A lot of people make the argument that the changes made to FFVIIR don't alter it from the original very much due to making up only a relatively small portion of the total plot, but this is disregarding the massive changes that individual plot points can make on the narrative thrust of a story. Sephiroth showing up earlier than he did in the original game and apparently either being from the future of that game or at least knowing what happened may seem like a relatively small change, but it has enormous ramifications on both his character and the overall point of the story.
In the original FFVII, the player is led to believe that "Sephiroth", who used to be a famous soldier, is now doing horrific things because he has been subsumed and used as a vessel by JENOVA, a horrific alien monstrosity who wants nothing more than to consume all life on the planet. However, by the end of the game, it's been made clear that it's actually precisely the opposite. Sephiroth isn't being manipulated by forces beyond his control, he's exploiting them, and is trying to consume the earth because he's just a selfish asshole who considers himself more important than literally all other living things put together. It ties back into the first part of the story, in which AVALANCHE was trying to prevent Shinra from causing serious harm to the planet with nuclear power for their own gain. The point of the story is that human endeavors should only be performed with perspective of how it would affect both other people and the world at large, and that ignoring this can result in personal harm, loss of who you are, and will ultimately result in likely fatal pushback, either from other people or the world itself.
But what does FFVIIR say? Sephiroth is no longer just an ambitious man who decided he was more important than everyone else. He's some sort of mysterious entity with ambiguous goals, drifting through time and space along with Aerith to orchestrate and alter events. This diminishes the consequences of their actions, and the idea that unfettered ambition will result in intractable problems later on. I mean, shit, who cares if Aerith dies again? Apparently we can just go back and fix that part, if we really want to. Who cares about the earth? Any damage we cause can be undone, as long as you're willing to bully the shit out of some time jannies. The game also seems to be presenting the idea that Sephiroth is not an enemy of the spirit of the planet, but simply an evil and destructive part of it, which is completely ridiculous and undermines the thing that made him actually intimidating. Not his strength, nor his propensity for violence, but the fact that he simply doesn't give a shit about anything at all except his own betterment, and thus cannot be reasoned with or countered in any way except that which he prefers and excels at most: direct confrontation. Any pretense that he cared about anything but accumulating power was simply to trick other people into doing what he wanted. But now he just spent the whole game bullying Cloud for no reason, because modern Square Enix is too stupid to understand what Sephiroth is besides a smug evil guy with a big sword.
Cooper Hughes
time isn't real so how can you travel through it? Do you understand?
Gavin Diaz
>a lot of people make the argument these people are referred to as shills and don't deserve any more spare bandwidth here
like...this game...is pure kino, and you people do this shit, because I realized it's not just ff7 you people don't understand you have no understanding of life and it's like self fulfilling prophecy of why you don't like anything. You guys are soulless.
Ethan Wilson
You can travel through time.
Jacob Brown
I like the game.
Brody Smith
>because he's just a selfish asshole who considers himself more important than literally all other living things put together. He kind of is more important than everyone. He is pretty much the ubermensch per se and he deserved to win, in my humble opinion.
Liam Turner
>it's the opposite I don't think it's a coincidence that Sephiroth's ultimate goal of creating a catastrophic wound to release mass amounts of lifestream perfectly aligns with Jenova being a giant tick from outer space whose biological function is to treat that shit like biscuits and gravy night at the Golden Corral. Not saying you're wrong, but I think it's more symbiotic than one or the other being in full control.
You're not wrong. In a way, he really is just her son.
Cooper Kelly
>ff7r makes sephiroth into a bigger 1-dimensional character >square shit the bed on this one That's literally it.
Charles Garcia
Despite my grumbling, I also liked the game. But there's no getting around the problems it has, which will likely get more severe in subsequent titles, considering that they're clearly going for EVA Rebuild progression here.
Parker Cooper
>In the original FFVII, the player is led to believe that "Sephiroth", who used to be a famous soldier, is now doing horrific things because he has been subsumed and used as a vessel by JENOVA, a horrific alien monstrosity who wants nothing more than to consume all life on the planet. However, by the end of the game, it's been made clear that it's actually precisely the opposite. Sephiroth isn't being manipulated by forces beyond his control, he's exploiting them, and is trying to consume the earth because he's just a selfish asshole who considers himself more important than literally all other living things put together. lol pretty sure it's exactly the opposite. the entire game you're led to believe you're chasing after sephiroth but you're really just chasing after a puppet made by jenova and the real sephiroth is in the northern crater under jenova's control the whole time.
Isaac King
you're wasting your time OP. you're 100% right but most people are the type to fail out of english class. narrative context, tone, etc. is completely lost on them, all they want is tiddies and epic gamer moments.
William Scott
just pointing out your shit taste
Julian Murphy
stop replying to your own thread
Nicholas Roberts
you fucking suck
Colton Richardson
That wasn't me, I don't not a reddit space.
Joseph Cooper
not everyone who disagrees with you is the same person, faggot
Parker Miller
How can he be more 1 dimensional if he's the same dude with a new layer?
Nicholas Smith
He's like the kid whose mom spoils him as a means of control, but he's content getting what he wants all the time.
Jenova lets Sephiroth run off and play whenever he wants; it IS Sephiroth whenever you see him, just not inhabiting his original body.
Why does it feel like there are 2-3 anons who try to pull the ACKTUALLY JENOVA WAS THE ONE IN CONTROL in most FF7 threads these days?
Logan Nguyen
that is such a meme attack lol
Xavier White
Because there is a clear and present dichotomy at play and there is a shred of nuance in the original game that makes aspects of this connection ambiguous.
