Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

[Guest clintcasey]

Look Robots, if you didn't make it to the end of Disc 1 than you missed the biggest most important plot twists in the whole game.

***The rest if this post is marked for spoilers***

First let me just say this, Cloud's retelling of the flashback scene in the inn after everyone escapes from Midgar dosn't happen exactly the way that Cloud says it happened.

Alright here is the deal in a nut shell. When cloud was just becomming a teenager he left his hometown to try to join SOLDIER who are basicly Shin-ra's Elite Fighting Force. Saying that your a member of Solider is basicly like claiming that you where Navy Seal, maybe even a little better. When Cloud was young he was always the strongest kid in the village or at least he thought he was. He grew up basicly thinking that he was a bad ass and that he was better than everyone else and he told everyone back home that he'd make into SOLDIER.

But then something happened. When he made tryed to become a member o SOLDIER he was too weak to actualy go threw the process and make it in. Instead of becoming a member of the Shin-ra's Elite fighting force he instead ended up having to become just an ordinary Shin-Ra Soldier.

A few years later when the mission to Cloud's Hometown happens Cloud was actualy present at the mission along with Sephiroth, but there was another Member of SOLDIER who was present too, Zack. Zack was everything that Cloud had ever wanted to be. Because of this when Cloud got home he never took his Shin-Ra gear (including the helmet) off in public. Even though it was his home town and there where people there, including Tifa, who he hadn't seen in years he was so ashamed of himself for not making it at a member of SOLDIER that he refused to let anyone other than his mother know that he was back in town.

Later Sephiroth goes crazy and kills almost everyone in the Village. With the village in flames Zack met with Tifa's sensai (the guy who'd taught her to fight) and he ran into a burning building to try to save someone.

Tifa followed Sephiroth up to the Mako Reactor first and he cut her down quickly and was wounded very badly.

Then Zack made it to the Mako Ractor next. In the game he ran past Tifa as she lay wounded on the reactor floor going strait after Sephiroth. He fought with Sephiroth just after he'd taken Jenova's head, but Zack was no match for Sephiroth and after a short battle Zack was incapacited.

Thats when Cloud finaly shows up. When Cloud first arrives he removes his helmet and helps moves Tifa to safety and at the time Cloud though Tifa was dead. Then he went after Sephiroth. While Sephiroth was making his way towards the exit of the mako Ractor over the pipes Cloud gets in his way to stop him. In the game it happens like this:

Cloud stands infront of Sephiroth. Sephiroth expecting an easy kill impales Cloud threw the chest with his sword. Cloud having just witnessed the death of his Village and his best friend grabs Sephiroth's Sword by the blade while its still impaled in his chest and with an amazing amount of strenght that Sephiroth was not expected he pryed the sword way from Sephiroth's hands. In shock Sephroth fell into the bottom of the Mako Reactor and into the Planet's Life Stream.

Cloud lost Conciousness at this point.

Shortly thereafter Tifa's Sensei shows up and carries her off to safety in Midgar.

After that a recovery team lead by Hojo shows up and Cloud and Zack are both carried off the Neimbleheim mansion to be used for Experiments. Most speicifly they where both turned injected in Jenova's cells and turned into Sephiroth Clones. The process to turn someone into a Sephiroth Clone is actualy the exact same process used to turn someone into a Member of Soldier. Cloud wasn't strong enough to stand the process and it badly affected his memmory which is why when he tells the story at the Inn its all broken up at parts. Most specificly the parts that are broken up are the events that happened to him specificly that he was trying to remember.

Cloud and Zack stayed in statsis for nearly 5 years. Shortly before the events of Final Fantasy VII takes place though Zack was finaly able to regain his senses. He managed to escape Neimbleheim mansion, where he regained his sword and he took Cloud with him. (Thats right, you remember the big huge ass sword that Cloud uses. Thats not Cloud's sword, that's Zack's sword.)

***The next spoiler has to do with this game specificly***

Anyhow Zack decided to take Cloud with him and go the two of them where going to go to Midgar. Why Midgar you ask? Because that is where Zack's old girlfriend Areis lives, (thats right the same Aries from the game). The journey to Midgar was very difficult. The whole trip Zack had to constantly fight off attacks from Shin-Ra Soldiers AND the Turks while at the same time carring Cloud uncouncious with him on his back! To pass the time Zack told Cloud stories about all the things that had happened to them at the villiage and the Mako Reactor. This is where most of Cloud's information of what happened at Neimblheim and the Reactor came from. In his altered state of mind Cloud began to transfer himself in place of Zack during all of his memmories about the what happened. Zack also tells him about what he plans to do once they make it to midgar (he basicly wanted to become a mercinary) and Zack's plans end up becomming Cloud's plans.

Zack almost manages to make it Midgar too, but a few miles outside of the city he finaly is gunned down by Shin-ra after a long fight litteraly accross 2 continents. The Shin-ra Soldiers who finaly managed to gun them down see Cloud still uncouncious. They call in to tell their supiors that they'd managed to finaly kill both of their Targets and they leave Cloud for dead. Afterwards Cloud regains conciousness, takes Zack's sword, and travels the rest of the way into Midgar on his own where he's found by Tifa.

And that in a nutshell is why Zack is so important to the story. Everything from Aries' initial attraction to Cloud, to his scrambled memmories. Practicly every part of the main plot hinges on what Zack was able to do.

And yes Zack was in Advent Children very briefly. He was the guy who was standing next Aries towards the end.