shadowbringers jobs and delved into Eureka, the Stormblood area that's designed to replicate the experience of older grind-heavy MMOs. And I did grind--I fought a bunch of monsters, I opened a ton of lockboxes, and just last night I pulled out this sleek boi:


Now I can move on from Eureka Anemos to Eureka Pagos, which is apparently much more annoying (though far less now that it's been nerfed into the ground as old content!). I guess I'll find out.