Recap / Final Fantasy VII Remake

A recap of Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is, as suggested by the title, a remake of a game that came out 23 years prior, Final Fantasy VII. That game has its own Recap page, and consumers may wish to visit that page: This page will focus primarily on the additional content added to the remake.

Chapter 1: The Destruction of Mako Reactor 1

The city of Midgar is a Cyberpunk mecca, a world of concrete, internal combustion engines and technological progress. A Layered Metropolis, "topsiders" live on an artificial steel plate hundreds of feet in the air, with the Industrial Ghetto in the — literal — shadow of the prosperous, staring up at the steel sky. The city is powered by "Mako reactors", one for each of the city's eight sectors, which are run by the Shinra Electric Power Company, which despite being a privately-held company is also the de facto world government. Rumors are that Mako reactors are sucking The Lifestream out of the planet, killing it for the sake of cheap power... which are doubtlessly exaggerated, and unquestionably not reinforced by the fact that Midgar itself is a Polluted Wasteland, and every plant you ever see is dead.

As a flower peddler contemplates the decaying city, a train arrives at the station for Mako Reactor 1. From the train emerge the Eco-Terrorist group "Avalanche": Biggs, the Deadpan Snarker; Jessie, the Genki Girl; Wedge, Acrofatic; Barret Wallace, the Token Black Friend who wears Sunglasses at Night and has an Arm Cannon as a prosthetic; and Cloud Strife, the former SOLDIER 1st-Class turned mercenary who's Only in It for the Money, the spiky-haired protagonist with a big-ass sword and No Social Skills. (Bolded characters actually join the party.) The five fight their way into the Mako reactor, defeating a giant robot called the Scorpion Sentinel, and plant a bomb to save the planet: a small one, to destroy the Mako pump but to leave the structure standing. The fact that Shinra is composed of Corrupt Corporate Executives is revealed when President Shinra, seeing the civilized explosion, sets off more bombs to destroy the reactor wholesale and pin the whole thing on Avalanche. The plucky freedom fighters barely escape the blast.

Chapter 2: Fateful Encounters

The five members of Avalanche emerge into Sector 8, which is now a disaster area due to the destruction of the reactor. Jessie questions whether she built the IED incorrectly, unaware of the truth. On Barret's orders, Avalanche split up and make their way to a train station to escape.

Cloud has a Flashback to a town on fire, and sees a very tall Bishōnen man with long silver hair and an extremely long sword. Shocked, Cloud says he killed him. The man, Sephiroth, taunts him about how Sephiroth killed Cloud's mother and turned Cloud's hometown into a Doomed Hometown. It turns out to be a hallucination, and Cloud shakes it off and keeps going.

Cloud encounters the flower peddler from the opening cinematic. The Sephiroth hallucination returns and says Cloud is too weak to save anyone before disappearing. She offers him a flower for free, asking him if he's ever seen a real one, and saying the flower symbolizes reuniting with a loved one. Cloud tells her that he's mixed up in some dangerous things, but she laughs it off. However, the flower peddler also seems to have some sort of psychotic episode: swatting at the air as though something is near her. When she grabs Cloud, he sees them too: Blank In the Hood, limbless and flying. Cloud draws his sword and attempts to fend them off... which attracts the attention of local Shinra security, who are of course wondering at someone who is waving a very large sword at nothing. Cloud must fight his way to the train station, while the flower peddler — who started everything — simply waves goodbye and makes her own escape.

The other Avalanche members are on a train wondering if Cloud is all right when he suddenly leaps inside. He asks if they saw the ghost-like beings too, but they didn't.

Chapter 3: Home Sweet Slum

Avalanche debarks in Sector 7 and retreats to their headquarters: a bar, Seventh Heaven, owned by Tifa Lockhart, who grew up in the same town as Cloud. There, Barret reunites with his (adopted) daughter Marlene, and Cloud pawns the flower off on Tifa. As Tifa shows him to an apartment where he can sleep, Cloud demands his payment; Tifa tells him that he'll have to help her perform some odd jobs around the slum in order to get it, as Avalanche is currently a bit short on funds.

Overnight, Cloud hears noises from the apartment next to his. Within, he sees Sephiroth, and prepares to attack... only to have Tifa interrupt him. It's a hallucination; the figure actually within the apartment is a black-robed man, "49" tattooed on his bicep, named Marco. However, Sephiroth already warned Cloud to expect the Reunion. This will be important later.

The next morning, Cloud and Tifa unite for an explanation of how Square Enix managed to turn 6 hours of plot into a 60-hour game: Padding. The two scurry around completing Side Quests, on the pretext of Cloud attempting to make his name as a local Private Military Contractor. Their landlady Marle adores Tifa but dislikes Cloud. After raising the money for Cloud's payment by changing water filters around town and defeating a few monsters, they do a few odd jobs. These include:

1. Chadley's Report: They meet Chadley, a young Shinra intern who works on developing new Materia. After explaining he is secretly working to undermine Shinra, he offers Cloud an Assess Materia for free and asks him to use it to gather data for his research, starting with using Assess on two different enemies. After doing this, he'll thank him and assign 19 more Assess-related missions for him, which Cloud will do throughout the game. Each one completed means a new Materia Chadley can sell when they meet again at various points in the story. Later, Chadley will offer a virtual reality visor to allow Cloud's party to battle simulations of Shiva, Fat Chocobo, Leviathan, and Bahamut. Defeating them will grant the party Summon Materia for them.
2. Rat Problem: A store owner asks them to clear out an infestation of Wererats and Doomrats.
3. Nuisance in the Factory: A scrap dealer asks them to deal with three Lesser Drakes that are nesting in the abandoned Talagger factory.
4. Lost Friends: Betty, a friend of Marlene, asks them to find her three lost cats. Each time Cloud approaches them, they run away, but they fortunately run back to Betty.
5. On the Prowl: Wymer, a member of the Neighborhood Watch, asks them to deal with a Shinra attack dog called the Wrath Hound, which is on the loose in Scrap Boulevard.
6. Just Flew In from the Graveyard: A woman named Gwen who is frustrated by Shinra officers refusing to help her asks them to help deal with a Cerulean Drake that flew in from the Train Graveyard.

If all six side quests are completed, Cloud and Tifa will go back to her apartment and she'll say they should go on a date later and asks what she should wear. This will determine the dress she wears in Chapter 9. If not all of the side quests were done or if Cloud chooses "something refined", Tifa will wear the default blue backless mini-skirted dress. If Cloud chooses "something sporty", Tifa will wear a green leopard print qipao. If Cloud chooses "something exotic", Tifa will wear a green and black kimono.

On the way back to Seventh Heaven, they find Johnny, who has a crush on Tifa, being arrested by Shinra officers on suspicion of stealing bomb materials. They rescue him, but when they find out he told the officers Jessie's name, Cloud attempts to kill him for being a snitch. Tifa stops him and is horrified by how cold he's become, so he settles for telling Johnny to leave and never return. At Seventh Heaven, Tifa makes Cloud a drink before going downstairs for an Avalanche meeting. After a while, she returns and says she feels trapped and conflicted about her role in Avalanche. Barret gives Cloud his payment and tells him to leave because they are not hiring him for their next mission. While leaving, he runs into some hoodlums who are looking for Barret. Cloud takes their money, but beats them up rather than sell him out. Finally, back at his apartment, he is accosted by Jessie, who wants his help with a mission tonight and offers him an Ifrit Summon Materia in payment.

Chapter 4: Mad Dash

In the game's first chapter of completely original content, Cloud and Jessie take a motorcycle ride up to the plate, with Biggs (driving) and Wedge (on the backseat) along for the ride on their own mount. They (of course) get caught by Shinra, leading to the introduction of a mini-boss: Roche, a SOLDIER 3rd-Class who duels Cloud from aboard their bikes. Roche finds Cloud a Worthy Opponent and lets them leave after Cloud disables Roche's motorcycle.

Jessie has taken her friends to her parents' house. While she and the other NPCs distract Mrs. Rasberry (yes, that is actually Jessie's canon last name) with a social visit, Cloud is given instructions on how to burgle the house: Jessie's father is in a coma after Mako overexposure, and Cloud steals his Shinra keycard. This gives Jessie access to a local Shinra supply depot, whence she procures the supplies for her next bomb (lacking faith, after the results of the Reactor 1 bombing, in the ingredients she ordered over the Shinternet). To distract the guards, Cloud, Biggs and Wedge are ordered to charge the front gate and make a bit of a kerfuffle. Cloud is somewhat distracted — having a flashback to when he left town with plans to join SOLDIER, and then promised he'd come back to help Tifa were she ever in trouble — but is shaken out of his reverie by the fact that their kerfuffle has Gone Horribly Right, with dozens of guards and some Mecha Mooks pouring out of the barracks to oppose them. All of this is interrupted by Roche, who wants a rematch and shoves everyone out of the way so that he can Duel Boss Cloud. Afterwards, a second Deus ex Machina saves Avalanche's ass via Chandler's Law: in comes... Avalanche, the original organization which rejected Barret's splinter group for being too extremist (Biggs notes bitterly, before pointing out that the "less extremist" group is now bearing front-line assault rifles and using hardened military tactics). Whatever the case, Jessie can now make the bomb, and go on the mission to Reactor 5, as planned. (Eagle-eyed players will recall that Jessie did not go on this mission back on the PS1.) They return to the Sector 7 slums via parachutes.

Cloud escorts Wedge, who was slightly injured in the mission, back to his house. Jessie tries to ask him on a date, but he refuses. As he returns to his apartment, Tifa says she saw Johnny leaving and asks if he is leaving too, but he brings up his old promise and says he is staying for her.

The next morning, Cloud is awakened by Tifa hammering on his door. Remember those grey-ghost things that Cloud first noticed when he encountered the flower seller? They are now swarming the shanty town. Cloud and Tifa fight their way to the bar, where Barret and Jessie are holding out with their guns; however, one of the ghosts knocks Jessie over, and she sprains her ankle. Barret reluctantly hires Cloud to take her place on the forthcoming mission and assigns Wedge to guard her and Marlene. Whoa, it's almost like those ghost-things are Railroading the plot back towards what the original was like...

Chapter 5: Dogged Pursuit

Shinra's security measures pick up Avalanche's fake IDs. Cloud, Tifa and Barret are forced to jump from the train somewhere in Sector 4, and proceed to Sector 5 on foot. They are opposed by Heidegger, Shinra's head of Public Safety (IE law enforcement), who deploys an experimental war robot called the Crab Warden to (attempt to) stop them.

Chapter 6: Light The Way

Avalanche's escape route has left them on the underside of the Sector 4 plate. They make their way through a series of dangling, suspended platforms. They meet Biggs, who was sent ahead to secure their entrance. He gives them each a Grappling-Hook Pistol, which they will use in their escape.

Chapter 7: A Trap Is Spring

Avalanche make their way through Mako Reactor 5, unaware that Heidegger and President Shinra are monitoring them via security feeds. Cloud has a flashback to Tifa standing over her father's corpse and grabbing an extremely long sword with which to avenge him — hey, does that look like Sephiroth's nodachi? Anyway. The bomb doesn't have a timer this time: Jessie fitted it with a remote detonator. But after they plant it, they find themselves trapped, with Heidegger and the President gloating over them, including the President saying that members of SOLDIER like Cloud die young from cellular degeneration and that Avalanche is accused of being allies of the enemy nation Wutai. They are told they will be executed on live television by Heidegger's newest war machine, the Airbuster, only for Heidegger to be informed that the Airbuster is still under construction. As they fight their way out, they use various computer terminals to sabotage the Airbuster. They battle the weakened but still powerful Airbuster and destroy it, but its explosion turns the place into a Collapsing Lair by destroying the bridge that leads to the reactor's entrance. Tifa and Barret are on one side of the hole, Cloud on the other. Even with a grappling-hook gun, he is unable to stop himself from falling into the undercity below...

Chapter 8: Budding Bodyguard

Cloud dreams of two specters hovering around him as he falls into the light. Another version of Cloud asks if he is okay and encourages him. Cloud hears an unknown voice and asks the alternate Cloud who he is. The other Cloud, who is revealed to be Sephiroth, tells him that he is his everything and that there is still much to be done. The unknown voice calls out to Cloud again.

It's the flower peddler from the opening movie: Aerith Gainsborough, final playable party member. (To recap, playable characters are: Cloud, the Lightning Bruiser; Barret, the Long-Range Fighter; Tifa, the Fragile Speedster; and now Aerith, the Squishy Wizard.) Aerith explains that Cloud fell through the roof into the church of the Sector 5 slums. She claims that her flowers broke his fall — which is pretty ridiculous, but then the fact that Aerith can make anything grow at all suggests she has something of a Green Thumb, so maybe she can make her flowers extra-springy. Whatever the case, the meeting is interrupted immediately by Reno, a member of the Turks, Quirky Miniboss Squad and Shinra enforcers. Aerith asks Cloud to protect her and promises to go on a date with him. When Cloud introduces himself as a former SOLDIER 1st-Class, Reno laughs and calls him a liar. Cloud duels Reno, and wins — which is a marked change from the source material, in which this boss fight did not occur at all. However, when Cloud is about to make Reno shorter by a head, which would definitely throw the plot Off the Rails, the grey-ghost things intervene, physically dragging Cloud and Aerith to the back room of the church whence they will make their escape, and slamming shut the door to ensure they Follow the Plotted Line. They also save Aerith when she's about to fall off a balcony. Reno calls off pursuit, claiming his partner will make the arrest.

Aerith and Cloud head to Aerith's home in Sector 5, and Cloud asks for directions to go to Sector 7. Aerith offers to lead him there, but her mother, Elmyra, says if they leave now, it will be dark by the time she gets back, so they should do it tomorrow. In the meantime, Aerith ask Cloud to give her a hand doing some errands around Sector 5. Begrudgingly, Cloud agrees.

First they pick flowers to deliver to an orphanage called the Leaf House. Some kids say that two of them went missing after getting scared off by a man in a black robe with a number on his arm. They find the kids cornered by monsters and rescue them. While escorting them back, Cloud has a flashback of child Tifa and calls out her name, causing Aerith to ask if she is his girlfriend, with him unable to answer. The black robed man appears and frightens the kids before collapsing. They examine him and Cloud notes that he isn't Marco because his number is "2" instead of "49". Cloud suddenly hallucinates the man as Sephiroth, who says the Reunion is nothing to fear before disappearing, then the man gets up and walks away. One of the kids, Oates, says a lot of people need help, leading to the side quests:

1. The Mysterious Moogle Merchant: They talk to Moggie, a boy dressed in a Moogle costume, and purchase items from him with Moogle Medals.
2. Kids on Patrol: Ms. Folia, a teacher at the Leaf House, says five of the children have gone missing and asks the two to find them. Afterwards, they have to defeat a Hedgehog Pie King that has taken over the kids' hideout.
3. Weapons on a Rampage: A scared man says he saw Shinra weapons running amok in the scrapyard. They investigate and defeat the robots called Mark II Monodrives.
4. A Verified Hero: A girl named Sarah challenges Cloud to a game of Whack-a-Box, where he must destroy a certain number of boxes within a time limit.
5. The Angel of the Slums: An obnoxious reporter named Damon is asking for help uncovering the identity of a Just Like Robin Hood vigilante called the Angel of the Slums. An old woman named Mireille Dudley says where the Angel's hideout may be, but Damon is too scared to go and asks Cloud and Aerith to go in his place, promising money. Once there, they battle a giant robot called Chromogger. They find the Angel's calling card and show it to Damon. He refuses to pay them and leaves, but Mireille picks his pocket and gives them what they are owed.
6. Paying Respects: An old man wants to visit the cemetery and see his wife's grave, but the cemetery is infested with Venomantises, so he asks Cloud and Aerith to get rid of them.

On their way home, they encounter Rude, Reno's aforementioned partner, who engages in a boss fight with Cloud: their explicit job is to keep Aerith away from everyone, including Avalanche. (Appropriately, Rude will only fight Cloud; if you switch to Aerith, Rude casts Sleep on her, keeping her out of harm's way.) Rude eventually leaves to complete a mission in Sector 7.

If all six side quests are completed, Aerith will commune with the flowers in her garden. The side quests completed decides what dress Aerith will wear in Chapter 9. Doing less than three will get her a cheap looking pink dress. Doing at least three will get her a modest pink dress. Doing all six will get her the best red dress.

Elmyra recognizes that Cloud has the glowing blue eyes of a Mako-infused SOLDIER. She asks Cloud to leave and never come back. (Side note: Elmyra has, canonically, met Zack.) After dinner, Cloud has a flashback of his mother, Claudia, and sneaks out of the house... only to find Aerith waiting for him on the road and refusing to be left behind.

Chapter 9: The Town That Never Sleeps

Aerith leads Cloud through a shortcut through the Collapsed Expressway. They run afoul of a dim-witted street gang called Beck's Badasses and make quick work of them. They arrive outside Sector 6, "Wall Market" — a Red Light District that Shinra simply locked behind walls. Aerith also pries into Cloud's past, claiming that she once used to love someone who was a SOLDIER 1st-Class. As the two are about to say their farewells, the gates open and a chocobo-drawn carriage passes through... with Tifa, in a Pimped-Out Dress, in the back.

Tifa explains that she heard that Don Corneo, the ruler of Wall Market, has been asking about Avalanche, and she decided to come find out why. To facilitate this, she has entered the nightly audition, in which the Don, a Dirty Old Man, selects a "wife" to "marry" for the night. Aerith resolves to help her, with Cloud dragged in behind.

To accomplish this, Cloud must once again jump through a bunch of Side Quest hoops: Aerith can enter the audition, but she needs to the attention of one of the Don's three sponsors: Chocobo Sam (an expy of Sam Elliott in The Ranch), Madame M (a Kimono Fanservice Lady who runs a massage parlor) and Andrea Rhodea (The Dandy who runs the Honeybee Inn nightclub; by the way, Ms. Folia works as one of his dancers at night). Sam is already out — his entrant is Tifa — and they can't get an appointment with Andrea within the next few years, so the two appeal to Madame M. She is willing to sponsor them... if Cloud buys a massage from her and then they win the Tournament Arc at the Colosseum. Johnny, who heard what happened and wanting to save Tifa, attempts to enter but quickly loses. So Cloud and Aerith enter, fighting three rounds: first against a Beastmaster and his two Bloodhounds, second a rematch with Beck's Badasses, third against a Cutter and Sweeper, and emerging at the top — and then a surprise fourth round (to Madame M's fury) against, no joke, a Haunted House called the Hell House that attacks using photorealistic chair missiles and can grow rocket jets and suck people into it. (The line between Narm Charm and plain old Narm is apparently photorealism; this enemy seemed way less goofy on the PS1, when everything was low-poly and chunky, and you were clearly not intended to take everything literally.) In any case, Madame M takes Aerith in for her makeover, leaving Cloud at loose ends and free to pursue even more Side Quests.

1. Burning Thighs: Cloud visits a gym owned by Andrea Rhodea's brother Jules. A jock named Ronnie mocks Cloud for being skinny, so Jules tells them to face each other in a squatting contest. Cloud wins and Jules lectures Ronnie on judging people by appearance.
2. The Party Never Stops: A clothing store owner's son asks Cloud to find his father, who is really drunk. Johnny assists him with this. When they find the man, he asks them to complete a few errands for him before he will return.
3. A Dynamite Body: Chocobo Sam asks Cloud to return to the Colosseum and face two Bomb monsters in a fight.
4. The Price of Thievery: Mireille arrives and says thieves claiming to be the Angel of the Slums have stolen donations for the Leaf House, insisting the Angel was framed, especially since the calling card they left behind is full of spelling errors. Cloud investigates and learns the thieves are Beck's Badasses. Though they have a new member, a super strong man called the Grungy Bandit who fights with wrestling moves, Cloud defeats them once again and recovers the stolen goods.
5. Shears' Counterattack: Madame M asks Cloud to return to the Colosseum and face a Jury-Rigged Cutter in a fight.

The player can only do three side quests, based on their earlier decisions, and the ones done decide which dress Cloud wears later in the Chapter. Skipping all the side quests results in Cloud wearing a simple black dress. Doing "Burning Thighs", "The Party Never Stops", and "A Dynamite Body" results in Cloud wearing a black and blue dress. Doing "Burning Thighs", "The Price of Thievery" and "Shears' Counterattack" results in Cloud wearing a lavender dress.

Escorted by Johnny to protect her from gawkers, Aerith catches Cloud in front of Don Corneo's mansion in her new dress. While she was having her character model altered, Aerith had a bright idea: Chocobo Sam and Madam M have both entered a contestant in the night's audition, but Andrea Rhodea has not, and Cloud caught his eye when he was watching their matches in the Colosseum. So she takes Cloud to the Honeybee Inn, where Cloud is asked to participate in a Dance-Off against Andrea. He wins, and Andrea agrees on a Dude Looks Like a Lady makeover, proclaiming that "True beauty is an expression of the heart." This guarantees that Tifa can get the information she needs, since all three of Don Corneo's potential wives are Avalanche members (or allies, in Aerith's case — though with her all-loving attitude, the distinction may be academic).

Corneo is very enamored of Cloud, who uses his natural voice regardless, and picks him as his bride, giving Aerith and Tifa to his men, but the two fight their way past the don's goons (being given back their regular clothes and weapons by Corneo's treacherous assistant Leslie Kyle) and gang up on him in his bedroom. Under their interrogation (and under the threat of losing his balls) Don Corneo reveals that Shinra are planning to stamp out Avalanche by dropping the Sector 7 plate on the Sector 7 undercity... which will result in countless civilian casualties. Tifa, horrified, resolves to hurry home. However, Don Corneo has one last trick: he pulls a trapdoor, dumping his three "brides" into the sewers.

Chapter 10: Rough Waters

Up at Shinra HQ, President Shinra asks if the "drop a bunch of civilians on another bunch of civilians" plan is on schedule. Reeve Tuesti, director of Urban Development, suggests that "drop a bunch of civilians on another bunch of civilians" is kind of an Evil Overlord plan and completely insane, but the President and Heidegger just laugh him off.

Down in the sewers, Cloud, Aerith and Tifa are awoken by very loud roaring: there's a large monster, Abzu, living down here, which seems to explain where the Don's brides go when he's done with them. After beating it up for a bit, Abzu escapes, so the three fight their way out of the sewers past several monsters. They are not sure if Corneo was telling the truth, but they must return to Sector 7 to make sure.

Chapter 11: Haunted

The sewer exit leaves the three at the Train Graveyard, where old trains are left in piles. Supposedly, the graveyard is haunted. Tifa becomes incredibly jealous when she sees Aerith latching onto Cloud's arm and grabs his other arm possessively. The graveyard is indeed haunted by some benevolent and some malevolent ghosts. They check an old train radio and intercept a message between Reno and Rude, confirming that Corneo was telling the truth. A demon called Eligor captures Aerith and forces her to relive her painful childhood memories before trying to kill her. Cloud and Tifa rescue her and the trio defeat him, with a pissed off Tifa finishing him off. It turns out Eligor was the one keeping the ghosts trapped; with him gone, they are able to move on. The three arrive at Sector 7... where Shinra helicopters encircle the pillar that holds up the plate, exchanging gunfire with Barret, Wedge, Biggs, Jessie and whoever else Avalanche could drum up.

Chapter 12: Fight For Survival

As Cloud, Aerith and Tifa approach the pillar, an explosion sends Wedge plummeting hundreds of feet to the earth. Aerith, the White Mage, manages to put some heal spells on him, and the party splits up: she helps Wedge organize an evacuation of Sector 7, while Cloud begins to fight his way up the pillar, eventually with Tifa's help. Aerith is also tasked with visiting Seventh Heaven and spiriting Marlene to safety. Whilst doing this, she attracts the attention of Tseng, the leader of the Turks, who has been trying for years to get her to surrender to Shinra; she is, after all, the last Ancient. With Marlene's fate hanging in the balance, he is finally able to convince her.

Cloud and Tifa continue up the pillar, encountering Biggs, mortally wounded, and then Jessie, also breathing her last. At the top, they find Barret holding off Reno and Rude; once Avalanche has the numbers, the fight goes their way, but the grey-ghost things show up and run interference while Reno and Rude are trying to press the Big Red Button, allowing the Turks to succeed. Reno and Rude board a chopper; the remaining Avalanche members exfiltrate by means of a rope swing. Grey-ghost things surround Wedge and keep him locked in place so that he can't escape while the sky, literally, falls on him. Sector 7 is demolished.

There's a shot of an animatronic cat doll running to a window, seeing the plate fall and pounding its fist on the ground in anger over the injustice. It has never been seen before and will never be seen again... at least until next episode, when we get Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer. But if that's the case, why wasn't this shot withheld until the next episode? Or, if it's about foreshadowing, where's the foreshadowing for the other three playable characters who don't join the party this episode? Well, whatever. Cait Sith is here.

Chapter 13: A Broken World

It's After the End of Sector 7. Barret mourns for Biggs, Wedge and Jessie, but is informed by Cloud that Marlene is safe (or, at least, was, according to Aerith, who was yelling it over vidcom while Shinra bundled her away). They travel through Wall Market to Aerith's house, where Elmyra indeed has custody of the sleeping child. Along the way, Cloud experiences another hallucination of Sephiroth, who mocks Cloud for his failure before saying his suffering will make him stronger.

Cloud apologizes to Elmyra for letting Aerith be captured and failing in his duties as bodyguard, but Elmyra tells him that the day was inevitable. She explains that Aerith is indeed the last "Ancient", a race of Precursors who inhabited the world before humanity. Elmyra adopted Aerith when she found her and her mother, Ifalna, at the train station, Ifalna dying and begging that someone, anyone, look after her daughter. Even as a child, Aerith demonstrated strange abilities, like knowing that Elmyra's husband, who was fighting in the Wutai War, had died shortly before the news arrive. Supposedly, Aerith, as an Ancient, knows the way to "The Promised Land", a place of infinite Mako — which Shinra, who burn Mako to produce salable electricity, have extreme business incentives to find. Cloud asks why the Turks didn't capture her earlier if they knew where she lived, and Elmyra says they claimed she had to come willingly or it wouldn't work.

Avalanche leaves Marlene with Elmyra and return to the ruins of Sector 7. Along the way, they get attacked by Beck's Badasses, but quickly defeat them. They help in the search for survivors. Eventually, they find a mysterious underground lab, run by Shinra. They also find Wedge there, held captive. Despite being split up, the three succeed at defeating whatever bioengineered horrors were being created there and freeing Wedge. All of this is already a deviation from the Stations of the Canon: back in '97, Wedge's role in the story ended when he fell hundreds of feet off the pillar, Cloud asked him if if he was okay, Wedge said "NO!!!!," and then died a lot. They attempt to explore deeper into the lab, but the grey-ghost things drag the four of them out.

Chapter 14: In Search Of Hope

After leaving Wedge in Elmyra's care to recuperate, Cloud announces his intentions to attack Shinra HQ and rescue Aerith. Elmyra suggests that this is a bad idea, hoping that Aerith is being treated kindly — Shinra do have an incentive to keep her cooperative, after all. Cloud believes no such thing is happening. Elmyra decides that she needs to think about it overnight, and the team takes a nap; Cloud awakens during the night and finds (depending on Relationship Values) one of his party members outside, ruminating. If it's Aerith, she appears as some sort of spiritual projection. If he talks to Barret, Barret talks about several lost members of Avalance that Cloud never got to meet. If he talks to Tifa, she cries about losing their home for a second time as Cloud hugs her. If he talks to Aerith, she says she is happy that they met, but warns him not to fall in love with her as it will only cause him pain. A bit shaken up, he affirms his resolve to rescue her.

In the morning, Elmyra has relented, and Avalanche set off to get topside, with Barret sadly saying goodbye to Marlene, but she encourages him to save Aerith. The only problem is, they have no idea how: all the normal routes are sealed in the wake of the "terrorist attack" that resulted in the plate dropping. Tifa suggests they go to Don Corneo. Midgar is claiming that Avalanche worked in conjunction with the enemy nation of Wutai, with whom Shinra have a cease-fire. They see a girl named Kyrie Canaan spreading anti-Avalance propaganda and demanding money for the news, but ignore her. Along the way, they do some side quests:

1. Missing Children: Ms. Folia says some of her children are missing again. The trio find they were abducted by Phantoms and rescue them.
2. Chocobo Search: An employee of Chocobo Sam says three of his Chocobos are missing and asks for help. Along the way, they are attacked by Beck's Badasses one last time. When they are all found, Sam thanks them by giving them a lifetime pass for his services, allowing for fast travel between Sector 5 and 6.
3. Malicious Goons: Madam M says Don Corneo sent some thugs after Barret, and they were last seen headed for Aerith's house. Worried, the trio rushes back and confronts them; they are the same thugs Cloud beat up in Chapter 3. The thugs unleash their secret weapon, the dreaded Tonberry, a creature that can kill with one strike. When it is defeated, the thugs surrender and leave, promising to tell no one about them.
4. Wavering Heart: The trio visits Jules' gym to find Andrea Rhodea working out. He challenges Tifa to a pull-ups contest, which she wins. This also helps cheer Tifa up.
5. The Power of Music: Betty wants to cheer up the people, so she asks the trio to find three unique music samples for her to play on a jukebox. Upon playing the three songs, everyone is indeed filled with hope.
6. Secret Medicine: A doctor asks for three ingredients for his medicine: a Moogle's Mortar (which can be purchased from Moggie), some flowers from the church, and a Behemoth's horn.
7. Subterranean Menace: Wymer asks the group to defeat a Type-0 Behemoth that is in the underground lab. Since this is where you get the Behemoth's horn, this side quest has to be done to complete "Secret Medicine".
8. Tomboy Bandit: Johnny says Kyrie stole his wallet. The trio corner her and she says she got in trouble for stealing the key to Don Corneo's treasures. She was challenged to a match at the Colosseum, but the trio go in her place, defeating the Beastmaster and his Hellhound. When they return to her, she refuses to return the goods, but Mireille, who turns out to be her grandmother, arrives and scolds her, so she gives the trio the key and Johnny's wallet. Mireille reveals she is the true identity of the Angel of the Slums. They return Johnny's wallet and after a heartfelt goodbye to Tifa, he leaves Midgar.
9. Corneo's Secret Stash: Damon talks about how Don Corneo's treasures are up for grabs and that he thinks the Angel of the Slums stole the key. Traveling all around, the trio use the key to find a ruby tiara, diamond tiara, and emerald tiara. They decide to give them to Marle, who promises to use them to fund Sector 7's recovery. Damon is changed by everything that's happened, and although he still doesn't know who the Angel is, he decides to be their ally instead of enemy. Since the key is needed to unlock the treasures and the emerald tiara is in the sewers, this side quest cannot be completed without doing "Tomboy Bandit" and going to Don Corneo's mansion.

They enter Don Corneo's mansion to find it ransacked. They find his henchman Kotch tied up and he explains Shinra raided the mansion as revenge for Corneo leaking the plan to destroy Sector 7, forcing Corneo to flee. They run into Leslie and explain that they need to get topside. He says he will help them if they help him get Corneo, who fled down his trapdoor into the sewers, since Leslie is not a fighter. As they explore the sewers, a monster steals Leslie's necklace. After they get it back, he explains that it belonged to his fiancee, but one day, Corneo chose her as a bride and then she disappeared, so he's wanted revenge and pretended to join Corneo, waiting for his chance. Leslie eventually finds Corneo alone and pulls a gun on him, only for Corneo to disarm and punch him down. Corneo monologues about how Shinra is planning to abandon Midgar for a new city built in The Promised Land and invited him in, but since he leaked the plan to destroy Sector 7, there are now many survivors, so they've put him on a hit list. He attempts to kill Leslie for betraying him, but the trio arrive in time. Before they can interrogate him, Abzu and its children attack, allowing Corneo to escape. After killing Abzu, Leslie wants to go after Corneo again, but Tifa urges him to let go of revenge and instead look for his fiancee, because there is a chance she could still be alive.

Leslie holds up his end of the bargain by giving them Even Better Grappling-Hook Pistols. If all nine side quests were completed, Mireille will leave them a letter thanking them and an Elemental Materia. As they approach the wall and prepare to climb it, Barret makes it clear that this is a Point of No Return: once Cloud et al begin to ascend, they will be cut off from the Wide-Open Sandbox portion of the game and enter the story's third act.

Chapter 15: The Day Midgar Stood Still

The group climb to the topside plate, facing down Shinra opposition. Yes, that's literally all that happens. We weren't joking about the Padding. The party does face a flying mecha, "The Valkyrie", although this isn't meant to happen yet...

Chapter 16: The Belly of the Beast

Despite a sneaking mission that goes poorly when Barret accidentally falls off the roof of the truck they're riding, Cloud, Tifa and Barret succeed at infiltrating Shinra HQ. They figure that Aerith will be in Professor Hojo's lab on the 65th floor... which they will have to ascend to on foot, as the elevators stop at the 59th. (As with the original, players may choose whether to ride the elevator, which involves some fights, or to manually climb 59 flights of stairs.) Meanwhile, Scarlet, director of Weapons Development, is overseeing the production of a new Materia while using a mook as a footstool. She is informed there is a meeting. The Materia starts to overload, but she uncaringly locks her workers in, causing them to get blown up. Reeve is doing his best to put Midgar back together after the self-inflicted disaster; apparently he's the Token Good Teammate on Shinra's C-Suite. This will be important later.

On the 60th floor, they find a museum detailing Shinra and its employee's history. On the 61st floor, they find a dazzling holographic presentation on the history of the Ancients, but just as it ends, the hologram suddenly changes to Midgar being destroyed by Meteor, then Cloud sees Sephiroth killing Tifa and Barret before the hallucination ends. They are all shaken up by what they saw. Meanwhile, Palmer, head of the Space Program, is walking down the halls when he is horrified to see Sephiroth in the flesh. Sephiroth just walks past him.

With the help of Mayor Domino, Shinra's puppet mayor, the group reach the 64th floor and learn that Shinra will be holding a staff meeting, during which all the main villains — excuse me, upper executives — will be AFK. Meanwhile, Hojo interrogates Aerith in his lab and reveals that he retrieved her mother Ifalna's corpse and dissected it. He is called away for the meeting and she understandably cries over what she just heard. At one point, the trio run into a faceless mook who doesn't sound the alarm because he recognizes Cloud as an old friend of his. Sadly, Cloud doesn't recognize him and they move on. Cloud and Tifa use the air ducts to spy on the meeting. Inside, Palmer is trying to warn President Shinra and the others that Sephiroth is here, but the President and Heidegger dismiss this as nonsense. Reeve tries to present a reconstruction plan for Sector 7, but the others say there is no need for reconstruction because once Aerith tells them where The Promised Land is, they will move there and build a Neo-Midgar. Reeve protests that they've only heard of The Promised Land from old stories and there is no proof that it's even real, but they won't listen to him. Hojo says in time he should be able to force Aerith to talk, but since she's the last of her kind, he suggests that they breed her with members of SOLDIER so he can study any resulting children. The others are disgusted and President Shinra quickly ends the meeting.

As the executives leave, the trio takes this opportunity to abduct Professor Hojo, who they believe is holding Aerith, and force him to let them into his lab. They not only retrieve her, but also gain the allegiance of another of Hojo's specimens, a talking red-orange catdog with a flaming tail, Red XIII, who has the odd distinction of being Demoted to Extra: while he officially joined the party at this time back on PS1, with his own Limit Break, weapons and Materia, today he becomes something of a Tagalong Kid, contributing to fights using the game's (abysmal) AI but not becoming controllable at any point. Hojo suddenly recognizes Cloud and says he is not a SOLDIER, but before he can say more, the grey-ghost things drag Hojo away. Finally complete, the party resolve to bust their way out... though Cloud has to stop with an overwhelming headache when he envisions a test pod with a headless woman inside...

Meanwhile, Reno and Rude are licking their wounds and regretting droping the Sector 7 plate. Tseng says if they didn't do it, someone else would have. Tseng offers to let the two go on a vacation, but he receives a phone call and says the vice president needs them.

Chapter 17: Deliverance from Chaos

Cloud awakens in a brightly-appointed room with the party surrounding him. Aerith explains that they have retreated to the apartment she shared with her mother, Ifalna, when they were "guests" of Shinra. Aerith explains that she is indeed a member of the "Ancients", actually called the Cetra, and that Shinra have been trying to tease the location of The Promised Land out of her and/or her mother for a long time. This leaves Aerith in a bit of a bind, because she doesn't actually know where it is. They are then interrupted by the grey-ghost things that have been Railroading the plot. Red XIII explains that they are the "Whispers", Arbiters of Fate that represent the Planet Itself. Aerith herself is the victim of these Whispers, as they are herding her in a certain direction — towards a final confrontation with something that makes Shinra look like a Disc-One Final Boss.

They are interrupted by a video call. Wedge — who is back on his feet — has allied with both Mayor Domino and Avalanche HQ and are attempting to bust them out, or at least cause a big-enough distraction that the party can escape. The group is told to go to the roof so a helicopter can extract them. Exclusive to Hard Mode, the team runs into Chadley on the 66th floor, who offers to let them train in his virtual reality simulator. If all 19 Assess-related missions were completed and all the virtual opponents are defeated, Chadley will reveal he is a cyborg slave of Hojo. By using the data the team collected, he was able to disable the Restraining Bolt keeping him bound to Shinra and is now free. He thanks them and says he doesn't know what he will do now, but it is nice not knowing something for once, before escaping.

The team ascends to the 68th floor, where Hojo keeps his most prized possession: the headless woman Cloud envisioned earlier, whom Aerith calls "JENOVA." Cloud has a flashback to Sephiroth calling someone named JENOVA "Mother", and then Sephiroth shows up in the flesh, not a hallucination because everyone can see him. Cloud attacks him, but Sephiroth destroys the bridge they were standing on, which dumps them into "the Drum", Hojo's dungeon for experimenting on advanced technology (or so the fellow himself proclaims over the loudspeaker system). Red XIII explains Hojo wants to study JENOVA, "the cataclysm that came from the stars." The experiments in the Drum have all been injected with JENOVA's biological data, and Hojo will pit his subjects against the group to facilitate their growth. It being a video game, Hojo finds that the party are the stronger combatants, ending with them defeating a creature called the Swordipede.

Emerging onto the 68th floor again, Cloud et al discover the JENOVA holding tank broken open, and purple liquid leaving a trail towards the President's Office on the 70th floor. They find President Shinra hanging from the roof, begging for help. Barret rescues him, with the clearing of Avalanche's name as his price, but the President finds a gun in his desk and holds Barret at gunpoint. The dilemma is resolved when Sephiroth happens: he stabs President Shinra from behind. Then he murders Barret too, which would be a huge deviation from canon... if the Whispers were to let it through. Which they don't; they revive Barret, while Sephiroth transforms into a new Boss: JENOVA Dreamweaver. Upon its defeat, the JENOVA is revealed to be Marco, the black-robed man with the "49" tattooed on his shoulder from way back in Chapter 3.

An Avalanche helicopter appears to offer the team egress, but is shot down by a Shinra copter with the Turks onboard... as well as Rufus Shinra, the president's son and the vice president. Cloud buys time by engaging in a Dual Boss fight with Rufus and his pet dog, Darkstar. Eventually, Rufus sends Darkstar away to face Cloud one on one. Cloud disarms him, but he escapes on the helicopter and it shoots the platform Cloud was standing on to make it collapse. Fortunately, Tifa returns and saves him from falling.

Barret, Red XII and Aerith descend to the ground floor to try and secure a new exit route, dealing with yet another boss along the way, "The Arsenal". Wedge attempts to assist them, but the Whispers attack him and hurl him out a window, leaving his fate uncertain. They reach the bottom and find themselves surrounded by Shinra security... but Cloud arrives on a motorcycle and raises a ruckus, allowing Tifa to arrive in an old pick-up truck. The party vanishes into the night, with Heidegger screaming for his forces to follow.

Chapter 18: Destiny's Crossroads

As they race down the freeway, Cloud, from atop his motorcycle, helps defend the truck from various Shinra attackers, culminating in a giant boss called M.O.T.O.R. The Whispers swarm the Shinra building, preventing more forces from following them. For some reason, Rufus can see them while Tseng cannot. Finally free, the group contemplate their fate. In the original game, this was when they shimmied down a rope and walked off into the Overworld map. In this game, it's where things go truly Off the Rails.

Sephiroth descends and opens a portal, telling them that he will be waiting on the other side. Aerith cautions them against going, as this is truly Destiny's Crossroads; all that remains is a Boss Rush, and freedom. She explains that the Whispers are the voices of all who have gone before and returned to the Planet. Sephiroth, she reveals, wants to destroy everything; she asks them to help her stop him, but warns that, if they do, they will be required to Screw Destiny, and that the Whispers will try to stop them. The Whispers are not just, after all, the forces of fate: you can think of the Whispers as being the players, the "Stop Having Fun" Guys who want the story to go exactly as they remember and Follow the Plotted Line and not change one bit. And what Aerith wants to do is remove them entirely. The game's Meta Twist is that Aerith wants to take the plot Off the Rails and she wants you to help her. (Incidentally, is this a good time to mention how many of Aerith's dialogues seem to be Breaking the Fourth Wall and addressed to The Player?)

On the other side of the portal are a trio of Whispers called Whisper Rubrum, Whisper Croceo, and Whisper Viridi, that have to be fought, which are apparently homages to the trio of villains from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and eventually merge into Whispher Bahamut; and then the central Whisper Harbinger. During the fight, the party experiences visions of the future. First, one of Red XIII wandering the wilderness with his cubs, which confuses them. Second, one of Meteor descending on the planet. Third, one of Cloud fighting Sephiroth. Fourth, one of Sephiroth killing Aerith. Fifth, one of Cloud carrying Aerith's body to a lake. They are all horrified and motivated to kill the Whispers, hoping to stop such a bleak future from happening. And then... the party fights Sephiroth, because it's FF7 and you can't have a game in this franchise where you don't fight Sephiroth. You win, but it's not the end; Sephiroth is in no way gone for good. What is clear is that Nothing Is the Same Anymore; destiny has been derailed, and the once-written future is now unwritten. The party must put up with Sephiroth gloating: if destiny is gone, then he has another chance to win. Cloud pursues Sephiroth into another portal and they find themselves in a twisted, barren landscape that Sephiroth calls The Edge of Creation. Sephiroth makes an offer for Cloud to join him so they can defy destiny together. Cloud refuses and they duel once more. Sephiroth effortlessly disarms him, but says he will not kill him yet. He leaves after a cryptic message, "Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it? Let's see." Cloud returns to the others and says he failed. Aerith says Sephiroth is a threat to the planet and the party agrees to hunt him down.

Meanwhile, Rufus takes his place as the President of the Shinra Electric Power Company. Professor Hojo notices JENOVA is missing from his laboratory and laughs maniacally. Biggs wakes up bandaged in a bed in the orphanage, amazed that he is alive, a sign that destiny has changed, since he died in the original game when the plate fell. Jessie's gloves are next to his bed, making it possible she survived too.

Nothing makes this altered destiny more clear than a series of flashbacks throughout the chapter, depicting an important part of the backstory, last seen during Crisis Core: the return of a SOLDIER 1st-Class, Zack Fair, to Midgar. He and his friend Cloud^Spoilers!... In the event that you're new to the franchise, you should probably close this Note again. If you do want to know what's going on, here's what's going on: Cloud has an affinity for Sephiroth and JENOVA because he was subjected to Hojo's experiments, infusing him with JENOVA cells, five years ago. Hojo did this because Cloud was not a SOLDIER 1st-Class; in fact, he wasn't a SOLDIER at all: he was a fucking Red Shirt, one of the guys with the three-red-eyes helmets that you've been beating up with abandon. He went From Nobody to Nightmare at Nibelheim after Sephiroth turned it into a Doomed Hometown, when Cloud defeated Sephiroth against all odds, which is probably why Hojo was interested in him. Zack, who was also getting experimented on, escaped, taking his best friend with him, limping back to Midgar in the hopes of finding safety — and maybe seeing his girlfriend, a flower peddler named Aerith Gainesborough. Unfortunately, he was slain in the scene we're about to watch. All of the above is the Inciting Incident of the entire franchise: Cloud not only has the JENOVA cells, but he was compelled to not only Take Up My Sword but Becoming the Mask, wearing Zack's clothes and imprinting Zack's personality atop his own and stopping only short of renaming himself "Zack Fair the Second". have escaped, but Shinra attempts to bar their path with such overwhelming force that a Bolivian Army Ending is inevitable. Zack draws the Buster Sword and surges into the fight... and is Spared by the Adaptation. As he and Cloud, refugees from an Alternate Timeline (made clear by a slow-motion shot of a marketing mascot who is different in the continuity we just spent an entire game in), limp towards Midgar, they pass without seeing each other Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, Barret and Red XIII, setting off into a world of absolute uncertainty, with nothing — not even Aerith's spoilerific knowledge of the future — to lead them.

Zack: Almost there, Cloud. We're almost there...

As it starts to rain, Aerith looks up at the wide open sky, no longer with the massive plates of Midgar to block it...

Aerith: This sky... I don't like it ^note In the original English localisation this was "I miss it. The steel sky." contrasted to the original Japanese release "The sky... I hate it." which had a completely different tone and implication, this was changed in a patch shortly before Rebirth was released.

"The Unknown Journey Will Continue"

Episode InterMISSION

Sonon Kusakabe is tasked with infiltrating Midgar by his mentor and the imprisoned leader of Wutai, Godo Kisaragi. 3 days after arriving in and reconning Midgar's slums, he is approached by Godo's daughter (and functionally princess) Yuffie, a Hot-Blooded sixteen year old ninja. Yuffie's mission is to infiltrate the heart of Midgar and steal Shinra's prized materia. Because of her status, the older Sonon is actually Yuffie's subordinate, evidenced by him referring to her as "Boss".

Yuffie and Sonon meet with Avalanche in Sector 7, and discover that the disruption on the plates is due to the extremist splinter cell group led by Barret Wallace. This Avalance is more about fighting for equal rights for Midgar's citizens, and if that means allying with Wutains then so be it. The pair head to their first contact, in order to secure train ID cards that will get them topside. While there, they pass the splinter cell, who are down a member after the Sector 5 bombing. Yuffie tries to approach them in the Seventh Heaven bar, but is forced away by a weird mysterious force...

Upon hearing that Corneo's lackeys are looking for auditionees in Sector 7, Tifa heads to find them for information from the Don. Yuffie thinks nothing of it, until she and her party is confronted by the same goons. Beating the goons six ways to Sunday, they flee upon finding out "the hottest babe in the slums just 'fell into their lap'". Once they get their first IDs, Sonon and Yuffie chase after their second contact, who is being accosted by Security around the pillar. The ninjas give chase, racing through the industrial area of Sector 7, and catching up to the two guards who have apprehended the contact. Upon realizing they are Wutains, they call for backup in the form of a mechanical centipede mech, and the ninjas duke it out, showcasing their teamwork in the process. The contact gives them their Shinra ID cards, which get them into the building, and departs with a rumor to investigate - something big is going down in Sector 7...

The ninjas head up to Sector 0, where the Shinra HQ is. Sonon reveals why he agreed to this mission: during the last battle of the Wutai-Shinra war, a Shinra mech killed his sister Melphie, and he wants revenge. It is also clear that he is protecting Yuffie because he couldn't protect Melphie at the time. The pair make it to the building and pass through the sea of reporters, making their way to the elevator. Joining them in the elevator is none other than Scarlet, director of Weapons Development. She correctly deduces that they are Wutains and lays a trap for them, forcing them through the prototypes in Weapons Development, all leading up to a test drive of her mech suit. The ninjas beat her, and tie her up, discovering that the Materia they were told about is not to a functional level (making their mission moot) before she activates an alert on her underclothes.

This alerts her elite fighters - Deepground - who awaken one of the Tsviets, Nero the Sable, and send him to rescue Scarlet. Scarlet reveals to Yuffie that Shinra are going to drop Sector 7 on Avalanche, to Yuffie's horror. She races to help Sonon, who was ambushed by Deepground soldiers, and the pair are forced into a corner room. Nero traps the ninjas in a VR simulator and forces them to fight waves of enemies, to make them suffer as per Scarlet's orders. Once the duo break out of the sim, Nero engages them directly, using his mastery of dark energy to inflict heavy damage on the two. After a long and arduous battle, they are successful in defeating him, but he does not stay dead for long, rising from the shadows to attack Yuffie as she leaves. Sonon notices and blocks the attack, with Nero impaling him straight through the chest, to Yuffie's abject horror. Sonon smiles and tells her to get Shinra "for them", implying vengeance for him and Melphie. As the dying Sonon hallucinates reuniting with Melphie, Nero tenderly cradles his body before dragging it into the shadows. Yuffie, marked with tear stains and Sonon's blood on her face dashes outside through the crowd, only to discover she is too late - the plate falls, and all she can do is collapse to her knees in utter heartbreak.

Leaving Midgar after her failed mission, Yuffie notes that if she is going to take the fight to Shinra, she needs a lot more than Wutai's finest, she needs a team. Simultaneously, Cloud and company are walking to Kalm not far behind her, originally planning on walking the whole distance, before deciding to hitchike with Chocobo Bill to the city of Kalm. Even more simultanously, Zack Fair finds himself in Sector 5, just outside the church. He dramatically opens it, finding it full of refugees from Sector 7. He has two questions, just what has happened here, and where is...

Zack: Aerith...?