What exactly is a Supersoft?

Miko

Staff member
Global Moderator
Social Media Team
Veteran
Joined
May 17, 2019
Messages
1,791
Location
Bulba Garden
Gil
3,148
Coloured Thread
Chocobo Egg
Shiva Snowflake
Maybe this is a topic that's already been discussed, but it's something that has been on my mind lately. So, small topic for the night: What exactly do you suppose the a Supersoft is?


I'm sure a good chunk of you are aware that Softs were previously known as Gold Needles in the past. I'm not sure what the reasoning is in the change in names, but in FFIX they're known as 'Soft'. Interestingly, their icon in the menu is shown as a potion
FFIX_Soft_Icon.png
So no gold needles here! Though I suppose there could be needles inside?

So, is it a potion? Golden needles inside? Something else?


That said, more important to the title thread, what do you think a Supersoft is? A more condensed or higher prescription grade soft? Maybe a special kind of needle? How does one even go about using a soft/Supersoft? Assuming your party member is petrified, would a golden needle just need to touch the surface to cure the stone? Or would you pour a liquid potion over the entire character? Is there even enough to coat a person in a single bottle?



I can't find evidence to back this up, but I seem to remember reading somewhere a long time ago that in the Japanese version the Supersoft was referred to as a Platinum Plume Needle. I'll keep looking for more info but it would bring another interesting piece to the topic if I'm right!


Let me know what you think :)
 
Last edited:
I think Supersoft is meant to be an item which can reverse petrification for real. Not just battle-induced petrification in the form of a status ailment which goes away as soon as a battle ends, but real petrification. Like the sort which Blank suffered from in FFIX, and also Seto in FFVII. The former was cured by a Supersoft. The latter wept because his son didn’t think of it!

To put all of that more succinctly, I think Supersoft is an extremely potent Soft.

As for what a ‘Supersoft’ looks like, I actually have no clear idea. As you say, in FFIX the regular Softs are potions, so I definitely don’t picture a Supersoft as being like a golden needle. I imagine it more as like a potion which could dissolve and soften the stone. Maybe an outer layer of stone begins to crack away and fizzle and then the petrified victim is able to move.

Maybe someone has to splash or sprinkle the petrified victim with the liquid for it to work. It would need to be a very big bottle if it is to be imagined that the petrified body needs to immersed in the fluid entirely, so perhaps the sprinkling or spraying idea would be more reasonable, and perhaps it kicks off a chain reaction and cures the afflicted.


I haven't encountered the idea that in Japan it is 'Platinum Plume'. I'd like to learn more about that if so.
 
I edited my original post, it was Platinum Needle, not Plume :olivia:

I took a random Let's play in Japanese and used Google Translate on the highlighted 'Supersoft' word because I clearly don't speak or understand the language & somehow managed to crudely translate it.

I guess it makes sense why 'Platinum Needle' got changed to 'Supersoft' when 'Gold Needles' are now called 'Softs' in the game. I also tossed a screen cap of a store menu in google translate and got Gold Needle for where softs were as well. Kinda ruins the thread a bit but I guess mystery solved. I think I would have liked them to be called Gold Needles & thus Platinum Needle instead! Supersoft (while maybe a little unoriginal considering it's like a 'soft') is a bit iconic to me now, but I think Platinum Needle sounds a lot cooler!

I like the idea of a soft being a potion though. Seems more practical, but I can see why a golden needle seems more fantasy-esque I guess? Still doesn't solve how exactly it works, but maybe it's soley based on the metal! You'd think that would make Gold Needles expensive though :P
 
Maybe this is a topic that's already been discussed, but it's something that has been on my mind lately. So, small topic for the night: What exactly do you suppose the a Supersoft is?


I'm sure a good chunk of you are aware that Softs were previously known as Gold Needles in the past. I'm not sure what the reasoning is in the change in names, but in FFIX they're known as 'Soft'. Interestingly, their icon in the menu is shown as a potion View attachment 9758 So no gold needles here! Though I suppose there could be needles inside?

So, is it a potion? Golden needles inside? Something else?


That said, more important to the title thread, what do you think a Supersoft is? A more condensed or higher prescription grade soft? Maybe a special kind of needle? How does one even go about using a soft/Supersoft? Assuming your party member is petrified, would a golden needle just need to touch the surface to cure the stone? Or would you pour a liquid potion over the entire character? Is there even enough to coat a person in a single bottle?



I can't find evidence to back this up, but I seem to remember reading somewhere a long time ago that in the Japanese version the Supersoft was referred to as a Platinum Plume Needle. I'll keep looking for more info but it would bring another interesting piece to the topic if I'm right!


Let me know what you think :)
That's a great question. I wonder if it's something if you are petrified for an extended period of time to bring you back. Obviously, they could not just get to him right away but I wonder if no one ever makes it out of that forest how do they go back in and get back out?

But super soft sounds like something you don't want to use when you um you know...
 
It's that useless thing they had to get in order to get my favourite character in the game saved, Blank, but hey, they took their sweet time. :|
 
I like the idea of a soft being a potion though. Seems more practical, but I can see why a golden needle seems more fantasy-esque I guess? Still doesn't solve how exactly it works, but maybe it's soley based on the metal! You'd think that would make Gold Needles expensive though :P

Maybe we can imagine the gold needle being used to chip away at the stone, like an archaeologist or palaeontologist perhaps. I guess that would be too meticulous and time consuming to imagine in a battle situation, so perhaps something else is happening there. Maybe they prick the petrified person in one spot with enough force that it pierces through to the skin, then the magic instantly kicks in and the person shakes off the stone and is restored to life.

That is if we imagine petrification as being a sort of encasement of stone over the body. It is also entirely possible that we are meant to imagine the entire body becoming mineralised, including internal organs and blood and everything. Considering that RPGs and fantasy in general frequently consider alchemy for inspiration, I suspect an alchemical transformation/transmutation of matter could well be imagined. In that case, I have no idea what good a golden needle would do, but considering alchemy it would be the purest of metals (albeit usually the desired endgame than an ingredient). Maybe it's just magic, so it explains itself that way.
 
It would be magic of some sort and a potion of others in this case. Considering that SuperSoft is not an easily acquired item, it kind of suggests what happened was much more intense than a simple petrify. Since those do happen and a soft tends to fix that up right away. My guess is that whatever happens to people in that forest is an intense form of magic that needs to be cured in a very specific way. Also, consider that the individual was extremely stiff even after it happened would state that he himself was still recovering. Lets just say I do not want to ever be in a situation where I need my friends to find me a Super Soft
 
Was looking up something earlier today in the FF Wiki on Baku and managed to hop over to Ruby's page. Was reading about the Superslick and saw the bottom description.:tearjoy: Is this also a Supersoft?!

1679458048751.png

For clarity, Superslick is what you end up getting from Ruby to fix the sidequest Mognet Central issue in the game.

Because if so lmao, poor Blank. The team abandons Ruby in Alexandria at the begining of the game, if poor Ruby was on board to begin with then maybe Blank could have been saved a lot sooner. 💀
 
  • Angry
Reactions: Six
Was looking up something earlier today in the FF Wiki on Baku and managed to hop over to Ruby's page. Was reading about the Superslick and saw the bottom description.:tearjoy: Is this also a Supersoft?!

View attachment 14573
For clarity, Superslick is what you end up getting from Ruby to fix the sidequest Mognet Central issue in the game.

Because if so lmao, poor Blank. The team abandons Ruby in Alexandria at the begining of the game, if poor Ruby was on board to begin with then maybe Blank could have been saved a lot sooner. 💀

I think it is a sort of lubricant, or a pomade for hair?

220px-Sweet-Georgia-Brown-Hair-Dressing-Pomade-1947.jpg


Something that is greasy to be useful on hair (primary function) and also machines (as a side effect/secondary use).

Pomades are sometimes associated with the Wild West genre, and Ruby in the English localisation speaks like she should be associated with cowboys. “I reckon you’re more stubborn than a grumpy mule!" and "This cowgirl’s wilder than a buckin’ bronco!", etc. (See page 21, Timber Maniacs #3 for some of my thoughts on that)

So I don't think we need to tell Ruby off. Blank's hair would have been stiffer and immovable than ever before anyway, so pomade would only have made the stone a bit messier.
 
Back
Top