1/2 Hi! What's Your Opinion About Aerith's Resolution Scene? It Feels Like Most Of Fans Are More Interested

Parallel #1

花言葉は再会

Angeal always bothers me and idk how to word it!! Not sure your take on why or what you see with his character in general but I'd love to know bc this has been bothering me forever

so this got. a little more heated than i thought it would. sorry anon lmao

angeal stans this is your warning!! nice things are not said under the cut

so angeal exists in the narrative to be the dead mentor figure so we feel bad for zack and to infodump a little about his and genesis's pasts in the beginning so genesis gets a modicum of development as well. he also does some obligatory passing on of his legacy of soldier honor and morals to zack so zack has a clear model to follow and we as the audience can see his growth from somewhat careless and cocky to a little more serious and driven after angeal's death. on a deeper level, angeal also exists as a counterpoint to genesis's and sephiroth's respective models of heroism, where (simply put) angeal's is staying true to a code of honor to protect the people, genesis's is being recognized by the public for heroic deeds, and sephiroth's is manufactured success and perfection in performance

and like, crisis core shows that each of these models doesn't work. in the case of angeal, his rigid adherence to a code of honor to remain morally pure leads to his downfall. especially with the circumstances of his death-- like, death before dishonor is an incredibly strong concept in japanese culture, but it's pretty clear in cc that what angeal does in forcing zack's hand is somewhat backwards in logic. like, where was this revelation that he was hurting people back in the middle of the war with wutai where he was literally destroying people’s villages and livelihoods vs. now when the war is literally over and he isn’t actively hurting people?? but. whatever. sure, let's assume this was the turning point that finally made him realize what he’s done in the past

but even then he doesn't solve anything, he doesn't try to help anyone despite that being basically his motto, he just gives up because he himself doesn't fit into his strict worldview-- if he isn't the hero he thought he was, then he must be a monster, and he can't be tolerated to exist. angeal quite literally shatters under the weight of his morals

there's also the issue of the story from his childhood, which is supposed to show his character as honorable à la "honor can exist in unconventional ways" but. it fails to establish him as such imo. it's like, you're too proud to accept help so you're gonna steal from people instead? and not even the rich people because one of them is your friend?? like there's a difference between being honorable and being too proud, especially if part of your motto is to protect others. it feels like a weird blend of capitalist work ethic + robin hood-esque imagery while missing the part where robin hood didn't actually steal solely because he was poor, he stole because fuck rich people and so he could help other poor people. you know. by giving them the handouts angeal is apparently too proud to accept

he's just a huge hypocrite, which makes his lectures on honor and pride feel all the more sanctimonious. he tries so hard to keep the moral high ground that the moment he comes up against something that actually tests his self-perception, he just shrugs and goes "guess i'll die". i feel like that was the entire point of how crisis core wrote him, especially given the role the buster sword plays in symbolizing his honor (aka use it or lose it), but the overall fandom tends to treat him as objectively the best of the firsts, like this bitch didn't just nosedive into drama queen territory just as quickly as the other two. i think @ladylokiofmidgard put it best when she said he has the moral backbone of a chocolate éclair

like angeal is as bland as white bread but somehow manages to singlehandedly piss me off more than any other character in the compilation. i could go on more but this post is already too long as it is

anyways. angeal was wrong. the buster sword is a metaphor for his failure to uphold his own philosophies relative to the people who inherited it. fight me

Sephiroth:

Mass murderer

Child soldier

Lab experiment

Demigod

Enemy of humanity

Actual child

Monopoly host

High school student

Uninvited Smash attendee

Udon salesman

Impossible to take seriously anymore

FFVII Remake Easter Eggs and compilation continuity - Part 5: ON THE WAY TO A SMILE

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Jessie: I make a mean pizza, I’ll have you know! Marche, luche, black milly, red shelly - I use only the best ingredients! Sound good?

Cloud: Never heard of any of that stuff.

A NEW BAR 

Some months after Meterofall, Barret, Tifa and Cloud opened a new bar in Edge.

Barret: I guess...we’ll build another bar.

Tifa: Yeah. We will. You’ll help too, won’t you?

Cloud: For a price.

DENZEL

Cloud found Denzel, an orphan in need affected by Geostigma, in front of Aerith’s church and decided to bring him home. In remake Aerith used to visit an orphanage placed near her house, in Sector 5.

BARRET’S MISSION

After Metorfall and the defeat of Shinra, the world lost its primary energy source and got plagued by Geostigma. Barret embarked on a journey to amend for his sins and he finally resolved to do it by finding a new energy source and so help people start a new life. 

You’re lying to yourself, even now. (...) Picture it! Picture a world without Shinra. Without Mako energy. A stagnant, impotent world. Now picture a natural disaster. Who would help the people? Help to recover and rebuild? You? With their old world ruined, will they thank you for the new?

MEMORIES

After being killed at the end of FFVII, Sephiroth tied his existence to Cloud’s memories, creating a bond between them.

Were the planet to die, so many things would be lost. (...) That which binds us together would be no more. And I would be loath to live in such a world. 

(...)

Our world will become a part of it...one day. But I...will not end. Nor will I have you end. (...) The edge of creation. Cloud, lend me your strength. Let us defy destiny...together.

GUILT

In the OG Tifa doesn’t show much hesitation about AVALANCHE methods and the regret for the victims of Sector 7 is just slightly mentioned a couple o times, while that’s one of her major traits in the Remake. This characterization comes from Episode Tifa, that fully explores her feelings about her past actions and their consequences. 

A whole lotta mormal people with families and friends work for Shinra. People just trying to support their loved ones as best they can. I know it's not exactly a revelation, but... It's easy to forget.

Hi! I see many FFVII fans having great difficulties to accept Crisis Core as a legit canon entry of the compilation. Many of its scenes are often dismissed as fanservice or lazy copy&paste of the OG, and many lament that this game ruined the personalities of the characters. What do you think about it? Thanks!

Thanks for the ask!

I often think of this quote from one of my favorite shows, and even in the case of evaluating entertainment, I wish people would often think about this in how they move forward in discussions:

“If you stop seeing the world in terms of what you like and what you dislike, and saw things for what they truly are in themselves—you would find a great deal more peace in your life.”

— Patrick Jane, The Mentalist S2Ep.6

Without trying to sound too dismissive of people's free opinions, a lot of this type of commentary either doesn't come from a good, foundational understanding of canon or a more clearer-headed, objective understanding of the content within and of itself. Especially with the perspective of the writers and what they essentially wanted to achieve. The idea of everyone having their own personal takes is the way of being human, but once we enter discussions online, this becomes more like a plague that spreads and creates/shapes even more misunderstandings.

I've seen many things over the years so I can't exactly pinpoint everything, but the most direct is that there's no point in time where Crisis Core hasn't been a legitimate, canonical entry in the FFVII canon. There isn't any room for debate on that if we're talking about the FFVII canon as seriously as possible—you'd be having a laugh otherwise. Now, the evaluation of its actual materials? That's just the difference in why people say the things they do, spectrums between agendas, personal feelings, or inclinations with trouble accepting things that otherwise would cause them conflict. We can't allow these things to dismiss our understanding of storytelling, to dismiss the fact that, while a multitude of things can be included in any content that is simply there to be entertaining, this doesn't always reflect its actual nature in regards to canonicity, or to dismiss the prospects that the Compilation isn't just extra stories of the FFVII, but is a DEVLEOPMENT of the world first established—we need to be able to look at the growth and application of this content from a practical perspective, and if we're having discussions, try to be a bit more objective when making a point to another. The game sure isn’t perfect, in whatever standard that could ever be, but the conclusions reached like you mentioned are by people who don’t help things get done. Calling the game "fanservice" or disregarding intentional parallels as "lazy copy & paste" without looking at the context of WHY it was made—we're not going to get anything done.

That's why certain discourses in this fandom, lasting decades long, doesn't get done, and never will until people change the way they think about things and why.

This might be the cutest FF VII lore fanart I've ever seen

oopsie, sketched some quick ff7 stamps bc i thought the idea of shinra making Stamp stamps was silly, and then i just had a great time playing crisis core reunion so here we are!!

so annoyed i couldnt remember if there is any unique identifiable flora to nibelheim, so i just decided cloudberries would be a good substitute since they are a) pretty damn hardy, b) punny and c) very tasty. these are based on stamps i vaguely remember from childhood, very cool!! :)

Now I can officially say my birthday falls on Final Fantasy VII day 🥳

I’ll be going now. I’ll come back when it’s all over.

Wutai: etymologies and possible real-life references

As suggested by my profile pic, Remake Yuffie stole my heart. The DLC made a great job introducing her and giving her deep characterization and motivations for the following parts of the story. I have no doubt Wutai is going to be great, and I had a lot of fun trying to find the possible sources behind the creation of Yuffie's homeland, anyway, I'm not a sinologist nor an expert of eastern religions, so everything in this post has to be taken with a grain of salt.

The following post has been inspired by this post by@allsortsoflicorice and the following TLS thread (thanks!).

-

Wutai (ウータイ) is an island state in the far west of the FFVII world map. It had always been a proud and powerful nation, and when Shinra Electic Power Company menaced to establish its economical domain with the installment of Mako reactors on its soil, the nation wadged a war that lasted several years. In 0001, after the capture of Fort Tamblin, Wutai's leader Godo Kisaragi finally surrendered to Shinra and Wutai became a mere touristic attraction, even if resistance cells continued their work and became affiliated with Avalanche.

The village stands at the base of a mountain, immersed in a wide forest and crossed by a river. The architecture of the buildings is inspired by real-life far East style and there's a big statue of a local deity carved on the side of the mountain facing the village.

Wutai is the homeland of Yuffie Kisaragi. In the original FFVII, since Yuffie was an optional character, also Wutai was an optional and perfectly skippable location, nonetheless many cultural references were mixed to create this beautiful place.

Moreover, I think we can expect Remake Wutai to have a more influent role in the FFVII universe, since the shape of a pagoda already appeared in Aerith's mural painting, between Cosmo Canyon and the Cetras.

Final Fantasy games are well known to be based on a heterogeneus mix of cultural influences, from Polytheistic to Monotheistic religions and myths, up until Eastern religions and phylosophies that are especially prominent in Wutai.

One of the main themes of FFVII is the cycle of life, symbolized by the Lifestream as both the physical and metaphysical place where souls merge together and allow the rebirth of new life forms in a neverending cycle. This theme is reminiscent of the concept of Saṃsāra, originated in India and then exported to the far East lands through Buddhism (e.g. Melphie's pinwheel hair-clip could symbolize this theme).

Buddhim in particoular seems to have been a great source of inspiration for the creation of this amazing location.

-

Wutai is the real toponym of a Chinese holy mountain, referring to its uncommon shape and it is one of the four sacred mountains in Chinese Buddhism (and Taoism). Interestingly enough there's an old legend about this mountain that involves the King of Dragons.

To provide context, dragons are sacred creature in Eastern folklore. Most of oriental dragons stem from the Chinese version, called Long, traditionally depicted as a snake-like creature with four legs and/or wings. Unlike their western counterparts, Longs are benevolent beings, associated with power, good luck, fertility and rain. They use to dwell in rivers, lakes, seas, they roam the skies and control weather ("Raya and the last dragon" provides good and simple examples of this folkloristic creatures and their legendary powers).

It's not farfetched to see the nod between the Dragon King and the presence in FFVII Wutai of Leviathan, a dragon-like summon that could be achieved in the OG after completing the Pagoda side quest, and that serves as Wutai guard water-deity.

Leviathan was introduced for the first time in the franchise in Final Fantasy II as a monster, while with Final Fantasy III it became a recurrent Summon associated to water, often known as "Sea King" or "Lord of all Waters". The name comes from the homonymous demoniac creature, a fearsome evil sea serpent of the Middle Eastern mythology that symbolizes chaos. FFVII Leviathan preservs just the name of this biblical reference but embodies perfectly the iconography and symbolism of Chinese Longs. Indeed the village is built on a big river.

(from the Fort Tamblin section of Crisis Core: Leviathan fountain on the left, and Wutais banners, depicting a serpentine creature wrapped around a sword, on the right)

As we said before, there's a huge sculpture carved in the side of the mountain facing the town, called "Da-Chao statue", a water deity.

It's hard to establish the real etymology of its name, since it's written in katakana (ダチャオ), but it could come from the chinese

This word exists also in Japanese (pronounced oosho) and it could be roughly translated also as "big tide" (spring tide is a phenomenon occurring twice a month during full moon and new moon, when Earth, Sun and Moon are aligned, affecting tide's range that reaches its maximum). Worth noting that Leviathan can perform "Tidal Wave".

The statue is also formed by four figures. It could be a loose reference to the myth of the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas: during a period of drought the four dragon managed to make it rain without the permission of the Jade Emperor, so he punished them imprisoning them all under a mountain, where the dragons decided to turn themselves in rivers.

The group has to use the "Scales of the Sea God" (or Leviathan scales) to extinguish the fire in the cave on Da-Chao mountain, and the item can only be found in Junon underwater reactor, which could refer to the legendary Dragon King that lived in an underwater palace.

Alternatively, since the central statue has four arms (six in the pagoda version), it could be a refernce to a Buddhist guard deity called Mahakala (derived from the Hindu Shiva). Notably, this deity is associated - at least in China - with sexuality and fertility, and Don Corneo made his last despicable attempt to choose a girl between Elena and Yuffie on this statue.

From Ultimania Omega: in the guest room there's a painting representing four Buddhist figures and a six-arm deity in the middle.

Among the enemies that can be found on Mount Da-Chao, there's Garuda (ガルーダ) a Hindu and Buddhist creature, while in Crisis Core there's another set of recurrent enemies called "Vajradhara", related to Buddhism as well, while the Wutaian organization "Crescent Unit" could refer to the lunar phases and so be linked to the aforementioned meaning of Da-Chao.

-

During the pagoda side quest, after which the the group receives Leviathan summon materia, Yuffie is forced to fight five warriors, one for each stage of the building.

The names of these fighters probably come from the names of western playwrights, with the ecception of Yuffie's father, whose name is anyway related to theatre:

Gorkii -> Maxim Gorky

Shake -> William Shakespeare

Chekhov -> Anton Chekhov

Staniv -> Constantin Stanislavsky

Godo -> Godot

In Japanese, each one of them has a different way of speaking.

This odd relation with theatre could be explained by the fact that the chinese word "wutai" (same tones) can be written in two different ways:

The word 舞台 (butai) in Japanese specifically means "theatre stage" or "theatre setting".

The inspiration for this part of the game could be the traditional Japanese Noh theatre. Usually Noh plays are composed of five standalone pieces selected from five different categories, and many of the plays include shapeshifting creatures.

As stated before, Godo is the only fighter whose name is not that of a playwright but a fictional character, Godot. It could be linked to the fact that the word ゴドー in Japanese is homophone to 悟道, a Buddhist term referring to the path to the enlightment.

As a boss, Godo becomes a monster that, in my opinion, is a reference to Asuras, Hindu demigods with three faces and four arms that appear also in Buddhism. In the latter, it is traditionally told that Asuras were dismissed by the heavenly world they shared with gods, which could be a loose reference to Wutai losing the war (in this case "Godo" could be linked also to the English "God").

-

Finally: Yuffie Kisaragi.

Yuffie is not a real name, especially not a Japanese one since the sound fi doesn't exist in that language. The only real-life connection I could find is a very similar Chinese female name, Yufei 雨霏, whose meaning is something like "happy even though it rains", which fits her personality.

Kisaragi is often mistankenly translated as February but in reality 如月 was the old name for the second month of the Japanese lunar calendar that, traditionally, marked the beginning of spring.

I'm totally clueless about the meanings of Melphie and Sonon's names.

-

Sadly I haven't found any hint about what could be the origin of Da-Chao beans, nor any further reason behind the name of "Fort Tamblin" (タンブリン->tambourine).

If anybody has suggestions or corrections they'll be very well appreciated!