[It's not a theme about hating stuff in videogames without a blog about Sephiroth. -- CTZ]
Final Fantasy VII was the first proper RPG I’d ever played. I think my favourite game prior to that was probably Sonic the Hedgehog. That kind of lets you know how little experience I had at that point with story driven games. The idea that a game could contain such a compelling story with characters you actually cared about wasn’t something I had really expected, I certainly didn’t expect that a game could make such an emotional connection with me. Throughout my time with FFVII, I found that the game could make me feel many emotions I never expected a game to be able to bring out in the player.
One of those emotions was most certainly hate.
Sephiroth has been a victim of his own success, with Square Enix whoring the character out, making appearances in games such as Ehrgeiz, Crisis Core, Kingdom Hearts I & II, Itadaki Street, Advent Children and of course Sephiroth’s Fly Fishing Adventure: One Winged Angler. With so many appearances that do absolutely nothing to add to his character, it’s no wonder that people tend to roll their eyes should you even hint that you liked him. However, that’s not what I’m here to talk about.
I hated Sephiroth, and I mean that literally.
In Final Fantasy VII, towards the end of disc 1, Sephiroth had taken the spotlight as the main villain. He was constantly one step ahead of the player, lording himself over you with his “superior” attitude. He showed the ability to control Cloud’s (the protagonist) body and mind. He was also batshit insane. This made him very dangerous, and a jerk, but it didn’t make me hate him.
So when the (possibly) main love interest, a flower girl from the slums called Aeris decides to run off to single handedly defeat Sephiroth, naturally the rest of the heroes decide to go after her. They were, however, not alone.
Deep inside an ancient and forgotten temple, Cloud finds Aeris silently praying. As he approaches her, it becomes obvious that cloud is no longer in control of his own actions. Against his will he draws his sword and raises it above his head, ready to bring the massive blade down upon the completely oblivious flower girl before him. At the very last moment Cloud manages to pull himself back, stopping his sword mere inches from her head.
As he stumbles back, Aries finally opens her eyes. She looks at him with surprise, she doesn’t say a word, she simply smiles at seeing her friend.
She smiled.
Their happy reunion was not long lived, from high above, Sephiroth descended towards the still kneeling Aeris. With one swift movement he impaled her with his Masamune sword, almost killing her instantly. I say almost, because she had just enough time to widen her eyes in pain and horror, before her entire body went limp.
Sephiroth merely smirked as he drew his blade from the lifeless flower girl.
Cloud could only shake Aeris’ dead body in disbelief whilst Sephiroth raised his arms in victory and began to gloat. Before you could even enact revenge, he escapes, leaving you to fight one of his minions.
Aeris' death was a complete shock to me, it totally blindsided me. Without any sort of warning, a character I really liked was gone, forever. Without really realizing it, I had made an emotion connection to this character, and that link had been brutally and unexpectedly severed for good. I wasn’t used to getting this attached to characters, and I was certainly not expecting her to die. From a more practical point of view, Aeris was always part of my group, she was the healer, the backbone. Now she was gone.
I was furious.
I can honestly say at the time I truly hated Sephiroth. The game had suddenly become personal. I didn’t want to beat Sephiroth because it was part of the story, I wanted to beat him because of what he had done. I felt like I needed closure, I felt like I needed revenge.
Defeating him at the end of the game was an incredibly satisfying moment. One of the most satisfying moments I’ve ever had in gaming. I remember actually yelling in triumph when I landed the killer blow in the last battle. I felt like I had delivered justice, I felt like I’d gotten revenge.
Revenge was so very, very sweet.
Contest:
4:05 PM on 09.29.2008
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On the wii.
I hated Aeris and her so-called innocent cocktease ways. So I loved Sephiroth instead.
Also.
Have you considered some sort of psychological evaluation?
I'm pretty sure Hojo is the real villain of that game, he pretty much set everything in motion.
Though I do have different reasons, I too hate Sephiroth, so at least we share the same opinion there.
The words "thesis" and "GameFAQs" should never appear in the same sentence.
The word "GameFAQs" should never appear in any sentence.
Good read
Good write-up man....almost brought a tear to my eye reliving this part :P
Good write up though, seriously :P I don't really like FF VII, or the plot or characters, but some of the elements really make it a good game. And yeah, I'd agree with all of these people that Sephiroth isn't really the villian of FFVII, he might as well be. Killing Aeris was pretty much solidified him as the main antagonist, as that was the way cloud felt, which I'm pretty sure was who you were supposed to identify with (him being the protagonist and all...)
Sephiroth was my favorite character though.
Good write up there dude :P
I think that needs to go on the list of Best Games Nobody Played.
Anyway, I never really got that attached to the FFVII story, probably cause I was 10 and I didn't really like reading in another language.
Question... how is a character whored out by making appearances in the same storyline/universe? (Crisis Core and Advent Children?). And all SquareEnix characters are whored out in Kingdom Hearts, so thats a mute point. Great article though!
The reason Sephiroth is my favorite character in the game is the backstory that follows him, he's truly a fallen hero and isnt a pure rotting villain like every other Final Fantasy villian before him. When you step back and look at the overall story, you realize that Sephiroth's actions are evil however his motives are not entirely evil. He truly believes that the human race eradicated the last of 'his kind' and that he is seeking vengeance for those people.
In any case.. the only other one I hated as much as him, was Kefka. :P
I mourn that woman to this day. That whole fight afterward with her theme playing was ever eerie, since you can't be hurt if you have that water ring armed. Yes, the next few hours of play felt so empty, especially since you did get connected.
I argue to this day that FF7 reached the greatest height on its console than any other game could have. Do I think its the best game I've ever played? No, that goes to GTA: San Andreas. What I do believe is that everyone who played that game at that point, from beginning to end, had never played a better game.
Sephiroth, you killed my woman, drank my beer, and kicked my dog. I enjoyed thoroughly kicking your ass in the end. To make it even worse for him, I went back and beat him with Cait Sith and Yuffie in my crew, what now bitch?!
Aeris totally needed to die. Otherwise I would have had no motivation to beat the shit outta him at the end.
I didn't deduce this from reading a GameFAQs theory, it's right there in the game.
It doesn't help that they're all the same in terms of combat. Sure you lose Aeris, but you can replace her just as effectively with any other character.
Seriously though, nice write up. I was pleasantly surprised by it.
Thank you so very much internet for ruining it and making sure everyone else who saw it and felt the same says how brilliant it is making it so liked its uncool. Thanks a fucking lot every stupid final fantasy fan and all cosplayers!
Good article though.
that was the day that i truly fell in love with video games
Not to be "that guy" but it's a moot point, not a mute point. I don't know what that bothers me. Sorry.
final fantasy 7 is when final fantsy started going down hill into the old man in a walker who the hell cares anymore it is today.
Kefika was the last good villian sqaure put out for final fantasy anything.
I felt the same way, Young Scot. That barstard had to pay for what he did to my heale.... coff, I mean girlfriend.
Kuja, however Transgender he may be, would have kicked his ass all day.
I think a lot of you misunderstand what exactly happened in the plot of the game. It wasnt Jenova--it WAS Sephiroth. When he fell into the lifestream and was washed to northcave he beceame more powerful in death than he ever was alive. The entire game Sephiroth was projecting his spirit from northcave. Yes--Jenova played a large part in messing with Clouds mind and manipulating situations, however, Sephiroth was the mastermind behind everything. Sephiroth was completely insane though. ;)
People who say Sephiroth was a horrible bag guy.. Yea well those people are idiots. Yea, I love Kefka too and FF3 (6) is my 3rd favorite Final Fantasy game (7, tactics, then 3).
People just love to hate FFVII because it was the first widely popular FF game and those poor fans pre-FFVII feel like they have to protect their 8-bit love children by hating on the first next gen, widely popular Final Fantasy game.
The FFVII haters are worse than those music fans who like a band until they get big. Then they make fun of both the band and people who like the band after it gets big. Give me a break, lol.