#i guess that mean she should be considered as really pretty in-world since Tifa is already seen as being super beautiful

[cburambles]

I'm so giddy about the way they decided to re-introduce Elena's character in the new trailer because I was worried at the idea they would take the route of doing what the fandom (who don't read the novels) mostly perceive her with: a comic relief due to her klutzy tendencies & her crush, who constantly need to be hand-held by the boys in the group to the point the fandom interpreation render her as a shy or genki girl/ almost swap her personnality with other female characters as if she was a blank state.

But the devs instead decided to follow throught how she was depicted in the compilation: A flawed, fierce, unapologetic woman from the slums coming from an emotionnally distant family, who was the top student of military school while working in a bar in Wall Market prior joining the Turks ( who used to belittle her all the time, mind you) for the sake to gain people's approval, to prove that she's better than her sister and doesn't hesitate to beat up & torture people in front of their sickly relatives. her gung-ho attitude create a mutual frustration in the group, even Tseng doesn't really get an hold on her.

She also can be competent as she was the top student of the military academy but also did some significant contributions post-OG: She is the one who managed to have Midgar's population mostly evacuated post-Meteorfall, she is the one who goes to ask questions to people during investigations, she is the one who maintain a cordial relationship between the towns around Healen's Lodge by proposing & organizing the distribution of medicine to Rufus & then goes looking for the materials & employees necessary for its production. She is the one who find the Jenova's remains in AC & get them to Rude & Reno before going back to fight the remnants to help Tseng. She was in OG the Turks with the most powerful stats as well.

She's not a character you can swap with Cissneï (like some people apparently hoped?) We don't get to skip or not her boss fight this time. She is re-introduced as her class of origin: a martial artist (instead of giving her a gun like in AC). She is an actual threat & even Rude this time warn the party about it. Which I hope will be kind of omnimous story-wise as I think Avalanche & the Turks may become more & more aggressive toward each other throughout the story.

I think we're also gonna see interesting dynamic in the group, as since she's the newbie with an inquisitive & active side, she may be the player eyes into the dynamics & conspiracy in Shinra.

I also think it's the first time we see a Turks get that violent with Aerith & we know that Reno, Rude & Tseng cares about her. Among the group, the one who is never show feeling sorry about being a Turks is Elena.

I hope Rebirth will finally bring justice to her, with her qualities & flaws. She is as important as her comrades within the structure of Shinra & I want it to be explicitly acknowledged in the story.

[flowerslightning]

Let's take a quick look on how Cloud handle his depression in AC - specifically his room

In the Remake, pretty sure Cloud actually suffered from PTSD + depression due to the trauma he faced, but since his memories messed up everything and need to hurry come back in action - click here to read what I ranted about his memory - , so Cloud didnt show much symptoms of someone with depression.

I wanna highlight more in the AC. We all certain that Cloud was happy enough with Tifa and the kids. He was recovering, slowly but improving. Yeah, though he had some problems with Tifa, but I consider he was in recovering phase. However, things changed when he got himself Geostigma, this was where Cloud got deluded he was worthless, guilty and his depression kicked in (again)

We'll focus his room, the place where he sleep. This was the room where he slept (well I believe he sleeps here) and took orders for deliveries, and also he used this room for studying about Denzel's illness through medical books. Dont try to mention about the color of this room. Cloud, pls give some sunlight to ur room. It was gloomy. 

But hey the bar looked gloomy too so i guess devs should take the blame for this? No, jk. Blame the lighting the devs gave

There was no curtain, no mirror, no decoration, plain. Oh well, this room belonged to a male, what were u expecting for? It was quite clean if u ask me. And there we see an old tyre, some boxes and.... An old tyre in second floor room.... Hmm alright..

Hey, dont judge him.. Cloud loves his fenrir, so, its normal. Im sure there were oil cans for his bike somewhere too

But, can u see the papers and pictures on the wall?

Yup, there were plenty of papers and photos on the wall and on the table. I'm guessing those were the notes/receipts for his deliveries work. And the papers on the table were about his research on Geostigma

And the books... Ohh, if only med books were that thin, im sure the med students dont have to suffer too much to study.. Uuh, and those hard cover books. Must be pricey..

U can see photos of scenery on the walls. It could be Cloud took those pictures while he was doing his deliveries around the world. Someone who suffers from depression, they usually have no interest with such things. So, we could say that Cloud really was recovering well from his trauma. There were photos of skies (cough.. Zack's symbol cough) and open field. Cloud had a thing for this scenery

Plus, a family photo on his table ! Awkward Cloud and shy Denzel spotted there

Tifa could freely enter the room without hesitation. She even answered the phone call and talked like a normal operator. Meaning, Tifa was used to enter Cloud's room with/without permission. U could say "Ofc she entered the room without hesitation, Cloud wasnt there, duh". U see, even if Cloud was no longer there, do u know the word 'privacy' still exist? It was not like Cloud moved away forever from that house.

We've been told by the devs that Cloud had been living with Tifa and the kids for quite some time. He felt too peaceful with him to the point it scared him a lot.

After he got himself Geostigma, he moved to the Sector 5 church and lived there. This place, exactly how someone with depression would live.

Dont read this if ure Clerith shipper or easily triggered. 

Now, I've read somewhere that says Cloud having depression for loosing Aerith was a romantic act. And WHERE THE HECK DID U FIND THIS ROMANTIC? TELL ME??? OUR CLOUD HERE WAS THINKING ABOUT DEATH, HE NEGLECTED EVERYTHING AND YET U THINK IT WAS ROMANTIC???

Reduced hygiene, gave less damn about the warmth, who needs a blanket anyway. Rain? Who cares. Let my entire place be soaked wet. No pillow, no bed? Like i care about it. Say hello to my housemate, the bacterias and mosquitoes. Is that a cup i see there? Yeah, i dont need food. 

Cloud was really homeless here. Someone who was expecting to meet its end there, slowly and painfully. He wanted to 'die' there, alone.

Having depression - major depressive disorder is not romantic at all. And can never be seen as a 'sweet' thing to do for ur partner. I saw real patients with MDD and I have to say, the only things they want was to feel happy and peaceful again. They had anxiety, they felt sad without proper reason, they scared of something that i dont think it would happen, some patients were too afraid to smile, lots of them just wanted to die bcause they were feeling hopeless and shame. 

If i were Tifa, I would be sad too. U have a warm bed to live, clean water to drink and yet u choose to live in a cold damp place.. WORRY ABOUT UR HEALTH, CLOUD !

Cloud was a dork for not trying to get help, but it wasnt his fault. We should thank his family and friends to be there for him even when he kinda pushed them away for a bit.

But after he finally moved on, his room became brighter than the previous look. Cloud let more sunlight to enter his room, and more scenery pictures hanging around his wall and on the tables

Cloud framed his big FF7 family photo. Despite the cold look he always gave to the team, he is actually a big softie. From the two different pictures, the one on the right was before Cloud moved on from his guilt, we can see Cloud was not really getting well in the picture, he looked awkward, and Denzel was being shy shy. In the new picture, Cloud was seen to be more involved in the group photo. Wait, was he smiling there? I’m sure he was smiling and Denzel looked happy too. - The family conflict resolved -

It would be fairly enough to say, Cloud finally found peace within himself and looking forward for the future together with his small family.

Another thing, 

FF7 always associated with yellow flower. So, the yellow flower is not necessarily about Aerith only. The SE has confirmed in Ultimania Crisis Core, the water represents Aerith, and since Aerith is the last Cetra and an important character in FF7, the flowers always associated with her. and thus, the flower is the main symbol for the entire FF7 game. 

[bloodfcst-a]

given the revival of the vii fandom with all of the hullabaloo surrounding remake, i can think of no better time to do this meme. i also suggest you check out my updated nav page if you haven’t already! i worked really hard on it okay sobs.

things a new rp partner should know about me !

write 3-5 things a new rp partner (or those who want to be) should know about you and tag 3-5 people! it should be related to rp and not to other interests. 

tagged by: no one, but it’s a shame bc... i got thoughts. you were warned.

tagging: @angereve​ @enshijou​ @breselin​ @serophs​ @strfe​ @fractempyreal​ @extremepath​ @localmagicalboi​ @shimmerseas​ @duplikiss​ @verumking​ @asterites​ + if it strikes your fancy.

i. i am not your mother’s/father’s yu.ffie blog. while i do have a verse reserved for compilation content, that’s not the main premise of this blog. if you came here for oversexualized underage ninjas.... i’m going to have to direct you elsewhere. out here we’re primarily an adult modern interpretation... who does not daylight as a ninja constantly. she can, however, be a y.akuza or a sheltered member of high society who enjoys kicking ass for justice so if you’re interested in that, y’know. c’mon down.

ii. the typical ‘ yu.ffie is a kleptomaniac ’ / ‘ stop stealing my stuff ’ trope is like. one that grates my very existence. i have talked about this many times, but for those of you who are new: yufi has only stolen out of necessity to her cause. the only time i’ll refer to petty theft on this blog is if she like steals a fry or something. if we’re joking around, okay, but... please don’t consider that to be the sole core of her characterization. i’m begging. i’m on my knees. i’m warning you, i’ll cry and then i’ll probably ignore whatever post you’ve mentioned it in if you’re serious. just. don’t be that person if you’re following me.

if we’re going into it, the only times she’s stolen anything were: > in crisis core, as the ‘ treasure princess. ’  but this is arguable, as the treasure is truly up for grabs to start with & zack repeatedly goes after these locations she’s sent to him ( which, by the way, were sent to her from rufus to attempt to retaliate against + destroy shinra hq ). zack already knew what was up when: 1) she showed up in his spam folder; 2) she literally said she’s on the hunt for treasure; and 3) he knew at least after the second time that he was gon’ get goinked ( please see definition #2 ) so... can’t help him there. > in vanilla vii, when the party is foolish enough to meet her and not recruit her off the bat ( it be ya own self ). to be fair, 99% of her interactions with easterners / non-wutai prior to that moment had been people who either wanted to kill her or exploit her, so... it’s only self-preservation to use them before they use her or worse, leave her for dead. a sad reality for a 16 year old. > in vanilla vii, only after the party arrives to wutai & she thinks she can successfully finish her mission of “ getting all the strongest materia. ” after she’s captured, she does apologize, and then afterward makes cloud sign it in writing. so. y’know, she did learn from her mistake & said “ ugh, guess i gotta put that diplomacy training to use. ”

y’all could argue that she’s a thief class and that’s what they do, but note that it’s NOT one of her core skills-- it’s a MATERIA. which means everyone out there with a steal materia could be out here being a kleptomaniac. cloud? barret? tifa? red xiii? none of your favs are safe. her skills in the game, however, are shit called “ blood festival ” ( oh? see the username’s relevance all of a sudden? aha! ) and “ doom of the living. ”  she’s out here summoning ghosts and reigning otherworldly power on ur ass but... fandom wasn’t ready for that conversation !!  some folks were too BASIC and couldn’t handle her true strength... so i will gladly champion that for you.

iii. i like to emphasize that yufi is an emotionally strong yet traumatized figure, which stems from her origins and that i just put that in the forefront. we have a character who is haunted by her mother who died after childbirth, seemingly rejected from her father yet held to the highest of his standards, has attachment issues because she’s the “ black sheep ” and doesn’t just accept defeat or dejection even if it comes from her core community, survived multiple wars, has led in post-war rescue efforts on multiple occasions, was wrongfully imprisoned, was on the forefront of pandemic outbreaks as a first-responder, joins and rises to the top of an organization created to restore world order, is one of the two top operatives in said organization ( and the one out on the field longer--sorry vin.cent, but u only got involved at lu.cretia and when the actual gunshots disturbed your brooding and wine session filled isolation sessions. but like, mood tho ), pretends to be cheery despite clearly remembering all the hauntings and death and other bullshit she’s been facing since she was a toddler.... oh, and she disarmed bombs when her country was wrongfully targeted + used as political bait for terrorists...when she was a child. that’s canon, if we’re talking about  “ accuracy. ” even in vanilla vii, she had no outlets, no one to turn to, ‘cause everyone was cloud vc: “ not interested. ”  

so if you’re on this blog, it’s not like you won’t see happy  yufi... but realize that i recognize that she is multifaceted and has a lot of baggage. emotional issues which unfortunately i bring to every verse gfdohfofh but u know, it’s core to her character + y’all gon have to deal, or... idk, go find another yufi. i’m not forcing you to be here.

iv. in my opinion, the best plotting comes with ooc conversations/interactions. i’m not saying if we plot that we’re required to be friends, ‘cause i don’t wanna force anyone into friendship, but i truly believe that if you want super deep plots with frequent interactions, we should... probably talk more than once. pretty simple, imo !  sometimes people claim i play favorites, but i really don’t... if you never talk to me and you don’t respond to my attempts to interact, then how am i supposed to know you’re interested? 

as a general rule, i’ll put in as much effort as i receive. if i see you’re interested in me, if we’re really vibing when it comes to plotting, if you’re sending asks & liking posts, we’ve got some threads going, rad !  if i like starter calls and send you asks and message you and you never respond to me... ?  i’ll take that as a sign you don’t wanna talk + i should move on to someone else. if i’m wrong, well... do something to change my mind.

v. i know i went hard as fuck on this meme, but that’s bc I’M REALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT ABOUT THIS MUSE.  in reality i’m actually quite soft + a weenie babie. if you ask.......... most people, i think they’d say i try really hard to be approachable and adaptable. i think everyone who talks to me on discord laughs at me because i’m scared of the stupidest things + i love to make jokes and just be funny and relatable. so please be nice and love me and my sassy fighty extremely tough deprived child. we both need hugs. 

kthx i’m finally done.

[atopearth]

Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 4 - The Intervention of Fate (Ch 15-18) + Overall Review

Seeing the destruction of Sector 7 alongside the sunset was really beautifully saddening. It’s devastating for Tifa and Barret to have to look over it all knowing that their actions caused this. Even if Shinra framed them for it, even if Shinra were the bad guys who killed all these people and everyone’s homes, there’s no doubt that what Tifa and Barret did ended up pushing them into doing this, and it’s hard to have to carry such a burden. On another note, I never thought I would complain about this because I loved the shipping fanservice in the beginning, but can we please calm down with the amount of times Cloud has to hold and save Tifa in some way?! Yes, I like Tifa too, but I’m not sure if there was a battle or scene where Cloud did not save Tifa/Aerith or hold their hand or something. Like yes it’s nice to see, but it’s honestly too much, I’m dying. I feel like a lot of the time it’s pushing the romance more than anything and it kills me because the original prioritised telling the story. And honestly, if you think about it, it’s kinda weird, they make it seem like Tifa and Cloud are really close friends who haven’t seen each other in a long time, but in reality they’re practically strangers in a sense because when they were children, Tifa never really thought much of him, the only time something about Cloud resonated with her was when he told her he was leaving to go become a SOLDIER and probably when he came to her rescue (fulfilling their promise) when Sephiroth slashed her. And it was only after she received letters from Cloud after he joined Shinra that she began to notice him more, so honestly, if we’re to be picky, this was supposed to be a more awkward period between Cloud and Tifa because Tifa liked and cared about him, but she didn’t know how to show it properly since Cloud always liked her but she never really cared. Whereas for Cloud, his memories are jumbled, so he’s awkward with her for a different reason lol. Anyway, I think I would have just liked more tension between their relationship? Because right now, it just feels like everyone loves Cloud because he’s cold but soft on the inside, so he’s a great cinnamon roll or whatever, but it really doesn’t show the depth to their characters and their relationships. I’m starting to think this remake is really just fanservice for old FFVII fans rather than a proper retelling. I mean, I’ll still like it, but it’s just a bit sad.

Well, Shinra Company is fancy. Tifa jumping on the lights to get the Shinra keycard was interesting but honestly tedious, I think I’ve had enough of these tbh lol. Anyway, I was going to run up the stairs in this remake, but then I realised the camera was making me feel sick so I just went back to what I did in the original; bust in the front door and go on the elevator lol. Although I have to say, I honestly enjoyed the original more where it had more of the feel where we’re busting in from the front door haha. That memorial museum was pretty, but honestly boring lol. Like, whyyyy is there so much maintenance going on?! I seriously thought they did a full on museum tour and I was like, that’s pretty cool, but no, I learnt basically nothing, sigh. Maybe that VR movie was cool to see, especially since it kinda explains that Ancients were the ones who discovered Mako energy and helped create materia, and I guess the graphics were pretty. But I think it felt like such a spoiler to show Sephiroth walking in the Shinra building, it just doesn’t really build any tension. I really only wanted to see the blood trail lol. Anyway, Hart is someone I don’t remember at all so I assume he’s a new character? Or is he that guy who you had to decipher those codes to or something? Haha. But anyway, I guess if he’s been changing the security camera feeds then does that mean Cloud and them won’t get locked up in a cell? Okay, the Shinra building was so… uneventful and boring lol. Like, I wasn’t exactly looking for a replica but I honestly thought it would be more…fun? It was legit so boring and so not memorable compared to the original. No code deciphering, no plate moving, no special treasure chests, no running past guards secretly, nothing! Literally just that Shinra training facility and other useless things like the museum and archives that don’t even have books to read! I think the most enjoyable thing was going around trashing the chairs everywhere because I didn’t even mean to move them, but Cloud running around just naturally destroys them lol. Yes, totally infiltrating “quietly”. But seriously, Shinra building is definitely a letdown right now. Scarlet’s ruthlessness was just...whatever too lol.

Sigh, I kinda really wanted to see the gym and the napping room lolll. I guess it was nice that we got to see them go through the air duct in the bathroom to spy on the President’s meeting, but stilllll. I mean, they didn’t even let me explore the women’s bathroom! C'mon! I don’t need this kind of realism in my game! I want to explore!! Maybe I’m just getting ahead of myself and it’ll be better.. Anyway, Hojo looks as creepy as the person that he is lmaoo, and being Reeve is suffering, considering he’s the only one that seems to care about the people. The idea of Hojo having all these monsters in his research lab is disturbing lol.  I found the explanation and existence of the Whisperers…unnecessary, they’re basically things that are there to stop the party from changing the predetermined fate of this world. Like, I kinda knew already with considering where they always appeared etc but ugh. Oh well, whatever. Red XIII is pretty hot. He looks older than I thought though, he looks more like what I would expect his father to look like tbh lol, I mean Bugenhagen always said Red XIII was practically a kid in terms of his species lifespan!! 

I’m sad that the Turks Theme doesn’t have that clicky sound to it that made it sound cool anymore, sigh. I’m also kindaaa disappointed that they seem to be pushing with the Turks the idea that they’re quite..nice? Like, maybe it’s just me, but despite how “cool and nice” the Turks were in the original, what I loved about them the most was their work ethic and how it’s a lot of dirty work, but it’s their job and they have a sense of pride to it.  Whereas sometimes in this remake, I kinda feel like, they question their job too much when they know what it entails? Like, I really wanted to see Rude catch us in the elevator LOL. Anyway, Sephiroth appearing near Jenova and slashing the bridge they were standing on in retaliation of Cloud attacking him was interesting…not too sure what to think about it right now because it felt rather random tbh lol. I guess we are definitely not getting the jail cell time, which is more disappointing than the boring Shinra building tbh. Not only did the cell time really give you time to bond with everyone in their cells, it also really highlighted how sudden and scary it was to see a trail of blood, and all these Shinra company men’s bodies as you slowly climb the stairs to realise what happened.

Btw, lmao at Red XIII pushing down handles, it looks so awkward because it seemed like he was struggling so bad hahahah. The Drum was an annoying place, I hated changing materia around between the two parties. Like whyyy can’t I just change the whole line of weapon and armour materia (like in the original) instead of slowly doing it one by one?! Aside from that, this was a boring place too lol. I guess the only nice thing was seeing Tifa and Aerith get along so well lol. Anyway, Jenova’s blood trail was much more pretty and fascinating than ominous tbh lol, it really gives a completely different feel to the actual blood trail in the original. It’s cool in its own regards though I guess. Okayyy, wow, I’m starting to think that this is becoming pretty ridiculous. Like it was obvious Barret won’t die because you know, these Whispers know that it’s not his fate to die here, so of course they’ll somehow save him, but now it’s just silly? Like, sure it’s not his fate to die here but was Barret such a crucial person to the “fate” that can’t be changed? Anyway, so basically everything that happened in the original is probably the “fate” that must be followed, but at the same time they’re just changing up things to make it as convenient as they want to for the story. Honestly, that segment with Barret and President Shinra was so cliche, I wanted to bang my head watching it because it was so unnecessary. I think he should have just died like in the original. Like all the mental agony of saving him or not, and then President Shinra showing how much of a crap he is was just so ugh, like was that really important? What did we expect him to be like? Did we really need to see this? Even seeing the sword pierce them was so whatever at that point because I’m starting to think the story is realllyyyyyy getting “basic”. Also, showing Wedge being here but not being able to change or do anything because “he’s not a part of fate” was just ridiculous. Like seriously, we get it, don’t these Whispers have anything better to do? I mean, I really wouldn’t say that the original timeline is the best timeline to follow for this world but okay, whatever they want.

Anyway, I’m sad that Rufus doesn’t have orange hair!! Hahaha, but that’s fine, since he still looks pretty hot. I love how he still has his dog!! Rufus was so annoying though, like seriously, I’ve had enough of bosses that just counterattack you, and you have to find the exact moment for an opening to deal damage zzzz. Otherwise, it was really cool to fight Rufus, this was starting to become the only thing I was looking forward to lol. Kinda sad you don’t actually fight Arsenal(?) that robot in the elevator anymore though. The fight took so long because I didn’t realise what I was supposed to be doing lolll. Cloud is taking lessons from Roche in getting crazy with the motorbike haha, seriously though, the motorbike and the blue car is so nostalgic. I did enjoy how alike the original, if you bothered looking (well it was more obvious in the remake) you actually see the motorbike and the car in the building haha. Not sure about Cloud throwing his sword scaring off the Shinra soldiers though, like dude, your sword could have fallen out of the building! Anyway, I knew it was coming, but I honestly hoped it didn’t, and that is…the second round of the motorbike game!!! Yes, the thing I sucked at the most in the original and in this remake as well, and what do you know, they just upped the difficulty with a boss! Not gonna lie, I legit died a few times because I had no idea how I was supposed to kill him, and when I realised how to do it, my skills were lacking, so yes, it took me a while. I was pretty frustrated lol, I mean, snowboarding is my worst enemy too but I never had to do it more than once! This game is just bullying people like me who suck at this mini game, sigh T_T It is pretty cool though. HOWEVER, it would have made life much easier if Red XIII threw a potion at me whenever I was dying and not just in between the battles, sighhh~

Anyway, this whole going into another dimension that Aerith says will change the course of events where we’ll now forge our own destiny or whatever by killing the Whispers who are trying to convene fate to be as it should flow like in the original story is…weird to say the least of it. Sephiroth wasn’t too difficult to beat, but I found the whole fight in this place weird and cliche, with all the “memories” of the original timeline coming to Cloud and them, and for them to destroy all that to change their fate. Okay, Zack is alive? Like, I was kinda thinking it would be interesting and funny if Zack were to survive but hmmm, not sure what to think of it. Well, the different dog probably indicates it’s a different timeline/world but that doesn’t really stop the writers from creating a story where he can jump to their world or whatever. Biggs is alive? Is everyone alive lol? Like, I guess Cloud and everyone are planning to alter fate so ensuring everyone survives is what they want, but at the same time, I’m just baffled at this ending. I honestly don’t know how to feel about it. It really doesn’t help that the dialogue is so… bland? Useless? It’s so flowery with no substance imo. Maybe in the next part we’ll get to see Zack’s new world line from his perspective and then their worlds can connect or something lol. Anyway! I’ll say, I don’t like or dislike the ending because honestly, with all the changes that happened with the Shinra company, I already lowered my expectations to the max lol, it also helped the ending was kinda spoiled to me before I even played the game, so I knew it wouldn’t be a faithful remake, but is instead more of a FFVII-2 kinda deal. But I still find the way things played out really disjointed and cliche. The whole chapter 18 suffered the most in dialogue and story tbh, because honestly, I’m not sure if people who haven’t played the original would really get it, and would they really get the importance of Zack lol. It’s just annoying that they decided to throw all this at the end when everything else was Shinra and Shinra. And yeah, I see why they made the Aerith and Cloud “romance” so subtle you couldn’t feel anything about it, it’s probably because they want to make it more of a Aerith and Zack thing for this remake, which is understandable, but kinda saddening because that changes a lot of things in terms of how you’ll feel about it all.

Overall Review Overall, let me attempt to put together how I feel about the whole thing. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about how to write down my feelings for days or weeks but I still don’t know what to say of this disappointment LOL. Tbh, I think the thing I would have appreciated the most would be Square Enix telling me that this wouldn’t be a faithful adaptation of the original with HD graphics and extended story/scenes. Because if I didn’t have that expectation, I wouldn’t have felt as mixed about the ending as I am now. People seem to hate on people for being disappointed at expecting that it would be a faithful adaptation, but really, what did you want a lot of the old fans to expect? The game itself is riding on a nostalgia train yet it’s our fault for thinking it would be faithful? Even the Japanese commercial rode on the nostalgia train with a guy happily talking about the iconic scenes in the original and being excited that he’ll be able to experience the remake with people who don’t know it. They clearly wanted old fans to join the hype and then sucker punched them to the gut with the ending. Thankfully, I knew what was coming so I survived but honestly, aside from hopefully still getting to see other iconic scenes, I’m not really interested in how the story will play out. I hate stories involving stuff like time travel and branching timelines etc most of the time, especially when time travel is not the main focus of the story. This isn’t something like Chrono Trigger. I think my biggest problem though was that considering how much of a slow burn 80% of the game was, the fact that once we got to the Shinra building, everything just lacked detail and felt so rushed into that...ending. My biggest problem isn’t the ending itself, but how everything led to that ending, because it was really dissatisfying to watch. Like, honestly, on paper, it’s not a bad idea, it would be interesting to see how things could play out with the unknown etc, but really, the way they did it with the obnoxious Whispers throughout the story, alongside the out of nowhere ending really killed the experience.

I’m probably being whiny at this point but really, the main gripe I have with the ending is that it makes me think that the writers thought it would be “boring” to just redo the original with extended stories because “everyone knows the story already” kinda thing, and it also kinda implies as if the original was “perfect as it is”, which I honestly have to disagree with. I love the original FFVII but honestly, a lot of things could have been told better without feeling as disjointed as some things were, like it was nice to uncover bits and pieces etc, but a lot of things also relied on you yourself to find it, so it’s easy to miss things. For example, without a walkthrough, I honestly didn’t realise there was that scene in the Shinra mansion where you could actually see Zack die. I also feel like integrating Yuffie and Vincent in the story more would have been something good to focus on in the original because Wutai is important, the Lucrecia, Hojo and Vincent story is important, but because they were optional, it wasn’t always something people found. I just feel like for the story FFVII is, it was really unnecessary to make it more convoluted than it is, because now it’s just detracting from what made this game good. Like, maybe it might be interesting with this time travel stuff, but at the same time, this isn’t really FFVII anymore, all it has is iconic scenes in HD as fanservice. Which kinda makes me mad, because they so blatantly shove in your face FFVII fanservice for like 90% of the game and then they just show this ending, like okay. I’m not even sure the Weapons are that important anymore because who needs them to come out to protect the planet if the Whispers (like really, are they even dead?) are around? It’s just the stakes for everything have become so high where it’s involving fate and time travel etc. what is the point of the stuff that are limited to being inside this planet that is being controlled by the Whispers of fate? Well, whatever, I could complain all day here and I would still feel dissatisfied.

Anyway, nevertheless, I still enjoyed most of the game. I had my gripes here and there with the changes, but most of it was done really well, and I still liked it a lot. I mean, Wall Market is so beautiful and went beyond my expectations! The detail they put into the graphics and stuff really blew me away and I couldn’t stop taking screenshots. I also liked how they made Avalanche a bit more personal to Cloud. Although I really enjoyed seeing Aerith, Tifa and Cloud fanservice though, sometimes I felt like the scenes were just that, like just fanservice and it kinda got tedious. The side quests throughout the game were also quite boring imo. Like, I don’t expect anything groundbreaking from them, but they were really boring story wise and gameplay wise. The “puzzles” such as climbing across on those hand bars were so tedious and slow, I was annoyed lol, it’s so clunky to do! I’ll take the stupid crane any day. And the battle AI kills me. I know you’re supposed to swap between characters to build up ATB but man would I appreciate if the ATB charged up faster or if the AI wasn’t so useless. Barret not doing his job shooting sentry turrets and Tifa guarding against enemies not attacking her from ten miles away made me want to strangle someone. Like, it’s not terrible, but it definitely wasn’t enjoyable enough for me to care about playing hard mode. Lol, I’m back to complaining, but honestly, if I played the remake without knowing the original, aside from the graphics, I’m not sure if I was really into the story at all. Not saying it’s bad, but Midgar was always kinda like the beginning of the beginning so it’s really not that interesting in itself, and the bland story telling didn’t help imo, I guess the good thing was that it solidified everyone’s relationships? Anyway, I’ll still play the other parts because it’s FFVII but I think if it becomes something like Lightning Returns etc, I really just might drop it. For now, I’ll just go along with the ride, right now, things are just a 7/10~

P.S I think what I’m most sad about right now is that I won’t have the same feelings I had when I bought the remake. Since I live in Australia, the copies were sold before April 10th, so really, I cancelled my pre-order and went to the store and bought it myself after work. I was really excited to have it and get to play it because even though a lot of the things weren’t the same, it felt really nice to relive that experience of joining Cloud and them on their journey again. I really liked it and thought the reinterpretation to fit the more serious mood and everything was nice, but I’m honestly disappointed that I won’t be as excited to continue the journey in the next part. It’s the first time in a long time since I felt so excited for a game to come out, so it’s saddening, but I guess this is what it is.

[kob131]

RWDE Story Comparison 1: Dudeblade Part 1

https://rwdestuffs.tumblr.com/post/181687313437/done-dirty-word-choice

I’d give you the middle finger Dudeblade but I cut it so I’ll just settle for verbally tearing you apart.

You assholes wanna talk to other writers? FIne, better make sure you don’t share the same blind spots.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Not entirely sure how to break this down.

Basically, the choice in words is important. In a non-comedic series like this one, fans, theorists, and critics are going to comb over pretty much every detail.

Except that in a different post, when someone (suspicious you never mention WHO considering this is before Monty’s death) you bitch at the writers for a joke. An even then, people combed over Red Vs.Blue when it is largely comedic so that doesn’t work here.

Why am I doing this? Cuz Dudeblade is gonna try to use comedy as a defense since I’m gonna be using his precious fanfic.

Easy example: The word choice on how Qrow describes his semblance (fun fact: I have this particular screenshot labeled “Qrow being a melodramatic piece of shit” on my laptop).

Now, with the phrase “It’s always there, whether I like it or not.” Heavily implies that it’s on 24/7. That he has no control over it whatsoever. However…

This clarification from the Reddit AMA then says that Qrow’s semblance isn’t at all how he worded it. Now, this could be because even Qrow doesn’t know his semblance that well, but given that these are the writers whose response to being given an out by a fan who theorized that the reason Zwei survived all that stuff in Volume 2 was because Tai unlocked his aura was “There’s this thing called ‘Anime.’” I doubt that they’ll use that reason.

Funny thing:

"Indeed." Ganon added, "Do you want an update on that curse that I cast?"

Lex hummed and nodded in response. "Well, it took hold of the one that the emotionally weakest. They should be turning into a being of near-insufferableness soon."

"I'm pretty sure that 'insuferableness' isn't a word." Lex mentioned.

"It does not matter." Ganon replied, "Soon, we shall be able to use one of their own against them."

"Why the one with the most glaring emotional weaknesses, though? Wouldn't a much more stable victim be more useful to our cause?"

"The curse works in mysterious ways, Luthor. We must first force them on our side. Then, we break the heroes from the inside." Ganon replied.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11815703/104/Aftermath-The-DB-Chronicles

Why was the change so drastic? - Because time travel That's why.

https://www.deviantart.com/dudebladex/journal/Mewtwopoint-of-Future-Past-Alt-Timeline-battles-694649032

You’ve pulled that shit yourself.

So if it’s NOT okay when Miles does it, why did YOU do it?

Here’s another example:

Jaune knowing about Yang’s mom. Given Yang’s dialogue with Blake back in Volume 2, we can gather that it’s a very important secret to her. Given her reaction to Qrow knowing where Raven was but never telling her, we also know that for a fact. Given that Yang said that Ruby was a bit too young when she went on her “I want to find my mom” search to remember, we can gather that it’s likely that even Ruby doesn’t know. But, even if she did know, what reason does she have to tell RNJR?

Was she all “Hey guys! Let’s all share secrets with each other as a trust exercise! I’ll go first! Yang’s been searching for her biological mom for over ten years!”???

See, if it had been Ruby who had said Jaune’s line, we could gather that, yeah. Yang probably told her what happened. But we don’t get that. Instead, we get Jaune asking about it. Which either implies a betrayal of trust either on Qrow’s part, or on Ruby’s part. Either way, one of those two shared information that was very personal and important to Yang, and it was… brushed over.

IBurnBlonde: What, are you planning on dating me or something? IBurnBlonde: T? IBurnBlonde: Tifa? IBurnBlonde: Seriously. It's been ten minutes. What happened? IBurnBlonde: Forget it. I'm signing off. * * * [LockYourHeart has made a Private Chat With Buster Blader] LockYourHeart: Cloud! I need your help! Buster Blader: What is it? Did Yang confess her love to you? LockYourHeart: No, but she almost figured out that I have plans to date her! Buster Blader: smh… You didn't go on your tirade about how nobody deserves her, did you? LockYourHeart: … Buster Blader: You dug yourself in this, Tifa. I'm not digging you out. LockYourHeart: You are absolutely no help. Buster Blader: If you want help, as Link. Speaking of, I think he's in the main chat. LockYourHeart: Really? We might get to see how he chats with people? Buster Blader: Yep. Buster Blader: Tifa? Buster Blader: You did this to Yang, didn't you?

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11815703/103/Aftermath-The-DB-Chronicles

Why do I bring this up? This is a betrayal of Yang’s trust in Tifa except Tifa is doing it for far more selfish and creepy reasons.

Again, apparently it’s okay when DUdeblade does it.

And as for a third example, we have this:

If the narrative or writers wanted to paint Tai as a “Father who is trying to work through his loss to take care of his kids” then these lines of dialogue don’t help in the slightest. “

"What?" Jaune asked, "Are you seriously going to tell us that we need to go out there? - I already lost enough people in my life, thank you very much."

"Then you aren't cut out for the real world, kid." Frank said, "I lost my wife and children, and I still go out to keep the city clean of criminal scum every day. But you?" He gestured to the swordsman, "You only lost someone you barely paid attention to. That was your only personal loss. Everyone else here lost more than you, more than once, and we still go out there to fight." Jaune was at a loss for words. "So make your decision. Live and hide, or fight and die.

" "Your girlfriend chose the second option. But considering that you couldn't be bothered to even try to save one of your other friends after bemoaning losing everything earlier, I guess it's no surprise that you can't be bothered to try when it's the whole world at stake." Deadpool sneered.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11815703/134/Aftermath-The-DB-Chronicles

"Klicks? What are those?" Jaune asked, "Can't we use a distance people actually know? Like Kilometers?"

"How did you get into a prestigious combat school without knowing this basic combat stuff again?" Chun-Li jeered.

"I uh…" Jaune stuttered. "He cheated." Tucker clarified, "He wasn't sent there to be used as a test dummy, he actually cheated."

"So, why doesn't he know the basics?" Chief asked in an annoyed tone. "I heard from Blake that he slept in class and spent most of his study time reading comics." Cheetara mentioned,

"That probably has something to do with it." Jaune sighed, "Can we just… drop it? Please?"

"This is going to escalate later." Mega Man realized, "I don't know how, but it will."

"Seriously, were you reading a comic book while we were doing the debriefing on the way here?"

"No!" "He actually wasn't." Tucker defended, "He was busy crying over a picture of his girlfriend that he has on his phone."

"There are other people who lost more than you." Master Chief pointed out, "Also, two Klicks to Joker and Skull's battleground."

"Guts definitely lost more than you." Doomguy pointed out, "How someone on the internet thought that you had the worse life than him is beyond me, but whatever."

"Guts has not had a 'worse life' than mine!" Jaune whined. "How so?" Chief asked, putting his binoculars away.

"His girlfriend's still alive." Jaune said, as if it proved his point.

Everyone else was silent. Even one Predator facepalmed at the statement.

"Starting to see why Guts said that nobody would miss you." Tucker sighed, "You make pain be all about yourself, and don't let anyone else mourn.”

"Please." Mega Man sighed, "Please tell me that you're making a joke that's in poor taste and that you don't actually believe that."

"Uh, it… kinda is…" Jaune trailed off.

"Oh my God." Tucker snarled, "You actually think that?"

"Well, I don't know his life!" Jaune defended.

"His girlfriend was violated!" Sonya screamed, "I swear, if you actually think that dying is a worse fate than that, then I'm throwing you out there to get killed!"

"See, this is why nobody likes you." Doomguy pointed out, "You don't care about anybody but yourself, and put more people in danger than you actually save."

"The only thing worse than baggage is baggage that whines and complains all the time." Master Chief replied, "Get your priorities straight kid. People might let failures slide if you actually try, but if you just look away from a friend about to be killed without trying to save them, then you aren't any better than the killer."

"How so?" Jaune asked, "All I hear is 'Jaune, you suck at this!' or 'Arc, you suck at that!' but I never hear any ideas of how to improve!"

"Did you ask?" Mega Man asked, deflecting some plasma blasts with his Mirror Buster. "Well uh, no… But-"

"No buts." The Blue Bomber replied, "It's not our job to 'open the door' for you and offer advice. You have to be willing to accept it, and acknowledge that you have things to improve on!"

"Yeah, I mean, I was willing to listen to Wash when he was offering some tips on how to be a better leader back on Chorus. But you just grunt and walk away." Tucker pointed out, taking his sword out of another Hydra soldier.

"You aren't complaining that it's hard to improve," Orchid growled, "You're complaining that it's not 'magically happening' automatically."

"Beat has the area covered. We can move on to the next sector." Mega Man reported.

"You can either stay here, or keep going." Tucker said to Jaune, who was visibly shaken up, "But we're not going to be playing babysitter. I get enough of that with Caboose. Except Caboose can actually fight."

Our HEROES ladies and gentlemen, showing even LESS empathy than Dudeblade’s delusions he calls Taiyang Xiao Long. For those of you who don’t know, Dudeblade hates Taiyang because he called Yag’s depression ‘moping.’ And yet here is his HEROES, the guys we’re suppose to be ROOTING FOR, mocking Jaune for the exact same thing, using arguments Dudeblade as decried as immoral and sociopath.

Once again, not okay for RWBY but a FAR FAR FAR worse version is okay for Dudeblade.

Overall, these lines and details don’t have a lot of thought put into them. They’re used to further develop characters, but the writers don’t realize the implications of who is saying it, what they are saying, and why the choice of words matter.

I could bring up in each instance how Dudeblade is fucking up, whether it be that Qrow doesn’t understand his Semblance, that Yang could have old JNPR like Blake told them about her race or the numerous arguments about Taiyang but you’ve heard it all before. Instead let me prove to you that RWDE has no fucking idea what it is doing, By showcasing that for every single bitch they deal out: they commit the same if not WORSE sin.

The issue from them isn’t the action: it’s just the person who did it they hate.

[knightofbalance-13]

Never seen the Simpsons have you?

http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/176715386180/one-last-rwde-post-before-i-move-my-rwde-stuffs

The problem with the rushed means of getting to the fall of Beacon.

Dudeblade, I swear to god if you say ‘make them do a One Piece’, I am gonna flip.

“You’re moving shop, huh? Can I ask why?”

Well, Stan, I’ll answer that when I get there. But for now, I just want to talk about why rushing to get to the fall of Beacon was a bad choice.

You know the drill Stan, let me take over.

Ahem-

More like “Why would you ditch the one thing anyone listens to you for?”

“Wait! I want to take a guess as to why! It’s because there wasn’t enough time developing the world and the relationships between characters, right?”

Yep. Like I said in a previous post, the big problem with Pyrrha’s death was the lack of characters that could be affected by her death. Due to this, Pyrrha’s death doesn’t quite hit as hard as most other deaths would.

More like-

“Because it’s something to bitch at the creators isn’t  it?”

“I see. Can you provide an example?”

Well, take Dragonball for example. The original series. Where Krillin dies.

We had journeyed with Krillin, and gotten to know him. He bonded with Goku, Master Roshi, and several other characters. We saw his relationship with Goku go from a rivalry to a genuine friendship between the two.

So when Krillin dies, Goku’s rage is all the more tangible. This wasn’t during the Z era either. Death wasn’t as cheap as it is now. We can feel the rage and sorrow that Goku felt when he went on his rampage.

Or take Pokémon: Mystery Dungeon. In almost all of those games, your player character ends up disappearing. It’s always a heart-wrenching scene. We saw this character grow from a confused human trying to figure out what was going on, to a proud and strong explorer who helped to save the world.

So your partner’s sadness is super relatable. You feel for his sorrow, and even in the fifth installment, where you’re on the other side of the disappearing into light trope, it’s still as heart-wrenching as it always is.

Due to Pyrrha’s lack of development with the rest of the cast, it’s hard to really feel for her when she died. And jaune just up and takes her stuff to upgrade himself. Pyrrha wasn’t just being treated as a prop. She was treated as jaune’s prop.

...

Dudeblade, you’re own examples backfire on you.

Let’s start with the Mystery Dunegon one since that one is the lesser of the two. No, people aren’t related to the parent because of that. We do it because we understand the pain and sorrow of losing someone close to us. And the thing is, if anything, we feel because of the PARTNER character. Really, I couldn’t care less what happened to my guy afterward considering he was being jerked around by me all the time.

Now for the big one:

Namek.

Remember THAT arc Dudeblade? The one where Krillin dies a second time? Thing is, that death is widely considered to be the more powerful of the two due to the struggles and the long ass battle against Freeza as well as the cruelty of Krillin’s death. That is why Goku’s rage is so potent there and why the first Super Saiyan transformation is the most iconic and well executed.

What’s my point in all this?

If you can’t even get your examples, why should we listen to you about a show you will constantly LIE about? Especially since you are comparing Dragon Ball and Pokémon, two juggernauts of human culture, to fucking RWBY, which will be at best a footnote.

Also, P.S. No one else sees Pyrrha as a prop except you people. Kind of goes to show how reductive your thinking is.

“Okay, what about the world though?”

The world is also hard to get attached to. We don’t really explore it. We get infodumps courtesy of the World of Remnant shorts. The little side-series that was made to explain things in the show that the show couldn’t explain by itself.

So is a shit ton of fantasy novels, including fucking Lord of the Rings. Your argument does not work. You don’t get attached to it because that requires some form of basic empathy.

“Well, don’t other series do that too?”

In a sense of things like stats, yes. But it’s like getting a travel brochure from a guy who probably doesn’t know what they’re talking about. At least, when Qrow is doing the narrating. When it’s Ozpin or Salem, there’s a bit of the Unreliable Narrator trope coming into play. We don’t know if the narrator for the Aura WoR was accurate or not, and considering that it said that aura was a passive shield only for the writers to say that you have to actively put it up in volume 5, it’s unlikely that it actually is.

And let me say something else: While yes, it is a smart move to have a character voice their opinions about a place, event, or other aspect of their world- that only applies for character development. In the scenario of wanting to inform the audience, that tactic fails. Take the episodes where Qrow takes over. He provides biased information, and isn’t exactly eloquent or decent information about the things he talks about. He says that a lizard faunus once grew back their tail, but how do we know he wasn’t drunk if/when that happened?

A. That doesn’t disprove anything dumbass. Why would Salem be lying or Ozpin lying? Hell, have either of those two every lied on screen?

B. PASSIVE does not equal SUBCONSCIOUS Dudeblade. I happen to know you are aware of this because you ARGUED this with the Tifa Vs. Yang death battle.

C. What bias is that? I don’t see any reason for Qrow, someone who is KNOWN for brute honesty, to lie or sugarcoat things.

And D. He said he needed a drink AFTERWARDSk, implying he was sober. For someone who claims to be criticial, you seem to miss a lot of little things.

“I see. So these episodes fail at building the world. How do you think it could have been fixed?”

Well, I remember a post that talked about how since the main characters are in a school, they could have done a report on dust to explain it. With Ruby talking about the combat uses, Weiss talking about how it’s mined, Blake talking about how the miners are treated (possibly having points deducted because the point was to research dust, not the workers), and Yang talking about practical uses.- Those aren’t necessarily the ideas reflected in the post I linked to, but I’d think that it would be interesting.

Using a similar idea, they could have also had done the same thing with grimm. With Ruby talking about certain weak points, Weiss talking about certain types, Blake talking about how they function, and Yang providing information on whatever the others missed.

Yeah as I have said:

A. That implies that Beacon’s school system is so fucked up that Beacon students are taught BASIC KNOWLEDGE. As in, shit JAUNE knew.

And B. There isn’t enough time or money. Unless YOU are gonna fund all that extra time out of your own pocket, why should they focus on that and not, say, deliver it to the audience in a cheaper, more entertaining way that doesn’t insult the intelligence of the audience?

“You seem to think that Yang is really smart. Do you want to elaborate on that, or…”

I’ll elaborate enough to point out why Yang is more informative here. She’s smarter than she looks. See, Ruby had to be skipped ahead two years, Weiss had tutors, Blake had to take the entrance exam, jaune cheated his way in, Nora also took the entrance exam, Pyrrha had fame and fortune, and Ren had to do the same as Nora.

See, Raven mentioned an entrance exam. Since she didn’t go to any combat schools of the sort, we can figure out that the entrance exam is there for people who didn’t attend a combat school. This means that Yang is literally the only one of her friends to make it into Beacon the normal way. By studying. I addressed this in a different post of mine actually. In fact, Yang’s grades and study habits are the only ones not to be a plot point (Addressed in this post that I have reblogged). Yang is smart. She could have also had done a project where she talks about the criminal underground, since she has an informant in the form of Junior. She provides some neat (and somber) exposition about Mountain Glenn. She’s a native to Vale. Why not explore the city near Beacon with her?- She could bring her friends too. It’s real easy to hate a character when she isn’t just a pretty face that’s funny apparently.

Yeah and considering you think Jaune is literally retarded and somehow passed himself off as having done it, it must not be hard by your logic.

Also, good job being smart. Bumrushing all your opponents without any strategy or tactic then ‘brute force’, even when one of your opponents will obviously kick your ass. Being smart requires you to actually USE those smarts, hence why I don’t think either one of is particularly smart.

And if you like Yang as who she is, why do you try to scope out anything that you think is like you? Because you don’t actually think Yang is smart, you think YOU’RE smart and Yang is basically the self insert you want.

Oh and this has nothing to do with the subject at hand. So uh, good job getting off topic.

“I have a feeling that Yang being treated as a dumb blonde is a sore spot for you.”

I said in a previous post that I see a lot of myself in her… And not in that way, perverts!

Dudeblade, considering you keep recommending lesbian slave harems as good fanfics, we already know you’re a perv.

And no, no one was thinking that. We know you meant it as ‘Yang must be 100% like me and thus the world must bend to her whim and anything that doesn’t is wrong because she’s my self insert.’

And again, off topic.

So when people insult a character, and reduce them to the baseline character traits, it becomes infuriating.

Blake isn’t a coward for leaving!- She did what anyone else in her position would do!

You mean like say, reducing a father figure down to a single joke?

Or perhaps an honest and well meaning but clumsy guy into a cardboard cutout?

Funny how you do the exact same thing you say is infuriating and yet act like it’s totally irrational.

And let’s get a counter going.

Off Topic: 3

“Dude! You’re getting off-track!- Remember. This is a post about how the worldbuilding was too rushed to make people care about the world.”

Right… Thanks man…

Anyways, another problem with the lack of worldbuilding is well… it’s right there on the tin.

We didn’t get to explore Vale that much. And due to that, it’s hard to sympathize with the city being destroyed. Sure, I feel bad for the people there, but as for their world?- This isn’t like real life, where you can research the city that was just destroyed and feel the sorrow that the people have. Not that I need to. Since Remnant isn’t a world I live in, it’s hard to know if Vale had any historic monuments or orphanages that would make me feel bad if they were destroyed.

Dude, you think anyone gives a shit about the buildings and shit being destroyed in a distaster?

No, they give a shit about the people who are hurt and damaged by it. The fact that you do not understand that concept kind of goes to show how many hoops you’re demanding RWBY jump through.

“Just because you didn’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Though I’ll admit to being disappointed at not seeing more of the city.”

While that’s true, it’s hard to figure out where they fall when it comes to faunus equality. We know that Mistral isn’t a good place from their ‘No Faunus Allowed’ sign… And the White Fang somehow not being fired upon by the Mistral Police on-sight… We can deduce from Ilia’s backstory and Weiss’ retconned racism that Atlas isn’t much better is worse.

Vacuo is arguably the best place for a faunus to stay, since the WoR states that they only care about strength… Though that’s probably iffy since Qrow probably dislikes it since their philosophy is similar to Raven’s, and maybe has a bias. Or maybe he hated it to begin with, and projected Raven’s philosophy onto it.- It’s hard to say.

A. The Fanaus were FORCED onto Menagrie.

B. Qrow LIKES Vacuo for it’s way of life, seeing as it’s based off giving respect instead of demanding it like Raven.

And C. Has it not occurred to you someone can hate a place for factual reasons?

“So thanks to his bias, his description would differ from the actual thing, right?”

In theory. The writers were never known for their cleverness.

No, you’re just know for your irrational bias. They aren’t any more clever than your average writer but you’ll bang your head on a wall until your delusions look like reality.

“But if it did, then wouldn’t some viewers get confused that Qrow’s description is different than the actual thing?”

These are the same viewers that forgot that Miles explicitly said that jaune was based on his younger self when trying to argue against the “jaune is a self-insert” accusation. Some of them anyways. I have a bit more faith in them than that.

And you people are the ones who don’t understand how fucking voice acting works AND that Miles has gone on record hating his past self AND that both Barbara and Lindsay have said similar thing yet never call Ruby or Yang self inserts (despite both being treated better by canon than Jaune.).

I have no faith in you.

“You don’t show it that often.”

I’m a pessimist and a cynic. So far, I haven’t really been given a lot of proof that they acknowledge the retcons.

The lack of characters talking about their world hurts a lot too. And since we got rushed to the Fall of Beacon, we didn’t get to hear other characters’ opinions on the matter. We didn’t get to hear Weiss talk about Atlas, we didn’t get to hear Blake talk about Menagerie, we didn’t get to hear Sun talk about Vacuo or Mistral.

Dudeblade, I’m an optimist by nature and yet you people make me reach Guts levels of cynicism. Go fuck yourself.

As for theseL

Why does it matter? Wouldn’t THESE just be as biased as Qrow and thus be a waste of time according to you? or does it not count until it’s actually done because you just want to bitch.

“To be fair, it’s hard to do that when they didn’t have the time to- Ohhhh………”

Yep. The rush to get to the ‘big overarching plot’ makes it hard to learn about the world. Like… I can easily think of a reason why Junior didn’t call the cops on Yang: It’s because he’s a guy who works with criminals, and he doesn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. It’s not that hard. It would also serve as a means to develop Yang and Junior’s relationship more as well. But no. We can’t get that development for these characters. They have to get to that ‘big overarching plot’ as soon as possible. They didn’t want to create characters, they wanted to create fighting styles. They just wanted to make cool fight scenes, and this hurts the story because that focus made it harder to relate to the characters. You have to dig deep to figure out their characters.

Okay now you’ve pissed me off.

You are blaming Miles and Kerry for MONTY’S issue! You wanted to bitch about this? should have done it about three years ago. Now there is no fucking point other than beating and abusing innocent people.

Also who the fuck cares about Yang and Junior’s relationship? You bitch about Jaune existing for more than five seconds but you want to explore to the relationship with a character that has appeared TWICE in the entire show.

And that goes to show your issue, Dudeblade. If we listen to you, we’d basically still be in Volume 1 just with a bunch of meaningless bullshit and superifical details. All because you don’t know how to write.

People tend to boil characters down to their most basic character attributes.

Ruby is innocent.

Weiss is a tsundere.

Blake is a minority.

Yang is violent.

jaune is a strategist.

Nora is bubbly.

Pyrrha likes jaune.

Ren is quiet.

No detail. No real digging. Just boiling them down to these basic character traits because the writers didn’t bother to give them actual characteristics. And when they did, they chose to put more focus on jaune instead of the characters that the show is named after.

A. *flings him a shovel* Go take that up with Monty, 

B. Dudeblade,people do that because it’s easier to write about them and understand them. My proof: Your aftermath fanfic has ONE character just with about thirty different names. You boil them all down to character traits they may not even have: You don't know what you’re talking about.

And C. most of these are wrong

Ruby is childlike

Weiss is abitch

Yang is Barbara

Jaune is pathetic

Nora is violent

Pyrrha is passive

And Ren is stotic.

Only Blake is right and that’s because you people monopolized that.

Goes to show how LITTLE you actually know about the subject.

So combine a lack of worldbuilding,

Your fault for killing WOR.

a focus on fights instead of story,

*points six feet down.*

a lack of creating actual characters,

No, just a denial of them.

and a rush to get to the ‘big overarching plot,’

Which you would bitch about if they didn’t get to it because abuse.

and you get a mess.

No Dudeblade:

When you have three people with a total of three years writing experience between them with the least experienced and worst suited person in charge, you get RWBY.

And yet you consistently fail to criticize it.

[queenmercurys]

hey love :') ALL the odd numbers for the ff asks??

NOTE: I realize now that this said all the ODD numbers, but me being an idiot, I just read “all numbers” and went for it. oh, well. here’s answers no one asked for :P and the ones you asked for, thanks, ems ;))

this is why you’re the greatest friend in the entire world ;D okay, here we go!! i’m gonna skip the ones i already got asked, but there’s still plenty to do ;P thank you so, so much, I love you!

2. Least favorite game?

well, out of the ones i’ve played, i’m gonna have to go with type-0, at least for now. it’s pretty good, i like the story, but the gameplay is crazy hard (and this is coming from someone who has played final fantasy since she was 8) and i’m not like crazy in love with any of the characters. they’re all good, but there’s not that thing that i have with basically every other final fantasy. but i’ve not finished it yet, it has plenty of time to change my mind!

3. Which games have you played?

i have played vii, viii, ix, x, x-2, xii, xiii, xiii-2, lightning returns, xv, world of final fantasy, type-0 and dissidia nt. however, i would like to note that i’ve watched crisis core so many times that i have basically played that, too. and i would, if i had a psp. anyway, i recently bought vi, so i’ll be playing that next, and then going backwards. the only ones i am not actively trying to play are xi and xiv. i’m not into multiplayers. but anyway, i also know the stories of the dissidia games, and i know the stories from i to vi, so nothing is really unfamiliar to me. it’s an amazing franchise and i love it.

4. Most underrated game?

i have to say x-2. it gets so much hate and for no reason whatsoever. it’s such a joyous, beautiful game with wonderful characters, the best turn-based gameplay and surprisingly fun minigames and sidequests. i stan x-2 100%.

5. Most overrated game?

if i were less biased, i’d say vii, but i’m not perfect, so i’m gonna go with my other pick: vi. i am sure it’s absolutely wonderful, and everything seems great based on what i have heard, read and watched. however, the fact that the cast is literally cramped with 20 million different characters throws me off a tiny bit. i can’t see it being that easy to give good character development to all of them, and i guess that hasn’t happened. but yeah, i honestly can’t say much before actually playing it. but i suppose part of the praise is largely due to nostalgia - as it is with vii, too. 

6. Favorite protagonist?

that would be my perfect darling, cloud strife.

7. Favorite antagonist?

this was a bit of a tough one, but i’m gonna go with ardyn izunia. 

12. Best looking male?

cloud strife for sure. he’s really, really handsome, okay.

14. Character you would most like to marry?

well, this may come as a shocker, but cloud strife.

15. Character you hate the most?

i appreciate him for everything that he is, i think he’s a totally epic villain, but after everything he’s done to cloud, to aerith and to everyone else, i am definitely gonna have to go with sephiroth. but he is iconic and the franchise wouldn’t be the same without him.

16. Which game had the best cast of characters?

even though it’s not my favorite game, i’m gonna go with vii. it has such a large, engaging multiverse to itself that it’s had a lot of time to develop the characters and make them more interesting and fleshed out. and i love so many of them so much. like my darling cloud, or sunshine boy zack, or aerith, or tifa, vincent, yuffie, cid etc etc. i think the cast of characters is really awesome. but that’s not to say i don’t love the other casts, because i do, very much so.

17. Which game was the saddest?

crisis core. what made it worst was knowing from the start that zack was going to die, and then living through it all, seeing how happy he was. watching him fall in love with aerith, befriend cloud, and even hang out with sephiroth and genesis. it’s so heartbreaking watching that boy try so hard, and then eventually die protecting his best friend a few miles away from his goal. it’s really not fair, and watching the ending always breaks me. that’s not even counting the pain that cloud had to go through in crisis core, but if i take that into consideration, it just strengthens my argument: crisis core is definitely the saddest game.

18. Which game was the funniest?

x-2. i know it’s a bit cliche and maybe even a bit cringe, but i love every bit of it. it’s pure joy, and watching yuna be happy and carefree even for a bit warms my heart. and personally, what i think makes it even better is that the game also has so many heartbreaking, sad moments. it balances itself out very nicely.

19. Which game had the best love story?

i am definitely gonna go with x. the story of yuna and tidus is well fleshed out, it’s romantic, it’s tragic, it’s sweet and above all (because i love this aspect in couples) it’s angsty as fuck, and that is exactly what i want from any fictional couple. they are a big part of why i love x as much as i do.

21. Which game would you sooner die before doing the above ^?

since i picked x-2 for the game i’d like to insert myself into, i am gonna go with… xiii for the game i would not like to be in. the world is gorgeous, but the divide between the people of cocoon and the people of pulse, and the dictatorship-like way the world is ruled, yeah, no thank you. besides, i could never replace lightning, i have literally none of her good qualities.

22. Which game’s world would you most like to live in?

this was really hard for me to pick, but i think i would actually go with the world in viii. it’s a world that has technology (which, as a child of the 90′s, i do need), and it still has many fantasy elements to it, not to mention some really, really gorgeous locations, like fisherman’s horizon, balamb town etc. 

23. Which specific location (e.g. Besaid Island) would you most like to live in?

if we’re going with specific locations, i think i would like to live in tenebrae from xv. it seems like such a gorgeous, peaceful place, i think i would be very happy there.

24. What’s your favorite job/class? Is this the same class you would want to be if you entered a class-based Final Fantasy game, or would you rather be a different one? If so, which one?

my favorite class is probably summoner, but i also have a fondness for the white magic, the black mage and the knight/any other variation of that job class. i think i would probably be a white mage myself.

25. What is your favorite ability?

summoning is always something i find very useful, obviously, but i also like noctis’ warp strike in xv. using weapons with abilities like stone strike is also really satisfying in x, too.

26. Favorite boss fight?

i really love the final boss battle against ardyn in xv. the main reason for this is because in the fight, ardyn doesn’t have an elaborate second form (tho i don’t mind those either), it’s literally just two men fighting each other. and the end, how ardyn loses because he can’t summon up the sword of the father, i think that’s really meaningful and i’ve always liked it a lot.

28. Your favorite spell?

well, i sure have grown very fond of curaga over the years, but in terms of something that i just consider really cool… i’ve always liked holy quite a bit, not really sure why.

29. Favorite summon?

the knights of the round from vii. other than that, probably shiva. i also really like alexander and bahamut.

30. Least favorite battle/boss fight?

i am not a huge fan of the fight against cid raines in xiii. i don’t know why, but that fight took me forever, and multiple tries. just… nope.

31. Do you have any theories or headcanons you swear by (e.g. Rinoa as Sorceress)?

i used to swear by the “squall is dead” theory just because it seemed super interesting, but nah, i love squall too much. he ain’t dead. i think the theory i am very fond of is that vii and x are connected. the theory that the kid shinra in x-2 eventually started developing a technology that would eventually lead to the shinra company in vii. it’s grim, but it’s entirely possible. 

32. Are there any fanon theories/headcanons you just can’t believe?

i mean, there are a lot of weird ones that i don’t buy into, but i guess one that i don’t believe is that cloud actually killed aerith (aka he killed her by drowning her because sephiroth’s sword didn’t actually kill her, but paralyzed her instead, or something). i am pretty sure he checked if she was breathing, give him some credit. 

34. Which canon couple do you think is most likely to break up sometime after the credits roll?

umm… well, considering that they weren’t really even together, ever, i guess it doesn’t qualify, but i’m gonna say cloud and tifa. i just don’t see how it would work, romantically. i get that there are feelings there, but actually as a functioning couple? idk about that. everyone can think what they want, though, what do i know? my second pick would probably be snow and serah. i find them very cute, but that’s another ship where i can’t see how they would actually work in everyday life.

36. And your least favorite non-canon couple?

please don’t throw cloud and sephiroth at me, i really can’t. i have literally nothing against m/m ships, my favorite non-canon ship is strifehart. i just don’t ship these two and i think cloud deserves soooooo much better. again, just my opinion though. 

37. What do you think makes a game a “quintessential” Final Fantasy game? (In other words… some people say the new games don’t feel like Final Fantasy games to them. What FEELS like a Final Fantasy game, to you?)

well, since my first final fantasy was x, i might not be the best one to answer this because my first one wasn’t one of the “classics”, really, but… to me, they all feel like final fantasy. the games don’t have to all be same, nor should they be. but for the sake of the question (which is a very interesting question btw), i think that there needs to be a big bad, and a group of mismatched, troubled heroes who do what they can to defeat that big bad. that’s literally all i need from a final fantasy game for it to feel like a final fantasy. plus, at least one engaging character who i can root for.

38. What things did/would bother you when/if they were put in the games (i.e. what things DON’T belong in Final Fantasy games)?

nothing’s bothered me much yet, but i guess what i don’t really care about are those weird collabs, like xv + assassin’s creed or something. i get why they do it, but ehh. i think those rather “pointless” dlc additions are just that: pointless. i am, however, on board useful and important dlc additions, like story additions or new fighting arenas, like with dissidia nt.

39. What is your favorite prequel or sequel?

my favorite prequel is definitely crisis core, and my favorite sequel is x-2 (does advent children count? if it does, then ac, too). 

40. Square-Enix hands over the reins to you, to make a prequel or sequel for any game of your choice, even ones that already have those things. What do you make?

first i make a sequel to vii to see what happened to cloud after advent children, then i make x-3, and then i make a sequel to viii. it absolutely doesn’t need a sequel, but i want it in glorious hd.

42. Worst character design?

no one looks bad, to me anyway, but i guess some characters are pretty weird, like cloud of darkness’ design for dissidia nt. i get that she didn’t really have any clothes on in the original, either, but that crap must be very impractical in battle.

43. What is your favorite weapon?

cloud’s buster sword, and cloud’s fusion sword.

44. What cutscene do you wish you could cut out of any of the games?

the date scene with iris and noctis in xv. why did they do that???

45. What creature do you most wish was real? (Chocobo’s, moogles, etc.)

oh, moogles would be so adorable. so would moombas.

46. Best soundtrack?

i think all the soundtracks are freaking fantastic, final fantasy music is the best music ever created, but i am gonna go with final fantasy xv. my close second pick would be final fantasy viii.

47. Favorite overworld song?

the one from viii, just because it brings back memories of me wandering around for hours, grinding for magic spells and items.

48. Which game had the best opening cutscene?

they are all freaking amazing, honestly. like honestly, all the games are so beautiful and perfect in this aspect, but i guess if i have to choose… probably x. the destruction of zanarkand is pretty powerful stuff, especially for an opening cutscene.

49. Which game had the best ending?

i’ve always said this, and i will always say it: final fantasy x-2. it’s called the perfect ending for a reason. and yes, i mean the ending where tidus comes back and he and yuna are reunited. 

51. Favorite non-vocal song?

somnus and somnus ultima from xv. honestly the most gorgeous song i have ever heard in my life.

52. Favorite limit break/overdrive/trance/you-get-the-picture mode and/or ability?

cloud’s omnislash for sure. can’t wait to see that in the remake.

53. Are there any plot-holes or questions you have about any of the games that you wish would be resolved?

nothing that bugs me too much. i guess the one that bothers me the most is that, why was ultimecia’s summon called griever?? has anyone ever explained this? if ultimecia isn’t rinoa, then why?? it worries me. i don’t know why, but it worries me.

54. What scene had the most impact on you?

there are plenty, but here is the top 5: yuna and tidus’ goodbye at the end of x, aerith and zack saying their final farewells to cloud in ac, noctis calling the kings of lucis to help him bring back the dawn and they all proceed to kill him in xv, luna and noctis getting married in the afterlife in xv and that scene at the end of viii when rinoa is pointing to the sky, we think she’s alone and then she turns and squall’s there, smiling for the first time in the entire game. okay, no, i’m cheating. also the ending of crisis core, for sure. 

55. Which game did you play first, and when (how old were you, etc.)?

i played final fantasy x when i was around 8 or 9. i got introduced to it by my friend’s sister. we watched her play for days and weeks until i finally asked my dad if i could have the game, too. and i got it, and i loved it. i still do. what a game. 

57. What game that has yet to be released are you most looking forward to?

*laughs nervously* final fantasy vii remake. square… please? 

58. What do you think of the Final Fantasy fandom in general? Do you think it is a good one? Any complaints?

oh, i think it’s a very good one! i’m not one to get too involved in fandoms anyway, so if there is bad blood, i don’t know about it. but everyone i’ve met has been super friendly, very talented and just genuinely wonderful. no complaints :) ok, maybe one. it doesn’t matter if you ship clerith, zerith, cloti or whatever you want. everyone can ship in peace. it’s all good.

59. Do you have any favorite works of art or fanfiction that you always go back to, and/or basically accept as canon?

i have no shame in admitting that i basically consider it as canon (tho this goes into the kh story, too) that squall and cloud are basically the fathers of roxas and sora, and they’re the best, happiest family ever. i go back to a lot of strifehart fanfiction, and plenty of awesome fanarts i’ve seen.

60. If you got the chance to work at Square Enix making Final Fantasy games, at any job, regardless of your skill set (they offer you paid training), what would you most like to work on or do?

hmm, i think i would like to be a character designer, but i would also really, really love to be involved in the story creation and writing, too. maybe i could do both?

thanks so much again, hon, you’re the greatest and i had the best time answering these :D talking about final fantasy makes me so happy! love you

[nautilusopus]

I’m feeling angry today so here are all the entries of the Compilation listed from least terrible to “Nojima and Nomura are incompetent hacks and should be fired”.

8. The Case of Denzel OVA is the most bearable entry in the Compilation, because it does what a sequel is supposed to do: expand upon the lore of the established setting while showing us more about the characters in it. It's a shame, because I think this also might be the least acknowledged entry in it, apart from maybe Before Crisis, perhaps partially because it has no official English dub. In this case, we get to see Denzel finally fleshed out beyond "the littlest geostigma patient that Cloud needs to win the big game for!" He joins up with a group of salvagers, and we see everyone trying to piece the world back together following the complete collapse of the government, the economy, their primary energy source, and the deaths of millions, where they're immediately set upon by disease and societal tensions between what used to be the "upper class" and the slum dwellers that have always had it this way, more or less. 

What the fuck, this is what Advent Children should have been entirely. Except with Cloud and his friends, and not Denzel, because screw Denzel, I wanna see what Avalanche has been up to. (We never get to see what Avalanche has been up to, and we never will.)

That being said, even Case of Denzel didn't manage to not fuck up royally, and it has a giant huge plothole in the form of forgetting to account for an entire goddamn year because it forgot Advent Children was set two years after the OG and not one. Whoops.

7. Advent Children Complete, which I'm treating as a separate entry from Advent Children -- Advent Children is a fucking mess with a nonsensical plot and wonky character motivations that, word of god, were literally just there because they figured it's how the fans wanted to be pandered to the best and not because they thought the motivations would be good or interesting (nothing like a content creator that openly states he thinks his target audience are morons!). It's slightly lower on the list than Advent Children vanilla because A) it looks slightly less ugly due to the Bluray release, B) Denzel's and Marlene's child actors got too old and they had to find younger ones for the redub, and these newer actors are actually better and significantly less obnoxious, and C) it has My Chemical Romance doing the theme song. 

These are all very shallow reasons, admittedly. You'd think it'd be lower because the added scenes help fill in some plot holes, but they were badly added scenes that meshed very poorly with the story at large, and because of that they actually created about as many new plot holes as they filled in. Shite movie. 

6. Advent Children vanilla. This is a good place to discuss why they're both on the bottom of the list, since they're pretty much the same movie. Shitty plot, characters are a sad shadow of what they used to be, and they did some weird thing with Cloud where he unlearns everything from the original game for the sake of cheap conflict and the fans try and defend it like it's actually deep and coherent. Not to mention some more bad decisions: Renu and Rude are good guys now and friends with Cloud and Tifa despite murdering their friends along with everyone else in Sector 7, Marlene is no longer Barret's daughter because ewwww, black people, and Tseng and Rufus are retconned back to life for literally no damn reason at all (they contribute nothing to the movie. Nothing. They even waste the dramatic reveal with the sheet by having him say "yeah it's me Rufus but I'm gonna wear this sheet for no reason and rip it off dramatically revealing ME, RUFUS SHINRA"). As far as I'm concerned they both just died again right after this movie. 

Basically, Advent Children was bad and stupid, but it was pointless as well, which in this case works to its advantage: we relearn the exact same lessons but in a shittier, more juvenile way, wind up at the exact same point we started at by the movie's conclusion, and get confirmation that there were, in fact, zero fucking stakes. At least it didn't take a scalpel to the franchise lore at large, like everything else on this list. 

5. The Last Order OVA is basically Square Enix frantically trying to save face after they've realised that, "Oh shit, our complete inability to proofread the first drafts of the scrips we've been running with have resulted in every single bit of VII lore introduced in these things wildly contradicting one another!" Basically, Last Order is a very pretty fight scene with Zack in it animated by Madhouse that occasionally tries to have a plot. This is the entry that began the handwave of "oh, all the entries in the Compilation are different because they're all told from a difrerent point of view! It's up to you do decide what really happened!" Lazy, bad, the beginning of the end. It looked nice, but I can't even enjoy the fight scene in the reactor properly because Zack doesn't immediately get bodied like he should've, which wouldn't have been very much fun to watch but at least would've made more sense; as well as the weird bit where they tried to imply Cloud was always infected with Jenova and mako-enhanced from birth? Somehow?

Also, the "Last Order" in question seems to be Zack telling Cloud to run. Cloud, who is in a vegetative state, and even if he weren't, can't even walk. Sure, he'll get right on that.

4. Case of Novels. These things suck and are terrible and look like they were written by a third grader. That's not just a "lol these are terrible" jab, either. I mean they literally read like they were written by a child with a very basic grasp of how to put sentences together. All of them are structured like so:

Tifa was very sad, because Cloud wasn't talking to her. Tifa thought that maybe Cloud felt sad because his friends were dead. Then Tifa thought about her adventures with her friends from Avalanche, the friends that she was best friends with two years ago. Cloud and Tifa had lots of adventures with them, but they were sad by the end of it because Aeris died, and then Tifa thought that Cloud was probably thinking about that too. Tifa felt bad about that. 

They are bad to look at, just objectively, regardless of the content in them. Case of Barret's is by far the worst in that regard, to the point where I'm not entirely certain I didn't read a bootleg fake version of it, because there is no way Square Enix would charge actual money for a product that was meant to be released to the masses and presented as canon to Final Fantasy VII. Except that they did. (I can also believe it because it further works towards the goal of erasing Barret from the story entirely, more on this later.)

As far as the actual story content, I'd probably have to say Case of Lifestream White/Black are the worst, due to some weird nonsense where Aeris just hangs out in the Lifestream and watches people like it's a spectral break room, and Sephiroth grumbles and pines over Cloud like a jilted ex-boyfriend because Nojima forgot there was anything else to his character. These, like Advent Children, are pointless, but they’re pointless to the extent that it’s absurd they even exist -- there's apparently an entire third Shinra bastard running around out there, and he has zero bearing on anything ever, and never will again. What Shinra bastard? Who? Kadaj murdered a whole town offscreen or something, but I guess it wasn’t relevant, don’t know why we brought it up.

3. Before Crisis. Japan-exclusive mobile game where Square stops even bothering trying to hide their contempt for anyone not in the "marketable niche" (i.e: all the white male characters ages 16-27) and begins writing them out of the story. It's not enough that they take his goddamn daughter away from him on the basis that he's prospecting oil, which is fucking stupid in and of itself -- this is the story that decides Avalanche, the group Barret founded in response to Shinra murdering everyone in his hometown because they didn't want any competition in the form of coal, wasn't actually even Barret's. It was some other guy's, and grrrr he was a terrorist even more terroristier than OG Avalanche was because moral ambiguity is gonna go over our audience’s heads so let’s just make it nice and cleanly black and white for them. I've ranted about this before, but it's even worse that the fans seem to have no problem incorporating these changes into everything, because who gives a rat's ass about Barret, right? There was some dumb thing about Nanaki finding a girl catdog to have those babies he has in the epilogue, and the Ravens, but it's all just more of the same introducing samefaced teeny boppers that the fans love so much at the expense of everything else.

2. SPEAKING OF WHICH, Crisis Core, the king of samefaced teeny boppers consuming the franchise. I flipflop a lot on whether this one is the worst or not, but in addition to having the same problem as Before Crisis times fifty, I consider it as bad as it was because you could tell it could have been really good, and that's honestly heartbreaking. The first hour or so kicks things off with a really good start, introducing Zack as this cocksure jackass trying to make a name for himself, and his mentor Catchphrase Man. Then around the point where Banora gets firebombed it all sort of goes downhill, and you realise a lot of the credit you were giving it wasn't actually due. Zack being a gloryhound for Shinra and believing Soldier to be a bastion of good wasn't supposed to be a character flaw like it should've. Genesis almost singlehandedly ruins the entire thing by eating all the screentime in the word with his obnoxious motivations that made zero sense, and in a flashback we see he was always a fucking tool so there's no reason to feel sorry for him in the first place. He's actually secretly responsible for the iconic Nibelheim scene, of all fucking things (GENESIS DID NIBELHEIM would make a good bumper sticker). Tifa gets thirty seconds of screentime. Cloud doesn't fare much better, which is a seriously huge problem considering he's the goddamn protagonist of the entire franchise. He gets a single 49 second cutscene of them establishing "okay he's best friends with Zack" and then nothing else, ever, unless you want to count the three emails he sends him that you could tell were supposed to lead to more bonding cutscenes that were ultimately cut for more GENESIS, YOU LOVE HIM SO MUCH RIGHT GUYS??? Aeris fares even worse than Cloud and Tifa combined, being barely in it, and Square having decided that Zack actually made all her life decisions for her. That's right -- literally everything about her character? Zack did it. Fuck you. 

It's also this high up for what it represents, I suppose -- in the fanbase, you see a whole lot of "Well, Cloud lost Zack and Aeris so now he has no friends and nothing else to live for in this world because he didn't really care about anyone else besides them". It seems everyone forgot that not only was there more to Cloud’s character than "his friends are dead so he’s sad” and his friends being dead was only a small part of it, but that there were seven other people we spent about sixty hours establishing in no uncertain terms that they loved him unconditionally and that he felt the same way. Crisis Core is what finally got people to start disregarding the rest of the main fucking cast from the OG, and it was very, very deliberate. An old unwashed man in his late thirties jaded about his future in spaceflight, a catdog with daddy issues, a black man with a character arc revolving around fatherhood, a triple agent paper-pusher that had a furry phase right in the middle of his midlife crisis, two women that are both alive and have agency of their own, and hell, even a young man with severe psychological issues that had a very strong bond with all of these people even though most of them aren't young and attractive white people and realises he can count on them all for support, are not as marketable as the cast of Crisis Core. Square knows this. You can't wring any sex appeal out of "happy supportive environment" or "female characters", since most of the fanbase tends to be straight women in their late teens and early twenties. So, everyone in both those categories gets shafted. And, as mentioned, the fans seem all to happy to run with this, given the overwhelming amount of material that seems to disregard everyone else in Cloud's life that wasn't Zack (and sometimes Aeris gets acknowledged because all she's good for anymore is a corpse to motivate Cloud) as unimportant, and not really his friends. 

The fact that the entire game seems to undermine the original's tone very badly almost seems like a nitpick at this point next to very intentional racism and sexism and pandering, but I'm gonna bring that up too. The new version of Zack's death scene flies directly in the face with how they were handled in the original game, and is more in line with Cait Sith's than anything else's -- that death isn't heroic, or glorious, or profound. It's just sad and fucking hurts, and it's something that happens. They made that pretty clear the first time around when he just gets gunned down on a cliff in complete silence. You can practically hear the "so it goes" in the background. Naturally, this time around they gave him an entire speech about dreams an honour and then when he dies he goes to heaven (on a planet with no heaven) and he's successfully become a hero. Fucking bravo. Or the bit where, as has been pointed out, you have a wacky scene where Zack meets a young Yuffie, and she skips off amongst the corpses of her people that Zack himself just finished making in the name of glory and imperialism (not a character flaw, though! He’s a good guy!). There's an astounding lack of self-awareness in everything the game does. 

AND IT COULD HAVE BEEN SO GOOD, and that's why I still debate whether or not it belongs in the Worst spot or not. It could have been great to see a non 49-second version of the friendship that eventually motivated Zack to die for Cloud, but then they forgot to write it, because why write that when you could have these four cutscenes with Genesis? It would've been great to see Aeris and her relationship with running from Shinra that caused her to grow up street smart and how that caused Zack to maybe question Shinra's motivations, but them they forgot to write it because HEY LOOK HERE'S SOME MORE WING SYMBOLISM WITH ANGEAL DO YOU GET IT THERE'S ONLY ONE OF THEM AND HIS NAME IS SPELLED ALMOST LIKE ANGEL, I'M WORKING WITH GENESIS NOW HIS NAME MEANS BEGINNING LOL. It could have been great to see Tifa getting her start with Avalanche, but after her obligatory cameo in Nibelheim she's swallowed into the void again because they forgot she was ever anything besides Cloud's love interest, and fuck you we gotta show you this Genesis scene in Modeoheim. It could have been great to meet a younger Barret, and wonder how at odds he would've been with Zack, a man who's been drinking the Soldier kool-aid for years, but instead we got Genesis reciting poetry. It could have been great to see the workings of Soldier before it all went to shit, but instead we got fucking goddamn Genesis. Genesis Genesis Genesis. 90% of the screentime in this game that should've gone to developing Zack's character for one fucking second, let alone other things, just gets eaten up by Genesis. God I hate Genesis.

1. Dirge of Cerberus.

I'll try and keep this brief because I can go on about Dirge of Cerberus all fucking day if you let me. 

If Crisis Core is terrible because it had the shadows of great ideas that were terribly mishandled in the name of turning a profit, Dirge is sort of its opposite, in that at no point did anything even remotely resembling a good idea come anywhere near the building this was being written in during the entirety of its production. It's bad. Thoroughly bad. There are no redeeming qualities. It's ugly, it plays badly, 90% of it is cutscenes* and the remaining 10% is invisible walls, the plot is a fucking mess by anyone's standards whether you're familiar with the franchise or not, it is the reigning fucking king of tone issues, the design choices are the worst of what Nomura has to offer by a country mile, and the characters are the worst Square has ever made in the Final Fantasy series. 

Vincent is the protagonist, and since he just wants a nap and is too cool to care that means you don't really give a rat's ass about what's going on either, which you wouldn't have anyway, because Dirge's plot isn't so much rife with plot holes as it is a giant, gaping hole, where bits of plot occasionally drift by, mangled beyond recognition by the plane crash in 1976 that claimed their lives. Did you know there was an even more secreter army living under Midgar that somehow survived the entire city being demolished with cosmic hellfire, a pandemic with no cure, and a giant sword battle dropping more debris on them? Did you know Hojo actually didn't die, he invented the internet in 30 seconds in his death throes and then invented the technology to upload minds to computers, AKA created a fucking goddamn technological singularity, and then uploaded himself in a .zip file until he could blow up the world for shits and giggles completely unrelated to anything even remotely having to do with Jenova? Did you know Lucrecia wasn't actually a terrible person that willingly carried Hojo's child and injected it with science juice for the sake of their careers, but was actually a really nice lady and is really sorry you guys, and was just an unwilling womb for Sephiroth to be birthed from, and was pretty much the Madonna? Did you know that apparently the Actual Goddamn Apocalypse wasn't enough to convince the Planet it was dying, but someone stabbing a few thousand people was? Did you know Reeve decided to call the events of the main game the "Jenova Wars" because he doesn't actually know what a war is? Did you know mako actually makes you live forever instead of giving you brain damage and killing you? Did you know the Lifestream is pretty much the same thing as the internet? Did you know Vincent was a paedophile? Did you know someone decided Genesis still needed to be fucking alive? 

Oh yeah, and also there are such stellar characters such as Red the Red, Blue the Blue, White the Clean, Black the I-Have-A-Jockstrap-Taped-Over-My-Mouth-Because-Fuck-You-Why-Not, and Orange the Clear, who is physically 9 years old but mentally 19 so it's totally not paedophilia if we have a weird romance between her and Vincent (never mind that if we're going by that logic, you now have a 19 year-old dating a 61 year-old, which is... not a whole lot better.) 

And hey, remember that one scene where Shalua completely unnecessarily died by holding a door she could've easily ducked through, and then she pissed herself upon death, and the game took the time to show the piss puddle, and Yuffie was super upset about it despite the fact that they never interacted even once but the writers forgot about that, and then after all that shit she didn't even die in her own melodramatic death scene, and then she did die anyway at the end of the game and all you can think about is the piss and god Shalua is so fucking pointless and looks so fucking stupid. Look at this hot mess: 

She’s a scientist! Or something. 

Even by Final Fantasy standards these designs are fucking ridiculous.

There is nothing redeeming about this game. It's like a gift that keeps on giving -- every time I look back at it, I discover a new plothole that I didn't catch the first time before. It's easier to hate than Crisis Core, though, which just makes me sad. At least Dirge never had anything going for it in the first place. I paid two bucks for my copy and I still feel ripped off.

* Okay, that’s an exaggeration -- 50% of it is cutscenes. Four hours out of an eight hour game is cutscenes. Do you realise how fucking many cutscenes that is? It’s a lot. (And yet not one of them has any plot in them HEYOOOO)

[nautilusopus]

The Number I

Chapter 8: Cloud Has Another Longer Conversation

Between the really long conversations about life in general and the gratuitous violence and swearing and the out of sequence nonsense, I think I've pretty much turned into Quentin Tarantino by this point. All I need now is the foot fetish.

Alternate title for this chapter: Cloud Has No Fucking Life Skills And Would Probably Have Died By Now If It Weren't For Avalanche.

Thank you to @auncyen, @cateringisalie, @fury-brand, and @limbostratus for spotting all the times where I had someone get up from a chair four times without ever actually sitting back down in between. It's chairs all the way down.

Four years after meteor-fall and Cloud Strife still isn’t himself. The thing that haunts him comes always at the same time… and when it does, on a distant far-off world, a needle moves. Twisty AU. Contains graphic depictions of violence

There was an incessant scratching at the entrance of Seventh Heaven. It migrated to the windows, gradually increasing in volume, before going back to the front door. It wasn't until it was accompanied by an indignant, "Really!" that Cloud actually acknowledged the noise and allowed Nanaki inside.

"The back door was unlocked. You know that," said Cloud, who'd been sitting in the empty dining room in a booth and took his seat there again.

"And what's wrong with me going in the front door?" replied Nanaki, hopping up onto the table and allowing himself to sprawl out on it.

"The claw marks, mostly," said Cloud. "I'm gonna have to sand those out now."

"I thought you enjoyed fixing things."

"Sanding off claw marks isn't fixing things," said Cloud, but began giving him an ear scratch by way of a greeting anyway.

"How's your arm?" he asked, leisurely stretching out to allow Cloud better access to his neck.

"It's fine. Marlene thinks it's neat."

"You showed her?"

"She asked. She wanted to know if I was gonna get a prosthesis."

"Is she here now?"

Cloud nodded. "Yuffie's volunteered to keep her upstairs while we're... talking."

It was late afternoon, and the bar had been closed early due to "a family emergency". Said family emergency had been waiting for everyone to show up, his anxiety gradually mounting as more and more arrived. Jessie had been the first to arrive, and hadn't made eye contact with him as she walked past him and upstairs to visit Marlene. Cid had been next, having the easiest access to an airship and not being beholden to anyone in particular about it. Nanaki had arrived just now and had been receiving appreciative head pats for the last ten minutes. So that just left --

"Here she comes," said Nanaki as soon as they noticed the frantic footsteps and the panicked swearing outside, before the door was pulled open with just a bit too much force.

"You're alright?" asked Tifa, dumping her bag on the floor next to the table and hurrying over to him. From the way she had asked it the question seemed less a status update and more marvelling that he wasn't rolling on the floor frothing at the mouth.

"Yeah. Fine. Easy on the ribs," he said as she went in for a hug. As they pulled apart he noticed she looked about as bad as Barret had on the first night back from the hospital, the bags under her eyes prominent.

"Who's left?" she asked. Nanaki stretched himself and then hopped down off the table.

"You're the last one," he said. "I'll go gather the others." He slunk off to the back without another word, leaving them both alone together.

"...How was your trip?" asked Cloud eventually.

"Fine. Sort of cold, I guess."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I got to shoo off a dragon. Adolescent bull. Really cranky." She sat herself down in the booth across from him. "Reminded me of you."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "I'm not cranky."

"You're almost 100% crank. Barret says you're banned from Edge Medical now."

"Not a big deal. Yuffie's good at healing, and I'll take care of whatever she --" He paused. "Wait, he called you?"

"Yes. A few hours ago when I landed."

He frowned. "What else did he say?"

"That you weren't immediately dying and that I could come straight home instead of visiting you in the ICU," said Tifa. "You scared the shit out of me, Cloud, you can't just... call me and say something like that and hang up without explaining. I thought you might've..."

"Might've what?"

"...I don't know. Had a really bad episode. Maybe... maybe you might've hurt yourself."

"I wasn't going to -- is that what everyone thinks of me?" said Cloud, his voice rising in anger.

"We're worried about you!" she said, matching his tone. "We're worried about you, and we have every right to be! You said to come home, we all came home! You can't just turn around and try and brush off the fact that you called me up at three in the morning crying your eyes out now that we're actually here!"

Cloud took a deep breath and looked away uncomfortably. "...Is this about the stigma?" he sighed.

"Other way around. The stigma is about this. You can't just --"

"But I'm fine now, so what does it matter?!" His hands were gripping the table now, digging into the wood slightly. "Why can't it just be okay that I'm fine now?! Why can't you all just appreciate --"

"Don't none of y'all get the party started without us," came a voice from the doorway as Cid leaned against it with a wry look on his face. They turned to look at them, Cloud going a bit pink. "No, go ahead, don't mind us."

Cloud unclenched his hands from the table and picked a splinter out of his thumb. Tifa sat back down, having apparently stood up at some point without either one of them noticing.

Cid detached himself from the doorframe and took his place at a table, with everyone else sans Yuffie following behind him. Jessie sat the furthest away from the group and refused to look at Cloud. He suddenly felt very tired.

Nanaki hopped back up onto the table and gave him an insufferably smug look (at least, as smug as someone with a muzzle could look) upon seeing what Cloud had done to the table. Cloud made a face at him when he wasn't looking, and then turned back to Reeve, who cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Alright, everyone's here. As nice as it'd be for this to be a big family reunion for its own sake, this is... an emergency meeting for an issue that we're going to deal with now before it becomes too big. Cloud?"

Cloud took a moment to steel himself before getting to his feet. It had been years since he had played the part of leader. It should be easy enough.

You're not having a crisis, and they're not here because they have to deal with that crisis, he told himself. You're noticing warning signs, and they're here to help pinpoint what they mean. It's just another mission, and after this we're gonna find someone and kill them and that'll make it all stop.

In theory, anyway.

He relayed the whole story quickly and quietly, about the shadows in the morning, the bike crash, the roof... and eventually, under Cid's suspicious prodding, the kitchen, with Jessie. Everyone immediately turned to her. Jessie swallowed.

"You kept that a secret?" said Reeve incredulously. "Jessie, this is something we needed to know about."

"He didn't want you to know, and he asked, and it was his business, and I thought --" She had bent nearly double, rocking herself.

"It's not her fault," Cloud said quickly. "I shouldn't have asked that. I'm sorry."

"Why did you ask her that, Cloud?" said Tifa, peering closely at him. Cloud looked away and said nothing.

"...Whatever the case, it's something we have to deal with now." Reeve pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm gonna have to tell people about this."

"The WRO?" asked Cloud. Reeve shook his head.

"Higher than that. This is now a federal problem."

Cloud jumped to his feet. "What? Why?"

"If my understanding of the situation is correct, there's a sizeable risk that --"

"What he means is you're dangerous," said Cid, glaring at Reeve, who sighed heavily.

"...Alright, yeah, that's what I mean," he said resignedly. "Even if this isn't Jenova -- which I'm not convinced of -- you have lost control of your actions to an outside force four times so far, and we don't know any way to stop it. This time it was just a car accident. Next time we might not be so lucky."

"'Just' a car accident?" interjected Barret.

Reeve leveled his gaze at him. "Given the scale of what we know Cloud is capable of, yes. Just a car accident."

"I haven't --it hasn't made me attack anyone." The inside of Cloud's mouth was dry.

"Neither did Sephiroth. Not right away," said Nanaki, who was now sniffing him curiously. "Perhaps whatever this entity is is simply testing the waters."

Tifa spoke up again. "...Can you hear Jenova saying anything about this?" she suggested. Everyone turned to look at her now. "You can hear Her. Understand some of what She wants, right? As long as you have it under control, it's a resource, just like before."

Cid looked at her incredulously. "You're actually suggesting he --"

"She can't do anything to him. Not with all of us here." She looked at Cloud again. She looked incredibly nervous, but she kept talking anyway. "Do you think you could do it?"

He considered this for a moment. Jenova didn't have as much power over him as She once did, true, but the damage to his psyche had been done years ago, and he was potentially clay in Her hands if he wasn't careful.

"...I think I could, yeah."

"It's a lot to ask," she added. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

He shook his head. "I want to. I can handle Jenova better than I can handle... whatever-it-is."

Tifa nodded and placed a hand on his arm. "I'll spot you. Fifteen minutes and I'm gonna cut you off."

He sat back down and tried to pretend everyone wasn't staring intently at him, and that Barret's arm hadn't just shifted back into a gatling gun, and that Jessie hadn’t just shut down again. Deep breath in, deep breath out.

He barely had to reach for Her before She snagged him and pulled him away. It was dark here, but he knew that it was far from empty. A million million voices scratched at the fragile scrap of self he had left. He had nothing left to fight against them with -- what little he might've had before, five years alone in Nibelheim had destroyed what was left of it. Rather than wasting energy trying to maintain himself against Her, he allowed Her to overtake him, gathering as much of Her voice into himself as he could while he still had the presence of mind to.

Eventually, his will crumbled entirely, and he was awash in that deep space for a second, or an hour, or a century. Part of the music, and the depth. Part of Mother.

He was suddenly jarred back to reality and found himself slumped in the booth with an aching jaw. He stared at the ceiling for a while with vivid green, inhuman eyes as who he was slowly began to put itself back together. Everything felt distant.

"...you hear anything?" That must have been Tifa. Maybe she had punched him.

He nodded numbly. "Heard Mother."

"What did She want?"

"She wants out. She wants to be whole."

There was a motion across the room, which got him to notice Cid. He was here now too. That was nice.

"Anything we don't already know?" he asked. Cloud turned his head and fixed his eyes on Cid and earned a small shudder from the latter. He couldn’t seem to make his eyes focus on anything.

"She wants out. She wants to be whole. She's waited to be whole. Her children will make Her whole."

Cid rolled his eyes. "This was a waste of twenty minutes."

"Her children will make Her whole. Her children will bring Her Reunion."

"Well, looks like he's checked out for the day," he heard Reeve say as Barret retracted the gun back into a hand. "We may as well consider our options and call in what reinforcements we have."

Cloud felt a wet nose press into his arm. Nanaki. It was his friend Nanaki. "Is he going to be alright?"

"I'll take care of it," said Tifa, who moved somewhere he couldn't see and carefully picked him up with a grunt. "Maybe he'll mention something else."

Words kept happening from his mouth on the way up the stairs. He could hear them discussing them in the dining room. Reunion, children, whole. Their words and Her words that weren't words, not the way humans knew them, and his words, the ones in between the two, kept blending together all the way to his room as Tifa set him down on his bed and sat down next to him, squeezing his good hand.

After a moment it occurred to him that perhaps he was supposed to squeeze back, but for some reason he couldn't really move. Mother hadn't given those parts of him back yet. Still, there it was. The thought was strangely comforting even though it wasn't a part of them.

She was saying words now, to him. Tifa, not Mother. He tried to respond, but the words he wanted to make himself wouldn't stick together long enough for them to be said. There were only Mother's words now. Tifa kept talking, though, so he had another chance, and another, and another. Eventually, he managed one.

"Sorry."

There was a pause in her speech, and she said something back. "Me too."

"Didn't mean to yell."

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't trust you."

It was another few minutes before he managed more: "Didn't want anyone to worry."

"We're gonna worry about you. That's something we chose to do anyway. That's part of how having a family works."

"Don't leave."

"I won't."

After what felt like another eternity, Cloud finally managed to make his fingers contract. About time. She might've left.

Tifa let out a sharp hiss of pain as he very nearly broke her hand, and he loosened his grip and turned to look at her properly. It was easier to write his own words in now.

"You get anything good from that?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Same old crap as usual. Bit weird that She's mentioning children again, considering they're all dead."

"You think there's more? Remnants, maybe? Another experiment that got out?"

"Nanaki thinks there could be. I think he's wrong. There's nothing left, right? You checked about a hundred times after... after the stigma." She clenched her fingers nervously.

He nodded. "Nothing. Not even any samples."

"Well... no news is good news, right?"

"Right."

She leaned up against him, careful not to bump his arm. Another thing he'd missed. At least it was easy enough to convince Tifa to sit with him. Half the time he couldn't work up the nerve with anyone else. They could say yes if he asked. But they could also say no, and that would hurt almost as much as if he never asked at all and just went about his business not being lonely all the time like an adult was supposed to be.

Tifa didn't want to say anything, obviously, but a quick look out the window told him it was already night. He must have been sitting on his bed with Mother -- Jenova, for hours. Maybe five or six. It had gotten worse again. 

The worst part of it all was that even after all this time, it wasn't really unpleasant. In fact, it felt wonderful to be "whole". It was as though he'd been choking, and he was finally permitted to breathe, this basic function of his mind and body that he denied himself so he could keep his individuality. The fact that one day he might not want to refuse was yet another thing he was terrified of.

He curled up against Tifa a bit closer. She'd have to bail him out if that day ever came. He hoped she would want to. 

"So... why fire?" came the question after several moments of silence.

Cloud looked up at Tifa from a bit of skin he'd been picking at on his left wrist with his teeth, confused by the question. "You must've mastered about ten spells by now," she clarified, "and fire's always your go-to. Why?"

"It... it's easy to use," he said. He reached through to the Planet on a path he now knew by heart, gently coaxing a small flame into existence and staring at it as it ran through his fingers, as though it would look different now that he was considering it properly. "It's pretty similar to what I can do innately. Does big explosions just as well as quiet arsons. It's got a lot of useful non-combat applications, too."

Tifa shook her head. "No, I know, just... it doesn't bother you, in fights?" There was another period of silence. 

"The smell, I mean," she added quietly.

He looked up from the fire at Tifa again, who was staring at it with a distant expression on her face. "We were both at Nibelheim," said Tifa. "If -- if you saw anything close to what I saw... smelled it... I don't know how you stand it."

The flame in his hand flickered and went out. He knew exactly what Tifa was talking about: had stepped over the mangled bodies in the streets and sprinted frantically to their cabin; had run back in for his mother, maimed and screaming as the flames claimed her; had to be dragged back out by Tifa's sensei when he succumbed to the smoke, too lethargic to do anything but watch her burn. The mako had seared away many things from that day that he'd had to win back, but the scent of charred flesh and burning hair had not been one of them.

Eventually he spoke up, still staring at his empty hand. "I, er... I sort of got used to it. From before Nibelheim."

Tifa frowned, fixing her gaze on him. "Before?"

"Nibelheim was only unique because it wasn't planned and they didn't have a coverup story ready to go," he said, failing to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "I worked for Shinra for two years before that. It's what they do."

Tifa was quiet. Cloud continued, the words coming easier the longer he talked. He didn't know if she actually wanted to hear it or not, but he was loath to interrupt a clear memory, especially if he managed to recover something else. "Three houses in the Sector 1 slums, I remember doing. And in Wutai, when they were cleaning up after the war... whole villages, along the southern half of the main island. Little villages, even smaller than Nibelheim."

He leaned back against the wall, staring out the window. "They weren't in the news. Nobody cared about those villages. Nobody cared about Gongaga, or Corel... and nobody really cared about Nibelheim, either." He glanced nervously at her. She was looking at him. He held his ground. "I never felt like that smell was a part of Nibelheim. It was just... a part of fighting, I guess. Had been for a while."

She looked at him for a while, then nodded. "It was tricky for me, at first. Almost wasn't let in to Avalanche at all. They took me on the first bombing mission, and after it went off things got a little... intense for me. So they stopped taking me."

"You came with me for the run on Sector 5," said Cloud.

She nodded. "Yeah. And that was the first bomb run I'd been on in years since then. I volunteered, and I guess Barret was too surprised to say no."

"Why'd you volunteer?" asked Cloud, and while she didn't smile, he saw Tifa's expression soften a bit.

"Had to keep an eye on you, Mr. Soldier First Class," she replied. Cloud let out a quiet huff of laughter. "After the bomb went off, it was a little easier this time, since it had been so long, and I thought maybe I'd started moving past it... before Sector 7, anyway."

There was another period of silence as Tifa quietly clenched and unclenched her hands. She didn't really have any mastered spells that she could cast in such close quarters -- it was rather like cracking one's knuckles, something Tifa found thoroughly unappealing.

"I thought maybe Barret dealt with it easier," she said, "but then I remembered Corel. I don't know how he does it."

"Maybe he's not bothered by stuff like that. Maybe he's got different stuff that gets to him," said Cloud eventually.

"He's right in the other room. You could ask him," said Tifa.

"No point," said Cloud. He'd rekindled another flame, smaller this time, and wove it between his fingers like a pen. "He'd tell me to stop asking. He's probably only afraid for Marlene's sake. I can't really picture anything getting to Barret like that, can you?"

Tifa shrugged. "Well, let's check." She raised her voice. "Barret, can you come back in here for a moment?"

She reached out to his flame as Barret stepped in through the door, scooping it out of Cloud's hand and sculpting it with her own mastered spell, Flare, and it violently flashed out of existence in midair with a deafening crack, causing Barret to jump and yell a string of words that prompted a loud, ugly laugh from Cid in the next room.

"Is that all you called me in here for?" he said, clearly unamused.

"Yes, and you've been a big help," replied Tifa politely as Cloud struggled to keep a straight face. "Really," she added, as Barret's scowl deepened.

"I'll let everyone know he's awake. Good to know y'all are taking this seriously," he said, and closed the door to Cloud's room again.

"Loud noises," said Tifa after Cloud allowed himself a brief chuckle. The strange static aftermath of a magic discharge hung heavy in the air. "See? He has a gun for an arm and you can still startle him."

"I guess so," said Cloud after a moment. "It's... maybe he's got something else that it means to him."

"Yeah, maybe..." said Tifa. There was another moment of silence as the unspoken thought passed between the both of them; who had Barret watched burn before Corel?

"...He probably wouldn't tell us what it was, though," said Tifa eventually. "But maybe when all this is over, we should ask anyway."

Cloud nodded. "Maybe we should."

There was a knock on the door. “Are you okay? I heard something loud.”

Cloud quietly swore under his breath. He’d forgotten about Marlene.

“We’re fine,” said Tifa, opening the door. “Is Yuffie still with you?”

“She went downstairs for drinks.” She looked nervously at Cloud, whose eyes probably still weren’t quite right. “...Can you come make me a float?”

“Yeah, alright,” replied Tifa after a moment. She turned back to Cloud briefly. “You’re okay here, right?”

He nodded. “Gonna stretch my legs a little, actually. Everything still feels weird.”

He watched as Tifa went off with Marlene, then let himself downstairs as well to find Cid and Reeve still talking in the dining room.

“Do we have a plan yet?” said Cloud uneasily, pulling up a chair. It was so much easier when they could just go stab whatever the problem was.

Reeve shook his head. "Not a lot we can do for now. The WRO is a volunteer group. It'll take time to get a response from anyone with any real power."

"I thought you were in charge?" asked Cloud.

Reeve shook his head. "I'm in charge of a large relief organisation that doesn't have any real authority over any particular sovereign nation or city-state. Edge wants to be one of those city-states. I can apply for a leadership position just like anyone else, but..."

"I thought you'd be a shoo-in. You're pretty much the only politician left alive, right?"

"Not necessarily. And people... don't really like former Shinra staff, as I'm sure you've noticed by now. The WRO's come under a lot of fire over the years for having my name attached to it."

"You're trustworthy, though. You --"

"-- helped you kill every other member of Shinra in what was unarguably a coup, even if it was a coup for the right reasons." Reeve sighed, watching Tifa disappear up the steps with Marlene holding a root beer float. "I knew I'd have to get out of this game eventually. If I'm not a part of the process anymore, now is as good a time as any."

"...Well, if I was allowed to vote, I'd vote for you," he said eventually. He got up from his chair and walked behind the bar, doing his best to make drinks with just one hand. "If you're voting on anything, anyway. Is this a vote?"

"It's a vote, yes. And your support's appreciated," said Reeve, then looked over at Cid sharply. "You're not supposed to be smoking in here," he said in response to the lit cigarette he now had between his fingers. Cid held up another finger on the hand he wasn't using and took another drag.

"Tifa's gonna put that thing out on your face," warned Cloud through his teeth as he bit the cap off an opened bottle of brandy they had in the fridge.

"Just like she's not gonna mind you're pouring yourself a drink," returned Cid, gesturing to the third cocktail he'd been making. Cloud waved him off.

"She doesn't care if I drink. It's not like there's a rule against it."

"You can't have booze with pain meds, Strife," drawled Cid. "They shoulda told you that on the way out of the hospital."

"They told me a lot of stuff," he replied offhandedly, slowly screwing the cap back on after topping the glasses off. "Doctors say shit all the time, and it's never important."

"Actually, that's not quite --" began Reeve before he was interrupted for the fifth time that night.

"You're gonna put yourself in another coma and we just got you out the last one, dumbass."

"I've had worse," said Cloud, and went back to his seat with his drink.

"I hate it when you do that, you know," said Reeve. "You can't just shut down every conversation about your health."

"Can and will." He took a sip of his drink, and Reeve just shook his head and echoed Cid's "dumbass” sentiment but let the conversation drop anyway.

"What, we don't get any?" asked Cid, then stopped as he noticed the two glasses float over and set themselves down in front of each of them. Cid snatched his up and gestured pointedly at Cloud with it. "I thought you said you were gonna stop doing this shit."

"I have one hand, Cid."

"So take trips," said Reeve, now also frowning. "It's one thing if it's an emergency. Casual use of this kind of thing is gonna make this a lot harder to deal with. Especially now."

"It's convenient and it's not hurting anything."

Cid narrowed his eyes. "If someone sees you doing that --"

"Look, just... everyone already saw my eyes, probably. Barret told me about the arm, and I got spotted on the roof. Damage done. The mobs'll probably be here in a day or two," said Cloud, his face falling a bit as what he was saying suddenly hit him. People knew now. Someone would have told someone else. Everyone would know that there was something living in Seventh Heaven that wasn't human.

"So it's not like it matters," he finished quietly after a moment. He took another few large swallows of his drink.

"...You can stay at my place for if you want, 'til things blow over," said Cid, taking a swig of his own drink. "Couch is yours for as long as you need it."

Cloud nodded. "Thank you." It still sounded insincere. "I can..." Pay him? Fix something for him? Give bad relationship advice? Cid could do all that himself.

"You can make me drinks," said Cid. "'Cause this is damn good and the bar back home is shit."

"I didn't come up with it. It's Tifa's recipe," he said, shifting in his chair. Cid shrugged and took another drink anyway.

"You have as much right to be here as anyone else," added Reeve. "You don't need to move unless you want to.

"Dumb fuckin' assholes'll never know what you did for 'em anyway." Cid drained his glass and Cloud moved it back into the kitchen and into the sink with a small jerk of his wrist, just to bother him.

"You goddamn smartass --"

"Is Cid smoking in there?" came a voice from the doorway. Jessie had come back out of the back room. "Tifa's gonna kill you."

"Not if you don't tell her," he said, flicking some ash off his cigarette.

"I won't have to. That stuff smells. You know that, right?" She let herself into the kitchen, then turned to see Cloud drinking and scowled at him. "Sure, why not? Let's have you run the dishwasher and use the oven while we're trying to think of more ways to piss Tifa off." Cloud's face went furiously red.

"It was one time --"

"It was four times for the first and six for the second and you know it."

"He's been doing not-magic, too."

"Reeve!"

"Gods, I was joking. Anything else?"

Cloud stood up again. "If I make you one too, will you shove off?"

She shrugged. "I guess so. Make sure it has an olive on a toothpick."

Cloud slunk off behind the bar as they continued talking. It had been easy enough to take the compliment from Cid, but really he hadn't done anything for them. Well, perhaps that wasn't strictly true. They'd taken out Shinra together, killed Sephiroth together. He'd helped dig through the rubble of Midgar for survivors, too. He'd been one of the few people on-site with any sort of first aid training and mastered White magic, and definitely the only one capable of lifting massive chunks of downed buildings off civilians. But he'd had help with that too. He wasn't the strongest healer in their family, let alone in that volunteer group. And he'd helped dispose of the bodies. But Cid probably wouldn't bring that up to try and lighten the mood. The man wasn't that tactless.

Cloud knew exactly what Cid had been talking about, and that was something Cloud was absolutely sure he hadn't done. He couldn't have. No one, not even the man that killed Sephiroth, could do something like that, could they?

It was, by definition, impossible. Magic had rules.

There was nothing he could do about them being convinced it was him, though. If it was something they thought he'd done, he'd let them keep giving him credit for it. Another lie onto the rapidly growing pile, but it wasn't like he had a lot of purchase in this group as it was. He needed every edge he could get.

After getting Jessie her drink (and hovering it over to her while looking Reeve dead in the eye), he went back upstairs to check on the rest of his belongings. His sunglasses were smashed. The temporary ones he'd been given by the hospital wouldn't stay on his face because they were too big, and not because he was too small. He'd have to send someone out to get new ones, not that it would matter much anymore. His phone was badly scuffed, but still seemed to work alright. His wallet only had eighty gil in cash and a couple condoms in it in the first place, and both were still there. He made a mental note to put something else in it with his phone number on it in case it got lost, since it wasn't like he had an ID. His radio was back to producing nothing but static.

Guess I can't give this back to her now, he mused, and began to leave his room.

He stepped out the door, and the static faded into music again. He froze, and then went back inside. The music lapsed back into static.

He glared at the radio and snatched it off his desk, then jogged back downstairs with it. He dropped it unceremoniously into Jessie's lap and hauled himself up to sit on the bar a small distance away.

"Can you fix that thing for me?" he asked. Jessie looked at him strangely. The radio was playing music again.

"Seems fine to me," she said, shrugging. She tossed it back over to him, and as he snatched it out of the air, the music shut off again. Cloud stared at the radio, and now Reeve was staring too. He quickly switched it off.

"Yeah, probably. I'll deal with it later," muttered Cloud, and finished off the rest of his drink in one go, just in time for Barret to walk in and scowl at him.

"...What?"

"Did you listen to a damn word the doctor told you?"

"Nah. Are you gonna ride me about the booze too?"

"Your dumb ass is gonna wind up with another seizure."

"I don't do seizures anymore." At least, he was pretty sure. It had been years since the last one, and there was almost nothing left to set them off anymore.

"There's a difference between your episodes and poisoning yourself. And Yuffie can't heal either one, so you'd better --"

"What am I not doing?" Yuffie had peeked her head into the room curiously, then frowned when she noticed Cloud with his empty glass, and she gestured with her own. "Can I have one?"

"You sure can," said Cloud, giving the smallest smirk. "Barret, do you want one?"

Barret grunted, which was probably the most graceful "yes" he was gonna get out of him for the time being.

"What are we getting?" said Nanaki as he trotted into the room after her.

"Cloud's making drinks," said Yuffie. "You want any?"

Nanaki cocked his head to the side, then shook it. "I'll have a sip of someone else's. I don't know if I would like alcohol."

"Is he above drinking age?" objected Jessie.

"I'm fifty-two. Is that sufficient?"

"Isn't that like... twelve for you?" said Yuffie.

Nanaki's tail bristled, and the fire on the end of it sparked briefly. "Fifteen at least! And it's fifty-two!"

"I'm making two drinks," said Cloud decisively. "And one of you better share."

Might as well ask Tifa if she wants one too, he thought. And as the notion occurred to him, she came walking down the steps, her mouth drawn in a thin line. He braced for the inevitable conversation but pressed onward anyway.

"Hey, Teef, do you want... Tifa?"

Instead of also lecturing him about why he shouldn't be allowed to have a nice drink to take the edge off things, or even making Cid put out his cigarette, Tifa walked right past him without looking at anyone and out the front door.

"Tifa?"

Tifa was already off down the street. Cloud looked guiltily at his empty glass. Maybe he shouldn't have been drinking.

Marlene peeked down from the top of the stairs after her, looking a bit guilty. "...Did she leave? Was it something I said?"

Barret set his drink down and shifted enough to allow her into the booth next to him. "What's wrong, baby girl?"

"I made Tifa mad."

"I promise you didn't," said Barret. "Tifa couldn't be mad at you."

"I found a box under her bed, and it made her mad."

Cloud quickly shot Barret a significant look. After a moment a look of comprehension settled onto his face and he turned back to Marlene again.

"She's not mad at you, baby. She was worried you'd get hurt. There was a gun in there."

"Tifa owns a gun?" The skepticism was clear in her voice.

Barret nodded. "It's a gun. You remember back when Shinra was around, and we had to fight them?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, we had to buy a lotta weapons to fight them. We still have some of 'em around, just in case something else bad happens."

"Like your arm?"

"Like my arm."

"So why was she mad? You aren't shooting everyone." Marlene tapped the back of his metal hand, which looked for all the world like another prosthesis, albeit a very fancy one. Reeve had called in a couple favours after his original gun had been crushed when the Highwind crashed and he’d been pinned by rubble.

"She wasn't mad," said Barret wearily, clearly regretting this particular story already. "Guns aren't safe to touch if you don't know how to use 'em. It could go off and hurt you."

"...So, can you teach me how to use a gun?” asked Marlene. “So Tifa won't be mad."

"Look, why don't we go see Tifa, and she'll tell you she ain't mad," said Barret. "Alright?"

"I'll get her," said Cloud, heading for the door. He'd been anxious to anyway.

"Glasses," said Nanaki rather firmly.

Cloud grunted and stepped back from the door again. "Someone's not getting a drink."

"If you'll recall, I didn't ask for one."

"I'll go get her," said Barret. "You too," he added to Nanaki. "Gonna need someone with a nose on 'em to find out where she went."

"What about Marlene?" asked Cloud. It was almost definitely past her bedtime. Marlene looked at Cloud hopefully.

"...I'm making an exception just this once, 'til we clear this up," said Barret uneasily as Marlene's face lit up. "Keep an eye on her." He knelt and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "Be back soon, baby girl."

"Thank you!" squealed Marlene, the earlier conflict all but forgotten at the prospect of staying up late with everyone else. The minute Barret and Nanaki were out the door, she rounded on Cloud.

"I wanna do an arm-wrestle contest!" she said. Cloud shrugged, then winced at the action. His shoulders were definitely not up for shrugging for the time being.

"Alright, but go easy on me," he said. "I've gotta use my bad arm." Marlene immediately ran off to get paper to write up tournament brackets and scores on.

Cloud had no idea what time it was, and the alcohol was making him a bit dizzy, now that he really thought about it. Marlene pinned his arm five times, and then had to stop because one of those pins (the one where he'd decided to give her a bit of a challenge and she'd responded with using both hands and shoving his arm at an angle) actually managed to elicit a genuine cry of pain from him as it twisted a muscle he didn't know was still sore. Yuffie got out a deck of playing cards and did a few witch's tricks, since she was always good at the sleight of hand stuff, then began trying to teach Marlene how to do one of the easier ones. Reeve went upstairs to take a phone call. Cloud went out back to his bike and removed his swords, just in case. Cid took off his shirt to compare scars and wound up falling asleep in his chair. Jessie fiddled with the portable radio, trying to find that third station that was rumoured to have started up lately.

Through it all, Cloud kept glancing anxiously back at the door to the Seventh Heaven, because he could have sworn that on the way out there had been something clutched tightly in Tifa's fist.