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ultima786

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,711
[no explicit spoilers] I can actually see how you might. I even understand where some of the negative reaction is coming from. As a person of color myself, I think I can appreciate the concerns.

But. He is genuinely a good character. Has a fleshed-out, thoughtful backstory, which reveals his multi-layered motivations for sticking it out until the end. He's a loving father that struggles to balance his loyalty to his crew, quest for vengeance against an evil Corp that did both him wrong personally and the planet wrong, a quest to save the planet, alongside his ability to be a good father (wink to those who understand the nuance). He's also a badass, and some of the so-called stereotypes do not detract from that fact. He has a gun on his arm that actually is explained well within the game. He is upright, although rough around the edges. He is a loyal friend even when others have given up on him. He deeply cares, and I dare say, loves his crew and there are moments in the game where this comes through.

The entire cast is diverse, interesting, and unique. Ff7 is a wonderful game whose faults here and there won't detract from its classic tale. Don't let the outer layer convince you otherwise. Please consider playing.
 

Mona

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
26,151
ive always liked him since i first played the game around 12 years old or so
 

Glass Arrows

Member
Jan 10, 2019
1,414
I liked Barett too, I thought his backstory was nicely written and gave him legitimate pathos. The only real problem is the bad localization making him sound silly and stereotypical, so I get why people take issue with him.
 

Mekanos

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,176
Barret is a good character that the localization did dirty.



US version: Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down an' shu'up!
JP version: You are not a child. Be cool.

(Do we really need another thread about this...?)
 

bluexy

Comics Enabler & Freelance Games Journalist
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
14,520
Respecting his character in no way inhibits you from supporting changes to make him less of a racist caricature.
 

demondance

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,808
He's a multi-dimensional character with some problems in his portrayal, certainly in the translation we got originally. Easily my favorite of the cast.
 

Mesoian

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 28, 2017
26,524
Barrett is just another victim of 90's localization.

Large Black Person = Mr. T was hot back then.
 

Deleted member 721

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,416
Barret is a good character that the localization did dirty.



US version: Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down an' shu'up!
JP version: You are not a child. Be cool.

(Do we really need another thread about this...?)

yeah i recommend this, i started to apreciate barret more after those videos
 

Mekanos

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,176
Tim Rogers's FF7 translation videos should be required viewing for any fan of the game.
 

FPX

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,273
Yeah, Barret's great.

He'd be better if he didn't sound so much like RDJ playing a blackface man in Tropic Thunder though.
 

Hero_of_the_Day

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
17,347
Respecting his character in no way inhibits you from supporting changes to make him less of a racist caricature.

Yep. He is indeed fucking awesome. His backstory is one of my favorite in the game. But, that doesn't mean they shouldn't reevaluate how a person of color was portrayed in a 20+ year old game.
 

Desi

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,210
I always liked Barrett the way he was. Rough and tumble on the outside but really had complicated feelings on what he had done to his best friend.

then again, I also liked Cole Train so who am I!?
 

KtotheRoc

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
56,665
Yeah, he is. I feel he's overlooked because Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Sephiroth tend to devour most of the discussion of FF VII, but Barret is great (awful translation aside).
 

Prof Bathtub

Member
Apr 26, 2018
2,677
To be fair, it's not like the localization determined his Mr. T-like appearance, nor the animations where he fires his machine gun indiscriminately in anger and has to be restrained.

On the other hand, he provides a no-nonsense counterpoint to a lot of Cloud-centric drama of the game ("How many people in this world do ya think really understand themselves?") Taking a step back and viewing the plot at large, he's definitely the character with the most heroic goals. And really, who is Cait Sith/Reeve to shame him for the collateral damage of his terrorism?

Also shows the benefits of text-only dialogue with @#%&-style expletives. It can be as vulgar as the player wants.
 
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Jonathan Lanza

"I've made a Gigantic mistake"
Member
Feb 8, 2019
6,818
I think very few people have ever called him a bad character.
But like all characters, there are aspects of him that are not perfect and some people have issue with those aspects as they serve to only make him a worse character and not a better one.

Please don't conflate "I don't like that this character talks with like a 60's stereotype" with "THIS IS THE WORST CHARACTER EVER MAAAAAAAAAAADE"
 

Lunatic

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,833
Despite his caricature problems, I liked him especially because he talked and acted exactly like my uncle (minus having a gun arm, lol). Even looked similar too.
 

Inuhanyou

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,214
New Jersey
i agree, his character is pretty good especially when the emotional beats hit...i feel like that's when all the characters are at their best
 
Aug 27, 2018
2,779
His story beats are presented to the player pretty sloppily but his motivations are sound. I've always liked Barrett since my first playthrough of FF7 20 years ago or however long ago it was.
 

TheYanger

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,153
Ok, so maybe they should fix him this time for the English version and make him a great character people can appreciate that isn't jive talkin' the whole fucking game.

It seems bizarre to try to handwaive away the complaints like this, the original version of the game didn't have any of that shit, it was a poor localization that added it, it's been 22 years they should PROBABLY subtract the poorly localized stuff that is in poor taste like that.
 

Aswitch

Member
Nov 27, 2017
5,125
Los Angeles, CA
Totally agree. One of my favorite characters in FF7. I feel like he has a lot of depth even though at the surface he may be perceived as a stereotypical black man. I think that just adds to the appeal of his character to me personally. He felt like the comedic relief that the game needed that totally worked for me.
 

pauloshinobi

Banned
Apr 3, 2018
428
The remake isn't even out yet guys...

As it was already mentioned, his Mr. T demeanor is more Square USA's fault than Japan's. I was shocked to see the difference between the original japanese script and the american.

Barret's moments of rage are pretty much well justified. He lost his companions. He thought he lost his surrogate daughter. And that after going through a great amount of crap in Corel.

The fact that the remakes voice actor is black is another good sign. No 'RDJ in Tropical Thunder' voice acting for him.
 
Oct 25, 2017
5,143
Biggest criticism of Barret besides translation (though I've played the game in Japanese as well) is his backstory felt too backstory-y... there are other moments in the game that do the flashback thing real well, particularly Kalm. Like in that story there are interruptions, weird and funny little moments, and how the whole story just awkwardly ends. It felt like an actual story that a real person might deliever. Barret's whole thing with Shinra coming in and him screwing up by allowing it and his friends and family dying and that motivated him to create Avalanche felt very artifical and bleh.

One of the big components of the game's story is the characters' unreliable storytelling, so Barret laying it all out there for something he obviously deeply regrets is rather uninteresting IMO all things considered.
 
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King_Moc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,126
For all the negative stereotypes that people pick up on, people always seem to fail to point out that he's also a single dad, which goes against a black stereotype that people like to buy into.
 

SolVanderlyn

I love pineapple on pizza!
Member
Oct 28, 2017
13,509
Earth, 21st Century
Biggest criticism of Barret besides translation (though I've played the game in Japanese as well) is his backstory felt too backstory-y... there are other moments in the game that do the flashback thing real well, particularly Kalm. Like in that story there are interruptions, weird and funny little moments, and how the whole story just awkwardly ends. It felt like an actual story that a real person might deliever. Barret's whole thing with Shinra coming in and him screwing up by allowing it and his friends and family dying and that motivated him to create Avalanche felt very artifical and bleh.

One of the big components of the game's story is the characters' unreliable storytelling, so Barret laying it all out there for something he obviously deeply regrets is rather uninteresting IMO all things considered.
I dunno, I have to disagree... up until Corel he feels like a comic relief character (aside from his snippets with Marlene). But that entire backstory with Dyne and the townsfolk shunning him and him originally trusting Shinra was a major gut punch and added multiple layers to his character. I really love Barret and his backstory was tragic as hell. I love the campfire scene in Cosmo Canyon, too, when he mentions that that's where the modern AVALANCHE formed and he made a promise to everyone to set things right.

The translation may Mr. T-ify him, but he is a sympathetic, layered, funny character in both languages.
 

Aldo

Member
Mar 19, 2019
1,723
He's the best character in FF7. I hope they expand his story in the remake, I was very let down when they quickly resolve his character arc to make space for anime clichés.
 

Valkerion

Member
Oct 29, 2017
7,246
I grew to like Barret more on my second play through. I could not stand his "But thats what they sound like!" style of dialog he was given though, both as a kid and as an adult on my second run. Even at 10 years old I knew it was some shit. Hoping beyond hope they don't do it again.
 

Plywood

Does not approve of this tag
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,079
Barret is a good character that the localization did dirty.



US version: Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down an' shu'up!
JP version: You are not a child. Be cool.

(Do we really need another thread about this...?)



There's also this video which compares the localization of the latest trailer. It's only two lines, but it's something.
 

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,171
he pretty much stole the show for me back when i first played the game, though in 2019, hindsight being 20/20 and all that, stuff crops up as problematic

but FF7 in general has strong and unique characterization, something they were never really able to top
 

honest_ry

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
4,288
Wait, are nerds online now hating him?

He was great when i played the game all those years ago. Dont see why thats changed now.
 

King_Moc

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,126
Wait, are nerds online now hating him?

He was great when i played the game all those years ago. Dont see why thats changed now.

People judging the past using the standards of the present day. His dialogue isnt ideal, but back then there were barely no black characters at all. Certainly none with the depth of Barret.
 

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,385
People judging the past using the standards of the present day.
Because they're remaking the game for the current day. Why are people so resistant to calling a spade a spade, Barret despite having depth was held back by being a racist caricature thanks to an ignorant localization team. There's zero reason why this shouldn't rightfully be called out before the game's release so that they don't make the same mistake.
 
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Acquiescence

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,257
Lake Titicaca
Damn straight. Barret is one of the best things in the best game of all time. Can't give higher praise to a character than that.

One of my favourite moments in FFVII is about two-thirds of the way through where he says something along the lines of "I have no idea what's going on." Going through an incomprehensible JRPG story, it's nice to feel represented as a player.
 

MilkBeard

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,780
He's a great character despite the layers of stereotypes he has gone through, especially what the translator did to him for the English version. I think we can agree that he's got depth despite this. Hopefully we get a more faithful character to the script next time.

I do feel kind of bad for him by end game, because he basically submits to Cloud being the leader, which I felt was just because Cloud's the "chosen main character of the story". Maybe they'll write him a little differently this time in that respect as well.
 

MatrixMan.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,500
Barret is a good character that the localization did dirty.



US version: Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down an' shu'up!
JP version: You are not a child. Be cool.

(Do we really need another thread about this...?)


This. The difference is night and day. It's a localisation problem more than anything.

Because they're remaking the game for the current day. Why are people so resistant to calling a spade a spade, Barret despite having depth was held back by being a racist caricature thanks to an ignorant localization team. There's zero reason why this should rightfully be called out before the game's release so that they don't make the same mistake.

And also this.
 

TheYanger

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,153
For all the negative stereotypes that people pick up on, people always seem to fail to point out that he's also a single dad, which goes against a black stereotype that people like to buy into.
"fail" to point it out, like...I don't think anyone has a problem with his vague plot or character, it's entirely localization that sucks. Yes, that is a nice point to his character, it also doesn't mean that it should be used to brush aside the problems that are unrelated to it.
 

SpaceCrystal

Banned
Apr 1, 2019
7,714
Barret is a good character that the localization did dirty.



US version: Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down an' shu'up!
JP version: You are not a child. Be cool.

(Do we really need another thread about this...?)


I hope that he's more like his Japanese counterpart in the English version of the FF VII remake.

I am glad Barret will act closer to his original Japanese script.

Well, that answers my thoughts. Thank goodness.
 
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