#FFVIIR hot takes
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freelanceexorcist · 9 months ago
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FFVII Rebirth (and [mild] Supernatural) spoilers under the cut.
These are just hot takes, because I haven't had a chance to do a deeper dive yet.
So apparently the huge, shocking twist is that...Watashi kills Aerith. Gee whiz, never would have seen that one coming in a million years. 🙄
But apparently it's a Winchester death, so there's the possibility of her sticking around in some form. Clever. The people who insisted she had to die are happy and the people who wanted her to survive are happy. Except for those idjit masochists on Twitter who are mad because it wasn't painful and permanent enough for them to cry over it like they did when it happened in the OG. The release of Rebirth didn't negate the existence of the original game, guys, just so you know.
And I guess Watashi didn't get the memo, so he doesn't know how bad he played himself the last time by making her a Force ghost. Either that or he's demonstrating the definition of insanity.
Sephiroth saving Cloud from the Midgar Zolom and not even sticking around long enough to be thanked? For the evilest evil that ever eviled, that was quite a Big Damn Heroes moment (just assume that if there's a link in one of my posts, it goes to TV Tropes and plan accordingly). I think this is our good buddy Ore dropping by.
Finally,
Me: I don't do the shipping thing. It's just not for me. It's great if you're into it, but me? Nope, nosiree Bob, uh uh, no way. Not my thing.
Square Enix: oh, hey, so this happened:
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Me: MOTHERFU-- OK, maybe it's a little bit of a thing for me.
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That's all I got for now.
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quartercirclejab · 9 months ago
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i have some thoughts about the Dyne sequence in FFVII Rebirth. spoilers for FFVIIR under the cut, and trigger warning for discussion and depictions of suicide
i feel like the way the scene is rewritten goes out of its way to undercut Dyne's agency, and to soften the blow of what he ultimately chooses to do
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in the original, he makes reference to Eleanor's voice- the memory of her forgiving nature having become an extension of his own, now at war with his desire to blame Barret for everything that he's lost
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in Rebirth, this is rewritten as Dyne being "mad with grief" in a more literal sense, with the scene reframed to imply he's seeing figures that aren't there, and is conversing with them
the decision to tweak his characterization from someone who's been driven to the brink by despair and regret to a more generic kind of cartoonish insanity feels like an attempt to explain away the self-destructive (and understandable) spiral that he's clearly been on since Barret left Corel
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the battle itself reflects this, too. in the original, it's a solemn, solitary duel between Barret and Dyne, reminiscent of an old west duel, or the final act of an operatic tragedy. the landscape is stark, and the sudden disappearance of the rest of the party forces a feeling of desperate isolation- the isolation Barret and Dyne themselves surely felt, and which now ironically forces them to fight one another
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the way Rebirth handles this starts out promisingly enough. it's still a duel, and that feeling of isolation is still there, but with a distinctly modern twist- with plenty of cover to duck behind and both combatants using their weapons on full auto, it feels less like a climactic western duel and more like the final shootout of a contemporary action-thriller... less "Unforgiven", more "John Wick." it's largely a function of how Rebirth handles the original's mechanics in a more general sense, and i have to say, it works for me. it's more hectic than the original, but the emotion is still there- a fight that runs hot, while the original runs cold
but of course, because it's a modern FF, it couldn't stay an understated duel- it has to be an overlong set piece with a whole second phase, during which Dyne reveals an unsettling new power that is implied to have further altered his already unstable mind
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this pushes the battle away from being a somber, clear-eyed fight for revenge and into "Old Yeller" territory- an attempt to make the player feel justified in putting Dyne down
finally, the conclusion of the sequence: Dyne's fateful choice
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in both versions, the revelation that Marlene is alive sends Dyne even further into despair, as he feels he's spilled too much innocent blood to be a father, and that Marlene was unlikely to remember him even if that weren't the case. in the original, he's unable to live with the weight of that, and he chooses to jump to his death. in Rebirth, the sudden convenient appearance of a horde of Shinra troopers shakes him out of his grief and sends him flying into a rage, giving him the opportunity to choose a more ambiguous "suicide by cop"
robbing Dyne of the decision to take his own life and instead having it come at the hands of nameless Shinra troopers undercuts the final tragedy of Corel, and the tragic contrast between Dyne and Barret. Dyne thinks that the violence he's committed in the name of vengeance makes him unfit to be a father, and unfit to live, but Barret says himself that he doesn't believe his own hands are any cleaner- the guilt over trying to raise Marlene while fighting Shinra as the leader of Avalanche is a contradiction Barret has been grappling with since the game began, and witnessing Dyne's suicide only deepens his personal crisis. Rebirth's change to the scene arguably reaffirms Barret's belief in the suicidal pursuit of vengeance, rather than causing him to question it, because Shinra has now stolen from him the chance to save his best friend. it's just another tally in the ledger that wants balancing, and another cup of gasoline on the conflagration that threatens to swallow Barret whole
the change also absolves Dyne himself, who had the chance to see Marlene again and try to rebuild his life, but decided he wasn't strong enough to face that challenge. in taking the decision to die out of Dyne's hands, the player's allowed to see him as just another victim of Shinra's cruelty, one who might have redeemed himself if he hadn't been tragically gunned down. a layer of the game's complexity and emotional depth is stripped away
i don't know. Rebirth's take is certainly more cinematic, in some ways, but i wish they'd handled it differently
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oveliagirlhaditright · 6 months ago
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No, please take my post and run with it. I largely agree with everything you said:)
I definitely think that console exclusivity has been a major problem for Square Enix. And them fixing this now, will probably help a ton. I don't think it'll fix everything--as they do need to work to get the younger generation to care about their games, I think (and as for Rebirth, they also have the problem of having pissed some people off who just wanted a 1:1 remake, and also people waiting for all the parts to come out before they play the Remake project), but I think it'll aid them a lot.
Though I imagine they signed a contract with Sony that the entire FFVIIR project would be Sony exclusive at first. I wonder if they'll be able to get out of that now. Hmm..
Oh, Final Fantasy XVI. Is it weird that, while I do think FFXVI was much better written and think it probably did have the better story overall, I find myself thinking about FFXV more? Somehow, I think it was actually more memorable? Maybe because the plot was simpler (though that's not exactly a good thing) and thus easier to digest, and had some really stand-out moments in that Shakespearian tragedy?
Symbiogenesis ticks me off for so many reasons... and I feel so bad for all of the people who thought it might have been something Parasite Eve related, only to have their dreams dashed. Would've been nice. Maybe. If it was a sequel that made The Third Birthday not canon.
I'm still so upset that they didn't at least advertise Neo TWEWY at the E3 right before the game came out -sighs- Part of me wants to think we might get more TWEWY now, with the Reynatis crossover, and since TWEWY isn't a game that breaks the game to make. And it recently came out that Square Enix is going to bring back some older IPs... but I'm thinking that means things like Final Fantasy Tactics, and the Mana series. And to me, these changes probably mean TWEWY will be even more dead in the water than before. Gah!
Missing Link is so baffling... and I still have no idea whose bright idea it was to green light that. I feel like it has to be one of the CEOs, in thinking that it can be the next Pokémon GO, right? But if that's the case, I can't believe they didn't cancel it already, when they couldn't get it off the ground after a million attempts--but it's probably because they've already invested too much money into it.
I feel like Kingdom Hearts is in a weird place (Night Sky Prince was saying this, and I agree). Where the new CEO sees how well Kingdom Hearts III sold, but he's debating if Kingdom Hearts IV will do as well (probably not), and that might partly be why we haven't seen a lot from it recently. I also have the bad feeling that we're just... going to start getting a lot of mobile KH games from now on (and we're already starting to see that), because mobile gaming is so hot in Japan, and they maybe know a majority of the KH fans will play anything KH related. And I even worry that we're the ones they'll try the NFT shit on. But I really hope not.
Ben Star was saying in this one podcast he was doing (where he was talking about the possibility of an FFVIII Remake, that then inspired this whole post of mine), that Square Enix doesn't advertise their games (or explain to people that you don't have to play the previous Final Fantasies to play the new one. They just expect you to know that): they just expect fans to do the job for them through word of mouth, and that's so true. And amazingly, for years that's somehow worked for them (even if it hasn't really seen their numbers grow that much, maybe, it kept them about the same, probably). But now it's not. Now money needs to go into advertising. I hope they'll do that with some of the cuts they're making to other things... But we'll see if they make that obvious choice.
It's so sad how fasts things can change in some cases...
Because, before we knew how many millions of dollars Square Enix had recently lost, I kept wanting to make a post about why I thought that a Final Fantasy VIII Remake was a really good/fun idea, even though Square Enix themselves and some fans might be hesitant about one in some regards.
And IDK... I still might end up making that post. But do I honestly think we'll ever see one now? No.
Chances were slim before... But if Final Fantasy VII Remakes can't really sell well (at least this most recent one -sobs-), we can honestly kiss our chances at most other ones goodbye:( Especially ones that would be even harder and more time consuming to make (and more costly).
Though I do think FFIX Remake is still happening. And maybe that rumor about an FFX Remake could be true.
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miharou · 5 years ago
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Leslie💙
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defiantinsect · 5 years ago
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cloud should be more physically fucked up from years of experimentation. i mean i’m down with the pretty boy aesthetic but i’m also for the “barely a human” aesthetic as well, cause like, if you’ve got eldritch shape-shifting horror DNA in you there’s probably going to be some shit-ass nonsense biology involved...
anyway square enix is run by a bunch of cowards. in this essay i will
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hypaalicious · 2 years ago
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I'm a body hair fan to a degree but it depends on the person. I don't think the goatee looks horrible on Prom, but I'm not the biggest fan of it lol I prefer him without. But the chest hair idea is 👌👌👌 and Iggy wasn't my first hand/wrist kink but he sure is my strongest with the feeling lol I was so indifferent to xv for so long but I wanted it because I'm a die hard FF fan I've played all the games minus some of the early ones. I only just got xv in August though so I'm new to the Fandom but I didn't think I'd love it THIS much. It's my 2nd fave by far, and only past by X due to nostalgia of X being my first FF. And Ignis.. Was not the one I expected to be into AT ALL lol
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Ignis hell is warm, and so very eternal. ☺️
Yeah I don’t care for body hair, but if it’s well trimmed or not a tremendous amount I can handle it. Just don’t be coming at me with shit I gotta take a weed whacker to and we all good 😂
My first FF was FFX, too! I had no reason to play any single player games prior to that point; I have an older brother that kept me on my toes with Street Fighter and racing games and stuff like that. But when he got married and moved out, I didn’t know what to do with myself. Fighting games weren’t as fun anymore and I got bored racing the computer on anything else, so I picked up FFX when it came out and absolutely fell in love! Also cried through the whole ending credits; that’s how I learned FF will emotionally cripple you 😂
After that, I went backwards in the series. I have FFI-VI on my phone, and the rest in physical Playstation copies. But tbh, after FFXII I kinda… stopped being as hype for new FF. FFXIII wasn’t very memorable to me, the sequel tried to be what FFX-2 was and failed, and I have the 3rd game but never even touched it. Then ofc, Squenix decided to break into MMORPGs and i don’t fuck with those. It was a pleasant surprise that FFXV got me as good as it did cause I wasn’t intrigued initially.
The new single-player FF just… 🥴 Chile, I’m not here for it, sorry. None of the characters are hot, they look plain asf, the flashiness of the combat system doesn’t sell me, and what little they hinted at the storyline is meh. So… I’m good with XV being the last new FF I play, not counting remakes like FFVIIR.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy your stay in FFXV fandom hell (and Ignis hell)! I actually don’t even know how active it is anymore, but every time the anniversary comes up I’m reminded that the community is still kicking ☺️
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themelodicenigma · 4 years ago
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FF7R Localization
Wow. This is getting ridiculous. All the people screaming at Square Enix NA for the localization/translations of FFVII Remake—you really should stop and think about what perspective you have at this moment. I understand though, really, and I’ll express why further down, but seeing the rationalization at the heart of these criticisms is making it difficult to not be frustrated at the fandom’s behavior.
A lot of you are really showing you haven’t spent the time understanding the localization/translation process that takes place within the company. Not to mention, that you refuse to listen to what the people who are officially involved with the game are telling you. This process in question directly involves the localization team internally in Tokyo at Square Enix Japan. A process that is accomplished alongside the developers and staff directly involved with the project in Japan. The recording sessions where people are physically location-wise isn’t one unified place, nor might be those who are outsourced to be a part of the process, but communication and involvement is retained through this process across the world. There are a myriad of paratext that describe this process that Square Enix has done for many different projects—Kitase talked about this for FFXIII, Nomura talked about it for KH3, and now Ben Sabin talks about it in multiple interviews for FFVIIR (here and here, go nuts). Ultimania interviews also typically cover it as well, the Asako Suga (Supervising Dialogue Editor for most KH games) interview in the KH3 Ultimania is a very good one as well. Honeywood, who was responsible for beginning the steps to a better localization process after the OG FFVII, left the company with a good foundation here for what they do and how it’s achieved.
Differences based on the team, circumstances, and even those outsourced to assist should be considered for every project SE does, but the overall approach to localization/translation is done about the same way. Has been for years now, with the changeup being in what is affected by the goal of either closer or simultaneous releases between the different languages, especially ENG and JPN. It’s a joint effort and everyone is on the same side—if you have a complaint about how something was handled in the game, this isn’t the sole responsibility and accountability of one person or one division of the company. The localization team are still people who work on the game, the final product we receive, directly and deserve more recognition than being treated like outsiders to, what could be considered, the primary developers.
But, that’s even if the issues at hand are actually issues to begin with.
It’s absolutely okay if you don’t like the way a localization turned out, that’s totally fair to not be satisfied. If a fan’s mindset behind translation/localization is to get the same experience of that of the original language, then I can’t blame you for such a goal—if anything I feel the same way, and objectively that’s a good goal to have. Additionally, it’s also fair to even have a preference between any of them, and I definitely encourage learning and understanding whatever the primary language is for a game.
However, I would implore you to also understand that this goal, through the effort and agreement of those creating the game, can be met in different ways, and analogous to that, a translation can be expressed in a multitude of ways within a context. There is an allowance of flexibility to capture the context in whatever way they see fit—and if it has a different approach or wording than the original, that does not make it “wrong” or a “mistranslation”. This type of thinking is very limited in how translation/localization works, especially for a creative project, and it fails to acknowledge the multitude of ways in which something can be said, and how contextual elements can influence the expression that can be made. There’s a difference between being wrong on a translation level by the book and being wrong contextually. It certainly can happen both ways, but often, fans will complain of things that aren’t contextually “wrong” to a consequential degree and that were intended to be the way it was in the target language.
I mean jeez, it’s all too typical that to a fan who has engaged in heated, and probably nonsensical, debate of LTD shit for 20 years would want to look at the differences through the lens of this offense. I’ve seen the same shit before in other fandoms and it’s stupidly petty.
Was it written for Olette to say “What a romantic story!” because the localization team are “Sokai” shippers? Or, is it because they saw the opportunity to add a more direct connotation to Olette’s response to Kairi telling her about Sora? You know, the person she literally has romantic storytelling with?
And for the hot topic, was Aerith’s lines in the train graveyard of claiming Cloud as her bodyguard there to preserve some apparent self-indulgent need to be “Clerith fans”? Or, was it done to express that light part of Aerith’s character in this situation where both other people are clearly much more tense? With a line of dialogue that characteristically match what she is physically doing?
“Context” is multiple and broad in meaning. The context of the circumstance and the responses by either characters did not change in either the JPN and ENG version, but there was however a different approach to their lines that emphasized a certain connotation that already fits other elements of the context of the scene. It really isn’t an issue objectively or false in nature, and there’s no means in which you can say it’s not intended to be what it is when the people with the authority of working directly on the project collaborated with the very same people you’re saying it goes against. It’s made, finalized, and meant to be what it is by decision.
C’mon, if you’re actually comprehending the multitude of resources that describe the localization process SE as a whole does for their games, knowing this is done with cooperation with the developers and those who can even fluently speak ENG and JPN who are on the development team [e.g. Yasue for KH3]—how can you truly have the audacity to say that something isn’t intended for how it was written in the target language? Really. Now there are certainly mistakes and contradictions that can be pointed out that actually DO change context and affect the understanding of the game’s world—FFXIII being the example for lore concepts—but people going line by line and pointing out the most inconsequential differences, things that don’t actually change the context of the scene or contradict all pertaining elements/persons involved....
Wow. Let’s talk about the actual mistakes that matter for understanding the story and not a line of dialogue that hits your personal nerve regarding shipping.
Wanting the game’s localization/translation to be as close to the original language [specifically, the primary language of those creating it] isn’t a problem, but the behavior and rational I’m seeing that treats this process by the lens of the LTD definitely is. Not to mention, the lack of understanding that the above goal can be met on a contextual level that has every right to be additive in whatever way the official team who produce these games see fit in the chosen language. The FFVII fandom really needs to stop treating everything as some conspiracy and mal-intent to give a false version of a game that everyone’s, including the development staff, efforts have been put into. This commentary that SE NA are the ones to blame, that there is even blame deserved to be had, and that the translation approached wasn’t intended by all parties involved in the process—how about we wait until someone from the development team somehow reveals that the localization managers rebelled against everything they worked on together and the end result was different than expected.
Otherwise, @-ing at Square Enix NA about how their creative team has an “LTD agenda” and are “Clerith-biased” is not going to be a good look for you in their eyes.
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stagnantmako · 4 years ago
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also, worth mentioning.
i’ll gently be unfollowing any blogs who post a ton of negativity about deepground being included in ffviir. you’re entitled to your opinions and i don’t begrudge you for having them, its just tiring and i don’t really want to see it myself?
i affectionately dunk on dirge. my favorite thing to do is to have a few drinks and then explain the plot to people over voicechat because it’s so buckwild and nonsensical. it’s so much fun and yet tells a fairly poignant story about grief. i (used to?) have a post breaking down where dirge fits into the compilation’s theme of moving forward but i can’t find it.
its my favorite in the compilation - not for gameplay, but because of the worldbuilding and the plight of the tsviets - and that means ive basically heard every take you could ever hear about it up and to including i have awful taste in video games and shouldn’t be allowed to weigh in.
i’ve waited over a decade for scraps of deepground lore. i don’t want my excitement or mood to be dampened by the hot take of ‘tsviets bad bc dirge bad’ constantly in my face.
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hardnoctlife · 5 years ago
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My Thoughts on FFVIIR
It’s been a few days since I finished FFVIIR, and I wanted to put my thoughts on the game into words, but I gotta get a few housekeeping things out of the way.
1.       These are all MY opinions. I understand and respect that others may have different opinions from me, however, that does not make this an open invitation for argument in the comments, bashing, etc. I have no problem blocking anyone who wants to be an asshole. Just be nice, please.
2.       I grew up playing FFVII and all of its spin-offs. FFVII was my first RPG, and ultimately what got me into playing video games. Nostalgia is a -huge- part of why I enjoyed FFVIIR so much, and therefore I am openly biased towards the game. I’m interested to hear the thoughts of people not familiar with the original, because they’re seeing the story with a fresh set of eyes.
3.       With that being said, I’ve already noticed drama surrounding FFVIIR fans who -have- played the original vs. those who haven’t, or those who haven’t played Crisis Core, etc. I am firmly of the belief that this is a great game for new and old fans and won’t tolerate any condescending attitudes in either direction. Video games are supposed to be fun, so let’s just all agree to enjoy the thing TOGETHER, shall we?
Alright, now that those things are out of the way, onto my thoughts. **MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD**
I’m going to be breaking this up into sections, because there is just too much to dissect! Let’s start with the characters.
“The Good Guys”
Cloud: Still my favorite character of all time, even more so after playing the remake. And of course, he is gorgeous. I could stare into his eyes all day. I know there has been a lot of controversy over getting new voice actors for the remake, but I feel like his VA did a great job. They nailed his personality of “broody asshole with a heart of gold”, and I think the remake had reasonable and believable character development when it came to Cloud’s interactions with the other party members. His dynamic with Tifa, Aerith, and Barrett was also spot on. I think it was a good move on Squeenix’s part to keep him pretty much the same, because he’s such an iconic character for the entire Final Fantasy series, so no complaints on my part!
Jessie: Okay, so, I hated Jessie at first. She was too flirty and all over Cloud for my liking, and I felt this strange disconnect between the “I used to be an actress but now I’m fighting for the planet” part of her backstory. Yes, she was still spunky in the original, but they didn’t draw it out nearly as much (I assume because she was killed off early). I -do- appreciate that the developer’s felt the need to give her more depth and show more interactions between her and Cloud and everyone else, but I also thought it detracted from Cloud’s relationships with Tifa and Aerith to an extent, especially the whole scene where she was asking him to come back to her place with him (yikes). And, true to Squeenix form, they killed off her character, even while letting Biggs and Wedge live (they both died in the original). So, in that sense, I didn’t really care that much for her, although her final scene with Cloud was very moving and redeemed her in some ways for me. So, yay for more screen time, but c’mon Squeenix, why do you gotta use your female characters this way?!
Biggs & Wedge: I loved the updates to their character models, and like with Jessie, I appreciate they tried to give them more depth and dialogue to make their involvement more significant. It did throw me for a loop when they both ended up living instead of dying when the Sector 7 plate fell. I was delighted to discover they survived (until I found out Jessie died and they didn’t). At times, I felt like their exalted importance detracted from other characters, especially at the end in Shinra HQ where Wedge shows up to warn everyone and Avalanche comes in to try and rescue Cloud & the gang, only to imply that he dies -there- instead. To me, it felt like an unnecessary moment to add in, but hey, there are only so many characters in the remake that people get to see, so why not give the Avalanche crew a more important role? I’m interested to see if this means that they’ll be returning in the next installments as they may be ‘fated’ to survive.
Barrett: What a glow up! Barrett looked good, he sounded good, his character was solid and true to the original. I have to say my favorite thing to see was how the banter and dialogue shifted between him and Cloud as you progressed through the remake. They went from basically hating on each other to complimenting each other and being buddy-buddy, and it was truly heartwarming. I even enjoyed using Barrett in battle (more on the fighting system later), which was refreshing. It was a good move on Squeenix’s part to show his softer side by including more scenes with Marlene, and he’s an excellent foil to Cloud’s character, which I feel was consistent for both games.
Tifa: My lady, the love of my life, my HERO. Tifa was -amazing- for me. Also, her VA was probably my favorite of the bunch. The updates to her outfit were much needed, yet she still retained her sexy allure, even if it was a little awkward to hear all the male NPC’s talking about how hot she was all the time. Other than Cloud, she was my favorite party member to use in battle—what a total badass!—and the scenes with her and Cloud made me squeal with delight. I was grateful for the extra attention put into their relationship, and how it was made clear that she was just as important and strong as the male characters.
Aerith: First, the positives. They expanded Aerith’s fighting range, which was appreciated, because in the original I only used her as healer. Her personality shone through a bit more, as she was even ore outgoing than I remembered her being (and even cursed a few times!), and I loved all of her interactions with Tifa and Cloud (my favorite trio/love triangle). Her backstory was pretty well communicated regarding the Ancients and her relationship with Shinra. On the flip side of things, I found her party banter annoying as hell and her voice grating at times (it reminded me of a high school girl), and I’m not sure how I feel about her interactions with the Whispers and what that implies for future installments. There was some hinting at the end of the remake that Aerith may not die like she did in the original (at least that was my interpretation), and I’m not sure whether I like that possibility or not, mainly because Aerith’s death is one of the most memorable scenes of FFVII, and that would change the entire plot. For better or for worse, who’s to say?
Red XIII: I loved all of the scenes with Red! His voice fit him really well, and they showed a lot of character development with him and the group in a short amount of time. I was sad you couldn’t control him in your party, but I’m hoping that will change in the next installment. I’m excited to see his backstory in Cosmo Canyon when we finally get to that point in the remake.
Chadley: This kid was annoying and weird, and I wasn’t sure exactly what his deal was, but he was definitely shady AF. Not sure why he was entirely necessary if he was simply a way to upgrade your materia, but hey, I’ll take that assess materia from ya buddy if it means new stuff for me to use. 
Johnny: Johnny grew on me. Was he also annoying and weird too? Yes. But he reminded me of a Prompto-Gladio lovechild and turned out to be a sweetheart, so I say he can stay, Squeenix.
“The Bad Guys”
Shinra executives: Not much to say here for me other than great job in bringing this diabolic group to life. Yep, still hate every one of ‘em. They stayed pretty much true to their original selves, and all of them matched what I remembered of them, right down to the dialogue. I thought it was an interesting choice to see Sephiroth kill President Shinra (in the original you just find him dead at his desk, impaled on Sephiroth’s sword), but I’m not complaining. That guy was a grade A asshole.
The Turks: Love, love, love how they portrayed each of these guys, and showed how they are also unwilling participants in all of Shinra’s shit. They definitely made them more likeable from the get-go and I felt a lot of callbacks to Advent Children. Reno cursing and being sassy was probably one of my favorite things out of the entire game. He had -so- many great lines, even if they weren’t direct translations of the Japanese. I’m hoping they will include more of the Turks in future installments (like Cissnei in Crisis Core) and continue fleshing out their story arcs.
Rosche: Okay, unpopular opinion, but I did not like this guy at all. I’m not sure what the hype is about him all over my social media. Could be the mullet, which is an automatic ‘no’ for me (Gladio from FFXV being the only exception), but he seemed like an irritating and very pointless addition to the game. His sole purpose appeared to be to prepare you for escaping Shinra and fighting from Cloud’s motorcycle towards the end, but I felt like he could have been taken out of the story entirely without missing anything. I didn’t hate as many of the newer characters (like Leslie) as much as I did him, but I guess he and I just didn’t vibe. I’m assuming he’ll return later on, so maybe my opinion will change. (I sure hope so.)
Leslie: Okay, at first, I was like, “who is this knock-off Noctis wannabe?” but I really enjoyed the backstory and depth they gave this seemingly minor character. I see that Squeenix is trying to provide new things for older fans to take interest in, and in this case, I felt he was a nice touch. (Edit: I was told that Leslie, Kyrie, and some of the other new NPCs were featured in an audio book?! Which I had no idea even existed, so...the more you know!)
Don Corneo: Even slimier and creepier in HD! Honestly, hats off to Squeenix for translating what was possibly the most cringy and controversial part of the original in a ‘tasteful’ way in regard to all of Wall Market. This guy was definitely a worthy villain in the remake.
Rufus: Holy hell. I never ever in my life thought I’d be saying this, but wow, is Rufus hotter than I remember. Thank you, Squeenix for giving me another foxy bad boy to drool over. He was also, for me, the hardest and most frustrating boss battle (even more so than Sephiroth), but it was totally worth dying to watch all the cut scenes with him over again. Can’t wait to see more of him in the next installment.
Hojo: God, I hate this guy. I know you’re -supposed- to, but he is such a creep. Hearing his dialogue in the remake was even worse than reading it in the original. Gotta say, dealing with his four wards in Shinra HQ was my least favorite part of the game by far, but I know he will get his comeuppance later down the road. All the dialogue was just as shocking as I remember, so, yeah. Good job?!
Sephiroth: Alright, anyone else feel like they made Sephiroth EXTRA SEXUAL in this remake?! You too? Oh, good, good, same bro. Now, it could just be me projecting, but anytime he came on the screen…panties were dropping y’all. Of course, I’m not one to complain about Sephiroth content. On the contrary, I lap it up like I just walked through the desert and found an oasis, BUT, I will say this…you barely see Sephiroth at all at this point in the original. As a reminder, the remake only covered the first 4-6 hours of the original game, and I get you can’t really do a remake without at least SHOWING Sephiroth for the people who have been waiting to see him in HD, but with that being said, he was VERY involved. I love Sephiroth, he’s a great villain, but they are definitely changing things with him, so I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.
My one criticism? His voice was my least favorite out of the main characters. Not saying the VA didn’t do a great job, but it didn’t sound deep enough to be as intimidating. I prefer the VA who voiced him in Advent Children, but I’m sure it will grow on me in time.
Gameplay
Battle system: When the remake’s demo was released, I remember a lot of people were complaining about how ‘difficult’ the new battle system was, but I absolutely love it. It’s just the perfect balance of turn-based and real-time, with plenty of options for customization. If you want more real time, you can set your short cuts, and if you want more turn-based, you also have that option. My only real complaint was that item use is also tied to the ATB bar, but overtime I figured out when to heal myself in a timely fashion (after dying more than a handful of times). Button mashers won’t enjoy this battle system because it requires a little more strategy, but I think the point was to create an updated version of the original fighting style that would appeal to both old and new players, and it definitely delivered. Seeing the classic limit breaks used and being able to run around during battle was so much fun for me, and I about died when I saw Cloud strike his OG victory pose in Wall Market’s coliseum. Also, the transition between running through Midgar and entering battle was SO incredibly smooth and seamless that at times you didn’t notice the shift. Phenomenal.
o   Boss Battles: As much as I enjoyed the battle system of remake, some of the bosses felt unnecessarily hard and/or tedious (I’m looking at you, Hell House). Making use of the assess materia early on definitely helped me out, but I legit got bored at times, especially that damn giant robot you fight with only Barrett and Aerith when escaping Shinra HQ. This is really just a minor complaint, but there were a couple bosses where I died several times (*cough* Rufus *cough*) before I figured out the secret to defeating them, while others were super easy or just not that interesting. Meh. For context, I played on “normal” mode, but it truly felt hard in certain scenarios. (That could just have been me trying to get used to the new fighting style.)
o   Materia: speaking of materia, I did notice some new materia in the game, which was neat, and although I didn’t care for Chadley (dude, where are your parents?) it was nice to have a way to develop and earn new materia throughout. I found it somewhat strange that summon materia was just a thing you could get so early on instead of having to work for it, but I was excited to use it. Shiva and Ifrit were definitely my favorite summons (which hasn’t changed from the original for me). My one big question: where is the freaking ‘all’ materia?! I know they kinda split ‘all’ up into many different types of materia, and you do have ‘pray’ for healing your entire party, but man, that was so versatile in the original so that was a hard adjustment for me not to have use of it.
o   Weapons: I think it’s cool that they developed an upgrade system to make use of your weapons long term, giving them their own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Made me think of FFX where you used the spheres to upgrade your characters. Also? I loved being able to see materia in my weapons when I switched them out. That was a really neat touch. 
Music: And here I thought they couldn’t make the music of the original game any more epic, but they definitely outdid themselves in the remake. I enjoyed hearing all the remixes and ways they wove the classic themes into different parts of the games. I think my favorite was when you’re going through sector 5 with Aerith and have to control the giant robotic hands. The music in that section SLAPPED. The in-game jukebox was also a nice way to honor the old school classics. Hearing Aerith’s theme for the first time just about made me cry, and listening to One-Winged Angel fighting Sephiroth? Nothing could beat that moment musically for me.
Side quests: I’m not sure about anyone else, but I really didn’t care for the side quests. They weren’t very fun for the most part, and considering how linear the game is, they felt more like chores that needed to be completed because I had to, and not because I wanted to. The only exception was Wall Market, but all-in-all, most of them didn’t add much to the story, unlike in FFXV where I could go down a rabbit hole of sidequests for hours and hours.
Graphics: This is clearly stating the obvious, as anyone with eyes will tell you, the game is nothing short of gorgeous. I cannot tell you how many screencaps I took of just Cloud. It was definitely a world that I wanted to run around in for hours (and did) and will do so again and again just to look at all the little details. My favorite thing to do is watch comparison videos of the original and remake openings side-by-side. How crazy is it that technology has come this far!
Playtime: My biggest critique of this game is that it was too damn short. Stretching the first 4-6 hours of the original into 40 was definitely impressive, but considering I waited 20+ years for the remake, it was pretty disappointing to finish the game in less than a week. Like most people, I’m wondering just how long they plan on stretching this out, how many installments there will be, and when the second part will be released. Hopefully not another ten years, but it -is- Squeenix we’re talking about...
Storyline
Most people who played will tell you that most of the remake stayed very true to the original, even lifting some of the exact dialogue and scenes. The nostalgia hit me so hard in parts that I was literally in tears. The first time I watched the opening in the demo, I cried. That’s the power this game has over many people, including myself.
In other ways, the remake improved on parts of the story or re-imagined them. We always knew it wasn’t going to be a copy and paste of the original story, which I’m sincerely grateful for. I would seriously hope that after 20+ years they would have thought of ways to improve or polish FFVII and make it new and exciting for returning fans and people just picking it up.
My pros regarding the updates in the story:
- They fleshed out many background characters and added in new ones. Most of the core group spent more time interacting, and the party banter felt natural and progressed realistically as the game went on.
- New mini-games and side quests expanded on the slums and made the areas larger and more interactive, yet they still kept the nostalgia of iconic locales.
- Plenty of fuel to fan shipping fires with emotionally charged scenes and pretty boys abounding (Cloti and Clerith especially).
- All of Wall Market was brilliantly done. I was wondering how they’d update it for the new generation, and it was seriously the best part of the game for me (and had me laughing the entire time).
-  Hinting that Zack is alive and/or Aerith may live is something I’m listing as a pro, only because I would love to see these characters used to their full potential, however, this is also a con for me, and I’ll explain why.
My cons:
Whispers: If you played the original, you probably had the same reaction as I did when the ‘Whispers’ showed up. “Wtf are these dementor-looking things?” At first, I thought they might be something similar to what we saw in Advent Children, and that they were ‘remnants’ or parts of Sephiroth, or somehow his minions, or even souls from the Lifestream, etc. When I found out they were actually supposed to be ‘protectors of fate’ or whatever, I rolled my eyes, especially when Barret was ‘killed’ by Sephiroth and then miraculously brought back to life. It felt very ‘deus ex machina’ to me in the sense that ‘everything has to go a certain way because we said so.’ While it makes sense, I really wasn’t buying it, but I’m assuming that we will learn more about them in the second installment. 
The Ending: The whole final boss battle of the remake was surprising, because it felt almost exactly like the final boss bottle of the original game, right down to the cutscene where Cloud is thrown through space and faces off against Sephiroth one-on-one. Before you defeat the ‘harbinger of fate’ (anyone else get KH heartless vibes?) and fight Sephiroth as the final boss, Aerith goes on her long spiel about ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’ and ‘this will change us,’ and it’s laid on so thick that it’s almost like they were setting us up for an alternate timeline, which is entirely possible, but that’s all speculation at this point. Regardless, they made it clear that whatever is coming next is going to be -very- different from the original, or possibly is going to be another timeline of the story, especially since Zack was shown alive and well. One criticism I heard from someone who hadn’t played the original game was that they treated Sephiroth and Zack like people you were supposed to know, and I can agree with that. They didn’t spend -any- time explaining their significance, backstory, or why people were so afraid of Sephiroth other than showing you little flashbacks into Cloud’s deranged memories, so in that sense, the ending might have fallen flat for those who don’t know exactly what Sephiroth represents or who he is, or why he stole Jenova from Hojo’s lab, etc, etc. Plus, throwing in Zack at the end is something that anyone who played the original game or Crisis Core would get, but new fans would also not understand the significance of. Personally, I screamed when I saw Zack because I was so happy , but I can see why that ending would be very unsatisfying and/or confusing for some.
Overall: 9/10
No, it doesn’t get a 10/10 for me, even as someone who absolutely loves Final Fantasy VII, but hey, no game is perfect. It’s honestly hard to live up to the hype this game has created since it was officially announced, and all things considered, Squeenix -did- live up to it. I will still be eagerly awaiting part two, playing the shit out of this game and squeezing the most I can out of it until I get to experience more.
I’d love to hear what other people thought (so long as the discourse is respectful of course). If you read this far, thanks for listening to my ramblings!
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missingmywing · 5 years ago
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Let Us Embrace Whatever It May Bring
@boomchickfanfiction this was inspired largely because I randomly remembered your 30-day challenge, went back to reread them, and rediscover your D&D au. And then got seriously inspired by the remake because I’ve got this colossal D&D universe that I’ve never written or posted anything for. Which is a shame.
So, thanks for reinspiring me!
(Potential spoilers for FFVIIR)
(Link to headcanon post on this; here!)
. . . . .
“They’re going to be so confused.”
“Of course they are, that’s what makes it fun!”
“Cloud is going to hate us.”
“Oh, he is not. Admit it, he’s going to be so excited to bring back the goofy try-hard jackass from the original story. He’s been irritated at what Strife’s slowly turned into across the multiverse, all because he actually payed attention in Intro to Psychology and accidentally took the “play to reality” character type a bit too literally. A hard reset is exactly what he needs, bonus points when he realizes where we’re going with this.”
“Which, hopefully, won’t be until the end of the first part of the campaign.” Sephiroth sent Aerith a pointed look. “We’ll have to be careful not to give them too much to work with too soon.”
“Tell that to the DMs,” she shot back, nudging her cousin with a grin. “Who’s heading it this time? Angeal was the main one last time, even with your parents helping him out, but are we going back to that?”
“Time travel isn’t Angeal’s usual forte,” Sephiroth conceded, “but that adventure was very much his. I’m not willing to take that from him unless he’s an actual player this time. Which, considering where we’re starting the timeline, he can’t be. Not with his own character, at least.”
“That is true,” she sighed, leaning back in her chair to stretch. “I definitely agree; it was his and he really owned it. I know Auntie was super impressed.”
“Yes, yes, mother is very supportive of dragging people into nerdom. It’s why she and Gen get along so well.”
“And that they share a nickname?” she grinned.
He rolled his eyes with a sigh. “That too. So, how are we going to pitch this without arousing suspicion?”
“‘Hey, why don’t we see if we can keep Aerith alive this time?’”
He sent her a deeply unimpressed look.
“I know it may come as a shock, but the world doesn’t actually revolve around you, y’know.”
“This one does!” she shot back with a brilliant grin. “Now help me figure out how to set this up so no one realises that we’re literally resetting the timeline.”
. . .
“Hot damn we actually got everyone here,” Barret looked around, impressed, at the barely-contained chaos of people reuniting, getting food and drinks, and discussing storylines.
“I didn’t actually expect everyone to show up when I sent out that message,” Aerith admitted. “I mean, I did send out the call for Avalanche specifically, even if everyone was invited.”
“What, ya’ thought we wouldn’t show up to a new campaign for this story?” Reno asked with a grin, slinging an arm over her shoulders. “Everyone shows up for the first and final sessions, even if they don’t participate. C’mon Aer, this is our baby. We all wanna know what new adventure awaits us on the distant land of Gaia.”
“Yeah, who’s getting possessed this time?!” Zack called across the room with a grin. “Do I finally get to come back to life for good? Does Cloud finally die for good? Do he and Seph finally bone in-game?!”
“No, that was Dissidia,” Cloud corrected with a grin, and laughter rang through the rooms.
“Oh boy, that campaign,” Genesis grinned, elbowing Sephiroth.
“You weren’t even there,” Sephiroth protested, elbowing him back with a smile.
Angeal shook his head from where he and Jenova were setting up the table. “That’s what you get for live-streaming it.”
“It was a fantastic campaign,” Jenova assured them. “Full kudos to your DMs, they did a fantastic job juggling everything and showing how young their gods were last time, especially in comparison to Cosmos and Chaos from the first two campaigns. And all from behind the anonymity of a computer and avatar.”
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes at her, and she winked at him. She preferred to stay anonymous in the wider campaigns like that; it preserved her character’s image.
“It was fun,” Cloud admitted, “even if it was chaotic. And speaking of fun and chaotic, is everyone here?”
“Role call!” Jenova shouted through the house. “DM’s to the floor prompto! Avalanche and evil people, to the table! Everyone else, spread out and stay out from underfoot!”
There were chuckles and laughter as people called out jibes and protests toward their treatment, but everyone gathered just the same. With some subtle prompting from the DMs and two schemers, the people from the Midgar section of the Meteor campaign were settled closest to the DMs, Shinra (Rufus, the Turks, and Reeve) on one side and Avalanche on the other, and Aerith managed to snag Zack into sitting next to her. At his raised eyebrow she winked.
Angeal cleared his throat, and it fell quiet.
“You all have your intro Meteor sheets, right?” He glanced around, and everyone nodded. “Right, get those out and let's get some stat comparing for this campaign.”
That raised a few brows and murmurs, but the rustling of bags and binders and papers soon filled the room.
Sephiroth was careful to hide his endgame Advent Children campaign sheet behind his intro Meteor one. No reason to give anyone ideas at this stage. The anticipation and confusion would be so much more fun if they were all kept in the dark.
His eyes met Aerith’s, and she looked just as excited as he felt.
They took a few minutes to minorly rework the sheets to better suit their play style now, but the changes wouldn’t be major enough to impede the story. Good.
Jenova clapped twice, Lucrecia and Vincent finished tidying up the papers, Hojo spread out the stat sheets, and Angeal once again cleared his throat.
“Imagine, if you will, a sky. Filled with clouds, oversetting a dusty plain with rocky hills. A bird flies overhead, feathers dark and scraggly. It soars through the sky, over the plains, toward a large mass of metal plunging into the sky.”
Angeal had the perfect voice for narration, everyone was hooked from the first sentence, and there were shifts of excitement at the mention of the ruins of Midgar.
“Carried up by the wind, if flies into a cloudbank, navigating through large metal beams and poles. With a burst of sunlight, it emerges on the other side- overtop of a thriving metropolis.”
There was a burst of noise at that. Gasps and shouts of surprise at the realization that these weren’t ruins, and it probably wasn’t Edge.
Jenova called for quiet, and all the DMs looked amused.
“So what, we doin’ a time-skip?” Cid raised a brow.
“No, that doesn’t make sense.” Elena dug through her notes. “In the AC campaign it opened with a five hundred year time-skip and Midgar was a jungle, remember?”
“Yep, Nanaki and his cubs were overlooking it,” Kunsel confirmed, pulling out the concept sheet he’d sketched out at the time, as well as the character sheet he hadn’t yet gotten to use. Apparently he wouldn’t get to use it this campaign either. Darn. He had tons of cool stuff Nanaki had learned over those five hundred years.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that we didn’t time skip,” Rufus pointed out. “It just means that we’re before it was reclaimed by the Planet. It could be a two or three hundred year time skip, and we’re descendents. A city could easily be totally reclaimed in a hundred years or less.
“Or,” Cloud cut in, “we could just wait and see what nefarious plot our DMs have in store.”
“I just got done with the Number 3 campaign with the KH crew, so I know what my theory is,” Reno drawled, drawing snickers from everyone who followed that particular convolution.
Aerith giggled, and tried not to do it too hard. Reno would be the first to figure it out, solely due to the central part he played as Axel in that particular campaign with that group. He’d keep quiet though, just to see how long it took everyone else.
Angeal smiled at them, but continued. “It flies over the train tracks, the cars on freeways, and down between buildings in what appears to be an entertainment district. Children on bikes ride down the street, past construction crews and people loading fuel cells into cars, shoppers entering and exiting shops along the street, and cars making their way along the road. The children ride down a hill, across a road, and reach a playground with a few toys… and a strangely shaped slide.”
Cloud stilled, suspicion arising in his eyes, and Aerith and Sephiroth bit back smiles.
“Day fades to evening, to night, and as the young girl slides down, something catches her eye in the distance. She turns to looks, and watches as a large burst of green erupts from a distant building along the giant outer wall.”
More and more people were beginning to realize, and Reeve looked breathless at the description of something he’d labored at for weeks alongside Jenova, Lucrecia, Hojo, and Vincent to make somewhat realistically believable for his first campaign with them. He was blindly groping in his bag for the sketches and blueprints he’d rendered out on his own.
“Imagine, the sparks of green float up and up, into the cloudy sky, until they resemble stars- and now imagine drifting through them, through the emptiness of space-”
Oh, Cloud knew this. He remembered this from their first Meteor session. Their introduction to the fully realized Midgar, at the introduction of Reeve to their group. And, judging by other people’s reactions, he wasn’t the only one.
“Holy shit,” Barret breathed from beside him, and an incredulous grin was slowly spreading across Zack’s face, while Tifa looked torn between excitement and horror.
“Imagine floating down, down, until buildings take shape. An alleyway, and in the alleyway is a girl. Long, flowing brown hair, with a pink dress, red jacket, and pink ribbon in her braid. Her green eyes are focused on an opening from which the sparks are floating out of; as though she is receiving answers to questions only she would know to ask.”
There was silence for a moment, and Aerith counted down the moments in her head. Three, two, one-
The room exploded into chaos. People were shouting, throwing out questions and theories, laughter and horror in equal bounds on people’s faces.
“Yes!!! Oh yeah, Wedge is back baby!” Zack’s gleeful shout was the most obvious, drawing laughter and groans of protest in equal measure at the reminder of Barret’s Avalanche cell.
“Are we reworking Meteor?!” Elena looked ecstatic. “Because there is so much I want to rework with my fighting style! I have some nifty new spells that I want to try against a bigger level gap!”
“Oh noooo,” Reno groaned, dropping his head back. “I’m gonna go back to bein’ the guy who dropped the plate. Not cool, yo! I finally made everyone forget about that by bein’ a quirky idiot in AC!”
“Ha!” Yuffie grinned. “We’re never gonna let it die!”
Sephiroth focused on Cloud. “You seem conflicted.”
Cloud started, then grinned ruefully at him. “I am, a bit. I’m ecstatic to come back of course, to get Strife back before I put too much realism into his reactions, to completely rework him from the ground up. I mean, this was my first campaign as a major player the whole way through. I’m thrilled. I just also happen to remember all the horrible things that happened to turn Strife into sir angst-fest that he was.”
“Perhaps,” Sephiroth acknowledged, “but if we’re reworking it… then doesn’t that mean that you can change things this time around?”
Cloud sent him a flat look, though his eyes were warm. “I’m not naive enough to think it’s that simple. Between you and the DMs, this won’t go smoothly at all.”
Sephiroth smirked at him, that damn smirk that got to him every time. “Perhaps,” he repeated in a purr, “but isn’t that the fun of it all?”
“Alright children, settle down!” Jenova shouted, but her wild grin showed her true feelings on the matter. “Yes, to answer the question… we are, in fact, reworking Meteor. For a couple of reasons, but mostly… yeah, character development was a large part of it. A couple of people backed themselves into a corner with their characterizations, and needed a sort of… reset.”
Cloud winced, his own feelings being the most well known on the matter. “Oops,” he said weakly.
“It’s not just you,” Lucrecia assured him. “Vincent and I need to rework ours too, because Dirge wasn’t… hmm.”
“I need a character alteration,” Vincent said flatly. “I didn’t like how I played some of that, and would like to have come to some of those conclusions earlier, because some of my lack of action felt a bit too forced and I would like to see if I can smooth it out.”
Yuffie frowned. “What was wrong with it?”
“Essentially the same problem as Cloud, I took the after effects too seriously and made my character more depressed and stagnant than necessary. I’ll see if I can tone it down a bit, or at least form it into a slightly more active shape earlier.”
“And my entire character needs to just be completely reworked,” Lucrecia sighed. “Granted I use character very loosely, because she’s basically just an NPC, and since we based this whole thing on one of our high school campaigns, I am very annoyed with what I turned her into.”
“You turned her into that because she annoyed you and you didn’t like her anymore,” Hojo pointed out dryly.
“I know, but I’m hoping I might be able to fix it.”
“Hashtag-doubt,” Jenova murmured. “I, for one, am perfectly happy with my character.”
“You would be,” Sephiroth said dryly.
“And you aren’t, darling?”
“No, I am,” he assured her. “Just reminding you of your own nature.”
Murmured conversations broke out as people reevaluated their character sheets, considering possible changes. Cloud noticed Rufus, digging out a familiar pet-sheet and quickly scratching out the name up top, and snorted. A glance around revealed Zack gleefully revising Wedge’s sheet, While Jenova and Angeal already had Jessie and Bigg’s revised sheets out in front of them.
Reeve was considering his own three sheets, clearly calculating stats, as was Kunsel. He caught sight of Reno’s sheet just as Angeal called- “This isn’t Kingdom Hearts, Reno, you cannot pull Axel’s stats over to your Turk, he isn’t Lea.”
“Lameee,” Reno groaned, but put the sheet up well naturedly.
“They don’t even use the same element,” Tifa pointed out with amusement, her own sheet done with few revisions.
“Meh,” he shrugged, glancing over. “Not gonna revise stats, Tseng, Rude?”
“A few a bit later, perhaps,” Tseng responded distractedly as he flipped through his later sheets. “As of right now, however, no. I’m content until I can unlock a few higher-tier spell combinations.”
Rude nodded. “Same here. I know what I want to change, but I need higher levels first.”
Barret was grumbling along with Cid about potential mechanics later on, and Cloud turned his attention back to Genesis and Angeal bickering lightly about Scarlet’s potential and materia abilities. He shook his head with a smile, and waited for everyone to finish up.
Angeal cleared his throat once again, calling for silence, and continued.
“Long, flowing brown hair, with a pink dress, red jacket, and pink ribbon in her braid. Her green eyes are focused on an opening from which the sparks are floating out of; as though she is receiving answers to questions only she would know to ask. She starts, suddenly, as though breaking out of a daze, and straightens with a nervous glance around, as though looking for something. Nothing appears, but she quickly stands and hurries out of the alley, glancing over her shoulder as she does. She stumbles into someone, and drops some of her flowers, in her distraction. Quickly kneeling to pick them up, she collects all but one before a man carrying a box and thus can’t see it, steps on it. She slowly picks it up, cradling it in her hands, before her gaze is inexplicably drawn to the sky.”
Angeal to a breath, and continued.
“Pulling away from her, up and into the very sky she’s observing, see the building, lit brightly against the dark, theaters and shops and restaurants; further up and see the city take shape, enormous metal plates with large gaps between them, and at the center… at the center is a tower. Looming over the entire city with an ominous presence, it oversees all that goes on in the city.
Now we go down, down past the other side of the tower, down to Sector 1. A train flies along the rail, a delivery for Mako Reactor Zero. And atop that train is a young man. Blond flyaway hair and a modified SOLDIER uniform, a large sword attached to his back. As the train slows, he looks up, glowing blue-green eyes steely with determination. The train pulls to a stop in the station, and two guards separate to do an inspection.”
Angeal smiled.
“Roll for initiative.”
. . . . .
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freelanceexorcist · 10 months ago
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I watched the trailer and I have thoughts.
Spoilers and scalding hot takes under the cut.
*I hope a Japanese speaker gets a hold of the Japanese version and lets us know if our buddy Ore Sephiroth is anywhere in there.
*Speaking of Sephiroth. I love how in the original game toward Cloud he was like "who the fuck are you," and now in Remake its "I want you to draw me like one of your French girls." I mean, has he ever been that touchy-feely?
*Ohhh, the s3fikura gang is going to be insufferable now, aren't they?
*Personally, I got big "strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey toward the Dark Side will be complete" vibes from it, but that's just me.
*And now Sephiroth is alive in the Zack Survives timeline/universe/whatever and seems shocked to see Zack. "No, not you." WTF is that about? And which version of Sephiroth is this, Ore or Watashi?
*And Sephiroth showing up at the church? Is he trying to cock block Zack or is it the other way around?
*Oh, I'm kidding. Put down the torches and pitchforks.
*Vincent has a history with Sephiroth? Oooh, wonder what that could be.
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Again. Kidding. He's probably talking about Lucrecia and this is how we find out about her, just like in the OG.
*Seems like Cloud is kind of a sideliner in this and the real beef is between Sephiroth and Aerith. I'm just putting on my speculatin' hat, but we're going to find out that there's a little history between these two. I doubt if they'll go down the "former lovers or maybe siblings" road, but I wouldn't be surprised if some oblique reference is made as a shout out to back in the day when that was a thing.
*ROCHE IS BACK! YAY!
*GENESIS IS NOT BACK! YAY!
*And is that Cissnei I saw? Good to see you, Baby Girl!
*It's hard not to like Roche when Austin Lee Matthews is clearly having the time of their life hamming it up in that role.
*So black cloak guy is affiliated with Wutai, eh? I wonder what that's all about, considering Wutai is thinking of having another go at Shinra.
*I don't remember Dyne being this melodramatic in the OG, but it's been a minute since I've played it.
That's all for now. I'll have to watch it again and as I said, these are hot takes.
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freelanceexorcist · 1 year ago
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FFVIIR Musings and the Multiroth of Madness
There are so many theories going around about FFVIIR and Sephiroth that its hard to keep up with them all. Some are great theories, some strain plausibility a bit but are still pretty good, while others are straight up ridink to the hinkulous. Others, good or bad, were Jossed. I’ll try to list as many as I can and, of course, give my opinion. The rest of this is under a cut because it’s very spoilery and very, very, very, very LOOOONNNNNGGG. And pedantic. And probably boring to anyone but me.
I’m going to assume anyone reading this knows about Japanese first-person pronoun usage, but if you don’t, check out this link (warning: TV Tropes), specifically the Ore and Watashi sections.
When His Voice is Like Ice but He Seems Sorta Nice,  That’s an Ore…
There are at least two versions of Sephiroth running around the Remake-verse.
This is established fact, because the devs said as much in the Remake Ultimania (full disclosure: I know very, very little to no Japanese and have been relying on the largesse of those who do and are providing accurate, good faith translations). In fact, there are four: one who is an illusion (hallucination?) on Cloud’s part. The second is him (or Jenova taking on his appearance) hijacking a black cloaked man to use as a meat suit. The third is a flashback of the Nibelheim incident. The fourth is Ore Sephiroth, who is identified as ??? in the book. The last one stands apart from the rest not just because of the pronoun, but because he is the only version that anyone other than Cloud can also see and he is described as a version that has never been seen in the Compilation before. At this time it is not clear if just one person (or alien eldritch abomination) is responsible for the other three.
Ore Sephiroth is the Crisis Core version, who never had a psychotic episode and therefore sidestepped the Nibelheim incident.
This is a good one, in fact it’s one of my favorites because I love me some CC Sephiroth. Alas, it was Jossed by the Rebirth trailer. He uses Ore when he says “you know I killed Tifa,” which shows that Ore is guilty of the events in Nibelheim and knows it or is at least accepting responsibility for it.
There’s also the problem that crops up if Ore Sephiroth is from the same timeline that Remake takes place in, because that causes a whopper of a temporal paradox. If Sephiroth doesn’t lose his mind and burn down Nibelheim, the characters would not have the experiences that shaped them into the people they are when the story begins or go on to form relationships with each other. But they are these people anyway, with the same experiences and issues that resulted from the Nibelheim incident and its aftermath, hence the paradox.
Ore Sephiroth is from a time post-Advent Children.
This was a good one at first but upon further inspection it doesn’t really hold up, at least for me. Since Remake is referencing portions of the Compilation, we need to take Case of the Lifestream: Black into account. In this story, following his defeat in the original game, Sephiroth released all of his memories to the Lifestream. He had to send the remnants out to scan peoples’ memories just to get an idea of what he looked like, let alone what his motivations ever were. He was essentially a blank canvas with only his rage, despair and white-hot hatred of Cloud forming his core and keeping him anchored to reality.
About those memories. Trauma and grief can really mess with the memory to various degrees. Grief can cause memory loss, and the intensity of the grief can determine how long that lasts, so there would be things some people just don’t remember. The trauma could cause existing memories to be blown out of proportion and exaggerated. Fears can become bigger, too. Sephiroth was the source of this trauma and grief, so it also follows that he went from “big, scary guy who wants to reboot the world and doesn’t think humans should get to live rent-free in the new digs” to “terrifying boogeyman who wants to wipe the planet of every living thing on it.” It’s possibly why he went from being a perfectly good-looking man in the rest of the Compilation to a ghostly pale, unnatural wraith in AC (but still hot. Who said that?!). Throw in Jenova’s species’ MO of eating a planet bare and using the barren husk to move on to do the same to the next one, and you’ve got his AC motivation.
It doesn’t even seem like it’s really Sephiroth anymore in AC so much as a rage-fueled golem made of Jenova cells, spite and the traumatized memories of a bunch of unreliable narrators. This doesn’t seem at all like Ore Sephiroth (although it is admittedly too early to know much about that).
Also, considering AC Sephiroth Flanderized himself into being the personification of “fuck this guy in particular” when it comes to Cloud, it doesn’t fit that Ore Sephiroth is so goshdarn NICE to him.  
Ore Sephiroth is the memories OG Sephiroth released to the Lifestream after his defeat given flesh.
I really like this one that I’ve seen here and there. It makes sense, too, when you take Case of the Lifestream: Black into account. Jenova is corrosive to the Lifestream, as we see with Geostigma. Angeal, Zack and Lucrecia can’t really cease to exist as individuals or even plain old die because the Lifestream would poison itself by letting them in. It makes sense that Sephiroth’s spirit energy would be kept intact and tucked away somewhere safe like an encapsulated tumor that can’t grow any bigger. In this case, the Lifestream found a use for him or he just straight up escaped.
Ore Sephiroth is a separate person but just as evil as Watashi Sephiroth.
But why though? What would be the point of having two identical characters both pursuing the same goal? “Like the original game, but BIGGER?” So they would cancel each other out? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just ditch Ore and keep Watashi if that were the case? Having Ore and Watashi as murder twinsies would result in Ore Sephiroth not serving any real function in the story, which is pretty sloppy writing. This seems like a bit of a stretch on the part of people who simply will not accept a version of Sephiroth that isn’t the mustache-twirlingly evil classic villain.
It doesn’t matter what pronoun he uses, because he used Ore after losing his shpadoinkles in the library and Watashi before luring the party into the singularity.
This seems like another stretch for the same reason. It does matter.
Yes, Sephiroth used Ore even after emerging from the library and putting Nibelheim to the torch. But the creators didn’t say that’s when he stopped using it, they said he switched when he met Jenova. This meeting took place after the village burned. Yeah, that seems like a distinction without a difference, but during this meeting, he was completely broken mentally and his physical proximity to her was the closest it had ever been. He was still himself to a degree before that, but what if his shattered psyche combined with the proximity really let her dig in? In the reactor the first time, he still had it together enough to shake himself out of it when he started glitching.
Also, there are signs that it’s not Sephiroth controlling the Whispers, but vice versa, at least to enough of a degree that they can keep him from really rearranging events in ways they can’t correct. He doesn’t start using Ore until the Edge of Creation, when the Whispers were completely eradicated (at least so far). This really great analysis explains this far better and more thoroughly than I could, so give it a look.
Watashi Sephiroth is the real deal and Ore Sephiroth is actually Jenova manipulating Cloud
I hope this isn’t the case, but man it’s plausible. In The Kids Are Alright, it’s noted that Jenova not only had the ability to mimic people the Cetra knew, she also would get into their heads, making them think that their fellow Cetra were plotting against them, effectively making them turn on each other and doing her job for her. What if Ore Sephiroth is actually Jenova trying to drive a wedge between Cloud and the rest of the party and getting him to turn on them by presenting herself as a version of Sephiroth that Cloud used to know and who died?
This one kind of breaks down upon further inspection too, though. If this is Jenova, she’s choosing a pretty cumbersome way of executing this strategy. Wouldn’t she be better served to impersonate someone Cloud already trusted and cared for, like Tifa (dun dun DUNNNNN – see below), or Zack or his mother? Why go through all the work of impersonating someone Cloud hates and then trying to get him to bury the hatchet and trust her that way? Not only would that be doing the fans of CC-era Sephiroth pretty damn dirty by making us get our hopes up only to get clowned, but it would also be unnecessarily complicated writing.  
Ore Sephiroth is from a different timeline.
Honestly, this is the one that is most likely, IMO. We know that alternate timelines are in play. We also know that Ore Sephiroth had at least some degree of autonomy if he was being controlled by the Whispers, or the final boss battle wouldn’t have happened because it didn’t happen that way in the OG.
That raises some questions, too. When was this timeline created? Does Remake take place in a timeline that is separate from the original game’s prime one? If so, do the Whispers exist only in Remake’s timeline to keep things from getting even more out of hand by different choices spawning new timelines? And does Aerith’s declaration of “everything about you is WRONG” mean that this version of Sephiroth isn’t supposed to exist here as long as the Whispers are around to keep things contained, meaning that his presence signifies that the Whispers dropped the timey wimey ball BIG TIME?
I guess we’ll find out in future installments, but one thing I want to say is that for as much as I would like it to be so, I don’t think Ore Sephiroth is one of the heroes here even if he does end up serving as a protagonist. I don’t think he’s an antagonist or villain either, but after all the shit he has done and has been done to him, he’s been through too much to come out the other end of it the same person he was in Crisis Core.
He may sincerely want to do the right thing this time around, but he’ll be morally grey, doing the right thing for probably selfish reasons and won’t care much about the personal moral code of anyone he has to align himself with to make it happen. Any altruism or defense of others would be because it gets him one step closer to his goal – true freedom. Boundless, terrifying freedom from Hojo, Shinra, Jenova, the Whispers or anyone else who would ever try to use him as a tool for their own purposes.
He might be truly selfless at some point, but probably not before a whole lot of convincing and not before he decides the risks to his own hide are worth it. There’s a reason I like to compare this vision of him to Negan from The Walking Dead, Joseph Lawrence from The Handmaid’s Tale and the man himself as he was characterized in Dissidia.   
Anyway. Moving on.
You Done Messed Up, A-A-Ron! Or Did You?
This will be a short section (“Oh, thank GOD!!” – everybody) because it’s just a bit from the Rebirth trailer and some other parts as well. I should stress it’s probably good practice to not come to any solid conclusions based on a few lines of out-of-context dialogue in what may or may not be a classic trailer misdirection. That last bit might be more likely than we think, since Purple Maybe Jenova Maybe Sephiroth Maybe Both appears to be speaking while the words are being said and how many people can really read lips, let alone read the lips of someone speaking Japanese? Speculate away, though! I sure plan to.
This is about the snippet of dialogue laid over Purple Jenovaroth being all menacing. Ore Sephiroth talks about how Jenova is said to be a monster who can imitate those her targets hate, fear or love. Then he insinuates that because he killed Tifa all those years ago, the current version must be some kind of Jenova-fueled imposter.
Many people quickly concluded that Sephiroth is just messing with Cloud’s head, but I don’t feel like that’s the case. I think it’s very possible that he simply doesn’t know she survived. After he slashed her, he walked away and never saw her again. A short time later, he was dead. What if Ore Sephiroth isn’t being calculating? What if he’s fallen for Jenova’s trick described above and is genuinely paranoid over the idea that she’s imitating people who Cloud trusts and who can influence him?
Sephiroth is powerful, but he’s not omniscient, nor was he in the original game either. So he may be thinking “yeah, no one escapes death at the end of my blade,” because Tifa is one of only a few who have, but she managed to beat the odds and survive. If he’s from a different timeline where he did succeed in killing her he would be correct in his assumption, but it’s not the case in this timeline.
Time will tell, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this doesn’t grow into a big plot point so much as serve to show the audience that, like Cloud, Ore Sephiroth is fallible. Like Cloud, he has gaps in his own memory and is just as much of an unreliable narrator. Like Cloud, he’s mentally unstable, making him susceptible to gaslighting that leads to paranoia. Like Cloud, he has lost people close to him who maybe can appear to him courtesy of Jenovillusions.
Odds and Ends
Sephiroth is just lying about all the things!
Funny thing is, Sephiroth only lied once in the Compilation when he impersonated Tifa in order to trick Barret into giving up the Black Materia, unless I’m forgetting something. He’s actually rather transparent and tells what he thinks is the truth.
And he didn’t mind rape Cloud with lies. Cloud was already good and mind raped by everything he’d gone through up until then. Sephiroth ripped the scales from Cloud’s eyes and told him a truth that he wasn’t ready to face yet, and that’s what pushed him over the edge but eventually led to him becoming stronger then ever before. Mind you, Sephiroth didn’t do any of this to be altruistic and was probably trying to soften Cloud up enough to make him easier to commandeer, but he did still tell him the truth. It was just the truth as he understood it.
See, he was in Potemkin Nibelheim at the same time as the party and was encountered in the basement library. He would have had plenty of time to read the notes on the Sephiroth Clone project and based his thinking on that. Because reading Hojo’s boogered-up notes and coming to his own conclusion worked out so well for him the last time he did it. /s
Sephiroth wanted the Whispers gone so he could change his own fate and win!
How boring, if true. That would just be a retread of the plot of the original game but with a twist everyone guessed a mile out, and if that’s all some people want, they’re free to play that and save their money.
At this point, we don’t really know what anyone’s motives really are. We know that Ore Sephiroth wants to save the planet and defy destiny, but that’s about it. We know that Watashi Sephiroth wants to troll the shit out of Cloud and turn into gigantic 80s metal band mascots to fight the party, but that’s about it for him as well. The Kalm flashback may clarify a few things, but it may also muddy the waters even more in order to spring a big twist on us later.
Sephiroth was controlling the Whispers!
What would he gain from that? The Whispers are there to make sure events chug along just as they did in the original game and presumably the Compilation. We know he’s a bit of a glutton for punishment, but why would he want a fate where he is defeated and killed over and over again? If anything, they were controlling him, at least to a degree, and what they were controlling is a version of him we’ve never seen before.
The eradication of the Whispers seems to have set Ore Sephiroth free. He talks of destiny, but in the Edge of Creation scene he wants to defy it and needs Cloud’s help to do so. His personality in this scene is subtly different, because he’s nicer. He merely disarms Cloud to end their duel when if this is the same Sephiroth from the original game, that would have been the perfect opportunity to take him out.
So yeah, that implies that Ore Sephiroth was being twisted into his OG/Compilation self in Remake’s timeline. So…what if Ore Sephiroth is from a different timeline and somehow made his way to Remake’s, prompting the planet to create the Whispers to contain him (and anyone else whose choices could potentially be effected by his anomalous presence)?
But the creators said there wouldn’t be any major changes!
Obviously the team changed their minds, because there have been some whoppers so far. They also said there would no new characters, but we’ve got loads of them in sizeable roles, unless they were referring to playable characters. It’s their sandbox, and if they decide that This Thing works better than That Other Thing, then it’s This Thing that will make it into the finished work, even if they stated in some pre-production interview that they were pretty married to That Other Thing at the time.
And the thing about remakes is that they are never exactly the same as the original or previous adaptations and the only things that remain intact-at least in a well-made remake-are the major plot points that move the story along from start to finish.
The movie A Star is Born is a good example of this. There are four versions of it than have been released, and they’re all different to varying degrees except for the major beats: he’s always a famous star when the story starts. He’s always an addict. She’s always a small-time performer at first and he’s plowed when they meet. He always takes her under his wing. They always fall in love. Her career always goes through the roof while his fizzles out. He always gets clean for a while but falls off the wagon. He always dies in the end. She always picks up the pieces and moves on. The same basic story is still told, but the space between point A and point B is a little different each time. What doesn’t change is anything that would significantly alter the basic plot. And these changes were pretty well received, considering all four movies got plenty of attention from the Academy.
So far, hardly any of the major beats of the story have changed yet. The only major difference is Sephiroth showing up for the final boss battle WAY too early, which gives us our first hint that the Whispers are losing control of fate. Now that they’re gone, there’s going to be a whooooole lot more that’s different, because getting rid of them enabled the creation of alternate timelines. About the only thing that is guaranteed is fans who will complain bitterly about the changes and flounce dramatically out of the fandom only to come right back a week later to complain some more. I know this because it happens in every fandom. Yes, all of them.
Watashi Sephiroth will not kill Aerith!
That big boom you just heard was the heads of every OG purist reading this exploding at once but hear me out.
I didn’t say she wasn’t going to die, I said it wouldn’t be him that kills her, and I base this on the assumption that he and Aerith are aware of previous iterations of the cycle and know what will happen next. If that is the case, he would know how badly he played himself by allowing her to enter the Lifestream where she becomes a Force ghost, completes Holy, thwarts his plan and goes on to eradicate Jenova entirely a few years later. He’d know that it was in his best interests to keep her out of the Lifestream and find another way to stop her from using the White Materia. He could even try to persuade her to join him since knowing how powerful she was is why he killed her the first time around.
That’s about all I’ve got for now (“We reiterate: oh, thank GOD!” – everybody). If you’ve managed to read this whole thing, you have the patience of saints. If you disagree with me, that’s fine, just don’t be a dick about it.
Thank you.
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