Would FF7's story be better or worse if Yuffie was a mandatory character rather than an optional one?
It would've been better if she was relevant to the main plot.
>>2877802
It wouldn't make any difference, since the problem in the story has nothing to do with Yuffie, but the fact that the whole amnesia/cloud/zack/sephiroth/sephiroth clones/jenova crap is an indecipherable labyrinth that makes no goddamn sense.
>>2877836
Yuffie is the best character because she ain't got nothing to do with that shit.
>>2877836
someone didn't revisit the mansion.
>>2877836
What wasn't clear to you?
>Jenova crashes on FF7 world Gaia thousands of years ago
>begins to destroy the Cetra/Ancients living there while humanity goes into hiding
>Ancients manage to contain Jenova in northern crater where she crashed
>Ancients all die out
Fast Forward
>Shinra finds Jenova's frozen body in the crater and mistakenly believe she's an Ancient, they stick her in Nibelheim's reactor
>Hojo does experiments with her cells on Lucrecia, a fellow scientist he cucked Vincent with, gives birth to Sephiroth
>Hojo tells baby Sephiroth that his mother is Jenova
Fast Forward
>Sephiroth is sent to investigate malfunctioning Nibelheim reactor with fellow SOLDIER Zack, and Shinra grunt Cloud
>Sephiroth discovers Jenova and the monsters being created from her cells
>Reads up on Shinra lab notes in basement and discovers he is a monster created from her cell
>Also mistakenly believes she is a Cetra, and therefore he is too
>Revelations drive him mad and he murders everyone in Nibelheim and burns it to the ground before going to reclaim Jenova from the reactor
>Zack catches up with him and tries to stop him, but Sephiroth wrecks him
>While distracted with collecting Jenova's head, Cloud runs up and mercs Sephiroth from behind with Zack's Buster Sword
>Sephiroth stabs Cloud back but is mortally wounded and thrown into the Reactor / Lifestream by Cloud
>Shinra sends in clean-up crew to take care of mess
>All survivors including Zack and Cloud get experimented on by Hojo with Jenova cells to test "reunion" theory, while Tifa is saved by Zangan
>Headless Jenova is relocated to Shinra HQ
Fast Forward
>Zack escapes Hojo's experiments with Cloud years later
>Sephiroth, because of Jenova cells is not reabsorbed by Lifestream and in time he begins to exert control over Jenova itself while he learns about how the Lifestream works from within
>Zack takes Cloud, fucked up from Make poisoning, torture, etc. to Midgard to shack up with Aeris for awhile
>>2877967
>Zack gets caught by Shinra outside Midgar and hides Cloud
>Zack goes down in a hail of bullets
>Cloud, still fucked up from the Mako poisoning, Jenova cells, best friend dying, etc. has a mental breakdown
>Takes up Zack's Buster Sword and fills trauma holes in his memory with Zack's identity
>Cloud proceeds into Midgar and FF7 begins
Fast Forward
>Sephiroth begins exerting control over Jenova, and has her escape, taking his form and murdering President Shinra
>Cloud, infected with Jenova cells, is drawn by the Reunion to follow Jenova though his fragmented memory thinks he's doing it out of revenge for Nibelheim
>Sephiroth leads the company along until they acquire the Black Materia which he needs to finish his plans
>Cloud follows Aeris to the Forgotten City where Sephiroth tries to force Cloud to kill Aeris (scene where he draws his sword at her, but falls to his knees, grabbing his head and shaking with afterimages)
>Sephiroth sends in Jenova-clone and she kills Aeris instead, removing White Materia as a threat
>Cloud and co. are then drawn to northern crater where Sephiroth exerts control over Jenova cells in Cloud and forces him to hand over the Black Materia
Everything from here on in the game should be very self-explanatory.
>>2877974
And there's why I'll never play this convoluted piece of weeaboo shit
>>2877974
Lots of the game becomes really fun when you understand all this. Like when they find Hojo at the beach.
>Hojo: Hmm. I believe we're both after the same goal.
>Cloud: You mean Sephiroth?
>Hojo: Did you see him? I see... ha ha!
>Cloud: What is it?
>Hojo: Nothing, I just remembered a certain hypothesis... Haven't you ever had the feeling something is calling you? Or that you had to visit someplace?
>Cloud: I'll go anywhere Sephiroth is at!
>Hojo: I see... this could be interesting.
>>2877802
No I like that she was optional. Now that you mention it tho it does make me wonder if they originally intended for her to be that way. Maybe there was some issue that came up that they couldn't fix and somehow making her story sequence optional worked as a workaround, and so that's what they did? Or maybe they felt it was too complicated or just didn't fit right as a mandatory section at that part of the time. It could just be they felt an obligation to carry on a tradition -- some of the SNES FF's had optional party members didn't they? I don't know if the developers ever commented about this but, yeah now I'm curious what they would have to say.
>>2877978
>I'm too stupid to follow an RPG plot
That's why Call of Duty is a ten billion dollar franchise. "Plot" isn't for everyone.
The tie-in to Advent Children makes a lot of sense with the plot too.
The Lifestream is both the lifeblood of the Planet and every creature on it. When someone dies, they're recycled into the Lifestream and begin life anew. However, Jenova and by extension Sephiroth is not part of the Planet. They're infectious aliens and when they're destroyed in the Northern Crater, their tainted cells and essence slip into the Lifestream.
And that's what Geostigma is. Planetary Sephiroth / Jenova taint. Another fun easter egg is when Vincent grabs Cloud's arm where the Geostigma is and the reaction it causes. While Cloud is spliced with Jenova cells, Vincent is literally spliced with the Lifestream itself in the form of the Chaos WEAPON.
>>2877998
>Vincent is literally spliced with the Lifestream itself in the form of the Chaos WEAPON
could you expand on that?
I haven't played dirge of cerberus (I assume that's where you're getting this) or any other fanfiction game (crisis core etc) that he may appear in
>>2878142
Sure.
To begin with, you need to be familiar with the WEAPONS. Whenever the Planet is threatened with a catastrophe significant enough to destroy it, it summons its Lifestream-created WEAPONS. It's never made clear why they're giant monster-mechs, but their purpose is to destroy the threat. Hence them attacking Midgar, Junon, etc.
Now, in the event of a crisis so great that the Planet cannot recover, the Lifestream will go to the seventh and final WEAPON, the Omega WEAPON. Once all the Planet's Lifestream is collected in it, it flees the now barren husk of that world and leaves for a new world to populate. Sephiroth had intended to capitalize on that by using Meteor and then sucking the Lifestream up himself to be a God.
Anyhow, the Omega WEAPON is supplemented by the Chaos WEAPON; Vincent's final Limit Break. Chaos's purpose is to act as a harbinger, destroying all life on the planet and funneling the Lifestream into Omega. This process, like summoning Meteor or Holy is accomplished with a unique materia that the Planet has created known as the "Protomateria."
Back when Vincent was a Turk and he'd confronted Hojo over what he'd done to Lucrecia, Hojo shot him. He then began experimenting on him using Chaos-tainted Lifestream. (Hojo wasn't just focused on Sephiroth, he had plans for Omega too. Lots of irons in the fire.) Anyhow, even with Hojo's augmentations, Chaos was too much and began to consume Vincent, so Lucrecia implanted the Protomateria into him, stabilizing his form (somewhat).
And so, that's Vincent's backstory and why he can turn into a demonic creature called 'Chaos.' It also sort of explains why his ultimate weapon becomes more powerful the more souls it returns to the Lifestream.
>>2878184
thanks br8
>>2878253
Who cares, newfags had all the time in the world to get into the game. If they're going to wait for a remake that won't be out for years and is confirmed to have massive changes to both story and gameplay, then they deserve to be spoiled.
>>2878253
I realize you're being sarcastic, but I feel bad anyway. I never remember to put spoilers in.
>>2877967
>>2877974
Did you spend time to type that out?
>>2877978
It is okay anon. We understand that you are stupid.
>>2877987
Bruh, the plot makes sense, I'm just saying it's garbage.
>>2879774
Yeah. Why?
I enjoy talking about the lore of Final Fantasy VII, and if there was any place out there where someone would actually care, it's here.
>>2879907
I realize with something as subjective as taste, people might not like the plot... but I don't understand why you would think that it's garbage. There are a lot of good things I don't like but think are good anyhow, for example.
>>2880014
That was always the case, even in the original game. Just because the official canon was confirmed in Compilation and finally put the stupid fan theory of Jenova controlling Sephiroth to rest doesn't mean your headcanon was ever valid.
