LogFAQs > #976445367

Well, uh, some stuff happened during my session today. Before we get into that, though, I watched a video showing the other dates as well as the one Martin linked showing everyone's reaction to Aeris' death. The Barret "date" was funny, even if I was a little disappointed that they skipped the stage play. Barret would've been a good princess. He wondered why Cloud was hanging out with him instead of one of the sexy ladies, which led him to conclude that Cloud was after Marlene instead! Don't worry dude, I'm not into little girls! Who do you think I am, Edgar from FFVI? The Yuffie date was funny too. She kissed Cloud on the cheek, then slapped him when he didn't have much of a reaction. As for the Aeris date, it was easily my favorite, partly because she was the only one forward enough to call it a date. I liked their little chat on the ride. What she said didn't make total sense (...at least not until I played a bit more), but it was sweet that she wanted to get to know the real Cloud. They promised to go on more rides next time. Excuse me while I wipe away a tear.

After that date video, watching the death reactions video hit hard and made me sad for Aeris all over again. Yuffie's reaction was my favorite from the way she completely broke down and hugged Cloud. It had a lot of emotion. You know what, Yuffie is forgiven. I don't care if she's a Materia thief, she's a good character. I kicked Barret out of my party, brought in Yuffie, and then proceeded into the snow zone. She was only level 35 or so, but Cloud and Tifa were more than strong enough to carry the ninja until she got some levels and upgraded her limit break.

I explored the next town, acquiring both a map and a snowboard. The big thing here was that I found the house where Aeris' parents used to live. Her dad was a scientist who recorded his chats with Aeris' mother, and eventually they fell in love. It looked like a sweet relationship, at least until Hojo barged in and ruined everything. There was also a brief run-in with Elena, but Cloud effortlessly sidestepped her attempted punch and she rolled down a hill like the comic relief villain that she is. Then I did the snowboard minigame and failed miserably. I refused to use the incredibly awkward Page Up or Page Down buttons on my keyboard to bank left/right, so it took me five minutes. That might sound bad, but it's only four minutes longer than the world record speedrun!

No matter how poorly I did, it all led to the same place. Lost in a mazelike snowy wasteland. The map was only marginally useful in exploring this area. Still, with my overleveled Cloud and Tifa, I turned this area into a training ground for Yuffie. Even once I found the cabin leading to the next area, I actually went back into the wasteland until I was convinced I'd found everything. I killed a sexy snow lady for the Alexander summon. I've never actually used a summon in the entire game so far, but I've had them equipped to slowly level up just in case I ever need to. Once I was done down there, it was time to climb the big mountain. Nobody bothered buying winter clothes or anything, so Cloud just did a little dance whenever he needed to warm up. I had a bit of a panic attack when I ran into a Malboro in one of the caves because those guys have wrecked my shit in other Final Fantasy games. This time, though, my level was high enough that I destroyed it without much trouble. Not even the hydra boss could withstand my power.

If I didn't know better, I would've thought I was heading towards the final boss. There was a genuinely tense atmosphere in the next area with the failed experiments making their way towards Sephiroth's reunion. I eventually killed another Jenova boss and successfully reclaimed the Black Materia. I was proud of Cloud for learning from past mistakes and giving it to someone else for safekeeping. I chose Red XIII, because I can trust the wise old beast not to give it to anyone else under any circumstances... right? With that failsafe assured, the party continued on to face Sephiroth.

However, instead of a boss fight, I stumbled into a mindfuck. Sephiroth transported everyone into an illusion of the Nibelheim disaster. It all played out exactly like in Cloud's story... only, Cloud wasn't the one doing any of it. Some guy with spiky black hair (presumably Zack, I've seen pictures of him at least) was the one in the main role instead. Cloud tried to believe this was all an illusion, just some trick from Sephiroth to throw him off. Tifa was freaking out, however, and eventually the truth could no longer be denied. Cloud is nothing more than another one of Hojo's science experiments.

This blew my mind, so forgive me if I make any mistakes in this next bit of my summary. Because, I mean... what the actual fuck. Cloud never existed?!? As far as I understand it, he was an artificial human created from that other guy's memories, some cells from Jenova/Sephiroth, and even his past with Tifa was all a lie. That flashback to when she found him on the street was chilling. It was like she didn't recognize him at first, but then some magic mumbo-jumbo implanted false memories into her mind or something. Presumably, something similar would've happened no matter who found him. That goes a long way towards explaining why Tifa was acting off in a lot of previous cutscenes. She freaked out after hearing about Zack, but it wasn't because they had an illicit romance. Her mind was just struggling to rationalize what happened in reality against those false memories. Dang. Normally, after a plot twist like this, I'd get angry and wonder why Tifa never said anything, but this is actually a really clever way to resolve that plot hole. She couldn't say that anything was off about Cloud because she didn't realize it herself. All she had was a nagging doubt, but it never became solid enough to be put into words. Again, what the actual fuck. I'm probably going to spend all day at work tomorrow reexaming their relationship and wondering what was real and what wasn't. This was some mind-bending, confusing stuff, but I loved it.

While I was still reeling from that revelation, the plot continued. Red XIII fell for some pretty obvious tricks and handed over the Black Materia. Damn it Red, I trusted you! I should've given it to Barret, then I bet I'd have unlocked a secret ending where the good guys win right here and everything is fine. Instead, Cloud (or rather, the failed experiment acting as Cloud) handed it over to Sephiroth and everything went to shit. The party barely escaped on Rufus' airship, and a colossal beast called Weapon woke up to begin wreaking havoc on the world. That thing reminded me a bit of the Giant from FFIV, which is neat. While I'm at it, too, the fact that Jenova appeared in a big crater also reminded me of Lavos from Chrono Trigger. It's just this weird evil entity that crashed down from outer space (I think) to alter the course of history. FFVII is turning into a greatest hits of awesome plot points from other Square games. I like it.