Pretty much, yes.
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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
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I think the events of the ending is intentionally open ended enough to allow for multiple valid interpretations, but this is my take on it:
- Cloud is prone to seeing things and his identity is muddled in his head. But I don't believe he's hallucinating. At least not this. When Cloud hallucinates due to Jenova/Sephiroth's influence, there is pretty consistent iconography of the screen turning green with static. That's not happening with these events when he sees Aerith post final boss - where the screen's static is pink hued instead. There's also pretty consistent iconography of rainbow light beams anytime there's something having to do with breaching/creating alternate realities. (Even reaching back to the first game -- if you got the scene of Aerith talking to Cloud at night before the rescue mission, the night sky is lit up with these exact same rainbow light beams.) And when Cloud tries to prevent Aerith's death, the sweeping sword swing he makes creates one of these. Cloud doesn't stop Sephiroth from killing Aerith in the default timeline the rest of the cast lives in, but he creates an alternate dimension where he did save her, and he now exists in a super-positional state where he can see/interact with her/and the world he created, but nobody else can. Aerith is definitely still alive in this alternate dimension, given how she's walking around and seems to have her own agency, doing things when Cloud isn't observing her and how Red XIII at the end can kind of sense her. We're given hints in the first game that Aerith's POV is similarly supernatural when she doesn't like looking at the sky -- since she sees the sky-rifts of the alternate, doomed dimensions as well. That's my guess right now, and I feel like I have a pretty good read on things. But the writers have already retconned things about the first game to take things in a different direction in Rebirth so who knows how it'll play out in Part 3.
- I think it's a safe assumption he has it, and he's going to be following the events of the first game where he delivers it to Sephiroth at the Northern Crater.
- There's two White Materia now. The one native to the prime timeline that the Whispers sucked all the memories out of and is useless and clear. And then there's the one that is functional that came from one of the doomed alternate dimensions that is delivered to Aerith from Aerith via Cloud. I think it's noteworthy Cloud still has the original White Materia, and that it's probably how he can
- Zack from the other dimension is actually Zack from our dimension. The story with Biggs is there to tell us what is happening with them. When Biggs was about to die, his consciousness got whisked away to this other dimension where the good guys lost and died, and everything is doomed. Everyone in this alternate dimension - Biggs included - has essentially given up on life and everyone is embracing their fatalism. That is, except for Zack. Zack is the lone person with the determination to keep living and moving forward (it how he be) so he -- and I think without really understanding what he's doing -- keeps physically breaking through between the different dimensions to keep the fight for life alive. Ultimately finally plopping back into the prime timeline after the multidimensional Sephiroth-fight.
- Glenn was killed way before the events of the game. Rufus betrayed and murdered him after using him to stage a coup in Wutai. But Sephiroth uses the robed men to project his will and impersonate Glenn (You know, since impersonation and trickery is the Jenova/Sephiroth M.O.) in order to manipulate Rufus to do what he wants. Which is to lure Shinra into being useless by fighting Wutai and chasing wild gooses instead of actually impeding him.
Tomm Guycot
(he/him)
I think Aerith is absolutely dead and Cloud can just sense her in the lifestream
But... What about that version of the death scene where Cloud blocks Sephiroth's sword? Wouldn't that suggest multiverse shenanigans?
There are definitely multiverse shenanigans. Sephiroth basically pulled a "I reject your reality and substitute my own" and overwrote the version of the scene where Cloud defends her. As things stand at the end of the game, "our" Aerith does seem to be either dead or suspended somewhere in between possibilities, but with Cloud able to perceive her with his own fractured perception of things.
The most interesting thing to me is what is the nature of these alternate dimensions. Because it sure doesn't seem like it operates under anything like your classic quantum realities multiverse thing. It's more like, these alternate timelines are like dreams of the Lifestream made manifest or something. I also am curious about how the Whispers will keep playing into things. My best guess is that they're actually, secretly The Cetra.
I finished the my replay of Remake and did the Yuffie DLC as well. It's kinda wild how much better everything in Rebirth is versus the first game, except for Fort Condor which they somehow made way worse.
PC-Rebirth was crashing hard on me initially. But I think I've managed to get it stable and working. The crashes kept happening at the same time too, and after a bunch of research, I narrowed it down to the "Dynamic Resolution Scaling" -- in the graphics settings, there's a "Minimum" and "Maximum" setting for Dynamic Resolution Scaling. And having them both be set to the same number is what stopped almost all the crashes. Game looks magnificent at 4K60. Little disappointing I can't get it to 4K120 without adding fake frames, but it it's still a pretty incredible experience nonetheless.
I finished the my replay of Remake and did the Yuffie DLC as well. It's kinda wild how much better everything in Rebirth is versus the first game, except for Fort Condor which they somehow made way worse.
PC-Rebirth was crashing hard on me initially. But I think I've managed to get it stable and working. The crashes kept happening at the same time too, and after a bunch of research, I narrowed it down to the "Dynamic Resolution Scaling" -- in the graphics settings, there's a "Minimum" and "Maximum" setting for Dynamic Resolution Scaling. And having them both be set to the same number is what stopped almost all the crashes. Game looks magnificent at 4K60. Little disappointing I can't get it to 4K120 without adding fake frames, but it it's still a pretty incredible experience nonetheless.
Thoughts on finishing Intermission:
- It's interesting seeing them play with some of the ideas that will be focused on in Rebirth, like synergy attacks and improving ally AI and auto-materia options.
- Shoving a full EXP and AP system into two short chapters is nuts. Enemies give so much EXP I was upgrading weapons after nearly every battle, and I couldn't even master weapon abilities before the game gave me new ones.
- The plot was silly and unnecessary, and the ending was too dark for Yuffie's character.
But still, the best thing about Yuffie is that she is a 100% pure little ninja goblin, and I don't like the implication that her hyperactive personality is a facade over trauma and PTSD. OG Yuffie would fake such an act to gain your sympathy and then yoink your materia when your guard was down, so I hope Rebirth doesn't continue on this path.
Anyways, back to Chapter 2 of Rebirth! Quick question, am I supposed to remember what the heck Chocobo Sam's story was from Remake, or is this chocobo-farm family drama a new thing that will be explained in time?
- It's interesting seeing them play with some of the ideas that will be focused on in Rebirth, like synergy attacks and improving ally AI and auto-materia options.
- Shoving a full EXP and AP system into two short chapters is nuts. Enemies give so much EXP I was upgrading weapons after nearly every battle, and I couldn't even master weapon abilities before the game gave me new ones.
- The plot was silly and unnecessary, and the ending was too dark for Yuffie's character.
Obviously Sonon was doomed from the beginning, but that was just another level, too grimdark for FF7. Yes, I know you are eco-terrorists with a collateral damage body-count fighting an evil corpo literally draining the life from the Earth and an emo prettyboy [controlled by/controlling/is one with] a The Thing. There is certainly body-horror in OG FF7, abstracted as it was, and I do expect the same sort of thing in higher fidelity for the Remake Trilogy, but the Deepground crew were better left as a winking reference than to be here sucking Lifestream out of dudes. It's been a minute, but I don't think their inclusion makes sense given the plot of Dirge of Cerberus anyway.
But still, the best thing about Yuffie is that she is a 100% pure little ninja goblin, and I don't like the implication that her hyperactive personality is a facade over trauma and PTSD. OG Yuffie would fake such an act to gain your sympathy and then yoink your materia when your guard was down, so I hope Rebirth doesn't continue on this path.
Anyways, back to Chapter 2 of Rebirth! Quick question, am I supposed to remember what the heck Chocobo Sam's story was from Remake, or is this chocobo-farm family drama a new thing that will be explained in time?
Yuffie is mostly just hyperactive ninja goblin. Sonon's death gives her something to have as a traumatic event in her past in Rebirth at one point, but it really doesn't come up much; she's mostly like she is through most of InterMission.
I think you can find Chocobo Sam's deal in the character profiles, but I don't think anything was mentioned about his family in Remake.
I think you can find Chocobo Sam's deal in the character profiles, but I don't think anything was mentioned about his family in Remake.
As a child, Yuffie grew up watching her home get invaded by corpo-fascist assholes who committed war crimes against her people. I’m pretty ok with it as a kind of spiritual representation of the hell she and her people have been put through at the hands of Shinra. Also OG FF7 is grimdark af. It only doesn’t feel that way because of how abstracted everything is, and how frequently the game’s tone shifts into silly stuff.
Intermission is pretty direct with how she's very naive and inexperienced, despite her country's subjugation and her own skills. Sonon's death and the destruction she witnesses on escaping are major shocks to her, but she's also not supposed to be, like. Raiden from MGS2, either, in terms of trauma.
I was just worried by the tonal whiplash of
that Square would lean in to the repressing trauma angle. There's already plenty of that going around in this game!
As long as her idea of brutal revenge against Shinra is still to, like, tap them on the opposite shoulder and when they turn the wrong way pants them and steal their materia, I'll be ok.
"Sonon murdered right in front of me, OMG they really just dropped a big piece of city on people, guess I better go on an adventure to become TEH BEST NINJA EVAR"
As long as her idea of brutal revenge against Shinra is still to, like, tap them on the opposite shoulder and when they turn the wrong way pants them and steal their materia, I'll be ok.
It's more or less that.
Chapters 2, 3, and half of 4 in Rebirth down with no technical issues; between using the 25.1 drivers and/or game updates everything is peachy.
Loving every second of it. I 100%ed Grasslands on the general advice to do everything there, then at other open world chapters just do What You Want. Then I got to Junon and did it again, at least everything I could before going into Lower Junon. Turns out whatever is wrong with me loves this particular flavor of sandbox. I guess it's the fact that things are open and optional, yet finite and listed; I'm not overwhelmed by practically infinite options, and everything is indicated fairly clearly so I'm not wasting time poking around corners looking for secrets. In fact, it's possible I *may* even prefer this mode to chapters where 2-3 screens from the OG game are expanded to a 2-hour dungeon.
Also, 20 hours in and I just now figured out that Synergy Skills are a different thing than Synergy Abilities.
Loving every second of it. I 100%ed Grasslands on the general advice to do everything there, then at other open world chapters just do What You Want. Then I got to Junon and did it again, at least everything I could before going into Lower Junon. Turns out whatever is wrong with me loves this particular flavor of sandbox. I guess it's the fact that things are open and optional, yet finite and listed; I'm not overwhelmed by practically infinite options, and everything is indicated fairly clearly so I'm not wasting time poking around corners looking for secrets. In fact, it's possible I *may* even prefer this mode to chapters where 2-3 screens from the OG game are expanded to a 2-hour dungeon.
Also, 20 hours in and I just now figured out that Synergy Skills are a different thing than Synergy Abilities.
Believe me, it took me at least half my playthrough before I even started taking advantage of any of the Synergy stuff.
Tomm Guycot
(he/him)
I've been away for nearly a year now so I can't for certain say I know what Synergy Abilities are. I'm sure I did! But there are so many systems at play yeah... it's a lot.
One of them (skills?) are kind of free-actions you can use with a teammate by pressing R1 and a face button, and the other (abilities?) requires Synergy Points and you select from the menu like a Limit Break. I thought it was similar to regular abilities, where you can either press L1 + a button or choose from the menu. Nope, they are completely different!
This is all absolutely changed from how Synergy worked in Intermission, of course,
This is all absolutely changed from how Synergy worked in Intermission, of course,
Synergy Abilities/Skills are kind of incredible/busted. Once you start using them a lot and figure out how they work, they make combat super easy. Free abilities and at-will limit breaks? Don’t mind if I doooo
BARRETT: We have to follow/protect these black robe guys! [points at four black robe guys]
SHINRA AND/OR MONSTERS: [kills or captures those four black robe guys]
BARRETT: Damn, I couldn't protect them. Well, we have to follow/protect these black robe guys! [points at four black robe guys]
SHINRA AND/OR MONSTERS: [repeat, etc]
SHINRA AND/OR MONSTERS: [kills or captures those four black robe guys]
BARRETT: Damn, I couldn't protect them. Well, we have to follow/protect these black robe guys! [points at four black robe guys]
SHINRA AND/OR MONSTERS: [repeat, etc]
Ok, tbf to Barrett -- the first time we see some black robe dudes tumble down a cliff in the Mythril Mines, bro immediately jumps after them like a psycho to help.
It's from the Japan-only mobile game Before Crisis. In that game, Avalanche attacked the reactor and blew it up. Shinra went looking for who did it and blamed the town citizens, which is how Barrett's whole tragedy started. Adding an ironic twist that Barrett would join the organization that was responsible for his town getting destroyed and his wife murdered.
Man, I know the Compilation prequels played a little fast and loose with canon, but that is a completely different backstory for Corel and Barrett than in the OG. You walk right by the -intact- Corel reactor in FF7.
EDIT: Apparently not! In the OG, there was a "malfunction" that damaged the reactor and Shinra blamed it on Corel. Still, it was more or less intact, not wreckage surrounding an open pool of mako.
EDIT: Apparently not! In the OG, there was a "malfunction" that damaged the reactor and Shinra blamed it on Corel. Still, it was more or less intact, not wreckage surrounding an open pool of mako.
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Played through ch 13 and 14 last night. Literally had to put the game down and take a walk after the “trials” part of the Temple of the Ancients.
Absolutely love this game. Second play though was almost as enjoyable as the first. It was nice to be able to take my time and really soak stuff up rather than feel self-imposed pressure to finish it ASAP.
My only real new prediction I have after playing through it a second time is that I think when you beat FF7R3, the game logo will morph like FFXVs did, but instead of the symbol transforming, the game will rebrand itself Final Fantasy XVII
Absolutely love this game. Second play though was almost as enjoyable as the first. It was nice to be able to take my time and really soak stuff up rather than feel self-imposed pressure to finish it ASAP.
My only real new prediction I have after playing through it a second time is that I think when you beat FF7R3, the game logo will morph like FFXVs did, but instead of the symbol transforming, the game will rebrand itself Final Fantasy XVII
This would be simulatenously groan-worthy and amazing.
I love the retcon that the Gi are aliens who are not "accepted" by the life stream, since they aren't from here, and created the Black Materia to destroy everything and release themselves from their eternal prison. It fits the recurring "return to nothingness" villain theme for early FF very well, since that's not really Sephiroth's deal.
Sephiroth's deal is like the polar opposite. He wants to live forever and be free of the cycle of life and the tyranny of the Lifestream. Advent Children occurs because even though he died, his ego refused to disassociate and return to the Lifestream. I think he wants to create a Spirits Within situation where the dead don't return to the planet and can life forever, free of death, pain, and troubles of the mortal world. And I think the final conclusion of the game, the happy ending that the original FF7 did not deliver, is that the party will convince Sephiroth to give up and return to the Lifestream. So that Advent Children doesn't happen in this timeline, and that the spirit of Sephiroth (and therefore Aerith) can finally rest and not endure through another world rebirth cycle, and the party and the world can move on.
I actually really like how Rebirth addresses this. The party is at least reacting, and having conversations about it. Both among each other, and to Cloud directly. That's in stark contrast to the OG FF7 where characters like Tifa just say and do nothing the entire time. Cloud also has the cover/plausible deniability of Soldier Degradation/Mako Poisoning as well to confuse the situation.
It is still though, a very brow-raising scenario. I love Rebirth to bits, but one of the game's... I dunno if I would call it a 'flaw' but an 'idiosyncrasy' is that because of the added content and the open world-ish nature of the game mechanics, there is a much more casual feel to their adventure with lots of downtime that could/should be used for the characters to better explore/discuss Cloud's condition. That versus the pacing of the original game feeling much more like a frantic, urgent chase where they're doing everything they can to catch up to Sephiroth and thus less time for contemplation and discourse.