LogFAQs > #936023957

Productive day. Let's pick up right where we left off: by storming the Shinra HQ. We immediately fight our way into the elevator, which makes a few haphazard stops on the way to floor 59. We quickly go from a classic dungeon to corporate lounges, gyms, and the like. There's a brief cameo from the mayor; I don't entirely understand the puzzle (I'm able to get a few of the letters, but not all of them), but enough to see there are two B's and an O or M, so I guess BOMB and it's right and hey, a Materia!

It's unclear why you have . I enjoy the breadcrumbing at the 66th floor hinting at how to infiltrate the conference: amid a secretary who just enjoys meeting the men on the floor, we discover that a smell has been emanating from the conference room, and that in the bathroom, you can hear voices. Turns out... the smell has been going from the bathroom through the vent to the conference room, while the voices were traveling in the reverse direction. Nice. Anyway, more evilness is being broadly discussed (with Reed providing another rare source of "hey, we're not all THAT flagrantly evil?" - poor Reed.) Most notably, we latch onto Hojo the mad scientist, who's able to prevent us from killing him with leverage. Cloud catches a glimpse of Jenova which triggers another episode.

In something of an awkward sequence, Red XIII joins us, Aeris is rescued, we have a quick boss battle, and then President Shinra imprisons us. (Shoutout to Tseng and Rude.) That's followed by us getting out immediately. It's really cool the sense of dread from the trails of blood, but I can't help felling that being randomly captured at the last moment took some of the wind out of the sails of this rescue mission. In any case, the death of Shinra is obviously a game-changer, and choppers have arrived.

This next sequence gives me my second game-over. Aeris, Barret, and Red XIII manage their way through some consecutive boss battles without too much issue (though the second time through, I give them better Materia for their troubles). It's the fight with Rufus Shinra (who's pretty great, stupid cliche talk about ruling thorugh FEAR aside; I like his character design a lot) that gets me. That stupid dog puts up barriers right away while I'm trying to use the Sense attack, and it winds up with me unable to fend off the both of them. The second time around, though, I equip Cloud with the Restore Materia (much more efficient than Potions!) and immediately blast the dog with two magic spells, taking it out, and then calmly dismantle Rufus. Love the Shotgun attack still though!

Incredibly, this fight doesn't wind up with Cloud taking a huge dive - we're able to leave via the elevator - but that doesn't mean we don't have an inexplicable motorbike sequence, followed by a final boss fight at the precipice of a cliff. The style of FFVII continues to impress!

Beating this boss leaves us with nothing keeping us Midgar, where Shinra PR ensures that AVALANCHE is persona non grata. So it's off to the World Map, with a promise to meet in a little town to the northeast. There, at an inn, Cloud tells a story about his hometown, Nibelheim, and how Sephiroth develops a serious Oedipus complex with a mix of god-assertions. Also Tifa wears a fun hat.

But seriously, it's nice getting this background characterization of an iconic villain. Having Sephiroth in the party in the flashback is really entertaining. Nothing does damage to him, he has 3000 HP, and his Masamune allows him six Materia. He slaughters a dragon in two hits and reduces all other enemies to rubble with spells like Bolt3 or Quake3. He's menacing at first, and it's pretty damn debatable whether SOLDIER is heroic or villainous, but it's interesting that Cloud appears to be present for Sephiroth's actual descent into pure, chaotic evil. We also of course witness that iconic walk through the fire. Meanwhile, the wide-eyed kid version of Cloud is really fun, too.

After that, I'm really lost as to where to go. I go down, catch Chocobos, get slaughtered by Midgar Zolom, find a cave where Sephiroth has killed a Zolom... but I can't figure out where I have to go to trigger more plot events. The only accessible territories seem to be Sephiroth's slaughtered Zolom, the Chocobo Farm, Midgar (which I'm locked out of now), and the little town where I'm pretty confident I've talked to literally every person. This is the type of thing that makes me either consult guides or just quit. I'd love to figure it out on my own, but the only clue of "He went east into the grassy lands" or whatever doesn't seem to be helping.

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* Midgar's Science department is full of very ominous-sounding titles. Lots of experimenting on live subjects and the biology of Ancients. Ick.

* Didn't get a great look at Jenova. Oh well.

* Hojo really seems like one of the most depraved characters in the story.

* Why does Sephiroth leave the Masamune just sticking out of people? Is it not a big deal or what.

* So... why does Sephiroth have a weird relationship with Cloud? He obviously frees Cloud intentionally, and Cloud doesn't even understand how he survived fighting Sephiroth the first time.

* Hunting Sephiroth seems distinctly unwise given the power differential, but hey, whatever drives the plot!

* I am actually enjoying the little snippets of Ceta/Ancients lore. The backstory of this game has a lot in common with FFVI (magic is ancient; materia/espers; the like) and I'm enjoying the parallels and differences.
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness