The Forgotten City
-Aeris is just up ahead. Sitting.
Hop-scotching over.
-She’s strangely unresponsive. Is she subjected to Sephiroth Brand Mind Control now too? Or maybe overwhelmed by stuff she senses in this city?
-Cloud is just able to do weird strutting stuff, but can’t move. He raises his sword, dances a bit, it’s weird.
-OH SHIT HE WAS IN MINDCONTROL MODE AND ABOUT TO SLICE HER IN HALF BEFORE HE WAS PULLED BACK TO HIMSELF BY BARRET/TIFA
-Scared the crap out of me for a second. One moment he was gyrating and dancing, I thought trying to get her attention, and the next moment he was about to slice-n-dice. And came, like, really close to actually hitting her. Probably shouldn’t
-wait
-WHAT THE ACTUAL FWUCK
[later edit: this is clearly a typo, but somehow sums up my feelings at the time better than proper grammar and spelling ever could.]
-YOU
-FUCKING SEPHIROTH RIGHT AS YOU MAKE ME THINK SHE’S SAFE
-Ok, she was smiling at seeing Cloud and waking out of her trance thing when Sephiroth dive-bombs in from above and slices her through the stomach with his katana.
They do it all cinematically and slow-motion, and we hear a beating heart as the soundtrack.
-Sephiroth: “Do not worry. The girl will now become part of the Planet’s energy.” Oh, good. That’s totally comforting. I’m definitely fine now that I know she’s probably instrumental in making this happy asshole ascend to some form of godhood.
-Cloud gives a pretty awesome speech on death that reminds me a whole lot of Anya’s. (If you have seen what I’m talking about, you’ll know what I mean.)
Sephiroth’s ridiculous face in the background manages to make this even worse.
He puts the pain of having someone close die in very physical terms.
-Sephiroth’s reaction to this display is strange. He thinks Cloud is faking this, that he can’t really feel emotions.
-Boss fight. Against… huh?
Jenova-LIFE.
-In a nice touch, the sad music from before is still playing. Really easy fight, as Bahamut, Kujata, and some Cloud slashes make quick work of her.
-OH AND I GOT A “WIZARD BRACELET” AS A REWARD. YOU KNOW, FOR MY MAIN MAGE. WHO DIED LIKE TWO SECONDS AGO. THANKS GAME. WHY NOT JUST TOSS IN A REWARD CALLED “AERIS’ FAVORITE PUPPY”?
-Jenova: “Because you are… a puppet.” Who’s pulling the strings? Jenova, or Sephiroth? Or both? And to what end?
-They all say goodbye to Aeris.
Cloud picks ups her body and lays it in the sparkling lake. She sinks.
-Well. That happened. I hope we learn eventually what this is all
about, and that her death was instrumental in Sephiroth’s plans, that he
needed the blood of an Ancient or that she was a deeper threat than the
rest, or something.
Or or or! Maybe it’ll be like FFIV, and her spirit will help kick Sephiroth’s ass in the end anyway.
Ah, screw it. Those may or may not happen, but I’m just trying to find meaning in a character I really liked being suddenly taken away.
-goddam dusty room
---
Forgotten Capital
-The party regroups.
-Cloud, actually quite reasonably imo, brings up the possibility of stopping. After all, he was lured here as part of Sephiroth’s plan. Jenova called him a puppet. He was about to kill Aeris, and gave Sephiroth the Black Materia. He still doesn’t know what that’s about, and now Sephiroth is trying to lure him to the snowy plains of the north towards the Promised Land.
-And yet, he decides to continue on.
Sephiroth’s built quite the resume.
Asking for Tifa’s and Barret’s help, to pull him back from doing something awful.
-They are hesitant, but agree.
-“End of Part 1.” Literally, the game said that. The first FF game to explicitly divide the game into acts in this way. Fits with the whole cinematic feel.
-So.
-There’s still so much I don’t know. Why was Aeris there? Why was she in a trance? What was she doing? Was she puppeted by Sephiroth to not say anything? If so, why did he wait until the party got here to kill her? Why did he kill her? Why did he kill her? WHY?????????
---
Next time: on Sephiroth’s trail yet again. I’m sure we’ll get him this time. 100%! No chance he’ll get away into the Promised Land by puppeting Cloud some more and cause havoc with Jenova.
Or or or! Maybe it’ll be like FFIV, and her spirit will help kick Sephiroth’s ass in the end anyway.
Ah, screw it. Those may or may not happen, but I’m just trying to find meaning in a character I really liked being suddenly taken away.
-goddam dusty room
---
Forgotten Capital
-The party regroups.
-Cloud, actually quite reasonably imo, brings up the possibility of stopping. After all, he was lured here as part of Sephiroth’s plan. Jenova called him a puppet. He was about to kill Aeris, and gave Sephiroth the Black Materia. He still doesn’t know what that’s about, and now Sephiroth is trying to lure him to the snowy plains of the north towards the Promised Land.
-And yet, he decides to continue on.
Sephiroth’s built quite the resume.
Asking for Tifa’s and Barret’s help, to pull him back from doing something awful.
-They are hesitant, but agree.
-“End of Part 1.” Literally, the game said that. The first FF game to explicitly divide the game into acts in this way. Fits with the whole cinematic feel.
-So.
-There’s still so much I don’t know. Why was Aeris there? Why was she in a trance? What was she doing? Was she puppeted by Sephiroth to not say anything? If so, why did he wait until the party got here to kill her? Why did he kill her? Why did he kill her? WHY?????????
---
Next time: on Sephiroth’s trail yet again. I’m sure we’ll get him this time. 100%! No chance he’ll get away into the Promised Land by puppeting Cloud some more and cause havoc with Jenova.
