Queen's Blood (Final Fantasy Thread)

[Skummy]

Wall Garden and original game spoilers;

Spoiler

I've finally got to Honeybee Inn, and while it's not quite as bonkers as it used to be - and the gym in Wall Garden is slightly less insane and homoerotic - I'm glad they kept in some of the sheer weirdness of what's going on in the other rooms, particularly seeing Palmer through the keyhole. Made funnier here because there's been no indication yet who Palmer is.

I was disappointed that, unlike in the original, there wasn't an incongruous Cait Sith doll in the room with him - and I only then figured out, 20+ years too late, why that doll was there in the first place. Reeve, even before his full blown face turn, is opposed to a lot of what Shinra are doing, and he's the brains behind Cait Sith. It's a recording device, to get dirt on whichever Shinra executives stay at the Inn. 

 

[Your Mom]

On 18/04/2020 at 18:15, Ollie said:

I hate him.

Spoiler

The kid who sells you items for Moogle Medals? You...you're a monster!

 

[Ruki]

33 minutes ago, Skummy said:

Wall Garden and original game spoilers;

  Hide contents

I've finally got to Honeybee Inn, and while it's not quite as bonkers as it used to be - and the gym in Wall Garden is slightly less insane and homoerotic - I'm glad they kept in some of the sheer weirdness of what's going on in the other rooms, particularly seeing Palmer through the keyhole. Made funnier here because there's been no indication yet who Palmer is.

I was disappointed that, unlike in the original, there wasn't an incongruous Cait Sith doll in the room with him - and I only then figured out, 20+ years too late, why that doll was there in the first place. Reeve, even before his full blown face turn, is opposed to a lot of what Shinra are doing, and he's the brains behind Cait Sith. It's a recording device, to get dirt on whichever Shinra executives stay at the Inn. 

 

Oh snap!

[Skummy]

Chapter 20/21 spoilers (and two decade old spoilers for the original game);

Spoiler

I wasn't planning on guessing too much at the plot changes, but a couple of things in this section have triggered it for me, so here's some rambling leading to probably wildly off the mark guesses

• The way they've portrayed Aerith - which I've loved - is of someone who, not necessarily consciously, knows more than she's letting on. That's fitting - she always felt like she was at peace, her death in the original is weirdly calm as if she fully expected it to happen, or at the very least knew it needed to happen in order to allow Holy/her control of the Lifestream to finally see off Meteor/Sephiroth.
   
• Two lines of dialogue just now on the way back to Sector 7 - Tifa asked Aerith what she knew/wasn't saying, as if she knows that Sector 7 is doomed, and Aerith responded shortly after with "the future isn't set in stone, that's what I always tell myself". That sounds like someone either already aware of their own future and trying to convince themselves otherwise, or it sounds like a huge red flag that something major is going to happen to alter the plot as we know it.
   
• Sephiroth showing up earlier is unusual, though not at odds with the original game - we're just seeing more of Cloud's visions/freakouts than we did first time around. What's odd is that Cloud has "flash-forwards" of The Reunion, and of the Materia falling from Aerith's hair after her death. Are these premonitions or something else?
   
• Very early on, Biggs (or someone else, I think it was Biggs, but it may have been Barret) explained that Mako contains people's memories. Could this be a cyclical thing and, rather than premonitions, we're seeing Cloud's memories, but somehow the memories belong to a different Cloud? I'm loath to explain plot developments in anything with "alternate timeline" if I can help it because it always feels like a cop-out, and is the explanation offered for just about anything in any sci-fi media whether warranted or not, but it would be an effective way for this way to stake its territory and say, "even if you've played the original game 20 times, think you know exactly what's going to happen - it's a new timeline, so anything could happen". Are the mysterious spectres trying to direct your travel, forcing you to stick to the right sequence of events?
   
• The reason I've dwelled on the Aerith-based premonition and not The Reunion is that I don't think The Reunion necessarily is a premonition. In my understanding of the plot, there's nothing unusual about Cloud having visions of The Reunion before it's happened. 
  My understanding/interpretation of the plot of Final Fantasy VII is that you spend a very small portion of the game actually pursuing Sephiroth, and only actually physically encounter Sephiroth in the Northern Crater, never before. That's where Sephiroth's physical body lies dormant, and has done for years, so you can't have seen him prior to that. What you see instead is either some kind of astral projection, or a manipulation of the many Sephiroth "clones" (I never liked this terminology!) to appear as Sephiroth and deliver his messages to you. In essence, every time you encounter "Sephiroth", what you're really seeing is a part of Jenova - hence why every time (in the original game) "Sephiroth" attacks you prior to the Crater, you actually end up battling Jenova.
  
  While Cloud believes that he is chasing Sephiroth out of revenge, he's been subject to Mako experimentation and Jenova cells as well, so just like every other clone he is being drawn to sight of the Reunion, for Jenova to once again become one. So him having a vision of The Reunion in this game, before the Reunion happens, could really be the Jenova cells within him wanting that, dragging him towards it. Perhaps the reason Cloud is drawn to the Crater out of revenge is because, having had a traumatic encounter with Sephiroth in his past, that's how the desire to move towards the Reunion manifests in him. Every time we see a freak-out/flashback/vision from Cloud, it's his real self coming into conflict with that Mako/Jenova construct, which has also consumed some of his memories to create the false past necessary to drive him towards his "revenge" quest. 
  
  I've rambled enormously on that one, it's not particularly relevant to this point of the game, and I've probably not made it very clear. It's well over a decade since I've had to really formulate that point.
   
• Ultimately, something's coming which is going to make this story deviate from the original, and at least one character in the game knows.

 

 

[Skummy]

On 14/04/2020 at 19:12, OctoberRaven said:

 

This is fucking awful, and representative of my least favourite trends in fandom - to ignore the plot as laid out to you, either in text or subtext, to instead look for holes and "truths" that aren't reflected in the story at all. It treats fiction as a series of problems to be solved, and nothing more, at the expense of the actual narrative.

Which is disappointing, because "Who Killed Aerith?" is a good question if you follow my theory that you don't physically encounter Sephiroth himself until later in the game. In some way, it was Jenova that kills Aerith - you face "her" immediately after Aerith's death, after all. So either it's Jenova taking the form of Sephiroth - though the fact you face a piece of Jenova in her own form afterwards suggests otherwise - or another Sephiroth clone appearing as Sephiroth. Jenova perhaps has more reason to kill Aerith too - if she possesses any kind of consciousness, it's plausible that she bears a grudge against the Cetra. Sephiroth shouldn't want Aerith dead, because it's through Aerith's death that she's able to command the Lifestream to save the day.

But on this I could be pressed to agree with the rubbish video in that you could make the argument that Cloud kills Aerith. Not in the smarty-pants "lol, she didn't die from the stabbing, she drowned" bollocks, but in the sense that what is Sephiroth at this point? A projection of Jenova, in some form or another. Cloud is particularly susceptible, having Jenova cells and Mako experimentation and everything else affect him. Could it be that what really happens is Cloud "possessed" by the Jenova/Sephiroth you're pursuing is the one who kills Aerith, presented in his mind as Sephiroth being directly responsible? Aerith remains calm regardless because she knows she needs to die to fulfil her destiny. IIRC, Cloud is the only witness to her death.

[probablyoliver]

Chapter 8 spoilers:

Spoiler

Smashing Rude's glasses only to have him take them off and whip out a brand new pair is the hypest shit I've ever seen in a video game.

Holy shit.

 

[GoGo Yubari]

I cannot tell you the amount of times I've just paused this game with the volume still on and come to my laptop , just sitting here and listening to the music as I browse. I'm just absolutely floored at how well they've pulled this off, the amount of love and care for the source material that's gone into this. I'm only on Chapter 4 (and as someone who loved Jessie in the original and wish we'd gotten more time with her, this chapter and the game's general theater kid take on her are an absolute delight) and I think I'm going to keep going at a fairly slow pace because this doesn't feel like a game I want to rush through at all.

And, spoilers for a plot development for a twenty year game that I can only assume remains the same

Spoiler

I really really don't want to rush my way to the Sector 7 slums and everyone in them getting crushed anyway. There's something quietly devastating about that knowledge; I imagine there are definitely people who are playing this without having played the original who don't know that spoiler and I wonder how they took it.

 

[Skummy]

on that spoiler;

Spoiler

I literally just got to that point last night. Because you spend so much more time with Avalanche, and with the slums in general, than in the original, it's more of a gut punch than it was first time around. 

It's handled brilliantly in this game, though, and I haven't got as far as dealing with the aftermath yet. It's this fantastic combination of tension and crushing inevitability. 

 

[Skummy]

Something I think I just noticed;

Spoiler

It might have just been a trick of the light, but in the most recent vision of Sephiroth, it looks like while he was around Cloud's eyes were blue, rather than Mako green. 

The colour does seem to fluctuate in intensity between blue and green, so it might have been nothing, but an interesting touch otherwise.

I did find it odd that, early on, Jessie referred to Cloud's "baby blues", when other characters remark on them being Mako green.

 

[Skummy]

is it just me, or is a Whack-A-Box way easier on Hard mode than on Easy? It took me quite a few attempts to get up to 30000 on Easy, but just did Hard Mode for the first time and got considerably over 40000 and got all the prizes on my first go. 

[Ruki]

4 minutes ago, Skummy said:

is it just me, or is a Whack-A-Box way easier on Hard mode than on Easy? It took me quite a few attempts to get up to 30000 on Easy, but just did Hard Mode for the first time and got considerably over 40000 and got all the prizes on my first go. 

Is hard mode much harder? Do you get any carry over from the first playthrough?

As for it being easier, probably not. You are probably just better/remember the strategy. 

[Skummy]

some of the boxes maybe take slightly longer to break? 

The main difference is a different layout, and you starting in a different position. But there seem to be more time boxes, and 1500 boxes better spaced out so as to make the most of your time. 

[Ruki]

I'm on chapter 17 I think. This game is so good. Just found out what the ghost things are.

 

Whispers, that seem to try and keep the game on the original game's path. Interesting!

[Ruki]

6 hours ago, Ruki said:

I'm on chapter 17 I think. This game is so good. Just found out what the ghost things are.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Whispers, that seem to try and keep the game on the original game's path. Interesting!

 

Ummmm....

 

Sepheroth basically killing Barret?! And the Whispers keeping him alive?! Holy crap. Attempted alternate timeline!! I think Aerith might live this time...

[Ruki]

This game is now entering bananas territory. I love it. Stupid having to go to sleep.

[Benji]

10 hours ago, Ruki said:

Ummmm....

 

 

  Hide contents

Sepheroth basically killing Barret?! And the Whispers keeping him alive?! Holy crap. Attempted alternate timeline!! I think Aerith might live this time...

 

Spoiler

Oh my sweet summer child, you have fallen into the exact narrative trap they're trying to put you in. You are going to be devastated all over again

 

[Ruki]

I just finished it. I need more!!!

 

I thought I wanted to do the post game stuff, but, eh... it seems like it would be a pain in the butt/grind.

[Benji]

7 hours ago, Ruki said:

I just finished it. I need more!!!

 

I thought I wanted to do the post game stuff, but, eh... it seems like it would be a pain in the butt/grind.

We probably have another 23 years until the sequel, no rush 😅

[Ruki]

Apparently one of the makers of the game is saying that going forward...

the games won't be too different from the original? Doubt.

[Bobfoc]

58 minutes ago, Ruki said:

Apparently one of the makers of the game is saying that going forward...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

the games won't be too different from the original? Doubt.

 

Spoiler

Really, I won't be fussed as long as we get things like the SOLDIER parade, Hojo relaxing on the beach and the slap fight. The biggest part of the appeal for me is seeing what some of the locations look like with modern graphics and level design.