After leaving Wutai it was time to find this Temple of the ancients but first I had to get the Keystone so I could get inside. I was told that Dio at the Golden Saucer had it so I went back there and retrieved the item. After getting it, we spent the night at the Ghost Hotel and Aerith chose the time to get that date out of Cloud. We did the little play event and the ferris wheel, then while we were on our way back we saw Cait Sith flag down a Shinra helecopter and toss up to them the Keystone item we had just gotten. Of course the little bastard is a traitor, I remembered that much, but he convinces Cloud to let him stay in the party by kidnapping Marlene and threatening her life. Didn't remember that part, what an asshole. Now I know why I called him StupidCat and never played him.
Anyway, I'm told by StupidCat to go to the temple of the ancients, I don't really have much choice now. I do as I'm told and head over. When I arrive I find Tseng of the Turks outside, dying of a wound by Sephiroth. He mumbles something about the Promise Land not being what they thought it was. We grab the Keystone and enter.
Once inside we follow a series of mazes on the trail of Sephiroth and a few elusive Ancients. Whenever I catch one though I'm given full HP/MP and a save point, which was nice. Aerith and I finally track down a room with murals on the walls and Aerith speaks to the voices in her head. They show her a scene which has occurred earlier where Sephiroth tells Tseng of his plan to become one with the life force of the planet, then cuts him down. However during the vision, it is obvious that Sephiroth can see the party as well and he mocks them.
After the scene we track down the location of the vision and find Sephiroth there. Now we finally get a real idea of what Sephiroth is up to. He lays out his plan, it's pretty simple. He will call upon the Ultimate Destructive Materia, Meteor. It will bring the planet to the brink of destruction. In an effort to save itself, the planet will gather all of it's spirit energy to heal itself. Sephiroth will be at the center of that focus and absorb all that energy instead. He will become something else, transcend his existence and become a god. After spelling out his plan, he says the Black Materia will be his and with it he will summon Meteor, then he bails. After this sequence of events, we get our most clear scene of insanity within Rhek to date. He begins talking to himself and about himself to the wall, to Sephiroth, to Jenova. After he shakes off his bout of insanity he asks Aerith what happen and she tells him everything is just fine.
We delve deeper into the temple and fight Bahamut, get his summon, then we arrive at a little model of the temple floating on a pedestal. When we touch it, the temple shakes. It turns out that it's not a model but the temple itself in some weird super dimensional way. There are a series of puzzles that one must solve to shrink the life size temple down to a consolidated form. The temple itself, in that form IS the Black Materia. But anyone who's inside the temple solving the puzzles will die when it becomes the materia. So enter Cait Sith to the rescue, since he's only a robot anyway, and his controller is at Shinra headquarters. How noble of him to sacrifice some metal for the good of the cause.
Anyway, after we do Sephiroth's dirty work for him, he comes to claim the Black Materia. He does this by taking control of Cloud's will and Cloud knocks Aerith to the floor and hands Sephiroth the materia gladly. WTF! After Sephiroth leaves and Cloud is in control again, he's very upset to say the least, he ends up going a little comatose after another break down. In his dream state he sees Aerith, she tells him it's ok. That she will handle Sephiroth, he need not worry about it anymore.
When he awakens Aerith is gone from the party. He thinks he's a risk to the party and doesn't want to continue but he has to help Aerith, if Sephiroth finds her first, "she'll be in trouble". So we head out to the City of the Ancients and upon arrival, Cloud can sense the presence of both Aerith and Sephiroth somewhere. After a futile search though, I finally give up and take a rest at an abandoned house. This triggers a midnight event where Cloud hears Aerith in his head. The party heads to the center of the city, and there she stands in the middle in prayer position. Cloud approaches alone and as he draws near, something takes control again. He pulls out his swords and almost strikes Aerith, but stops at the last second. Whew! That was close!
Enter Sephiroth from above, falling from the sky with sword in hand he falls upon Aerith and impales her on the spot. She falls forward, dead. I know it's coming but a part of me still can't believe they killed her. I was so mad when I experienced it the first time some fourteen years ago. Sephiroth morphs into a new Jenova beast form and we dispatch of it quickly. As it goes it tells Cloud that he is but a puppet in their schemes...
After the beautiful kill CG scene, and the ensuing battle, we're treated to the saddest cut scene in FF history, Cloud laying Aerith's dead body to rest in the pool at the center of the City of the Ancients. Sad but awesome at the same time. Suffice it to say that at this point the whole party is PRETTY PISSED at Sephiroth. It's personal now, Cloud wants blood. Bad.
End Disc 1, please insert Disc 2...
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