Gripe Time: Final Fantasy VII Compilation
I think I've pinpointed what bothers me so much about the other FF7 franchise games and movies that have been developed to expand upon the original game, and it basically amounts to a corruption of several of the important themes and plot points in the game.
First of all, the relationship between Cloud and Sephiroth is drastically different if you follow it through from the game to Advent Children, and even into how it's portrayed in the story mode of Dissidia. In the original, it honestly could have been anyone with Sephiroth at the Nibelheim reactor. He had nothing against Cloud in particular, except that he stopped him from achieving his goal at the time. Cloud was unique only in that he managed to retain some semblance of freewill, unlike the other clones carrying Jenova cells. Sephiroth's goal was far more focused around obtaining Jenova, merging with anything and everything that carried her cells inside them, transplanting himself into the Lifestream, and flying the planet around like some kind of spaceship, all because he had some sort of vague notion that this is what Jenova herself used to do. The only reason he was ever particularly violent toward Cloud was because he was getting in the way of all of this, and resisted being absorbed into the "collective," as it were. Sure, he screwed with him some, but it was more for the purpose of luring him to the Northern Crater where his body was resting so that he could finally absorb Cloud and complete his goals.
Compare this to Advent Children and Dissidia, where Sephiroth is portrayed as being nearly obsessed with Cloud, to the point of going out of his way to torture and tease him to assert this "puppetmaster" persona he seems to be trying to cultivate. There's this feeling of Sephy trying to play the role of the villainous foil to the hero that will never completely go away because he and the hero complete each other or some jazz. I never really got that feeling from him in the original game, and I wonder how much of that was manufactured after the fact just to make more money and placate hordes of screaming Sephiroth fangirls. Hell, he didn't mention Jenova at all in Dissidia, and he spent the better part of the original game trying to put her back together.
Second, the relationship between Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa. In the original game, after Aerith dies and Cloud finally snaps out of his brooding mental coma and whatnot, there's somewhat of a sense of closure about the whole thing. He seems to accept her death while using the emotion he felt from it as support for his continued fight against Sephiroth, and you're sort of feeling by the end of the game that he's going to start paying attention to Tifa's feelings for him. Even in the very last scene before the credits, with Aerith's face superimposed, I got more of an "I'm always here with you, so live your lives to the fullest" kind of feeling.
In the post-continuity stuff, Tifa is barely given a second thought. Cloud visits her sometimes in Advent Children, but there's clearly nothing going on there. And then you get to that one scene in the forest where she's speaking into Cloud's mind, and he is clearly still pining away for her. This seems to run counter to the emotional progress it looked like he was making in the game - it's like he's still off in his own little world, obsessing endlessly over his mistakes.
Which leads into my third problem - Cloud's personality. It may just be the fact that I haven't played the original game in a while, but I remember him being stronger-willed in general. Aside from the parts of the game where he's specifically having internal crises, he was always very cool and together, and very quickly overshadowed Barret as the leader of the group. He used to say things like "let's mosey" in the game, and those were always my favorite parts of his character - the fact that he was so casual about what he was doing, but with a sense of quiet determination.
Now consider how Cloud behaves in the post-continuity stuff. In Advent Children, he's like some sort of depressed, directionless drifter, barely even able to hold down a job for himself let alone maintain some sort of happy life. Before Sephiroth shows up at the end, you get the feeling that he's given up giving a shit about anyone or anything, and he comes off as severely mopey. It gets even worse in Dissidia, where his indecision and self-deprecating behavior is overshadowed only by that of Terra (and even then, only very slightly). I mean, I will readily acknowledge that some of what he displayed in the game was a carefully constructed veneer of cool meant to keep himself safe, but I do think there was more self-reliance and motivation there than AC or Dissidia seem to give him credit for.
This is, of course, not to say that I dislike either of the entertainment media I've been talking about here. Advent Children is a visual masterpiece, and is pretty much the finest official FF7 fan-wank you're ever going to see. Likewise, Dissidia is a spectacular game, evidenced by the fact that I've been playing it for 100+ days straight since the day it came in the mail. I just think the portrayal of some of the characters has been a little warped from the source material, and it makes me kind of sad to see it happening.
First of all, the relationship between Cloud and Sephiroth is drastically different if you follow it through from the game to Advent Children, and even into how it's portrayed in the story mode of Dissidia. In the original, it honestly could have been anyone with Sephiroth at the Nibelheim reactor. He had nothing against Cloud in particular, except that he stopped him from achieving his goal at the time. Cloud was unique only in that he managed to retain some semblance of freewill, unlike the other clones carrying Jenova cells. Sephiroth's goal was far more focused around obtaining Jenova, merging with anything and everything that carried her cells inside them, transplanting himself into the Lifestream, and flying the planet around like some kind of spaceship, all because he had some sort of vague notion that this is what Jenova herself used to do. The only reason he was ever particularly violent toward Cloud was because he was getting in the way of all of this, and resisted being absorbed into the "collective," as it were. Sure, he screwed with him some, but it was more for the purpose of luring him to the Northern Crater where his body was resting so that he could finally absorb Cloud and complete his goals.
Compare this to Advent Children and Dissidia, where Sephiroth is portrayed as being nearly obsessed with Cloud, to the point of going out of his way to torture and tease him to assert this "puppetmaster" persona he seems to be trying to cultivate. There's this feeling of Sephy trying to play the role of the villainous foil to the hero that will never completely go away because he and the hero complete each other or some jazz. I never really got that feeling from him in the original game, and I wonder how much of that was manufactured after the fact just to make more money and placate hordes of screaming Sephiroth fangirls. Hell, he didn't mention Jenova at all in Dissidia, and he spent the better part of the original game trying to put her back together.
Second, the relationship between Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa. In the original game, after Aerith dies and Cloud finally snaps out of his brooding mental coma and whatnot, there's somewhat of a sense of closure about the whole thing. He seems to accept her death while using the emotion he felt from it as support for his continued fight against Sephiroth, and you're sort of feeling by the end of the game that he's going to start paying attention to Tifa's feelings for him. Even in the very last scene before the credits, with Aerith's face superimposed, I got more of an "I'm always here with you, so live your lives to the fullest" kind of feeling.
In the post-continuity stuff, Tifa is barely given a second thought. Cloud visits her sometimes in Advent Children, but there's clearly nothing going on there. And then you get to that one scene in the forest where she's speaking into Cloud's mind, and he is clearly still pining away for her. This seems to run counter to the emotional progress it looked like he was making in the game - it's like he's still off in his own little world, obsessing endlessly over his mistakes.
Which leads into my third problem - Cloud's personality. It may just be the fact that I haven't played the original game in a while, but I remember him being stronger-willed in general. Aside from the parts of the game where he's specifically having internal crises, he was always very cool and together, and very quickly overshadowed Barret as the leader of the group. He used to say things like "let's mosey" in the game, and those were always my favorite parts of his character - the fact that he was so casual about what he was doing, but with a sense of quiet determination.
Now consider how Cloud behaves in the post-continuity stuff. In Advent Children, he's like some sort of depressed, directionless drifter, barely even able to hold down a job for himself let alone maintain some sort of happy life. Before Sephiroth shows up at the end, you get the feeling that he's given up giving a shit about anyone or anything, and he comes off as severely mopey. It gets even worse in Dissidia, where his indecision and self-deprecating behavior is overshadowed only by that of Terra (and even then, only very slightly). I mean, I will readily acknowledge that some of what he displayed in the game was a carefully constructed veneer of cool meant to keep himself safe, but I do think there was more self-reliance and motivation there than AC or Dissidia seem to give him credit for.
This is, of course, not to say that I dislike either of the entertainment media I've been talking about here. Advent Children is a visual masterpiece, and is pretty much the finest official FF7 fan-wank you're ever going to see. Likewise, Dissidia is a spectacular game, evidenced by the fact that I've been playing it for 100+ days straight since the day it came in the mail. I just think the portrayal of some of the characters has been a little warped from the source material, and it makes me kind of sad to see it happening.