This thread are sick - Let's Play Final Fantasy VII!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > This thread are sick - Let's Play Final Fantasy VII!

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Screaming Idiot posted:

I just realized something. If Shinra's draining lifestream souljuice for power, why is there so much smoke and grime? Why is there exhaust from the vehicles? I know draining mako means they're draining the planet's vitality, but that doesn't explain away the grime and general nastiness.

They use the mako energy to power oil rigs, of course :science:

# ¿ Aug 10, 2011 12:18

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 00:21

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Screaming Idiot posted:

It's kind of a spoiler, but they don't use oil until after the events of Advent Children, when Barrett discovers a huge oil field and eventually becomes the head of an oil company.

Also, coal's out of the question because apparently that's what they used before mako became prevalent because it was supposed to be cleaner and more plentiful.

So they're not using oil, not using coal and not using electricity generated by magic souljuice because there's exhaust?

I think the only explanation left is that there are tiny chocobos inside all vehicles, running around in some bizarre hamsterwheel-like contraptions. Or that nobody at Square ralized that steampunk and access to an abundant clean energy source don't really mix well.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2011 13:20

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Woebin posted:

I think Norwegian's pretty cool, personally. And it's refreshing to see someone use a less overused language for something like this (German is also a cool language, but it gets used for this stuff all the time). Why does it make you cringe? Is it just familiarity, assuming you're Norwegian? I guess I'd probably roll my eyes a bit at someone using Swedish as a "cool language", so I suppose I could understand that.

The problem with Norwegian as a cool language is that it sounds so drat cheerful all the time. Now I realize that this is a stereotype and there's probably some way to make Norwegian sound angry, but in my limited interaction with norwegians this hasn't happened yet.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2011 15:41

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

While I agree that The Best Character is a lousy role model, I still think that it's partially excusable because he's such a goddamn broken man. I think I'll keave the whys and hows of how I came by this opinion until later though.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2011 23:03

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Strong Convections posted:

Consider that this is one of the problems people have with the character. He's been written in such a way that he's sympathetic and that his actions are 'excusable'.

And while running around beating up monsters and gunarms are clearly obvious fantasy, his 'lousy role-modelling' is something that can occur in the audience's life, and the writers gave him a pass.

Well, not really. At first he still comes off as a huge goddamn douche who obviously can't handle any kind of normal relationship. I didn't really like him at all until quite a bit into the game.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2011 11:07

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

The Turks are Boss as all hell. They're doing the dirtiest of jobs, yet they find pride in doing it well, and they keep a gentleman's agreement to a fault.

Seriously, this adds so much to the game, and it fleshes out the Turks from a bunch of annoying minor villains into real, good characters. It really cannot be overstated how much better the plot becomes when your antagonists are shown to be deadly competent instead of comic relief.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2012 03:02

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

The final boss of FF7 is obviously Palmer who grows a neckbeard and inexplicably fuses with a giant spaceship. His ultimate attack consists of him vomiting a mix of half-digested Cheetos and Mountain Dew all over the party.

After you beat him it's revealed that the true villain was Tetsuya Nomura all along and you have to fight a timed battle to beat him before he turns your characters into a sentient collection of belts.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2012 10:02

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

KataraniSword posted:

Freddie Mercury.

_{What do you mean he's dead?}

I respectfully disagree. Clearly the only rock musician who could accurately portray Dio is Dio.

_{What do you mean he's dead too?}

# ¿ Apr 6, 2012 22:38

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

As far as I can tell, throwing grenades seems like a far more sensible combat technique than swinging around a sword as big as yourself or trying to punch robots to death.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2012 23:57

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

How about punching to death robots that are made of grenades that you can then throw at other robots?

# ¿ Apr 9, 2012 00:20

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

penguinmambo posted:

It sort of does explain why there's not an in-universe explination if you treat it as a real obvious metaphor like that. I always assumed all the meteor spell does is be a big magnet to space rocks, not that the meteor is actually evil.

The game isn't very subtle with its enviroinmentalism themes, no. Meteor is nukes, Mako Reactors are a metaphor for modern industrial power production and Shinra represents rampant capitalism.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2012 23:05

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Twiddy posted:

Hell, let's emphasize some things about Sephiroth. Before the Temple of the Ancients, you mention him showing up a few times. Now, from my memory, he's only shown up twice in the game proper. Once in the deep, dank, dark cellars of the Shinra Mansion, and once on the boat. Both times he's been batfuck insane, rambling about poo poo, flying around, and not really directly interacting with the party members.

So far, he hasn't really done a single thing to your party. He's just dropped Jenova on you and flown away, chucked a materia at your gut then flown away, talked at you a lot then flown away, and got the Black Materia from Cloud (however you want to interpret that) and flown away. The only times we've seen him being destructive or dangerous is in flashbacks and some kind of weird magical looking water in a hippy temple. For the most part, we only know he's a threat because of these events, and seeing the aftermath of his actions (like him murdering the entire Shinra tower, skewering the Midgar Zolem, murdering Shinra soldiers at Junon, and possibly some other events).

It's an interesting way to sell a villain, and also emphasizes that for the most part, your party's a joke to him.

I basically came into the thread to post this, but I was beaten like Aeris.

I'd like to add one thing, though. It's true that Sephiroth has been delivering barely comprehensible rants every time the party has met him. One might be inclined to dismiss this as the villain being crazy with power and Square wanting the plot to be ~mysterious~, but as Cloud's mental illness becomes more and more apparent we see him mirroring Sephiroth down to the crazy ranting about poo poo he's really got no business knowing about in the first place. This doesn't seem like a coincidence.

So the question is who has Sephiroth been speaking to all this time? Is it the player or the mental case hidden behind the protagonist's high-functioning facade?

# ¿ Jun 25, 2012 10:12

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Choray posted:

I was itching to mention what I think are the better aspects of Sephiroth too, but yeah, we'll find out later.

I think part of why the Nibelheim flashback doesn't work so well is that it kind of glosses over what happens in the basement of the mansion. Sephiroth seems to me like someone making himself insane. He doesn't suddenly decide he's an ancient and he has to save his mom Jenova, he realizes the connection between his "mother's" name and the Jenova project and starts to wonder about his actual origins. He then reads book after book after book in the basement, slowly coming to a faulty conclusion through faulty research that he's nevertheless strongly convinced of. He's basically an otherkin literally hiding away in a basement, reading up on wolves and otherkin poo poo on the internet and becoming more certain that he really is a wolf every day, until one day he goes off the rails and mauls someone on the street.

This is now my personal headcanon. I suppose we're lucky that the PS1 was incapable of rendering realistic fursuits (or horrible rotting corpsesuits, as the case may be).

# ¿ Jul 5, 2012 15:29

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

John Luebke posted:

Alright Elentor, I need you to explain something to me.

I got the "It's been Jenova all along!", part but it feels really awkwardly translated.

To be more specific, how the hell did Tifa get her "It wasn't Sephiroth!", epiphany?

Maybe because what they assumed to be Sephiroth just turned into a fuckoff huge monster right before her eyes?

# ¿ Sep 4, 2012 20:54

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Serifina posted:

See, this is where my opinion for FF7 gets very mixed (it goes very sour in a relatively short period of time, and it had been mostly meh before now). On one hand, the whole bit with chasing Jenova instead of Sephy is kind of neat... But they didn't really do all that much with it, and why the hell can Sephy control Jenova anyway?

Also, if Jenova broke herself out of her box in Shinra HQ, then who killed the guard by the jail cells that Cloud and co were in?

Jenova? I mean, it could very well have broken out, sent some part of itself to kill the guard and then went up to stab Pres. Shinra.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2012 21:52

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

It has been said already, but it bears repeating that Sephiroth is a goddamn unsettling villain. He lays down mindfuck after mindfuck and he does it so goddamn casually that you don't know what to expect next. It's really effective, and one of the things that Square really got right (intentionally or not) in this game.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2012 22:47

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

XyloJW posted:

The mayor of Midgar gets [Middle Manage] materia. It adds the command "File" to his abilities.

What Materia did Rufus get? Keep in mind, his dad was the President before him, and they did things very differently.

[Douche], perhaps?

# ¿ Oct 15, 2012 15:05

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

KataraniSword posted:

You know, that always puzzled me.

When you master a materia, you get another copy of that materia, for the most part.

Where does it come from? There aren't random wellsprings of lifestream juice everywhere. Is the other materia literally PULLING THE KNOWLEDGE BACK OUT OF YOUR HEAD for someone else to use?

You level up materia by killing poo poo, so obviously you're stealing the very souls of your enemies in order to power up your magic orbs :black101:

# ¿ Oct 15, 2012 17:39

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

We just have to accept that Our Intrepid Hero is basically butchering men and wildlife alike with a gigantic slab of iron so he can rip out their screming souls for power.

Go team good guys!

# ¿ Oct 15, 2012 18:49

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Rygorous posted:

There are some other SOLDIER enemies later on in the game. The guys in Shinra Headquarters were 3rd Class SOLDIERS, which is strange really.

Maybe they had the elite dudes out doing real work and not sitting around HQ as glorified rent-a-cops?

Also it's kinda strange, but if we discount the fact that Our Intrepid Heroes are the protagonists and look at things objectively, Rufus and Shinra probably represent the best shot humanity has to survive this mess.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2012 00:09

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

MagusofStars posted:

How in the world do you come to that conclusion? Rufus has been in power for a grand total of like two weeks. During his term, the following events have occurred:

-Group of known terrorists walks world openly, intimidating populace in every major city by openly carrying an absurdly oversized sword, gun arms and other various weapons.
-Entire legions of Shinra SOLDIER 3rd Class forces slaughtered. Recruiting suffers.
-Shinra's special group of elite assassins captured and/or badly injured on multiple occasions. Turks observed turning traitor in Wutai and assisting fugitives.
-Several ancient dragon monsters released to savage planet.
-Gigantic meteor appeared in the sky. Meteor expected to obliterate all life on the planet.

No wonder they need some good PR.

Note that all those events have occurred because Our Intrepid Heroes keep loving up. Given the party's track record, executing 'em all seems like a sensible first step when it comes to damage control.

Also Shinra has the resources of th entire world at their disposal. Our Interepid Heroes have nothing except incompetence.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2012 16:46

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

DeathChicken posted:

You'd think, but again, the only competent one at Shinra is Rufus. It's an incompetence horse race when you're dealing with Scarlet, Heidegger, Palmer and Hojo.

Now, now, Hojo is competent. The problem is what he's competent at, but he's competent.

Also there's a fine line between bumbling incompetence and world-ending incompetence, and unfortunately Our Intrepid Heroes are on the wrong side of it.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2012 17:07

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Indeterminacy posted:

You need to remember why this is the case. At the time Rufus came to power, Shinra had begun to put the plans into motion to uncover the Promised land - a massive new resource for them to exploit. Rufus's line that it costs too much money to run the company around a kind of "benevolent" corporatist state model like his old man suggests that what he cares about is the bottom line, and so he, too, is interested in this plan.

Rufus, however, knows something that his father didn't; namely, that the Promised land is in fact not a speculative theory by an untrustworthy researcher but is actually within his grasp. Sephiroth is going to direct them to where the Promised land is, and so following his lead is, in fact, an unquestionable strategic priority - saving the sum of 120 years of research, if Hojo's original estimates are to be believed.

This also means increased military and weapons budgets (to fight off Sephiroth). So by all means, give Heidegger and Scarlet the budget to prepare an all-out offensive, let your special police take care of the terrorists you're facing (don't forget that Reno, Rude and Elena are shadowing you from Midgar and at least as far as Gongaga; they haven't just run off on vacation) and devote your personal attention to making this new venture work. The payoff here will be well worth that investment if it works out.

As it turns out, the reason it didn't work out is because Cloud did Sephiroth's dirty work for him and retrieved the black materia so he could summon Meteor; the Turks didn't do their job properly, with Cait Sith's intervention actually directly aiding Sephiroth's cause in the Temple of the Ancients. Had his subordinates actually been competent enough to take Avalanche down, and had he not a double agent among his ranks, the strategy might well have worked.

This is a bit tangential, but what I want to know is that if Shinra knew about the Promised Land as a huge source of Mako, has a drat airship and fledgling spaceflight technology to boot, why didn't anyone ever notice the fuckoff huge mako geyser on the north pole?

# ¿ Nov 5, 2012 22:33

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

What I also want to know is how a dinky little ninja hamlet in the middle of nowhere would get the resources to build a blue water navy, much less pull off an intercontinental naval invasion.

The world of FF7 doesn't make much sense when you think about it, does it?

# ¿ Nov 5, 2012 23:17

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Pierzak posted:

It's a dinky little hamlet now. Who knows how that continent looked before the war?

I still don't buy that a country that was presumably powerful enough to resist Shinra just became this idyllic forested ninja village in just a few years' time. Either it should be much more industrialized or a bombed-out hellhole.

Rather it would suggest that the entire war against Wutai was such a one-sided affair that there was no real need to even conquer the capital (since it's a dinky litle village and all).

# ¿ Nov 6, 2012 00:25

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

This was probably the strongest moment in the game so far when I first played it. The very idea of reducing the protagonist to a catatonic wreck was mindblowing, and then you get the reactions of the party to this whole FUBAR situation and twelve-year-old me actualy got so upset I had to stop playing for a while.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2013 22:53

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Fionordequester posted:

Actually, you know what, I just had an epiphany. Maybe what I'm saying would be correct, if it weren't for this crucial detail...

Sephiroth had just made Cloud and Tifa relive the Nibelheim razing RIGHT before he proceeded to break them mentally. And if my understanding of PTSD is as much as I think it is, it's very well possible that whatever mental defenses Tifa had were already stomped into the ground just by going through the trauma of reliving that experience. So of course she wouldn't quite be all there once Sephiroth came onto the scene, hence, her weakness...

So, alright, never mind. Now I'm kind of buying Tifa's reaction...although I still wish Sephiroth hadn't appeared so omnipotent when that happened. I mean, summoning up an illusion is one thing, but the way he instantly K.O.ed the group with whoever had the Black Materia AND made them disappear was just a little too "GOD MODE HAX" for me.

There is an easier explanation. See, physical danger is one thing, and since Tifa is a kickass kungfu master she can deal with that by punching it in the face until it dies.

However, here she is thrust into a situation where the thing she fears most is going down right in front of her eyes, and she can't do jack poo poo about is since Ghost Sepiroth laying down the truth bomb isn't a problem that can be solved by punching. So basically, facing one's own worst insecurities and fears, combined with complete helplessness to do anything about it tends to make people freak out badly. Tifa is no exception.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2013 12:56

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Suikoden is really rad, but the best thing about it is that it sets up Suikoden 2 which is a goddamn masterpiece.

So yeah, it's good but the sequel is where it's at.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2013 15:12

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

In general, the actions of the ostensible heroes of FF8 is one long case study of military incompetence in action.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2013 21:14

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

I must admit that I had no idea that you could get a red sub. Or that you could engage in dognapping.

Now I feel kinda bad that I've totally missed out on one of the funniest parts of the game all these years.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2014 13:47

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Regalingualius posted:

(Midgar) Zolom-Eater?

"Yuffie, that's the Midgar-Zolom blocking your path. In order to avoid it you need a Chocobo!"

"Hmm, but how does it taste?"

# ¿ May 4, 2014 00:47

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

FinalGamer posted:

Guys, I just wanna point out the ffvii_blazed twitter account has taken the most radical turn and has already become the best rewrite we will ever get of this game. I won't say more other than this

True, true.

quote:

CLOUD: vincent how come you can snowboard so well
VINCENT: hmph
CLOUD: dammit he�s being cool

# ¿ Sep 29, 2014 18:35

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 00:21

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

If your party doesn't consist of BONER, BONER and BONER I don't even want to know you.

# ¿ May 25, 2015 20:49

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