Loveless

[rynling]

I’m digging into meta and commentary about Final Fantasy VII, and I’m realizing that there’s a lot I don’t know about the lore. To give an example, I knew Loveless was a stage play, but I never picked up on the fact that it’s based on an epic poem. To be fair, I think the only hint you get that this is the case comes very late in the game, and the translation doesn’t make it entirely clear what’s being referred to.

I guess a lot of the lore is only explored through “compilation” games like Crisis Core, which I have no intention of ever playing – not for any ideological reasons, but rather because I missed that era of gaming the first time around and don’t have any particular interest in returning to it.

Comments

[runicmagitek]

not for any ideological reasons, but rather because I missed that era of gaming the first time around and don’t have any particular interest in returning to it.

SAME THO.

Outside of watching Advent Children, I've only played the OG VII and um... yeah gonna keep it that way. I don't think we missed shit lol

[rynling]

People keep telling me that Dirge of Cerberus is actually a fun game, and I'm sure it is. I also hear that Vagrant Story is a gorgeously written and unique game, and I'm sure this is true. That doesn't change the fact that these games are almost impossible to play. Aside from devoting your life to tracking down and figuring out how to play obscure games that almost no one remembers, what are you going to do?

Meanwhile, the Advent Children novelization, On the Way to a Smile, was recently published in an affordable paperback translation. It is very accessible, and I hate it. The point of the book is that Cloud breaks up with Tifa and leaves her to care for his adopted children on her own while Barret and Cid team up to discover the wonder of fossil fuels.

I agree with you, we probably didn't miss much.

[raisedbymoogles]

tbh Compilation stuff has the same problem later Kingdom Hearts does, where people just start coming back and fiddling with everything and layering more and more of their own headcanons and OCs on top until it starts to break down under its own weight. I feel no shame in cherrypicking the stuff I like and deep-sixing the rest.

[rynling]

When I was younger, I used to care a whole lot about what was and wasn't canon in the Final Fantasy games. Then I read a translation of the Final Fantasy X Ultimania Omega, which obliquely confirmed the fan theory that the Al Bhed kid Shinra is the distant ancestor of the family that controls the Shinra Corporation.

After that, I stopped caring so much about what the developers intended, and I have been much happier ever since.