Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2015-01-27 11:13 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2015-01-27 11:13 pm
But, See, I Also Enjoy Young Adults Being Horribly Traumatised. I'm Multi-Faceted.
Recently, I've been working on and off on two works of fanfiction: a Neon Genesis Evangelion AU for Kingdom Hearts, and an Animorphs AU for The Last of Us. I've only just realised that this means I'm crossing over four different canons about fourteen-year-olds being horribly traumatised. Why do so many things I love feature fourteen-year-olds being horribly traumatised?
(I cannot guarantee that either of these ill-advised fics will actually be finished, but we'll see!)
In the absence of a PSP, I've spent the past few days watching the story of Crisis Core, the prequel to Final Fantasy VII. Some kind soul has compiled all the cutscenes into a three-hour film over here. It's well worth watching! (Or playing, I assume, if you have the console.)
I was slightly startled by how quickly everything in Crisis Core became heartbreaking. In retrospect, I feel a little silly. Was I really expecting a Final Fantasy VII prequel about Zack Fair to be relentlessly cheerful?
Although the sheer ridiculousness of the new-to-Crisis-Core plot (which, as far as I can tell, is 'hundreds of Gackt clones are terrorising the world') helps to dull the blade a little.*
Zack himself is awfully endearing. I love his expressions.
There's a strange thrill in seeing familiar locations from Final Fantasy VII rendered in glorious PSP graphics. I'm still thoroughly fed up with the people who comment on every Square-related article to say 'EVERYTHING SQUARE HAS DONE FOR THE LAST EIGHTEEN YEARS IS CRAP, REMAKE FFVII', but a remake would be pretty cool. Although there's no possible way it would appease the complainers. I am absolutely convinced that, if they actually did remake VII, with updated graphics and remastered music and voice-acting and a better translation, ninety per cent of the people baying for an HD version would hate it.
Beneath the cut are some spoilery notes on Crisis Core. They only spoil things that are revealed in Final Fantasy VII's backstory, though, so you may be able to read them safely even if you haven't played Crisis Core itself.
I was quite excited when Zack started talking to a guy with a generic low-ranking troop character model and it became clear that it was Cloud. They could have given Cloud a unique model, but they didn't; with his helmet on, as in the VII flashbacks, he looks exactly the same as the other low-ranking troops. It's a nice use of videogame convention - 'give unimportant NPCs the same model to save money' - to show how insignificant Cloud's role is in the eyes of Shinra (and in his own eyes), even if he ends up being an immensely important figure in the Final Fantasy VII universe.
I didn't realise until my recent playthrough of VII that Zack didn't actually die in Nibelheim; he was killed while on the run with Cloud. Even after that playthrough, I kept forgetting that his story didn't end in Nibelheim, so I was very confused when the Nibelheim incident happened two hours into a three-hour film. And then I remembered that I had Zack and Cloud as fugitives to look forward to. And 'two people travelling together, desperately trying to protect each other, them against the world' is one of the things I really love in fiction (see also: Supernatural, The Last of Us), so this was a delightful surprise.
I knew all along what Zack's ultimate fate was, of course, but I still sobbed at the ending and made the most ridiculous distressed keening noises over the closing credits. NO. Although I'll admit I laughed at 'you'll be my living legacy'. Oh, Zack, you just screwed Cloud up so badly and you don't even realise it.
I'm so glad I can enjoy the Final Fantasy VII universe now. I've finally managed to look past the worst parts of the fanbase and appreciate the source material, and it feels great.
Watching Crisis Core has actually sort of made me want to replay Final Fantasy VII. But I played it so recently! Well, a year and a bit ago, but that's relatively recent.
I suppose what I need is a remake, so I can re-experience the game in a fresh way.
BYE; I'M OFF TO BECOME ONE OF THE TERRIBLE VII FANS IN THE COMMENTS OF EVERY SQUARE-RELATED ARTICLE.
* My attempt to explain this game to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
th_esaurus:
Riona: So there's this guy who looks like Gackt, and he's always quoting from a ridiculous play called Loveless, which I think is also the name of some sort of catboy manga, so clearly he should be quoting that instead. And he has a wing - just one wing - and there are a load of clones of him running around. At one point they jump out of the sea, wearing scuba gear, and attack our hero Zack while he's shirtless at the beach on holiday. And he has to grab an umbrella to fight them.
(pause)
Riona: This game is really depressing.
RD: Why does Final Fantasy exist?
(I cannot guarantee that either of these ill-advised fics will actually be finished, but we'll see!)
In the absence of a PSP, I've spent the past few days watching the story of Crisis Core, the prequel to Final Fantasy VII. Some kind soul has compiled all the cutscenes into a three-hour film over here. It's well worth watching! (Or playing, I assume, if you have the console.)
I was slightly startled by how quickly everything in Crisis Core became heartbreaking. In retrospect, I feel a little silly. Was I really expecting a Final Fantasy VII prequel about Zack Fair to be relentlessly cheerful?
Although the sheer ridiculousness of the new-to-Crisis-Core plot (which, as far as I can tell, is 'hundreds of Gackt clones are terrorising the world') helps to dull the blade a little.*
Zack himself is awfully endearing. I love his expressions.
There's a strange thrill in seeing familiar locations from Final Fantasy VII rendered in glorious PSP graphics. I'm still thoroughly fed up with the people who comment on every Square-related article to say 'EVERYTHING SQUARE HAS DONE FOR THE LAST EIGHTEEN YEARS IS CRAP, REMAKE FFVII', but a remake would be pretty cool. Although there's no possible way it would appease the complainers. I am absolutely convinced that, if they actually did remake VII, with updated graphics and remastered music and voice-acting and a better translation, ninety per cent of the people baying for an HD version would hate it.
Beneath the cut are some spoilery notes on Crisis Core. They only spoil things that are revealed in Final Fantasy VII's backstory, though, so you may be able to read them safely even if you haven't played Crisis Core itself.
I was quite excited when Zack started talking to a guy with a generic low-ranking troop character model and it became clear that it was Cloud. They could have given Cloud a unique model, but they didn't; with his helmet on, as in the VII flashbacks, he looks exactly the same as the other low-ranking troops. It's a nice use of videogame convention - 'give unimportant NPCs the same model to save money' - to show how insignificant Cloud's role is in the eyes of Shinra (and in his own eyes), even if he ends up being an immensely important figure in the Final Fantasy VII universe.
I didn't realise until my recent playthrough of VII that Zack didn't actually die in Nibelheim; he was killed while on the run with Cloud. Even after that playthrough, I kept forgetting that his story didn't end in Nibelheim, so I was very confused when the Nibelheim incident happened two hours into a three-hour film. And then I remembered that I had Zack and Cloud as fugitives to look forward to. And 'two people travelling together, desperately trying to protect each other, them against the world' is one of the things I really love in fiction (see also: Supernatural, The Last of Us), so this was a delightful surprise.
I knew all along what Zack's ultimate fate was, of course, but I still sobbed at the ending and made the most ridiculous distressed keening noises over the closing credits. NO. Although I'll admit I laughed at 'you'll be my living legacy'. Oh, Zack, you just screwed Cloud up so badly and you don't even realise it.
I'm so glad I can enjoy the Final Fantasy VII universe now. I've finally managed to look past the worst parts of the fanbase and appreciate the source material, and it feels great.
Watching Crisis Core has actually sort of made me want to replay Final Fantasy VII. But I played it so recently! Well, a year and a bit ago, but that's relatively recent.
I suppose what I need is a remake, so I can re-experience the game in a fresh way.
BYE; I'M OFF TO BECOME ONE OF THE TERRIBLE VII FANS IN THE COMMENTS OF EVERY SQUARE-RELATED ARTICLE.
* My attempt to explain this game to
th_esaurus:Riona: So there's this guy who looks like Gackt, and he's always quoting from a ridiculous play called Loveless, which I think is also the name of some sort of catboy manga, so clearly he should be quoting that instead. And he has a wing - just one wing - and there are a load of clones of him running around. At one point they jump out of the sea, wearing scuba gear, and attack our hero Zack while he's shirtless at the beach on holiday. And he has to grab an umbrella to fight them.
(pause)
Riona: This game is really depressing.
RD: Why does Final Fantasy exist?
no subject
Crisis Core is a weird game for me, in the same way that Advent Children was a weird film. AC was pretty bad, really, but it got me interested in FFVII (and, by proxy, FF in general). Crisis Core gives me all the adorable bby Clouds and huggable Zacks and beautifully stoic Sephiroths I could ever want, but shoehorns in a lot of things I don't like. Genesis, for one. Reading the fanfic The Fifth Act (http://sinnatious.livejournal.com/106183.html) (or more accurately listening to the podfic, which is highly recommended) made him more likable but ... eh. I felt the story could have done better without his input at Nibelheim, and perhaps with him as a rival to Zack rather than Sephiroth, who was always meant to be unrivalled until Cloud.
Also, Zack dying so young did not sit well with me. I imagined him well into his 30s.
But god damn if that adorable puppy faced Cloud doesn't keep drawing me right back in.
Phew. It's pretty neat to have something I can actually respond to on your blog. xD
no subject
Still, it's the game's twentieth anniversary in a couple of years; who knows?
I felt the story could have done better without [Genesis's] input at Nibelheim
I absolutely agree with you there. Over on the Dreamwidth version of this entry,
Twenty-three was actually about the age I pictured for Zack, but I did find it weird that, having essentially lost four years, he was functionally nineteen. If he'd been in his thirties, I imagine his relationship with Aerith would have felt a bit unsettling.
no subject
Oooh, 20th Anniversary though. I can hold out hope.
Remind me to congratulate Kadrin on pithily encapsulating everything I felt was wrong with that scene in a few words. I've written essays on that (unposted, thankfully, since they're very dull and ranty) and none of them summed it up that well. xD
That's true. I don't remember Aerith's age in FFVII but it wasn't much past 20.
From the original game, though, I gathered that Zack and Aerith's relationship wasn't huge anyway. She calls it 'not that serious' (admittedly to Cloud, who she's flirting with BIG TIME but still) and doesn't discuss him much - doesn't seem to even recognise his parents. Until Crisis Core, I thought it may have been more of a one-way teen infatuation with a big hunky SOLDIER. Zack, being the babe he is, would totally have humoured the cute girl with the flowers.
Even in CC, their relationship was surprisingly platonic. They had a couple of dates but I don't remember much physical contact beyond ... one hug? Compared to Tidus and Yuna's implied underwater sex, that's incredibly PG.