Final Fantasy VII Plot (Major Spoilers!)

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

This topic is about one of my favourite videogames, Final Fantasy VII!

If you have something to ask regarding the plot, post it here!

MY question is: why does nobody in Nibelheim remember Cloud and that the town burned?

[Seeker_of_Truth]

I always felt nibelheim was a huge plot hole in the FF7 story. That whole part of the story contradicts itself numerous times.

From the best I can tell:


~SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS~



Cloud went away to join SOLDIER but was only able to achieve a low-ranking position in the Midgar army. 5 years after leaving, he is sent back to Nibelheim as escort for Sephiroth and what's his face (forget his name). Ashamed that he didnt acomplish what he told everyone he would, Cloud hides his identity from his hometown. As anyone who has made it far enough into the game would know, Cloud only reveal himself to Tifa in the Nibelheim reactor.
Now, the game takes place some 7 to 10 years after CLoud set out to join SOLDIER. Cloud's mother was killed during Sephiroth's assault on Nibelheim. With no one to keep the memory of Cloud alive in the town and a lot of time having passed and with everyone having the senseless destruction of their homes and the tedious task of rebuilding to worry about, it isn't much of a stretch to believe that the people of his hometown would forget about him.


My questions:
Why didn't Tifa question Cloud's first telling of the Nibelheim incident when he told it to the group in the hotel? She was there, after all, she should have known the truth.

Why in God's name did they make it so damned time-consuming to get a Gold Chocobo??? I don't have 20 hours to sit around making chocobos do their thing again and again!

[Weasel Overlord]

Gold Chocobo you say!? Why not do it the "easy" way and simply defeat Ruby Weapon!? "Simply", I say... like it's not the hardest thing ever... *kicks Ruby Weapon* I HATE YOU!! More than Emerald AND Diamond smushed together! Possibly more than Penance (FFX) but probably not, cos Penance is the ultimate crap-hard boss-dude.

But as for the Nibelheim thing, I always thought it was cos Cloud was completely delusional about his SOLDIER achievements, and that he pretended to be Zack or something. To be frank though, the entire plot is somewhat... convoluted, to say the least.

But according to the ever-knowledgeable AC.net, Cloud never actually got into the ranks of SOLDIER, although he was at Nibelheim when Zack came, and he and Tifa fought Sephiroth with Zack during the destruction of Nibelheim.

If you want more information about this period, you should check out the shart animation Last Order, which shows Zack's last mission in SOLDIER, and shows the destruction of Nibelheim by Sephiroth. It helps to clear up a few plot-holes, at least.

If you want to watch it, pm me and I'll send you a torrent link, since I'm not entirely sure it's legal to post them in threads. ^_^

[Dark Scizor]

Gold Chocobo you say!? Why not do it the "easy" way and simply defeat Ruby Weapon!? "Simply", I say... like it's not the hardest thing ever... *kicks Ruby Weapon* I HATE YOU!! More than Emerald AND Diamond smushed together!

I thought the breeding was rather easy, I'm sure it didn't take a long time. Though I never defeated the Weapons though, they just kept on killing me, over and over again. No matter how close I got.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

SPOILERS


Cloud went away to join SOLDIER but was only able to achieve a low-ranking position in the Midgar army. 5 years after leaving, he is sent back to Nibelheim as escort for Sephiroth and what's his face (forget his name).

I think he left Nibelheim only 7 years before the game. 2 years later he came back to Nibelheim dressed as a low-ranking SOLDIER. He was 16 then, and they're talking about 5 years ago when they refer to that incident. I guess that was your confusion. And then, you must mean Zack.


Why didn't Tifa question Cloud's first telling of the Nibelheim incident when he told it to the group in the hotel? She was there, after all, she should have known the truth.

Tifa was afraid that Cloud would go mad. She says in the Lifestream flashback: "I've been hiding it for some time, afraid that if I told you something terrible might happen."


Gold Chocobo you say!? Why not do it the "easy" way and simply defeat Ruby Weapon!? "Simply", I say... like it's not the hardest thing ever... *kicks Ruby Weapon* I HATE YOU!! More than Emerald AND Diamond smushed together! Possibly more than Penance (FFX) but probably not, cos Penance is the ultimate crap-hard boss-dude.

Hehe, with Knights Of The Round he's pretty easy.
But you need the Gold Chocobo to get the Knights Of The Round.
And to get the Gold Chocobo you need to beat the Weapons.
And you need Knights Of The Round to beat the Weapons easily.
But you need the Gold Chocobo to get the Knights Of The Round.
And to get the Gold Chocobo you need to beat the Weapons.
And you need Knights Of The Round to beat the Weapons easily.
But you need the Gold Chocobo to get the Knights Of The Round.
And to get the Gold Chocobo you need to beat the Weapons.
And you need Knights Of The Round to beat the Weapons easily.
But you need the Gold Chocobo to get the Knights Of The Round.
And to get the Gold Chocobo you need to beat the Weapons.
And you need Knights Of The Round to beat the Weapons easily.
But you need the Gold Chocobo to get the Knights Of The Round.
And to get the Gold Chocobo you need to beat the Weapons.
And you need Knights Of The Round to beat the Weapons easily.
But you need the Gold Chocobo to get the Knights Of The Round.
And to get the Gold Chocobo you need to beat the Weapons.
And you need Knights Of The Round to beat the Weapons easily.

OK, OK, I was just playing with you! You can also breed the Chocobos to get a gold one, as you know, and I actually heard my friend beat the Weapons without Knights Of The Round. Now I'm currently trying to raise my levels in one save game file to try the Weapaons without Knights Of The Round but I need time.


If you want more information about this period, you should check out the shart animation Last Order, which shows Zack's last mission in SOLDIER, and shows the destruction of Nibelheim by Sephiroth. It helps to clear up a few plot-holes, at least.

Do you mean the video they show in Shinra Mansion basement after Cloud gets well?

[Weasel Overlord]

Nope, I mean the anime which was released a short time before Advent Children was. It's called Last Order, and it really really good! XD

[Emotional Faun Chiko-sai]

Last Order is pure eye candy. It's the Cloud + Zack story, with more details and an entire contingent of Turks which I'm half sure was added in there to promote their Before Crisis mobile game...

I found breeding chocobos quite fun ^^;; But then again I am far too easily amused, I was going to the Gold Saucer with all different party members and trying them out to see how many would ask to ride the chocobo instead of Cloud. It's easier than killing bloody Ruby Weapon, at least... *curses at Ruby Weapon*

[TKnHappyNess]

I got a big one: Why the hell won't these morons realize that Aeris is dead, and she ain't coming back?!

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I don't know if that was a good move to add the spoiler warning to the title, it may scare some, but what I wrote, I wrote.

Aeris...

I don't know what I'm talking about, but could it be that GameShark causes the glitch even if the player does not use the exact code to put Aeris in the party after Ancient Temple? I know that using GameShark results in major clitches virtually unrelated to the things you do with it, right?

So let's imagine that a player has a GameShark BUT does not use the code, but somehow Aeris just appears to the party because of a clitch. Then the player is like: now I found Aeris, I did this and that, mission accomplished, let's now show off in the Internet!!

But seriously, I don't get those guys either, it's the plot of the game that says Aeris must die, without that the whole 2nd and 3rd discs would be entirely different, the programmers would have had to make a new plot twist because of that!

Of course the question is also this: why the L didn't Cloud use Phoenix Down in the first place?!?

[Weasel Overlord]

Cos a simple Phoenix Down is only enough to revive someone if they reach 0 health. Aeris was actually killed. I see it being like in Pokémon, where the players merely faint in battle until you use a PD on em.

I'm glad Aeris died. She annoyed me, but then, I've never been much of a magic user, so. Haha, one of my friends spent aaages getting her final Limit Break on the first disc, and then she died. He was totally gutted, snigger.