#i know what the party goes through in Gongaga in Rebirth. i don't need a plot synopsis; that misses the entire point

[rocketbirdie]

Aha, I see where you're coming from now. Seeing it from Zack's perspective helps sell the feeling of gently crushed hopes and deep resignation. You're right, if Crisis Core was longer, maybe it would have allowed for more time to let that emotion sink in.

The OG, Crisis Core, and Rebirth all set out with different goals in mind. That much I respect. Your screenshots got me all nostalgic— especially the ones up on the cliff. It makes me wish there had been more to do in Crisis Core's Gongaga than run from plot point to plot point.

(Honestly I believe a huge amount of Crisis Core's awkwardness is the result of its choice of medium. There's too much that had to be cut or truncated in order to make it fit on the PSP. Reunion got my hopes up that they might expand on the story, but instead, all we got was a direct port. To call it wasted potential would be an understatement.)

Anyway! I really appreciate your response, as well as the comments from many other people. Reading the replies has helped me find more words to describe my thoughts. A better way to summarize all of this would be:

I would have preferred for the modern incarnation of Gongaga to be more culturally distinct from other locations. As someone in the reblogs put it succinctly, the people of Gongaga may as well be the people of Junon, or Kalm, or Costa. For being major locations in completely different parts of the world, their lifestyles are all so similar that no one place stands out.

It's frustrating because Rebirth's Gongaga is so watered down that even the parts that are culturally distinct feel shoehorned in, rather than being a natural part of the worldbuilding. The mushrooms are obviously just there because of gameplay reasons. Kujata is there because they needed to have a summon that the player could work towards, and Kujata would have been the least out of place— not because Kujata is important to the people of Gongaga.

Rebirth invokes nostalgia for Crisis Core with Cissnei and the soundtrack and scenery. Which is nice and all, but that's all it is. Just nostalgia, and nothing truly substantial. And sure we get plenty of emotional punch at the reactor and its related scenes, but that has nothing to do with Gongaga itself. Those moments could have played out the exact same anywhere else in the game.

Gongaga doesn't need to be a village of sadness. But it should ideally be a believable village, with its own identity that extends beyond the protagonist's perspective, and not just a plot pitstop with the same generic npcs and collectables as everywhere else.

Weird thing that bothered me about Rebirth and I want to hear other people's thoughts.

Um... Why did they gentrify Gongaga? I can't be the only one who feels cheated by the chummy suburban development vibe in Rebirth.

OG Gongaga is an isolated village deep in a jungle. It's possible to completely miss the first chance to visit, because it's practically unheard of. All the young folks fled to the big city. A reactor blew up and killed most of the inhabitants, leaving the town in a state of decay. The houses are falling apart, the people are desperate, it's derelict and miserable.

An understated theme in the OG is how life is difficult without modern technology. Avalanche sets out to destroy these reactors without considering the consequences for their own futures, thinking "well it won't be easy but i'm sure it'll be fine." Gongaga is the story's way of showing you just how fine everything is going to be— despite being in a lush rainforest, long since violently cut off from Shinra's influence, these people still suffer immensely.

I wanted to see it in hd so bad honestly. The splintered rotting wood, the furskin rugs, the dirty brick walls. The unspoken yet unignorable trauma. The mournful purple twilight that quietly hangs over the whole village. I wanted to see the survivors' spiteful determination to make things work without mako.

Instead we got a squeaky clean Crisis Core rendition of Gongaga, with its down-to-earth upbeat stardew valley soundtrack and generic hard workin' country folk. The houses are like... twice the size i expected them to be. Neat and tidy, no holes in the roofs, no dishevelled interiors. No sign of struggle. Everybody is content at worst.

The reactor may as well have never exploded. Nobody talks about it. We hear some bullshit about Shinra trying to "make amends" or compensate people for the damages, and that's about it. Apparently everybody's just fine with this, because all of the original version's resentment and grief is gone.

Don't even get me started on the barker stationed at the town entrance. "Come experience nature's bounty!" Man... why are we treating it like a goddamn hippy tourist attraction. OG Gongaga would have had someone knock this kid's teeth out.

Idk I'm just sad. The melancholy is what made Gongaga so memorable despite its bump-in-the-road identity. I wish we could have gotten that instead of one big callback to CC.