LogFAQs > #956442692

6.5/10

I loved it as a kid, but after Midgar, the breadcrumbs of Sephiroth are "hit and miss." Sephiroth himself is a valuable goal. The "mysterious force of nature" villain that is spoken of in legend. It gives Cloud and others a reason to travel Disc 1 (the best part of the game other than Midgar). A lot of characters get fleshed out at appropriate paces. Cloud's judgment comes into question.

And yes, the end of Disc 1 is iconic.

But the more I replay it, the more the writting staff's failures come to play. They had an issue with keeping Disc 2 and Disc 3 in the PSX era going strong. They built up so much steam, but bogged down VII, VIII, and IX with a lot of pseudo-science that masks, "We had an idea for a character, so here's some bullshit science to explain it."

It sounds good in theory, but how they handled Cloud was an excuse in stupidity. It isn't helped that back then, they didn't have the ability they do now with remake to make a "show don't tell" traumatic experience carry itself. They spend SEVERAL unskippable cutscenes going over Cloud's backstory, and instead of saying, "It's PTSD," it just comes off as a really stupid science mess to tie into Hojo's bullshit. *Don't get me started on Parasite Eve and MITOCHONDRIA MAKES ZOMBIES!" They spent five years in that sciency dumpster fire. FFX got them out of it by going full fantasy again.

The rest of the game follows the typical save the world stuff, and the ending just...dies.

I wanna like this game. It got me into FF and JRPGs as a whole. The each replay really drives home how an idea can be bogged down with stupid execution. FF as a whole loves to do some weird ass science/sci-fi/fantasy shenanigans. It really sucks it had to come at the cost of Midgar and Disc 1 really giving me something to sink my teeth into.

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"Evening caress, Always yearning, I must confess, The stars aren't burning"
Copernicus - Candlemass