Was there a comment along the lines of Baigan's acting being worse than William Shatner? Because if so, then yes, it was. Way to break the fourth wall in a totally inappropriate way in a game that it's totally inappropriate for... FFIV wasn't really about comic relief. Cid's joking about his age, or Yang's wife, are probably the closest it came. One was supposed to provide one's own relief, not with comedy, but with <I>hope</I>.

Earthbound was a game that was made to be humourous from the start, but it knew when to lay off. Some things just aren't jokes. The characters' feelings, the danger of the threat, and the importance of what they're doing had better be among them.

"Sylvan" sounds like it ought to be the adjectival form of "sylph", but I don't know how much of that is just from having heard it so much before. Really, "sylvan" ought to signify "forest".

I think I may have played that fan translation you refer to, actually. I think that some people who like Working Designs' use of humour in games don't really consider when it is appropriate-- truth be told, I'm not convinced that it was appropriate in Lunar either. There are some games where it would be appropriate, such as Earthbound, but when something is meant in a serious and epic spirit it should stay that way-- not that the occasional comic relief isn't fine, but one needs to decide which priority belongs best with a given work, humour or respect.

I'm amazed how many of the original lines I can hear in my head as I read the new ones.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Mysidia translation when you're done with the Mt. Ordeals sequence (as this is, generally, the part of the game that has me praising that translation. Also possibly just my favourite part of the game in general, although with a thing like FF4 it's hard to say.)