Terra-fatalis - Terra Fatalis

FFVII Remake Easter eggs and compilation continuity - Part 1: BEFORE CRISIS

     AVALANCHE!

In Chapter 4, a group of Avalanche members helps Cloud, Wedge and Biggs to fight against some Shinra troops. The design of their uniforms is the same of the BC Avalanche group. 

     ATTEMPT ON THE PRESIDENT

During Chapter 1, while Heidegger and President Shinra observe the attack to Reactor 1, Heidegger mentions an assassination attempt on the President. He might be referring to the episode that took place on 30th February (yes, 30) 0001 in Junon. 

“These sewer rats appear to call themselves Avalanche, sir. We are currently investigating whether they belong to the same group that made the attempt on your life.”

     LEAVING MIDGAR

In Chapter 8 Aerith tells Cloud she once tried to leave Midgar. This happened in BC, on 9th August 0002, but Avalanche tried to kidnap her before she could leave the slums.

“You know, I thought about leaving once... But...in the end, I couldn't.”

     TIFA’S CAT

One of the side quests in Sector 7 includes the research of three cats. They’re white with a pink collar, like the cat Tifa had when she lived in Nibelheim.

     HIDEOUT IN WUTAI

After blaming Avalanche for the tragedy in Sector 7, Shinra divulged rumors about their allegiance with Wutai. It was showed in BC that Avalanche established there their HQ since it was the only remaining anti-Shinra country of the world.

“The sky is falling and Avalanche is to blame! But wait! Did you know Wutai is the one funding their activities!? For all their claims about fighting for the slums...they're nothing more than pawns of Wutai”

This alliance is confirmed in Intermission with Yuffie and Sonon cooperating with Avalanche to infiltrate Shinra.

Sonon: Gotta admit, I'm surprised you agreed to work with us.

Nayo: We're just doing what we think is necessary...to build a brighter future. That's all there is to it.

     RUFUS

It was established in Before Crisis that Rufus conspired against his father providing intel and financial support to Avalanche. In Itermission, when Zhijie was questioned by the Shinra guards, he made fun of them but actually said the truth when he confessed the informant was Rufus. 

Officer: Now spill it! Who gave you that information!?

Zhijie: Oh, his name was something like...Heidegger? (...) Alright, alright, I'll tell you. It was Rufus. (...)...Or was it Hojo?

Moreover Scarlet started suspecting of the presence of a mole in Shinra, since Wutai knew about their secret military projects.

Yuffie: That's enough, Sonon. I got this. Alright, lady, out with it. Tell us where you're hiding the new materia. Don't play dumb now. We know you've been cooking up something super-powerful.

Scarlet: Well, well... Wutai must have some highly skilled intelligence operatives. That...or we have a mole in our midst.

ALLIANCE

It is shown since Chapter 16 that there’s a particoular link between Rufus and the Turks. Indeed in BC Tseng, Reno and Rude were sentenced to death by President but Rufus saved them in exchange for their loyalty.

“The VP needs us.”

FINAL BOSS

The Whisper Harbinger appearing in Chapter 18 bears similarities with Zirconiade:

- They both have to be faced at the end of the highway after entering a flashing portal

- The shape of the body of the Harbinger (just like Whispers Rubrum, Viridis and Croceo) shares some similarities with Zirconiade

- Both battles take place in an alternate dimension with shattered environment

- After their defeat they emit energy blasts and explode with a shockwave

- After the explosion, sparkling particles fall slowly from the sky, like snow

-

For the other parts refer to the masterpost

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

Angeal always bothers me and idk how to word it!! Not sure your take on why or what you see with his character in general but I'd love to know bc this has been bothering me forever

so this got. a little more heated than i thought it would. sorry anon lmao

angeal stans this is your warning!! nice things are not said under the cut

so angeal exists in the narrative to be the dead mentor figure so we feel bad for zack and to infodump a little about his and genesis's pasts in the beginning so genesis gets a modicum of development as well. he also does some obligatory passing on of his legacy of soldier honor and morals to zack so zack has a clear model to follow and we as the audience can see his growth from somewhat careless and cocky to a little more serious and driven after angeal's death. on a deeper level, angeal also exists as a counterpoint to genesis's and sephiroth's respective models of heroism, where (simply put) angeal's is staying true to a code of honor to protect the people, genesis's is being recognized by the public for heroic deeds, and sephiroth's is manufactured success and perfection in performance

and like, crisis core shows that each of these models doesn't work. in the case of angeal, his rigid adherence to a code of honor to remain morally pure leads to his downfall. especially with the circumstances of his death-- like, death before dishonor is an incredibly strong concept in japanese culture, but it's pretty clear in cc that what angeal does in forcing zack's hand is somewhat backwards in logic. like, where was this revelation that he was hurting people back in the middle of the war with wutai where he was literally destroying people’s villages and livelihoods vs. now when the war is literally over and he isn’t actively hurting people?? but. whatever. sure, let's assume this was the turning point that finally made him realize what he’s done in the past

but even then he doesn't solve anything, he doesn't try to help anyone despite that being basically his motto, he just gives up because he himself doesn't fit into his strict worldview-- if he isn't the hero he thought he was, then he must be a monster, and he can't be tolerated to exist. angeal quite literally shatters under the weight of his morals

there's also the issue of the story from his childhood, which is supposed to show his character as honorable à la "honor can exist in unconventional ways" but. it fails to establish him as such imo. it's like, you're too proud to accept help so you're gonna steal from people instead? and not even the rich people because one of them is your friend?? like there's a difference between being honorable and being too proud, especially if part of your motto is to protect others. it feels like a weird blend of capitalist work ethic + robin hood-esque imagery while missing the part where robin hood didn't actually steal solely because he was poor, he stole because fuck rich people and so he could help other poor people. you know. by giving them the handouts angeal is apparently too proud to accept

he's just a huge hypocrite, which makes his lectures on honor and pride feel all the more sanctimonious. he tries so hard to keep the moral high ground that the moment he comes up against something that actually tests his self-perception, he just shrugs and goes "guess i'll die". i feel like that was the entire point of how crisis core wrote him, especially given the role the buster sword plays in symbolizing his honor (aka use it or lose it), but the overall fandom tends to treat him as objectively the best of the firsts, like this bitch didn't just nosedive into drama queen territory just as quickly as the other two. i think @ladylokiofmidgard put it best when she said he has the moral backbone of a chocolate éclair

like angeal is as bland as white bread but somehow manages to singlehandedly piss me off more than any other character in the compilation. i could go on more but this post is already too long as it is

anyways. angeal was wrong. the buster sword is a metaphor for his failure to uphold his own philosophies relative to the people who inherited it. fight me

With the voice recordings underway, what do y’all think part 3 of the FF7 Remake trilogy will be called???

Marlene knows him well.

Marlene is a smart kid.

Trust Marlene.

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 🙃

okay I just had to back up a bit to verify it was you. How we feeling about Roche

My thoughts on Roche can be found summarized here

To not summarize them:

I love how stupidly consistent with the original he feels. I love Reno's comment in remake that all SOLDIERS are in fact, massive weirdos. I love how gay they let him be. I love that he quotes Romeo & Juliet. Except, in this universe, Loveless is the stand in for shakespeare and there's actually several shakespeare lines in the performance at the saucer. So there's like a 90% chance Roche was just quoting Loveless when he said that. I love that he put in the effort to hire a full brass band for his showdown in Junon. I love his stupid little keychain (yes I had it equipped for like half my playthrough)

Most of all I love that Cloud???? Weirdly respects him???? After their first duel, whenever Roche shows up, Cloud plays by the rules and tells all his allies to stand down so they can 1v1. He genuinely likes Roche and has this begrudging fondness for their random shonen rivalry. You don't see him giving Sephiroth any of that. Cloud has so many random people obsessed with him, and you know the only one he tolerates??? Roche. What the hell.

If we're talking about his final fight, let me just say: Ow.

Comments I have seen on Sephiroth’s labeled ruler today:

“This is the lore that matters”

“He writes like a teenage girl”

“NERD”

“It’s an AU where Lucrecia raised him and she labels all his supplies, so it’s her handwriting”

“His handwriting is so ugly 😭”

“DORK”

“We know his handwriting but not his birthday” 

“Sephiroth can fucking write”

“we should’ve known Sephiroth’s the type of kid who writes his name everywhere from the moment his theme had his name chanted multiple times”

“And mfs don’t think this guy is related to Chadley”

—

The teenage girl one has me dying lmfao.

DADDY DOM STATUS REVOKED. GET SCHOOL-GIRLED SEPHIROTH.

Talk about a coincidence!

(Previous post here)

Aerith and Tifa parallel 

Eyes are the window to the soul

Cloud has the so-called Mako-Eyes, due to Mako infusion treatment. This is normally a distinctive mark of SOLDIERS and during the game many characters notice them: President Shinra, Reno, Rude, Elmyra...

Aerith

Aerith commenting about Cloud’s eyes was an important plot point of the OG as it was the first hint about her connection with Zack.

This dialogue takes place when they escape from the church across the rooftops of Sector 5 slums.

The devs decided to change this scene for the Remake and replace it with one that recreates step by step a romantic moment between Aerith and Zack from Crisis Core (for those who don’t know what I’m talking about, 0:13).

When Cloud and Aerith arrive in Evergreen Park, a place that's special for her, she starts talking about Zack and her cheerfulness fades away for the first time.

Zack’s name causes Cloud one of his migraine attacks. When he opens his eyes again she comments about their beauty and when he points out that’s because of the Mako she just sais “...I know”.

Tifa

In Chapter 3 Johnny is arrested by Shinra Public Security and Cloud and Tifa have to intervene to make sure he doesn’t talk about Avalanche. Cloud seems to have no hesitation to kill Johnny but Tifa stops him. 

This is the first time during the game where she openly states how much he’s changed and, coincidentally, she does it commenting about his eyes. Of course she’s not talking about their color. Here too he answers in a similar way, saying it's because of the Mako, to which she replies “I remember...”.

---

To sum up

Aerith:

likes SOLDIER eyes

because they remind her of Zack, the guy she loved.

She gets sad because she misses Zack.

In Crisis Core Mako eyes were described as “color of the sky - but not scary at all”.

Tifa: 

doesn’t like SOLDIER eyes

because they are different from those of the guy she had a crush on.

She gets sad because she misses the Cloud of 7 years ago.

The camera focuses on his eyes while she says that he’s scaring her.

...

WAIT! 

The devs can’t be saying that SOLDIER-Cloud is NOT real-Cloud, that Aerith likes his Zack-side and that real-Cloud doesn’t use to cut civilians in half with a massive sword...

... Right?!

What an unexpected & unexplainable coincidence!