10 Small Details You Only Notice Replaying The Original Final Fantasy 7

10 Small Details You Only Notice Replaying The Original Final Fantasy 7

Final Fantasy VII is nuanced enough where understanding its story requires more than one playthrough– but it’s well worth the effort.

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It’s often said that gaming as a medium is only now reaching its artistic potential, especially in regards to narrative, but this ignores decades of masterpieces. In truth, the notion that video games are just now finding their artistic merit is nonsensical. One just has to look at 1997’s Final Fantasy VII to see that video games have been art for quite some time.

Notably, Final Fantasy VII released with the longest script of its time. It was quite literally the densest RPG of its era, and while its localization wasn’t perfect, much of the script’s nuance was translated exceptionally well. Final Fantasy VII is nuanced enough where understanding its story requires more than one playthrough– but it’s well worth the effort.

10 How Tifa & Aerith Play With Romantic Expectations

Aerith and Tifa are two of the best written love interests in Final Fantasy, not only because they’re both incredibly well defined characters with agency independent of Cloud but because of how they play off the natural expectations based on JRPG tropes & archetypes. Where Tifa is actually the more passive love interest, Aerith is more proactive.

The early game does everything it can to suggest Aerith is the primary love interest as well, but her characterization doesn’t speak to the love interests of Final Fantasy past– Tifa’s does. Aerith looks the part, but Tifa’s the character whose arc is more defined by her relationship with Cloud. Even then, though, Tifa defies the lack of agency seen in love interests like Rosa by being the one to rescue Cloud from himself.

9 Sephiroth’s Agency As A Party Member

Cloud’s flashback to Nibelheim is one of the most significant moments in Final Fantasy VII, setting important narrative context for the rest of the story. What’s also notable is how Sephiroth is briefly a member of the party, albeit one the player cannot customize or control. Try to touch Sephiroth’s equipment, and he’ll shoot Cloud a stern “…”

This is important, though, as even though Sephiroth is in the party, his lack of interactivity places him above the player. Sephiroth is too good to be controlled by you, and this is further juxtaposed by having players control a pitifully weak Cloud who’s all but guaranteed to die in his one boss fight alongside Sephiroth. It puts into perspective, in gameplay terms, just how powerful Sephiroth is.

8 Red XIII’s Tattoo Fake Out

Over the course of the story, Cloud and his party come across several different hooded men with tattoos on their arm. They turn out to be failed Sephiroth clones, sharing an intimate connection with SOLDIER and greatly hinting at the truth of Cloud’s backstory. That said, players won’t suspect Cloud is a Sephiroth clone right away because of one line.

During Cloud’s Nibelheim narration, Red XIII will muse on the fact that he has a tattoo– wondering if he’s a clone as well, if he’s truly himself. This never comes back up again, but it’s solid red herring that keeps Cloud looking more put-together than he actually is.

7 Aerith & Cloud Were Never Going To Happen

Aerith’s death is one of gaming’s greatest tragedies, and that it happens in such a raw, realistic manner really sells it home. What’s especially upsetting about her death is how it puts an end to Cloud and Aerith. The two have incredible chemistry, and losing Aerith fundamentally breaks Clous. But as much as he may have loved her, it was never going to happen.

During their Gold Saucer date, Aerith alludes to the fact that she sees right through Cloud. She understands that on some level what she’s attracted to is the fact that he’s parroting Zack, her first love (though she naturally can’t know how or why.) Aerith still wants to get to know the real Cloud, but the fact he shuts her out without saying a word ensures she never can.

6 Cloud & Barret’s Friendship

Cloud and Barret don’t start off on the best of terms, in large part due to Cloud’s complete & total apathy towards a dying planet and the regime that’s bleeding it dry. Cloud’s lack of ideology understandably infuriates Barret, but the deeper Cloud gets in AVALANCHE and the more personal the story becomes, the two do start to bond.

The scope of Cloud and Barret’s relationship is best seen by keeping Barret in the party. The two joke around and while Barret teases Cloud quite often, it’s clear that he cares about him– especially when Cloud goes catatonic and Barret reflects on everything he wants to tell & show him.

5 Cait Sith’s “Death” & “Rebirth”

Given how close Cait Sith’s death happens in proximity to Aerith’s– and by extension his revival– it’s easy to brush off the character’s “demise” as a cheap way of pulling on the player’s heartstrings. But that’s only on a first playthrough, as replaying the game knowing who Reeve actually is reframes this scene.

Cait Sith’s death is purely symbolic. He’s dying to save his party and in-turn rejecting everything he’s built at Shinra. When Cait Sith is brought back into the plot, he’s very much a proper member of the core cast now, no longer beholden by his ideological attachments to Shinra since his “rebirth.”

4 Aerith Probably Didn’t Want To Die

It’s easy to reason away that Aerith had or even wanted to die. Her death ends up playing an instrumental role in Sephiroth’s defeat, and she even willingly leaves the party to fulfill an unspoken duty. That said, Aerith doesn’t leave without ensuring the party she will return. More importantly, Tifa outright comments on the fact that Aerith was the party member who most often mentioned the future.

When it comes down to it– regardless of any mysticism the Remake applies to Aerith– she was a normal young woman who very likely did not want to be suddenly killed by Sephiroth mid-prayer. Aerith certainly understood her mortality better than she led on, but dying young probably wasn’t on her radar.

3 Finishing Side Quests Without Cloud

Although the main party can be customized at most points, Cloud is the fixed party leader for virtually all of the game. Only in a few key sections does the point of view switch from Cloud to his companions. Notably, when Cloud goes catatonic during the Huge Materia arc, player control swaps over to Tifa and then Cid.

As players have access to the entire overworld at this point, it’s actually possible to complete side quests without Cloud. Humorously, both Tifa and Cid have unique dialogue for just about every side quest that can be accessed at this point– including recruiting Yuffie.

2 The Logistics Of Cloud & Tifa’s Love Scene

Cloud and Tifa share a romantic scene near the end of the game where it’s heavily suggested they were physically intimate– so long as players have a high enough romance value with Tifa. Final Fantasy VII actually keeps tracks of romance values for Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, & Barret. Aerith has the highest value by default, meaning players actually need to nurture their relationship with Tifa for this scene.

Those who frequently keep her in the party and respond positively to her will watch the aforementioned love scene play out. A similar scene will play out if Tifa’s romance value is too low, but it’s considerably less romantic with no sexual subtext.

1 Control, Cloud, & Interconnectivity In Gaming

Video games can connect with audiences on a deeper level than any other medium, and it’s all thanks to control. Final Fantasy VII uses control remarkably well, and it’s no coincidence that Cloud is locked as the main playable character for so much of the game. This is ultimately his story, and the player is forced to control Cloud at uncomfortable points (almost killing Aerith) while losing control at pivotal moments (his psychological breakdown.)

Cloud’s arc is about gaining agency and coming into his own as a person– something that translates wonderfully when the player must engage with that interconnectivity at the center of Cloud’s development. This all comes to a head during the final battle where, in a mirror to their boss fight together, Cloud is in full control while Sephiroth can’t so much as hurt him.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/final-fantasy-7-small-details/

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