#Tifa is not mad enough at Corneo

[tifa-simp]

I was expecting Tifa to tell Sephiroth to shut the fuck up when he brainwashed Cloud in the temple of the Ancients. Missed opportunity tbh. SE better makes up for this in next game. If Tifa gonna curses anyone in the game, it should absolutely be Sephiroth, next is Corneo.

[iaintyourbro]

What’s your take on Cloud’s depression during AC? People on twitter are suddenly talking about this, again. This matter was brought up by those antis saying that we Clotis should accept the fact that Tifa wasn’t the one who “healed” Cloud and that she was also being mean and not considerate whatsoever. The funny thing is that, they also accused us of denying his depression and not understanding it. TF. Let’s be real, Tifa played a major part, in fact she gave him morale thx to her “scolding” lol

Hey anon.. 

Yeah, Twitter has me depressed today. I think it started last night. I was enjoying it for a bit, but the last week or two have been so bad over there with bullshit that I’m about to just take a break from the entire fandom. 

My Take on AC Cloud:

I watched AC when it first came out, and I barely remember it. I remember I didn’t like what they did. Why was Cloud so depressed and brooding? Oh Aerith is in this? Interesting. I felt like it was disjointed and removed a lot of the great progress Cloud made in OG. They kept this depressed, brooding guy in KH as well... It just didn’t seem right to me. I was young, too. 

At this point we also didn’t have On the Way to a Smile, Crisis Core, or anything else, really.. None of the Ultimanias were in English at this point. I also was not interested enough in going online. It was a weird time when I was playing other things and was meh on FF7 for a while. I was always a FF8 fangirl, so was jealous of FF7 at times hahaha. It got so much more attention and love. 

It took me a long time to watch it again. I remember my husband watching it before Remake came out and I felt mad or sad. It was like an emotion from memory, and I didn’t know why. I can’t describe it. I saw it on the TV and was like why is this on here... 

After playing Remake, I bit the bullet and ordered AC Complete, which had things tweaked and added. I also am now in my 30′s and have a lot more life experience.

Antis like to say Cloud is depressed solely because Aerith is dead and he wants to be with her. This may be one of the reasons I didn’t like AC, because when I did happen to come across some FF7 thing online, I’d see this shit and be like whatever, that makes no sense. 

I enjoyed ACC. My heart was actually pounding and I was nervous/intrigued by what was going on even though I knew the story. I haven’t read all of CoT yet, but I’ve seen the excerpts online, so I know the general gist of things.

Based strictly on ACC:

Cloud is really upset that Denzel is sick. He’s obsessively looking up medical stuff to figure out how to cure it - this is shown with everything all over his desk. He’s closed in on himself to do this. I did the same shit when my dad had cancer. I did it for three fucking years while he was alive - from the time he got diagnosed to the day he was dying. Every damn day I looked up articles, research, and theories. It’s not healthy. It’s depressing and I closed myself off from the world half the time and didn’t realize it. Thank God my husband is a patient saint. 

Cloud does care a lot about Tifa. His reaction alone at seeing her knocked out in the church is heart wrenching. When they’re brought back to Seventh Heaven, Cloud pops right up when he sees Tifa there. He then stays with her until she wakes up. This is a pretty good amount of time. The sun is up when he’s looking over her, and when she wakes up, it’s dark outside. He could have slipped out again without her noticing if he really wanted to. I’m sure he may have contemplated it. 

She calls his ass out on how he’s acting. She knows he’s sick at this point. This was huge for Tifa who’s not confrontational. He clearly doesn’t want to completely disconnect, or he would have gotten rid of his cell phone voluntarily. He doesn’t. They actually show him checking his messages. 

Ultimately Cloud leaves because he ends up with Geostigma. That’s the last straw. He can’t face the fact that he’s going to die and what it’ll do to his family, so he leaves. Listen, I think the only reason my dad didn’t try to leave when he was diagnosed was because he had nowhere to go and by time he started verbalizing wanting to leave, he was physically unable to. Yes, I remember him being angry because he was hospitalized again and he told my mom he was going to get an apartment by himself so she didn’t know when he was getting bad. It’s very hurtful to even think it, and even worse when you know they don’t actually mean it... They do it because they don’t want to see their family hurt. 

The setup he has at the church as his “living” area is super depressing. It looks like something a homeless person sets up. He legit was going to wait to die. He had a lot of knowledge about this, so he figured there was nothing he could do. 

Marlene calls Cloud out on his bullshit too. Cloud admits to her he doesn’t think he can take care of anybody. Marlene Barrret quotes him and it’s cute. I think Cloud appreciated it and I think it made him think.

In ACC, Cloud has a short conversation with Aerith. Aerith seems almost annoyed with him like “wtf is your deal, dude” kind of attitude. Zack shows up when he’s bloody and half dead fighting Sephiroth to encourage him. There are scenes with him talking at Zack’s grave and saying he couldn’t keep his promise to him. He flat out tells Aerith he wants to be forgiven. He doesn’t say I miss you, I want to be with you, none of that happens. In fact, it’s mainly her telling him HE needs to start doing some forgiving - ultimately to himself. 

When Cloud is in limbo - between living and dying - Cloud says “Mom.” Very romantic, I know. Then Zack and Aerith have a conversation very similar to a couple that’s going to adopt a child and they tell Cloud he’s too big for them. This is the “I see the light” and the person on the other side is like “nah bro go back, not your time yet.”

He wakes up, Tifa and crew is there, he smiles at Tifa... and it’s a happy ending. He sees both Zack AND Aerith at the end, and they walk off in to the light together all cute and shit.

Adding in Things from the Novels/Interviews/Thoughts:

The devs have said Cloud was happy with his family and that scared him. The happier he got, the more scared he got. We know he cherishes everything. He especially cherishes the family he has.

Cloud’s depression spiral started from the high anxiety of having a happy life and Elmyra asking him to deliver flowers to Aerith’s grave. Now, I have my feelings about this, but when I look at it logically, I don’t think Elmyra ultimately does this out of spite. I actually don’t think Elmyra thinks Cloud and Aerith were a thing - so it wasn’t that either. I think she knew Cloud was friends with her and maybe he’d want to deliver some flowers - to give him some business. 

This flower delivery reminds Cloud of what he thinks is his failure to protect somebody else. At this point he has his memories of what happened to Nibelheim, his mother, Tifa, and Zack. The Sector 7 plate drop and Aerith are the most recent “failures”. So this brings up Aerith.

Then Denzel comes along and he’s an orphan because his parents were... yeah... killed during the Sector 7 plate collapse. Double ouch. But Cloud and Tifa are going to take care of him.

Tifa herself has a lot of guilt because of the same reasons, she just deals with it very differently. Tifa tells Cloud to bring Denzel right home. She can make amends by adopting him in to her family and caring for him. Cloud thinks Aerith brought Denzel to him (Tifa corrects him). This is a Cloud thing, it’s not romantic. Cloud doesn’t know the guilt Tifa feels. He legit thinks all of this is his fault. Tifa’s guilt stems from the fact that Shinra drops the plate because Avalanche was in Sector 7 - she was in Avalanche. She feels guilty about Aerith because she thinks its her fault Aerith followed them to Don Corneo’s mansion. The thing is, Aerith doesn’t blame EITHER of them - I just wish they’d cover a Tifa/Aerith conversation about this as well... 

Cloud and Tifa do have fights in the novels from what I understand, but it’s because he’s acting weird. He feels bad hiding the fact that he’s been going to the church a lot, and I think that does turn in to a whole LTD debate. So you can take this as Tifa is jealous that he’s going to the church all the time or she’s upset that he is hiding from her. 

In the novels, Tifa has a breakdown when they go see the church after they defeat Sephiroth. This is where you get to see how badly Aerith’s death impacted her. So my thought is... Cloud thinks bringing her to the church hurts her because of her feelings, not because she’s jealous. I think Cloud is oblivious to the jealousy thing, honestly. Don’t think it’s a thought in his mind. 

I honestly don’t know the real reason why he goes to the church to hide. I think this is another point of fight with both sides. My personal take is there was nowhere else he could go and be alone. Most of the stuff had been destroyed. It was still close by, so he could still do his work and keep an eye on things/be nearby.

There is a quote that is taken to be literal, but I think it’s just a way to say it wouldn’t have mattered who Cloud was “with.” Yes, Tifa and Cloud have issues, and I believe the quote goes “Perhaps it would have gone better with Aerith, but I think her responsibility is too great. Maybe the children will help them with their issues.” This isn’t exact, but it’s the jist of what they said. The children do help them - that’s the point of the scenes with Marlene, to slap him silly with reality. 

“Oh but he sees Aerith when the building is falling.” Yes, you know why? Because he thinks that’s going to happen to Tifa. This is a “NO I’M NOT LETTING THIS HAPPEN.” moment. On top of it, I don’t think anybody would be right again if they saw this happen. If my neighbor was impaled by a large sword in their back, I’d be messed up from it. I don’t really know my neighbors. He’s not replaying this death scene in his head cuz he misses Aerith, he’s playing it in his head because it’s traumatic and he doesn't want to see this happen to Tifa. Especially Tifa. 

It’s been put in Ultimanias time and time again that Cloud’s feelings are for Tifa. I went through my Ultimania - which only covers OG - and it doesn’t say anything about Cloud’s side of the CA argument. It does say how he feels about Tifa in the Lifestream, though. 

The “He wants to die for her, see, that’s why he’s going to the church and waiting.” No, he doesn’t want to die or else he wouldn’t be so depressed. Just thinking this is fucked up on so many levels. If he really wanted to die and be with her, he’d be happy he got an incurable illness, I’d think... Cloud leaves Tifa and them because he doesn’t want to hurt him with him dying and not being able to stop it. 

The other thing that would be... weird... Zack is in the Lifestream with Aerith. They walk off together for a reason. I don’t think she’s going to just drop Zack for Cloud since the whole reason she was initially interested in Cloud was because of the similarities to Zack. He had the same sword, the same clothes, and in OG had some of the same mannerisms. I noticed the dropped the squatting in Remake - the random squatting.

The ending of ACC implies that now that Geostigma is cured and Sephiroth is (hopefully) gone for good, Cloud can be happy. I’m not saying that his smile fixes everything. I’m sure that him and Tifa had to work on things, but you can see in DoC that things seem to be much better - he’s more upbeat and happy. He’s more dorky, like he should be. 

Sorry this is long. I have a lot of feelings about all this stuff today. I’ve been seeing the fights over on Twitter about it and.. yeah. Cloud is depressed because of the fact he’s dying, his kid is dying, and he can’t seem to do anything right in his mind.

Thanks for the ask. 

[silver-wield]

hello, well done for all your work. I have a question if you will answer it. At the beginning of chapter 9, when Cloud cries, it starts with Aerith, having a childlike gait, singing and walking far ahead of him. is it possible that this is not a sad flash of Cloud, but a flash of his childhood? with Tifa? Maybe when Tifa falls off the bridge? he misses his own memories and that makes him cry ?

Still me .. then cloud notices that we can see the night sky, and the music is midnight Rendez-vous a memory of the promise under the stars?

Still me again , sorry. Price of power = loosing is true life/tifa ?

Me again, so sorry for multi-ask About cloud tears : cloud sheds a tear in chapter 9 and also in the shinra building. no voice in his head, no Sephiroth, just a headache and a tear. I think these tears are for his past and not for the future he doesn't know

Aerith’s humming the OG song from the forgotten city. Which is when Cloud almost killed her and she actually was killed by Sephiroth. She's triggered a Jenova vision of the future where she dies and the tear is a reference to the OG lines where Cloud says he's confused about his feelings.

This takes place in the tunnel part of the sector 5 exit, so Cloud isn't looking at the sky at any point during the cut scene.

He does this, which looks like a puppet expression if ever I saw one. He's checked out and reaching for his sword, just like OG. He then comes to his senses and clenches his fist.

We can see he looks confused by what he was doing and this is why he says he's fine when Aerith asks if he's ok.

Midnight Rendez-vous refers to the time that Cloud finally meets back up with Tifa in Don Corneo's basement. He and Aerith spend around 4hrs in wall market, having arrived at 8pm, which is "date night" Saturday and it's over by midnight, which is when Cloud's true rendez-vous is. So yeah, in that case the song is referring to Tifa, but for a different reason.

The price of strength refers to what Cloud thinks he gave up. Elmyra says "you boys traded a normal life for power". She's talking about him and Zack, so in Cloud's case everything he did to become soldier was for Tifa. He did everything to be good enough for her and then here's this woman he doesn't know telling him he can't have that. It's why he gets mad.

Cloud cries I already covered in its own post 😁

[selenityshiroi]

FFVII REMAKE SPOILERS

Okay, I’ve given it a few days since the official launch. I have to give my thoughts on this game. Don’t read if you are still playing through, as I WILL be talking about the ending and some things that diverged from the original game.

First off, this game was so good in so many ways.

I was worried about the gameplay, because I’m not really an Action RPG gamer. But the gameplay was smooth, fun and well planned. I played the game on easy, so I could focus on getting through the story, but I WANT to play the next difficulty because I feel like I will enjoy the challange.

Then there was the graphics. Oh. My. God. This game is SO BEAUTIFUL. The scenery (even though it’s not always supposed to be beautiful, it’s so intricate and detailed and has such a scale and world building to it), the characters, the battle animations, the attacks...even the grotesque monsters look so well done. We KNOW the FF series is always known for it’s stunning visuals, but they really outdid themselves. And, yeah, there are a few texture bugs that’ll probably be patched at some point, but even things like the lighting and the facial expressions and body language...it’s all SO GOOD. If this was a movie they would be fighting for art direction awards.

But the part they totally blew my expectations away on, everyone’s expectations, is the character and story development.

When they said they expanded Midgar they really, really did. But not by senselessly bloating it out. Everything they did led to making you more and more invested in the events. Spending more time with Team Avalanche meant that you cared about Biggs, Wedge and Jessie. Spending time talking to the NPCs in Sector 7 meant that you really, really wanted to stop that plate from coming down. And every time you spent time with one of the main characters, you felt like you knew and understood them better than you ever did.

By the time we got to the plate collapse I actually felt GUILTY for doing side quests and looking for treasure etc. Because it felt like I’d failed the people in the slums (even though, obviously, taking your time doesn’t change the story). And they’d done SUCH A GREAT JOB in making the slums feel real.

Now...before I go into characters and relationships, let me be clear and upfront. I always have and always will ship Cloti. But I don’t hate Aerith. I never actually played her much in the original game (I was spoiled for her death and was very pragmatic in not wanting to waste my EXP). This game is my first real taste of Aerith as a character and not a lost friend, so I’ve loved getting to know her.

Let me get the Cloti talk out of the way, first.

HOLY SHIT.

I’m sure there are fans of other pairings who won’t agree, but most people are in agreement. Cloud and Tifa got a LOT of ship fuel in this game.

From the start, Tifa is the one person Cloud isn’t standoffish around. He tries but within a few minutes of them teamed up in Sector 7 they are gently teasing each other in banter, and he is SOFT AS HELL towards her. Since this comes directly after the opening mission (where he and Barret are openly antagonistic to each other and he barely tolerates the rest of the team) it’s very obvious. As the chapter goes on he also listens to her and offers support and encouragement, which is completely different to the rest of his interactions thus far.

As the game goes on this difference continues, even when he starts to open up to others. Despite the fact that he has encouraging and impressed battle dialogue with Tifa and seems to respect her ability to take care of herself, the game has him constantly protective of her. They also touch each other A LOT (both initiated by Tifa and Cloud) and far more so than anyone else. There are some super charged moments between them, too (the train jump scene alone has enough sexual tension to start a baby boom) and there are several gratuituous scenes of them grabbing at each other in danger and showing extreme concern both physically and emotionally (and more of Cloud being SOFT AS HELL when it comes to Tifa). Plus their optional scene is super romantically suggestive (with the hug and his concern for her emotions and the hints at their shared history).

I could spend so much time going over all of their interactions and little moments because WOW. But I wanna go over the other relationships.

Cloud and Barret have such amazing development through the game. They start out as super antagonistic to each other. Barret doesn’t trust him and Cloud doesn’t care. But Barret is a softy at heart and he can’t help but soften up a little. By the time of the second reactor mission they start to tolerate and appreciate each other a little. But by the time they are fighting to save the plate? At that point Cloud is invested in the Team and Barret knows he’s a good fighter and maybe a good guy. The optional scene (I haven’t triggered it but was linked to a video) they have is such a good one where is shows how far they’ve come (Barret unloading his thoughts and emotions onto Cloud and feeling comforted by having spoken with him and Cloud willing to listen patiently and willing to be part of the Team).

Barret and Tifa have a rather familial relationship (Barret is super protective of his team and you can see this really early on) and their mutual respect and care for each other is wonderful. They know each other so well and are so emotionally open to each other.

Cloud and Aerith start out with him being pretty standoffish and barely tolerating her. But when she encourages him to save Tifa from Don Corneo they start to bond and their friendship starts to develop.

The slow build to Cloud finally sharing a high five (a few ‘how do you human’ moments with Avalanche, Tifa and Aerith and then misqueing one with Aerith before finally getting one right) was so damned adorable and is one of my fav moments!

I mean, I don’t ship them (and with the SHEER VOLUME of Cloti moments plus the increased hints towards Aerith’s relationship with Zack I don’t feel like I’m supposed to) but I am 100% behind their friendship. Also...Aerith knows how to flirt with Cloud and then back off when he’s uncomfortable...unlike Jessie who was well out of order several times. She is cool.

But talking about friendships I am 100% behind and very much grateful to Squeenix for giving us?

Hello Aerti!

DAMN these girls got a lot of moments together and plenty of chance to interact and develop a bond and I LOVED IT. Cloud was totally a third wheel to them, most of the time, and so he should be. Thank you for giving us girls being friends and not letting a man get between them. Tifa and Aerith protecting and defending each other felt so good after seeing so much toxicity spread around by the less stable parts of both ship fandoms.

Between letting Tifa and Aerith spend time together and having Barret help Aerith out of Shinra Tower it felt like Squeenix are trying to spend more time on developing Aerith’s relationships with the whole team. And I LOVE that because it’s needed before we get to THAT moment in future games. Nanaki doesn’t get much time with the others but it’s nice to see the starts of the bonds forming.

As much as I love shipping I love one thing just as much. FOUND FAMILY TROPES. And I want the next game to definitely go down this route for the entire Squad.

As for the characters individually...thank god we finally have the (not quite) real Cloud back. The emo fanon contruction is gone and we have our awkward, dorky, snarky boy back. I love him. He tries his best to be cool and all, but he’s a good boy at heart and it leaks out all over the place.

Same with Barret. Soft Team Dad hidden under a gruff guy who tries to come off as all tough and deadly. His moments regarding Marlene were super sweet and, like before, are such a contrast to his ‘big bad activist’ self that it’s great to see him in both stages and the inbetween.

Tifa was ~chef’s kiss~. A little playful but also a little shy. Full of compassion but not a pushover. Tough as nails, when needed, but also emotionally open.

Aerith was super playful and fun. But there is an undercurrent of sadness and insecurity around her and there is a lot of speculation that she may Know Things. Possibly even her future death.

We don’t get much of Nanaki or Reeve but I can’t wait for more from them (in Reeve’s case, through Cait Sith who got a small cameo during the plate collapse) in the next game. It looks like we might get Nanaki being a proper teenage wolf kitty which is gonna be great!

Team Avalanche were all pretty great, except for Jessie’s outrageous flirting going totally over the line...Cloud was very clear with his refusals but she still didn’t back off and was a step over the borderline of harrassment. That being said, other than the flirting, the team had some great moments. Jessie’s concern over how much of Reactor 1 was her fault and her GUILT was amazing. Biggs and Wedge, too, felt real and dimensional. Cloud building a small bond with the three of them (THEY GOT HIS FIRST TRUE AND BRIGHT SMILE) was so good and made the plate fall EVEN WORSE (despite the possibility of survival for them).

But now...the ending.

Oh boy.

There is a lot of talk and speculation about the ending and I’m sure it’ll be a hot topic until the next game comes out.

There are a few things it could mean on a scale of ‘barely anything will change but this means that Squeenix have given themselves some wiggle room with future events’ all the way up to ‘everything is gonna be totally different to the original game from here on out’.

Everyone is mad at the thought of the next game going in the latter direction and it’s the biggest drawback of the game to most. The one thing holding them back from thinking this game a perfect adaptation of the original game.

Personally, I think that the game is not going to change that much. I DON’T think Zack is still alive (the game was very clear to show us that Cloud still had the buster sword...so much so as to equip it on him during the cut scene after Zack’s appearance, even if it wasn’t his equiped weapon...Cloud probably wouldn’t have the sword if Zack was alive). I do think the Sephiroth we saw could be from the future. I do think the game will mostly keep to the same beats and events but that certain things will change in execution in order to keep some element of surprise and suspense. The biggest of things being that I think Aerith will still die, but not in the same set of events.

Overall, this game was utterly fantastic in almost every way. As a fan of the original I was so, so happy with what they did. The production team should be so very proud of the effort and detail they put into this game. The love they have for the original was obvious in the presentation.

10/10 would and will play again!

[atopearth]

Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2 - The Beauty and Wackiness of Wall Market (Ch 8-11)

Btw, I forgot to mention it in the previous post but danggg, Aerith’s house is as beautiful as I imagined it to be. I always loved how it was a nice house surrounded by flowers and water, and I think the remake really nailed the atmosphere and beauty of it. It felt so tranquil and soothing. Lmao at Aerith trying to get Cloud to high five with her when they successfully work together to go through the shortcut to Sector 7. It’s hilarious how Cloud feels bad about not doing it since she looks so disappointed hahaha. HAHAHA, I love how Cloud decided to high five her but she didn’t realise until he awkwardly let his hands down hahahaha, Cloud is so adorable! Lmao at Aerith apologising for not getting it at the right timing and Cloud pretending to be dumb🥺🤣 I love how Aerith got him to high five her at the end of the walk. And lollll at those three robber “brothers”(?), yes, I realised that I could kick them around when they pretended to be dead after getting defeated by Cloud and Aerith, so yes, I did spend some time kicking them HAHAHA. It was stupid but funny okay?! I love how they added that bit because I always hated the random battle appearance of thieves in the original, they kept stealing my good items and money! But now it’s more of a fun yet ridiculous experience at the same time haha.

It’s kinda interesting how Aerith tells Cloud about Zack but Cloud isn’t able to hear his name properly. But it was really cute how she scooted closer to him when they sat down on the slide at the park. Omggg lmao at actually being able to play in the park, I never knew I needed to see Cloud going on a slide because that was so awesome! Yes, I’ll admit I went on it more times than I should have because I just found it hilarious that the stoic Cloud was on a slide like a big child hahahhaa. I always wished that I could play with it in the original, so that was super cool! They really put effort into the most useless things lmao. Outrageous that we don’t get to play on the swing though, that would have been so cool and fun!! Kinda sad now T_T It was so sweet when Cloud and Aerith were awkwardly saying goodbye to each other, I found it so endearing how Cloud was so ready to take her home if she told him she needed him to walk her back. Despite how tiring it may be to follow Aerith’s pace, he definitely finds her company enjoyable. I find it rather random that Cloud actually gets to talk to Tifa when she’s on the carriage to go to Don Corneo, but I guess it’s nice to see Aerith tell him that if Tifa’s important to him, he should really chase after her and protect her (since Corneo is dodgy), I guess despite my gripes with some things, it is nice that Aerith still plays the role of motivating Cloud to be more open with his feelings and doing what he wants rather than what he thinks he should do.

Wall Market is so wacky and lawless, I love it. It looks so good and everything nostalgic about it is there, it’s so awesome. It’s crazy how stuff like the pharmacy, the materia store, the bar, the clothing shop and the squats place is pretty much exactly like the original! It’s so awesome! HAHAHA, I love how when the promoters try to get Cloud to spend the night at the inn with Aerith, you can ask “how much?” and Aerith calls you out for it lolll. I mean, I had to try, right? LOL at Fat Chocobo, it’s so huge, that moogle was ugly btw. Lmao at Cloud enjoying the hand massage more than he thought he would hahaha. It was so cute seeing him flex it in such a dazed state hahaha. Madam M is pretty cute and hilarious though, loved it when she was so mad that Corneo intervened and made Cloud and Aerith fight an extra round in the Corneo Cup loll. Btw, if you’re curious, yes, I admit that I spent some time kicking the thief brothers around the stadium again LOL. Don’t judge me. I also spent some time admiring the flowers and signs Cloud and Aerith increasingly got after winning each round. The underground battle Coliseum was more fun than I thought though, not too hard and I think the announcers and audience really make the experience so great, I was so hyped even though I was the one fighting haha. The cartoon mini Corneo is hilariously cute. Lmao that the house monster became a boss though! Like, c’mon, now he’s not cute anymore! He’s still annoying though LOL. I had no idea how I was supposed to be killing him so it took me a while to realise what I needed to do after finally using Assess loll. A flying house with a shield is notttt fun!  The idea was hilarious though.

As for the squatting game lolll, that was relatively easy, took me a few tries to get used to it though hahaha. Leslie (the guy at the door blocking you from going to Corneo) is so nice, he legit tells Cloud and Aerith to not go for the audition because he knows how terrible of an experience it is for these women. I’m surprised. Awww, we don’t actually go to get the materials for Cloud’s dress?? That’s no fun! I wanted the clothing shop owner to find meaning in his life again by making dresses for men like Cloud lolll! And the aggressive customer that goes all quiet and just says “...you’re weird” when he sees Cloud dressed up as a girl was such a highlight! The wacky banter between the clothing shop owner and his son talking about this new business line in the original was so funny tooo! Honeybee Inn is fancier than I thought though, like wow, all that extravagance. I guess it’s good that Andrea liked Cloud and recommended him to Corneo haha. But omg, Aerith is absolutely stunning, definitely better than Tifa’s dress imo. Her hair is so beautiful too! Madam M did a good job! I loved how even Cloud was surprised how beautiful she was, also gotta love how Johnny rolled the red carpet for her lmao. AND I will proudly admit, I tried to peek when Madam M said she was going to dress Aerith up hahahaha. Anyway, by not making the dress for Cloud, you kinda miss out on how much Aerith enjoyed dressing up Cloud in the original and how much she teased him, so that’s kinda sad, but I guess Cloud’s cute so it’s okay lmao. Also kinda miss how confident and playful she was to pick her own dress and show it off like the boss she was though. 

LOL at that dancing game, it was so weirdly ridiculous since when you do the practice, Cloud literally moves with his sword hahaha. I really wanted to enjoy the dance instead of focusing on hitting buttons though! Especially since some were so hard to see, like seriouslyyyyy! It was really nice to see how much Aerith was enjoying herself watching Cloud and them dance, she’s such a party lover. The dance was pretty awesome in itself though, and Andrea really made Cloud look great, that tiara man! It was so funny when you get to annoy female Cloud with Aerith and keep calling his name but he ignores you hahahaha. LOL at the random passerby guy saying his girlfriend can be the most beautiful in the world, but Cloud is the most beautiful in the universe hahahaha.

Loll at the Don Corneo jukebox thing in his mansion hahahah. As usual, it’s so cute to see Cloud embarrassed and trying to ignore the fact that he’s dressed up like a girl in front of Tifa hahaha. Awww, the original was so much more funny when it came to Don Corneo picking one of them, it was hilarious in the original when Don Corneo would try to look at Cloud’s face properly but Cloud would turn his face the other way lmao. I guess it’s nice to see Tifa and Aerith kick some ass though? Hahaha, so cute how they’re both like, we need to save Cloud! Lol. The “reject room” was more funny in the original though, the guys used to follow you around like zombies before you beat them up haha. I guess we should be impressed that Leslie was able to hold the Buster sword with one hand to give it back to Aerith and them? Ahahah. Honestly though, I think that Wall Market felt the most nostalgic to me, I mean, seeing the noodle place where Cloud could eat, the depressed clothing store owner, the guy that’s stuck in the toilet at the bar, the shooting machine gun that’s supposed to give you something good later on and everything, it just felt so heartwarming. Even the squats were a welcome sight haha. So, even though I feel like they could have added more interactions here, the Coliseum and stuff were enjoyable in their own ways I guess haha, I’m happy enough to just see everything in the background tbh.

Okay, so I realised that PS4 screenshots don’t work like the Nintendo Switch, you actually have to hold the button or press triangle to save it, omg!! And yes, I was mad and sad, so I did a speed run through the first 9 chapters just to get them again lmao. Yes, I was dedicated, and stubborn lol. But omg, I ended up discovering new things! Which is not good! Lol. I realised (unfortunately) that there are different dresses for Cloud, Aerith and Tifa!! OMG. Incoming the shock of my life when I saw Aerith in a peasant dress!! I was like wow, Madam M was such a con artist, she literally took 990,000 of that 1 million gil prize from the Corneo Cup to give my girl Aerith the cheapest dress she could find. I guess I should have known when I did different quests and realised that there is that quest that makes you run around helping the clothing shop owner get back on his feet, and you kinda do the same thing as the original where you help out the sick guy in the bar etc, but I had hope… I really wanted better screenshots of Aerith’s extravagant dress!!😫😫 On that note though, I’m pretty disappointed in the change in the clothing shop owner’s motivations, I can’t believe they changed it to him wanting to go to the Honeybee Inn for inspiration omg!!! I’m so sad and mad. I honestly really loved the original because I found it understandable yet hilarious that what made the clothing shop owner stand up on his feet again was finding inspiration with dressing up Cloud in a dress. I also loved how much more Aerith interacted with Cloud here in Wall Market and teased him and helped him with everything. Now it just feels kinda…cheap. 

Sigh, anyway, somehow I got Cloud’s other dress (the purple one with black bows and his braids, so what the original FFVII dress would look the most like in high quality I guess) as well, like what did I do different?! Anyway, I kinda googled it, and apparently you had to do all those Aerith side quests to get the best dress, sigh, this is what happens when you speed run I guess. And lolll Tifa’s one doesn’t change even if you don’t do her side quests, it’s only when you do them that you get the option to choose the other (uglier imo) dresses. And Cloud’s one…I have no idea, apparently it depends on whether you do the Chocobo Sam or Madam M side quests thing, but I’m not sure how I ended up getting it. All I remember for the tiara dress is that I chose “no deal” for the coin toss with Sam, said no to Johnny at Honeybee Inn and I did the standard course for the massage. Whereas for the braids look, I chose “heads” for the coin toss, did the luxurious hand massage and just completely ignored the side quest to follow Johnny. So yeah…whatever I guess lol, just bear with my dodgy screenshots then hahaha. Or maybe I’ll just get my bro to do them for me when he plays haha! (My bro didn’t end up playing it, the traitorrr, so yes, dodgy screenshots it is~)

I’m glad the sewers weren’t as tedious than the original haha, but the water pump thing was so confusing! I legit didn’t get it lmao, took me a while to realise what I needed to do, sigh, maybe I’m just stupid LOL, I was like, what is Aerith’s role in this?! The needle moved so fast I didn’t realise I was supposed to stop it inside the red part hahahha. I also very much enjoyed turning into a frog with Cloud, I mean, having a frog with a mini Buster Sword jump around blowing bubbles or whatever was hilarious to the max LOL. I guess it’s kinda cute how Aerith and Tifa are bonding through this journey together, and it’s sweet how Aerith is trying to encourage and comfort Tifa by getting her to think about what they can do after they save Sector 7 from Shinra. It’s saddening though, that because of Avalanche, Shinra is planning to kill all these people to make a sort of representation that this is what happens when you go against them whilst falsely showing to the world that these eco-terrorists are willing to destroy a whole plate to achieve their purposes. Even Reno who doesn’t feel like he has the right to feel that way anymore considering the work he does feels a bit uncomfortable with it. On the other hand, the train graveyard was as tedious as usual, not as dangerous as the original though.The place is so creepy btw! Lol. In the original, it had a more solemn atmosphere where I felt like it showed the remains of a past gone, but here, it just feels scary with the ghosts etc lol. Although I guess with how Aerith reacts to it all, it is saddening that these ghosts seem to have just been really lonely and wanted to play hide and seek with Cloud and them after finally getting to see people come here. Honestly though, that vending machine here playing music!! It scared me with the loud music LOL. Small Aerith is probably the cutest tbh! It was so cute when young her was sad and lonely about not being found by other people(ghost showing her sad memories), and then Cloud and Tifa find her and save her in reality, it’s kinda corny, but it’s cute and rather sweet haha.

Okay, I was going to talk about CH 12-14 here as well but somehow the post got too long so I’ll leave it for the next part lolll. I guess me gushing over the beauty of Aerith whilst complaining about my clothing shop owner being demoted into a sleazy guy took up a lot of the post huh? Seriously though, regardless of the changes, I still really enjoyed it because I think the changes made it flow nicely in its own way, and really, I love the whole idea of the Corneo Cup and expanding the role of the Honeybee Inn in the story so I don’t mind the reinterpretation that it went through. I mean, some details were lost and it’s saddening, but at the same time, it was still rather fun and refreshing in its own way. I’d say my biggest gripe is that Corneo is more creepy than funny and that kinda kills the whole mood, but then again, the remake has been more “serious” so it’s understandable. I still got to see Aerith bond with Cloud on the slide (one of my favourite moments), and I got to see how breathtaking Aerith was in her dress, so it’s a win! I think I could spend all day marvelling at how detailed and beautiful Wall Market is tbh. I spent a lot of time looking for the restaurant to see if I could order food and other nostalgic things, and the remake really fit it all in rather nicely! So really, I complain a lot but I still loved it :P

P.S Ms Folia (orphanage teacher?) being a Honeybee girl because her dream is to become a dancer was SO RANDOM and silly lmaoo. Also no idea why I’m hearing a rendition of Farm Boy in Wall Market, it’s so random! And yes, I got lost in Wall Market a lot lolll. I also found it hilarious to see Johnny’s father around everywhere, whether it be in the inn wandering where he can find Johnny, or be it him playing around in the Honeybee Inn even though he’s supposed to be finding his son LOL. Now we know why Johnny is the way he is~

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Final Fantasy VII Remake

Last I remember writing about, I believe I successfully failed to save the pillar from collapsing. What happened afterwards was a bit of blur. I think I was really sleepy...I took over Barret in an added section and shot 200 boxes off the shelf before landing in Resident Evil 5, fighting super-human mutants...Then, after declaring we need to rescue Aerith post-haste, Cloud and the gang spent hours doing side quests.

I can't remember exactly where the scenario change happened. But we swing away on Barret's back as the plate collapses. Cool cut scene of explosions and shit. THEN we start running through the debris?? Maybe we're looking for Briggs, Jessie, and Wedge? Suddenly Barret falls through a hole and is on his own.

This part, for a minute, was really fun. I really enjoyed just walking down a hall shooting a million crates. I really wish this game allowed me to switch characters like Breath of Fire, and take advantage of different character abilities.

Barret wanders through an underground lab. This was awkward. I didn't like it. It's neat the Wedge survives, but it's just one of those awkward--what's happening--additions. They do reveal earlier than the original that monsters derive from human testing with Mako energy. Cloud has a few flash backs.

This made me think: Given the game is only the first chapter, maybe they could have afforded more character back story? The first Midgar section of the original is great. While the game never truly matches the pace, the flashback in Kalm is really engaging. It may have been neat to move that up into the Midgar section--instead of some of these other (annoying) additions. Hell, even a toned down version of Barret's backstory would be nice.

Speaking of Barret--who the hell is this guy? The Barret I knew from the original was filled with rage and righteous indignation. This Barret is...nice, and supportive. He gets mad sometimes, but mostly he's a very encouraging presence. There's no real room for growth here. Most FF7's characters go from personal grievances to united against evil.

So, after committing to rescue Aerith, the game suggests: "Why not do a ton of side missions first?" Pacing issue--BUT I do love doing the side quests. You learn more about the citizens and the world of Midgar. But also, It's kinda comical how "small" this world is. I read an article that described the game as a series of hallways, and that's frustratingly true. It's almost laughable to look a "world map". How long did it take you to make this? Or did they make this and realize they couldn't commit to the same level for the other 90% of the game?

While trying to do side quests, I ended up having to do another added chapter. We help Leslie search the sewers for Corneo. Turns out Leslie has a sad backstory of his girl "ending things" right before becoming a Corneo bride and disappearing. This isn't a terrible addition...I could have done without it, but of the additions--this works.

I noticed that Tifa and Leslie were kind of connecting. I actually enjoy Leslie's character. I think it would have been interesting to see a small romance happening between Tifa and Leslie. Like, they both feel things for one another--what exactly, they're not sure. And they're both unavailable, for different reasons. But it would have been an opportunity for Cloud to get a little jealous.

Not SUPER jealous. Cloud, I didn't even know what he wants or if he has feelings for the two girls at all. In the original, I felt Cloud was a bit of a loner and outcast (maybe I was projecting). But his calling for Tifa to meet him before he left to join Soldier implied he had feelings for her. When he rejoins Tifa, he's completely different. He's experienced trauma and experimentation. He's not who he was, and he's barely floating through life. Tifa tries to rekindle their old feelings, whatever they were, and he's unable to connect with his humanity long enough to give it real thought. THEN, Aerith starts to bring the human out of Cloud. She doesn't accept his cold, emotional distant identity--and chooses to believe he's a full human. In some ways, I think it helps Cloud get back in touch with himself and start to think outside the realm of simple survival.

But in Remake, Cloud is just awkward. Girls hit on him, and he acts confused...like he doesn't know that humans even fall in love. I think seeing Tifa start to show romantic interest in someone else would cause Cloud to feel something. And that would challenge Cloud to consider whether he has feelings for Tifa, or feelings at all. Does he WANT to have feelings? Anyway--I’ve been doing side quests. I have to find one more piece of music to make some rando happy and THEN I can go save Aerith from torture, pain, and death...I guess.

[clerithraven]

DEEPLY BONDED SOULS: AN OBVIOUS CONNECTION

Cloud and Aerith have been shown to have a very deep connection, one that started from the moment they met. It was something that came easy for the both of them. In fact, mere moments after meeting each other, Aerith was able to make the seemingly cold and emotionless Cloud smile and laugh, which the Ultimania Omega hints at a connection between them.

When talking about the “rare smile” which Aerith brings out in Cloud during the game, the FFVII Ultimania Omega says that “there seems to be something between them”. ~Aerith’s info page, FFVII Ultimania Omega

Their growing connection was even very obvious to other people, especially to Tifa.

It’s just that…I was displeased at the way Cloud and another girl soon became good friends. Well, Aerith is a very good girl, I was fond of her soon, too. No wonder… ~Tifa’s monologue; Dismantled

Tifa, considered as the other love interest for the dating mechanism, had this thought about Cloud and Aerith in Don Corneo’s mansion. She was ‘displeased’ that they became good friends even though they had just met one another. Tifa could see that they get along well, and it must be frustrating for her because Cloud didn’t act that way with her.

(Cloud and Tifa are preparing to jump from the train) Tifa: Scary… huh. Cloud: Too late to be saying that now. Why’d you come along anyway? ~FFVII Script

Tifa made an attempt here of expressing her concerns to Cloud. Cloud’s reply was considerably rude in this scene, and he even questioned why she came along if she would just get scared.

Cloud was cold towards Tifa, but he didn’t act that way with Aerith – this gave Tifa a pretty good idea of how the connection between the two was developing.

Seeing Cloud and Aerith developing their world together before her eyes, she inadvertently lets slip her peevish feelings. ~Tifa’s character profile; 10th Anniversary Ultimania

First, a definition of peevish (adjective):

1. having or showing an irritable disposition ~Oxford Dictionary

2. marked by ill temper ~Merriam-Wesbter Dictionary

3. easily annoyed ~Cambridge Dictionary

Cloud and Aerith’s developing relationship was so obvious to Tifa that she reacted negatively, implying feelings of jealousy.  Why was Tifa jealous? It was because Cloud and Aerith had a growing connection that was considerably greater than what she had with Cloud, even though they were ‘childhood friends’.

Both of them share feelings for Cloud — Tifa was close to Aerith, who can also be called a love rival. With that point in mind, they were also good friends. Nevertheless, it is not hard to imagine that she carries complex feelings as a woman toward Aerith, who had built up a special bond with Cloud that was different from Tifa’s. ~Tifa’s character profile; 10th Anniversary Ultimania

What “special bond that was different from Tifa’s” was this part of the Ultimania talking about? Tifa was always labelled as a ‘childhood friend’ of Cloud’s – a platonic bond. If that were so, then wouldn’t the special bond Cloud built up with Aerith be one with a romantic notion? Perhaps one of deep, romantic love between a man and a woman? Certainly seemed that way if Tifa was jealous of their bond.

And it wasn’t just Tifa who saw it.

Barret noticed how Aerith’s influence changed Cloud. As I have said in a previous meta post:

Once they get to Shinra HQ, they had to find a way to get in. The course they took was through the stairs and they climb. During the climb, we get to see an interesting conversation between Cloud and Barret, who came with Cloud because he wanted to help Aerith who kept his daughter safe.

Barret: Don’t know… why the hell… we gotta climb… Cloud: …because we don’t want to start a commotion until we’ve saved Aerith. I doubt that’s possible though… Barret: …heh heh heh. Cloud: Knock it off. You’re giving me the creeps. Barret: So there are times when even you fight for other people. I am impressed. ~FFVII Script

Being in enemy territory raised the stakes of the rescue, so Cloud is worried about risking Aerith. He wants to make sure Aerith is safe first before taking drastic measures. This exchange is significant because Barret comments on Cloud’s motive with playing it safe. To Barret, it’s the first time Cloud has shown concern for someone else enough to fight for their sake, and this impresses him.

Remember that Cloud had repeatedly refused to help out AVALANCHE even if it was to protect the Planet, even when Tifa practically begged him to do it and reminded him of his promise. Barret had to spend money to pay him for his help, money that was supposed to be for Marlene’s sake. But there Cloud was, doing something for the sake of another voluntarily. This makes Barret see Cloud in a different light. All of this was made possible because of Cloud’s desire to save Aerith. This must have also given Barret an idea of how important Aerith has become for Cloud.

Even Marlene, who was a young child, knew of the attraction between Cloud and Aerith. Look at this dialogue between Cloud and Marlene as Cloud prepared to go save Aerith from Shinra.

Marlene: Guess what? Guess what? Aerith was asking me lots of questions. Like what kind of person Cloud is. I bet she likes you, Cloud!

Option 1: I don’t know Option 2: Let’s hope so

Cloud: Let’s hope so. Marlene: I won’t tell Tifa. ~FFVII Script

Marlene told Cloud that Aerith had been asking a lot of questions about him. Being a smart girl, she picked up on the hint that Aerith was interested in Cloud romantically. Cloud’s line of “Let’s hope so” in reply to Marlene’s disclosure of Aerith’s interest in him implies that he reciprocates the interest.

Some of you may be wondering, why is this optional dialogue significant? Well, it’s significant because the second option was actually proven to be canon, or valid, as evidenced by this quote:

Marlene is a sharp girl — Even though she’s only 4 years old, Marlene is perceptive and well attuned to the woman mind. The scene where she ascertains that Aerith has favor for Cloud and tells him so, then says “I won’t tell Tifa!” demonstrates this grownup behavior. ~FFVII 25th Anniversary Ultimania

This is important because Marlene’s characterization as a “sharp girl” was given a basis through her response to Cloud. Marlene will only reply “I won’t tell Tifa” if players choose the second option as Cloud’s response, making it canon. Marlene understood the complexities of the love triangle and promised not to inform Tifa of Cloud’s mutual interest in Aerith because the girl knew that Tifa also held affection for Cloud.

Cait Sith was also aware of the love triangle, but he supports Cloud and Aerith. What I am talking about? Here you go:

Aerith: Why don’t you read our fortunes?  Cait Sith: Say, that’s right… I haven’t done it in a while, huh? I’m so excited. Right or wrong, I’m still the same ‘ol me. Now, what should I predict?  Aerith: Hmm, let’s see how compatible Cloud and I are! Cait Sith: That’ll cost ya. Exactly one date! Here I go! This isn’t good. I can’t say it. Poor Tifa. Aerith: No! Tell me! I promise I won’t get mad! Cait Sith: Is that so? Then I’ll tell you. Looks good. You are perfect for each other! Aerith’s star and Cloud’s star! They show a great future! Cloud, I’ll be your matchmaker, preacher… I’ll do whatever you want me to! You just call me when it all happens! ~FFVII Script

When asked to make a prediction of Cloud and Aerith’s compatibility, Cait Sith made a comment that implies Tifa was on the losing side of the triangle. After the prediction of Cloud and Aerith being “perfect for each other” was revealed, Cait Sith volunteered to be their matchmaker to Cloud. This suggests that he would support Cloud if he pursues Aerith seeing as they were very compatible with each other.

The connection that developed between Cloud and Aerith was so deep that it could be comparable to one of soulmates. An evidence of this is the fact that Aerith could talk to Cloud’s heart even as he was unconscious. This was after the unfortunate event surrounding the Black Materia, before Aerith left for the Forgotten City by herself.

Cloud… can you hear me? I’m talking to your heart while you sleep right now. I hope this reaches you okay, like when I hear the voice from the planet. Sephiroth is trying to summon Meteor using the Black Materia… He’s trying to wound the planet badly. If Meteor really does fall, then everyone’s going to die. People, animals, flowers… The life on this planet will disappear completely. The only one who can stop it is the last surviving Cetra. Me. I realize that. That was the duty of the Cetra. So, leave Meteor to me. You just think about yourself, Cloud. Remember your own ways… so you don’t have a breakdown. Well, I’m off. When it’s all over, we can meet each other again. Oh, Cloud… I enjoyed our date at the Gold Saucer. The view from the gondola that night was really beautiful. I’ll never forget it. I’ll never forget you, Cloud… ~Aerith (inside Cloud’s dream); Dismantled

Aerith and Cloud were connected deep enough that Aerith managed to talk with Cloud even in his dream. Of course, this may have been made possible because Aerith was an Ancient. But Cloud’s lines after he wakes up support the idea that he and Aerith are connected on a far deeper level.

Cloud: Aerith is here… and so is Sephiroth. Cid: Wa, wa, wait a minute. You serious!? Tifa: But how can you tell? Cloud: …It’s not an excuse. I feel it in my soul. Cid: Shit, Cloud, we can’t be sittin’ around on our asses. Cloud: …right. Let’s hurry and find Aerith. ~FFVII Script

Cloud’s connection to Aerith allowed him to feel her, to know that she was near. When asked about how he knew it, he answered that he could feel it in his soul – something that their comrades do not even question. It seems that their friends knew of the deep bond that Cloud and Aerith share, their relationship that obvious to their companions.

Their knowledge of how deep Cloud’s connection with Aerith was what made them concerned about Cloud and his reaction when he lost her.

Grief is what’s left the friends. After the battle with Jenova LIFE, the party members leave that place without a word. At this moment, how they behave is slightly different. We can see that everyone grieves for Aerith respectively, and their looks that worry about Cloud. ~FFVII Ultimania Omega, pg. 157

The party members had their own way of dealing with Aerith’s death, but what worried them was Cloud. They knew that the loss of Aerith had caused Cloud excruciating pain from the way he reacted to Aerith’s death, so they watched over him.

They all understood Cloud’s deep feelings for Aerith. They knew that Cloud would be the most devastated, that he was the one who was suffering the most out of all of them. Respecting that fact, they gave him time and space to grieve and bury Aerith alone. They didn’t try to intrude on the final moment between Cloud and Aerith.

[silver-wield]

Final Fantasy 7R review

I finished the game this morning and I already have regrets that there’s nothing left for me to do besides replay and anxiously wait for news of the next installment. I want more. I want to not have finished it yet. I need to know what happens next, not just in the updated story, but with the game mechanics, too. I’m happy the team is taking their time to make the game as good as it deserves to be, but on the other hand I wanna throw a toddler tantrum demanding the rest of my game! 

Beware, spoilers.

The bad stuff

To be fair, not a lot from where I’m sitting. I’ve seen people bitch about textures and how the scrap yards don’t look dynamic enough and some stuff is flat, but seriously, why are yall looking at the walls? They’re the least interesting thing about the game and you’re just nitpicking. The graphics overall were amazing and I stopped multiple times just to rotate the camera and take in this massive city we actually get to really explore for the first time ever!

I have to admit a slight disappointment in the amount of space, verbally, that was happening. There were times where I expected characters to make comments and they said nothing. Things were overlooked or just not addressed and it wasn’t even anything plot related, just a point where there could have been dialogue and it didn’t happen. It wasn’t often, but those few times the air was left dead I noticed it. The most notable time was in chapter 17, right after Sephiroth appeared on the gangway. Now, I get them being too shocked to say anything when he’s right in front of them, but after, when they separate and fall into two groups? Nothing? No comment? Tifa, I definitely expected to say something in a shocked tone, but even after they found Cloud again, she didn’t mention it. It was like the moment didn’t happen. I know the other times nobody else but Cloud saw him, but this time they saw him, and he’s linked to Tifa’s past too, so she definitely should’ve had some kind of comment in that empty space.

That was the only major point, but other small ones were when people were talking and one character remains silent. The only one I expect to never speak if he doesn’t have to is Cloud. Because it’s Cloud. Everyone else should have something to say. Like when they climbed the stairs. If you took the stairs - I was all done in from so many fights and just wanted a break - then you got hilarious commentary from Barret, Cloud and Tifa. It showed how close they’ve become. Cloud made a joke! His second one of the game! If you missed the first, it’s likely because you obsessed over him going on about money all the time and saying that’s all he cares about when he’s with Tifa. So, yeah, after being shown how the group can talk to each other and banter I’m hoping Square adds more chatter to the next game. I know some people prefer less chatter, but this is a group of people who are supposed to be shown as friends, so conversation is important.

The other thing that got on my nerves was the mechanics of the weapons upgrade. Unless I missed a shortcut, having to go out of each one and then into the next one instead of just switching over to the next weapon’s skill tree. It took a long time to level things up and I wish there was an option in the auto to just unlock every skill one at a time, so they’d do it on auto without me having to go in there. And the ATB. That got on my nerves. I’m lazy af, so I’d like for action to just pause whenever someone’s atb fills so I can give them a command and then go back to the battle instead of having one eye on all the atbs. It’s probably more classic than Square wants to go with it, but having that as a battle option would be nice and a further throwback to the old style of gameplay.

The good

Everything from chapter 3 onwards. The intro chapters were good, too, but I really just wanted to dig into the game and that didn’t happen until chapter 3. The VAs killed it! Graphics were amazing! The weapon abilities were fun and added something different to the regular gameplay style of just grabbing the next strongest weapon. Side quests were enjoyable and I wish there was more of them, especially a save the citizens for after the plate fell. That really would've hammered home the tragedy.

The story

I’ve seen people - mostly OG fans - bashing the new elements. Sure, the whispers are a weird angle to come at it from, but the explanation for them, that they’re trying to maintain the OG storyline, made for an interesting twist on a 25 year old story. Sephiroth’s early appearance was just something that had to happen, along with a Jenova fight, because, come on, this section of the OG was like 3hrs worth of content and this is 40hrs, so ofc they had to include new things and it matches with the new storyline and I think people need to release their death grip on the OG storyline and enjoy this game for what it is. 

I found the ripple effect(?) interesting too. From what we learned, the OG happened in the future. If things hadn’t changed that’s the future everyone was heading towards. Ok, cool, pretty simple. 

This timeline had small changes. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie survived!? Or did Wedge finally get shoved off a building at the end, I really couldn’t tell if he bought it that time, but if he did I’m mad cause he was adorable. The plate falling didn’t have as big a casualty number as originally, either. And Hojo almost spilled the beans to Cloud early, but was cut off, and that’s the other thing Cloud ignored in dialogue afterwards, but it’s Cloud, so we’ll give him a security pass for that. The others ignoring his Ptsd induced freak outs isn't cool though and I expect Square to fix that level of callousness towards him from the others.

Those are the only two changes from the OG. Sephiroth showing up early instead of in Nibelheim doesn’t really matter. He’s his usual cryptic asshole self and his goal is unchanged. The team just knows he’s the big bad earlier now and have a solid goal instead of just randomly wandering after they leave Midgar. So, yeah, does Biggs, Wedge and Jessie living make a big difference overall? Will that ripple from them being alive make further changes?

We also saw that Zack survived because of our team, but the Zack in their timeline is still dead. I think we saw it this way because the planet is trying to find a way to prevent being hit with Meteor and ending up with geostigma, so the OG timeline, everything was still bad. Our timeline gives possibilities for a slightly better future and then the timeline behind it - the one with Zack - offers even better odds, not that we’ll see that. That’s the timeline I think Aerith will live through, so that way Square can say Aerith lives, just not in the game we play now.

Shipping

I’m not into wars, so if you love Aerith, cool good for you, I was focused on building affinity with Tifa and Square didn’t disappoint! There were so many romantic moments between them! And damn do they have chemistry! I squeed at such a high pitch the dog next door started howling! All the small touches, longing looks, affection, support, trust and OMGOSH IT WAS JUST THE BEST!!! They were so damn cute!!

I have no idea how the game changes if you focus on Aerith and to be honest I don’t want to. I think that’s what I love about the options for that. You can choose and no one can say your choice isn’t valid. 

One thing though, I would like an end to it because it’s 25 years of people arguing and it’s made the entire fandom toxic af and it’s actually the reason I avoid most of the final fantasy discourse because people can’t be civil to each other. Square should finally say once and for all that Cloud/ is canon and the other isn’t, instead of throwing a bone to them and being all “maybe if things were like this”, like no, pull on your big boy pants, Square, man tf up like Barret on a mission, and tell people who is the canon pairing in this damn game so people can just stfu and enjoy playing it without getting flamed.

This is why I want a FF8R because at least there’s no doubt who the couple is in that one.

Smol stuff

I’ve seen complaints about new characters being 1 dimensional, but they’re new characters in a game series that’s a trilogy, so they’re likely gonna appear again. Roche seemed added not just to give Cloud a boss to fight in the bike event, but also to show there’s other SOLDIERs beyond Cloud and Zack and the ones from Crisis Core, which not everyone has played.

Same goes for Leslie. I liked that dude and I’m interested to see him pop up again. His design wasn’t the typical bad guy henchman, easily disposed, thank you very much for playing. He has a story and I’m betting that’s not the last we see of him.

Again, same goes for Cloud’s infantry buddies. I’ve not played CC, but I get they’re from that, so will we see them again at some point? What about other CC characters?

Best Bits

Cloud in a dress. “Nailed it, thank you, moving on.”

Cloud dancing. Boy got moves and I wanna see him dance again!

Cloud/Tifa. Complimenting her like a smooth mutherfucker.

Cloud/Tifa Battle couple. They were my absolute favourite fighting combo and definitely kicked all the ass!

Cloud/Tifa. All the shipping bits, but especially jumping off the train and then trusting her to go kick Corneo’s ass. That’s how you show you know your girl

Wedge. Kitty momma

Biggs death. Damn you, Square, you got me all choked up.

Red. Specifically the bit where he highfived Barret with his tail lool

Barret. “Damn it, Red.”

Reno. Just Reno in general killed me. Love his conscience though and that he’s not a 1 trick pony.

Tifa/Aerith. Had more chemistry than Aerith/Cloud. Yeah, I said it. 

Barret and Marlene. Such a good daddy! His expression with her was like a whole different person!

Aerith bitchslapping a would-be rapist with a chair.

Cloud/Tifa/Aerith teamup to threaten Don Corneo’s balls - though I only include Aerith since she was there and she was about as threatening as a cupcake.

Conclusion

I want moar! I really hope the next one comes out soon! It’s not the same as OG, but has the best bits of OG along with something new to bring in a new generation of fans. The alt timeline angle feels fresh and open to possibilities and I’m excited to play this game for what it is, instead of comparing it and demanding for the OG like a crusty whisper lool