#original ffvii

[li-binauje-artisse]

POV : you are collecting mental illnesses and your memories are kind of weird and the tough guy persona you made up for yourself does not last for more than 30 minutes because no one buys it

[thyrus-hart]

Chapter 2 Update - Crimson Crescent

Crimson Crescent (7462 words) by TerraCrystallis Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Cloud Strife/Vincent Valentine, Sephiroth & Cloud Strife Characters: Cloud Strife, Vincent Valentine, Hojo (Compilation of FFVII), Lucrecia Crescent, Sephiroth (Compilation of FFVII), Jenova (Compilation of FFVII), Rufus Shinra, Tseng (Compilation of FFVII), Reno (Compilation of FFVII), Rude (Compilation of FFVII), Aerith Gainsborough, Zack Fair, Tifa Lockhart, Cid Highwind, Chaos (Compilation of FFVII) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Timelines, Falling In Love, Partnership, Smut, Yaoi, Diverging from canon, Alternate Timeline, Sci-Fi

Series: Part 1 of Crimson Crescent Series Summary:

[M/M Pairing] Written as an alternate story that runs parallel to beginning of OG FFVII, Vincent Valentine has been submerged and unconscious for thirty years in the Shin-Ra lab. When he awakes, physiologist Cloud Strife helps him return to good health. All are oblivious of the true reason that Vincent has mysteriously returned to Shin-Ra after all of this time. That secret remains between himself and Hojo, while the full truth rests with another. Despite the disparaging state he wakes up in, Vincent is increasingly drawn to Cloud and seeks to protect him, knowing the threats of working at Shin-Ra better than anyone else. Their roles at Shin-Ra complicate the nature of their romance - Hojo thinks Vincent has forgotten the events of Shin-Ra mansion, yet he reserves his own plans for the state of Hojo and Shin-Ra, with Cloud beginning to question his own place at Shin-Ra as well. This story assumes that the Nibelheim incident has not occurred yet, causing Vincent to meet Cloud in a different way, and their adventure to unfold under a different 'timeline.' It also seeks to answer questions like "What if Sephiroth hadn't turned as suddenly as he did in the OG?" Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

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Honestly though... i think i'd like Remake+Rebirth a bit more if Cloud was less..stoic? I mean, i am a little unfair, he does have his moment of wonder and openness and some "you blink you miss it" smiles (and also he gets annoyed a lot and also he snarls sometimes). And to be more fair, yeah technically at some point you can choose to have him joke around or stay "focus on the mission and also don't talk to me Biggs i don't want friends" in the original. But listen. Og ff7 didn't have much of facial expressions (like...they sure have a face but it's for the sake of it) but still, the characters have a range of body animations. When he escapes the Turks with Aerith on midgar (on the roof of the church) and they joke a little about how "maybe the turks are trying to hire me haha" he visibly laugh with her. Like, you can see his little lego body shaking with laughter. The high five in Remake was kind of funny but idk i liked when he just laughed You won't make me believe that Cloud in Rebirth was not phased at all by the "hanged man" receptionist in the ghost inn in Gold Saucer when in OG ff7 he flinches every single time he rings that bell. I mean, it's up to interpretation since it cuts to Barret and Cloud's reaction is barely visible so like, it's a statement : you won't make me believe he didn't react even if it does not look like he did In OG it's also not uncommon for him to have this "neck scratching" animation when he gets embarassed . Or to look down and shake his head, or even shrugging! Or have an "oh shit!" animation when shit is happening Or when he jumps of joy when he wins a chocobo race You could argue that since their faces don't move they need to exagerate their body animations and it would not be an irrelevant remark actually. But still, you will notice that the various characters have their own animations, they don't all do the same things. Cloud laughing and flinching and being visibly embarassed is part of his personality (and yeah, i know that Cloud has a bit of an issue with exactly that, personality and stuff. Still, whether you think that him doing all of that is a mask (which i don't quite believe because being arrogant as fuck is more of his mask than him being scared by the receptionist) it does not matter much : the point is that it does happen I mean, that's not my only problem with Remake and Rebirth lol buuuut yeah

Remember : this

And this :

....Are not mutually exclusive. (it's also an official artwork, i think) ....Tbh i am not even ranting at Remake+Rebirth personally, i am ranting about how we collectively forgot Cloud was not always "local stoic guy", just look at this smilling Cloud and print it in your mind

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The original ff7's vibes are different from rebirth/remake and it's not because they have more polygons

(Disclaimer : i like OG 10000x better) It's kind of a follow up of this post where i explain why rebirth/remake are not just "the OG ff7 but with additional content" and why there is value in playing OG even if you finished remake and rebirth, hey are actually different, but i notice i didn't really explain so... i will show it with pictures! I am going to focus on the "vibes" rather than the huge changes in the plots. First exemple : the fall of sector 7 It's a very important moment in ff7, of course they keep it in remake. But how is it different beside the high res? Here is the original one

It's in low res but it's fine as i said it's not even about graphism. So what's up there? Listen. I mean, listen to the audio. First, there is no music. All you hear is the explosion, the creaking of the plate itself, and the screams of the victims. The only music you eventually hear is the... classical? music, when the camera smoothly transition from the carnage to Shinra senior's office, watching from above by his window. Cut to the shinra tower...well, towering, with oppressive noises on top of the classical music. Now, look at the video. Notice how at some point you get a shot from someone's appartment, from the window you can see the plate slowly (but surely) falling, while the person speaking in the TV program ends up panicking? Or the bit with Pres Shinra, how smooth the transition is? Now, what about the remake?

Action music, all the time it least. They keep the "shinra is looking from above" bit but it's not the same, it's just a shot at some point. No smooth transition or change of music. Of course this is only my opinion but sometimes, no music is more efficient than epic music. Especially when what you are supposed to feel is cold horror. Which make me think that it's maybe not what they wanted you to feel in remake. in any case, that's a good exemple of what i mean by "the vibe is different". Other exemple : The shinra boat (from Junon to Costa del Sol) In the original, the point is to stay under cover and to endure it while it least. It's not supposed to be fun (though we laugh a little at Barret's and Red's disguises) and Tifa even express that this disguise (shinra military disguise) is making her uncomfortable on principle. The boat itself is grey, cold, mechanic.

In rebirth, well...

It's a vacation boat. You can do yoga and play cards. At this point no one cares about staying under cover, they cared for like five minutes in Junon and talked in person with RUFUS ?! Another one: the escape from Hojo's lab (in the shinra tower) In the original, you are thrown in detention. You fall asleep and then....? The door is open? You go outside to check what's up and what you find is the bloody corpse of a shinra employee. You go wake up your buddies and decide to explore a little. What do you see?

Is that blood? Cue creepy music. Even the battle ground is bloody and the typical epic battle music does not interupt the creepy soundtrack. Soundratck aplty named "trails of blood". You follow them and they lead you to the impaled corpse of President Shinra, that's when you first learn of sephiroth. At this point you don't see him, not even when you find the dead Midgarzolom, he could be a ghost as far as you are concerned. In Remake, well, you're not thrown in jail, you get to Hojo's labirynth of a laboratory. And like, why not. But when you get out you see:

Glowing jelly? Well, Jenova IS an alien, but compare the two pictures, the vibes are different. You don't even find the corpse of elder shinra, you find him alive and then you see Sephiroth, in front of your eyes, stabbing him. Same for the big snake in the marsh, you fight a bit with the Midgarzolm in rebirth and then Sephiroth comes and taunt Cloud and unleash his power at the snake. In front of you. And that's how that thing ended up impaled on a tree. If you only have spin offs and related games (like dissidia which i actually love) in mind when it comes to know Sephiroth it would not surprise you too much. He sure love to pester Cloud eh? But the first time you see the figure of Sephiroth in the OG is in Cloud's nibelheim incident retelling and in the shinra boat "in person" (that's debatable but you see what i mean). So far you only saw the corpses he left behind and...that was important. It would contribute to make him a ghostly menace that was always three steps ahead of you. And even when you meet him "in real time" for the first time, he does not even seem to recognize you. This, also, is important. It's only three exemple but honestly? It's barely scratching the surfece i'd say. Especially since i only spoke of ambiance (and a bit of plot with Sephiroth) ----------

I will end this post by saying that i am not trying to make you dislike rebirth/remake, i don't really care, have fun. In fact, when i say i dislike many part of remake/rebirth it's well, true, but that's not even the point. My point is to show that they are not, imo, a very efficient way to discover what made ff7 the game many people loved and love today. What made it "itself". I am aware that remake/rebirth are supposed to be sort of "alternate universe" and not basically the same thing with smooth, modern 3D. But when i say i like OG ff7 more, it's not just because of basic nostalgia (i am born shortly after ff7 was released on ps1 lol, even if i ended up playing it when i was a kid thanks to my dad) or because i am a polygon lover or because og ff7 is perfect (it's not). There is a damn good reason ff7 was so loved and is still loved today "despite the lego graphism". Remake/Rebirth are not supposed to be the same as OG (which i do find interesting in a way) but still, too often i feel like they still give us the same key points so hard to not compare the two. And that not even talking about rythm and all of the damn side quests... We keep saying that high res is not all there is to video games, it's time to apply that theory!

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So like... about ff7 remake + rebirth... I will get to the point : to people who only played these two games as introduction to the ff7 universe....don't make the mistake of thinking that the OG game is just Remake/Rebirth but less modern. Now, to try to expand on it a little... Even if you love remake/rebirth and think OG is ugly (opinions i don't share but to each their own and good thing if you have fun ), the plot itself is actually different. The characters are different too (which is like...related). There are things happening in OG ff7 that are not there in remake/rebirth. Same for the other way around obviously and i am not talking about boring sidequests to fatten the game or characters from spin offs making their return. I am talking about important plot points. Remake made it obvious it would be different, Rebirth is writing it in bold letters in case it was not clear. Sometimes it makes a 180° turn in some key plot points. The difference are not just about graphisms and gameplay, really. The tone is different, the plot is different (even if you see familiar names and even if the "steps" are similars), the vibe is different, the subtexts are different. Same for the places, you recognize them but they are not just "the OG places but bigger and in 3D" the whole ambiance is often actually different. The vibe is not the same and it's not because of the amount of polygons. I can't say i am very enthusiastic about Remake/Rebirth. Even if, i admit, i like some things (like Barret's smile idk), overall...there are too much things that bother me. But then again, i am not exactly a big fan of the spin offs so trying to glue them togheter is not endearing it to me. Even if you don't care about OG ff7 at all and like... okay you do you, but i have to insist when i say that playing FF7 Remake and Rebirth is...not a good way to really discover what made ff7, well...ff7, in my opinion. And well, obviously there is also the fact that OG ff7 is a complete game (so you understand what are the characters's deal and what is up with this world in more or less 30 hours, maybe 45 if you get lost). Between us, i never understood people saying that the compilation cleared up things that were hard to understand in the OG game. If anything, i think that the compliation only added confusion by basically rewriting things. Some side characters in the OG don't have much of a background? Well, that's what side characters are about, usually. In fact? The characters tend to be cliche of themselve in the spin offs. (for what it's worth i'd blame the awkward translation in OG but tbh the french translation is worst (it's a bad translation based on the bad english translation) and i don't change my mind when i say that it's not any less confusing that the whole compilation. Some subtilities are gone because of the localisation, but the main points are still here) But Remake/Rebirth are basically alternate universes at this point, never mind if we like it or not, there is still a LOT of value in playing the OG ff7. Some things that may even surprise you, since many people (...and the various spins offs too...) forgot about important things that were in the OG.

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The english localisation of ff7 is notoriously bad, but let me tell you that the french one is worst because it's based on the english translation except that not only they translated things a bit too litteraly sometimes, they also didn't translate the lines with global context in mind but rather separatedly. Idk if it was the same with the english one but oh boy, the french version of ff7 on ps1...it's almost a urban legend. Like for exemple, there is a mob named "senior grunt". That guy :

I assume that "senior grunt" basically means that they are low rank fighters but through time got more experienced. What are they anyways? They look half monster half cyborg. Anyways. I think that in japanese they are called "senior combatant" or something like that? Well, if that's the case, the english translation is not quite accurate. But it still makes sense. They are color swaps of a mob named "grunt".

But! In french, they are called "grognement de vieillard". Litteraly "old man's growl". Yep, i think you can imagine what wents wrong there. (The "grunts" are called "chasseurs" in french, "hunters". Another color swap named "Special combatant" is translated as "Combatant spécial". Makes me think that they were not translated by the same person. ) Most of the bestiary in french is like this and it's frankly hilarious.

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Ah yep i am still complaining about it

At this point, you can justify it however you want and you like it if you want (i am not your mom) but yeah i do think that Sephorith going from "ghostly mysterious figure you rarely see but you find the corpses he leaves behind and when you find him he is cryptic as fuck and does not really personally adress Cloud. That weird, didnt Cloud tell us they were friends...?" ....

To basically "Cloud's devil-on-the-shoulder, taunting him every 5 minutes and having exactly zero point in subtlety"...

Is actually a downgrade and no amount of "alternate universe" can make me think otherwise.

Also i like Squall huh, but the fact that "Squall v2" (or even just the base idea we have of Squall) became the accepted characterization of Cloud is also something i find super annoying. Like yeah he had a "dont talk to me we're not friends" phase in the first hour of the game but tbh he gets over being harshly distant with everyone quickly even if he still wears a mask. Also no one believed in this facade lol.

Idk, its like... in the original, when you get out of the Shinra boat and get to Costa del Sol, the team take a moment to make fun of Barret's sailor disguise. They ask him to keep it. They end up asking Cloud's opinion on it.

You have two choices of answers, the first one is "We're not here to have fun, we need to follow Sephiroth." The second choice is "Yeah haha, you look like a bear wearing marshmallow" and he even laugh when he says it. Like, you can see his actual laugh animation i am not making that up. (Barret ends up keeping it as pyjamas in the Costa del Sol inn if you answer that haha)

Well my point is that, while obviously answer n°1 is one of the canons ways for Cloud to potentially act, Square Enix and most players collectively forgot about answer n°2 and only remember answer n°1 as the main (and only, sometimes) way to chatatcerize Cloud and fuck, thats sad.

I am almost tempted to keep this official artwork around to show it whenever i talk about Cloud

Print that picture in your mind! Its good for you

[thyrus-hart]

Love Penalty (Crimson Crescent series update)

Love Penalty (2158 words) by TerraCrystallis Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Cloud Strife/Vincent Valentine Characters: Cloud Strife, Vincent Valentine, Tifa Lockhart, Denzel (Compilation of FFVII) Additional Tags: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting Back Together, Past Relationship(s), Love, Romance, Flirting, Advent Children Era (Compilation of FFVII), Slice of Life, Family, Grief/Mourning, Found Family Series: Part 2 of Crimson Crescent Series Summary:

[M/M] Almost six years ago, (canon divergent) Cloud Strife of Shin-Ra's research department managed to wake Vincent from a thirty-year slumber after a tragic incident at the Shin-Ra Mansion nearly cost Vincent his life. Following the events of Advent Children, Cloud has planned a surprise for his ex-lover, despite the apparent distance that seems to have happened between them. They meet at Cloud's house, where the two find that perhaps something still lingers between them after all. Link Again