FFVII - The Complete Cast

Picking up from the desert prison, I had some Barret story line to complete before I could progress. It ended in a nice little suicide by the tragic villain and Barret got some closure. We decided we'd had enough of the prison and Barret convinced the man in charge to give us a shot out. Except the only way out is to win a Chocobo race in the Golden Saucer. Noooo problem, I was born with the reins in my hands. Well sorta, I did fail once...

Now out of the saucer, I was gifted with Ramuh materia and a Dune Buggy to travel over quicksand and shallow rivers. This opened up more of the map to me but first I wanted to back track a bit. I traveled back to the first continent and roamed forests for like thirty minutes before Yuffie FINALLY showed up. I beat her up and made her join my crew, then ventured back to the new continent. Not sure if I mentioned it but I had already picked up Cait Sith at the Golden Saucer, named him StupidCat. Don't wanna play him at all.

With my dune buggy I continued on and happened upon an old town with a destroyed reactor and some run down beaten people. They kept asking about a young boy named Zack they knew who left town maybe five years ago, about the same age as Cloud. Tifa acted really strange, like she knew who they were talking about... I picked up the Titan summon in the old reactor and continued on in search for Sephiroth.

I came upon Cosmo Canyon in the desert, home of Red XIII (Ichorid) or Nanaki as his family calls him. I did a bit of research and spoke to the elder. My party learned a bit more about the life stream and how the mako reactors are sucking the life out of the planet and it will one day die if it's not stopped. Nanaki tells us of his cowardly father who left the town when it was attacked and never returned. Through a bit of story progression, and some fighting we come to find out that his father Seto actually single handedly held off an enemy invasion through a secret back entrance into the canyon. We find his body turned to stone still on guard looking over a cliff under the moon. Very cool scene, some conflict resolution for Red XIII. He decides to join the party permanently to make his father proud and help save the planet.

Our next stop was a small town nestled up against a mountain. When we entered we realize it's Nibelheim. The same town that Cloud and Tifa grew up in, the same town that BURNED to the ground when Sephiroth went berserk. Somehow no one in the town recalls this and it leaves Cloud and Tifa VERY confused as to what events really took place five years ago. Not only that but there are men in black capes all over town with tattoos on their shoulders numbered 1 through 12. They mumble of the reunion and joining Sephiroth and Jenova once more.

I make my way into the old Shinra mansion and find Sephiroth once again in the basement among the books. He asks me if I plan to join him and mother at the reunion. Cloud is a bit confused and Sephiroth realizes Cloud isn't going to join or doesn't understand so he takes off. I head back upstairs and snag the Odin summon and the basement key from the vault, then head back downstairs. I opened the coffin behind the locked door to find Vincent Valentine who slumbers to atone for past sins. After a bit of conversation and explaining what's going on in the world with Shinra and Sephiroth, he joins the party.

Vincent Valentine (Lifnok) also explains a couple other interesting things. He asks about Lucercia, a woman who he loved. A woman who was married to Professor Gahst and who gave birth to Sephiroth. This is confusing to Cloud who thought that Sephiroth was grown by Jenova cells. Vincent doesn't really go into further explanation but expresses some regret in some deed he did which resulted in Lucercia's demise and he wants revenge against Hojo for some reason. I guess we'll get filled in more later. While this is definitely familiar, it's surprising me a bit as I go; I have forgotten most of this story from here on out.

We went up Mount Nibel and entered into a new zone where we approached a new town with a huge rocket at it's center. Here we find Cid Highwind (Yorick) trying to fix the rocket before Rufus arrives whom he believes will refund his space program so he can go to the moon. When Rufus arrives only to steal his plane and not give him any funding, Cid is devastated and joins the party without much else to do. We high jack the plane but are shot down in the process. Instead of a plane we're left with a glorified motor boat which can navigate shallow waters. This opens up more of the map though.

We're now on a path to find the Temple of the Ancients where Sephiroth is headed to next. However, on the way Yuffie jacks all our materia and bails. So... being without materia... sucks....

I had to adjust my state of mind a play style a bit to adapt to having no materia. I got creamed after about two fights by a few birds casting AoE lightning. I had to reload and make sure Aerith was in the party for her limit break Healing Wind. After fighting my way through some valleys painfully, I arrived at Wutai, a ninja clan town. I've seen Yuffie but I haven't had a chance to confront her about my materia. Still trying to figure out what I need to do, but I do recall Leviathan coming very soon. Will be nice to see the old god back in the game after his odd absence in FFVI.

Anyway, I've got my whole crew now and I've got QUITE a bit of materia. Rhek has some of his main ones to make him a killing machine, like HP+, Counter, and Cover. Later when he gets double cut or X cut or whatever it's called, he'll be unstoppable. I'll try to post a little more often but Dragon Age has been cutting into my time a little. Pretty good game. Both of 'em. =)