Last time, Tifa woke up in a Shinra hospital prison cell...thing and discovered that Cloud was missing, she and her friends failed to stop Sephiroth from summoning Meteor, and that she is to be executed by the only corporation in the world in about five minutes.
Barrett, locked in handcuffs, is led, along with Tifa, to a conference room. Tifa is shoved into a gas chamber as Scarlet has decided she dies first. Barrett, always the hero, offers to go first. The camera swings to him as the first known case of public execution in the world is about to take place. While Heidegger admits they don’t deserve it, he also admits it’s about blaming someone, anyone. It’s all to qualm a failing public opinion.
As Tifa is locked into the chair by Scarlet, but before the gas pipes open, an alarm claxon whales. Weapon is approaching. Sapphire Weapon, to be exact. Fortunately, Junon is a town with a giant gun attached to it. Why there is a giant gun is never explained, but it’s here, so Heidegger and Rufus are going to use it. The first shot hits the water and misses. In response, the army and smaller gun turrets open fire, all into the water. All of those fail to damage the Man of War looking thing, so Weapon crashes into Junon. He just tackles it. This tackle turns on the gas, and Tifa begins trying to hold her breath. Fortunately, Scarlet dropped the key as she left. As a mini-game, Tifa is able to contort her body to pick it up and free herself. While this takes place, Cait Sith, disguised as the fattest man on Gaea, puts Scarlet to sleep and frees Barrett. The two then walk off to save Tifa. They meet up with Yuffie, pretending to be a reporter, and find themselves at the airport, under an airship. Sapphire attacks Junon again, this time with a mouth laser, which hits the room Tifa was locked in. The Junon gun (Mako Cannon) fires once more, before Weapon, taking its head off and killing it.
As Tifa climbs out the hole Weapon made, Scarlet bursts through the door and gives chase. There are also a few infantrymen, who fall to their deaths, but the survivors have no place in the final act. They follow her to the barrel of the cannon, where the two women slap each other. It’s weird. I get Scarlet slap fighting, she’s just some middle-aged woman, but Tifa is a trained martial artist. She couldn’t take her down? Stop her from slapping? Punch her in the mouth? It doesn’t even matter who wins, but Tifa lost on my playthrough. Before anything bad happens, Tifa hears a voice telling her to run to the front of the cannon. She does, and the airship flies up to save her. Tifa geta on and all of the party is there. I assume the voice is from a speaker, and our new main character isn't hearing things.
I have questions. Where was Red? Vincent? Cid? What was the plan to save Tifa if Weapon didn’t attack? Or if Scarlet hadn't dropped the key? You can ask the crew why they mutinied, and they say it’s because Cid is legendary, and was nice to them. Why isn’t Cid nice when we interact? It’s all just a strange segment filled with way too many coincidental events
Now airborne, the party then decides to look for Cloud. The only person I spoke to figure where I was supposed to go was Pricilla (via Me. Dolphin). I don't know if this is just an explore the world bit, which is fine, but Pricilla seems like that most random person to get directions to an isolated southern town from. Regardless, we head south to the town of Mideel. It’s a town filled with old people, a crazy Chocobo lady stockpiling toilet paper, a weapons dealer, a Chocobo that gives you late game black magic materia, and a clinic. In that clinic is a pointy-haired man with sharp blue eyes. It’s Cloud. Cloud is in a similar state as he was in the Tifa flashback when she passed out. The doctor calls it Mako Poisoning. Tifa then decides to leave the party and stay with Cloud in hopes he recovers.
Barrett, now leader, instantly relinquishes the leader role to a sleeping Cid. This scene really gives off the Square didn’t work on side characters enough vibe, as I'm still not sure why Cid is in the party, nor do I think he's the best fit to lead. Cid doesn't even want to lead, but reluctantly accepts it anyway. Cait Sith then spies on Shinra for us and informs the parry Shinra is looking for Huge Materia to launch them into Meteor. Their first target is the Corel Reactor.
Cid, Barrett (though not required), and Nanaki head to Barrett’s home town to steal the materia. This starts a train race mini-game, which is simple. Once they've caught-up, the party jumps on to the materia train, and we fight, in every train cart, all the way to the front. Then we have another mini-game I didn’t understand but won anyway, thus saving Corel from another destruction. We’re rewarded with the Ultima Materia by a child. I don't know about you guys, but I think every child should have access to the deadliest black magic in the world. I also find Barrett’s level four limit.
Out next target is Fort Condor. This could have been a multiple part fight with rewards every time you backtracked to the fort, but I didn’t want to do it. It’s a tower defense/RTS mini-game, and it's boring. It also cost me 15 thousand Gil!. We save the condor living up top, and it turns in a Phoenix while also dropping the Phoenix Summon. Would be a great addition to a white mage...
The party then heads back to Mideel to see Cloud just in time for Ultima Weapon to attack. The town is destroyed, and Tifa and Cloud fall into the Lifestream. Tifa has her own breakdown, hearing sounds and other hallucinations, and ends up calling out to Cloud for help. As she wakes up, she sees a surreal scene in Cloud's subconscious.
It’s here I called it. Tomorrow we try to fix Cloud and learn his real backstory. It’s gonna be a long write up tomorrow...
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