⭐️

"Angeal, stay back. I'll take Sephiroth alone."

"Uhhhh yeah, Genesis so you don't want to do that because that sword that he's holding is bad news you see we basically went into this spooky temple and there were a bunch of statues and monsters and purple shit and everyone started talking like a lunatic and gaslighting the hell out of me and Seph and I kept dreaming about our moms and he was acting like a huge asshole and we had a slapfight and anyway the sword is cursed but not cursed but maybe kind of cursed and Seph went apeshit getting it and had to undergo all these bullshit trials with ghosts because the sword was kinda-sorta-maybe forged from an alien meteorite and has some freaky-deeky shit behind it and Seph was meant to have it or whatever but you really don't want to fight him because I remember what a nightmare that was and I'm not going near that sword ever again be glad I never even brought up Alissa because I'm pretty sure Seph would go into convulsions and does anyone even REMEMBER what happened to Bachman but seriously Genesis don't fuck around with Seph while he's using that sword you're gonna get--"

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

Ahhh yes! That ending scene with Zack was fantastic, what a range of emotions the first time I watched it. Confused, worried I’d see a sad ending again, confused again, dawning comprehension, then a ton of exciting and wtf combined. I think I’m still stuck in that last one, haha.

Thank you for putting in words what I was too sleepy to express last night! Yes, when I saw the last stand I feared I would have finished the game in tears like I did when I played CC, but I ended up in tears anyway when I saw him alive. This ending is so full of hope, expectations and misteries. I can't understand people who disliked it.

That hug hitted home so hard! Such a big load of emotions: need of comfort, trust, that "inexplicable something" buried inside Cloud that lead him to hug her... I really hope the devs will spend a scene in the future to show how he will re-evaluate this moment after regaining his true-self.

Barret is absolutely the cherry on top of this game and his English VA can't be prized enough for his amazing job. I don't know how he sounds in JP but the English one made a great job in conveying the essence of the character even in the perspective of non-native English players. I found him so grotesque in the OG but now I can't help but love him. His interactions with other characters are great but, yes, his bond with Marlene is priceless.

My very second favourite part of the game is Aerith rescuing Marlene (rescuing Betty, encouraging Wedge to save the Sector 7 citizens, all the scene), but your moments are close ones. There are so many beautiful well-developed and emotional scenes and so much attention to details that it's even difficult to establish a ranking. Otherwise we wouldn't be here after a year still noticing&analyzing new details :)

What are your expectations for the Intergrade? Since the devs had complete freedom about the setting of this episode I hope we could see the Sector 7 fall from the upper plate perspective and I'm really looking forward for any reference to Denzel.

happy ffviir 1 year anniversary! 🎉🎊🎈 do you have a moment or detail from the remake that's still your favorite even a year later?

Hi Hartofhearts!

Happy first year anniversary to you too!

Well there are MANY moments I really love about this first part of the Remake, but if I have to choose just one, I definitely take this scene, and all that follows it until the end. 

This is by far the most unexpected and most welcomed change of the Remake and it still gives me goose bumps! I can’t wait to see where this will lead, I really hope he could be reunited with Aerith this time…!

What about you??

And now that I read it I realize this is exactly how I feel about it as well

The thing about Final Fantasy VII is that it’s really good despite how many people say how good it is

Advent Children Complete | Last Order

Zack and Cloud / Cloud and Denzel

I want to express just a quick and superficial thought about the impact of Zack on SOLDIER-Cloud's personality since I've recently had a discussion about it.

Some months ago I stated that in this scene (not only here btw)...

... Cloud is mimicking Zack's attitude.

The person I was discussing with mentioned the quote from the Ultimania according to which "Cloud puts up a cool facade with Aerith and shows his real self when he's with Tifa", so what I had written had to be nothing but a great nonsense. Probably they thought I was trying to invalidate any romance between Cloud and Tifa in favour of Aerith, even if it would be a total contradiction since the fiercest CA fans spent more than two decades trying to loosen the connection between Zack and SOLDIER-Cloud... But I wouldn't be surprised to hear these kind of theories since the upcoming Ultimania Plus is seemingly going to show the same concept...

ANYWAY, no time for digressions.

I'd like to add a comparison with one of Cloud's DMW sequences from Crisis Core

I think it's hard not to notice the similarity with Tifa's resolution and the scene in Cloud's room in Chapter 4

But let it be clear, this doesn't mean - and I've never meant to say it - that Cloud is acting through Zack's intentions. As long as the devs don't provide further info, all we know is that Cloud didn't inherit Zack's memories, let alone his feelings. If so probably he would be much more devoted to Aerith.

Zack knew Cloud liked Tifa, he would have never flirted with her. Never.

Cloud's always been socially awkward, insecure, uncapable to approach Tifa in any way. Now I don't want to go too much into SOLDIER-Cloud's convoluted personality but he acts through his own intentions - confused intentions at this point of the story, but still his own. Only the way he expresses himself mimics Zack's.

That quote from the developers says that "when he talks to Tifa his real self briefly emerges". BRIEFLY. Stating that Cloud with Tifa is always his real self goes totally against this story and the dynamics behind the creation of his alter ego. His feelings for her are sealed deep into his subconscious, Cloud himself says "I don't know how to explain" when he's asked about what Tifa means for him.

That line has to be contextualized to make sense. I think this concept just shows something that was already in the OG: the player could choose to be rude with Aerith, even during her date (probably to show his conflicted feelings), but never with Tifa, he's always been istinctively soft with her. He gets jealous, he lets her into his personal space, he touches her and lets her touch him, and when they're in dangerous situations he's istinctively protective.

And not because Tifa is better than Aerith but because real-Cloud's character arc revolves around Tifa, like it or not. There's no need to twist a simple line from the devs nor to diminish the impact of Zack on SOLDIER-Cloud to prove it.

Matchy-matchy 👑🥲

We need to make the most of the time we have—to live our lives the way we wanna live. Every minute...every moment, matters.

Aerith in light of healthcare provider

So, I’ve wanted to write an analysis about Aerith in light of her medical viewpoint for quite a long time but only recently got the chance to complete it. It is well known in the game that Aerith is the healer of the story. She possessed great MP with a limit break to heal and buff people which greatly affect your gameplay. Of course, you can equip others with Healing and Prayer materias to render them useful for healing as well. But story-wise, no one can take away Aerith’s status as the healer. We know in canon that Aerith provided herbs to the Sector 5 slums doctor to create medicine. And if you finished the Corneo Stash side quest in Chapter 14, you can return to the church and see a couple of elderly sitting on the pew praying. And when you come closer to them you’ll hear them talking about how they didn’t see Aerith around and they’re sure she’s alright and probably be around healing people. You know, since the Sector 7 plate just fell. (Even though Aerith is not alright actually coz she was kidnapped by Shinra by this time) Point is, we are fed by the NPCs on how much Aerith had helped around as a healer. She had been doing this for years.

While being in denial about who she actually is, being a healer had always been implanted in her. She is used to it. When you’re used to being a healer, there’s a certain level when you have different reaction compared to others. The way you think is different. Apart from that, she’s also a Cetra. And we knew for a fact Cetra had a certain affinity towards souls who are returning to the Planet. Meaning, as much as she is used to healing others, she’s also used to sensing death.

My whole point is that, being a Cardiac Anaesthesiologist and Intensivist as I am, I can totally relate my position with Aerith, as we both had constantly helped people and encounter death on daily basis. While I’m pretty confident that majority of these might be coincidence (because I’m pretty sure there were no doctors in the SE team), I thought the coincidence is pretty cool to ponder upon and I’m amazed at how the subtle differences between Aerith’s reaction to events from other characters.

I’m gonna ignore the meta part of Aerith, mainly because I’m not discussing about how much Aerith knew, and if there was anything in jeopardy of what she knew whatsoever. So we’re gonna focus on the fact that she is used to healing and feeling people’s death. People who are used to death on daily basis had a certain unique view on life and death. And that affects how we act upon facing them too. While this is evident throughout Remake, I’m gonna focus on the plate drop event to be more concise. I will also use Tifa as comparison to make it easier to see the difference between the reaction of the two. Let’s start!

1) Aerith is quick in emergency situation.

When you are used to people dying, you developed a certain immunity and you are able to have sound mind and composure at sudden change of event. As healthcare providers, we face stable situations turning into critical real fast. And we have a switch in our minds that turn us from standby mode to rescue mode. This is exactly what happened to Aerith when Don Corneo revealed Shinra’s plan to blow up Sector 7’s support pillar. Tifa is part of Sector 7. It is her home. Which was why her reaction showed how she was super devastated, she slowly stood up and muttered “They wouldn’t…” because she couldn’t believe it. Aerith? She had that switch in her mind, and she immediately turned and say “Come on, guys! We gotta go!”. She switched into that critical mode in a second. It helps that she’s also not personally connected to Sector 7, and thus her judgement was not as impaired. Of course, they both switched into critical mode in the sewer, but it was at the moment of reveal that made it different. Just like how healthcare providers switched at the moment of reveal that their patients are at the brink of death—you immediately jumped into rescue mode.

2) She plans for the worst.

Remember after they defeated Abzu and Tifa started to question Corneo’s information? She didn’t want to believe it, because it didn’t make sense to destroy your years of efforts building the plate just to get back to a small group like AVALANCHE. Think about the money they put in to build it, they’re gonna have to put them all again. In fact, along their way out of the sewer, Tifa voiced out multiple times how this had been bothering her. But I’m intrigued with Aerith’s reply “If he’s telling the truth, then we should go. And if it turns out he was lying, then so what?”. This here is exactly what doctors do. We plan and prepare for the worst. And if the worst didn’t happen, then so what? If you have ever had a life saving surgery, your doctors would tell you “You need this surgery coz you might die. But if you do the surgery, there’s a high chance you’ll survive, but there’s a small chance you’ll die too”. And we prepare for that small chance that our patients die. No, we don’t let our preparations lacking because we hope they’ll survive. We prepare to the worst outcome possible and get all the equipments ready in case they’ll die. If they didn’t, then so what? It doesn’t mean our preparations were futile efforts. It only means we were prepared. And that line of Aerith seriously hits home to me.

3) She hopes for the best.

Before they crossed the water sewer, Tifa once again voiced out how she couldn’t stop thinking about what Corneo said, and she was still hoping that he was lying. And then Aerith said “The future isn’t set in stone”. (Again, I’m gonna ignore the meta part of Aerith) And then she proceeded to set up that small date with Tifa. Believe it or not, this is actually what we do during bad calls. We’d talk about what we would do after all this ends; we’d go out dining, or playing games/darts, or go drinking, or whatever it is that makes us happy. Just to keep our minds calm and to allow us to hope for the future, even if it’s just a few hours away. It gives us hope and courage to go on. We plan for the worst, but we hope for the best. The more critical the situation is, the more you need to be level headed. And needless to say, after this point onwards, Tifa is much more calmed down from her struggle to keep herself focus.

4) She follows orders.

This might sound weird to some, but the ability to cast away your worry and focus on what you can do, instead of what you should do, is important in emergency situations. You need to know what you don’t know. You don’t get in the way of your comrades. If you’re not good in intubating, you don’t insist to intubate in emergency situations just because you wanna help. Seriously, you’ll just make things worse. When Cloud, Tifa and Aerith were attacked before climbing up and out of the sewer, Cloud asked both Tifa and Aerith to keep going. Aerith immediately answers “Okay” and left—without a single but. This is significant, because it shows that Aerith knew she’d be better off leave. She doesn’t need to offer help, coz her help was not needed. This is not the place where she could help. The ability to recognise this is very important for healthcare professionals. Tifa was a bit more reluctant to leave, but that’s probably because she is a martial artist in game. Also, the fact that Aerith could still joke “We’re not delicious” is just so real lol! Yup, we joke sometimes when we’re facing deaths—doesn’t mean we lose focus in saving the dying person in front of us, don’t worry. And then it happens again when they reached Sector 7 when Cloud asked them to stay with Wedge as he goes up, and Aerith immediately answered “sure"—because she can “patch” Wedge up, it’s where her abilities lie. This is even more accentuated when an injured Wedge argued that he can still fight, when he clearly can't—making this point even more obvious. Aerith is someone with the healthcare mind, Wedge was not.

5) She supports her comrades emotionally even when she’s worried too.

When they reached the surface, they spotted Shinra helicopter. Cloud assured them they’re only on patrol. Aerith turned to Tifa and said “Don’t worry, we’ll make it in time”. This moment is also very iconic to me. As I mentioned, I’m an anaesthesiologist. We are the support doctors to surgeons and physicians. Those moments when we’re operating on a AAA surgeries and the patient is losing litres of blood and literally dying, we’re pumping bloods in with our hands and get those Level 1 machines operating, and the surgeons would be panicking because it keeps bleeding? Yep, I did say it before. “We’ll make it. Just concentrate with the surgery and don’t worry about the bleeding”, even though I’m sweating and dying here trying to keep the patient alive. But I pretended to be calm in front of my team and cheered them on. Because the whole team need to keep calm. If one of the team lose hope, then bid your chance farewell. As an anaesthesiologist, we’re almost like the anchor in the room. People look at us to know if everything’s alright. I need to tell them it’s alright, so they need not worry. Aerith knew Tifa is worried. And she tried to keep Tifa calm with reassurance.

6) She doesn’t discriminate.

After they defeated the ghost at the haunted maintainance facility, Cloud tried to kill it, and Aerith didn’t let him. When Cloud said that thing was dangerous, Aerith said she knows and added “but even so…” she didn’t feel right about killing it. (Let’s ignore the fact that the Ghoul was a lonely creature for now) It then goes to drop the train wreck which almost killed them had it not been for Cloud. Now this would have been avoided had Aerith let Cloud killed it—maybe. But here’s the thing. When you’re hyper aware that people are dying left and right, you value life more. No one deserve to die, even the worst criminal in the world. You’re a law-abiding citizen? You’re a criminal? It doesn’t make a difference to us. I know this is something super hard to comprehend. But technically only when the law subject the criminal to death sentence that a person should be left to die. I’ve been a doctor for eleven years, I was a prison doctor for two. I had first hand experience of dealing with criminals. It’s not my job to determine whether they deserved to die or not. It’s not my call whether they will turn a new leaf or not had they lived. I know this is something others find difficult to relate and agree—happens to my non-medical family and friends. The verdict to us is simple. It’s a life. It’s worth saving. Period. (Technically the ghosts are dead though but my point still stands)

7) She tries in her best abilities and lets go of what is out of her control.

Tifa’s emotions are tampered again when they confirmed Shinra was going to drop the plate when they overheard the Turks conversation. Her voice shook, we can literally hear it. Aerith’s response was “all we can do now is keep moving”. And she’s right. When they reached Sector 7 and the Whispers were preventing them, she said “we have to get past whatever it takes”. And later on Tifa left to help Cloud and Barret, and Aerith agreed to get to Seventh Heaven to ensure Marlene’s safety. Wedge had a short mental breakdown when he realised he was no good to anyone up or down the crime scene. And Aerith told him “We can still save a lot of lives”, “That’s no excuse to give up”, “I need to know I did everything I could”. Her encouragement helped Wedge save more people. Some argued, did she not care about the lives that already died? Now here’s my point; no, we don’t. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but really. What can we do for people who are already dead? Nothing. What can we do to people who are still alive? Everything. And this is the core of being a healthcare provider—we prioritise. Yes, we’re also humans. We can get emotional when our own friends and relatives die. (Aerith might not be as calm had it happened at Sector 5) But when we put the healthcare provider cap on, we meant business. That is why when disasters happened, and we triage people with black tag? That’s when we know we couldn’t do anything for them. We don’t mourn at the black tags. We move on to the other tags instead. So that we know we already did everything in our power to help. And yes, it doesn’t matter even if we lost more lives than we saved. It’s worth it, even if we only saved one person out of thousands deaths. Just like how Aerith saved Betty in Sector 7, that one life is worth it.