(the howls of a thousand fangirls told me it stays true to the canon story in that much, anyway) *snickering*
It appears Reno knew Cloud prior to the Nibelheim incident. He seemed to expect Cloud to know him, aand he appeared to be surprised by the evidence Cloud had been through the SOLDIER process. Considering he was somewhat friendly with Zack, he might at least know the name, even if they hadn't met face to face. And Cloud would definitely have known who the Turks were, even if only by reputation.
Interesting that Tifa doesn't recognise the Masamune when she sees it, given she's actually wielded the silly thing. Well, to a non-swordsperson, one long katana-ish thing looks pretty much like another. I always thought it was odd that Cloud insisted it WAS Masamune.
It's interesting Sephiroth (or whatever's impersonating him) is described as wearing a black cape, rather than a black coat. If anyone had been thinking, would they have put the clues together? I'd always considered it a translation snafu.
Okay, staking out a Zolom on a tree wins points for overkill. If you had doubts Sephiroth was a psycho bad-ass before then, you sure didn't afterwards. ;-)
Why the holy-hey-hold-on-a-minute are these folks standing so close to a Sephiroth who's illustrating his points by waving around a six foot katana? Even if he does wind up subdividing himself, it's still not the sanest thing any of them have done. *tries not to snort her coffee*
She doesn't give up trying to do so, though, which argues she's either dafter than she seems, or she's just too damn stubborn. She's got very little else to cling to, really.
So Marlene and Elmyra moved a long way from Midgar... all the way to Kalm. Shit, Cloud, couldn't you have at least got them to shuffle sideways to Costa del Sol? I thought it was Reeve who moved them there? But the games are so wonky with distances between places that who knows how far it really was supposed to be.