Board 8 > I'm playing Final Fantasy VII for the first time *Spoilers as I go*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hello everyone! Over the years, I've done playthrough topics for several Final Fantasy games. Now I'm back for another... and I'm finally playing the big one. Final Fantasy VII is one of the most famous games of all time, but I've never played it. Well, my family had the PC version when I was a wee lad, but it was super broken. The only thing I remember is one cutscene where Cloud was on a motorcycle, and I only remember it because the cutscene glitched, played upside down, and then the entire game crashed. My older brother (who did most of the actual playing) and I could never get past that part.

This time, I'm playing the Steam version of the original game (not the remake). It crashed my computer once when I alt-tabbed, but I appear to have resolved that issue by playing in windowed mode. Here's hoping I don't have to end this playthrough prematurely for any glitch reasons. As for spoilers, I know some things just from hanging out on B8 all my life. For example, I know that Aeris dyes her hair. Still, for the most part, I know nothing. I hope at least a few people will join me on this blind journey through one of the most beloved games ever!

Before we begin, here's my current FF ranking. I'm sure everyone will agree that it is factually correct.

XIII > X-2 > LR > VI > WoFF > IX > VIII > X > IV(3D) > II > I > XIII-2

And here's a ranking of my current top fifteen Final Fantasy characters. I wonder if any of the VII cast will make it in?

Lighting > Yuna > Dagger > Terra > Rinoa > Squall > Eiko > Cyan > Lumina > Sazh > Rikku > Reynn > Tellah > Auron > Vanille

Final Fantasy VII begins with the camera panning around to show off a futuristic city, which looked beautiful even with the outdated graphics. Then it focused on a train and introduced our characters, who... don't look so good. I know how old this game is and I can imagine how groundbreaking the visuals probably were at the time, but I struggle to take these Lego people seriously. They should've used the combat models, those actually look good! Anyway, my moment of unfairly judging this twenty-six year old game is over, back to the plot.

A terrorist/freedom fighter group called AVALANCHE are attacking a Mako reactor. They helpfully explain that the reactor is draining the planet's life energy. Assuming that isn't an exaggeration to justify themselves, that sounds like a serious problem. However, Cloud, their newest member, doesn't care. He used to be part of something called Soldier. Now he just wants to get the job done and get paid. The leader, Barret (a big dude with a cool arm machine gun), doesn't trust him yet. Still, Cloud's skills prove invaluable as they fight through the complex. They plant the bomb, rush out ahead of the timer, and I even rescued Jessie despite briefly hesitating to wonder if the game would actually let me leave her behind.

Everyone split up outside, and Cloud ran into a girl selling flowers. Aeris may not be the canon name anymore, but it's the one this version of the game presented. And, honestly, even if it did call her Aerith, I would've changed it back. Aeris is a better name! There were a bunch of NPCs running around scared, so I figured the area was still dangerous. I had Cloud tell Aeris to get the hell out of there. Then he got cornered by a bunch of soldiers. The game gave me the option of battling them now or later, but I'm not sure why. Cloud wrecked those dudes. I probably could've kept fighting and killed them all, but instead he jumped onto a passing train to regroup with the others.

While Barret is still standoffish, the other freedom fighters are all hyped about how strong Cloud is. I liked the world-building scenes on the train where Jessie explained the ID security scan and showed a map of the city. I guess Cloud would've been too high class to ride public transit when he was still part of whatever Soldier is. After arriving at their stop, I was given my first chance to explore on my own. I found a train graveyard area with a ladder I could climb, and I could clearly see an area beyond it with more ladders... but, sadly, I couldn't find a way to access it. There probably was a way. Honestly, the thing I'm struggling with the most in the game so far is navigating the areas. It's tough to tell what I can climb or where to stand to access a ladder. I couldn't figure out this puzzle, so I went back to the main plot.

The group's HQ is at a bar owned by Cloud's childhood friend, Tifa. Cloud tried to act all cold and distant, like he's only in it for the money, but by the next morning Tifa was easily able to convince him to come on the next job. She comes along, too, leaving her bar in the hands of Barret's daughter Marlene. I laughed as soon as I saw that. A little girl tending a bar probably isn't legal, but she seemed to know what she was doing back there so I doubt any patrons will complain. The crew hopped onto another train, and their presence spooked most people into another car. Only one Shinra employee remained, and I wasn't a fan of the way Barret seemed ready to blow the dude's head off. Enemy combatants are one thing, no need to threaten some poor shmuck who's just trying to get by in this dystopian hellhole. While I'm at it, NPCs talking about the reactor explosion mentioned that it killed a lot of innocent people. Assuming that wasn't just Shinra propaganda, that's pretty bleak. Are... are we actually the bad guys???

Pretty soon, the security ID scan caught them, leading to a hectic sprint down all the train cars. Cloud/Barret/Tifa were forced to jump out and find another way into the reactor. After that, setting up the bomb went well. The only notable thing here is that Cloud got a strange vision of when Tifa's father was killed by Sephiroth. Cloud's weird visions and weird internal dialogue are things I assume will be delved into later. For now, they had to fight their way out of what turned out to be a trap. The president of Shinra even made an appearance to mock them, which feels like it should be below his paygrade. At least he showed what a boss he is by leaving in a helicopter to go to a fancy dinner. I made short work of the enemy robot boss, but Cloud still got knocked off a ledge by the explosion. Then, while desperately trying to look cool in front of his hot childhood friend (I chose the "be strong" option), he let go and plummeted down what looked like a lethal distance. RIP Cloud, we hardly knew ye.

...Okay, obviously he survives. A roof and a bit of dirt were enough to break his fall, somehow. Cloud, seemingly uninjured, wakes up and meets Aeris, the flower girl he'd spoken to the day before. She seemed put-off that he didn't buy a flower from her, but I didn't even know that was an option! Sorry for warning you away from the blast zone and potentially saving your life, I guess! A bad guy named Reno came in with some goons next. I thought he'd be after Cloud, but apparently he's after Aeris. Cloud helped her escape... well, not really. There was a minigame where Cloud should've pushed barrels onto the goons, but I hilariously failed at it. Aeris had to fight everyone and mostly just saved herself.

After escaping, the two went to her house to rest for the night. There were some good little moments between them, like when Cloud went too fast across the rooftops and Aeris asked him to slow down, leading to some cute teasing in both directions. She even offered to pay him for his bodyguarding with a date, and she seemed worried that Tifa might be his girlfriend. I can see some chemistry here! They might run into some problems in the future, though, because Aeris' mom asked Cloud to sneak out and not drag her along on any adventures. I don't blame you, lady. If my daughter brought home some guy with spikey anime hair, I wouldn't want them to get together either. Another thing I want to mention is that, while exploring, I found 5 gil in some kid's dresser. I opted not to steal it because the kid was in bed mumbling to himself about how he hoped no one would find his stuff. I usually loot everything I possibly can in RPGs without a thought, so good job FFVII for getting me to care about some random NPC, I guess.

I stopped playing not long after this. A few steps into the next area, Cloud and Aeris got into a battle against some sort of monstrous house. This house kicked my ass and I only made it through the fight thanks to Aeris' healing limit break. At that point I backed off, saved, and I'll probably start my next session by finding a place to grind out a few levels. Those house monsters are scary.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the game so far! It's definitely showing its age a bit, especially in the Lego character models and how difficult it often is to navigate the areas. Stuff like doors and ladders don't stand out from their surroundings much. Still, I thought VIII and IX showed their age at the beginning too, not to mention FFI and II. By the end of all of those, I'd gotten used to it and everything was fine. Once I grind some levels to make the game easier, I shouldn't have any problems. I'm intrigued by the plot so far and the characters all have a lot of potential.

Tag but also that is a very... unique ranking list.

Tag

Robazoid posted...

Before we begin, here's my current FF ranking. I'm sure everyone will agree that it is factually correct.

> X

hard disagree

tag

tag

I'm in but wow that is quite the ranking list there

If you're having a hard time finding doors and ladders, use the finger

Not sure how you activate it on the Steam version, but it's whatever the equivalent of the select button is.

Yeah they've been very considerate of how it's hard to see what stuff you can interact with in the remastered versions.

Just saw the ranking and I could easily be convinced it was randomized.

You have X pretty low for having 3 characters in your top rankings

The finger exists in the original game, too!

HanOfTheNekos posted...

You have X pretty low for having 3 characters in your top rankings

I assure you it's primarily for X-2

Tag.

I don't think I've ever noticed the game rankings before in your other topics and that is certainly a ranking.

I'll be intrigued to know who you'll be saving next year. This game has a lot of good characters.

Also tag

BlueCrystalTear posted...

I'll be intrigued to know who you'll be saving next year. This game has a lot of good characters.

Elena and Cait Sith

Lopen posted...

Elena and Cait Sith

It's definitely gonna be Yuffie so that's good news for you

I'm unsure of that. I look at Roba's list of favorite characters and the ones I actually like are towards the bottom. I expect his ranking to be like

Aeris > Cait Sith > Yuffie > Red XIII > Tifa >>> Cloud > Vincent > Barret > Cid > Sephiroth

Lopen posted...

I'm unsure of that. I look at Roba's list of favorite characters and the ones I actually like are towards the bottom. I expect his ranking to be like

Aeris > Cait Sith > Yuffie > Red XIII > Tifa >>> Cloud > Vincent > Barret > Cid > Sephiroth

I mean Roba occasionally gets it right (Squall is in his top ten, for instance), but I have never been more confident that he's going to become a Yuffie fan

Lately I've been feeling convinced he'll be a new Aerith main.

mnk posted...

Lately I've been feeling convinced he'll be a new Aerith main.

If you really digest his top character list it's a vastly more likely outcome than him being a Yuffie main

He'll probably have Aerith high if he plays Remake, too, but if you're thinking he'll have her tops in VII because he has Yuna up near the top, that's because of X-2, not X.

Robazoid posted...

They plant the bomb, rush out ahead of the timer, and I even rescued Jessie despite briefly hesitating to wonder if the game would actually let me leave her behind.

If you try everyone will just tell you to go back and get her.

Leonhart4 posted...

He'll probably have Aerith high if he plays Remake, too, but if you're thinking he'll have her tops in VII because he has Yuna up near the top, that's because of X-2, not X.

It's moreso because he has Garnet, Terra, and Rinoa at the top.

And yet here he is pushing Eiko every year

So even if Aerith does take the top spot, Yuffie will reap the SMFFFC benefits

I see that my rankings have thrown some people off. I assure all of you, they aren't randomized and I'm not trolling. XIII has amazing characters and one of my favorite RPG battle systems. X-2 oozes fun. Lightning Returns was just such a unique experience, and so on. I have rock solid justifications for the character list, too

Leonhart4 posted...

If you're having a hard time finding doors and ladders, use the finger

Not sure how you activate it on the Steam version, but it's whatever the equivalent of the select button is.

Oh, that's handy. FFVII on Steam only has partial controller support, and I didn't see anything like that when I tested all the buttons. Every time it launches, though, it shows a screen of the keyboard controls. I'll figure that out before next time.

Leonhart4 posted...

He'll probably have Aerith high if he plays Remake, too, but if you're thinking he'll have her tops in VII because he has Yuna up near the top, that's because of X-2, not X.

I liked Yuna because of X too! She was great in X-2 as well, but she was my favorite after X as well. X-2 just solidified it when she told a certain loser that she didn't like his plan because his plan sucked.

He didn't put 1 and 2 on the bottom his taste checks out

tag. I predict Roba will be an Elena fan.

Taaaaag

I look forward to him ending up a Tifa, Cait Sith supporter and throwing you all off.

entered topic thinking Yuffie fan

I say as a Yuffie fan that disagrees with Roba on a lot

Maniac64 posted...

I look forward to him ending up a Tifa, Cait Sith supporter and throwing you all off.

This would be the best case scenario, really

Cait Sith is absolutely a lock for Roba I didn't consider it a question

Ermine will be thrilled

I played a bit more tonight. I could've played even longer, but this small section of the game left me with quite a lot to talk about! First, I turned on that 'Finger' mode that shows doors and ladders. It has been super helpful. There are still a few areas with funny layouts, like the train graveyard where it took me a few minutes to realize I could walk through one of the busted trains. Overall, though, navigation has been a lot easier to manage.

Cloud and Aeris made their way through the area infested with evil houses (seriously, what's the deal with these things). I had an easier time with them after equipping Aeris with a Restore materia to get some dedicated healing. Plus, Cloud's limit break leveled up and got a cross-slash that disabled the houses for a bit, which really helped. After getting through, Cloud realized that, to get back home, Aeris would have to return through the house-infested area all on her own. They sat in a playground to mull over that conundrum, and then they talked about how Aeris' first boyfriend was in SOLDIER too. She was cagey about giving Cloud a name, though, so I assume it was Sephiroth. After all, he's the only other SOLDIER that I know.

That was when a chocobo carriage rode by carrying Tifa on the back. Confused, the two followed and realized she was being held in some crime lord's mansion. In order to rescue her, Cloud used his fighting skills to bust in and... oh. No, I guess that plan would make too much sense. It's much easier to disguise Cloud as a woman in order to infiltrate this den of sex perverts. I remember seeing images of Cloud in a dress over the years, but I always assumed it was some goofy sidequest. I never realized it would be part of a main quest this early in the game!

Oh well, I'm a good sport so I played along. It helped that Aeris was super excited to make Cloud as pretty as he could be. I had already done part of the quest while wandering through the area before. I'd eaten at a restaurant and then exchanged a coupon for digestive medicine, reasoning that the food from that sketchy restaurant might go down rough. By exchanging this with a girl vomiting in a nearby bathroom, plus some other fetch quests, Cloud got a dress, a wig, a diamond tiara, and some sweet cologne. There was one area left, though. The Honeybee Inn.

They never came right out and said it, but this was clearly a whorehouse. And, man, what a weird whorehouse it was. Cloud peeked into one room and, as far as I understood, the president of Shinra himself was in there getting off to an incredibly unsettling stage play. It was almost as unsettling as what happened to poor Cloud when I chose the &$#% Room. It was either that or the Group Room, and I didn't think Cloud was ready for an orgy. It turned out that he wasn't ready for this either though. Inside, he saw a ghostly image of himself cowering in fear, likely a premonition of the horror that was about to befall him. The sight was enough to knock Cloud out... which thankfully spared him from being awake for what happened after. When he awoke, a burly man was in bed with him. Again, this was all played very PG-13 and didn't come right out and say it, but... did that man have his way with an unconscious Cloud?!? I got some lingerie for the low, low price of Cloud's dignity and virtue.

Once Cloud was dolled up (in a... shockingly unflattering full-body dress), Aeris decided to join in too (wearing a much sexier red dress). I obviously didn't know much about her before I started playing, but, given that she's an innocent looking flower girl and the team healer, the image I had of her in my head was always pure and innocent. I'm really liking this spunkier side where she's so eager to get Cloud to crossdress and even joins in on the fun. I also really liked the scene outside the Honeybee Inn where she was ripping off a bunch of horny dudes by upcharging them to buy her flowers. Aeris has been amazing so far.

Anyway, the two headed off to Corneo's mansion. Tifa was confused to see them, and even more confused at what Cloud was wearing. She had a tip that Corneo knew some valuable information, though, and the group decided to follow through. Cloud was chosen as the sexiest girl, and then he was able to rip off the disguise and interrogate Corneo once the group had him cornered. I liked how threats of "ripping it off" or "smashing it" were what got him to talk... and, again, I was pleasantly surprised that even Aeris joined in on the threat of dick-mangling. Corneo told them about a Shinra plot to crush the slum where Avalanche is located. The group had to take a short detour through a sewer after falling for the old trap door trick, but then they were on their way to stop that awful plan.

Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, the battle was already underway. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie were injured, and Aeris ran off to rescue Marlene. Together with Barret, Tifa and Cloud tried to prevent the explosion. And they failed. The main heroes were able to escape, and Aeris rescued Marlene despite getting captured by Shinra immediately after. Still, everyone else wasn't so lucky. It was a harrowing scene watching that plate fall onto all those unsuspecting people. I saw a newscast later that claimed there were no civilian casualties, but... yeah right. If nothing else, the three lesser members of Avalanche are probably dead. Barret was understandably distraught and furious, to the point of shooting fruitlessly at the rubble. Still, I liked how he refused to blame himself for it. This atrocity was the fault of Shinra. Now it's time to go and blow them all to hell and rescue Aeris in the process!

The last thing I did before stopping for the night was learn a bit more about Aeris from her mother. It turns out that she's actually only her adopted mother, and Aeris is some sort of ancient. That explains why Shinra wants her, I guess, but I don't know much else yet. I'm excited to find out, though! I'm enjoying the game a lot more now that navigation is easier. I'm also really loving Aeris so far. She's a sweetheart, but she's also a lot less innocent than I ever would've guessed. I figured she'd be the pure, self-sacrificing magic girl, like Rosa from IV or Yuna from X. Don't get me wrong, I usually love that character type, and Aeris is definitely a good person. Still, I'm loving this edge that she has. She grew up in these horrible slums and has probably seen some shit. It makes perfect sense that she'd rip off some dudes by overcharging for her flowers (while Cloud was inside being violated, no less). She's great.

EDIT: Oh, one other thing (because this post wasn't long enough yet, my apologies to anyone actually reading all of this...). After the plate collapse, I noticed that Tifa had a "Sadness" status ailment. Yeah, after what just happened, that makes sense. I wonder what item gets rid of that, antidepressants? Some ice cream, maybe? I'm sure that'd cheer her right up even though a bunch of her friends are dead!

Yeah aerith is the streetwise one and tifa is actually more...demure (even though she can still kick ass).

Also if you do enough of the quests poorly you can get one of the girls to be chosen instead, which creates a less interesting scene, though you do get a battle.

pjbasis posted...

Yeah aerith is the streetwise one and tifa is actually more...demure (even though she can still kick ass).

Streetwise, that's a good word for her. And yeah, Tifa is definitely the demure one, which also isn't what I would've expected. I still haven't gotten to know her super well, but she's all coy with Cloud and holding onto the memory of a cute promise they made together as kids. Then there's Aeris being all forward with the "I'll go on a date if you bodyguard me, lol just kidding... or am I?". It's a fun dynamic.

Sadness is one of 2 status ailments that effect your Limit Break gauge and slightly mess with other stats. Fury is the other one. They can be cured with Hypers and Tranquilizers, respectively.

Yeah Aeris and Tifa being kind of the opposite of their initial impressions is a big driving point of both of their character designs. In fact you could say the same for a lot of FF7s cast because Cloud and Barret are very similarly done (Cloud seems like a cool guy edgelord but is actually a socially awkward dork trying to preten to be one and Barret seems like a hardass tough guy but is actually a caring family man)

its a shame that a lot of spin-off content with the FF7 cast tends to forget this and make their personalities opposite though (Im looking at you especially KH)

This is honestly a big part of why the cast of characters speaks to me, fun subversions all around. Really loving reading this topic, it's bringing a lot of nostalgia and keeping me hyped for Rebirth :)

Everyone wondering who Roba will like from FF7's cast:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/7/9/AAB3mmAAE4LX.jpg

Pokewars posted...

Everyone wondering who Roba will like from FF7's cast:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/7/9/AAB3mmAAE4LX.jpg

Well, not to brag, but I do have a perfect record in voting for leftyera winners in SMFFFC. I'm a hot commodity!

I also already regret supporting Kefka/Ramza over Aeris, we should go back in time and switch my votes.

Yeah, I'm glad Remake brought back the original Aerith characterization instead of the pure and innocent version she became in Kingdom Hearts and the Compilation material. She's great.

Don't regret supporting Ramza though. Top 3 FF character.

Kefka isn't even top 3 in his own game...!

he's top 2

Today's session was mostly gameplay, but there was some story in there too.

Cloud, Tifa, and Barret headed to Wall Market. I checked around for any new things, such as the Honeybee Inn banning Cloud because apparently he was a bad customer (meanwhile Cloud is doing his best to suppress the memories of what happened in there). I also searched Corneo's mansion and saved a guy strapped to some sort of torture table. Then it was time to climb a cable to the upper level, which was a neat little transitional area with some simple battery and jumping puzzles.

Outside Shinra HQ, I had the choice of busting in or sneaking in. After the nonsense of infiltrating Corneo's mansion, this time I opted to just kick in the front door and start blasting. There was a company store on the second floor with some chests I couldn't figure out how to open. The big thing there was a CGI video of some Shinra-brand cars, which I'm sure looked very impressive back in 1997. All I got out of it was... man, Shinra makes some cool steampunk cars.

There was a lot of climbing after that. Most floors had a few NPCs or a little puzzle to snag some items, but it was all relatively straightforward until I got to the executive floor. At first I was going to laugh at the stupidity of the Shinra executives for setting up their vents such that air from the bathroom goes directly into their boardroom. Then I realized... these guys are all too high up to waste time thinking about the vents. Some lowly worker building this place was the one responsible for the shitty air, likely because he hates his evil bosses. Whoever that worker was, he's a hero in my book!

After spying on the executive meeting, Cloud and the others followed the scientist Hojo up to the next floor. There, he seemed to be trying to... I think he wanted to breed Aeris with Red XIII? Would that even work? Regardless, Red XIII isn't into humans, so he opted to attack Hojo instead. The talking dog/cat chimera creature joined the party. This was where I ran into an annoying little problem with managing more than three party members. During the next few sections, it kept making me swap who was in my party. Sometimes it would let me remove Materia and equipment, and sometimes it wouldn't. Even if it did, I still had to reequip everyone, sometimes only for one battle before the party composition switched and then I had to do it all over again. Ugh, that was annoying.

Having rescued Aeris, the party tried to escape. Then they got cornered by the Turks in an elevator and taken to see President Shinra instead. His evil plan was revealed. He wants to find a fabled promised land and build a paradise on top of it. Everyone was tossed into jail cells, and there was some nice character interaction between them all. Aeris even found time to flirt with Cloud a bit by reminding him about her promise for a date. She didn't realize Tifa was in the next cell too, though, and she heard about it too. Awkward!

Everyone went to sleep next. When Cloud woke up later, the cell door was open and everyone outside was dead. It appeared that Sephiroth went on a rampage through the building, and it was awfully nice of him to take the time to open Cloud's cell while he was at it. He also smashed up a container that'd once held some... thing called Jenova. I've heard that name before over the years so I know it's important, but I dunno what it is.

More importantly, the evil President Shinra is dead, stabbed in the back by Sephiroth! Yay! Now his son Rufus is in charge, and he's even more evil than his dad. Boo! I mean, that speech he gave was almost laughably over the top. "My dad was too nice wasting money protecting the people. I'm going to rule through fear instead!" Yeah... your dad was a real saint, what with crushing all those innocent people. Cloud, understandably angered by this, stayed behind to fight Rufus while the others went on ahead (forcing me to juggle my party members, AGAIN). Aeris, Barret, and Red fought a neat battle against some robots while riding the elevator down. It wasn't too bad, Aeris kept up the healing and both her and Red are excellent magic casters. Then Cloud easily beat up Shinra, and his little dog too.

Once everyone regrouped on the main floor (and I had to set up my party AGAIN), they stole a truck and a motorcycle and made their escape. This was the cutscene burned into my memory from my childhood, the one that was glitched, played upside down, and crashed whenever my brother and I tried to get past it. I am officially further into FFVII than I've ever been, not that I remembered much else from so long ago. The little motorcycle minigame where Cloud had to swing at pursuers was neat. The problem here, though, was that not all of the buttons are available on my controller. I could swing right but not left. I could've used the keyboard, but it would've been X and Insert, which is hella awkward. Also, Insert is on the right side of the keyboard and swings left while X is on the left side but swings right? To hell with that! I just used my controller, only ever swung right, and did my best with that handicap. My people got a little beat up, but Aeris healed everyone once the boss fight started and it was smooth sailing from there.

Once they were outside of Midgar, it was time to form a new party (AGAIN). I chose Aeris and Tifa to go with Cloud. I need Aeris for the healing, and I would've felt bad not taking Tifa along too because I bet she'd get all sad and jealous. Sorry Barret and Red, I gotta go the harem route. I laughed when Barret's only reaction was "I expected you to do that". The big problem here was that Barret then walked off with half my Materia attached to him, which is super lame. I quit for the night right after saving on the overworld for the first time. I'm a bit annoyed at the constant party swaps. Still, in my experience, there eventually comes a point in FF games where that sort of thing settles down. Eventually I hope I'll be able to just pick my three favorites, gear them up, and then never need to switch again.

If you fiddle around in the menus youll find there is a way to just swap all of someones equipped materia with another character instead of moving them around manually

Robazoid posted...

There was one area left, It was almost as unsettling as what happened to poor Cloud when I chose the &$#% Room. It was either that or the Group Room, and I didn't think Cloud was ready for an orgy. It turned out that he wasn't ready for this either though. Inside, he saw a ghostly image of himself cowering in fear, likely a premonition of the horror that was about to befall him. The sight was enough to knock Cloud out... which thankfully spared him from being awake for what happened after. When he awoke, a burly man was in bed with him. Again, this was all played very PG-13 and didn't come right out and say it, but... did that man have his way with an unconscious Cloud?!? I got some lingerie for the low, low price of Cloud's dignity and virtue.

Group Room version certainly has its own implications.

https://youtu.be/VIe2_Hfv2Cs

Robazoid posted...

I laughed when Barret's only reaction was "I expected you to do that".

Barret is the best