#but like not in the creepy hojo way

[sailing-ever-west]

This meme I made about Lucrecia in discord once suddenly feels relevant

I'm not telling people they're wrong when they say Aerith is a complex female character, but they're wrong in regards to her not be handled well. Lucrecia Crescent is the real complex female character that the Fandom wanted but couldn't handle because she defines complexity to the T! I don't think people actually understand what complex means when they claim they want more complex characters, and then they lose their ever-loving mind when Lucrecia shows up. And in my opinion, she's far more complex than Sephiroth is.

[ok4ru]

You guys ever think there are pictures of Sephiroth before he had a white hair and everything?

[altocat]

Some people are really surprised that Sephiroth was abused by hojo.

I've never understood that mentality. Even as far back as the OG, Sephiroth was shown to loathe Hojo and want nothing to do with him. And since Hojo was always vaguely implied to have been Sephiroth's primary caretaker growing up, the implication was always there that Hojo had harmed him, if not physically then at least emotionally. Sephiroth doesn't feel the way he does strictly because he thinks Hojo is beneath him. There are REASONS for him to feel this way.

When EC confirmed that Hojo was physically/emotionally/possibly medically abusing Sephiroth, it felt like a relief, horrible as that sounds. Because now it's finally, finally out there. It's one thing for fans to recognize the subtle creepy implications of Hojo running his son's personal fan club for several years, or speaking of Sephiroth in a way that sexualizes or dehumanizes him. Or of the fact that he keeps samples of Sephiroth's hair/skin/blood in what looks to be at least fifty different tanks. There's his glee at getting to violate Sephiroth in the afterlife by wanting Sephiroth to absorb him. There's the fact that Sephiroth identifies himself as Hojo's main modified soldier, or how he has in-depth knowledge of Hojo's research, personality, and goals. There's his disgust and mockery just at mentioning Hojo's name. It's all there. But now it's blatant.

Some people don't like the idea of Sephiroth being a victim. That's fine--but that's also the character. Just because he's victimized others doesn't mean he's not a victim himself. If there's anyone who has suffered the most at Hojo's hands, it's probably him. And that's okay. It means your villain has personal demons too, and that the cycle of abuse continues. It's a warning to the audience. "The child not raised by the village...", etc. Characters are allowed to have complex histories. When you empathize with villains, you're not condoning them. You're recognizing harmful patterns that can be conquered and prevented in future generations.

Hojo is a monster. And he created a monster in turn.

[foreststarflaime]

I became fixated on Sephiorth’s hair while doing my own. Will you share your Sephiorth hair headcanons with me?

It would be my pleasure!

When he was young and in the labs, Sephiroth had no say over his hair. Hojo always made sure it was kept cut short, if not entirely shaved, for convenience—he didn’t want to have to be constantly moving it away while he was operating/working and constantly be having to clean up shed strands of it.

Closer to the time of First Soldier, Hojo is ordered to ensure it grows out a little, so he’ll look better for PR. Sephiroth accepts the change as neutrally as every other thing out of his control in his life at first, but upon further inspection of his emotions he finds that he very much likes it. It’s so soft, softer than anything he’s felt before, and the color—he loves the color! It’s like the moon, or the seemingly wondrously infinite amount of stars that hang in the sky above Rhadore, where he sees them first. Lucia even remarks one time that his bangs make him look like his mother. He could have died right there with delight.

He starts letting it grow even longer—he likes how it looks, and the longer it is the more he is reminded that he is not as controlled by Hojo anymore. It’s a little act of defiance made physical, him making a choice for himself. Genesis and Angeal encourage this greatly once they discover at least the ‘making a choice for himself’ part, even if he doesn’t let them in on the true depth of Hojo’s cruelty. He keeps growing it longer and longer because, well…

Genesis continued to hold his hair back, running his hands through it soothingly ever so often, as Sephiroth alternated between breathing unevenly over the toilet and nearly turning his insides inside-out. At some point, Genesis began braiding the strands together, murmuring something Sephiroth didn’t have the presence of mind to decipher. The fingers against his scalp felt wonderful. He resolved never to cut his hair again if its longer length encouraged this sort of attention.

Valued Presence by me

Because he is a cat begging for attention by putting himself noticeably in the way. He also discovers that he can tilt his head to hide his face behind his longer bangs when he wants to, giving him slightly more privacy than previously—and he’ll take all he can get. Also, he looked in the mirror once while tying up his hair and jumped a little because the face staring back at him was his mother’s. Slightly different in the details, sure, but he looked so much like her. That was one of the rare times he found himself crying.

He is allowed to keep his hair at its longer length because the public seems to love it, and also it opens up plenty of marketing deals with hair product companies. Sephiroth dislikes the further press, but he tolerates it because it ensures Hojo is not allowed to take away something Sephiroth has become so attached to. Plus, he’s good enough at fighting now that it doesn’t post too much of a risk in combat—he moves too quickly for any opponent to have the chance to grab onto it, and even if they did they would soon find themselves lacking a hand or two. It’s more than worth the slight risk, he thinks.

Genesis and Angeal are the only people he allows to touch his hair (since team Glenn is long gone…Zack eventually earns the privilege, but only after he calms down). Actually, it’s strange…when anyone else tries to touch it, even when Sephiroth is facing away and seemingly unaware, his hair seems to move out of the way of whatever creepy fan is trying to lay hands on it. Like a breeze brushed it aside at just the right time, except…the wind that day was pretty much nonexistent? And blowing the other direction whenever it did exist? Weird. Almost as if it moved by itself.

Genesis used to have long hair, and he secretly misses it a little. Not enough to grow it back, but he does. He loves playing with/taking care of Seph’s partially because of this, and Sephiroth happily obliges him. He practically melts when he gets his hair brushed (does he purr? Probably), and Genesis is wonderfully skilled at complicated braids. The more bored and/or sentimental Genesis is feeling, the more braids appear in Sephiroth’s hair.

Since he helps Sephiroth with his hair so much, Genesis has discovered some…rather odd things about it. It’s unnaturally shiny, sometimes seeming to keep its silvery glow even for a few minutes after Sephiroth has come away from a light source, especially that of the stars/moon. It doesn’t glow quite as bright as his eyes, but it’s still noticeable to the enhanced eye. It is also noticeably harder to cut than normal human hair—it’s more like clipping fingernails to trim the ends of his hair.

His hair seems grey more often than silver after Genesis leaves. It’s messy and unkempt. He finds he has much less energy to take care of it when every brush of his own hair reminds him of what he’s lost.

After Nibelheim, his hair takes on an almost purplish-grey sheen, marking him even more with Jenova’s heritage. The moving on its own thing happens much more often and noticeably now—it sways dramatically when there is no breeze, and curls towards Cloud as if it were threatening to wrap around him.

[chocobochaserstories]

First Class Trio Omegaverse Headcanons

...Except I have clear favorites- Okay, warnings now: Omegaverse, mild sexual mentions, Hojo,

Sephiroth

Hojo is a creepy MF, so the greasy beta has known Sephiroth’s secondary gender since he was in utero.

Sephiroth is an alpha, and an aggressive one at that.

Seph is aggressive on purpose because Hojo exploited his volatile nature during his ruts for SOLDIER, intentionally forcing him to channel the pent up energy in more reactive ways.

Sephiroth in heat is feral and has a tendency to go at it with anything that moves, regardless of secondary gender.

Hojo wasn’t above supplying poor omegas and betas, only testing them enough to ensure his prized experiment wouldn’t get an STD or anything that’d damage his work

Sephiroth has expressed several times that he isn’t interested in breeding or a more permanent mate.

Angeal

Angeal is mindful and polite. He’s an alpha, but Gillian raised him to be respectful.

Angeal grew up poor so when he was younger, he’d spend his ruts locked in his room, staying far from Genesis since he hadn’t presented yet. 

And if Genesis were another alpha, they could get into a fight, and if he were an Omega, he could hurt him without realizing.

Angeal is respectful and will spend his ruts privately, away from other SOLDIERs and infantry. 

He will decline missions on his ruts to avoid being unnecessarily aggressive and avoid not being in the right headspace while out on the field.

He also treats Zack like his pup and has a lot of influence on how the younger alpha controls himself on his ruts.

Angeal is very proud of his self control on his ruts, but he has a desire for Genesis on his ruts.

Genesis

Genesis expected to be an alpha like Angeal, which didn’t end up happening.

Genesis, as an omega, has taken heat suppressants and scent blockers from the moment it was legal to.

Being from Banora like Angeal, he has more traditional views of the ABO dynamics. Midgar is more contemporary, but Genesis has it engraved into his mind that to be a SOLDIER, he has to pretend to be an alpha or beta.

Genesis still gets his heats, and since he’s on medication, his hormones tend to be pretty messed up.

Genesis’s heat cycles are unpredictable and he hates them with a burning passion.

Genesis’s heat cycles generally comprise of him laying in seclusion with a fever and cramps.

Genesis is a baby. He whines about pain and hates being hot and clammy.

Genesis also isn’t shy to “relieve” himself with toys during his heat, though he’d really prefer a specific alpha.

Genesis craves apples on his heats, though specifically, he craves Banora White Apples… Angeal’s scent.

[rottenpumpkin13]

Pumpkin! Thoughts on the First Soldier pt. 1 finale? What did you think? Rosen’s death? Miniroth? The locket? Adult Seph? Glenn?

Thoughts on getting young Angeal and possibly Genesis? 👀

Also Hojo…

(I didn't play the First Soldier 🥲) But I do have thoughts! Wall of text incoming

It was really good to see Sephiroth form a bond with Matt, Glenn and Lucia, since everyone kinda had the idea that Sephiroth didn't have any friends before Gen and Angeal came along. But the trio were his first real friends :') Uncle Glenn was the best older brother figure, and it sucks that they didn't have that much time together.

I like the glimpse we got into Sephiroth's personality/life as a youngster, especially since it confirmed things like him wishing he knew more about his mother with the photograph, his reaction to being called a cyborg hinted at a possible struggle with his humanity from a very early age. Overall he portrayed the lack of experience and awkwardness you'd expect from a teenager who grew up isolated from kids his age, trained to be a weapon. I saw people on Twitter say they woobified him in FS, but he's literally just being a child?? A child who didn't have any experience interacting with the outside world at that.

We got confirmation that Sephiroth was abused by Hojo, and the teaser we have for chapter 2 kinda leads us to believe we're gonna see more about that. It feels like I'm strapped onto a rollercoaster going 200mph in the "Hojo is a creepy abusive bastard" direction and I don't like it.

Another thing I noticed is that Sephiroth's tendency to prioritize the safety of those he cares about over Shinra's orders was evident even from a young age. I'm curious to see how this trait will unfold when Angeal (and hopefully Genesis) roll around.

The thing with Rosen's death: Sephiroth was ultimately cornered into an inescapable situation, but I think what happened in Rhadore could've only ended in Sephiroth's losing his friends or them all dying. Glenn's unwavering determination to save Rosen and leave the island likely would have overridden any attempt to listen/adhere to Rosen's wishes. It's doubtful he would've even considered Rosen's reasoning, which could've ended in disaster.

It's still mind boggling to me that it was Glenn of all people who ended up being responsible for losing the locket again lol. I think we're gonna see it resurface again but this time without Lucrecia's photo. (because that would be mean to Sephiroth) (Square loves torturing Sephiroth 🙃)

Speaking of which, what really stuck out to me about the cutscene with adult Sephiroth is how— despite his involvement in Shinra's war crimes and every vile thing he did for them—he still tried to do good in his own way. AND THE WAy he mentioned Glenn when he was going on about compassion being able to counteract evil, hinting that Glenn planted that seed in his heart....🥲🥲🥲💔💔💔

Sephiroth never aspired to be a hero, he was forced into it, but he had a deep desire to help people, and it makes his pre-Nibelheim personality as a whole so bizarre. (Bizarre in a good way because he was a cinnamon roll stained with the blood of Shinra's enemies). Despite Shinra's (and Hojo bitch ass) attempts to mold him into a weapon, he retained that genuine kindness within him. When he saved the troopers you could see the genuine pride he felt in his actions. But the moment a camera appeared his joy was shattered, I guess because he knew that his act of heroism would be twisted into Shinra propaganda, and he would once again be celebrated not for the good he did, but because it played into this untouchable celebrity image they stuck him with.

I hope we see more Glenn in part 2 (before he dies) (ouch). I wanna see how his, Matt's and Lucia's desertion unfolded and how he ended up joining Wutai's side. Another burning question I have is whether Glenn and Genesis ever crossed paths. Considering Glenn's comment to Sephiroth about "looking for a friend," it seems he knew about Genesis' desertion in Wutai. But I wonder if there was an interaction between them where Glenn shared his own experiences of desertion and possibly even encouraged Genesis to do the same. It's just a theory I have that won't even be touched on BUT I WISH, OKAY? A Glenn + Genesis interaction about Sephiroth is all I ask for lol.

I'm dreading Glenn's death because it's going to be utterly heartbreaking for Sephiroth, especially considering he's already grappling with Genesis' desertion based on the timeline.

Another mini theory I have is that the introduction of Angeal and Genesis could mirror Sephiroth's initial encounter with Glenn, Matt, and Lucia, who eventually deserted. It seems like a parallel storyline, and by the end of chapter 2, we might dive into the Crisis Core storyline that explores Angeal and Genesis's desertions. Idk it's just a theory, since Sephiroth befriending people who later abandon SOLDIER is a pattern 🙃

That coupled with Glenn's death sets up a scenario where Sephiroth loses everyone he cares about in a very short span of time.

Also,

FUCK HOJO

No actually don't fuck Hojo, fucking Hojo and people in white coats is what lead to the entire FF7 storyline.

Thank you for letting me rant lol ❤️

Btw the thing I'm most excited for is Baby Angeal idc. If you couldn't tell already by this blog, I'm a Crisis Whore big fan of Crisis Core :)

[izunias-meme-hole]

Top 15 Final Fantasy Villains

(In My Opinion)

Number 1. Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII) - Sephiroth is one of the hardest bosses in gaming and a genuine horror villain. He is a tragic monster born from science, and a loyal “son” fo his alien mother, Jenova, but he’s still scary as hell thanks to his god complex, unlimited strength, ethereal vibes, years of experience, his ability to live off of pure spite just so he can make the lives of his enemies (and Cloud) complete hell. His appearance in of itself is creepy due to how beautiful, yet unsettling it is, thanks to his silver hair, green snake-like eyes, and perfect physique which is complimented by a black coat. However the most dangerous things about him are that he’s completely delusional, his strength is unmatched, and just how far he’s willing to go to distort other peoples sense reality, specifically Cloud’s sense of reality. Sephiroth a tragic character and a phenomenal villain.

Number 2. Kefka (Final Fantasy VI) - Were it not for Sephiroth’s existence, and the fact that this clown’s debut game being at the end of an era, Kefka would definitely be number 1 on here, and get more respect. Aside from that, Kefka is basically what Majora is to the Zelda series. A completely insane, and legitimately funny villain with a desire to destroy everything, however the difference is that Kefka is a mere jester with magic powers that became god! Plus he actually did send the world into ruin, but because of a little group of heros with hope, he was utterly defeated. So while Sephiroth is indeed ethereal, delusional as hell, and a horrifying nemesis, Kefka is the better manifestation of the pure unadulterated evil a person can bring, with the right tools.

Number 3. Ardyn (Final Fantasy XV) - Ardyn Lucis “Izunia” Caelum is the near perfect mixture between Sephiroth and Kefka in a way. He’s got the same “funny man wants to watch the world burn” vibes like Kefka, but he’s also a creepy, vengeful, tragic, and very personal villain, much like Sephiroth. Ardyn was once a messiah, a healer who was going to become a king, before he was betrayed by his brother, Somnus, and the gods, and cursed to be made immortal via daemons. So after centuries of imprisonment, he decides to take revenge upon his own kin, AND the gods. A simple motive, but in all honesty the amount of trolling he does in order to achieve  it, is truly gut wrenching sometimes, and it gives you the motivation to plunge your blade into his chest, but at the same time… you kinda feel slightly bad while doing it too for some reason. He's a villain that you love, hate, and pity in the end.

Number 4. Kuja (Final Fantasy IX) - Kuja is one of the more unique Final Fantasy villains because of his personality. He’s a narcissist that wants to destory, which isn’t new for most JRPG villains, but he’s also flamboyant as hell, and talks as if he’s in some kind of play where the world is his stage. He isn’t funny like Kefka, nor is he as intimidating as Sephiroth, but you can feel that wasn’t the route the writers were taking with his character. If anything he’s a pitiable, destructive, and flamboyant narcissist, but the Dissida series expands upon his character a lot in a way that kinda gets you hooked. So yeah, Kuja is unique alright.

Number 5. Ultimecia (Final Fantasy VIII) - This time manipulating witch is all style over substance, but god damn her style is really terrifying. She also has quite the presence, much like Sephiroth before her, so its not like she's sitting on her ass all day.

Number 6. Professor Hojo (Final Fantasy VII) - Wow, another FFVII villain, and it's Sephiroth's piece of shit mad scientist dad, Professor Hojo. This walking mass of complexes is a perfect example of the "Greater-Scope Villain." Never taking away from the Big Bad's spotlight, yet is responsible for almost half of the shit in the narrative. Though responsible for many things, his most noticeable crimes against nature were his experiments with Jenova, and the creation of Sephiroth, whom he also experimented on throughout his whole life. Pretty easy to see why Sephiroth was doomed from the start.

Number 7. Vayne Solidor (Final Fantasy XII) - A politician who wants to give the freedom of choice back to man, and preserve his family’s status and power. Those were Vayne’s end goals, and his personality is that of the ideal of a politician. He’s charismatic, ruthless, and levelheaded, so he’s surprisingly one of the more sane Final Fantasy villains too, but that doesn’t mean he’s the least evil.

Number 8. Garland/Chaos (Final Fantasy) - The first man to go by the title of Chaos. Jack Garland was seemingly a generic princess kidnapping video game villain, and he was the first boss in the first game. Granted he did have a small bit of backstory that explains that he was a former knight of Corneria who went mad, and wanted world dominations, but it wasn't enough at the moment. A couple of hours of gameplay later, along with some buildup of the entity known as "Chaos," we find out that Garland IS Chaos, and has practically made himself immortal thanks to a time loop he created with the Four Fiends, whom he sent into the future. Granted he's still a very simple antagonist if we're talking about goals, but in terms of how he went about it, he set up a standard for other villains in the series to surpass.

Number 9. Exdeath (Final Fantasy V) - Raw menace, ham and cheese, presence, permanently killing one of the main characters, and THE VOID. Exdeath was just a delightfully evil bastard, and it's all explained by him literally just being all of the evil in the universe that was sealed inside of a tree of all things. Bro really was "born evil."

Number 10. Rufus Shinra (Final Fantasy VII) - This man is the literal definition of a "Magnificent Bastard." Calm in almost every given situation, legitimately intelligent and level headed, smug as shit, and has the occasional "pet the dog" moments. Rufus Shinra pretty much has it all.

Number 11. Emet-Selch (Final Fantasy XIV) - He has gone by several names, led two empires, and lived thousands of lives, one of the most prominent antagonists in the entire game, but this man will forever be known as Emet-Selch, a.k.a Hades and Solus Soz Galvus. While he never appeared onscreen at first, we did know him as the founder of the Garlean Empire, and the emperor in the first 2 parts of the game, until we saw him in the flesh in Stormblood and Shadowbringers, and good lord he's surprisingly good. He does share some of Ardyn’s vibes, but compared to that glorious troll, Emet acts like a worn out and bitter old man, which is very fitting when you remember that he constantly reflects upon his great his old life was, and lived in a replica of his former home with the souls of his fallen comrades. Jesus Christ, no wonder his real name is Hades, the man is constantly surrounded by the dead in both a literal and metaphorical sense. Compared to the top picks he isn’t that great, but considering how well done he actually is, in-spite of how much people kinda oversell him, this is a decent placement.

Number 12. Sin (Final Fantasy X) - Ever wanted to see Jaws in a Final Fantasy game? Well that's what Sin was. Granted, it’s goddamn terrifying, unforgettable, and moves the plot, but it doesn’t really have much to it outside of being this eldirch whale monster that was created to destroy. Still it makes the goddamn most out of what it is.

Number 13. Ultima (Final Fantasy XVI) - Oh god where do I begin? There's a great amount of stuff that the writers of this great game got right when deciding to make their main villain a literal eldritch god, and he's honestly fascinating in some areas. His buildup is similar to Sephiroth's, his terror level is 100% its own thing that's worthy of him, and good god the way he operates is honestly something to behold. Yet he falls off the mark in a lot of ways. He isn't a bad villain, and honestly is overhated sometimes, but good god a fair amount of potential was missed.

Number 14. Golbez (Final Fantasy IV) - The first Darth Vader expy of the series, and goddamn he’s surprisingly good. Keyword good, not great.

Number 15. Caius Ballad (Final Fantasy XIII-2) - Another tragic immortal, however this one is a former time traveling protector. My thoughts on this guy are mixed. On one hand, as the main antagonist of FF XIII-2, he's great on a lot of angles. On the other hand he, much like half of the FF XIII trilogy's cast, suffer heavily from its writing. Still, his stripes aren't unearned.

[browniefox]

Finally got to play more crisis core!

The Hojo section was tbh pretty funny, with Hojo saying creepy shit and Zack either not hearing or going ‘Uh, WTF?!?’

Hell yeah Kunsel. I kept seeing random soldiers and hoping they were Kunsel.

While not perfectly written (God the writing and like, timing of dialogue is so rough in this game) I actually really like the Zack and Sephiroth dynamic. In general Sephiroth is very different than K was expecting, and in a good way where he seems more like a person.

One of my complaints from my first play session was that they just tell you ‘Sephiroth was best friends with Angeal and Genesis’, but don’t show it, and I’m glad it actually does take the time to show their dynamic. You do get the sense that they were close but also somewhat dysfunctional. The canon fight cutscene, at the very beginning, Sephiroth actually looks honestly happy, which was a shock.

The visuals are still pretty rough, and the writing and pacing are all over the place, but it’s fun when you can make fun of it with friends.

Wish the enemies were on the map tho or at least didn’t respawn to quickly.

Oh other complaint is that I defo feel like they don’t spend enough time endearing you to Angeal before he defects. And they’re SO heavy handed with like symbolism and how they want it to be interpreted, there’s defo interesting things going on with the monsters/angels thing but it makes me want to roll my eyes whenever they talk about it.

[salternateunreality2]

Imagine Lucrecia had 2 sons. First with Vincent that she later gave away for adoption and second with Hojo.

She knew she f up with the second one, but maybe the first one can live a calm and uneventful life in Banora?

The Jones family adopted Baby Lucent. He was a smart, pale little kid that constantly stuck his nose into things he had no business snooping on. He found out about how the Rhapsodoses let their nanny hit their son, and how Genesis and Angeal were science experiments gone wrong. He saw the boys form a bond, playing together and sneaking over to see each other in the dead of night.

Lucent always wanted to join them, but was rarely able to see them during the day, when it would have been acceptable to talk to them. He was too quiet when he watched at night, and it would have been creepy to introduce himself then.

Lucent was his parents' only child, and grew up knowing he was adopted. They loved him and did their best, even when he'd materialize out of nowhere around the house like a ninja, starting from before he could crawl. Or when he'd just happen to know things that no one told him. He knew the mayor was sleeping with the butcher. He knew who his bio mom was and that she was a Shinra scientist. He knew the people who spied on him every few months were Turks. He guessed that either he was a Turk child or a lab experiment or both.

His mom and dad had longed for him so much, and they really did their homework in raising him. They paid careful attention to his emotional well-being, and encouraged and disciplined him to the very best of their ability. He loved them immensely, and they him.

So when he kept getting top marks at school, they didn't hesitate to put him in online and university classes, or to scrape together funds to support him when he went to Midgar to study. He was advanced enough that he got admitted early and went around the same time as Genesis and Angeal enlisted.

He worked hard, and by the time the Crisis Core era rolled around, he had a medical degree and employment with Shinra. More importantly, he had access to records now, was fast friends with Kunsel, and was constantly being courted by the Turks, who he turned down every time.

It did take up until this point to confirm his suspicions about the slope of Sephiroth's nose and the funny way his bangs grew, but now he knew, and now, at 11:30 am on a Tuesday, it was time to meet his half brother.

Lucent coughed once, then finally knocked on Sephiroth's office door.

"Come in," said Sephiroth. "Oh. What does the old man want now? Blood?"

Lucent blinked in confusion.

"I'm not sure who you mean; I'm here to deliver the report for the 3rd class health statistics," Lucent said.

"Very well, you may leave it on my desk," said Sephiroth, returning to his computer.

"I also wished to discuss something else with you."

Sephiroth sighed and fished around for a pen.

"Did you want an autograph?"

"No, I want to know if you remember our mother."

Time seemed to freeze, and the temperature of the room dropped.

"Excuse me?" Sephiroth asked, cold as ice.

"Lucrecia Crescent, listed as a primary scientist in the Jenova project. Long brown hair, same face as you, probably died when you were a baby...? I just want to know more about her, if you have more information."

"Get out."

Lucent felt animal fear jolt through his veins, but he powered through. He wasn't known for letting curiosity go easily.

"I understand this is a shock. I will leave, but please contact me if you change your mind," Lucent said, placing his card and the forgotten report on Sephiroth's desk. He kept his composure as he exited, closing the door firmly behind him, walking calmly down to his office, and shutting his own door.

Then he slumped against it, shaking and breathing hard. He'd be a stupid man not to be absolutely terrified from the energy in Sephiroth's office. He didn't know how long he sat there on the corporate carpet, trying to calm his nerves and telling himself he did the right thing, but he was interrupted by his PHS ringing.

"Dr. Lucent Jones," he answered automatically.

"Commander Rhapsodos. Look, Jones, I don't know who you are or where you've come from, but on behalf of Sephiroth, I will give you exactly one opportunity to speak with me. If I don't like what I hear, I will kill you. Meet me at the coffee shop on Loveless and 6th in one hour." Genesis paused. "Just to make it perfectly clear, I will kill you. This is a company line and I know Reno or someone is listening in. I will kill any Turks if they follow you, and if you're working with them or any other group to take advantage, I will kill everyone involved. If you don't show up, I will blackball you from practicing medicine in Midgar, but it will be better than death."

*click*

Lucent let out a strained laugh. Genesis Rhapsodos might be dramatic in everyday life, but that was not an idle threat.

---------

Lazard watched as a man in a lab coat left Sephiroth's office. That couldn't be good. As soon as the man left, Lazard tapped on Sephiroth's door, knowing he would have heard him coming. After a few seconds with no response, he swiftly entered, shutting the door behind him.

Sephiroth was sitting at his desk, completely motionless, pupils blown wide, gaze fixed on a stack of papers topped by a business card.

This wasn't going to be a good day.

---------

Eventually, Lucent is vetted by at least 3 layers of Sephiroth Protection Squad members, supported by Kunsel, and breaks into the inner circle. With him on their side, he's able to help with Genesis and Angeal's degradation using his Turk inclinations and medical knowledge.

He brings Sephiroth to meet his parents, and they love him and adopt him immediately, laughing over his ability to appear out of nowhere and cooing over his handsome funky bangs. They cherish his awkwardness covered by learned manners, fondly remembering Lucent's teenage years.

Lucent keeps digging, becoming more and more horrified between what he uncovers and what he hears from Sephiroth. He is right that this can't continue, and he is right that something must be done about Jenova.

He, Sephiroth, and Genesis go to Nibelheim with a spunky little trooper and Angeal's puppy. Shit goes down, but they ultimately find themselves with an emo vampire.

Sephiroth smirks weakly from where Genesis is practically holding him up.

"Guess it's my turn to spring some shocking parentage news on you, big brother," he says, nodding his head at Lucent and Vincent's matching red eyes and pale skin. Everyone laughs, relieved that Sephiroth is going to be ok, Jenova is dead, and the little trooper pulled through after being yeeted into a wall.

When they return to Midgar, Vincent kills Hojo and the president, and after the dust settles, Sephiroth retires to Banora. He has dinner with the Jones family most nights, and when Genesis or Angeal is in town, they eat apples together.

Lucent keeps his job at Shinra, helping the trooper through his mako sensitivity and his transition to SOLDIER. He's always wanted to help people, and Midgar is rife with interesting and difficult cases.

Of course, he visits home regularly to see his family, often tagging along when Lazard visits Sephiroth.

[geraniumplant]

Fandom - final fantasy 7

SEND ME A FANDOM...  I’ll tell you:

The first character I first fell in love with:  Cloud Strife. I was young & stupid.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:  Genesis because I originally thought he was creepy. Again, I was young & stupid & was only familiar with Advent Children at the time.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: Uhh... Yuffie kinda annoys me but I don't hate her.

The character I love that everyone else hates: Tseng? Does Tseng count? XD I had an Aerith mun tell me that she forgives Sephiroth but not Tseng -- AFSEFT WUT??!! & another said they aren't friends. 😭

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: I still like Cloud but I don't LOVE him like I did when I was in middle school. He's a loveable little bitch to me.

The character I would totally smooch:  Uh... okay, Rude because he seems like he would be a good kisser & not try to hurt me. Vincent because... come on. Angeal because he's sweet & seems like he would be gentle & caring. Ditto for Zack. Genesis because it would be passionate & would be lucky for him to eat me. >///<

character I’d want to be like:  This is going to sound weird but let me explain. Sephiroth, because he doesn't realize how cherished & loved he is by those who truly know him. ;;

The character I’d slap: Hojo & Rufus. Because. Reasons.

  A pairing that I love: Top two OTPs: AngealSephGen, RufusTseng.

A pairing that I despise: Hnnn...I don't despise SephCloud but it's my least favorite because... let's put it this way, neither of them know who they are at that point. Cloud doesn't know who he is, Sephiroth is being influenced by Jenova. It's not a pairing I particularly enjoy. But by all means enjoy it if you do.

[calamitysshatteredson]

Imagine this: Hojo secretly runs a fanclub of Sephiroth and shares some private details in a very unsophisticated manner, going as far as talking passionately about how good Sephiroth's hair smells.

And Sephiroth finds out it's Hojo writing all that

...So. The whole Silver Elite/Chairwoman H thing in Crisis Core comes off as... so incredibly creepy and awful (more so over time, haaa), but this... immediately became ridiculous crack in my mind. Sometimes you gotta let crack!Hojo out of his reinforced prison cell for a few minutes, okay.

"Hojo."

The man did not fumble with the glasswear he was oh so carefully dropping a certain amount of technically forbidden, questionably legal, certainly not moral liquids into. Sephiroth's presence had already been announced by the series of steel doors kicked off their hinges on the way there. He didn't bother to turn around before insisting, "You could have texted."

"I broke the phone." The response was a low growl, followed by something dropped in front of the scientist-- Ah, yes. That pile of sparkling plastic and glass had been a phone once. "This... fan club, what is this?"

"What is what?" Hojo responded innocently enough, putting his bare thumb over one of the slender test tubes and shaking the liquid to a froth before putting it back carefully. "All of the Firsts have fan clubs."

Sephiroth loomed over the feeble man to point at the broken phone screen. "None of the others have lengthy descriptions of what their hair smells like."

"None of the others have such dedicated chairpersons." Hojo sniffed, shaking a second test tube and making a small noise of disappointment when nothing frothed.

The SOLDIER finally physically turned Hojo around in his swiveling chair, looking ferocious. "No one should know what shampoo we use or exactly what it smells like."

"You use Shinra products. The scents are clearly labeled. If anything, it's just a product placement done as only a genius can do it." The scientist perfectly reasoned with a little flourish of his fingers... which were starting to turn neon blue.

Sephiroth took a moment to collect himself. A few breaths. Trying not to think about how easy it would be to just snap that tiny twig of a nec-- "So you're admitting to writing this?

"I admit to nothing." Hojo huffed, turning himself back around to continue his work.

He could be drop-kicked. He'd go flying in such a satisfying arc... "But--"

"Nope, no admissions." Hojo reassured loudly, shaking another tube. The result was a neon purple thumb.

Sephiroth drew a deep, loud breath and decided it probably wasn't worth the physical violence. There were better ways to attack. Leaning in, he stated clearly, "Your grammar is atrocious and you mix tenses."

[mariyekos]

FFVII Rebirth and Gameplay at the Cost of Atmosphere

This is probably going to be part 1 of a series of posts/mini-essays so I'll write more on it later, but while doing one of the Chapter 12 Sidequests in Rebirth, I finally figured out how to phrase one of my biggest issues with this game:

There are several places in Rebirth where they include special gameplay at the cost of good atmosphere. This often, but not always, accompanies either a change or new addition to the plot.

I've put some elaboration on what I mean below. For now, it's only looking at that one sidequest in Chapter 12, though it happens all over the game. But the tl;dr is that sometimes game shoots itself in the foot/misses completely when trying to create a certain atmosphere because it prioritizes a certain type of gameplay that is antithetical to that atmosphere.

The Monsters Aren't Real, and How That Hurts the Atmosphere

The sidequest in question is Lament of the Damned, the sidequest in Shinra Manor where you go with Vincent to explore reports of a crying woman. The thing that got me about this one was the combat trials.

What's in the Game

When you go explore under the manor, both Vincent and Hojo mention deadly combat trials, which is a great setup for some horror and an overall creepy atmosphere. Because wow! If Hojo has no qualms about putting his own experiments to death if they don't prove worthy, that means he's really messed up! (And that Vincent in particular has had an even more disturbing past than we thought). The manor was definitely creepy in the original with all of the monsters roaming the halls and the pop up Ying Yang in particular. There are no more battles in the Shinra Manor (besides Cait Sith's section), so maybe this is their way of making up for that.

Except... in the Remake, the combat trials are just simulations. You don't have to face any real monsters. It's all fake. There are no monsters roaming the halls unchecked anymore, nor are there caged monsters, created for the sole purpose of testing your strength. And this lack of real monsters totally kills the deranged/creepy haunted house atmosphere the original Shinra Manor had.

(Which, to be fair, is already changed by the under-manor laboratory being a huge complex rather than a couple of rooms, which is part of the larger shift in atmosphere done for the entirety of Nibelheim. I won't go into to detail in this post, but while I thought the Cait Sith gameplay segment was actually a lot of fun, I was disappointed by how it killed the vibe too).

Room for Improvement

I personally believe the combat trial aspect would be much creepier and much more effective if you were trapped in a room and real monsters were suddenly let loose on you. Then it would feel like a real fight for your life, and make Vincent's comments about how subjects were disposed of via combat trial all the more impactful. Because simulations can't kill you (or at least, don't seem like they should be able to), so in the simulation verse, there should be no direct consequences to losing. It seems a lot dumber to be killed by a simulation than ripped apart by real monsters. Less scary, though I suppose there's a certain appeal to being killed by the unreal. Still, I don't think they leaned into that hard enough. Maybe they meant to imply that creatures which lost to the simulation would be disposed of either by real monsters or just euthanasia afterwards, but meh. I still think that's less disturbing than throwing test subjects into a room where they either defeat the monsters that have been loosed on them, or die a grisly death. And even if they do somehow die to the simulations, something about it just doesn't hit the same.

Having the monsters only be simulations also loses the disturbing aspect of the basement being inhabited by monsters of Hojo's creation that exist for the sole purpose of testing other experiments of his. Because isn't that messed up? For Hojo to create beings whose sole purpose is to, ideally, be killed by his more successful test subjects? To have to face creatures which may have once been normal animals or innocent civilians who have been twisted to fight but can never be saved, so you must either kill them or die yourself? When the monsters you fight are just simulations, you lose that thought/fear of "oh no, look what he's done to these real living creatures, not only mutating them but sending them to their deaths for his amusement."

When the monsters are fake/just simulations, it means Hojo isn't hurting as many real people, and you don't have to face the disturbing idea of having to put down real beings who probably once had real thoughts and feelings. (Which would've been SO GOOD with the line Vincent has after the combat trials, where he DOES talk about Monsters having feelings. But the monsters you fight aren't real. Not until the very last one. So it doesn't hit the same).

So tl;dr of this section: the fact that the simulations are just that- only simulations, i.e. not real- both reduces the threat level in terms of danger to the character, and eliminates the disturbing realization that Hojo has created creatures who are (if his experiments are successful) are meant to die. Both the atmosphere of the manor and Hojo's character lose out there, imo.

Why the Monsters Aren't Real, or the Gameplay Reason

After beating the combat trials, I came to realize (the likely reason) why they made the combat trials simulations rather than real battles: so they could include combat objectives and so you can take the trials at your own pace (i.e. leave and come back).

Repeating the Trials/Combat Objectives

First, the combat objectives.

There are two types: timers and stagger. If you were fighting against real enemies, having a stagger requirement wouldn't make as much sense, since a real battle should really just be about surviving. Why would you need to stagger them? What would happen if you didn't? Would a monster be more likely to kill you if you didn't stagger it? That's not how it works in gameplay. As for the timer, I could see there still being a timer requirement in the form of these enemies doing some sort of enrage move after a set amount of time, but the stagger one doesn't make as much sense. (For people who don't know what enrage is, it's the idea that an enemy will use an unlivable attack against you. An unavoidable OHKO.)

By making the fights simulations rather than real battles, it then makes sense for Hojo (cough cough the devs) to implement certain specific requirements to progress. It also gives them a better excuse for why you might need to repeat the trials- you didn't meet the combat objectives, so now you have to do it again. Because the trials don't auto-fail if you don't meet the combat objectives, you just don't get to go forward.

But I think it loses sight of the creepy scientist and horror basement thing if what you're fighting isn't real. There is no penalty for not doing the trial "right." If there was an actual enrage at the end of the timer (i.e. if you just straight up lost/died), then that would be terrifying! Because wow, Hojo is willing to kill his subject if they're not fast enough! But no, he just doesn't pass them and has them try again. Which makes him less creepy/insane seeming, because now he's kinder because he's willing to give things a second chance. It's less impactful.

In my opinion, being able to implement combat objectives isn't worth that loss of impact. Because combat objectives don't have to be in this part of the game. Chadley has combat objectives in his simulator. If they want us to do combat simulator stuff, have us do it with Chadley. Don't hurt the atmosphere in the manor to include this dumb requirement, which not only means there's less threat in the form of the monsters not being real, but also kills any sense of urgency because you can repeat the trials as many times as you want, or even come back later if you don't have the time. It's a loss of atmosphere for the sake of gameplay in a bad way. They didn't have to write it like this, but they did. And it happens several times through this game.

Backing Out/Limited Creature Game Logic

Speaking of which...I think it's okay to have the occasional unskippable battle, or occasional battle arena where you have to beat them all to progress/do them all over if you run, but the devs sure don't. If the battles weren't simulations, it would make a lot of sense for them to be one after the other. Battles where you've got to do them all to make it through.

Since they're not real battles and are simulations you have to execute, it makes sense that you can come and go. But I don't think that's the order that concept was conceived in; instead I think the devs went "in order to allow the player to come and go at any time, we should make it so you only have to do the battles one by one, and a simulation would be great for that!" And the game really hand holds you with that. Most of Chadley's simulations have multiple battles in a row where you have to beat them all to proceed, but the ones in this sidequests are all individual battles with individual goals.

Now, I am all for accessibility and quality of life in gaming, and I really like that, for example, you can save basically everywhere now instead of needing a save point. But it's fine to remove a little bit of Quality of Life/Accessibility for a single sidequest where you face a battle gauntlet! I mean, the game already has points where it limits your access to Fast Travel so you have to progress the plot. And like I mentioned before, most of the Chadley battle simulations have multiple rounds too! Why not do that here, where you have to do the battles (at least the 4 simulation ones, I would be fine with stopping before the boss) before moving on? You can save right then and there! You're healed between battles too! It's okay to make things slightly less convenient sometimes for the sake of atmosphere! How cool/exciting would it be if Hojo set 4 rounds of monsters on you in a row, where you had to beat them all or game over? I'd love it. That would raise the stakes. And, it would make for a more unique atmosphere. But this isn't something that seems to be a high priority for Rebirth, which I find unfortunate.

(Sidenote, this happens with both gameplay and visuals. At least in the Cave of the Gi they had runestones instead of Jukeboxes... but they didn't bother to change the Jukebox in Vincent's room for some reason. Or to put it somewhere else if they didn't want to change the model. The jukebox and potion bench are so weird man. They kill the vibe made by the rest of the creepy basement full of coffins and candles. It's supposed to feel old and out of time, but the jukebox and bench ruin it.)

I could also see the argument that the devs made this a simulation rather than a real battle based on the logic that having an infinite number of monsters (for infinite tries to complete the objectives) makes less sense when they're real monsters rather than simulations, but I don't think that matters. This is a video game. There are already infinite monsters in the overworld. There can be infinite monsters here.

Finally, going back to the idea of stagger and time objectives from above...you could technically do those with real enemies too. Have it so Hojo will just send more monsters at you if you fail. Make it real Hojo instead of hologram AI Hojo. Or have the AI be able to detect that the enemies weren't staggered/killed in time! Now that I think about it, there are combat objectives against real enemies in the overworld, so they technically didn't need to make these battles part of a simulation for combat objectives. But I still feel strongly that these battles were made to be simulations instead of real battles for the sake of combat objectives.

Last Thoughts (for now!)

FFVII Rebirth has leaned very strongly into AI, simulation, and advanced technology that had not been conceived/wasn't in the public consciousness when the original was released. At times, the game wants to lean very hard into this new technology at the cost of the atmosphere that made the original so great. It's a different type of horror. A different type of creepy.

Being trapped in a virtual world can be terrifying, but it's a different type of terror to being trapped in the real world. Being killed by simulations sounds disturbing, but it's a different type of disturbing than being killed by real creatures. The writers may have done this because they felt it was an equivalent exchange (hehe), but for me at least, I find what the original did so much more striking.

Full disclaimer, I am not, and have never been, big into sci-fi. Remake and Rebirth lean into high tech sci-fi more than the OG did (which 100% had its own sci-fi aspects! I mean, the villain is an alien for starters, and the evil scientists' actions are central to the plot!), at the cost of some of the more down-to earth horror/other aspects of the original. I find this disappointing. It's a different choice that is sometimes really cool (ex. with so much technology it becomes much more obvious that Shinra has constant global surveillance, which is very distopian), but sometimes worse (ex. President Shinra only being a hologram rather than the real guy in Reactor No. 5 makes him seem a lot less cocky since he doesn't show up in person).

I think Shinra Manor as a whole has absolutely lost the atmosphere that made me love it so much in the original. It went from a grimy mansion to a sterile lab. Both are good settings for horror, but they just don't hit the same. This sidequest suffered from wanting to be part of that sterile high tech lab, instead of the low-tech horror of the original where people/Hojo seem(ed) to be playing god in much more material ways. Which is...a different point better left for another essay.

We'll see if I ever get to writing it, lol. For now I uh. Haven't actually finished the game. I have 91 hours and am only about an hour slash two sidequests into Chapter 12, but I haven't had much free time to continue. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to push through some more!

[altocat]

How did Sephiroth deal with inappropriate harassment from fans and weird Shinra employees growing up? (I would be almost certain that was an issue for him)

Like a lot of the nonsense Shinra puts him through, Sephiroth mostly just...checks out. He goes away inside, falls into his head, goes through the motions with all the enthusiasm of a corpse. He doesn't "ignore it" so much as dissociate from it until it goes away.

Sephiroth really doesn't like being lusted after like a piece of meat. It's very dehumanizing and he sees no difference between that and being a lab rat on Hojo's table. He knows on some level that his physical appearance is considered attractive and alluring. But he's never felt comfortable in his body and just views it as something abnormal, inhuman. People fawning over it as much as they do just makes him all the more aware that something about him is off. It doesn't help that there's been a LOT of creepy customers trying to paw at him over the years. Sephiroth does NOT like being touched and has to really restrain himself so that he doesn't hurt someone on accident.

The only time Sephiroth really feels comfortable in his own skin is around Genesis and Angeal. So much so that he often requests that they accompany him whenever he goes out to greet the masses. While he loathes the fanfare, he feels safe with them at his side. It's way more tolerable.

[rumandsprite]

I've binged this beautiful mess for several days and, by god, does it deliver! !!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Let me try going chronologically:

Zack!Cloud is absolutely adorable and shows very good acting because you can hear the difference from Zack's dialogue from Cloud's reaction when learning it's Nibelheim where they are heading to.

Definitely see those SephirothxZack fics going on rise after unsettlingly sweet expressions on Sephiroth during Nibelheim. Also those subtle changes on his face in that iconic town in flames scene, just wow.

Rufus's parade was one of the highlights, but some new guy Glenn shenaningans were there like "hello, if you'd like to know more about this subplot please consider buying some spinoff mobile game you've never heard of", because even in the end all I got from this was - Glenn is a) some dude in Wutai working for a man we never saw and who might not even exist, b) has some bitter history with Rufus and c) also is a Sephiroth clone.

Speaking of Rufus, eng voice actor is on point. He is the english equivalent of japanese voice actor who unfortunately seems to have been affected by illness. I'm very sad about that. But good job, eng va and his casting director!

While I'm on this topic, Reno's orignal va loss also saddens me. New jp va is a bit too nasal for me, and there's no Quinton Flynn to soften the blow.

Morikawa Toshiyuki is perfect as always in his rendition of Sephiroth. His gentle speech to Jenova in Nibelheim reactor is just... You just have to hear it.

Ahem. So, Rufus' offer in Junon really surprised me.

Moving on to Costa Del Sol, was nice to see the reason why Hojo appeared there of all places and, oh dear, they made him so creepy it's astounding. The way he so offhandedly and casually offered those girls to "birth a hero" is something else.

I'll skip Corel immediately to Golden Saucer. It's everything I wanted. It's everything I didn't know I wanted. The entrance introduction is Honey Bee all over again but even more cringe. There are no words for this level of cringe. I felt vindicated for the loss of that Honey Bee's bathtub scene in the Remake, that's how cringe it is. I'm sorry, I can't stop staring at Dio's chest.

Now, Cait Sith deserves its own paragraph. It's the best, the cutest, the coolest Cait Sith ever. This "Aeris-ha~n", awww. Animation and design is top-notch, from Cait's small dance to the ears to the moogle's belly jiggle. Reeve has to be some kind of animatronics genius. Also in eng version it has scottish accent. Know why? Because of this

Also, Ghost Hotel's front desk employee is hilarious. He seems to genuinely love his job, goddamn it.

Poor Rude having to work with Elena, lol. Nice sea-salt ice cream, by the way.

Some sidequests are my type of morbid humour. Check out this:

New Gi lore was interesting. Finally I learned how Black Materia was made. Also made interesting possible insight into Sephiroth, with being unable to join lifestream and all.

Vincent va is so good and in jp version I sometimes can hear Rufus's va past timbre. Also, that drip is sick.

Loveless scene was astounding. I'm talking about animation quality here. Dance moves look so smooth and natural, especially cloth mechanics, just look at Jessie's skirt! I have no idea how many hours they put into these.

New Nibelheim also makes more sense than in original. No more "wdym, nothing happened here". Also, Cloud remembered Zack but his mind makes up some things.

It's nice to see Cloud's gradual descent into madness, especially with Roche becoming that. (Why SC tattoo though. I know it's probably Sephiroth Cells, but I just can't unsee SephirothxCloud, lmao). Cloud chasing Aerith for black materia sent chills down my spine.

As did Sephiroth's hysterical laugh when his sword broke but Aerith still died. Yeah, sorry, dude. This is fixed.

Those AU scenes and some unchanging points are interesting to explore for fics though.

[silver-wield]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Review Chapter 10

Okay, this collection of posts will be filled with spoilers, including clips and screenshots, so if you don't wanna see things, then don't look. Some of the things I'm gonna highlight will include references to Remake and other sources to link with the overarching plot. This is a straight path playthrough with no sidequests or extra content.

Time to howl at the moon 🤣

We meet Cid at the airstrip and for a fee he'll take us all over. Yuffie is her overly enthusiastic self and winds up airsick lol

Once we reach Cosmo Canyon there's a dramatic change in Red, who drops his tough guy act the second he spots a friendly face. Barret's reaction is worth everything here!

The story progresses the same as OG with our first meeting with Bugenhagen and Tifa's adorable surprise at hearing how old Nanaki is.

It's worth noting from this point on, the team switches between Red and Nanaki, although nobody says his name that much anyway. Red also switches between voices depending on the situation and how he feels. Like when facing down the Turks or corneo, he'll sound tougher, but with his friends he's more gentle.

After a tour of the planetarium, where you literally have to climb several floors and interact with items to progress, bugenhagen treats Tifa's eyewitness account like she's seeing things. He arrogantly says he'll educate them and leads them into the SIM.

The standard explanation about the planet follows, with how the lifestream works as a river and reservoir for life energy. This explanation is in harmony with part of Sephiroth's grandiose statements about how some branches of the lifestream ultimately wither or rejoin the main body.

Basically it's stating that there's no alt timelines, just pathways not taken that die off because there's no energy used to maintain them over a more logical path with stronger and more positive results for the planet.

It's all about the planet's survival, not the people on it.

Bugenhagen sends Tifa to a "seminar" where she can learn more about the planet because she wants to know if there's more than one way for lifestream energy to rejoin the planet. She wants to know if people's souls aren't truly lost.

She talks about her experience in the lifestream and wants to encourage people to do something for the planet. She doesn't know what they can do, but she feels frustrated about it.

There's another choice convo event later at the fire where Cloud can say he understands her pov and that she shouldn't worry so much about what others think.

The other characters get their relationship development with Cloud, and it finishes with Aerith standing before the fire going on about how hard and sad her life is as the last cetra. Honestly, this came off whiny to me, especially when you consider the worst thing that happened to her is her mom died and Zack went missing. Cloud, Tifa and Barret lost their homes and families. Red was experimented on for two years by Hojo. Yuffie saw Sonon murdered in front of her and grew up in a warzone and had to witness the destruction of her homeland and culture.

I'm sorry, but Aerith being poor me pity me because she didn't have friends just ain't it.

Some lanterns are let off at the end of the scene and then we head down to the challenge of the Gi so Red can be recognised as a Watcher of the Vale.

You're stuck with just Red and Barret for this part. It's fine. There's minimal struggle with these two and they combo well. Barret's dialogue gets a bit repetitive whenever Red goes wall climbing, but it could be worse.

Bugenhagen explains the history of the Gi and the Vale and Red's family as we head deeper into the caves. There's some creepy looking gates that replace the spider webs from OG, and we have to raid a tomb to get an icon for a pedestal, so it's pretty faithful to the OG section of the game. The wall climbing is fun and let's us take short cuts that means we're alone until Barret catches up 🤣

Bugenhagen tells us the cetra used to talk to the imprisoned Gi and then we have to kick some ass!

I'm not gonna spoil the scene with Red and his dad. Y'all need to watch it. It's perfection and Max Mittleman did as good a job with this as John Eric Bentley did with Barret's part in Corel. I love those character arcs best and that hasn't changed for Rebirth ❤️

Anyway, Bugenhagen hits regret after having a think and then the Gi reappear and beckon us into a dark cave. Sephiroth appears and Cloud is very eager to follow.

And we're going on a boat ride. Gi Nattak wants us to be quiet because the planet is listening and that means the cetra are too. He definitely has no love for them or Aerith when she does her stupid hand raise question time thing again. Is she in middle school?

We leave the A team on the boat and hit up the B team over in Zack's interlude. He's having a nice chat with Biggs about how they both dodged death and how weird it was. They talk about Cloud and have contrasting character profiles for him, and neither can tell time.

Biggs has set up a recruitment for Avalanche, but the only person who turns up is a mocking Kyrie. Discouraged, Biggs leaves and Zack heads home.

Zack goes to see Aerith, calls to her and holds her hand.

Back over in the real world, Aerith can feel his touch and is startled. Tifa looks worried, but nothing comes of it because we have arrived at our destination 🤣

The Gi village.

There's a lot of info dumping happening between battles here. The main points are:

The Gi aren't of the planet. They're aliens. We don't know how they got here, but it turns out they arrived before Jenova. That's explained in the temple of ancients, not now. It's possible their actions drew jenova to the planet.

The Gi can't die. Because they're not of this planet, she refuses to accept their energy. Like a blood transfusion that's the wrong type it would make the planet sick if she absorbed their energy.

The Gi really want to die. They're sick of existing. They're not alive, they're not dead, they're stuck.

The Gi created the black materia using the planet's energy and their own desire to die. We know it summons meteor, so basically they wanted to die so much they infused their will into a piece of materia, which is of the planet, and that results in the planet taking on the consequences of their wish to die. It's kinda like a murder/suicide.

The cetra stole the black materia to protect the planet, but didn't do anything to help the Gi. Red's father promised to help them too, but they turned him to stone. Red then takes on the task. They group agrees the Gi shouldn't have the materia, but they need help.

Cloud now has the urge to get the black materia. He thinks it's to get hold of it before the bad guys do, but we know better.

Once we finally leave the Gi village, which is a section I think was needed to expand the Gi and fill in some gaps in the lore, Cait Sith wants to access a Shinra terminal to look for the temple the Gi said hides the materia. Bugenhagen got creative with it and now they're up shit creek without a paddle.

Until a guard says a black robe is at the entrance. And this one has something different to say than the others. This one says "Nibelheim". It's almost like he took a detour to tell them to go there and find a terminal because Cosmo Canyon isn't somewhere they need to be.

But we've got our next destination and some gil in our pocket to pay the airfare!

This chapter was good. The lore and all the new content with the Gi and expanding on all the back story and everything made this one fun to sit through. The cut scenes get a bit long, but it's FF, they do cinematic 🤣

Red and Barret as a team is fun, but I wanted more banter. Zack's interlude is getting more interesting and I can't help but wonder at the inconsistent accounts and personalities of the npcs. The Kyrie we know didn't seem to be quite such a mean spirited bitch as this one is, and Marlene is also pretty bratty actually. Since when is she the type of kid to stick her tongue out and push people? In Remake she was a shy lil cutie. And Elmyra. Since when is she so defeatist? Where's the woman who went to the station every day to wait and pray her husband was safe? Everybody seems slightly off.

I guess we'll see what happens in part three with all that.

Our next stop is Nibelheim, and it was somewhere I was looking forward to a lot, and it didn't disappoint! The game really did pick up after we left Costa del Sol. It's like they started switching off from vacay mode and going back into "oh shit my life is fucked" mode 🤣

[bitterarcs]

Give the redhead a sliver of sustenance, and he'll make a fest out of it. All Reno required was a glance which lasted a second too long, and rumours of office hookups were spread around the ShinRa building. A weird way to sneeze or a slight nasal note to tone, and some absurdity crawled from the depths of imagination to paint a worker in a creepy light. Half of the amusement was derived from seeing how quickly word spread from a single discreet conversation, and other half was the cruelty of the matter, he supposed. Nothing heinous was ever spread unless it was true and unless it did not tarnish the electric company's image.

Relationships had been shattered with a string of truth and a ball of lies. Human nature — Reno blamed it on with a mischievous grin set on lips; no remedy he cared to find within sight. Reno was capable of pulling truths and weaving lies about anyone until jaw hurt, however he had never been one to speak ill of the Turks who were closer to him than family bonded by blood. However the Turks were not perfect, and both feelings and opinions bubbled inside of Reno. Rude, the bald and brilliant partner, proved the perfect outlet . . for only the most outlandish or vile of things prompted a gag order from the large man.

(  ❛  He's skilled, yeah. All the Turks have to be. Do I trust him with my life? I don't doubt he or Tseng or Two Guns would kill for me, but would they die for me? I wouldn't bet on it, gil or my life. It's different, y'know, man? I used to think Tseng would sacrifice himself if need be. He has, in a way, but that shit with Verdot and Nibelheim? Who the fuck can I trust. Thought I could trust all the Turks. They felt like . . I don't want to say family because that's cheesy. Are we pussies for not bringing people to Hojo or is Whip just . . sadistic? ❜  )

Reno struggled to catch words; hands uselessly reaching for fast fluttering butterflies. He was sadistic, too. When it came to torture and pulling a confession out of a man, Reno would get elbow deep in blood for ShinRa. Turning people over for the heinous delight of Hojo reached a limit he did not think it possible he contained.

(  ❛  Too obedient. That's it. An actual dog to a leash. If he were given orders to slit my throat, he'd do it, wouldn't he? There's loyalty to the Turks, and then there's loyalty to ShinRa. Think he's on the wrong side. ❜  )

  eavesdrop [roast him] @gcldfanged         (   is this a love confession, jae ?  )