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DLC 2. Final Fantasy VII (1997) Spoilercast | Games Over Plastic
44 Plays1 year ago
The year is 2024 and Midnight has finally played and beaten Final Fantasy VII for the first time ever. The Games Over Plastic crew sit down to have a Spoilercast 27 years in the making.
Does the game hold up? Is it really an all time classic? We get into the game, the world, the story, the characters, the combat and more.
Video version is available at Http://www.youtube.com/@gamesoverplastic
Enjoy!
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Transcript
Introduction and Excitement for Final Fantasy 7
00:01:10
Speaker
and welcome everybody this is games over plastic a buckies podcast welcome back i am midnight and i am joined with my two fellow sons of jennifer first of all we have the man the myth the legend the master platinum trophy hunter soldier first class sean mason how you doing sir
00:01:35
Speaker
doing great, really excited to talk about the OG Final Fantasy 7 as we finally someone here has finally played it for the first time. That's right. Yeah, I played as you can probably tell by the title, I have played Final Fantasy 7 the original for the first time ever in 2024. So I'm only what almost 30 years late, 27 years late, but better late than never.
00:01:59
Speaker
Um, also joined, of course, last but not least by the master of graphics, the indie and live service gaming maestro, the Shinra executive Hodge. How you doing? That's true. I'm a corporate stooge. Uh, one, you, you starting off this podcast, you blew the fuck out of your microphone. It was like, and, uh, and then also, did you pronounce Jenova, Jenova?
00:02:26
Speaker
I don't know how it's pronounced. It's Jenova or Jenova. Well, I blame that YouTube video that I watched because I watched a 23-minute recap of this before we recorded this to refresh my memory. And I swear that dude was saying, like, Jenova. You also said that Red 13 was a cat. He did. He absolutely. Sean, did he not? I mean, Hodge, did he not say he was a cat? He did. Nomura confirmed he's a dog. Yeah, he is a dog.
00:02:53
Speaker
He looks like a dog. When he said that, I'm like, he's not a kid. That's a dog. What are you talking about? He's a big old wolf. You could maybe sell me on that. He's kind of like a saber-toothed tiger, like you said, Hodge. But how are you doing, Hodge? What's up? I'm good. I'm tired. I'm happy. It's a three-day weekend. And I'm excited to talk about this game that, yes, you've put off for way too long, especially being the Japanese, or not Japanese, RPG.
00:03:14
Speaker
The RPG guy that you are, the fact that you put off what's considered one of the best RPGs of all time for this long, it's so funny. But yeah, I'm happy you played it. I'm happy to talk about it. It's such a great game. Sadly, I didn't get to play it before we recorded this, so I just had to do the recap because it's been a while. I last played it in 2020, I think. So it's been a while. So I'm excited to discuss
Personal Experiences with Final Fantasy 7
00:03:40
Speaker
it. I did watch Advent Children recently, though, before Rebirth came out.
00:03:43
Speaker
But other than that, yeah, I haven't I haven't touched the original. So I mean, I'm going to play it again this year. But for now, we're going to talk about it with just from memory. That's right. We just couldn't wait. We wanted to talk about it because it's such a good game, you know. Yeah, I've replayed this game probably. I've definitely played it over 30 times, definitely over 30 because I do a yearly play through now. But when I was younger, yeah, I do a yearly play through every year. I usually do it on time to play Skyrim and stuff. God.
00:04:10
Speaker
Yeah, I usually do it in j- this game's so- oh my god, it's like a- this is like a 20 hour game. Not even.
00:04:17
Speaker
I usually do it in January or February. This year, I definitely did. I did it in January this year. It was like right at the beginning of the year, just because I wanted to get it out of the way before rebirth. But when I was younger, I'd play this game like multiple times a year. I back to back times like I play it once and restarted immediately. God, I love it. I respect it. It is phenomenal. And we're definitely going to get into that. Sean, you want to show off your shirt real quick? We can only see the tie. Yeah. Beautiful shirt. I got the.
00:04:48
Speaker
With the artwork on there, I got Aerith Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Sid, Barrett, Red13, Vincent and Kate Sipp. Wow, you got every, every important character pretty much. Yeah, I was actually kind of upset because I was hoping. So when I do actually I do remember buying the shirt. This is I bought a shirt a long time ago, but I forgot I had it because it was in my drawer. And then I just found it like a couple of weeks ago and I'm like, oh, I got away with some pods.
00:05:17
Speaker
But I remember when I bought it, it was advertised with Sephiroth on the back and when I came in the mail, Sephiroth wasn't on the back.
00:05:26
Speaker
How dare they? But then I ordered other shirts at the same time. So I got six shirts at once. And one of them was a Final Fantasy VI shirt. And it was misprinted where it was supposed to have all the characters in the front in their 16-bit sprites. And that was printed on the back. And the front was blank. And I was like, what? It was the weirdest thing ever. So yeah, I don't buy shirts from them. That's funny. That was the precursor to Wish or something. You were getting those knockoff Chinese shirts.
00:05:55
Speaker
Speaking of shirts that I was surprised and disappointed by the layout, you see my Don't Mess With Texas Bucky shirt here. The reason why this is hanging on my wall is because I thought that was the front of the shirt. I thought that Don't Mess With Texas and the Bucky's was going to be the front. That's the back of the shirt. And on the front, it's just this. You just see the just Bucky, but no words. Just Bucky on a blue shirt. And I was like, eh, I don't really like that. So I just hung it on my wall instead. It's now a poster.
00:06:23
Speaker
But enough about Bucky's, we talk about him too much. Sean's always going on about Bucky, it's crazy. But let's get into Final Fantasy 7.
Availability and Release History
00:06:32
Speaker
First of all, let me just remind everyone, this is Games Over Plastic, the podcast for the agnostic gamers. This is DLC episode number two coming at you in the off weekend.
00:06:42
Speaker
or off Monday. Normally, though, we come to you every other Monday with our regular episodes. Definitely check us out. We are available on all audio podcast services, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Everycast that you can think of. We're on there. Also available in video glory with webcams, graphics, and everything. All the good, fun shenanigans. You get to see my cat freaking out randomly. It's good times. At youtube.com,
00:07:09
Speaker
slash at games over plastic or just search for games over plastic or even better. Since you're listening to my voice right now, look in the description of the audio version. There's a link to the YouTube right there. But that's enough of this. Let's go ahead and hop into Final Fantasy seven. So this was an RPG from Squaresoft. It came out in 1997. It was on the PS one or PS two. PS one. PS one originally was like three years away, dude. Was it?
00:07:36
Speaker
Yeah. Come on. You call yourself a podcaster? Come on. I guess you're right, man. This is a long time ago. Come on now. I'm old, but the memory goes when you get old. I wasn't even two years old. I wasn't even a year old. Never mind. I wasn't even a year old. Sean was a massive Tifa fan in the womb. Yeah, the first Final Fantasy on PlayStation 2 was 10, right?
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah, 10. Yeah, my God. What is there? That's another game we could talk about. Wait, they've actually never finished nine. They dropped eight, nine and ten in three years. They used to drop Final Fantasy used to be like yearly. They did seven and ninety seven, eight and ninety eight, nine and ninety nine.
00:08:12
Speaker
Final Fantasy was 2001. Well, 2000 for Japan, but 2001 for the U.S. It was like a yearly occurrence. Yeah, it was back when a game development was like a year or two long, not seven or eight years. It was like 20 people who made Final Fantasy seven. Yeah, you're saying. And nowadays it takes five to seven years to make a game. Yeah. And yet somehow not. Well, I mean, a lot of studios are lucky to get one game out per freaking console generation at this point.
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah.
First Impressions and Nostalgia
00:08:42
Speaker
And yet somehow we're still drowning in games and like I don't have enough time to play anything because there's too many damn studios now. So it's a new problem. Yeah.
00:08:51
Speaker
But yeah, so let's go ahead and hop into the game, Final Fantasy 7. So let me go ahead and give, first of all, my thoughts of the game, my overall thoughts, and then we'll break it down since this is my first time playing it. These two, my co-hosts here, they challenged me to play it. I had never played it, had to right the wrong. They were like, midnight, you're going to play Final Fantasy 7, and they're going to play Skyrim, which they will do later this year, I assume. I've been playing it. I've put it off for a bit because I've been busy, but I've been playing it.
00:09:17
Speaker
you've been busy yeah um but yeah so i played it and it is absolutely phenomenal i played it on the playstation 5 um i was using the cheats for sure for the combat had to do it i tried the combat by itself the combat i wasn't really feeling that much um but the world the characters and the story as well as the bosses the boss fights even with the cheats um you know you can turn them off i turn them off sometimes um
00:09:42
Speaker
It was just awesome. It was such a good game. I absolutely love it. I see why this game is a masterpiece, 10 out of 10 type game at the time. Like if I was playing this in 97, 2000, I'd probably say this is a 10 out of 10 game because it's just so revolutionary for the scope and everything. It's just crazy, I'd imagine back then. But playing it in 2024,
00:10:02
Speaker
I'm not going to give it a 10 out of 10, but I am going to give it like a 9 out of 10. It was awesome. I freaking loved it. I think I will maybe go back and play it again sometime too. Not every year like Sean, but who knows maybe in like 2026 or something, I'll be a little bit bored and I'll be like, I'm going to replay Final Fantasy 7.
00:10:22
Speaker
But I loved it. It was freaking awesome. And yeah, we're going to talk a whole bunch about it. But let me go ahead and pass this over to the man with the shirt. Sean, what are your overall thoughts and impressions and rating and score and just general thoughts, Final Fantasy VII?
00:10:38
Speaker
I absolutely adore this game. It blew me away when I first saw it. The first time I saw it, it was like 2000. I watched my dad play it. I fell in love with the story. My dad would tell me what's going on in the story. I could read. I wasn't illiterate.
00:10:59
Speaker
And I remember watching him play and then I actually picked it up in like 2003 and played it on PS well I played like the ps1 game on ps2 and that's when I really fell in love with the characters and I blew me away and um just like some of the themes they talk about it. It's really interesting how like you see how like Shinra's posed as like the like the huge bad villain but really like behind the scenes Sephiroth was pulling all the strings with everything trying to take over the world and
00:11:28
Speaker
I absolutely love it. I'm really attached to the characters. I fell in love with Cloud immediately. I used to run around my yard pretending to be Cloud. That was great. I wanted to name our dog Red 13. That was not allowed.
00:11:46
Speaker
I wanted to, though, really badly. And just like everyone. I mean, Kate, if I had a case of plushy as a kid from Japan, that was awesome. Just some of the scenes I can't believe you think about it like like the cross dressing scene in Midgar. Like that came out in 97. Can you imagine that like 1997? Oh, if that came out today, people would be crying like, oh, this is so woke. Yeah, that's why I was shocked. They kept it in remake. Like it was great. It's Japanese. Don't give a fuck about American wokeness.
00:12:16
Speaker
That's good. That's good.
Combat System and Character Dynamics
00:12:20
Speaker
Yeah, good thoughts. Did you have more? I didn't want to interrupt. This is my surface level. We're going to keep talking. We absolutely are. I was going to say, you know why your dad didn't let you name the dog Red 13, right? Oh, no. My dad was on board for it. But who do you think said no?
00:12:37
Speaker
I'm guessing your mom if you're dead. My mom and my sister, my sister wanted to name it Metroid. Well, Metroid. You ruined my joke. Metroid in general. The joke was going to be the reason why they didn't let you is because you mixed the apple jacks with the whatever cereal that he had. Remember? Oh, that was that was long before I did that. That was long before I did that. All right. All right. I was too scared at that point. But yeah, Red 13, the cat.
00:13:02
Speaker
Good character, good character. Yeah. He's a dog. Hodge, what's your high level thoughts and impression and rating if you want to? Final Fantasy 7.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah, I've never like I think I've said this before. I've never really been a turn based RPG person. But this one, ever since I was a kid, I loved it. I like I didn't understand the, you know, really complexities of this game as a kid, obviously, like the whole messaging, you know, kind of like the the pollution kind of stuff and the corporate greed and all like I obviously as a kid that
00:13:33
Speaker
over the head, and you're just kind of like, oh, you're cool little anime characters, attack another anime. But the setting, the story, that kind of steampunk, futuristic, but also ancient kind of mixture. It's such an amazing setting. And then, obviously, growing up replaying it and actually understanding the plot and the complexities of it, it's a really just unbelievable story.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's really the only Final Fantasy that I really adore and have played through multiple times. A lot of other Final Fantasies I've never even finished. I've never finished 15. I've never finished 10. 9 I've actually never played, which I know is a sin. I actually do want to play that one also.
00:14:22
Speaker
And then I played 8S3 that never went back to it, just because it never hit as hard. I always loved Squall. He was a cool character. But I mean, I'm more of the design. I like the gun sword.
00:14:35
Speaker
But yeah, like Final Fantasy seven, like there's a reason why everyone was for years demanding remakes of it and all this because it's like their crown jewel. And so, yeah, I love it. And I was so happy to replay it and then finally get to remake in 2020 and all that. And yeah, I this game, it's really one of the few turn based JRPGs that I can't say enough good things about.
00:15:02
Speaker
Yeah, this is the the combat system is what I really enjoy the combat system in this game, particularly the act. It's like active turn. Basically, you can't just sit there. You'll get killed. And that was a little bit of an final fantasy started with active ATB, basically active turn based combat around Final Fantasy four. And each game kind of evolved on that, which is really cool because, you know,
00:15:25
Speaker
As much as I love, I do love just like a regular turn base where you can take your time and really think about what move you want to do, but sometimes that does get boring after a while and that's what I love about 7. It was awesome. I love the limit gauge. That was new to Final Fantasy 7 was the limit.
00:15:40
Speaker
for the Final Fantasy genre. And it was the first 3D one. And I know people don't like the graph. Some people think the graphics don't hold up. But I like that. Like Hodge had said a few last time we recorded. I like the polygonal figure, especially in Final Fantasy.
00:15:56
Speaker
like the way that they look and the way that they run around in the overworld, I think it's aesthetically pleasing, to be honest. And you had brought up the pollution and everything. Yeah, that flew over my head as a little kid. But then replaying it so many times, I start picking up on it. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is like a meta commentary on the world. And even, you know,
00:16:18
Speaker
playing it 15 years so I came out in 97 playing it in 2012 you can relate to it in 2012 playing it now you can still relate to it it's it's talking about like problems that are still going on and that is what is it was so ahead of its time and that yeah overall it's great oh and the materia system is awesome yeah
00:16:37
Speaker
I loved when Rebirth came out and they had the, you know, like the people who just get paid to be angry on Twitter were like, oh my God, the game went woke talking about pollute. It's like, do you not play it? It's the same thing. Yeah. Did you, Hodge, when you first played it, did you play it before remake, obviously? Did you think it was Mako?
00:17:00
Speaker
I always said Mako, or no. I always said Mako. I always said Mako, always said it growing up. Mako, Mako, Mako. Yeah, I always said Mako. But I definitely didn't say Jennifer. I said Mako. I still kind of say Mako. Is that not what it is?
00:17:17
Speaker
No, it's Mako, which it really threw me off when I first when I first heard like the one of the first trailers for rebate remake and you hear Barrett say Mako. I was like, what? Yeah. Yeah. That's one of the few things I actually did say correctly, because there are so many times when I've read a book or seen a game that attacks that gets remade and they say it different. I'm like, oh, I've been saying this like like when Harry Potter first came out and the movie came out, I thought it was like her miani or something. And it was like, did you really? Yeah.
00:17:44
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. I've never said I'm a smart man. You're smart. Amanda, I do have a question for you. What did you think of, since you've played Remake and Rebirth, what did you think about the locations compared to how they are portrayed in the Remake and Rebirth? Because obviously they're downscaled to probably a tenth of the size, a lot of them.
00:18:06
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good question. Obviously, it was a lot smaller and a lot more abridged, but I greatly enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the polygonal graphics, too. I thought it was beautiful. Even though I'm playing this in 2024, obviously, the graphics are extremely dated. There's this timeless quality to it, almost like a cel-shaded. You know how you look like a cel-shaded game and it looks good no matter when you play it? This kind of almost had that effect because it was crisp and clean, but it was
00:18:34
Speaker
It was just polygonal. It looked like a design choice, even though it wasn't. But it just came off that way. So it was good.
00:18:43
Speaker
Yeah, I was surprised by how short the Midgar section was because, you know, I'm done with Midgar in like two, maybe three hours.
Graphics and Remake Comparison
00:18:50
Speaker
And of course, in the remake, they did a whole 30 hour game, 35 hour game that was basically all Midgar. So I was surprised. Everything was really abridged and condensed. Like when you go to Calm, the city, in the original game, it's literally just like four.
00:19:05
Speaker
four or five buildings in like a circle, I think. Whereas, you know, it's like a whole ass city in, in reunion or whatever, whatever the second one, what was it? When we just played? Rebirth. There's so many our names, man. But yeah, in rebirth, it was like a full ass city. So it was obviously very condensed. You know, on the open map when you're traveling,
00:19:28
Speaker
Most of the open map, you know, because of the times and we're talking about the PlayStation one here, it's mostly just like open green fields. And then you'll see like a building that kind of represents that there's a town there and you just kind of walk into it. So it's kind of condensed and basic, but I really loved it. There was a charm to it. I thought the graphics was timeless. I thought the story was
00:19:48
Speaker
Immaculate the story is so deep. There's even stuff that even after I played so I played remake I played Rebirth and then I played Final Fantasy 7 original all within like a year or two span kinda Well the first the first remake I played probably two years ago, but whatever
00:20:06
Speaker
So I played all these. But there was even stuff that I still kind of missed because when I watched the recap to refresh my memory before we recorded today, there was a couple things that I was like, Oh, yeah, I didn't really connect those two dots there. So like, it's just a very deep story with like, great lore, and it all kind of goes together in this perfect synergy. And like, it all makes sense once you once you connect those dots. But when you're first playing it, you're kind of confused. You don't know what the hell is going on until those dots start to align.
00:20:37
Speaker
But yeah, what did what did you guys think about? Let's go ahead and talk about what kind of bridge off of what you asked me. Let's talk about the graphics, the combat and the world design. What did you guys think about that and how it held up? And just, you know, we kind of already touched on it, but a little bit more if you want. Are you talking about are you talking about like compared to the new ones or just in general, just in general, like, or compared to the new style?
00:21:00
Speaker
Well, because I was going to say with the levels in compared to the new ones, other than, how was it, Gengaga? I hated that open area. Gengaga. But it is really cool to see how much, I mean, even the story on top of the graphics and locations on how much was expanded, like in the original, Dine is, you know, just a very it's just a very minor part of the game that you get through pretty quickly. But that moment, that whole plot line and rebirth was
00:21:27
Speaker
I like teared up at that one because it was so good. And so it was really cool. Obviously, we don't want to do spoilers for these other games. So I'm just going to kind of go with what's in original compared with
00:21:41
Speaker
Obviously, we don't want to talk about the differences in the games, but just the size and scope and what it got expanded on. I remember how you said you were surprised you were only in Midgar for like two hours or whatever. I remember when they announced Remake way back in the day, and they're like, it's going to be a three-parter, and I think they just said it's going to be multiple games. I don't think they confirmed three.
00:22:05
Speaker
But they're like, the first one is going to just take place in Midgard. Everyone's like, you're going to expand a two-hour opening portion of this game into a 40-hour game? That's going to be terrible. And then, of course, it came out. And everyone fell in love with Biggs and Jesse. And by the end of that game, you loved them. And when you lost them, obviously, that happens in the original. In the original, they die. And you're like, OK, bye. And that one, you're like, god.
00:22:34
Speaker
don't want to lose them. And so it was, it's just really cool that the new ones made you love the characters more. So I guess kind of, what would you think about coming from playing those first where you kind of go back and these people who are fleshed out, weren't as fleshed out in this game? Like, how do you, how do you look at this kind of thing?
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, in the original, they definitely don't make you care at all about Jesse or Biggs or or Wedge or whatever, because you only see him for like a split second. So I thought it was cool seeing them again in this game. But yeah, I mean, when they honestly when they died, I didn't really care that much in in this because even though I had experienced them in the older games,
00:23:14
Speaker
You know, I'm playing this game. And in this game, I didn't really know or care about them. And I'm just like, all right, well, they're gone and we're moving on. You know, I was I was trying. I was really excited about getting to the point where it caught up to what I've already played in, you know, in Rebirth or whatever so that I could see what's new. Yeah. Because obviously there are divergent paths and stuff, but I really wanted to get into the whole new story. So that's really what I was looking forward to.
00:23:39
Speaker
You know, yeah, and it gets pretty like it like there's a lot that happens after Aerith, like the all the the Kaiju's and stuff like I can't wait to see how that plays out in the next one, the next remake game. But yeah, that was that was insane. And so you can. Yeah, you can kind of see that Aerith dies halfway through the game or something
Aerith's Pivotal Moment
00:24:01
Speaker
like that. Like she. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's right at the. Yeah, it's like right at the end of what disk disk two would be. Yeah.
00:24:09
Speaker
Yeah, so it's it's it's really cool because that's like the moment everyone remembers. And if you were thinking of it like as a movie, you'd probably think like that's what happens, which leads cloud to killing Sephiroth. But no, there's still 10 more hours a game left after that. And yeah, you still have to go to the entire northern continent continent. Yeah. And yeah, so I'm excited. I'm excited to kind of see how that plays on the new one. But yeah, it's it's a lot of people don't realize how much happens after Aerith in the game.
00:24:36
Speaker
Yeah, I remember. It's funny. I was I was like in my head. I was like, OK, I'm really close to then I'm about to beat this game. I'm like, this is awesome. And, you know, I'm up in the north. I'm snowboarding down the snowboarding minigame down there. I'm doing all this stuff, you know, to get to Sephiroth or whatever. And then all of a sudden it says like end of act two or whatever it was. And it's like start of act three or whatever. And I'm like, what? There's a whole nother act.
00:25:00
Speaker
because the acts were long. And I'm like, Oh, damn. I'm like, I don't I kind of wanted this game to end, even though it was great. You know, even when a game is great, though, you anticipate the ending, you know, you want to have that payoff. So I was like, man, there's a whole nother act, but that third act was real short. You just basically go down in the hole. And what do we want to talk about next, guys, we want to talk about the characters, who's our favorite characters?
00:25:23
Speaker
Let's do that Sean. Why don't you talk to me? I mean I characters I mean clouds if we're sticking with you, right? I mean clouds my favorite character. I really like this whole Backstory as a soldier and everything like that. It's funny though in the original how late into the game you find out that He wasn't actually doing a lot of the things that he said he was doing that He put himself into Zach shoes. Basically you find out so late pretty much
00:25:52
Speaker
probably like three fourths to 80% through the games when you find that out. It kind of delves a lot more until like kind of opened your eyes like oh like what's going on what's what's going on with this in his mind again as a kid that like flew over my mind oh what do you mean he's why he's oh you lied about it but no then you realize like you know he's suffering from you know a lot of PTSD and a lot of you know it could be Mako poisoning
00:26:13
Speaker
a lot of that, but I loved Cloud for just his overall, his growth as a character at the beginning of the game. He's like, he really doesn't care. He's like, oh, I'm here for the money. And then eventually he grows to love, you know, Barrett, Tifa. I mean, he already loved Tifa, but he grows to love his friends and his companions and will go out of his way and do anything for them. So that's why I like Cloud so much. But like I said, I love them all. Wasn't a big fan of Yuffie in the original.
00:26:41
Speaker
I didn't really like her dialogue or any of her. I didn't like that. Do you think it's weird that she's an optional character? Midnight?
00:26:51
Speaker
uh i mean i guess yeah her and vince that are both optional of course i got them because i wanted the trophies um i would have got yuffie regardless because you guys know i love yuffie she's one of my favorite characters in the series um even though you don't like her i think i think she's funny i think she's awesome and i did love that in this one um she is a very optional and a very almost forgettable character in the original because she doesn't have as much uh screen time or voice lines
00:27:14
Speaker
But I did love one thing that she was doing in the original that they obviously carried over to the remake. And she was doing this little fist thing that she does all the time. That's just funny. She's like.
00:27:23
Speaker
I don't know why she does it, but it's funny. I like you for you. He's awesome. She's out there stealing material, man. But yeah, I mean, you always said that a lot of times you didn't even recruit her. Yeah, because you're just kind of speed running the game because it's like your 21st time. Not that I'm not speed running. I try to do like different things. And Yuffie, I never really use in combat unless I absolutely have to. She I don't like her. I she's
00:27:47
Speaker
The way she fights in the combat is so much better in the remake and rebirth, like the newer games, compared to the turn-based. I don't like her turn-based, I don't like her regular attacks. I'm not a big fan of them in the turn-based combat.
00:28:04
Speaker
That's fair. That's fair. Yeah. And in the remake, I think no doubt she's like the best character in the game. Combat wise because of her ability to manipulate all the elements and just hit the weak spots. Um, and she's just so fun how she's warping around, but this, this isn't about the remakes. Um, Sean or Hodge. Sorry. What were you thinking about the characters? What were your, who are your favorites and thoughts?
00:28:26
Speaker
Are you muted, sir? Come on, man. Come on, professional podcasting. There was noise in my house, so I didn't want to get picked up. But I was kind of going to quickly go off of what Sean said of, as a kid, I didn't realize that Cloud was not really lying, but didn't know he wasn't a soldier. I just always assumed he was. And Zach was just his friend. And then when you replay it when you're older, you're like, oh, no, he's lost his mind. And his mind and Zach's mind is just kind of combined.
00:28:54
Speaker
in his head and so that was always awesome and then Tifa I know the thing obviously I had admitted before the pretty much until rebirth I always assumed Tifa and Barrett were married and then you realize clouds in love with her and she's in love with cloud and all that but
00:29:11
Speaker
Yeah. The, uh, the optional stuff is really cool. I always liked, I actually like you kind of the same as you, uh, midnight. I love playing as Yuffie in the remix, but in the original, and I remember saying in our spoiler cast, I didn't really like T fight. I don't like her up close stuff, but when you're doing turn based her pot, her attacks are really good and she's a really good character to play as. So I liked always playing as her.
00:29:34
Speaker
obviously kept, you know, cloud. And then I always liked playing as Vincent because he could transform her to the wolf. And so it was really cool. And I wonder, I'm curious off off the little side tangent of I wonder how that's gonna play out in the next remake. But in terms of this one, yeah, I always every character, Aerith, I kept for a while until she died, just because she was a good healer, especially in a turn based when your characters get, you know, like,
00:29:58
Speaker
Oh crap, if they hit me again, I'm done. So you kind of have to use her as such. Having a healer on the team is a lot better in a turn base than in an action RPG. So I had her in my party a lot. And yeah, I liked every character because even
00:30:15
Speaker
especially replaying it after playing the remakes and stuff you kind of you get that attitude of each character kind of over it but you can even it's still poked through in the old one like everyone just had that same ad like Barrett was still a kind of the gruff like you know kind of
00:30:31
Speaker
explosive guy who's always like a dude you can tell me sounds just like i picture yeah exactly and vincent he's like he's like somber kind of you know down you can tell you the empire yeah you can tell you fees very upbeat and ecstatic so
00:30:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's really they did a great job capturing in the later ones, but yeah all those characters There's not a character like if I the only character I consider kind of forgettable and that I don't think too much about a Sid because like Yeah, like I don't I don't dislike Sid and but I mostly think of him as the guy who who helps you with your gummy ship and Kingdom Hearts like I think of him more in Kingdom Hearts and
00:31:09
Speaker
than in Final Fantasy 7. It's funny you say that because in the Final Fantasy community, Sid from Final Fantasy 7 up until 16, because now Sid from 16 is the best. But Sid from 7 was considered like the GOAT Sid. Yeah. Yeah. Like I don't I don't dislike him at all, of course, but it's just he was always the one I always kind of forgets a party member and I wouldn't use him too much. I used him when I replayed in 2020 because I wanted the achievement of getting everyone some.
00:31:37
Speaker
like powered up limit or whatever camera what it is. But so I used them for that. But yeah, there's not a character I dislike in this. Like it's the same with the story. There's not a part in the story. I just like there's no character. I just like the setting is like I can't. I love this game. It's it is probably a 10 out of 10 for me. And like we talk about the graphics. I love the pixelated over kind of the painterly backgrounds and all that. Like I love it all. And
00:32:05
Speaker
Just yeah, and in the later ones, how everyone's expanded. The only time they're expanded for the worst is Advent Children, but other than that, yeah, there's not a character I dislike in the original, I would say. All right, yeah. I have a question for you, though. Midnight. Sure.
00:32:26
Speaker
Of the locations that we have not seen in remake and rebirth, so that only you've only seen in the original, which one are you looking forward to most seeing expanded? I mean, I'm trying to even remember what they were. I mean, there was the snow area. I don't I don't know if I even went to Wutai when I played the game. I think I somehow missed that. Where was Wutai? What happened?
00:32:50
Speaker
You definitely went to Wutai. You have. Did I? You went to Wutai. Yes. What was Wutai? Which area was she from? I just picked her up in the forest. I don't know. I don't know about Wutai, man. I don't remember anything really about Wutai other than that she's from there. Is that are you sure that's not missable? I don't there. I just sent it in our group chat. That's discord. That's what you'll you'll recognize it right when you look at that.
00:33:18
Speaker
No, I didn't go there. What? I didn't see Wutai. So you have to have because when you recruit Yuffie, you have to go there. No, I didn't go there. I absolutely did not go there and I recruited Wutai. I recruited Yuffie and did not have to go there. What do you mean? OK, well, I'm telling you 100 percent that I know I'm asking you, I'm not. Did you do the all her side quest to?
00:33:46
Speaker
No, I didn't even know she had side quests. Okay. Yeah, there's a side quest you bring her back to Wutai. It's after you get sued. How do you even get a side quest? Did she talk to you? Like, I mean, it's not like it's not like it's not like in remake and rebirth where it like triggers like, Oh, you started this side quest. It's like, you just know.
00:34:04
Speaker
Well, how would I just know? I didn't know. I mean, you talk to her, and then you talk about going back to Wutai, and then you take the tiny Bronco, and you go to Wutai. It's on an island. You probably had the conversation. You just didn't. Dude, there's probably, yeah. There's definitely stuff that I missed, and that's why I said I'm going to go back and replay it sometime.
00:34:23
Speaker
Because I a hundred percent did not go to Wutai I didn't see that that didn't happen for me and that does kind of suck because that would have been cool So apparently there are a couple things that I missed out on still but that's not so bad because that'll give me something fresh for the remake It'll be like DLC, you know, I didn't do like any of the side quests I think I just kind of stuck to the main quest like they're like, okay go here. Okay. Go here. Okay. We got to go here We got to chase Sephiroth now. He's over. He said it this way I just kind of followed like the the golden path. So there's probably some missions and areas that I missed unfortunately
00:34:55
Speaker
Yep, shame on me. But I'll make that right later on when I replay it. It's essentially, you're under the impression when Yuffie joins you, it's under the impression that she's going to leave when she goes to Woota. She isn't like totally committed to you guys. But then you go through the chapter and then she's like, all right, you know what? I'm going to stay with you guys.
00:35:16
Speaker
Yuffie's awesome. I love Yuffie. Yuffie just has this child-like innocence and this wholesome quality about her where she thinks that she's going to save her whole country by stealing all the materia to give the materia to her country and power them up or whatever. And I don't know. I just like that. I just think she's very wholesome and very cool. And her combat, like we talked about in the remake, is just stellar. It's amazing.
00:35:41
Speaker
So I'm a big Yuffie fan. As far as parties go, transition a little bit. I always made sure that I kept her in my party just because I like her as a character. I kind of rocked the same party that I did in the remake. I rocked Cloud, Barrett, and Yuffie. That was like my main three fighting. I will say,
00:36:03
Speaker
since we're talking about characters. You know how I was really big about how Aerith is the best girl. Oh, Aerith is so good in the remake. That's not the case in the original at all. I feel like one area where the original game kind of falters a bit is character development.
00:36:21
Speaker
It doesn't do it nearly to the extent that the remake does, obviously. I feel like I barely cared about Aerith at all. Maybe I missed her side quest, I don't know. But there wasn't much relationship or character building between Cloud and Aerith at all in the original for me. And there even wasn't too much with Tifa, but there was definitely more with Tifa. So I liked Tifa a lot more in the original.
00:36:46
Speaker
than I did Aerith. It's funny you say that because you know you got to think about like the time it came out in 1997.
Character and Antagonist Exploration
00:36:53
Speaker
At the time this was considered like insane character development for these characters compared to the other JRPGs that were coming out around the time. I mean think about it you have to go back and look at Final Fantasy VI which came out in Super Nintendo, Final Fantasy IV in the US, but this was like the way that they developed some of these characters
00:37:11
Speaker
was light years ahead of what they did with Final Fantasy VI. Final Fantasy VI, yes, you had some... I don't want to spoil that. There was a ton of characters in Final Fantasy VI, but it was like a mile wide and an inch deep in character development outside of a select few characters.
00:37:30
Speaker
This would greatly expanded it. So you got to think about it in the time Obviously when you compare it to remake and rebirth they do such a such better job at expanding it obviously I think side quests like having Side quests that you can actually track and it you know, it indicates to you. Hey, you're starting this side quest will help a lot more Because back then there were side quests, but again, it wasn't like it wasn't like you weren't tracking you weren't tracking it There wasn't something telling you hey, you just completed this. Here's your reward It was more of the payoff is
00:38:00
Speaker
the dialogue you got from it. So for example, there's certain side quests that if you get it affects later events in the game. Yeah, unfortunately, I definitely missed some good stuff. I'd have to replay it with a guide maybe or something to make sure I don't miss stuff. Because I even miss like, you know how you fight the monsters or whatever, the Kaiju. What were they called in this game, I forget?
00:38:21
Speaker
Um, you know the big the big monsters that protect the planet that come out. Um, I don't remember. Weapon. They were called, right, weapon? Yeah, they're called weapon. Yeah, weapon. So I, I, there's apparently, I think there's like four of those that you were supposed to fight and kill and I only killed like one or two of them. I didn't even fight all of them. So there's definitely stuff on this. You don't have to fight all of them. Yeah. Yeah. The only one you have to is one that's trying to destroy the village while there's comatose cloud or whatever.
00:38:49
Speaker
But the one in the ocean is impossible. Oh, I did fight that one and he wiped my party. Yeah. When I was down there with the submarine. Yeah. Yeah. And that was where I had cheats on and he wiped my party. Yeah. Those are like the optional super bosses that like you don't have to do, but it's like rewarding if you do. It's like Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts.
00:39:12
Speaker
Yeah, or most most jrpgs have those options. Yeah, especially in the ps1 era. Oh, those optional super bosses were all over the place. Good stuff. So what do we want to talk about next, guys? We want to talk about the overall story and what we thought of that. Sure.
00:39:31
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I mean the, in the overall story here, I would say I thought it was a masterpiece. Like I said, um, I love how it starts out where you're just like, you know, you're trying to take down Shinra because like you said, they seem to be the big bad. Um, but it comes to find out that Shinra is not actually necessarily the bad guy.
00:39:49
Speaker
completely. They're actually sort of helping you along the way. They're trying to stop Sephiroth as well. Really, the main villains from what I understood are Sephiroth and Hojo. Hojo is kind of like the cause of a lot of this stuff because, you know, all the
00:40:06
Speaker
He basically made Sephiroth, right? Yeah. And like he's always experimenting and doing all this stuff and injecting people and he's just an overall douche. Nobody likes him. It was great killing him. I really can't wait to kill him in the remake. I wish I was just a mad scientist. I mean, he's the reason why cloud is so messed up. He's the reason why Sephiroth is the way he is. He's the reason why we have these crazy creatures we have to fight.
00:40:31
Speaker
and he just takes so much joy in making people miserable and he has ulterior motives too. He knows how to manipulate people into doing what he wants to get done. I think they do an incredible job in his writing in this game and his overall dialogue. Of all the people working for Shinra, I think they do a great job with his dialogue.
00:40:54
Speaker
You can you can feel the the grossness that he he just he just looks he just sounds like in my mind every time I hear him talk like, oh, something off of this guy. And Hojo's his name like, come on, dude. He would have been a he would have loved the movie Human Centipede, I'm sure. Yeah, I've I've seen it. Yeah, I just saw the South Park episode. So I saw it's a very bad movie, but he would have loved it because he's crazy.
00:41:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's like a Hojo movie right there. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, I definitely agree with you. He is like the string leader. He's pulling all the strings behind the scenes. He knows what he's doing. He's manipulating everyone. He just wants the world. He likes chaos.
00:41:36
Speaker
Yeah, he sucks. Yeah. And I remember then early on, I think he he threw red 13 and Aerith in like a cage together. And he's like, all right, you guys are going to have sex now and and make a kid. And that's going to that's going to save the world or it's going to recreate Jenova or whatever. I forget what he was trying to do. He was trying to make an ancient or something, right? Like this dude is just crazy. He's weird as hell. I'm like, what the hell is going on here? We got to rescue them. This dude is freaking weird. I couldn't wait to kill him.
00:42:04
Speaker
All right. So let me go ahead and let's go ahead and get into the story here. Let's just get into the overarching story. Um, so you got, of course in the beginning, you know, they're just, they're taking down the reactors because Shinra, which they called the Shinra, which I thought was funny. Did you notice that they call them the Shinra and they call it the Shinra. Yeah. Um, but yeah.
00:42:23
Speaker
So all we really know is that, you know, that Shinra is taking too much Mako from the planet. So we have to bomb the reactors and we have to stop them. But the story is so much deeper than that. Like you come to find out that you have Sephiroth is like created by Hojo, the piece of shit. And he is controlling all of the the mindless people like he can kind of possess them to do his bidding.
00:42:48
Speaker
which was really cool. And basically he's trying to get the Black Materia to summon Meteor. So let's talk about that scene. So you go with the party, right? And you go to the Temple of the Ancients to get the Black Materia. This is where Kate Sith has his moment where he, his redemption arc. Because you remember he betrays us in golden saucer. He takes the Black Materia and gives it to the Turks.
00:43:11
Speaker
Right. But then he has his redemption arc, which is cool because he sacrifices himself because he's he's a he's a doll. He sacrifices himself. We get the black material. Right. And I think this is where we kind of first really see Sephiroth, like you were you were briefly mentioning earlier, because he kind of mind controls cloud into giving up the black material.
00:43:36
Speaker
What did you guys think about that moment in the original versus the remake? I thought it was really well done. I mean, it was heartbreaking when I was, you know, the first time you play through it, when you see him just take out Aerith. And again, at that point, you don't think like a main character, like a main character is not going to try. I hadn't got to the Aerith yet, because that was after the Temple of Ancients, right? She goes to pray. Yeah, I thought we were talking. I thought we were talking about the whole talk about both.
00:44:03
Speaker
Go ahead. I thought we were talking about the whole thing. But OK, I'll stick with that. I thought that whole thing was pretty cool, you know, going after the black material to try to summon a media that's going to destroy the world. It's pretty intense because you're like, what is the all what's the end goal here? Like you're going to destroy the world. OK, you're not trying to take over the world. You're trying to destroy it. It's very it's very different than what most, you know, cookie cutter villains. I'm going to take over the world and I'm going to rule it. No, we're going to destroy it. Yeah.
00:44:34
Speaker
It is really weird because I didn't understand what his motive was at all, either. Apparently, and the video recap that I watched kind of helped break it down, too. Apparently, what he's trying to do, and I'm sure you know this, Sean, is he wants the meteor to strike Earth or the planet and cause massive damage, which will cause the life force to congeal around that area to heal the planet. And then he wants to absorb all of it and just become like super villain Sephiroth and then control what's left of the world, I guess.
00:45:03
Speaker
That's his weird motive.
00:45:06
Speaker
Yeah, to me, it came off when you first started playing it. It was very odd to me that as this big bad guy who wants to... Essentially, he's gonna kill everybody. There's gonna be nothing left. That was always my interpretation of it. You cast Meteor on this thing, there's gonna be nothing left. Yes, you're gonna absorb everything, but what's the point if there's nothing to control? There's nothing to gain? It's almost like he's obsessed with power, and he just wants to be the most powerful thing on Earth. Or in Gaia.
00:45:35
Speaker
That's a good point. What do you guys think his motive is? Is it is it revenge? You think he's mad about how they treated his mother, Jennifer? So he wants to just destroy everybody and control because he's going to be rolling over what a wasteland kind of. What do you think, Hodge? Yeah, I think it's definitely he's taking revenge for his mom. But it's I think it's also that he just snaps and loses his mind. And he's just like, you've lied to me my entire life. I'm going to kill you all. Like kind of thing like.
00:46:02
Speaker
It's not really like he is an in-depth character, but he also just kind of has that psychoticism of just like, I'm going to destroy all of you because of what you did to me kind of thing. Yeah. Well, he changes. He changes in a second. Like he's all he's all for, you know, I'm a soldier. I'm first class soldier. I'm going to save everyone. I'm doing this for the good of the planet. And then also.
00:46:24
Speaker
Snap of the second, he changes. He goes, he's like, you know what? I'm going on a rampage. I know what I need to do. I'm going to get the black material. I'm going to cast Meteor. I'm going to destroy everything. Yeah. Yeah, because he sees, uh, he sees Genova or whatever in the, or Genova in, um,
00:46:40
Speaker
in that reactor right in the thing. And he's like, wait, that's my mom. And then he starts reading and he sees like all the experimentation that took place. And he's like, he just snaps like you said. Yeah. What were you going to say? I was going to say, yeah, he basically goes crazy. Having himself cooped up in that library at the basement of the mansion, just reading everything and just just basically over time, realizing that his entire life is a lie. And so, yeah, he just goes ape shit. And it's like, all right, well, now everyone's dead. So.
00:47:09
Speaker
All right. So then let's keep pressing along with the story. So after that, cloud hands the black materia off to Sephiroth and he flies away to summon meteor. And then Aerith is like, all right, you know, this isn't working. I'm going to go bring out my ultimate trump card. So she goes to like, what, the
00:47:30
Speaker
the paradise place or whatever to pray what do they call it the temple of the ancients no it's not the temple it's the city of the city of the ancients and she has her white materia for uh what is it cure not cure holy holy holy so she does her prayer to summon holy to protect the planet and that's when one of the most iconic moments of gaming happens that's when sephiroth comes down
00:47:53
Speaker
Kills, Aerith, Rip, Rest in Peace, Aerith, you will be missed. What were your guys thoughts about that? Especially because you guys, I knew it was coming. Obviously, it had been spoiled for me. You guys, presumably when you first played it, you might not have known that that was coming. What were your thoughts when that happened?
00:48:11
Speaker
I was blown away. Like I said, like I said, like I didn't think they'd kill off a main character. Like I never expected that. Or if they were going to do what I figured, oh, this is the end of the game, then this has to be the end of the game. Yeah. And it's really interesting, especially they kill the character who's a playable party member and the game continues. You're like, what? Like that is not something that games did at this time.
00:48:33
Speaker
or even even today we don't really see playable party members get killed and basically you know halfway through a game you know two thirds through a game it was very different and again it just adds to that that buildup of like you're you're building up to all that tension and it just adds to that and I thought that was it was a great
00:48:51
Speaker
For the time, it's such a great idea to do. And I'm surprised not more games have done that. Mm hmm. Yeah. Well, you are. It's like it's it's the gaming equivalent of Luke. I am your father. It's like the moment that everyone knows when you think of gaming moments like I try to not obviously try not to spoil things for people because I want people to experience it if they ever get into it. But at the same time, it is a 30 year old game. So I'm not shy about saying, oh, yeah, it's like this part in Final Fantasy. You know, when
00:49:21
Speaker
when, uh, Aerith gets killed, but, uh, yeah, it was, it's one of those moments where I know it was impactful. And I know that it was, you know, mind blowing at the time, but I don't have like a specific memory of seeing it for the first time in the same way. I don't really remember the first time I watched empire and saw Luke. I am your fault. Like, or no, I am your father's technically blind, but
00:49:42
Speaker
Wait, what? You spoil Star Wars? Yeah, my man. My bad. That's 45 year old movie. I didn't know that. Yeah, but it's it's just, yeah, like, yeah, I guess I can't really speak. I don't remember it. It's been so long. I was six years old when the game came out, so I don't remember it specifically.
00:50:05
Speaker
It is. Yeah, it's one of the most iconic moments in video games, and it's for a reason. Like you said, you're you're getting rid of a character that you've been playing as for 10, 10, 15 hours. And all of a sudden it's just like, oh, you've basically known her since the 15 minutes into the game. Yeah, exactly. And so it's flower girl. And like there are games where, you know, a character goes away or you lose them or they die or whatever. But then there you just get another character. That's the same thing. Just a new skin kind of thing. So the game play never changes the game. And yeah, or the game ends. Yeah.
00:50:34
Speaker
Whereas this, yeah, she's the the mage, the healer, and you lose. You just lose it, that aspect of your party. And so it is like in terms of the plot, it's a devastating moment because you lost someone you care about. But in the gameplay, it's also a devastating moment because you lost your your healer, your mage, if you like using magic and you're Donald, you're Donald Duck. It's just like, yeah, it's it's a it's a huge moment and it's iconic for a reason.
00:51:04
Speaker
We also, I want to build off of what we said about the revenge, Sephiroth's motive of revenge. We also see that revenge motive kind of flip into Cloud now, where Cloud wants to take revenge on Sephiroth. And that's his driving focus now. Yes, they want to save the world. That's what they were trying to do. But now it's like, oh my gosh, this is more, it's more of a personal vendetta for Cloud. Like, I need to say, I need to redeem myself for what happened to Aeris. Because Cloud blames themselves. Yeah. Yeah.
00:51:31
Speaker
Absolutely. So that was iconic. Unfortunately, it was spoiled for me. I knew it was going to happen. But I can't imagine if I didn't know that would have been so cool. But definitely a powerful moment. Rest in peace, Aerith. What were you gonna say, Sean?
00:51:44
Speaker
I do remember when I first heard about, when I first witnessed it. I did get to witness it on my first playthrough, because when I watched my dad originally play it, I didn't watch him play through the entire game. But I remember in 2003 playing it. It was right after Christmas 03, and I played it over that Christmas break. I remember playing it, and I talked to my dad about, oh, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. And I remember him saying, oh, you're coming up to a pretty devastating part. I go, oh, OK.
00:52:11
Speaker
And I remember when it happened, I was like, no. And then I'm like the games and I like put the controller down and I ran up. I remember our PS PS2 was in our basement. I ran upstairs and my dad was like, yeah, did you get to that part? I go, yeah, I go now. And then I was sad partially because I thought the game was over as well. But he's like, oh, just keep going, keep going. You'll be fine. You'll be fine. Yeah. Yeah. But like I said, like I said earlier, it is kind of cool of you experiencing and knowing that part's happening because it does seem like a game ending kind of moment or
00:52:40
Speaker
the climactic moment for leading up to the climax and just finishing.
00:52:46
Speaker
The fact that like I said, there's so much left after that game that thankfully that wasn't spoiled for you, I hope. And just being able to experience that is so I've that's yeah, like you said earlier, that's the part I'm most interested about because you can compare the first half of the game with the two remake games that came out. But now that's all fresh. That's all new stuff you didn't know before. And so that's kind of where you got to experience it for the first time, which is really cool.
00:53:12
Speaker
Hodge used a nice literary term there, the climax of the plot pyramid. So if we're on the plot pyramid, we're still on. It's crazy. You would think the death of Aerith would be the climax. But no, we're in the rising action. And yes, I know I said what I said. But it's a literary term, folks. Well, it's not. It's a literary term. I was never a good English student. But that's always the thing I remember, is the pyramid of the plot kind of thing.
Narrative Structure and Plot Twists
00:53:36
Speaker
Because then after the resolution. We're still in the rising action, folks. Yeah. We're still in the rising action.
00:53:42
Speaker
that
00:53:59
Speaker
Go to the northern continent you go to the northern continent you go to the icicle in and you kind of you learn more about Eris backstory about how You learn more about because obviously you knew already that she was an ancient you learn more about the history of the ancients And how she was the only one left and who her mother is and how it's connected to Sephiroth and all of that Yeah, that's what happens next What were your thoughts on that?
00:54:21
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, that was really cool. Um, I really liked going up there and just talking to everyone and hearing about, you know, what was going on with Aerith. Um, and then, but like I said, though, like, I feel like I was kind of rushing a little bit and that's why I kind of want to replay it because I probably missed some context. Uh, the main thing that I remember when I got up there, um, was just trying to move forward ahead. Like I had to get the snowboard. This is where you get the snowboard and slide down, right? Is that right? Am I in the right spot? Yeah.
00:54:50
Speaker
Yeah, so the main thing that I remember from up there, honestly, is just getting the snowboard and the snowboard minigame trying to get down to the mountain. Trying to, because I was all like, I was like, okay, we have to kill Sethroth now. That's where my head was at. I'm like, all right, we got to push ahead, get to where Sethroth is and kill him because we have to get revenge for Aerith. So that was like my sole focus. So I think you slide down there, right?
00:55:13
Speaker
And then I'm trying to remember exactly what happens. I know that there was like a force field on the thing you couldn't get to immediately. Right? Refresh my memory, Sean. You played it 20 times.
00:55:27
Speaker
OK, well, you learn more. What happens is you get more of like a like, like I said, you get more of a backstory about Aerith and her family. You learn more about Evil Hojo taking, taking Aerith and her mom captive and how they escaped. And that only that adds to Cloud's motivation to kind of want into, you know.
00:55:46
Speaker
take down Sephiroth. So, you travel around the Northern Crater, like you said, you get the snowboard. And then you try to go on a search for, you're just trying to follow Sephiroth's tail, basically. And you're trying to figure that out. And then, eventually, we get to Sid. And we learn more about Zach, as well. Do you want to add anything? Hodge? No. You keep going. Sorry. My dad just tried calling me, so I'm telling him I'll call him back.
00:56:16
Speaker
Alright, so yeah, we meet Sid and we finally get the airplane, right? We take off and then the airplane, it gets shot down or whatever and then it turns into a boat. And this is where the game kind of opens up. I remember you going around in the boat. We went to the rocket town, first of all, right?
00:56:34
Speaker
Um, and this is where we find out that Sid wanted to be an astronaut and his chick ruined his dream because she was too slow on the repairs or whatever. So he had to abort the launch. Um, so that was, you know, and he's like really rude to her. Um, but they have a nice little recap later on where like they, they kind of come together. Um, that's actually another one I'm excited to see hopefully in the next game is I want to, cause you kind of see the little house with the rocket behind. I want to see what it looks like.
00:57:00
Speaker
expanded like a huge rocket and all. I want to see what that looks like. I hope I hope we get that. Yeah, a couple of the key things that really stood out to me in this latter section of the game, there was the moment in June or whatever, where you have the the Mako cannon, where Shinra, they create this big one. Yeah, they create this huge Mako cannon.
00:57:22
Speaker
You have weapon is coming towards the city, right? And so they fire this giant Mako cannon. It goes right through and obliterates weapon destroys them and it keeps on flying and it hits the northern crevice or whatever, which breaks the force field so that we can finally go in and take out Seth Roth.
00:57:40
Speaker
That was a very key moment that I remembered from this latter section of the game. I thought that was super cool. And another thing that I remember from this section of the game is, what was that mini game? Fort Condor. Because you go to the Fort Condor and you have like this big epic Fort Condor battle, which was a lot of fun, like setting up all the little dudes and it's like a tower defense as they push up. What did you guys think of like the mini games and Fort Condor in this? Did you enjoy it?
00:58:08
Speaker
For Condo is a game that has grown on me as my playthroughs have come by. I was never really a big tower defense guy. But it's tower defense, but it's like tower defense for like, you know, slim down dumb down version of it, basically.
00:58:24
Speaker
I do like it. I like how you can deploy forces and you're kind of just moving up, moving up, moving up. And it's not just like a minigame for minigames sake. You're actually advancing like, hey, we're trying to do this so that you can go in there and kill Sephiroth. One thing I do want to mention about the rocket thing, you watching the rocket in there. And that was pretty cool how they
00:58:44
Speaker
Basically, they're like, all right, we're going to use the Mako to our advantage and use this Mako and just try to take out what's going to eventually kill us, basically. And it essentially succeeds. So, I mean, they do what they need to do. I like that. And it gave June on like a little bit more of like, hey, June on actually matters. We're launching it from June on. Yeah. Yeah.
00:59:06
Speaker
Yeah, that was one thing that I was so another plot point in the story here in the end game was the whole rocket thing. Like you get you gather these big material, right? So you have to go get these big material and then you go back with Sid and you get in the rocket. And the plan is that we're going to launch this rocket with the big material to take out meteor, right? Which is a cool idea. I mean, it's something that I feel like you would try.
00:59:28
Speaker
One thing I remember is I thought for sure this was it. I thought Sid was going to die here. I'm like, there were saying goodbye to Sid. There were red flags everywhere. But somehow I think Sid, he ends up living. Everybody kind of leaves on the escape, the escape ship, right? And that whole thing, it kind of was for nothing because the missile did not stop meteor. But that was a pretty cool moment. What did you guys think about that? And did you think it was over for Sid as well?
00:59:55
Speaker
Yeah, I did. Especially considering that they killed Aerith. I'm like, oh, there's no strings attached. I mean, Sid, this guy's like a throw-in. We haven't known him that long. They're just going to wipe him out, too. But again, you never know with them. They do whatever they need to do.
01:00:12
Speaker
All right. So we're going to go ahead and I guess get right to the ending before we get right to the ending, though. And then, you know, our thoughts of the game overall. Is there anything else from the story, the mini games, the open world or anything that you guys want to get to before we go to the big climax and the ending? Oh, really quickly, I do. I do want to just kind of go back to the four Condor thing. I liked that.
01:00:33
Speaker
It sucks that they took out that part of the game in the remake, whereas because it's an actual like battle, whereas they made it a mini game. But I liked that in the new ones. You got to play it more than once because in that it was just kind of your one and done and you're done and you move on. So I like that they expanded it in the remakes and made it a playable thing more often. Yeah, you could play Fort Condor in the early game a few times, but yeah, at the end there, it was just one big battle.
01:01:02
Speaker
which I lost, by the way, is funny. I lost the battle on the mountain, but then they let you actually just go into a turn based combat and fight. And that's when I won that. Did any of you guys actually win on the mountain like the tower defense portion of it? Because that was tough. There was a lot of enemies coming. I've won in the past. Yeah. So on the chat, it was trying to remember. I don't remember the last time I when I played it last, if I did or didn't. I know I played it, but I don't know if I won it or if I had to do the ending thing.
01:01:34
Speaker
I do have a couple questions for you midnight. So before we get to the final finale here. So after when we say, you know, when cloud and Tifa are thrown into the live stream and they're down there like, Oh yeah, we didn't talk about that. Yeah. And you say, yeah. And you save them. There is some, there is an optional, um,
01:01:54
Speaker
It's like an optional cutscene that when you regain control of cloud, obviously you tell everyone about how like, oh, you know, I'm not actually an ex-soldier. Like, you know, your memory comes back and Tifa remembers, but you tell the whole party. But if you go back to the Nibelheim mansion.
01:02:08
Speaker
You can recall, it talks about how him and Zach had escaped from Hojo and how it alludes to that scene and remake where it shows Zach walking in with Cloud, like, you know, with Cloud's arm over him. It alludes to that and it kind of talks about that a little bit. I don't know if did you get that or did you not?
01:02:26
Speaker
I don't think I did that. I did see that in the in the recap, of course, but I don't remember if I went back because I actually beat this like a month ago, but I do remember that was a really cool moment because I was really confused. Like what the hell is going on? Because it's like you have like these conflicting memories where Tifa's like he wasn't there in the behind and the clouds like clearly like I was there. What are you talking about? Like I saw you get stabbed like and you're like there's like this whole dynamic of like
01:02:54
Speaker
Sephiroth is kind of screwing with Cloud. She's lying to you. She's not even real or something. But so it was cool when you were in the Mako, and then you get to go into Cloud's memories. And he kind of figures out exactly who he really is, that he really was that young Cloud from the village who had a crush on Tifa, and they had their promise. And he really was there, but he wasn't a soldier first class. He was just a general rank and file soldier with a little helmet on. Yeah, he failed to get to the first class because he wasn't mentally capable of doing it.
01:03:23
Speaker
Yep.
01:03:25
Speaker
So he failed. And then we find out that Zach was actually him. So this whole time he was impersonating Zach in his mind. So that was really cool. And it was cool that Cloud really regained his senses and was able to come back to go on the revenge tour and take out Sephiroth. So I thought that was cool. And that really cleared up a lot for me because even in the remake and stuff, I was confused while playing the two remakes that we have because they haven't cleared this up yet in the remake much yet, I don't believe.
01:03:54
Speaker
Like in rebirth and stuff. Have they? No, no, no. Well, oh, yes. And no, they I mean, they they expand on Zach, obviously, but they don't really explain what happens in it. Like crisis course to look kind of where you need to go for that. There's a dog in the background now.
01:04:13
Speaker
Yeah, doggo. I see we like dogs. We do get before again, before that, I want to jump back a little bit. We, you know, we talked about character growth and character development, and we talked about how Kate said Patrice the party. Yeah.
01:04:29
Speaker
Before we get some a little bit more redemption for Kate Sith, when he sneaks the party into, say, Barrett and Tifa, when Shinra's basically casting them off as scapegoats in June on, because he's trying to, again, Rufus is obsessed with power, Rufus Shinra, the Shinra company wants to stay in power, they're obsessed with it. And they're seeing the power be drained from them, so they're trying to,
01:04:58
Speaker
minimize the damage to try to minimize like the public outcry and the public backlash at them. So they scapegoat Baron Tifa. Yeah, you see a Sith kind of helps the party and sneaks them in and can to save Baron Tifa. So again, just a little bit more redemption. Again, we get a little bit more character growth there.
01:05:16
Speaker
Yeah, that was cool. And also another big reveal is we found out who was controlling Kate Sith, which I thought was really cool. It was the Shinra director dude, the guy who was the guy who was like the coolest member of the executive committee. He was the one who actually seemed like he cared a bit about like, he didn't want to drop the plate on Sector Seven, for example. So he's the one who's operating Kate Sith, and that's pretty cool. I was like, oh, that's a cool reveal. I didn't see that coming.
01:05:42
Speaker
Um, all right. Any other, any final thoughts before that, before we jump to the ending of the climax? I'm sure I'll think of it in three hours when we're done recording, but for now, no.
01:05:54
Speaker
All right, so let's get to it. So after all of this crazy fun stuff has transpired.
Climactic Battles and Endgame Reflections
01:05:59
Speaker
Finally, Cloud has his brain back. He has his memory. He's ready for revenge. They're able to now get into the crater where Sephiroth is at because of the beam. So we make our way up there and we go down into the crater.
01:06:14
Speaker
And we finally we find and we fight Sephiroth in a nice little two-stage battle Which was really good. Really good battle. You first fight like his ultimate like Genova form or whatever Which was really cool. And then after that you have shirtless Sephiroth Where because cloud realizes after the fact that wait Sephiroth isn't dead
01:06:38
Speaker
Like, I'm still sensing him. And then Cloud, like, I don't, I don't remember exactly how it happened, but like Cloud like goes into like some magical space and fights Sethraff 1v1, and finally kills him for good. So what were your guys thoughts on that fight and the general ending there? It was hard.
01:06:55
Speaker
It was. That's I definitely had to use the cheats to beat it this last time. I don't know how I did it when I was. But it was I was like, I suck at this. I got to use cheats. It was a hard fight. Even with the cheats, I was worried about losing because like you can get one shot. And if you get one shot, like it doesn't matter that you have a healing on, you still die. Yeah. And like Sephiroth's doing this attack where he's like literally destroying the solar system. You see like Jupiter and Mars and and all these planets like blowing up and exploding. It's like, geez, chill out, bro.
01:07:24
Speaker
What were your thoughts on that Sean? I think it's pretty cool where you fight them too. It's like it's in the center of Earth. It's in like the planet's core like you're you're right in that that area where the planet would start basically essentially like almost symbolizing like I am now like the planet. The planet is me. It's pretty cool. Before the fight though it is cool that like they they know they know it's like all right.
01:07:48
Speaker
we have one week before meteor falls. We have to get there. And the day before they're going to depart, Cloud and Tifa have a little, almost like a little deep night. Yeah, they spend the night together. And I don't know, it's just Cloud and Tifa seem like, I mean, everyone wants Cloud and Aerith, but Cloud and Tifa, they're meant for each other and they spend the night together.
01:08:08
Speaker
It's great because it provides some levity for Cloud. Obviously, Cloud's under a lot of stress. The whole party is, but it provides some levity for Cloud, and it shows how much Tifa really cares for him, that she's able to provide that for him. But then again, yeah, the next day, they go out, they go down to that core, and you fight Sephiroth, and you fight Bizarro Sephiroth, and safe Sephiroth. It's wild how many times you have to fight him. And then that one-on-one fight, oof.
01:08:37
Speaker
Dow, that was so cool. Little Sean struggle with that. Yeah, I like I always like when it comes down to like a one on one cloud V Sephiroth. I mean, that's like iconic. Safer. Yeah. And then you finally beat him with the special attack where you do like that, like the eight, the eight blade strike where it's like, and that's how you take them out. At least for me, that's what happened. That was so cool. Safer Sephiroth, or as I like to call him, biblically accurate Sephiroth with all the wings and whatnot.
01:09:04
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's a tough battle, but it's it's definitely it's like it's better. You know how there's so many games where at the end of it, it's just kind of a boss rush and you just get every enemy just to say, hey, remember, you did all of this where any game. Yeah. And so I like that this was like, no, it's it's more of kind of like a Thanos of like it all bled up to this and now it's a really tough boss and.
01:09:26
Speaker
And even though you succeed you still there's still a lot of damage done to the planet I mean Midgar gets destroyed and the only reason why the planet doesn't get destroyed is because somehow Aerith from basically the spirit world or like shout out Aerith from the grave
01:09:45
Speaker
Well, she because she had summoned Holy before she died. She was successful. Seth was the one stopping Holy. So when we kill Seth are off, Holy combines with the lifestream, right? And it creates like this, these tendrils that come and stop meteor, right?
01:10:00
Speaker
But even so, like, yeah, it alludes to the fact that Aerith is still commanding it from the life force and the life force, because she's now part of the life force because she was an ancient. So when she dies, she goes back into the planet. I think that's pretty cool. But again, we see the outcome of it. It's like not 100 percent happy ending. You know, Midgar gets destroyed. Half some of the planets really damaged. But
01:10:20
Speaker
Overall, they destroy Sephiroth. And yeah, would you think about like how at the end of the game read 13 still alive? It's like years, hundreds of years later, five years or something. And yeah, 500 years. Yeah. Who was he walking with? His kids.
01:10:36
Speaker
Oh, yeah, him and his kids. Yeah, that was cool. He's got a long life cycle. Maybe he is a cat. He's got nine lives. Well, I mean, when you're in when you're in Cosmo Canyon, I mean, you do learn about how like his species have been around for like thousands of years and they're they really only can die if like someone kills them. It's like, yeah, they're the guardians of Cosmo Canyon.
01:10:59
Speaker
That was super cool, man. Just what an awesome game. It was so good. And yeah, I'm glad you brought it up because I totally forgot about the date night where Tifa and Cloud, they finally got to hook up and have some sexy times. And I think Cloud definitely- Why will that happen? They definitely happened in my head cannon. He definitely needed that. Cloud was very tense. He needed that before the boss fight. So shout out to Tifa. I'd say Tifa is definitely best girl, if you will, of the series because
01:11:28
Speaker
She's she's been there. She's been there from day one and she really cares about cloud and she stayed with him when he was like kind of comatose in that village because he had the Mako poisoning. She was the one who stayed by to care for him before they went into the livestream and and say and worked out his memories, right? So Tifa
Character Dynamics and Series Impact
01:11:46
Speaker
definitely was awesome in this. She was much better than Aerith in the original. I do still think in the remake that Aerith is better, but that's a topic for another day, so.
01:11:56
Speaker
Final thoughts, guys. Final thoughts for Final Fantasy 7. Sean, give us your final thoughts, and then Hodge, and then I'll give mine as the guy who just played it for the first time. Overall, amazing game. Can't wait to replay it again. Shout out to Bewen Hagen. Yeah, floating guy. Yeah. Yeah, floating guy. Dude, I want a big material ball that I could just float around on. That'd be cool, dude.
01:12:23
Speaker
Yeah. Can I say one thing about him? Yeah. You know what I love about him? What? Is that he's like wicked, wicked small. Sorry. There's my Boston right there. Wicked smile. Wicked smile. That's fine. Bring it out. He's like he's very intelligent. Very, very intelligent human. But he acknowledges when he's wrong and he acknowledges that he needs to learn more. And he learns more from the party, which I like that. So shout out to him. Shout out to him. He was very helpful with us figuring out what we needed to do. He's one of my favorite low key side characters.
01:12:52
Speaker
All right. So where does where does this game rank in like your all time games? Is this like in your top five, top three, top ten? This is number one on the episode that we did when we counted down our favorite games. Oh, it was. I forgot. Yes. Number one, it's like I think how I look at it, though, is when the remake trilogy ends. When I say Final Fantasy seven, I'm like including everything like
01:13:19
Speaker
Seven remake like it's like there's seven you yeah there. I do. I like I say thanks so much for Jesus leave, but I actually really do it's very different if you like Vincent You'll like oh, I loved Vincent as a kid. He was always my favorite as it when I was a kid I loved the edge Lord emo looking dude, so I love get the dare to service in VR game. Let's oh That'd be awesome
01:13:45
Speaker
But, uh, my final talk about you really quickly. Yeah. I forgot to say this earlier, but the one thing I do remember was when you're in the golden sauce and you go on the date with Aerith and the, like, if that's kind of the natural way of who you go with, if you're just doing it as whatever. But, uh, I remember thinking like playing it, like I didn't, I never got really a connection from them in the newer ones. Like they throughout the thing, she's kind of, she's kind of the, um,
01:14:14
Speaker
Like she knows that he needs, she needs to get him out of a shell kind of thing. So she's always pushing him like, remember, this is a date night, like kind of thing. Like in, and so I felt it more in that one, even though I'm team Tifa, but in the original, yeah, I never really, like how you were saying, like you didn't really care about Aerith as much in this game versus the newer ones. And that's kind of how I felt as well, where like Aerith is a great character, but you never really got that connection in the original one. Like it just felt like suddenly they were together and it's like,
01:14:41
Speaker
I never really got like the flirtatious sir. Not at all. I bought of it, but it didn't seem like she cared about cloud at all in the original. Yeah. But my overall thoughts, as I said before, it's probably it's probably a top 25 game for me, not number one, maybe top 15 even. But yeah, it's a it's a fantastic game. And overall, I'm happy you finally played it. And I love it.
01:15:02
Speaker
Yeah, me too. So I guess my final thoughts for Final Fantasy 7, like I said, this game's awesome. It's probably in my top 30 games of all time. It's not in the top 10. It's not all the way up there. But it was great. I absolutely loved the world and the story. And Sephiroth, one of the best villains ever. And we didn't even talk about the music, dude. His theme song, Sephiroth.
01:15:23
Speaker
Dude, his music was so awesome. Dude, I have the I have the original soundtrack on like I have a video game playlist on Spotify and I prefer like the new one's great. They made it like super orchestral and epic and stuff, but I love the PS one sounding like like that old school soundtrack sound where it's like they couldn't get the I don't know if the file sizes or whatever. They couldn't fit like these amazing orchestral themes, but they were a little more basic. And I love I love the soundtrack of this game.
01:15:59
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just really happy that I finally played this game. Thank you guys for convincing me and telling me that I need to play it. Now I'm
Replay Value and Audience Engagement
01:16:07
Speaker
even more excited about the third part of the remake, because I can't wait to see what they do with everything that transpires afterwards. I want to see the snow world. I want to do the SSX snowboarding. I want to see the Mako cannon. I want to see the travel through clouds memories. I want to see it all. It's going to be awesome. I can't wait to see Sid and Vincent's combat.
01:16:17
Speaker
Yeah, this is so good.
01:16:29
Speaker
Yeah, I want to see Vincent's combat because he didn't fight at all in the remake yet. Yeah, he's just been hanging out. How Vincent and Sid are. Yeah. Yeah. So there we go. That's it. Final Fantasy seven, the original shout out to them. What an amazing game. Nine out of 10 for me, like I said, super good. And I am at some point, you know, not any time soon, but in a year or two or three, I am going to go back and replay that game and I'm going to be a lot more thorough to make sure that I, you know, go to Wutai.
01:16:58
Speaker
All the all the little stuff that I kind of missed because I was redlining it I'm sure I'll like it even more on the second playthrough But what an awesome game shout out to cloud shout out to Barrett shout out to Yuffie Shout out to all these awesome characters red 13. He's still alive somewhere right now. We saw him at the end So hopefully he's living his best life But that's been it for us. This has been games over plastic Final Fantasy 7 spoiler cast and we're gonna go ahead and get up out of here guys Sean
01:17:28
Speaker
Go ahead and say bye to everyone. Any last thoughts? If you want to replay Final Fantasy, I was going to say if you haven't played Final Fantasy, but you would be listening to see if you haven't played it. If you want to replay Final Fantasy 7, go do it. Let us know what you think. Absolutely adore this game. Can't wait. Awesome job. Let's go.
01:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's a good point. Let us know in the comments section if you guys have played it recently or just in general what you thought and what your favorite moments were or anything that we missed or that you want to sound off in the comments. Let us know. Leave a like on this video as always. We appreciate it. Hodge, final thoughts and say goodbye to everybody.
01:18:06
Speaker
Uh, yeah, as I said, great game. Everyone should play it if you haven't. But if you're listening to this and you haven't, you're you're a fool. But but yeah, it's it's an amazing it has it has its reputation for a reason. And I'm happy you played it. And yeah, it's I love it. I love I love this world entirely. Like you, like Sean said, every game I I didn't play crisis core until recently and
01:18:32
Speaker
I've played dirge back when I was a kid and it's just, yeah, I love this entire, even Advent Children. It's not that great, but I still enjoy it. It was, I always loved it as a kid because of the graphics of that movie, even though they're not worse than what video games look like. But yeah, I love this world. It's awesome. But that's all I got.
01:18:48
Speaker
Yes, sir. So I need to play Crisis Core at some point. I'm going to do that. That's on my to-do list. It's all play Crisis Core usually or whatever. It's usually pretty cheap. Like, I got it, I think, for like 20 bucks. So you can probably get nice. Probably find it on sale, Black Friday sale or something.
01:19:04
Speaker
So I'll get to that and that'll be a good time. And I also, I need to play catch up just in general on Final Fantasy because I never played Final Fantasy four. I never played Final Fantasy six. Um, I have, cause they came out with those remakes, uh, recently on PS five. Yeah. The pixel remasters. I added that cat. I know you love Final Fantasy seven, but I'm recording a podcast, please.
01:19:25
Speaker
He's a huge Tifa fan. Um, and who could blame him? But, um, yeah, so I added those to my wish list so I can see if they go on a nice sale or whatever. I'm going to scoop those up and play those too. But, uh, yeah, Sephiroth shout out final fantasy seven fricking masterpiece game. Thank you guys for listening. We appreciate you and we hope you have a great day and a great week and everything. Goodbye. Please clap. Goodbye. Bye.