#cait ace's version | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gardensgrey · 3 years ago

Text

Tifa Lockhart, Marlene Wallace, Cait Sith, Barret Wallace, and Square Enix are all Clerith's

Tifa observes exactly what us Clerith's observed in both Final Fantasy VII & Advent Children — Cloud is romantically interested in Aerith.

Tifa wishes Clerith wasn't so, but unfortunately for her, it only takes witnessing Cloud and Aerith's chemistry to see their romantic bond:

1. "The thing which she is unable to hide in her irritation towards Cloud is the fact that he isn't merely dragging the past around, but because that reason might perhaps be related to Aerith. Final Fantasy VII: Seeing Cloud and Aerith developing their world together before her eyes, she inadvertently lets slip her peevish feelings. Advent Children: Upon knowing that Cloud had been residing in Aerith's church after leaving the place they had been living in together, her expression becomes complex." ~Tifa's character profile, 10th Anniversary Ultimania

2. "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 complicated feelings continue even in AC, two years after Aerith had departed the world." ~Final Fantasy 10th Anniversary Ultimania

Marlene vows not to tell Tifa that Cloud hopes Aerith likes him. Obviously Marlene is rooting for Cloud x Aerith because she's keeping secrets from Tifa about Cloud's romantic interest in Aerith:

“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

Therefore, this is the canon version of this scene:

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

Cloud: "Let’s hope so."

Marlene: "I won’t tell Tifa."

Cait Sith provides a wedding prediction for Cloud x Aerith. According to Square Enix, Cait Sith's prediction becomes "more painful" after Aerith's death. The only way Aerith's death would make a wedding prediction "more painful" is if Cloud and Aerith had a mutual romantic attraction:

“Looks good. You are perfect for each other!” “Aerith’s star and Cloud’s star! They show a great future!” — “Poor Tifa!” ~Cait Sith

“After solving the puzzle about Cait Sith’s replaceable body, he tells one last fortune of Cloud and Aerith’s affinity. Cait Sith’s lines, which seem to expect Cloud and Aerith’s wedding, now makes it more painful.” ~Final Fantasy VII Dismantled

Barret Wallace witnesses that Aerith is the first person Cloud is willing to fight for besides himself. Barret, just like Tifa, observes Cloud's unique and special feelings for Aerith that are romantic in nature:

Cloud: I didn't want to start a ruckus till we saved Aerith. I should have known that was impossible though… Barret: Heh, heh, heh. Cloud: What is it? You're givin' me the willies. Barret: So there are times when even you fight for other people. I am impressed. Cloud: Who cares if you're impressed…?

Squaresoft has been Clerith since Day 1, and continues to be a supporter of Cloud x Aerith to this day:

1. Cloud x Aerith are depicted in 4 official pieces of artwork, exactly like other canon couples.

2. Final Fantasy IX: The Flower Girl calls Knight VII “cute” & Knight VII calls the Flower Girl “beautiful.” Their entire conversation is very flirtatious & romantic.

3. "Cloud was her friend, her *koibito* (lover in Japanese) ~ a symbol of what was important to her, and someone to be protected." ~Case of Lifestream: White

4. “For example, I was frequently asked if there had been romantic relationship between Tifa and Cloud for two years, after FF7 ended, but I don’t have any clue.” ~Nomura, Dorimaga interview, published at Flaregamer

5. "Each carries their own feelings and love for Aerith. In this story, Cloud also carries his undying feeling for Aerith even to this very day…” ~Nomura, Square Enix

6. "There’s no relationship from FFVII to the Kingdom Hearts stories. I consider them separate stories. But if you play Kingdom Hearts, toward the end, some of the questions about the relationship between Cloud and Aeris in Final Fantasy VII might be answered.” ~Nomura, Square Enix

7. "In Aerith's case, if you play the game normally, the partner that generally comes will be Aerith." ~Final Fantasy VII Dismantled

8. Final Fantasy Tactics: Cloud meets a Flower Girl. Cloud essentially has the same conversation with this Flower Girl as Cloud has with Aerith during the beginning of Final Fantasy VII. SE is paying homage to Cloud x Aerith.

9. SE officially named Cloud and Aerith the Emperor & Empress in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade.

Honorable mention:

Cloud's Mom, Mrs. Strife: "You should have… An older girlfriend (Aerith), one that would take care of you. I think that would be the perfect type for you.”

#clerith #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #final fantasy 7 remake #ff7r

117 notes · View notes

libertybri · 3 years ago

Text

Fallout 4 - Companions + select NPC and what costumes they would wear for Halloween

I did it… only because I’m going to a haunted house today so I didn’t want to leave you guys without content, posting the fallout 3 version right after this one too <3

MacCready:

Grognak the Barbarian

Hancock:

Disco King

Cait:

Chucky

Piper:

Tiffany (the bride of Chucky)

Nick:

Tin Man

Preston:

Clown

Danse:

Roman Gladiator

Maxson:

Ringmaster

Curie:

Bunny

Deacon:

Inflatable T-Rex

Desdemona:

Cruella De Vil

Sturges:

Ace Ventura

X6-88:

Sexy Cop (unwillingly)

Gage:

Jason

Mason:

Werewolf

Mags Black:

Nuka-Girl

#fallout halloween #fallout #fallout 4 #preston garvey #fallout hancock #maccready #elder maxson #paladin danse #porter gage #fallout deacon

66 notes · View notes

dansantcaparet · 4 years ago

Text

—Cloud asks the Planet a question. The Planet answers Cloud’s question at the end of FFVII: he can find Aerith in the Promised Land, something Cloud also desires in Final Fantasy Tactics. Being with Aerith is Cloud’s place of “supreme happiness.”

—Aerith melts Cloud’s “frosty exterior” and helps him “rediscover his past.”

—Cloud agrees to be Aerith’s bodyguard for the price of a date, high-five’s Aerith after earlier reluctance, picks flowers with her, and rescues her from Shinra HQ.

—Towards the end of the OG, Cloud states he remembers Aerith “a lot.”

—Cloud’s heart “cracks” during Aerith’s death and again at her grave (Tifa gets jealous of this).

—Cloud is shown seeking Aerith in numerous cameos.

—During their first meeting, Cloud says Aerith is beautiful.

—Cloud and Aerith meeting each other has been described as “destiny.”

—Cloud goes on 2 dates with Aerith.

—In Cosmo Canyon, Cloud expresses to Aerith that he will always be there for her.

—Marlene and Barret notice that Cloud is romantically interested in Aerith.

—Cloud promises to take Aerith on the Highwind.

—Cloud and Aerith flirt in-front of Tifa in the Shinra jail cells. Tifa flips out in a jealous rage.

—SE included Cait Sith’s “wedding prediction” to set Cloud and Aerith up as star-crossed lovers.

—Aerith brings the real Cloud to the surface when he has a memory of his mother telling him to have an “older girlfriend.”

—Cloud’s Mom wants her son to be with Aerith.

—Tifa “strong-armed” Cloud into the promise.

—During childhood, Tifa excluded Cloud.

—Aerith states on her Gold Saucer date with Cloud that she initially liked Cloud because of Zack, but has now grown to like Cloud for Cloud.

—Aerith said her and Zack were never serious, that he was a “real lady’s man,” and that she wants to move forward with her life.

—Aerith rejects Zack in the lifestream, stating she will only call him if she gets “really lonely.”

—Aerith states she prefers Cloud’s personality over Zack��s.

—Cloud never transformed 100% into Zack.

—Zack isn’t in the officially described love triangle. Therefore, Cloud feeling bad about Zack’s death isn’t the same as Cloud feeling bad about Aerith’s death.

—Terra in WoFF states Aerith is the woman Cloud loves.

—Cloud is stated to be Aerith’s “lover.” Why would SE make Aerith out to be a liar?

—Tifa is forever listed as Cloud’s “childhood friend.” Tifa is never upgraded to “wife” or “girlfriend” (even in DoC).

—The Highwind scene has 2 versions. Variable evidence is inherently weaker evidence.

—The Cloud and Aerith Gold Saucer date is stated to be the “normally occurring” date. Nowhere is it stated which Highwind scene is the “normally occurring” version.

—Aerith automatically starts off with more love points than Tifa. If you make any anti-Tifa choices, Aerith forever remains in 1st place. That’s why the Cloud and Aerith Gold Saucer date is stated to be the “normally occurring” date — SE wanted most gamers to play their first playthrough the Clerith way. That’s why Aerith starts with a 20 point advantage over Tifa.

—Tifa says her and Cloud aren’t a “real” family.

—After FFVII, Nojima and Marlene say Cloud and Tifa aren’t getting along well and don’t work out.

—Tifa admits to not knowing if Cloud loves her.

—Barret returns to living with the Seventh Heaven “family of friends” in DoC.

—Cloud believes Aerith brought him Denzel (Tifa gets jealous of this).

—Cloud and Tifa have no romantic moments after AC/C.

—Cloud has his own room with a bed in it. Tifa sleeps with Marlene.

—At the end of Final Fantasy Dissidia, Cloud returns to where he is supposed to be: a flower field.

—Cloud rides his motorcycle through flower fields stated to represent Aerith at the end of AC/C.

—Aerith was created before Tifa.

—Aerith is the original heroine.

—Cloud and Aerith are the original couple.

—Crisis Core is a retcon.

—Cloud and Aerith have 5 official Yoshitaka Amano art pieces. Cloud and Tifa have 0.

—Cloud was designed by Squaresoft to fall in love with Aerith so her death would be that much more painful for gamers to experience.

—Cloud and Aerith are a classic star-crossed love story.

#clerith #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #final fantasy 7 remake #ff7r

76 notes · View notes

im-totally-not-an-alien · 5 years ago

Text

Final Fantasy 7 prompts # 43

1. Cloud is a doll, thus, only able to do what Sephiroth wills him to do.

What does this say about Sephiroth if Cloud keeps defeating him?

2. Cloud being secretly fascinated by Genesis's earing. He thought he had been pretty secretive about it, until he gets a similar one as a gift from the read head himself.

3. If things were slightly different and Clouds J cells were capable of not only copying other peoples skills, but also copying genetic structures like they're supposed to, do you think Cloud would have full on shapeshifted into Zack?

How much would have changed?

4. Feral winged Cloud getting territorial over Zack, like, "This is mine. You can look, but don't touch."

5. Time traveler Cloud coming across Angeal sparring with Zack and misread the situation.

He easily took out Angeal, largely because he wouldn't use his sword, and by the time he realized he didn't have the luxury of holding back, the fight was already over.

Horrified, Zack sent out an SOS text that simply read : Angeal is down! Send backup!

Needless to say, Genesis was on the scene in record time. But it was too late, the blond and the puppy were long gone and Angeal was on the ground, unconscious and missing his beloved sword.

6. You know how Sephiroth/ Jenova can somewhat manipulate mako and the lifestream?

And mako is just liquefied souls.

So can people with J cells touch souls and spirits?

Aka AU where Cloud snatched up Zacks soul as it left his body. Now he keeps it as a wisp.

Sometimes he takes it out and looks at it, wondering what it is. It feels encouraging and benevolent. He couldn't bring himself to even think about letting it go, even just to put it in a drawer. So it always stays on his person.

Only once had it been stolen from him. The spirits in the train graveyard had snatched it from the special case he kept it in.

He didn't remember much after that, just coming back to himself surrounded by the shredded metal shrapnel that used to be the graveyard, with Tifa and Aerith on the ground, holding on to eachother as they cowered from him in horror.

But that didn't matter. He had his glowing ball back.

Zack was safe

7. Time travel au where instead of Aerith dus ex machina-ing a perfect understanding of the future and Cloud, she screams in terror, alerting the Turks and proclaimed him the Calamities Chosen Child.

She may or may not have chased him out with a candelabra...

8. Sephiroth, under a mind altering spell that shows him his worst fear, grabs onto Cloud, begging the blond not to leave him.

Its even better if its AC Cloud who is super wierded out.

9. A flying version of Cait Sith

10. Cait Sith hits on everyone except Yuffie, who is infuriated and tries her hardest to get the cat to flirt back with her.

Cait won't flirt with her because she's underage and Reeve has boundaries

11. A suprise party for Vincent

12. A suprise party for Cid

13. A suprise party for any of the holy trinity/Zack

14. Aerith throwing flowers into Sephiroths face, telling everyone its to make him feel better and maybe feel less psyco. But in reality she just wants to hit him.

He just sits there and takes it cause, its a flower.

15. Sephiroth does not get defeated by a lazer pointer. But he is very tempted to chase the tantalizing red dot.

#I adore Sephiroth secretly being in love with Cloud #And Cloud being very bothered by this #cloud strife #sephiroth #ff7 story prompts #ff7 prompts #ff7 #final fantasy 7 story prompts #final fantasy story prompts #final fantasy 7 #cid highwind #cait sith #yuffie kisaragi #zack fair

115 notes · View notes

skania · 5 years ago

Text

Hollow: an ode to Cloud’s regrets about Aerith

I’ve always felt Hollow is about Cloud’s regrets after Aerith’s fate. But after finishing the Original Final Fantasy 7 game, I realized the lyrics outright quote and reference things Cloud says about Aerith in Disks 2 & 3.

So if I was convinced before, now I just can’t see the song being about anyone nor anything else.

I’ve been posting my thoughts about it on Twitter the last few days, but I figured it was worth putting everything together in one single post to illustrate just why I feel this way. I’ll divide the post in a few parts:

What we know about the song

Where we hear the song in Remake

The name of the song

The song lyrics and its ties to the OG (and to AC)

The imagery of the song

Could the song be about multiple people? nope

I’ll illustrate each point with images from the OG and occasionally Advent Children, so beware of spoilers for both! In contrast, there are only a few spoilers from Remake, including one cut-scene from the ending and a scene from Chapter 14.

What we know about the song

The song’s lyrics were written by Nojima and the music by Uematsu. In the Behind the Scenes, Uematsu explains that the song is sung from Cloud’s perspective and gives the vocalist clear instructions to make the vocals fit Cloud’s character.

This was further confirmed on a recent interview, where Uematsu said: “[...] the song is supposed to be about Cloud's inner feelings” (source).

Similarly, Nojima confirmed that one of the two keywords he received to write the lyrics was “told from Cloud’s point of view.”

Even more interesting, however, is the following:

I interpreted [Hollow] as "a ballad for a man who lost something important to him." — Nojima

In other words, Nojima wrote these lyrics thinking about Cloud having lost “something important” to him. In Japanese, the wording is 大切なもの, which means both “something important” or “someone important” depending on the context (comment from the translator).

Both have already been used from Cloud’s point of view, in regards to Aerith.

In the OG, it’s used when Cait Sith predicts that Cloud will lose Aerith. “What you pursue will be yours. But you will lose something dear." In Japanese, “something dear” is written with the exact same wording used by Nojima: 大切なもの

The same wording is also used in Cloud’s cameo in Final Fantasy Tactics, where he’s featured alongside Aerith.

As for “someone important”, Aerith has been described as Cloud’s 大切な人 "important/precious someone” more times than I can count. Like here, for example:

... [Sephirot] took away my important/precious someone.

So just from the wording alone, we can establish a link to Aerith. However, this is far from being the only way Hollow is connected to Aerith.

Where we hear the song in Remake

The very first time we hear the instrumental version of song in Remake is in Chapter 8, called “The Flower of Reunion” in Japanese and “Budding Bodyguard” in English. In other words, the first time it plays is on a Chapter entirely dedicated to Cloud and Aerith.

But even more telling is the very first moment we hear the song. It’s when Aerith briefly separates from Cloud in the Sector 5 Slums. It literally starts playing the instant Aerith leaves the party.

Then, it continues to play throughout the chapter as Cloud & Aerith reunite and do different quests together.

Fittingly, the second time we hear the instrumental version of Hollow is in Chapter 13, as Cloud & the party step into the places that Aerith first showed to Cloud — except that this time, Aerith isn’t with them because she’s been kidnapped by Shinra.

Meaning, Hollow’s instrumental version only plays in Sector 5. Aerith’s Sector.

The last time we hear the song is, of course, in the credits of the game. Where the full version of Hollow plays in full. But I think it’s interesting to think of the moment when the song starts to play.

First, we focus on Cloud & Aerith, standing on a barren place as rain starts to fall down on the party (this will be important later). It’s only after this very shot that the camera pans to the sky and Hollow starts playing.

So three out of three times we hear Hollow, the song can be connected to Aerith.

Which makes perfect sense IMO, because everything about the song itself is connected to Aerith.

Including its title.

The name of the song

While the song is sung in English, the original lyrics were written in Japanese. The original name of the song was actually 「空っぽの雲」 “Empty Cloud”, which then became「からっぽの空」aka “Empty Sky” or “Hollow Sky”. And in fact, the Instrumental version of the song that plays in Sector 5 — again, Aerith’s sector — keeps the Japanese name.

Of course, both “empty” and “hollow” carry the same meaning:

“Having a hole or empty space inside”.

You know what was meant to evoke this exact same feeling in the players? Aerith’s death.

The feelings aroused by Aerith’s death are “a great emptiness” and “If I had know this was coming, I’d have done things differently”.

These are the exact same feelings Cloud sings about in Hollow.

And what’s more, his pain after losing Aerith was recently referenced in the Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Exhibition with the following quote:

Which takes me to:

The song lyrics & its ties to the OG and to AC

Since the song was originally written in Japanese, I will be using @gurekura’s literal translation as well as the official translation of the lyrics. You can see their original post on Twitter HERE.

I think that when you read the lyrics, it becomes very obvious that it’s written from the perspective of the original Cloud. The Cloud we see in the Original FF7 as well as in Advent Children, among others. So, of course, it’s no surprise that these lyrics perfectly match various scenes.

What’s telling though, is that just as we’ve seen until now, the lyrics are a perfect match for scenes focusing on Cloud and Aerith.

No matter whether you take these lines literally or figuratively, “healing” easily evokes images of Aerith. Who not only is a healer — we even see this in AC, where Aerith heals Cloud of Geostigma — but also reaches out to Cloud as he’s broken by pain and guilt in AC and helps him recover.

But while this is all fine and dandy, I can understand why people may think of different scenes while hearing these lyrics.

However, their link to Aerith becomes even more blatant as we go. In fact, from here on out, the lyrics basically quote Cloud’s words, feelings & thoughts in the OG as he faces Aerith’s death.

Was it all a dream? Will I ever know?

Foolish and blind to everything Had I realized, had I noticed it sooner, Would you be here in my embrace?

Word. For. Word. These are literally Cloud’s feelings, pain and regrets after losing Aerith.

Then we have the chorus, where the references to Aerith are also clear because she’s always been known for her bright personality, and for keeping a smile on her face even in the hardest of times.

Remember how Kitase said that “If I had know this was coming, I’d have done things differently” was one of the feelings he wanted to inspire with Aerith’s death?

That is exactly what Cloud is singing about in this chorus. But this will become more obvious when we get to the end of the song.

This is honestly unequivocally about Aerith, who hid her pain and the weight of her mission behind smiles and comforting words to not pain Cloud and the others.

Hidden within your smile There were secrets

But I was empty I just demanded

This fits perfectly with how blinded Cloud was by his own pain after he lost her, and how this kept him from realizing the truth of her sacrifice.

Then there’s the second chorus, where Cloud once again sings about all the things he would do differently if only he were given a second chance.

And what he wants to do most of all, is to be able to notice Aerith’s pain and the truth hidden behind it.

What’s more, while players may have missed it given the graphics of the OG, Remake itself shows that this is indeed how Aerith is. She is always hiding her pain and heavy truths behind a smile. The perfect example comes in Aerith’s Resolution Scene in Chapter 14, where Aerith tries to reassure Cloud that she doesn’t mind staying in the Shinra Tower.

She does her best to keep a bright smile and a happy front. But if you look closely enough, you can see the sadness in her eyes, a clear reflection of her true feelings.

Lastly, we have Cloud facing the truth. That despite all his regrets, despite how hard he may wish to have a second chance, Aerith is gone. And the song takes us full-circle.

You’re no long here, so I’m empty. Again, this fits perfectly with the feeling Kitase wanted to evoke with Aerith’s death.

And Cloud feeling this way is also backed-up not only by his behavior in AC, but also by insight from Tifa, as shared in Dismantled:

Plus, of course: “She was gone in the blink of an eye. But the pain never went away.”

So really, given everything I’ve mentioned above, I just can’t see this song being about anyone but Aerith. Because the lyrics clearly evoke thoughts and emotions Cloud himself said about her in the original game.

And if you keep Aerith in mind, then...

The imagery of the song

In the Behind the Scenes, Uematsu also talks about the imagery that inspired the music. This is what he says about it:

Nojima also confirmed that [Cloud] “standing in the rain” was the second keyword he received to write the lyrics.

The moment I heard this, I thought of one particular scene from Advent Children:

This scene fits the imagery on multiple levels. Cloud is alone, standing on a barren and empty place, as rain pours over him. He lets the rain wash over him, eyes closed.

In this scene, that rain is Aerith’s Great Gospel. It starts falling the moment Kadaj hears Aerith’s voice, heals everyone it touches from Geostigma and Tifa outright speaks to Aerith as she watches a droplet of the rain.

Of course, there’s no way to know exactly what image Uematsu was talking about. But I find this particular scene quite fitting, given all the ties the song has to Aerith.

Not to mention that in the Final Fantasy 30th Exhibition, Aerith says the following about Cloud’s pain after her death: 「もう、泣かないで. 雨になっちゃうよ」 “Don’t cry. You’ll make it rain”. (source)

So, there we have an explicit link between rain — and Cloud’s anguish after he loses Aerith.

To wrap this up, I’ve seen people suggest that the song is about multiple people. I respect that everyone has the right to have a different view-point, but personally, I can’t help but to disagree with this particular one.

Could the song be about multiple people?

There is no evidence of this in the song. At no point does the song switch its focus. At the contrary, the references and themes remain the same all throughout-it — as does its subject.

Your shining smile = Once more, shine brightly = Once more, laugh again = Hidden within your smile, there were secrets = Had I noticed sooner, would you still be in my embrace? = Show me your smile one more, this time = I'll notice the truth hidden inside your tears

The subject and the imagery remain constant, so it’s safe to assume the song is about one person and one person only.

And given all the things mentioned above... I hope you can now see why I can’t think of anyone else but Aerith.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

#aerith gainsborough #cloud strife #clerith #fandom: ff7 #fandom: remake #spoilers #I love this song to death and I adore all the references it makes to the OG #so I couldn't help myself #that said I'm not going to enter any LTD debates about this so if anyone who reads this disagrees and thinks the song is about someone else #you're more than welcome to write your own analysis about it

318 notes · View notes

rpgchoices · 5 years ago

Note

I keep seeing your list of games with m/m options pop up, which is seriously awesome! Thank you! I’m definitely going to try some of those titles out right away, since I’ve never heard of them and they seem right up my alley. Do you possibly have a similar list for f/f games anywhere, too? Either way, thanks again for writing that out. Looking forward to some happy gayming, hehe :)

Absolutely!! I actually started with the wlw games for femslash february! Here's in three parts:

PART 1 + PART 2 + PART 3

(In general I use the tag useless recs for any specific lists!)

for a more succinct list of games that have wlw romances (and if you don’t want to be submerged by the gifs and pics in those three parts links), here it is:(I added a * for the games I played, so if you have any specific questions about those ones I can answer).

Also if you want more information, just check the tag what to expect and look for the title game! MEDIEVAL FANTASY RPGS

Dragon Age: Origins* = isometric fantasy rpg, the first in the series. As a female warden you can romance Leliana. If you start as noble human you can also have a fling with a woman in the prologue story.

Dragon Age 2*= second in the series, action fantasy rpg. You can romance Isabela or Merrill. In the dlc you can flirt with Tallis.

Dragon Age: Inquisition* = classic action rpg, fantasy. As a woman you can romance Sera (who is lesbian), or Josephine (biromantic, probably ace!). You can also flirt with Lace Harding.

Pathfinder Kingmaker* = fantasy isometric rpg. As a female character you can end up in the ultimate (but hard to get without a guide) Nyrissa romance, or you can romance other female companions: Kalikke, Kanerah, Octavia. Small warning, it’s easy to romance Kalikke, if you want to romance Kanerah I think you might have to start from a Kalikke romance. You can end up with both Kalikke and Kanerah. If you decide to romance Octavia, you’ll have to break up Octavia and Regongar, otherwise you can have a threeway relationship with both (but Reg is male).

Baldur’s Gate 1.5 Siege of Dragonspear* = isometric DnD fantasy rpg, sequel of BG1. As a female bhaalspawn you can romance Corwin (but the romance does not continue in BG2).

Baldur’s Gate 2* = fantasy DnD isometric rpg, sequel to BG1 and Dragonspear. As a wlw bhaalspawn you can romance Hexxat (mild warning: she is a evil character, so you might want to do an evil/neutral playthrough).

Divinity Original Sin 2* = isometric fantasy rpg (it’s here but is it really medieval? I am not sure). You can play as Lohse or Sebille, or you can start a new character. You can romance any of your companions, the female ones are Lohse and Sebille. (ex. if you play as Sebille you can romance Lohse). No need to play the first game.

Divinity Original Sin 1* = not exactly romance in sort of medieval fantasy rpg. You play as two characters, they have minimal interactions, and at the end you can get the lovers ending.

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen = In this fantasy rpg you can play as any gender and you will have interactions with different characters. Some of these npcs can become your beloved at the end.

Knight Bewitched* = small fantasy pixel rpg inspired by Jrpgs. You play as a female knight, Ruth. The story is linear, so Ruth will necessarily end up in a romance with Gwen.

Skyrim’s mod Enderal = this is a whole big mod for Skyrim with its own storylines and characters. In this mod you can romance Calia.

Sorcery!* = not exactly a romance, but if you play as female character or male has no influence on a female seer falling in love with you in game 3. If you play as male and have the Y’Bran god, you can turn into female for a night and have a fling with a pirate lady in game 4.

Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura* = not a full romance, but you can sort of have a thing with Raven (female elf) independently from your gender.

HISTORICAL (age of sail, renaissance, not exactly medieval) FANTASY RPG

Pillars of Eternity Deadfire* = continuing Pillars of Eternity, fantasy isometric rpg, more renaissance than medieval. As a female character you can romance Maia or Xoti (or you can match make them together!)

Jade Empire* = rpg set in a supernatural fantasy version of imperial Silk Fox is the female option for both female and male protagonists.

Pendula Swing* = adventure rpg, isometric, fantasy in the 1920s. You play as bisexual lady dwarf Bryalinne. Your wife is dead, so you are a widow. You will leave your house to find who stole your magic axe and in the city you can romance two female characters: Marla Lee, elf policewoman, or Joanna West, human adventurer.

Greedfall = in this new age-of-sail(?) turned fantasy rpg you can play as both male and female, and as a female protagonist you can romance Siora.

NON FANTASY RPGS

Always Sometimes Monsters* = you play as female or male, and you select the gender of your partner. It’s a love story, with time and money management.

Expedition: Vikings* = historical viking isometric rpg. The female option for female playes is Roskva, the witch companion.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey = This game needs no introduction! You can play as Kassandra and romance ladies and women all around Greece. The romances are mostly romantic encounters, not really full Bioware romances.

Mass Effect (trilogy)* = Action rpg in space. As a female Shepard you can romance Liara, Samara or Morinth (Samara and Morinth don’t have full romances) who are all part of a female coded alien species, or the human Kelly, Samantha or Diana. Liara is the only romance that can be started in game 1.

Mass Effect: Andromeda = in this space rpg you can play as Sara and you can romance some of your female companions: Suvi, Vetra, Pelessaria or Keri.

Knights of the Old Republic = a Star Wars rpg that lets the female players romance Juhani.

Fallout 4 = the post apocalyptic rpg. As a female character you can romance Piper and Cait.

Life is Strange = in this adventure videogame you play as Max, a girl who has suddenly found herself with superpowers. Max and Chloe are main characters in the videogame, and they can end up together.

MEDIEVAL/HISTORICAL DATING SIMS

Arcana = money grabber phone game, do not buy anything with real money please. You can romance Portia or Nadia.

When the Night Comes = fantasy detective visual novel story with dating sim. You can play as female and there is one female romance option.

MODERN FANTASY DATING SIMS

Monster Prom* = Your gender has no influence in the game. The game doesn’t really have romance, it’s mostly you attending a modern monsters school and trying to get a date for the prom. Dating sim. Female possible dates are Vera, Miranda, Polly, the shop seller or The Hero.

Salting the Earth* = lesbian dating sim, modern fantasy with orcs and nymphs. You play as Roo, a nymphs, joining a chief/cooking team in a building mostly inhabited by orcs. Two romantic pathways in the game, both lady orcs.

FUTURE GAMES

We know that Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous will have some wlw romance options (for now Camellia is confirmed as a romance option and she will probably be wlw), The Waylanders has also been confirmed to have same gendered romances, same for the dating sim Errant Kingdom. Knowing DOS2, there are also changes that BG3 might have some wlw options!

175 notes · View notes

sevi007 · 5 years ago

Note

sevi ever since i finished ff7 i have been Haunted by the thought of reeve's accent slipping into cait's when he gets angry or excited enough, the image is cracking me up

Oh gosh anon you read my mind! I’ve been thinking about this ever since I read that, quote wiki, “the Cait Sith in the Japanese versions speaks with the unique accent of Reeve's original Kansai dialect”. Plus, apparently Reeve wasn’t born and raised in Midgar itself (his mother Ruvie moved there from the countryside after her son started working for Shinra, to be closer to him), so he likely was raised in a different area and community than the Midgar-dians.

Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if Reeve talked a different dialect and in a different manner back when he came to Midgar, and taught himself to talk “more refined” so it wouldn’t be noticed that he was from another “backwater place”. Being noticed for that would have been an additional disadvantage in a place where people already just overlooked him because he showed care and worry for the inhabitants of the slums.

So basically – I’m all here for Reeve slipping up when tired, excited, angry or simply more comfortable around friends and falling back into a manner of speech like Cait has it.And swearing a lot more, probably. XD The thought is both very nice (he should be able to talk freely) and kind of hilarious, when I remember that Cait is Scottish in AC and says think like “lass” and stuff LOL

#reeve tuesti #cait sith #ruvie tuesti #ffvii #ff7 #Anonymous

42 notes · View notes

returnn-of-the-mac · 5 years ago

Note

Omg so I'm studying for my psych test tomorrow and I was reading up on a study over giraffes and i got to thinking!! How would the companions react (especially Deacon) to sole describing and maybe even showing pictures of animals pre war I'm curious on your take on that :) have a good day and prosper ^^

As with all of my requests currently, this is months late, so I hope you aced that test! There is no intro for this, just simply imagine Sole handing the companions a picture of said animal! Please enjoy!😊 (Codsworth isn’t in this because he’s already aware of Pre-War animals)

FO4 Companions React: Sole Showing Them a Picture Of a Pre-War Animal

Cait:

“It’s so damn round,” the redhead commented, squinting to get a better look at the image, “And why the bloody hell are there birds pickin at its back?”

Sole decided to show Cait a picture of a pre-war hippopotamus. Their companion was fascinated by the creature.

“So let me get this straight: the birds pluck off bugs by cuttin up the hippo with their beaks?” Cait shook her head, “Those parasitic bastards. If I were the hippo, I’d fling those damn nitwits off me back and stomp them into the ground.”

Piper:

“What is that thing,” Piper gushed, “It’s absolutely adorable! It looks like a stuffed animal!”

Sole had shown the reporter an image of a sloth.

“So they’re super slow and just eats and sleeps all day. Ha...that’s the dream, honestly.”

Hancock:

“Damn. He’a about as fucked up as I am right now,” the ghoul laughed, “Look into those eyes and tell me he ain’t on somethin.”

Hancock had just shot up a massive amount of Daddy-O moments before Sole decided to show him a picture of a Tarsier.

“Getting that high and not wearing shades...the little dude’s got balls.”

Gage:

“Woah! That a gaterclaw!?” Gage asked, snatching the picture from Sole’s hand, “Is it a fuckin toy? Why is it so small? That thing ain’t gonna cause any damage. Hell, I could probably kill it with a pop in the nose.”

Sole explained that alligators were considered extremely dangerous in the Pre-war days, and the raider chuckled.

“Ya’ll were all a buncha softies.”

Nick:

“Ah, a bloodhound. Classic,” Nick chuckled, “I’d always wanted one of those. Too bad Jenny was allergic to dogs.”

He smiled as he studied the image.

“Their sense of smell was no joke. It’s supposedly one thousand times more sensitive than the average human’s, Imagine how much faster I could solve cases with a pup like that on my team?”

He set the picture down at his desk, “But, we have Dogmeat. And he’s a very good boy.”

Preston:

“That’s a bald eagle, isn’t it,” Preston mused, marveling at the image of the patriotic bird, “It looks so fierce, yet majestic at the same time. I can see why this bird was used to symbolize the country.”

The Colonel thought for a moment.

“Maybe we could make the bald eagle a symbol of the Minutemen. It would be a wonderful allusion to the old world ideals.”

MacCready:

“Hey, I actually kind of like it,” MacCready chuckled, studying a picture of a raccoon, “It has a little burglar mask and everything.”

Sole explained that raccoons were nocturnal creatures that rummaged through trash for food. MacCready frowned.

“Are you implying that me and this oversized rat are similar? Because we’re not!”

Strong:

“What that thing with big claws and bulging eyes and seashell armor?” Strong asked, “Look familiar.”

It suddenly clicked.

“MIRELURK! “You had mirelurk in your time, human!?”

Of course, Sole hadn’t shown Strong an image of a mirelurk. Sole explained that these were hermit crabs, and they were only inches tall.

Strong laughed.

“STRONG COULD SMASH WITH PINKY TOE,” the Supermutant bellowed, “STAND NO CHANCE AGAINST STRONG!”

X6-88:

“A shark?” X6 asked, “Bioscience is developing improved versions of them. Rougher skin, sharper teeth, and laser eyes. It has the potential to be an unstoppable weapon.”

Curie:

“Zwat ees zat creature!?” Curie asked in amazement, “Eets neck ees zo long! And eet is zuch a pretty yellow color— my vavorite!”

Sole was currently showing their companion a picture of a giraffe.

“I truly wish zees lovely creatures existed in ze Commonwealth,” Curie marveled, “Eet ees not only beautiful, but eet would be an interesting animal to conduct research on—especially rezearch related to balance and bone structure.”

Deacon:

“Hey! This little lizard thing kinda looks like a mini deathclaw!”

Sole explained that the picture he was looking at was of a reptile called a chameleon.

“So this chameleon thing can change colors to blend in with its surroundings? That’s awesomeee,” Deacon gushed, “Maybe I can convince Tom to make me some color-changing thingamajig.”

Danse:

“Yeah?” Danse studied the image that Sole had handed him, “It’s a bird.”

When Sole specified that he was looking at a picture of a pigeon, the Paladin nodded.

“Ah, that rings a bell,” he explained, “I‘ve read that pigeons were a nuisance in Pre-War America— always eating scraps and defecating on buildings and vehicles. But I’ve also read that they were used as messengers in World Wars I & II. The reason why is beyond me. They look incompetent and weak.”

#fallout #fallout 4 #cait #gage #piper #curie #longfellow #nick valentine #maccready #danse #paladin danse #hancock #deacon #preston #preston garvey #strong #x6 #x6-88 #react

123 notes · View notes

avaantares · 5 years ago

Text

FFVII:REMAKE - A Review

So I beat the game two weeks ago and started writing down my thoughts while they were fresh in my mind, but I didn’t post anything then because my one IRL friend who is also playing it hadn’t finished it yet and I didn’t want to risk posting anything spoiler-y. But the extra time has allowed me to play through the game again on Hard difficulty, which has allowed me to reconsider and elaborate on some of my thoughts. And frankly at this point I just need to dump my Very Big Opinions somewhere, so... here ya go.

I discuss visuals, gameplay, character and story below. I’ve tried to keep spoilers minimal up front, though obviously if you want to go into the game totally cold, don’t read this. All major spoilers are clearly tagged. All of it is below a cut to spare your dash.

Also, there are pretty pictures, because why not?

First, my background with this franchise: I played through the original FFVII multiple times; I’ve watched and rewatched Advent Children and Last Order, played Crisis Core, gave up on Dirge of Cerberus despite my deep love for Vincent Valentine (sorry, VV, but your game was just a mess), and lamented that Before Crisis wasn’t available in my country. I even played (and own!) Ehrgeiz, the obscure fighting game that featured the main cast. (Still bitter that they didn’t keep Miki Shinichirou as the voice of Sephiroth. He’s one of my faves.)

^ Ehrgeiz, a mediocre fighting game that forever endeared itself to me by including Turks!Vincent Valentine as a playable character. 💖

In short, I’ve been waiting for this game for DECADES.

So. Here we go. My thoughts on Final Fantasy VII: REMAKE.

The good:

The character models are very pretty. With individual pores, threads and scuffs visible, they’re so detailed that it’s almost impossible to reconcile them with the mouthless sprites from the original game – even more so than Advent Children (and dear goodness, that was over a decade ago now, wasn’t it?). Still, they’ve kept the costume details and absurd proportions largely intact (Barret’s fists are literally larger than Tifa’s entire head, yet somehow it works visually), so it’s not too much of a departure from the familiar.

They’ve kept the aesthetic. I was afraid the game would try to update the iconic world of Midgar, but by and large, it’s full of visually-arresting designs that preserve the gritty-industrial look and feel of the original.

Japanese version is included. BLESS YOU, Square Enix, for including the Japanese voices and character animations. Not only is it impossible for me to hear Cloud in anything other than Sakurai Takahiro’s voice, but the Japanese script is a bit nicer to the characters. I’m not really keen on the English dub… but more on that below.

They fixed the spelling of Aerith’s name. This may seem like a minor point, but considering it’s been 20 years and I’m still bitter that Devil May Cry still hasn’t corrected “Nelo Angelo,” it’s a small victory.

Improved combat. Admittedly, I wasn’t sold on the new combat system at first, but after playing through the game twice, I’ve come to really like it. It has a few rough edges and can get chaotic in some battles, but it does a decent job of blending the feel of an action game with turn-based strategy. The fact that you can switch to a more traditional turn-based system if you prefer is also nice. (I haven’t tried Classic mode yet, though.)

Weapon customization. The Skill Points system allows you to upgrade your loadout instead of acquiring new gear. The tutorial was somewhat lacking (I didn’t quite figure out the multiple-core-unlock thing right away), but I appreciated the ability to add materia slots or stat buffs rather than just cycling through a dozen swords that Cloud apparently keeps in his back pocket.

Background dialogue management. On the whole, the conversations as you run through town enhance the story without slogging down the gameplay; you don’t have to stop and talk to every single resident, because snatches of their conversation reach you (and your on-screen chatlog) as you pass. You can stop and listen for more detail if you want, or you can just keep moving. The extra worldbuilding is really nice.

The music. The orchestrated versions of the original themes are excellent (and some of those music cues gave me goosebumps… Did I spend way too many hours immersed in the original game? Probably). I can take or leave some of the collectible jukebox tunes, but the background music in general is good. (But did I earn that Disc Jockey trophy? Yes, yes I did.)

Supporting character development. Jessie, Biggs and Wedge actually have characters! And personalities! Clichéd ones, admittedly, but it’s an improvement over the original game killing them all off within the first few minutes. The game also does justice to the Turks, and actually surprised me with how much depth of character it gave Reno and Rude in particular (perhaps setting them up for a mini redemption arc so players forgive them for dropping a plate on tens of thousands of slum residents?). Their moments of concern for each other and (brief) crises of conscience made them more than the stock villains they were in the original game, more in line with their temporarily good-aligned characters in Advent Children. Tseng, likewise, was on point. However, I do have to qualify all this with one irate question: Where the heck is Elena?! Seems like the female characters are always getting left out… /sigh/

Improved plot devices. REMAKE cleans up some of the more questionable and outdated content from the original. As you likely already know from the demo, the new game somewhat exonerates the protagonists by having Shinra blow up their own mako reactor to turn public opinion against AVALANCHE (possibly because someone finally realized that it’s hard to sympathize with characters who are willing to melt down an entire reactor and kill a bunch of innocent civilians). AVALANCHE are still eco-terrorists, but they’re… terrorists with a conscience? I dunno, at least they feel bad when people die now… Likewise, the weird and uncomfortable Honey Bee Inn segment of the original game has been reborn as an amazing dance extravaganza. Less voyeurism/prostitution, more Vegas floor show (complete with minigame choreography) and makeover. The whole Don Corneo scenario is still hella creepy, but frankly, there’s nothing that can fix that.

Series references. Fans of the original will appreciate all the inside jokes and direct references to the original game and other franchise entries: One-off comments about Chocobo racing; a broken console in Wall Market that shoots at you; a framed picture of the original 32-bit Seventh Heaven; ads for Banora apple juice; side mentions of characters and plot devices from spinoff games; PHS communication… The game definitely pays tribute to its history. They even recreate the original loading screen and several of Cloud’s iconic poses/animations throughout the game:

The neutral:

Recycled gags. Look, I know Advent Children was the ultimate evolution of FFVII for a while, and admittedly, it did some things very well. The running gag with Rude’s sunglasses and the victory fanfare being used as a ringtone are some of the best moments in the film, in part because they were so unexpected. But as much as I enjoyed the repeated nods to AC in this game, they felt a little desperate, like there were no new jokes to insert so they had to double down on the ones they’d used the last time this franchise had a renaissance. (See Rude’s broken sunglasses, below.) And fitting into the series as a whole, it feels a little weird. Why is Rude’s ringtone the same as the clones’ from Advent Children? Does Barret really need to sing the victory fanfare over and over when he defeats an enemy? Is there supposed to be some history behind that song that was left out of the worldbuilding? It just feels too meta.

Arbitrary localization of names. I don’t really grasp why it was necessary to rename so many items and characters for the English market. Some changes make sense for localization (e.g. Whack-a-Box certainly works better for an American audience than Crash Box), but others seem arbitrary, like changing Aniyan Kunyan to Andrea Rhodea or Mugi to Oates (a play on the meaning of his name in Japanese, but... does it matter?). And then… well, I don’t want to spoil A Major Plot Element, but there’s another thing that changes names from one English word (in the Japanese track) to a different English word. Why? No idea. It doesn’t affect gameplay, and it’s not really a problem, but listening to the Japanese track, I found it jarring to have the subtitles contradict what I was hearing.

Underutilized characters. While the whole gamut of original FFVII characters make appearances, several of them aren’t used to full effect, or aren’t used at all to advance the story. Rufus Shinra’s bossfight is a decent challenge, but while his character was vital to both the original FFVII and Advent Children, his presence in this game is little more than a cameo. His fight could be cut or swapped out with any other boss, and it would have zero effect on the plot. Similarly, while Hojo is a key player in the full story (which this game doesn’t cover, since it’s only a fraction of the original timeline), he’s largely wasted here, except as a means of extending play time by making you wander through corridors and fight a bunch of monsters for “research.” (I have no idea what his motivation is; you’d think he’d be more interested in recapturing Aerith or Cloud, but instead he just... opens an elevator and lets them leave? after they beat up some midbosses.) Reeve Tuesti actually has a solid presence in this game, but since he’s ONLY ever active as himself, there’s no explanation for the random Cait Sith cameo in one scene (players new to the franchise probably have no idea why a random cartoon cat showed up for a few seconds and was never mentioned again). Obviously the plot arcs have to change when the game is covering only a few days’ time in a much longer story, and the major players need to be introduced at some point if they’re going to feature in later games in the series, but from a narrative standpoint, there are an awful lot of superfluous characters doing things for no reason in this installment.

The bad:

THE PADDING. Dear goodness, there is so much padding to make this a standalone game instead of just the first chapter of a longer adventure. I got really, really sick of running literally from one end of the map to the other on side quests – and that’s me, an avowed trophy hunter who spends hours scouring dark corners for collectible items in other games, saying that. So much of this game felt like time fill that didn’t really advance the story. It’s also full of unnecessary new characters with improbable Squeenix hair, like Roche the super-annoying motorcycle SOLDIER (below), or Leslie, Don Corneo’s doorman who somehow merits his own backstory and side quest. (Though in fairness, every FFVII sequel has added superfluous characters, with Crisis Core possibly being the worst offender.) But it just felt really drawn-out and bloated for a game of this generation. If this game had been as compact and tightly-written as the other games I typically play, it probably only would have taken me 15 hours to beat instead of 50. (I don’t actually know how many hours I spent on it the first time through, as I didn’t check the play clock before restarting on Hard difficulty. I do know it took me over 110 hours total to complete the game on both modes, though much of the second run was spent dying repeatedly on a handful of nasty fights. Hard mode removes items and MP replenishment, and if you run out of MP at any point during a chapter, you’re going to die. A lot.)

The pacing. Related to the above... the Midgar portion of the original game was just the setup for a larger story. It wasn’t meant to have its own complete dramatic arc so much as to introduce you to the world and the major players. Consequently, there are some really odd beats in this story, as well as a total lack of urgency in your mission. There are no natural places to slot in the side quests and minigames, so they’re shoehorned awkwardly between plot sequences. “Quick, our friend is in mortal peril and needs our help!” "Okay, cool, we’ll go rescue her after we spend ten hours running around town doing random errands for townspeople and playing games with the local kids.” Uh... what?

The graphics just aren’t as good as they should be. While the character models are gorgeous, there are a lot of low-res background textures and weird polygons that don’t quite match up with other components. Most egregious are the Shinra logos, which frequently get close-ups as part of the fixed camera work and, frankly, look like lossy JPEGs. (See image below, screencapped from a PS4 Pro. Those jagged edges on the logo are present throughout the entire game.) There are weird clipping errors and artifacted images and reflective surfaces that don’t reflect, making the game look more like something from the PS3 era than a 4K late-gen PS4 game. (And it’s not that we don’t have the technology: Uncharted 4 was released back in 2016, and the rendering of its vast world was twice as pretty. Devil May Cry 5, released in early 2019, has far more realistic textures and object interaction. Granted, those are different types of games with fewer NPCs to render, but I feel like there’s no excuse for a game this big to look this mediocre.)

The HUD could be better. The lower-corners concept is okay, though it took me a while to train my eyes to travel between both sides of the screen and track the fight action. But for a long time, I didn’t even notice the commands in the upper left corner of the screen, and after playing through the game twice I still have no idea what they say because I couldn’t focus on the tiny text long enough to read them while trying not to die in combat. (I just looked it up; apparently they’re combat control shortcuts? Huh, that would have been useful to know.) It wasn’t until my second time through that I realized there even WERE separate controls on screen during the motorcycle minigames; I had resorted to panicked button mashing to figure it out the first time through because there was no tutorial (you’re just dropped into the action) and, having ignored the small text for the previous hundred combats, I had no reason to look for on-screen instructions there. Not that it would have helped, since on many backgrounds the text in the upper left is really difficult to read (see below). It’s worth noting that I have better than 20/20 vision and played this game on a large TV screen and still had trouble reading some things; on a smaller TV, or for someone with less acute vision (like my sister, who is blind in one eye), I think even the basic menu controls would be difficult to see. While you can resize the font for subtitles, my cursory glance through the menu did not uncover an option to increase the size of the HUD.

Inter-fight menu mechanics. Specifically, the inability to save (or save loadout settings) between fights in a multi-part sequence. There are several back-to-back fights in which it is necessary to switch characters or change gear between bosses. The game treats them as one continuous fight, though it does allows you to access the equipment menu by holding square during key cutscenes. Which is good, if you only have one of a particular materia or accessory that you need to switch between characters, and in most cases when you die the game lets you restart just before your current fight instead of restarting the whole sequence -- also good, since some multi-stage bosses can easily take 20-30 minutes to beat, and if several of those are strung together in sequence, you’re in for a long play session to get past them. But since it’s treated as one fight, you can’t save between bosses (more than once, I had to leave my PS4 running in Rest Mode overnight and just hoped we didn’t have a power glitch), and if you happen to get killed and need to restart the fight, your loadouts reset. Which means if you’re, say, fighting the end boss on Hard difficulty and get killed in the first two minutes -- which happened to me a lot -- by the time you restart the fight, sit through the unskippable cutscene, access the menu and rearrange all the materia and accessories you need, you’re spending five or six minutes gearing up for two minutes of play, and then doing that over and over again every time you die. It gets really old.

The English dub script. *deep breath* Okay, look, I know I can be a bit elitist about translations, but I really do not like the English adaptation of this game. It makes Cloud come across as less socially-awkward and far more of a deliberate jerk, Aerith is mouthy and even swears (which is not accurate to her original character), and it downplays some of the symbolism that’s more obvious in the Japanese script. One quick example: When Aerith gives Cloud a flower, she says (in Japanese), “In the language of flowers, this means ‘reunion.’” It’s subbed/dubbed in English, “Lovers used to give these when they were reunited.” That’s a subtle difference, but since the concept of “reunion” is a freakin’ huge part of the FFVII plot, and since Sephiroth was on screen literally seconds before that line is delivered, my brain automatically went, “OMG REUNION!!!” while I’m guessing people listening in English only picked up on the romantic subtext. It’s a pretty minor thing, and of course translation is always a complex balancing act between literal meaning and local market understanding, but the English version just seemed to me to have a different vibe overall. (Unfortunately, the English subtitles are the same as the dub, so unless you can understand the Japanese audio you’re kind of stuck with that dialogue.)

[WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT]

- …And my #1 complaint about Final Fantasy VII: REMAKE is…

…it’s not actually a remake.

Sure, the game starts out the same way and covers a lot of the same events, but fundamentally, it’s a sequel, not a retelling. It’s evident from Cloud’s future-oriented visions throughout the game that something else is going on, and the ending MAKES NO SENSE if you don’t already know the story. Heck, even the rest of the game doesn’t really make sense if you don’t know the story -- Sephiroth’s presence is never explained; Zack isn’t even introduced, just shows up randomly at the end; Cloud’s flashbacks of Tifa and her dead father in Nibelheim are left as a complete mystery (and since she evidently remembers the burning of her town, judging by her dialogue outside Aerith’s house, why doesn’t she even react when Sephiroth shows up?).

The core elements of the plot – the Feelers (Whispers) preserving a specific fate; the three entities from the future (whose weapon types just happen to correspond to certain named characters) defending their timeline; the return of post-Advent Children Sephiroth (the only time we’ve seen him in human form with one black wing), who has inhabited the Lifestream since his death and promised that he would never truly disappear, who in the end appeals to Cloud directly for an alliance rather than attempting to control him, because he knows now that Cloud is strong enough to defy the Reunion instinct; the change in the outcome of story events in which Biggs (and, unconfirmed as to which timeline he’s actually in, but quite possibly Zack) now survives his intended death -- all point toward Sephiroth trying to manipulate destiny into an alternate outcome in which he is victorious, and using this naive version of Cloud to facilitate it. That means this game is taking place in an alternate or splinter universe, created at some point after the events of the original Final Fantasy VII, and possibly even after the events of Advent Children.

All of that is fine from an overall continuing-story perspective – it opens up a lot of interesting possibilities, like the fact that Aerith might survive now that Cloud has seen prescient flashes of her death (among other events), and there are opportunities for more story twists and changes from what players might expect. But touting this as a remake of the original game has the potential to confuse players who are new to the franchise. FFVII was groundbreaking back in 1997, and it defined JRPGs for an entire generation of Western gamers. But that was more than two decades ago, and a lot of current gamers weren’t even born then, so while they’ve probably heard of the classic game, they aren’t necessarily steeped in its lore. FFVII:R relies heavily on prior knowledge of the series to carry its twist ending, so it largely fails as a standalone game.

Also, speaking as a longtime fan of the franchise… I honestly found the ending rather lackluster. It was a twist, of sorts, but not the sort of shocking, mind-bending revelation that made the first game so iconic. Granted, it’s hard to follow an act like revealing that your protagonist’s entire identity is a lie, not to mention killing off one of your main characters a third of the way into the story! But when the surprise ending is just, Surprise! We’re going to change things up a bit this time around so you aren’t entirely sure what’s coming! Also, here’s a gratuitous Sephiroth fight because everyone expects that, even though it doesn’t serve the main story at all nor resolve any conflicts previously established within this game! it smacks of Different for the sake of Being Different, not for the sake of a really amazing storyline they’re hiding up their sleeve. It’s a bit of a let-down, and I find that I... just... don’t really care that much. Which, for someone who’s been a fan of the series for nearly a quarter of a century, means there’s a Big Freaking Problem somewhere. If you’re not keeping the attention of your die-hard fans, how do you hope to build a fanbase of players new to the franchise?

Given the pacing and story issues inherent in this game, I’m not convinced that the following game(s) in the franchise are going to be structured any better. Considering the amount of pure side-quest padding they did in Midgar, I have no idea how they’ll maintain that same tone on something the scale of the World Map portion of the original game, unless they just completely eliminate things like Fort Condor and the submarine and the spaceship side quests. I have a feeling the Gold Saucer is going to be reduced to a Jessie flashback, a Chocobo race (probably to win a key item), and a battle arena run like the coliseum in Wall Market in this game. If they include all the story elements and side characters from the original, this series is going to be a dozen games long.

Still, on the whole this game was enjoyable, and I’m glad I played it. It wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, but they haven’t completely killed off my interest, so I’ll probably continue with the series whenever the next game comes out. Though I’m not really sure if the higher-priced edition I pre-ordered was worth the extra money, so I may wait and see how the next game is shaping up before deciding which version to get...

But if they don’t give me a really pretty (playable) Vincent Valentine in the next installment, I may riot. I do have priorities.

#final fantasy vii #final fantasy vii: remake #ff7:r #final fantasy 7: remake #ff7 remake #video games #long post #review

9 notes · View notes

silver-wield · 5 years ago

Note

I just had a thought and I think we're essentially dealing with two different Sephiroths and SE is integrating them so well that it's difficult to notice. The Sephiroth that taunts Cloud? That's AC Sephiroth here to change shit up. The Sephiroth in the Shinra building busting his creepy mom out is the "original" Sephiroth. Or, well, clone. He barely acknowledges Cloud enough to antagonize him and only says the "don't deny me" which = puppet plot from OG. But AC Seph def wants Aerith to live.

That's an interesting theory and part of me wants to agree because that means the inconsistencies I spotted in Aerith would mean there's two versions of her in play, too. Only, she's getting post OG info from herself in the lifestream and that explains the metadata she has at times and why she pushes the plot away from the OG timeline and why she does some things and reacts certain ways when she sees stuff.

The other part of me remembers Sephiroth is a half formed torso in the norther crater projecting his will through Hojo's experiments infused with Jenova cells and that's why they take on his appearance. It could simply be a matter of a better condition puppet or maybe he just didn't need to talk at that point because he knew he'd escape. He does like screwing with Cloud and that's the one big consistency in him.

I totally agree with you on him wanting Aerith to live, or at least die without summoning holy first. It could end up being a case of we save her in the forgotten city and the team lets their guard down, only for her to die later some other way because of her necessity to be within the lifestream to direct holy and help the planet.

There's also this which could be foreshadowing.

Terrible angle, but I was focused on caputing a different part of the mural at the time and didn't spot this until later.

This mural is obviously drawn by Aerith and her mom. You can tell the style difference, so let's move on.

The central image is a circle with Aerith's signature flower in the centre and a shooting red star about to hit it. Now, two interpretations could be.

1. It's the planet, that's meteor and Aerith needs to be within the planet to stop it.

2. It's holy and Aerith is the only one who can summon it.

Obviously the first is OG canon and we know ends in her death. The second is ambiguous. Maybe she needs to die to bolster holy, maybe not. What is clear is it's all her. This is her destiny. (bonus what I was trying to capture are the figures on the left, one of whom has a ninja star in their hand, one has what looks like a sword and two have detailing on their hands. There's also a similar figure to Red behind them.)

For anyone questioning if it's the history of Jenova's fall to the planet, there's a second red star in this mural (here's where the janky angle goes against me) which is behind Aerith, beside a red flower, signifying it's on the ground. This makes me believe this is a prophecy from Ifana - aside, v sad Aerith grew up with this pic on her wall and not really understanding it's her destiny.

Whether Sephiroth knows this part is debatable and relies on knowing what he got up to during CC - I never played it. I'm assuming since this kind of info is never linked to his motivations later that he isn't aware of any of this.

The other thing we know is the whispers told Aerith to follow the yellow flowers. Now, if this is a last ditch attempt to keep OG is something we'll find out, but Aerith says every time they touch her she loses something. I think that something is her autonomy and ability to choose non-canon. Since we know she's been affected by them I'm expecting points in the next part where she pushes the OG story even though she says they've defied fate.

Aerith will take the arbiter role over, while Sephiroth tries to defy them by mixing things up. He's already warned Cloud about something that's coming, and the only reason he'd do that is so Cloud prevents it and gives him an opportunity to do something else. That's not to say he won't still kill Aerith, but it could come later than we expect.

Or there's the theory he'll kill Tifa to prevent her from restoring Cloud's mind in the lifestream. I don't think that works though. If Tifa's consciousness is put in the lifestream then she's still able to help him. The only thing it changes is showing us how devastated he'd be at her death instead of Aerith's. It gives Tifa the mantle of lost love instead of Aerith and doesn't even do anything that interesting for TLD either tbf. I want to say some of the team die, but it just doesn't make sense unless they're collateral damage in the fight. If I had to pick people off it'd be the least popular ones and Cait Sith, since that's a robot anyway and does get squished at one point.

The person Sephiroth should kill is Cloud, but we know he won't do that because he said so.

I guess the possibilities are endless for now since we don't know what parts of OG canon will stay, what we'll lose and what new content we'll have filling the gaps.

#Final fantasy 7 remake spoilers #Final fantasy 7 remake theory #Aerith #Sephiroth #Cloud #Tifa

7 notes · View notes

mystrangeaddiction-petra-venj · 5 years ago

Note

Hello!! I was wondering if you have any fav non destiny related characters?

Hello and Yes!! And actually, quite a few from games that aren’t Destiny. You can read about all of them under the cut

Elder Scrolls:

Serana- My most useful follower because I never use magic or projectiles and her story line is probably one of my favorite.

Naryu Virian- I just think she’s cool and thought it was funny that she, a Morag Tong member, was helping out my character who was a member of the Dark Brotherhood and dressed like it publicly

Veezara- He was ride or die, and I appreciate that from the guild of murderers

Assassin’s Creed:

Evie and Jacob Frye: I loved how one was the brawler/fighter character, while the other was the brain/sneaky character. Also, it was cool to play as twin assassins.

Henery Green: He was so chill and was sort of the nerd version of an assassin.

Kassandra/Alexios: They’re just so badass and it works. Also, they’re designs are some of my favorite that I’ve seen from an AC game

Mary Read/James Kidd: She made it with the pirates and still had their respect even after she revealed that she wasn’t a man. She didn’t deserve to die and that’s one of the few times a video game death genuinely upset me.

Ratonhnhaké:ton/Connor: He had the coolest clothes, one of the coolest stories, and one of the most badass arcs. Also, he got to kill Haytham.

Borderlands:

Maya the Siren: Was my first character that I played in Borderlands and I hated how quickly the killed her off in Borderlands 3. I like her backstory and I also like how she was revealed to be asexual. When I first began playing Borderlands and found out Maya was ace, I was excited because I had never had the ability to have an ace character before.

Athena the Gladitor: I love her personality and her play style. I also like how she actively tries to be better than the people who trained her and for her wife.

Zer0 the Assassin: My friend played Zero whenever we played together, so I just grew to love him as well. His facial expressions are what caused me to love him so much

Flak the Beastmaster- My sister played them and their voice lines and story had me laughing. Also the representation of a non-binary character delighted me and excited me.

Tiny Tina (though I guess it’s just Tina now): A child that is an explosives expert and is asked to help out grown adults because she knows the most about explosives. It’s like impossible to not like her (but that is just my opinion)

Roland the Commander: I love characters that want to help out those that can’t help themselves or that just want to protect people, so it was natural that I would like him. Also he was another character that did not deserve to die and who’s death was pointless.

Legend of Zelda: (You’ll notice a theme here)

Twilight Princess Zelda: Her dedication to her people and protecting them is admirable to me. She gave up her own life for that of her people and that is why she is my favorite Zelda. Also, her design looked the best to me.

Twilight Princess Link: Much of the same reasons I love TP Zelda. He wanted to save his family and friends and was willing to help anyone who asked. He’s a good person with a gentle heart.

Zant: I thought he was an interesting villian because there were moments when you could tell that he didn’t really want to do what he was doing, but most of the time he just talked about taking over Hyrule. His mental breakdown at the end surprised me and I like how they showed it. I thought he was a creative choice for a villian and liked what the creators did with him.

Lady Urbosa: Besides just being a great overall character, she choose to be a mother figure to a girl who needed it and she didn’t even have any hesitations about doing so. She’s a good leader and tries to do what’s best for her people and for Hyrule.

Fallout:

Macready, Danse, Veronica, Sarah Lyons, Dogmeat, Rex, Roxie, ED-E, Strong, Deacon, The King, Cait, Piper, Nick Valentine, and Preston Garvey- All of them had personalities that I loved, admired, or made me laugh. I love these characters and most of them I had with me as companions or were just my favorite npcs.

Warframe:

The Lotus: I like how she looks out for the Tenno and tries to protect them while also allowing us to make our own decisions. She’s a motherly character who tries her hardest to protect what she loves most even if it’s not what she is supposed to do. I was upset when she left us.

Teshin: Although I don’t play the Conclave or like how he blames Lotus, I can see where he comes from. I also like how he treats the Tenno as adults instead of just treating them purely as children. He fights for what he think is right and that is something I really like about him.

Metroid:

Samus: One of the first video games and characters I ever played. I love her story and her games. All her games interest me and I always enjoy playing them. She became a favorite of mine just by being one of the characters and games I’ve played through time.

This post was long, but I enjoyed writing about them! Thanks for the ask anon!

#personal #asks #other games

1 note · View note