InsaneJournal

Current mood:

accomplished

A minor achievement
I've finally added another game to my "finished" pile. Yup, over the weekend I managed to finish playing all the way through Final Fantasy VII. All three disks.

I achieved this mainly by giving up on being a completeist - I didn't have all the materia, much less have them all mastered, and I'd left the Ruby and Emerald weapons alive. None of the characters had reached level 99 (although I'd reached the point where I'd run out of clock slots - it was stuck on 99:59:59).

So, in the interests of reviewing, here are my collected notes from the various times I've played FFVII, collated and assembled.

• Cloud doesn't start the game a blond Zack. He's silent, stand-offish and not particularly interested in other people.


• Barret isn't impressed by Cloud, but is probably somewhat intimidated by him (Cloud appears to be borrowing Zack's professionalism and some of Sephiroth's hauteur). It's hard for the zealot to understand the mercenary and vice versa.


• "Cloud never came" - Thanks Wedge, FAR too much information, trust me.


• "Looks like I'm a little late" "It's no big deal. Just what I always do" - Zack, let the poor boy say his own lines.


• "A main support structure holds the plate up in the centre" Yeah, it's called the Shinra Tower.


• "... and there are other support structures" - foreshadowing much?


• Cloud's appraisal of whether there were any SOLDIERs fighting against Avalanche is matter-of-fact. The way Barret reacts is speaking more of intimidation than just irritation.


• It's implied the promise between Cloud and Tifa is made in the autumn of the year he turned 14 - meaning he would have headed to Midgar in the spring of the year he turned 15. The Nibelheim Incident occurred in the summer of the year he turned 16, so by that time he's been away from home for a year.


• The promise Tifa gets out of Cloud seems to be driven more by the notion of knowing someone famous than anything else. As such, Cloud's comment about not being famous makes more sense.


• What pushes Cloud into doing the second mission is possibly rivalry with Barret


• I'm sure Tifa (if she hasn't had the same amount of crap happening in her head as Cloud did) had a flashback or two of her own in Reactor 5. After all, she has to remember finding the corpse of her father in the Nibel reactor.


• Interesting that President Shinra himself is the one who shows up to gloat in Reactor 5.


• Zack's still saying Cloud's lines for him.


• Whoever the President's informant is, they're entirely too damn accurate. (Fanfic note: make this Steele?) Oddly enough, being confident in the security of their hideout even after they've been rumbled once sounds the sort of thing both Tifa and Barret would do.


• In theory, Cloud fulfilled his promise to Tifa by defeating the Airbuster.


• 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.


• "Wedge, you alright?" - Of course he is. Falling 50m onto his back wouldn't've damaged anything. *sigh*


• I wouldn't put it past Reno to have grabbed a grope as he ran past Tifa on the platform. Not a particularly good day she's having, between the Don and Reno (too many leches).


• I have to admit the notion of Tseng leading the Turks in a white mutiny regarding Aerith does appeal. It certainly explains why he's "finally" able to report completion to the President when they catch Aerith.


• Okay, Cloud hasn't been to HQ before. Assuming it isn't just something he lost to the mako, this implies Shinra's military HQ is somewhere other than the Shinra tower.


• Interesting that Tifa doesn't recognise the Masamune when she sees it, given she's actually wielded the silly thing.


• That's two homes Tifa's lost to the actions of Shinra personnel. It's not surprising she gets a bit of a hate on for them.


• I've sort of figured it out. The white flashes are Sephiroth's influence. Zack comes in during the fades to black.


• The Wutai war was happening approximately 15 years prior to the game.


• The continual use of "The Shinra" implies either a ceremonial position, or a translation artifact. (William of Ockham, could you please take a call on the white courtesy phone.)


• "That would be our monster." And from one line an entire fanon tradition (Sephiroth having an extremely dry sense of humour) is established.


• Sephiroth comments about the mako smell in Nibelheim.


• There are a lot of whiteouts in the discussion with Cloud's mother. Part of this would be the reaction to four years of being pickled in mako. A lot would be Cloud blanking out his own memories.


• There's a recognised gap of 2 years between Cloud leaving Nibelheim and returning.


• The Mt Nibel reactor looks to be an earlier vintage than the ones in Midgar - there's a very steampunk ambiance about the place.


• I'm with Coyo. My first reaction to hearing Hojo's been breeding monsters is "like there's a shortage?"


• Oddly enough, the scene in the reactor is one of Sephiroth's more human moments - as is his tantrum that triggers the burning of Nibelheim.


• "The use of Mako Reactor 1 approved for use" - ie Nibelheim reactor was the first one built. More evidence the Shinra family were originally Nibelheim boys.


• 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? Then again, the only indication they had that Sephiroth was involved in the first place was one sword and Cloud's obsession.


• Okay, staking out a Zolom on a tree wins points for overkill.


• I can't help but wonder how much of Elena's "open mouth, insert foot" is actually intentional. I can't believe she'd be permitted to join Shinra's Dirty Tricks Brigade if she hadn't learned at least some discretion.


• I strongly believe General Heidegger was a hanger-on or connection of Old Man Shinra. There's certainly enough evidence to support him being incompetent for his position, while there's also evidence Rufus dislikes him personally. Makes me wonder what would have happened to OM Shinra had Sephiroth not showed up on the scene. My money is on a Turk-masterminded assassination at the first damn chance they could get.


• The destruction of Corel occurred about a year after Sephiroth had burned down Nibelheim. I doubt the two are unconnected. The excuse may well have been connected to the explosion of the Gongaga reactor. (later note: nope, Gongaga exploded 3 years back).


• Yuffie's lack of sympathy for Barret is probably born out of the Wutai war. Shinra didn't keep their promises then, either.


• I'd love to see the scene in Bugenhangen's contraption with updated graphics. That would be brilliant.


• I can see the writers of Dirge of Cerberus having a lot of fun with Bugenhagen's comment that Cloud and co are only delaying the inevitable. It certainly sets the stage for Omega and Chaos.


• The correct geological terminology to describe the Nibel mountains: fucking weird.


• Another "oops" on the part of the designers for Crisis Core. Zack was in the right tube, while Cloud was in the left hand one. In CC, Zack's escaped from the left-hand mako tank.


• Interesting that Shera's checking an oxygen tank and this is what causes the original launch to be aborted.


• The whole date is one big cutscene. What a pity they couldn't shell out on decent animation for it. *sigh*


• Aerith's eyes need testing. Cloud and Zack don't look a bit alike except for the spiky hair and maybe the eye colour.


• Cait Sith wins prizes in specious logic: "You can't kill me; you can't find out who I am; and I think I like you guys better than my bosses. But if all else fails, I'll blackmail you into letting me spy on you some more."


• Yes, Coyo has a point. Sleipnir's mane does resemble Zack's hair.


• Aerith presumably learns a lot more than she lets on in the Temple of the Ancients, particularly about the nature of Cloud's connection to Sephiroth.


• It would be interesting to speculate whether Sephiroth's "becoming one with the Planet" involved stripping a lot of information from the Ur-mind of the Lifestream (as opposed to sharing it, as Aerith does; Sephiroth doesn't strike me as the type who's good at sharing) and how much this had to do with the problems at Gongaga reactor (the closest of the reactors to the Temple of the Ancients).


• Cloud (about Sephiroth): "... I'm taking him out" Thus are launched the dreams of a thousand slashers.


• 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.


• Sephiroth leaves a part of himself in Cloud after jumping through him. This is the possession that takes over, I'd presume.


• Where Aerith is saying "it's nothing wrong" is she pretending for the Sephiroth overlay? Or is she just realising how much she'll have to sacrifice to bring Cloud back to himself?


• Cloud's insistence on removing the black materia is a sign of his personality being overlaid by Sephiroth's priorities.


• OUCH!!! Foreshadowing hurts.


• The Cloud in uniform goes to Sephiroth. The Cloud in civvies stays put. Interestink. Guess which one represents the Cloud who was overlaid by Jenova.


• Interesting that Cloud whites out after the temple, rather than blacking out, particularly in view of my earlier theory that blackouts are the Zack persona coming into his own, while the whiteouts are the Sephiroth replica overlay taking over.


• Aerith promised Cloud she'd be back when it was all over. She kept her promise (see AC for details).


• I suspect Aerith knew Sephiroth could see where she was going when she showed up in Cloud's mind, and was relying on the Sleeping Forest to protect her, at least until Cloud and co could get there.


• "We're not going to cooperate with the Turks. Now which way did Corneo go?" - Yeah, right. We really believe you. So does Reno.


• Reno has a sense of honour. It may be tarnished, but it's still there.


• Not only do Cloud and co have both strength and determination, they also have a bucketload of materia and enough people/beings capable of sitting on Yuffie when she's being obstreperous. You can see why her dad gives his blessing.


• Yes, Yuffie is her father's daughter. (Come back with the materia, or don't come back)


• I'd be interested in knowing whether Ifalna's referring to Jenova as a "him" and a "he" is actually a plot detail or just a translation artifact. If it's a plot detail, things suddenly become very interesting indeed.


• The guys at the foot of Gaia's Cliff: "Tifa, you have nipples. Yuffie, you have tits!" Yuffie: "Not for much longer I won't if you don't damn well get moving!"


• Okay, so Tifa's outfit in CC is reasonably true to the one in FFVII - if you discount the lack of skirt, add in about ten times more trimming, and subtract her shirt, too.


• Rufus starts his career as a warrior to save the Planet at the North Crater, when he asks for Tifa and the others to come with him - at that point he finds out how much Hojo has been keeping back.


• Tifa really does fall to bits after Cloud gives the black materia to Sephiroth. It's like she's been trying to force Cloud into the space in her head marked "My Hero" - but she's finally getting conclusive proof he won't fit there. 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.


• Seeing the Weapon attack like that makes me wonder whether the designers of Sin for FFX got some inspiration from that scene.


• Tifa, giving Cloud a celebratory BJ after finding him again might be a great idea, but I don't think Medicare covers it as a treatment for mako poisoning.


• Cloud really does seem to be one of those characters who winds up being forced into everyone else's view of him - and this starts back before the game story even begins. It's an idea for "therapy" fics.


• Okay. Maniacal laugh - check. Deep dark secret - check. Lab coat - check. Pointless exposition - check. Self-experimentation - check. Minions - check, check and check. Yup, Hojo is a genuine mad scientist.


• Cloud, Tifa has just given you a fucking great iron-clad hint and attached it to a Comet spell! Take it!!!!


• Unfortunately, Cloud is possibly denser than most things.


• I agree with Steve - the main thought that springs to mind watching Omnislash is "we gotta get that guy to switch to decaf".


• Sephiroth really does go to pieces when he gets defeated, don't he?


• Nice CGI, and now I see where the Lifestream imagery in AC came from. Oh, and the hands reaching out bit. Cute.


• 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?