Terra-fatalis - Terra Fatalis

Tanabata 七夕 is a popular traditional Japanese festival of Chinese origins. This celebration commemorates the legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi (symbolized by the stars Vega and Altair respectively), lovers separated by the Milky Way who were only allowed to meet once every year, the Seventh night of the Seventh month. 

People celebrate Tanabata expressing wishes to the stars - written on small pieces of paper hung on bamboo, often concerning their love life due to the romantic origins of the legend. Tanabata is also called Star festival or Night of the loving stars (and, in China, Chinese Valentine’s day or Night of sevens). 

I think it’s easy to find some nice paralles with FFVII: the focus on the stars (星, that in FFVII universe is used to identify both the stars and the Planet) and number seven, wishes to the stars, separated lovers..? In can make the happiness of every shipper. But there’s one more cute detail.

Until the second half of the XIX century Japanese people used the Wareki calendar, based on lunar phases, so the 7th day of the 7th month is a variable date that usually falls on the firts half of August. 

August 11, 1986 - Cloud’s birthday - was indeed Tanabata day in real life!  (The date may vary between 11th and 12th but that depends on the time zone). It might be just a coincidence, but I love it a lot anyway! It surely is my new headcanon! ❤️

Aerith by wlop

Looking forward to the remake version! #FinalFantasy7 Support me on patreon to get the high res wallpaper image and painting process: https://www.patreon.com/wlop

SOMEONE IS FINALLY SAYING THIS

i see it's that time of the year again where people start hating on the english localization of remake/rebirth despite having next to no understanding of how large scale translation projects work 🙃

Happy 25th anniversary Final Fantasy VII ❤️

Graphics enhancement, 23 years later!

FFVII Remake Easter eggs and compilation continuity - Part 2: CRISIS CORE

     RUDE BEING...RUDE

When Cloud and Aerith meet Rude in Sector 5 he unceremoniously asks if he’s “her new boy toy”, referring to Zack. Crisis Core established that the Turks knew Zack and were aware of his relationship with Aerith.

    THE PUPPY

Stamp is a new element introduced in the Remake, which makes a mysterious appearance at the end of the game when Zack seemingly subverts his destiny. In Crisis Core Angeal used to refer to Zack as “puppy”. 

“Are you Zack the puppy? My son wrote to me once about you, zero attention span, restless as a little puppy.”

    BANORA WHITE

There are lots of billboards and flyers of “Banora White apple juice” around Midgar. Both Banora and its apples were introduced for the first time in Crisis Core and linked to Genesis.

     ORPHANS

This may be not intentional but it’s still odd to be just a coincidence: one set of Crisis Core side missions involved some orphans who escaped from a Shinra “care facility”. In the Remake, the Leaf House is an orphanage and, according to the novel “Traces of two pasts”, it is under Shinra’s influence.

      DATING

Just like in the OG, Aerith asks Cloud to be her bodyguard in exchange of one date. Her gesture is exactly the same of Zack’s when he asked her for one date.

    SELLING FLOWERS

When Aerith and Cloud arrive in Evergreen Park, she mentions the time she used to sell flowers there, which happened 5 years before with Zack.

“You know, a long time ago, I used to sell flowers here.”

    YOUR EYES

In Chapter 9 Aerith comments about Cloud’s beautiful mako eyes the same way she did with Zack. In the Japanese version, Cloud and Zack answer her with the same sentence:

Aerith: きれい (...) 瞳 [Beautiful (...) Eyes]

Zack/Cloud: 魔晄を浴びた者の瞳　ソルジャーの証だ [Eyes of those exposed to Mako, the mark of SOLDIER]

    PINK DRESSES

In Crisis Core Zack asked Aerith to wear something pink when they'd meet again. Even though Aerith’s dress has always been pink since the OG, her new optional Wall Market dresses are pink as well.

“From now on, why don’t we make a promise every time we meet? (...) For example, when we meet, you always have to dress in pink.”

    TRAINING ROOM

In Shinra HQ there’s a battle simulator where Zack and the other SOLDIERs used to train in CC.  

    SOLDIER PROJECT

During the meeting with the President and the Shinra executives in Chapter 16, Hojo mentions SOLDIER types G and S. He war referring to the two main projects behind the SOLDIER program - Hollander’s Project G and Hojo’s project S.

CC: “Jenova project G gave birth to Angeal and monsters like myself [Genesis]. Jenova project S used the remains of countless failed experiments to create a perfect monster [Sephiroth].” 

7R: “We could have the Ancient reproduce. (...) I would start with candidates from SOLDIER. These would of course include S and G types.” 

    CELLULAR DEGRADATION

In Chapter 7 President Shinra points out that SOLDIERs usually die prematurely due to cellular degradation. Genesis, after being wounded in the battle simulator, started suffering of severe and irreversible cellular degradation.

“Once a SOLDIER, always a SOLDIER. Though not, alas, for very long. Accelerated cellular degradation being the most common cause of death by far.”

    FALLEN ANGELS

While Sephiroth’s black wing was shown for the first time in Andvent Children some visual elements of the Remake recall elements from Crisis Core related to Genesis and Angeal.

    KUNSEL

In Shinra HQ some troopers recognize Cloud and mention Kunsel, a SOLDIER and close friend of Zack’s.

“Cloud? You’re Cloud right? (...) We went through training together. (...) Hey, sit tight man - I’mma go get Kunsel.

    BARRET’S LAST STAND

“Worst route ever. Gimme a suicidal last stand. At least - At least - at least that’d have an end!”

Barret says this when he reaches the 49th floor of Shinra HQ backstairs - SOLDIERs floor. It’s a reference to Zack’s last stand.  

    THE LIFESTREAM 

After the defeat of Whisper Harbinger the protagonists end up in a place full of light and walk on a watery surface. The same happened in Crisis Core during Zack’s dream that foreshadowed his death, a representation of the Lifestream. 

    FREEDOM

Before entering the sincularity in Chapter 18, Aerith says that beyond the portal there’s “Freedom. Boundless, terrifying freedom. Like a great, never-ending sky.” These words are a callback to Zack’s iconic “The price of freedom is steep”.

    THE SKY

In Crisis Core Aerith told Zack that she felt safe under the plate because the real sky frightened her. She reiterates this concept at the end of the Remake when she said “I miss it, the steel sky” (aka the plate), in Japanese "The sky, I hate it”.

    ZACK’S LAST STAND

This scene is repeated shot-for-shot in Chapter 18.

For the other parts refer to the masterpost

Beautiful ❤️

Since forever and I hope I'll never change

Do you ever feel so detached from the world because you’re constantly living in the fictional/fantasy worlds in your head given that reality is just too boring, too limiting, and too uneventful????

Sephiroth is like a pet hamster because he's always trying to get killed in incredibly strange and unusual ways, and he has immeasurable hatred in his heart

This.

Aerith could survive, summon Holy, fight against Meteor, then summon the Lifestream and with a stretch of imagination even cure Geostigma and have the best happy ending ever seen. It's fiction after all.

Point is, why did they intruduce Aerith's death in the first place.

It's not about blasting a Meteor but explore the deepest existentialistic side of the story.

Death and life are the letimotivs of FF7, condensed in the main concept of the Lifestream and the research of the enigmatical "Promised Land".

Cloud's adventure chronologically starts the day Tifa's mother died - with her hopeless attempt to meet her again - and it ends at the Northern Crater where he finally understands the real nature of the Lifestream and the Promised Land aimed by the Cetras: death is not the end, it's the destination. They will really "meet again".

Aerith personal journey takes her to understand what it really means to be a Cetra, to rediscover her abilities and accept to be Sephiroth's counterbalance. Cetra vs Jenova. Lifestream White vs Lifestream Black. Holy vs Meteor.

Sephiroth, the fake Cetra, comes back to life thanks to the Reunion and aims to the annihilation of the Planet.

Aerith, the real Cetra, despite her death, still keeps representing life and spiritual enery at their highest levels, to the point to convey the whole Lifestream against Meteor.

Every other character could die instead of her, it would be emotional, sure.

But no one else could replace her in this duality.

Is it really true that Aerith has to die in order for Meteor to be stopped? I've always heard fans saying that she has to die because it's important for the plot and needs to happen so that she can summon Holy to stop Meteor, but if she really has to die to stop Meteor, then why is it that she had already summoned Holy right before Sephiroth killed her? I thought she died for shock value and as a symbol for one of the themes for the story. Whether she died or not wouldn't have mattered.

Well, it's a story, nothing HAS to happen, you can always write your way out of anything if you're willing to bullshit enough. If you're asking whether dying is a requirement for summoning holy in general, then no, Aerith doesn't have to die to summon holy. In FFVII, Aerith successfully summons holy before she dies, only the spell does not activate because Sephiroth is blocking the spell from activating from the lifestream. Hypothetically, holy could still be summoned if Aerith lives, all that would need to happen is for them to destroy Sephiroth in order to stop him from blocking holy, which is what happens in the original. Only, in the original, they're too late, meteor is too close for holy to fully stop it. The way it's eventually stopped is that Aerith rallies the planets lifestream from inside it, to help holy. That she can't do while alive as far as we know. The logical response of course would be to say that if Aerith didn't die, then she'd have been able to tell the party that Sephiroth is preventing holy from activating, and they might be able to activate holy sooner, meaning it wouldn't fail. Perfectly valid response....however. This is a story, and that is the biggest anti-climax I've ever heard. There is a reason that in no good story the plans ever "just work". Holy failing, and the lifestream of the planet joining in, is a core part of the story, if holy just works, then there is no drama or suspense there, no ups and downs, no lessons concerning humanity and the planet. And that's what really matters, Aerith has to die because she can't fulfill her narrative purpose while being alive. The mechanical purpose can always be fulfilled because you can always make up some bullshit excuse for why "now it's suddenly possible!", as we see in every bad blockbuster movie. This is why it's also technically possible to have Aerith fix Clouds broken psyche, just have her magic him whole again. But in reality, she can't, because there are narrative reasons for Clouds fake persona, and it's those thoughts and feelings that need to be addressed by the story, not the "affliction" itself. Might as well go all the way. "well, Aerith can not die, and then Clouds psyche doesn't break, so he wouldn't give the black materia to Sephiroth, so then Sephiroth can't summon meteor, and everything would be peachy"......that's not a story.

I… I could make that mug