Marlene Knows Him Well.

This is absolutely the BEST GS date analysis I've ever seen, thank you for this great post!

Interrupted by Fireworks: the illusion over darker realities

Players love the dates for many reasons: it’s the culmination of their hard work with the affection mechanic, a silly interlude after hours of tension, an opportunity to bond with their character of choice. A sweet moment in time isolated from the heavier themes of the game.

But what if I told you that Tifa and Aerith’s dates are not just cute little flashes of fan service? That both dates are part of a broader arc highlighting how the girls recognize, confront, and decide to react to the reality of Cloud’s mental issues? 

And what if I told you that “Interrupted by Fireworks” is not just the pretty Big Date song? That “Interrupted by Fireworks” serves as an important tool in threading this arc together and setting our romantic expectations stupidly high so they can be cruelly subverted later?

Well wonder no more, as that’s what we’ll be discussing today! Cut for an image-heavy, script-heavy post.

Continua a leggere

⭐️

Cait Sith's prediction in the OG

Cait Sith's DMW in Crisis Core

Guess who's the real star ⭐️

A few more for the FFVII minor arcana. 

I often get asked if the deck will be printed, and the answer is yes! The best way to keep updated is on Patreon, where you’ll also get card meanings, WIPs, and monthly prints of the cards and pretty much anything else I’ve drawn, if you so choose. Bonus being you’ll also be helping me pay my bills and ensuring I can keep creating. Please consider joining us over there if you can.

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Parallel #6

[Previous]

FFVII AFFECTION MECHANICS LIST

Probably this article was better suited for Valentine's day but I'm not well known for my perfect timing... :)

I thought it could be useful to have a full list of the OG variables that affect the date mechanics, a description of the actual Remake mechanics and the differences between the two games all in one post.

I had initially planned to add here also the Wall Market dress mechanics but this post is long enough and the Remake dresses are just so amazing that they absolutely deserve their own post and my complete devotion💖

So...Let’s get to the list!  

OG AFFECTION POINTS

A reminder before reading:

Not all the optional choices of the game affect the scores.

Not all the optional choices that affect the score are mandatory.

Only four characters are associated to the affection mechanics and they start the game with different pre-set scores: Aerith 50, Tifa 30, Yuffie 10*, Barret 0. Aerith and Tifa are the most probable outcomes for the date.

The two main events influenced by the affection points are the Gold Saucer date and the scene under the Highwind. The charcter who has the highest score will spend a night with Cloud at the Gold Saucer; the dialogue between Cloud and Tifa before the final battle will be more explicitly romantic if Tifa has at least 50 points.

The characters are not in competition with each others, most of the choices affect the points of just one character at a time and sometimes they even affect uniformly more than a character. As a general rule, the points increase when Cloud tries to be a kind person and decrease when he's willfully mean.

The outcomes for the date and the HW scene can be different: it's not necessary to achieve Tifa's date to get the high affection HW scene, nor dating Aerith automatically triggers the low affection version. It is perfectly possible to get both Aerith's date and the high affection scene with Tifa.

MIDGAR:

1. On the train after the attack at the Reactor No. 1, when Jessie tells Cloud about the IDs:

Jessie: I know! Next time, I'll give you one I made myself.

"Thanks anyway" (No change)

"Looking forward to it" (-3 Tifa)

2. [Optional] At 7th Heaven, if Cloud bought Aerith's flower:

Tifa: But...A flower for me? Oh Cloud, you shouldn't have... - Cloud: No big.

"Give it to Tifa" (+5 Tifa)

"Give it to Marlene" (+5 Barret)

3. [Optional] If Cloud talks to Tifa when she's behind the bar:

Tifa: Sit down. How about......something to drink?

"I don't feel like it" (No change)

"Give me something hard" (+5 Tifa)

4. When Cloud tries to leave Seventh Heaven:

Tifa: So! You're really leaving !? You're just going to walk right out ignoring your childhood friend !? - Cloud: What......?

"How can you say that!" (+5 Tifa)

"...Sorry" (No change)

5. [Optional] The morning of the attack on the No. 5 Reactor:

Tifa: Good Morning! Cloud! Did you sleep well?

"Next to you, who wouldn't?" (+5 Tifa)

"Barret's snoring kept me up..." (+5 Barret)

6. On the way to the Reactor 5, getting through the train without being caught by the security system

Succeed (+5 Tifa, +5 Barret)

Fail (No change)

7. When Cloud is hanging after the explosion of the Airbuster in the Reactor 5:

Barret: Hey, you gonna be awright?

"(Be strong)" (+2 Barret)

"(I don't know if I can hold on)" (-3 Barret, +1 Tifa)

8. After falling in Aerith's church, when the girl is trying to run away from Reno:

Push a wrong barrel (-3 Aerith)

Tell her to fight the troopers (-1 Aerith)

Tell her to run (No change)

Tell her to run, but she has to fight (-1 Aerith)

Push the right barrel (+1 Aerith)

9. At Aerith's house, when Cloud says he wants to go back to Sector 7:

"No way!" (+1 Aerith)

Aerith: Is Tifa......a girl? - Cloud: Yeah. - Aerith: A girl...friend? - Cloud: Girlfriend?

"Yeah, that's right" (-5 Aerith)

10. When Cloud and Aerith are going to split up after getting to Sector 7 gate:

Cloud: Thanks. I guess this is goodbye. You gonna be all right going home? Aerith: Oh no! 'What ever will I do!?' ...isn't that what you want me to say?

"See her home." (No change)

"Go on to Sector 7" (+1 Aerith)

11a. [Wall Market option A] Talking to Aerith if Tifa is chosen as Don Corneo's bride

"You alright?" (+3 Aerith)

"We gotta help Tifa!" (-2 Aerith)

11b. [Wall Market option B] Talking to Tifa if Aerith is chosen as Don Corneo's bride

"You alright?" (-2 Tifa)

"We gotta help Aerith!" (+3 Tifa)

11c. [Optional] [Wall Market option C] If Cloud is chosen as Don Corneo's bride and acts hesitant

Don Corneo: You don't like me? There...there isn't someone else, is there?

No, only you (No change)

Yes, his name's Barret... (+5 Barret)

12. When Corneo throws the group in the sewer:

Talk to Aerith first (+3 Aerith)

Talk to Tifa first (+3 Tifa)

13. [Optional] After the plate fall, if Cloud talks to Marlene at Aerith's house:

Marlene: Guess what? Guess what? Aerith was asking me lots of questions. Like what kind of person Cloud is. I bet she likes you, Cloud!

"I don't know" (+3 Tifa, -3 Aerith)

"Let's hope so" (-3 Tifa, +3 Aerith)

14. At Shinra HQ, after meeting Red XIII and before fighting Sample H0512:

Cloud: We'll take care of that monster. Somebody take Aerith somewhere safe...

"Tifa, I'm countin' on you!" (-2 Tifa)

"Barret, take care of her!" (+2 Barret)

15. When party splits up to escape Shinra HQ:

Cloud: If all five of us go together, we'll be noticed. Let's break up in two groups.

Whoever is in the party gets a +2 boost

16. [Optional] Talking to Tifa in the jail (this option can be repeated indefinitely):

Tifa: Psst (Can we get out?)

"Leave it to me" (+1 Tifa)

"Kinda hard" (-1 Tifa)

17. In the jail, when Cloud thinks about the other party members:

I wonder how [Barret/Aerith/Red XIII] is doing

The first one gets a +3 boost (no change for Red XIII)

The second one gets a +1 boost (no change for Red XIII)

No change for the last one

18. After leaving Midgar:

Barret: ^#$^%......awright. Go Northeast to a town called Kalm. If something happens, we'll meet up there. 'Sides, we can't have 5 people strolling down the fields. It's too dangerous. Split us into 2 parties...

Whoever is chosen to join the party gets a +1 boost (no change for Red XIII)

KALM

19. After Cloud's flashback when Barret decides to leave the Inn:

Barret: Yo, Cloud! Let's get a move on!

"Right" (+1 Barret)

"Wait a sec" (Barret talks again) -> "Beautiful, just beautiful" (+3 Barret)

"Wait a sec" (Barret talks again) -> "Is that all?" (-1 Barret)

20. [Optional] If talking to the woman on the first floor of the house next to the Inn (the points change only if the characters are in the party. The dialogue can happen at any time before the GS dates):

Thanks to Mako energy, life's pretty darn convenient. Thanks to Shinra. Don't you think?

"Yeah, maybe" (-2 Barret, -1 Aerith, -1 Tifa, +1 Yuffie)

"You're full of it" (+2 Barret, +1 Aerith, +1 Tifa, -1 Yuffie)

21. [Optional] If talking to the woman on the second floor of the house next to the Inn (the points change only if the characters are in the party. The dialogue can happen at any time before the GS dates):

Mako energy's made things a lot more convenient......But seems like a lot of plants and animals have been disappearing at a rapid pace. I think the old life was better. Don't you think so?

"Yeah, maybe" (+2 Barret, +1 Aerith, +1 Tifa, -1 Yuffie)

"No way" (-2 Barret, -1 Aerith, -1 Tifa, +1 Yuffie)

FORT CONDOR

22. [Optional] If Cloud is the party leader and talks to the old guy (the choices affect everyone, even if the party hasn't recruited Yuffie yet):

It appears you have a problem with Shinra, too. After all, you climbed up here. Why not listen to what I have to say for a moment?

"I guess so" (+5 Barret, +3 Aerith, +3 Tifa, +2 Yuffie)

"Not interested" (-5 Barret, -3 Aerith, -3 Tifa, -1 Yuffie)

23. [Optional] After the old guy tells Cloud about his problem (the choices affect everyone, even if the party hasn't recruited Yuffie yet):

What do you think? You want to join us in our fight?

"All right" (+5 Barret, +3 Aerith, +3 Tifa, +2 Yuffie)

"Not interested" (-5 Barret, -3 Aerith, -3 Tifa, -1 Yuffie)

*MEETING YUFFIE

[Optional] The player can repeat the recruiting dialogue as many times as they want. Recruiting Yuffie on the first try will grant her 10 points, failing and repeating it will increase her points up to a max of 30 points (+2 for every correct answer).

CARGO SHIP

24. [Optional] Talking to Yuffie who asks for Tranquillizers for her motion sickness:

"Here, use this" (+4 Yuffie)

"Nope" (-2 Yuffie)

25. Talking to Aerith about the Highwind:

Aerith: That was REALLY something. Hey, do you think I could get on it?

"I'll take you someday" (+2 Aerith)

"I dunno..." (-2 Aerith)

26. Talking to Tifa about the war:

Tifa: ...But, you know what? I really hate this uniform. Uniforms, soldiers, war, I hate 'em all. They take away all the things and people you love... I wish they'd all disappear. Right, Cloud?

"Yeah..." (+2 Tifa)

"I don't know" (-2 Tifa)

GOLD SAUCER

27. After Barret leaves the group, Cloud can choose a partner. The choice will affect the score of the FIRST character he'll interact with. Only if the player declines Red XIII they'll still be able to affect one of the girls' score. If the player doesn't pick anybody, the character with the highest score will join him and the points won't be affected (Red XIII will join instead of Barret):

Go together (+3)

Don't go together (-2)

COREL PRISON

28. The character chosen to accompany Cloud and Barret to fight Dyne:

Cloud: So there it is, Barret. So I guess it'll be Barret, me, and......

(+10 Aerith, +3 Tifa, +2 Yuffie, no change Red XIII)

GONGAGA

29. [Optional] After meeting Zack's parents:

Cloud can talk to Tifa and/or Aerith (if they are in the party).

Ignore them (-3 Aerith / -3 Tifa)

Talk with Tifa (+1 Tifa)

Talk with Aerith -> "Poor guy" (+1 Aerith)

Talk with Aerith -> "(...jealous...envious...)" (+2 Aerith)

COSMO CANYON

30. [Optional] During the first visit the party splits up. If Barret was in the party Cloud can have a conversation with him:

Barret: There was this guy who studied 'Planetary Life' here. He couldn't take things the way they were, so he went to Midgar to form AVALANCHE. Wanna hear more?

Not really (no change)

"Go on" (additional dialogue) -> "And then" (Barret +6)

"Go on" (additional dialogue) -> "Yeah, whatever..." (Barret +3)

WUTAI

31. [Optional] Completing the first quest in Wutai until Yuffie returns the stolen Materia (Yuffie +10)

***

REMAKE AFFECTION POINTS

Even though the Remake covers just the Midgar section, the developers payed homage to the Gold Saucer dates including a beautiful "Resolution scene" at the beginning of Chapter 14, where Aerith, Tifa or Barret will appear and talk to Cloud.

What determines the optional cutscene this time is the number of side quests completed during Chapter 3 and Chapter 8, namely the two chapters spent building up Cloud's merc reputation with Tifa and with Aerith.

The Remake affection mechanics are very simple: 

Aerith and Tifa start as equals. 

The player can complete 6 Odd Jobs and 1 final Discovery Quest, each one granting to the related girl +2 points. 

The girl Cloud will interact first after landing in the sewers will gain an additional +1 point that will eventually serve as tiebreaker. 

As you can guess, the girl with the highest score will lead the optional cutscene but if both girls have less than 5 points then Barret's scene will be unlocked.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS:

The Remake affection mechanics are significantly different from those of the OG. Funnily enough some free-answer dialogues still exist, however not only they don't affect the score but they're also illusory choices as the plot is very linear (see below).

The Remake mechanics are less romance-based. Sure, accomplishing the side quests can be seen as Cloud spending valuable time with the girls, anyway they spend the day doing rough and mundane activities like defeat monsters, rescue kids and search for cats. The focus will always be to improve Cloud's reputation as a reliable merc. Moreover, it doesn’t really make sense to consider Barret as being positively impressed by Cloud refusing to help people in need. 

While in the original Cloud can have just one date and one of the two versions of the Highwind scene, the Resolution scenes are not mutually exclusive and it's perfectly possible that all of them take place during the same night.

***

OG AND REMAKE COMPARISON

Most of the situations linked to the affection points in the OG changed or were left out from the Remake. In general Remake-Cloud tends to be kind with both Aerith and Tifa and by the end of the game his relationship with Barret improves as well. 

He's correct and he should say it.

I have written and rewritten the Gast Post wayyy too many times and put more time thinking about it then it's worth so now here it is, just so it will begone from my drafts, here's my beef with Gast Faremis and the two big narrative issues that make thinking about him fill me with rage

Also I'm gonna put a TW for grooming here actually because Gast's lack of a canon age makes it seem like he might have met Ifalna when she was very young and they have a weird power imbalance thing going that I kind of talk about

The Jenova Project

It is basically impossible to make a sound judgement on Gast's ethics because we have no idea when he left the Jenova project or really why beyond that he knew he misidentified Jenova. I know one of the ultimanias said he felt guilt/remorse. But to be quite frank, until they show this remorse in-game it means nothing to me. It's one thing to reveal details like ages in the ultimanias, but Gast is a far too critical player in the plot for his characterization to be getting done secondhand in supplemental materials. Do not get me started on how he never shows up in Dirge. They just... ignore him a lot of the time, which is really weird since his discovery of Jenova is the plot catalyst for the entire series.

Also, I've noticed people tend to passively talk about him like he's *the good one* on the team or that he would have saved Sephiroth from Hojo. I'm not really sure where this comes from? Sephiroth speaks highly of him, but i don't trust Seph to be an accurate judge of character when it comes to Gast. Sephiroth would have been, at the very vert latest, probably around 4 when Gast left the company. If he even remembers Gast at all, his memories are not gonna be a full picture of what the man was like. Besides that, I think it's incredibly likely Sephiroth has a mystical, idealized version of Gast in his head, because Gast is someone who could, in theory, give him the answers about his origins Hojo refuses to. Hojo also probably shit talks Gast if be ever comes up, which would only make him more appealing to Sephiroth. Gast is not Hojo. He has cleared the bar past literally the worst person Sephiroth has ever met. It is akin to praising a candle for being able to burn compared to a crumpled, broken, wet match. Gast being less abhorrent then Hojo doesn't mean he was a good person.

I think people also tend to automatically assume Gast was a good person bc he's Aerith's dad, but being a good person isn't genetic. He didn't have the opportunity to be a father to her for more then about 3 weeks. That's not his fault, obviously, but it means he had no hand in raising her, so him being her father really isn't indicative of anything outside of him being involved with Ifalna, which we will get to in a second.

Honestly, it seems to me like Gast was ambivalent to Sephiroth at best. Remember that a perfect weapon was not what they were designing Sephiroth to be; they wanted him to be an Ancient. Of course, Jenova is not one, meaning that in terms of achieving its original goal, Gast's goal, Project S was a failure from the outset. I can't help but wonder if Gast saw Sephiroth that way, or else as a horrible mistake, especially considering that after leaving the company and abandoning Sephiroth (and maybe Lucrecia depending on who left first) to Hojo, Gast on his own time achieves his original goal of making an Ancient, by fathering Aerith. Speaking of...

Ifalna

We know from the guides that Ifalna was 29 when she died. Aerith was 7, meaning Ifalna had her at around 22. If Gast was around Hojo' age, he would've been in his early 30s when Sephiroth was born. Sephiroth is 5-6 years older then Aerith, which would put him at around his mid thirties when he had a child with Ifalna. If Gast left the project shortly after Sephiroth was born or during Lucrecia's pregnancy, he might have met Ifalna as early as her being 18. I sincerely do not believe the devs want to imply their relationship was predatory. I honestly don't think all that much thought has been put into it at all, and while it's reasonable to sideline it since it's not the most urgent bit of lore, this sidelining makes trying to figure out what their dynamic was a nightmare.

Apparently the ultimanias are contradictory about whether the two of them met at Shinra or outside of it. The only time we've ever seen the two of them together was the Icicle Inn tapes, wherein their interactions seem mostly professional until the last tape. In this last tape, the dev's clumsy way of showing that these two are in a relationship was to have Ifalna start to address him as Professor, then correct herself and call him 'honey' instead, which is a hell of a Freudian slip for her to make, given that this tape takes place almost a month after the birth of their daughter.

Again, I think this was just a very awkward blinking neon sign hung up in order to quickly convey THESE TWO WERE IN LOVE, but if you take it at face value, it is strange at best and downright chilling at worst. Gast was the leader of the Make An Ancient Baby project, and when he realized he didn't actually make an Ancient, he left the project and went and had a baby *old school style* with the last Ancient while she was undergrad age. It is fully possible he and Ifalna did have real feelings for each other, but that context with the age gap just makes it... eugh. And it's not like they had a professional friendship and he just served as a sperm donor for Ifalna because she wanted to start repopulating her species or smth. She calls him by a pet name, they are in some kind of romantic entanglement.

At this point I don't think the devs have put nearly as much thought towards this as I have, we're probably just supposed to assume they were happy together because it makes Gast dying more tragic. But them neglecting this relationship leaves it uncomfortably unclear. For example, because they don't think about this relationship a lot, Aerith never mentions her mom telling her about her dad, which is very easily read as Ifalna not wanting to tell her daughter about Gast. That would just be because it hurts Ifalna to talk about his death, but... she also told Aerith stories about the Ancients, which must have also been painful since they were the last two, stuck in a lab away from nature. We know Ifalna gets emotional when talking about the Cetra, she gets worked up seemingly to the point of crying while talking about Jenova in the interviews. The only explanation I can see for why she wouldn't want to talk about Gast if they were happy toghether was that Hojo might punish her if she did. (Worth noting i have traces of two pasts but haven't gotten to reading it yet, she might mention him in there but again supplemental materials, Aerith has never knce mentioned a dad in the actual games)

If the goal is that we are supposed to see Gast as a bad or even morally compromised person who went straight after leaving the company, that's perfectly fine, but everything about him is so muddy that I genuinely can't tell what to make of him. Hojo and Hollander we're clearly supposed to hate, and Lucrecia has settled herself pretty comfortably in the "did fucked up things but has since paid for it" niche, but Gast is just... here. Floating around in the back of the narrative, not even really haunting it because his main contribution as the guy who discovered Jenova gets usurped by Hojo being the one to spread its cells. His other main contribution is being Aerith's bio dad, and she has never once seemed to give it any thought. The only person in the modern era who seems to give a rat's ass about his role in everything is Sephiroth, for like 2 seconds during his meltdown at Nibelheim before he's back to huffing the mommy issue fumes. He is just... such a bizarre, frustrating nothingburger, and I desperately hope they rectify it in remake 3.

According to the short story "Picturing the past" the people in black cloacks (aka the Sephiroth clones) have the tendency to reunite at the Sector 7 train graveyard.

The train graveyard is located next to Sector 7 station, the place where Tifa found Cloud right before the beginning of the game.

The meeting with Tifa triggered the creation of Cloud's alter ego: SOLDIER-Cloud.

It may be just a coincidence but this mural is exactly in front of the station and next to the train graveyard

"Use your imagination"

"Shoot for the stars"

Such nice details!

Different Stories Resonate with Different People

If this isn't soulmate material than I don't know what is. She looks so proud 🥲😂