finallyfantasy7

[finallyfantasy7]

Merry Crisis Core 🎄

[finallyfantasy7]

In OG we already had plenty of stereotypical villains - the most powerful being on the planet, the crazy immoral scientist, Shinra canon fodder...

I think Genesis was a brilliant addition to the roster, and Crisis Core managed to give us a very different kind of villain to keep things fresh, a person who had the full right to be angry but chose the wrong way to express it, and he even got redemption unlike Sephiroth and Hojo, making him stand apart even more. He is interesting, complex, and fits the theme of hopefulness in a game where person like Zack, not Cloud, is the protagonist.

I'm sorry, but I have been listening to various fan nonsense about Gackt and Crisis Core for 16 years now, and I am about done. None of those things turned out to be true, so I give less credence to it now, and I didn't give much credence to it ever. I had to put up with reading for almost two freaking decades how the reason we never got Crisis Core on other platforms was because Gackt blocked it and he retained rights to his own image, and vitrol and hatred for Tetsuya Nomura for ruining everything by being a Gackt stan.

And then we found out it was another person pushing for more Genesis and not Nomura. And then it turned out it was simply the case of Square-Enix not wanting to drop Crisis Core remaster at the time when FFVII content was an arid wasteland, but waiting for remakes to get people more fired up and interested.

So you won't find a person here who agrees Genesis was half-assed, nor a plugin character for Gackt. I have never seen anything that would make me believe it was anything more than a business decision to use an extremely popular celebrity to help boost sales. And good decision it was, when you look at PSP Crisis Core sales.

As for Sephiroth, we already saw him rampage AND got his tragic backstory in Dirge of Cerberus and Before Crisis, so I fully believe he would have gone on a murderous rampage and stumbled around with Jenova's head with or without Genesis. One short conversation in the reactor isn't enough to set off what happened.

I like how Genesis was written in Crisis Core.

I like what he adds to canon.

I like Zack's relationship with him and how it changes.

And I like how funny it is he annoyed every character, vastly different people, from Hojo to Zack, with spouting Loveless.

🤷‍♀️

Crisis Core PSP Japanese Version (2007)

ジェネシス：騒々しいな　子犬のザックス

(Genesis: So noisy Zack the Puppy.)

Crisis Core PSP English Version (2008)

Genesis: Settle down... Zack the Puppy.

Crisis Core Reunion (2022)

Genesis: Settle down...

...Zack the Puppy.

Aaaaaw, Angeal told his mom and his friends the private nickname he gave Zack. Angeal talked about Zack to them. That's so cute! 🥰

Ever Crisis - Crisis Core (2023)

Genesis: Hello, Zack.

You miserable mutt.

*record scratch*

Wait. WHAT?

[finallyfantasy7]

If I may......

Perhaps a man who used several hundred of his fellow SOLDIERs and turned them into mindless degrading monsters, murdered his own parents, the whole Banora village, attacked his best friend's protégé, teamed up with Hollander, turned on him, forced him to trigger degradation in himself by threatening his life, and built an army that indiscriminately murdered civilians, even those poor souls living in the Slums, might have already been villainized from the moment of his first appearance in Crisis Core?

And perhaps attacking underage Zack with summons several times is slightly worse on the morality scale than calling him a "miserable mutt?"

Crisis Core PSP Japanese Version (2007)

ジェネシス：騒々しいな　子犬のザックス

(Genesis: So noisy Zack the Puppy.)

Crisis Core PSP English Version (2008)

Genesis: Settle down... Zack the Puppy.

Crisis Core Reunion (2022)

Genesis: Settle down...

...Zack the Puppy.

Aaaaaw, Angeal told his mom and his friends the private nickname he gave Zack. Angeal talked about Zack to them. That's so cute! 🥰

Ever Crisis - Crisis Core (2023)

Genesis: Hello, Zack.

You miserable mutt.

*record scratch*

Wait. WHAT?

[finallyfantasy7]

Crisis Core PSP Japanese Version (2007)

ジェネシス：騒々しいな　子犬のザックス

(Genesis: So noisy Zack the Puppy.)

Crisis Core PSP English Version (2008)

Genesis: Settle down... Zack the Puppy.

Crisis Core Reunion (2022)

Genesis: Settle down...

...Zack the Puppy.

Aaaaaw, Angeal told his mom and his friends the private nickname he gave Zack. Angeal talked about Zack to them. That's so cute! 🥰

Ever Crisis - Crisis Core (2023)

Genesis: Hello, Zack.

You miserable mutt.

*record scratch*

Wait. WHAT?

[finallyfantasy7]

Wedge: I wanna believe that we can still win somehow.

Wedge: But...something in my gut tells me we're due for a reckoning. Just this...feeling. Know what I mean?

Aerith: Yeah... I do. But...that's no excuse to give up. I don't wanna look back one day...and wish I'd done it different. Right here, right now, I need to know I did everything I could.

[finallyfantasy7]

Zack Fair:

It's up to us to find our own purpose.

I mean, who says it's gotta be one way?

Everyone's sitting back, acting like the world's doomed, but the future's not set in stone.

We're not powerless.

[finallyfantasy7]

So what if it looks hopeless?

If it were me, I still wouldn't give up.

[finallyfantasy7]

Eh, he already offed thousands, what's just one more?

I love Cloud dearly but sometimes he says shit that just makes me double take so hard. When you talk to the mayor of Costa del Sol to start Kyrie's quest there he asks you to "take care" of Kyrie and does not elaborate on what he means and Cloud just agrees immediately. My brother in jenova there is an incredibly high chance you just jumped at a hit contract on a junior in high school

[finallyfantasy7]

[finallyfantasy7]

embrace your dreams, escape the nightmare

[finallyfantasy7]

From now on I am calling Mako Reactors "magic furnaces."

The beauty of Google Translate 🤣

[Image ID: A screenshot of timeline page from "Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core Ultimania" book translated from Japanese into English in Google Translator app. Only the English text is visible and it says 'July "Lazard and Hollander's breasts are revealed."' /.End ID]

[finallyfantasy7]

The beauty of Google Translate 🤣

[Image ID: A screenshot of timeline page from "Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core Ultimania" book translated from Japanese into English in Google Translator app. Only the English text is visible and it says 'July "Lazard and Hollander's breasts are revealed."' /.End ID]

[finallyfantasy7]

There's also the fun fact that Angeal's last name means "trees" and his fanclub's original Japanese name means "Forest Society":

Unfortunately Square played right into my hands by giving Angeal Latin limit break names, so let’s have a look!

Serit Arbores - literally, “He plants trees.” It’s most likely a reference to Book 1 of Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, “On the Contempt of Death,” which features a fictional speech by Cato the Elder praising elderly farmers that dutifully tend to their fields for the benefit of the next generation. Cato quotes a line from the poet Caecilius Statius:

“Serit arbores quae alteri s[a]eculo prosint.” (“He plants trees so that they may benefit another generation.”)

I believe this could be a reference to Angeal’s SOLDIER Honour, the legacy that he passes down to Zack.

“SOLDIER Honor, the catalyst for Genesis's change in values, is the Gift of the Goddess for him. As SOLDIER Honor represents Angeal's wishes, it can be said that Zack, who inherited Angeal's wishes, was the Gift of the Goddess for Genesis.” (CCCG, 2008 p.274)

Angeal’s legacy, carried out first through Zack, and later Cloud, serves to benefit others long after his passing. Additionally, his dreams and honour speeches were given to many of his junior SOLDIER members and likely continued to inspire them too. This is why I believe the choice of this Limit Break name to be very intentional. Of course, given that one of Angeal’s weapons is a shovel (😭) we could understand it at the surface level meaning (Farm Boy Angeal planting apple trees 🤠🍎), but isn’t it fun to dig a little deeper?

Ad Astra - “to the stars.” This could go in many directions as it’s a popular motto on its own, but perhaps its most frequently seen within “per aspera ad astra,” “through hardships to the stars.” I think this could be a reference to Angeal’s life journey, which saw his humble beginnings in a poor family and his rise to the very top ranks as a SOLDIER First Class. It also may reference his wings. From the Crisis Core Complete Guide:

“The white feature, as well as being a symbol for Angeal, is also a symbol for ‘wings’. The “wings” which cross the ‘blue sky’ is Angeal, and it also includes the hint that in order to reach those heights, dreams, he needs to overcome many difficulties.”

The idea of having to face many hardships on the journey towards the fulfillment of dreams seems built-in to the character of Angeal, and why I think that quote is the one they’re referencing in this limit break.

[finallyfantasy7]

Healing Wave Lv. 0 😊🙏✨

[finallyfantasy7]

I've seen people accuse Angeal of being a coward.

Either for choosing to die, or for making Zack kill him instead of doing it himself.

Angeal Hewley was a hero.

I didn't see anything cowardly in his behavior. I only saw a person willing to sacrifice his life to protect others.

Not just the story but imagery and motifs support it too: his name, being the only one of the trio having a white wing, being called Angeal Penance in the final fight, the way he's depicted at the end...

As for the story, what drove Angeal to get Zack to kill him wasn't cowardice, but a wish to protect others. Suddenly faced with Genesis and unaware of motives for his desertion and behavior, Angeal disappeared in Wutai because he didn't want to drag Zack into the whole mess while Angeal takes time to reason with Genesis to come back. Being a SOLDIER had come to mean so much to Angeal but he left without hesitation to protect Zack. He left to get Genesis back.

Yet, despite Angeal's love for his friend, he stands between Genesis and Zack in the Banora factory, because protecting is what he does.

Angeal never joined Genesis because he couldn't justify the violence. Angeal was there only to convince Genesis to return with him to Shinra. Of course, once Angeal learned the truth of the horrible experiments that created them, and of all the disgusting things Shinra did, he couldn't morally justify returning either. He was left in a limbo.

On top of that, his own degradation got triggered and affected his mind and made him confused and unable to think clearly (G-SOLDIER degradation makes them irrational and more prone to violence), and he wrestled with the newfound knowledge of his twisted origins, his mother's willing participation in it, her lies, and that the fact that it was actually the sleazy lowlife Hollander who was his biological father (and not the man he respected and loved all his life and who was so proud of Angeal he had sacrificed everything for Angeal to have the Buster Sword). Hollander used Angeal's moment of helplessness to harvest his cells and with them started creating Angeal copies. Angeal never consented to this. Sephiroth's conclusions that both Angeal and Genesis are in league with Hollander when he saw Angeal copy is incorrect and comes from Sephiroth's own issues.

Yet, Angeal's own existence created the one thing he strove all his life to prevent. A danger to others. Aside from Lazard, all Angeal copies were monsters, not humans. And monster are dangerous. They attack people. They kill. They create suffering.

If he were to prevent it, he had to destroy the source of the cells - himself, or the world would never be safe from Angeal copies.

Now, it's very important to note that this decision to destroy himself was very different than the self-loathing wish to die he expressed to Zack in Banora, or the pointless attempt to get Zack to kill him on the bottom of the plate above the Sector 5 church.

By this point, Angeal had managed to overcome the degradation's effects on his mind by using his willpower and his SOLDIER honor, and he was not searching to die to end his own shame, he was searching to do his duty.

We see this change in him when he starts helping Zack and Sephiroth deflect Genesis' and Hollander's attacks, protecting people in Shinra Building, and informing Lazard of their plans, although never officially returning to Shinra. He retained the spirit of what it means to be an honorable SOLDIER without supporting Shinra that created it all.

Now, with his mind clear and his honor restored he does not loathe himself, but he can clearly see his copies have to be destroyed. And there is sadly no other way to do this than to absorb them and destroy himself in the process.

He is not a coward, he is selfless and brave for willing to die to protect others.

He did not saddle Zack with this. Zack consented. Zack agreed that their enemy is all that creates suffering, even if he didn't fully understand what that would entail. At that point Angeal probably didn't either.

But think about Zack's personality. Killing his mentor and friend is unthinkable to him, but how would he feel if he had refused and then Angeal copies killed innocent civilians? If they killed a little kid? Zack was devastated but ultimately it was Angeal's free decision. How much more devastated would Zack be if his refusal to fight Angeal led to deaths of people who had no choice in the matter unlike Angeal?

From what I saw of their last fight, Angeal faced several issues:

to collect his copies and destroy them

to prevent Hollander from getting more samples from him

to find a way to destroy himself while being merged with the copies which seems to rob him of self-awareness. He didn't seem at all in control as Angeal Penance, so how could he destroy himself?

So, what course of action is left? Who can Angeal trust?

Who is strong and skilled enough to fight a SOLDIER 1st Class strengthened by degradation? Who can be trusted to prevent Hollander from collecting more samples? Who cares enough about protecting others to crush his own feelings by killing his friend? Who has mental fortitude and emotional support to do it and come out on the other side still himself?

Gensis is still obsessed with a cure and revenge and is creating untold suffering himself, and Sephiroth was taught that collateral damage is no big deal and doesn't care about much except his friends. And besides, Angeal already saw Sephiroth had started spiraling into despair.

So who is left?

Only Zack.

And Angeal prepared Zack. He prepared him by training him, by loving him, by teaching him about being an honorable and moral SOLDIER. He certainly couldn't even dream this is what he was preparing him for, but he inadvertently did. Zack is powerful enough, and cares enough, and is emotionally strong enough. Zack is the most emotionally strong person Angeal had ever met.

Only thing left to do was to convince Zack to do it because Zack has shown he would rather die than fight Angeal. But while Zack was alright with sacrificing himself, he wouldn't hurt Aerith by never returning to her (which very nicely makes Crisis Core even more tragic).

Angeal did everything in his power to make sure Zack would be alright. He checked to made sure Zack has emotional support after Angeal is gone. He went to the Church to meet Aerith.

He made sure she is the kind of person to be there for Zack.

And she was.

He made sure to leave one of his copies he could influence from the Lifestream to protect Aerith.

And it did.

And Angeal knew Zack is emotionally strong enough to handle it.

And he was.

[finallyfantasy7]

Cloud: *gets hired to blow up Mako reactors in the most populous city in the world*

Zack:

It's interesting how Zack tells Cloud that once they arrive back in Midgar that they will be mercenaries. If you note at the beginning of FF7 he is a mercenary which is the very thing Zack said they would become. Barret often calls Cloud Merc which is short for that.

Then as Zack is about to die he tells Cloud to take his sword and that his dreams are his now. He says he is his living legacy. Then Cloud takes his sword and from the Mako poisoning and trying to cope with his death, he becomes him.

He literally became his living legacy and carried out his dreams by almost becoming like Zack. He believed he had the story that Zack did.

[finallyfantasy7]

turned down a date because i want to go swing my sword at a tree later tonight. alone