[036]
Prinzenick
Current Version
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Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own gain and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]] The tie-in novel \\\'\\\'The Girl Who Travels the Planet\\\'\\\' retroactively added an extra cherry on top of all this by revealing that due to his cruel experiments and all around lack of humanity, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife his soul can never enter the Lifestream.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* ThatOneAchievement: The 2019 ports add the \\\"Coming Up All Nines\\\" Achievement/Trophy, which requires the player to collect \\\'\\\'\\\'99,999,999\\\'\\\'\\\' Gil. Even if you use every exploit in the book, it is an \\\'\\\'agonizingly\\\'\\\' long grind to get even close to that number.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own gain and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]] The tie-in novel \\\'\\\'The Girl Who Travels the Planet\\\'\\\' retroactively added an extra cherry on top of all this by revealing that due to his cruel experiments and all around lack of humanity, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife his soul can never enter the Lifestream.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* ThatOneAchievement: The 2019 ports add the \\\"Coming Up All Nines\\\" Achievement/Trophy, which requires the player to collect \\\'\\\'\\\'99,999,999\\\'\\\'\\\' Gil. Even if you use every exploit in the book, it is an \\\'\\\'agonizingly\\\'\\\' long grind to get even close to that number.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
Changed line(s) 1 from:
n
to:
Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]] The tie-in novel \\\'\\\'The Girl Who Travels the Planet\\\'\\\' retroactively added an extra cherry on top of all this by revealing that due to his cruel experiments and all around lack of humanity, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife his soul can never enter the Lifestream.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* ThatOneAchievement: The 2019 ports add the \\\"Coming Up All Nines\\\" Achievement/Trophy, which requires the player to collect \\\'\\\'\\\'99,999,999\\\'\\\'\\\' Gil. Even if you use every exploit in the book, it is an \\\'\\\'agonizingly\\\'\\\' long grind to get even close to that number.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]] The tie-in novel \\\'\\\'The Girl Who Travels the Planet\\\'\\\' retroactively added an extra cherry on top of all this by revealing that due to his cruel experiments and all around lack of humanity, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife his soul can never enter the Lifestream.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* ThatOneAchievement: The 2019 ports add the \\\"Coming Up All Nines\\\" Achievement/Trophy, which requires the player to collect \\\'\\\'\\\'99,999,999\\\'\\\'\\\' Gil. Even if you use every exploit in the book, it is an \\\'\\\'agonizingly\\\'\\\' long grind to get even close to that number.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
Changed line(s) 1 from:
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Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]] The tie-in novel \\\'\\\'The Girl Who Travels the Planet\\\'\\\' retroactively added an extra cherry on top of all this by revealing that due to his cruel experiments and all around lack of humanity, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife his soul can never enter the Lifestream.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* ThatOneAchievement: The 2019 ports add the \\\"Coming Up All Nines\\\" Achievement/Trophy, which requires the player to collect \\\'\\\'\\\'99,999,999\\\'\\\'\\\' Gil. Even if you use every exploit in the book, it is an \\\'\\\'agonizingly\\\'\\\' long grind to get even close to that number.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]] The tie-in novel \\\'\\\'The Girl Who Travels the Planet\\\'\\\' retroactively added an extra cherry on top of all this by revealing that due to his cruel experiments and all around lack of humanity, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife his soul can never enter the Lifestream.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* ThatOneAchievement: The 2019 ports add the \\\"Coming Up All Nines\\\" Achievement/Trophy, which requires the player to collect \\\'\\\'\\\'99,999,999\\\'\\\'\\\' Gil. Even if you use every exploit in the book, it is an \\\'\\\'agonizingly\\\'\\\' long grind to get even close to that number.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
Changed line(s) 1 from:
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Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]] The tie-in novel \\\'\\\'The Girl Who Travels the Planet\\\'\\\' retroactively added an extra cherry on top of all this by revealing that due to his cruel experiments and all around lack of humanity, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife his soul can never enter the Lifestream.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* ThatOneAchievement: The 2019 ports adds the \\\"Coming Up All Nines\\\" Achievement, which requires the player to collect \\\'\\\'\\\'99,999,999\\\'\\\'\\\' Gil. Even if you use every exploit in the book, it is an \\\'\\\'agonizingly\\\'\\\' long grind to get even close to that number.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]] The tie-in novel \\\'\\\'The Girl Who Travels the Planet\\\'\\\' retroactively added an extra cherry on top of all this by revealing that due to his cruel experiments and all around lack of humanity, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife his soul can never enter the Lifestream.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* ThatOneAchievement: The 2019 ports adds the \\\"Coming Up All Nines\\\" Achievement, which requires the player to collect \\\'\\\'\\\'99,999,999\\\'\\\'\\\' Gil. Even if you use every exploit in the book, it is an \\\'\\\'agonizingly\\\'\\\' long grind to get even close to that number.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
Changed line(s) 1 from:
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to:
Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]] The tie-in novel \\\'\\\'The Girl Who Travels the Planet\\\'\\\' retroactively added an extra cherry on top of all this by revealing that due to his cruel experiments and all around lack of humanity, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife his soul can never enter the Lifestream.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]] The tie-in novel \\\'\\\'The Girl Who Travels the Planet\\\'\\\' retroactively added an extra cherry on top of all this by revealing that due to his cruel experiments and all around lack of humanity, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife his soul can never enter the Lifestream.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
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Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard truly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
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Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard ruly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also [[AssholeVictim very fitting that he faced such an abrupt]], undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard ruly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
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Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also very fitting that he faced such an abrupt, undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard ruly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CatharsisFactor:
** As anticlimatic (and shocking) as it is to have President Shinra [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains abruptly killed off by Sephiroth early on]], its also very fitting that he faced such an abrupt, undignified end, as he was a complete slimeball who was perfectly willing to suck the planets life force dry for his own enes and gave the order to murder the entire population of Sector 7 in an attempt to bring down AVALANCHE.
** After directly causing \\\'\\\'everything\\\'\\\' bad that happens throughout the game, destroying countless lives with ambitions to take more, and going out of his way to be as [[HateSink remorseless, repulsive and despicable of a human being as possible]], the battle against Professor Hojo/[[OneWingedAngel Helletic Hojo]] in Midgar which results in his well-earned defeat and \\\'\\\'\\\'[[KarmicDeath DEATH]]\\\'\\\'\\\' is immensely satisfying. Doubly so if you fight him with Vincent in your party, as Hojo being brought down by a man whose life (and the life of his former lover) he personally ruined and used as a personal guinea pig is a [[HoistByHisOwnPetard ruly delicious case of]] [[LaserGuidedKarma \\\"What goes around comes around\\\".]]
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
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Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SlowPacedBeginning: Zigzagged. The game kicks off with a action packed bombing mission and gives you the meat of the core gameplay off the bat, but it\\\'ll take you anywhere between 6 to 8 hours on your first playthrough just to complete the initial Midgar story arc, with the real story of the game (along with access from the massive open world) picking up from there after Sephiroth becomes the true BigBad by [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains killing President Shinra]], with AVALANCHE escaping from Shinra HQ and Midgar afterward. And to put it in perspective just how long of a game this is, the entire prologue doesn\\\'t even take up \\\'\\\'\\\'one third\\\'\\\'\\\' of the time it takes to complete the games first disc (of three)!
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
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Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue was more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
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Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon, and many of the cinematics in the finale, such as the Holy and Lifestream finally repelling Meteor from the planet.
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* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, and the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon.
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths ([[CommonKnowledge actually Jenovas]]) hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, and the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon.
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* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, and the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon.
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, and the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon.
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* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its much more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, and the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon.
* CommonKnowledge: There are a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of misconceptions surrounding the games plot points, lore and characterization, which often stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details. Some of the more egregious examples include the following:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its much more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, and the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon.
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Edit Request: Id like to have these parts added:
* CommonKnowledge:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its much more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** It bears noting that much of the confusion surrounding these plot points stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, and the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon.
* CommonKnowledge:
** Sephiroth is commonly interpreted by western players as being an unhinged, obsessive killer...except its much more complicated than that, which was much more clear in the Japanese version of the game. A major plot point got lost in translation, in that the Japanese script portrayed Sephiroth with a markedly different role and motivations compared to the impression that many English-speaking players were left with. In the original Japanese, Jenova was actually the BigBad, a PuppeteerParasite infecting and manipulating Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth finally sprouts additional limbs and a more alien form in the final battle, which was also supposed to be about \\\'\\\'removing\\\'\\\' the Jenova parasite from Sephiroth himself. The latter, incidentally, spends almost the entire game in the Whirlwind maze at the Northern cave, having merged with Jenova\\\'s head after Cloud threw the pair of them into the Lifestream at Nibelheim. The \\\"Sephiroth\\\" whom the heroes spend the entirety of Disc 1 pursuing and who does all of the stuff that we remember him for, like the murder of Aerith? That was all Jenova, a {{Shapeshifter}} taking on the \\\'\\\'physical appearance\\\'\\\' of Sephiroth and trying to unite the various parts of itself at the Northern Crater and kill off the one Ancient who could weaponise Holy Materia to bring it down. During the game\\\'s climax, Sephiroth\\\'s persona is at the forefront, but it\\\'s Jenova\\\'s instinct that lives on through him, driving him to destroy. There is a taste of this when the game takes all control away from the player before Aerith\\\'s death, only leaving the commands to try and strike her down as Cloud. This is because Shinra injects Jenova cells into its prospective soldiers before then regulating them with Mako, but Cloud\\\'s body never took to the treatment—hence the headaches and blackouts. Likewise, the various \\\"clones\\\" encountered throughout the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with both Jenova\\\'s and Sephiroth\\\'s cells and then exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the latter, though they all failed due to scientific malpractice. Jenova however, keeps trying to control and guide them (including Cloud and the \\\"fake\\\" Sephiroth) towards the Northern Cave so that it can be \\\'whole\\\' again, thus clarifying that the voice in Cloud\\\'s head was Jenova the entire time. \\\'\\\'\\\'All of this\\\'\\\'\\\' is spelled out far more explicitly in the original Japanese text. While this plot point is more or less retained in the English localization, it is barely even noticeable because it\\\'s resigned to \\\'\\\'only two sentences\\\'\\\', with Cloud even saying \\\"I\\\'ll explain later\\\" only to never do so. Consequently, many if not \\\'\\\'most\\\'\\\' English-speaking players were left with the impression that Sephiroth was simply an unhinged [[TheSociopath sociopath]] [[AGodAmI with a God complex]] whose sole motivation was to destroy the world out of spite, and that Jenova and the various clones seen throughout the game were merely unexplained \\\"tools\\\" in *his* overall plan. Knowing Jenova\\\'s true role as the main villain manipulating both Cloud and Sephiroth makes for a far more satisfying ending in every respect when Aerith uses the power of the Lifestream to repel Meteor, alongside the fact that Cloud defeats both Jenova and Sephiroth to protect the Planet. This plot point is further confounded by the fact that Square Enix themselves came out and [[RetCon rejected it]] in the \\\'\\\'Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega\\\'\\\', insisting that Sephiroth was the one in control the entire time, of both himself and Jenova. This only [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]] and has many accusing Square Enix of simply making it up in order to appease Sephiroth’s fanbase.
** It bears noting that much of the confusion surrounding these plot points stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
* SignatureScene: The game has many of them, some of them being among the most iconic imagery in video game history.
** The opening FMV, where a [[LeaveTheCameraRunning extended starfield]] fades to Aerith looking at magic sparks coming out of a pipe, followed by a slow zoom out from her to a massive {{Cyberpunk}} city, and then back to a train arriving at a station.
** Cloud [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressing]] to infiltrate Don Corneos mansion and save Tifa.
** The destruction of Sector 7 by Shinra.
** The scene where AVALANCHE tries to infiltrate Shinra HQ and get captured, only to be freed and then find the place littered with corpses, [[MakeWayForTheNewVillain including the body of President Shinra]]. Its at that point that the cast and players realize the storys real BigBad (Sephiroth) is someone far more sinister.
** The Shinra HQ escape sequence/motorcycle chase.
** The flashback to Sephiroths [[GoMadFromTheRevelation descent into madness]] and subsequent [[DoomedHometown destruction of Nibelheim]]. Special mention goes to the eerie shot of him standing among the flames with a PsychoticSmirk on his face before [[UnflinchingWalk walking off into them.]]
** The death of Aerith by Sephiroths hand.
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The final battle against [[OneWingedAngel Safer Sephiroth]], particularly the part where Cloud kills him with the Omnislash attack.
** [[SummonMagic Knights of the Round]] and Supernova, mostly due to how [[OverlyLongFightingAnimation insanely long they are.]]
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** In general, the animation in the games FMVs has not aged gracefully at all in the decades following its release. It was Squares first attempt at CG animation, and it \\\'\\\'shows\\\'\\\'. The higher resolution character models have noticable seams in their joints (as they were made out of NURBS models instead of box-modeling them like todays meshes), the characters have poor body mechanics and have no sense of weight in their movement at all, and have stiff, dead-eyed expressions throughout the whole experience. In the opening cutscene when Aerith rises, you can tell the animator just had her float up from the (off-screen) ground because her (non-existent) legs dont bend properly. The scenes that mix in-game models with FMV footage tend to be really dodgy too, with the falling bridge scene from Clouds flashback of climbing Mt. Nibel being a good example of this. Fortunately, Square quickly stepped up their animation game considerably [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII for]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX the]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX sequels]] and onward.
** Cutscenes in the game also tend to randomly shift between looking like the low-poly in-game models and the higher quality models of the FMVs Needless to say, its pretty jarring. As if this werent bad enough already, half of these movies render the characters with realistic proportions, whereas their field models use, by contrast, a SuperDeformed style. So you see Cloud randomly shift between his short, low-polygonal field model with Popeye arms and cube-shaped hands and his detailed CGI rendition that actually matches his character artwork \\\'\\\'in the middle of cutscenes\\\'\\\'.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, and the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon.
Changed line(s) 3 from:
n
to:
* CommonKnowledge:
** Everyone knows that Sephiroth murdered Aerith in cold blood...except not really. It was actually Jenova acting as his avatar. Sephiroth actually spends almost all of the game hibernating in the Whirlwind Maze. Of course, because that part of Jenova changed its form to appear as Sephiroth, and acted as a puppet of his will, you could say \\\"it was Sephiroth\\\" and [[DistinctionWithoutADifference technically, you\\\'d be right]]. The \\\"real\\\" Sephiroth is only encountered twice in the entire game: once in the Whirlwind Maze and once as the final boss. And on that note, it was the body of Jenova, shape-shifted to \\\'\\\'look\\\'\\\' like Sephiroth, which broke out of Shinra HQ and which the party was pursuing throughout Disc 1.
** The various \\\"Sephiroth Clones\\\" encountered in the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with Sephiroth\\\'s cells and exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the [[FallenHero fallen]] SuperSoldier (or maybe just to give him some pawns to manipulate). It bears noting that much of the confusion surrounding these plot points stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
** Everyone knows that Sephiroth murdered Aerith in cold blood...except not really. It was actually Jenova acting as his avatar. Sephiroth actually spends almost all of the game hibernating in the Whirlwind Maze. Of course, because that part of Jenova changed its form to appear as Sephiroth, and acted as a puppet of his will, you could say \\\"it was Sephiroth\\\" and [[DistinctionWithoutADifference technically, you\\\'d be right]]. The \\\"real\\\" Sephiroth is only encountered twice in the entire game: once in the Whirlwind Maze and once as the final boss. And on that note, it was the body of Jenova, shape-shifted to \\\'\\\'look\\\'\\\' like Sephiroth, which broke out of Shinra HQ and which the party was pursuing throughout Disc 1.
** The various \\\"Sephiroth Clones\\\" encountered in the game are actually the former residents of Nibelheim, injected with Sephiroth\\\'s cells and exposed to Mako energy in an attempt to create duplicates of the [[FallenHero fallen]] SuperSoldier (or maybe just to give him some pawns to manipulate). It bears noting that much of the confusion surrounding these plot points stems from the games [[BlindIdiotTranslation poor 1997 localization]]. See [[LostInTranslation/FinalFantasy here]] for further details.
** Final Fantasy VII is often thought of as one of the games that started the \\\"Killing God\\\" concept in [=JRPGs=]. Except Sephiroth \\\'\\\'isn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a god - and neither is Jenova. They are closer to the Gnostic Demiurge (A figure \\\'\\\'perceived\\\'\\\' to be god but \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\') if \\\'\\\'anything\\\'\\\' - Jenova actually has more in common with the monster from \\\'\\\'Film/TheThing1982\\\'\\\' or \\\'\\\'Literature/WhoGoesThere\\\'\\\' than a god. The fact that Sephiroth\\\'s second form is the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel (complete with OminousLatinChanting) and [[FauxSymbolism obvious Christian Imagery]] does help lead to this misconception.
** Cloud\\\'s characterization as \\\"emo\\\" is largely due to the \\\'\\\'perception\\\'\\\' that he was. In the game proper, Cloud was a cocky punk who grew into a confident leader at the game\\\'s end, and that\\\'s after realizing that said \\\"cocky punk\\\" attitude was more of Zack\\\'s behavior that [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Cloud had imprinted onto his own memories]]. And while Cloud does have some moments of angst in the game (namely about how Sephiroth [[DoomedHometown burned down Cloud\\\'s hometown]] and [[YouKilledMyFather killed his parents]], something anyone would rightly be upset about), the worst of it is after a massive MindRape in the Northern Crater that leaves him [[HeroicRROD stuck in a wheelchair, babbling incoherently]]. And even \\\'\\\'then\\\'\\\', after Tifa helps him [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan snap out of it]] with a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Cloud [[AngstWhatAngst stops angsting about everything]] and focuses on defeating Sephiroth to save the world.
** Tifa is known as having GagBoobs and the MostCommonSuperpower...which is mostly thanks to fan art that depicted her with huge boobs. While Tifa is indeed busty, how big her breasts are in official depictions varies quite significantly DependingOnTheArtist. For example, [[https://www.pcinvasion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tifa2.jpg her Advent Children design]] shows her without gag boobs. Even in the original game, her breast size was wildly inconsistent between her [[https://free3d.com/imgd/l12084-tifa-lockheart-ff7-2254.png field model]], her [[https://www.oocities.org/timessquare/bunker/3440/TPOSE1.JPG combat model]], her [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jw3EnJQRoc0/maxresdefault.jpg FMV sequence model]], and even her [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/8/83/Tifa_Early_Art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203042854 concept art]].
** You\\\'ll often hear people say Aerith is a HookerWithAHeartOfGold (or {{Compensated Dat|ing}}er) and that this was [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar hidden behind subtext]] involving flowers. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this idea. She sells flowers, it\\\'s really that simple.
** Everyone knows that Aerith was IncorruptiblePurePureness while Tifa was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but a lot of people forget that Tifa was actually quite a ShrinkingViolet, and that Aerith once threatened to [[GroinAttack rip off a mob boss\\\'s balls]] if he didn\\\'t talk. This is largely due to a combo of the original games bad english translation removing a lot of her original nuances (Aerith\\\'s dialogue more tomboyish and rough in the Japanese version, while the 1997 translation [[DubPersonalityChange makes her come off as more playful and cutesy]]) and the {{flanderization}} of Aerith\\\'s character over the years. She\\\'s lost a lot of her edge and instead become Cloud\\\'s {{innocent|FlowerGirl}} [[TheLostLenore Lost Lenore]] who died a matyr\\\'s death. On Tifa\\\'s side, she\\\'s a MsFanservice who is best known for punching things, so common knowledge is that she\\\'s more HotBlooded and snappy than she actually is.
** Contrary to the popular consensus, Cloud and Tifa were \\\'\\\'not\\\'\\\' childhood friends when they were growing up in Nibelheim. Both admit at various points throughout the game that they didn\\\'t know each other very well at the time, with Cloud having been a loner with a crush on Tifa from afar but who was not a part of her circle of friends, while Tifa didn\\\'t pay much attention to Cloud until he invited her out to the water tower and explained that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. The confusion stems from the fact that the Japanese word for \\\"childhood friend\\\" (「幼馴染み」osananajimi) more closely translates to \\\"someone whom you just so happen to have known since childhood,\\\" without necessarily implying any close interpersonal connection.
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** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the reveal that was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** The Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** The Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
to:
** Clouds [[MindRape mental]] [[DespairEventHorizon breakdown]] in the Northern Crater, and the Omega, Ultima, Ruby and Emerald Weapons being released by Sephiroth.
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
** Tifa and Cloud falling into the Lifestream, and the reveal that Cloud was never really part of SOLDIER and was [[LaserGuidedAmnesia actually remembering things from the point of view of his late friend Zack.]]
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* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, and Cloud letting Aerith\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City.
to:
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: With that said and done, some of the FMVs still manage to be effective to this day, such as the haunting scenes where Sephiroth destroys Nibelheim, kills Aerith, Cloud letting Aerith\\\'s body drift away into the waters of the Forgotten City, the Weapons being unleashed from the Northern Crater, and the Sapphire Weapons assault on Junon.
