DJ Spinoza
Registered User
- Aug 7, 2003
- 25,969
- 4,549
Finally finished the game the other night. I ended up taking a long, unplanned break due to just getting too busy and then bizarrely due to picking up Persona 3 (which I had also stopped partway through) and finishing it first.
I don't have a lot to add to the thread but enjoyed catching up and seeing everyone's experience. I also largely enjoyed the game, though I I found some of the mini-game stuff tedious. I took a slightly different path because of having this long break, so I did a certain amount of side content as a way to get back into the vibe and gameplay. I still deliberately ignored most of the Gold Saucer and was pulling my hair out with certain side content.
I found myself having a love/hate relationship with some of it, as for whatever reason, the nostalgia of the open world hit me and had me wanting to spend time with the characters even though I don't love open world map completion stuff usually.
To be non-spoilery on the ending sequence, I found the last fight to be so incredibly frustrating. Maybe it was a flaw in my game style, but I found most of the fight to be lower difficulty and then the final fight had some gimmicks which spiked it hard, and the game just doesn't respect your time by forcing you to watch the cut scenes and keep fighting or else have to re-do the entire thing.
I don't have a lot to add on the ending and possible theorycrafting because I haven't digested it much but just one thought on the Cosmo Canyon NPC that @Shareefruck originally linked:
I think there's some plausibility to the idea that the Zack and alternative stuff is happening in the lifestream or else is not some metaverse/alternate timeline as is popular. One further potential clue in this direction is how Marlene seems central to whatever is going on at Aerith's house with Zack, Cloud, and Aerith.
As far as Red sensing Aerith, I think that could be explained by Red having the strongest connection to the lifestream of the remaining alive characters.
Finally, this one might be more of a stretch, but unless I am misremembering, not really doing any fight stuff with Zack except when he is "with" Cloud against Sephiroth could further suggest it's the lifestream or some kind of memory realm. I thought when he was going to find Biggs, we might get some kind of mini-fight sequence with him. In any case, I am optimistic that the direction isn't about challenging and overcoming fate.
I don't have a lot to add to the thread but enjoyed catching up and seeing everyone's experience. I also largely enjoyed the game, though I I found some of the mini-game stuff tedious. I took a slightly different path because of having this long break, so I did a certain amount of side content as a way to get back into the vibe and gameplay. I still deliberately ignored most of the Gold Saucer and was pulling my hair out with certain side content.
I found myself having a love/hate relationship with some of it, as for whatever reason, the nostalgia of the open world hit me and had me wanting to spend time with the characters even though I don't love open world map completion stuff usually.
To be non-spoilery on the ending sequence, I found the last fight to be so incredibly frustrating. Maybe it was a flaw in my game style, but I found most of the fight to be lower difficulty and then the final fight had some gimmicks which spiked it hard, and the game just doesn't respect your time by forcing you to watch the cut scenes and keep fighting or else have to re-do the entire thing.
I don't have a lot to add on the ending and possible theorycrafting because I haven't digested it much but just one thought on the Cosmo Canyon NPC that @Shareefruck originally linked:
I think there's some plausibility to the idea that the Zack and alternative stuff is happening in the lifestream or else is not some metaverse/alternate timeline as is popular. One further potential clue in this direction is how Marlene seems central to whatever is going on at Aerith's house with Zack, Cloud, and Aerith.
As far as Red sensing Aerith, I think that could be explained by Red having the strongest connection to the lifestream of the remaining alive characters.
Finally, this one might be more of a stretch, but unless I am misremembering, not really doing any fight stuff with Zack except when he is "with" Cloud against Sephiroth could further suggest it's the lifestream or some kind of memory realm. I thought when he was going to find Biggs, we might get some kind of mini-fight sequence with him. In any case, I am optimistic that the direction isn't about challenging and overcoming fate.
