No Winged Angel

Step one in my last day preparations involves getting the rest of the Ultimate Weapons. I stop by Cosmo Canyon where the gate watcher tells Nanaki that something is wrong with Bugenhagen. We b-line it up to the observatory, and Nanaki runs up to talk to his grandfather. How a canine climbs a ladder is beyond me, but what can ya do? Barrett and Cloud leave the room, so the family members can speak privately. Bugenhagen tells Red to fight for the planet and go on a journey to learn about the world, become a strong warrior, and maybe even find a wife. He then gives his grandson his Ultimate Weapon, Limited Moon. Its attack stat is based on how close to max MP Red has. Bugenhagen then seems to pass out or, more likely, dies. Red returns to the party, waiting at the Cosmo Flame, and tells them Bugenhagen is going on a trip. We're reminded that Bugenhagen once said Red’s age is the equivalent of 15 or 16 in human years. This means our Purple Mage is now an orphan, all alone.

Cid’s weapon, Venus Gospel, is boring to get, and you just need to talk to a guy four times in Rocket Town. I think it should have been Shera giving it, after a nice heart-to-heart with a repentant Cid.

I level up Nanaki and Tifa’s Limit Breaks to use their level fours. I forgot to set Red’s limit, so guess what I never used... Lastly, I stop by Cosmo Canyon again to fill out my materia slots with HP and MP Pluses, increasing my pool of resources. Preparations complete, I head off for the final confrontation. I thought about going into the Ancient Forest, but the reward was a Materia I’d put on Yuffie, so I opted not to.

In the Northern Crater, we fight our way down, from cliff to cliff, fighting somewhat strong mobs along the way. I say, "somewhat" because I have Cloud attacking twice a turn (added-cut paired with Steal/Mug) with a Holy Sword doing 14000 to 19000 damage, which makes short work of everything down here. On the way, we find several stat boosts and armors. I missed the W-Magic Materia, so Red will be a full-fledged Red Mage. I also miss a third Mystile, my favorite armor in the game, so I’m slightly underprepared for what’s to come.

At one point, we have to split the party, and I get confused. I somehow went the wrong way with Tifa and Yuffie. Yuffie was actually pretty good, though. She did 5K a swing from the back row, so I may have underestimated her. Apparently, her Ultimate Weapon is slightly broken, so that's fun. When the party gets back together, we’re in a room called Inside the Planet, where we have to jump from rock to rock again, fighting monsters along the way. I manage to get Pandora’s Box, a Blue Spell for Red. It’s the last Blue Magic I get, and I missed the other four we can find in this dungeon. Maybe Cait Sith would have been a fine parry member down here, after all. I'm realizing so late the perks of alternative characters. I guess I've always know Cait, but I just never trusted him.

Down we go until we fight, one last time, Jenova. Jenova•Synthesis has a unique appearance; the missing head Sephiroth was holding in the True Cloud flashback. She also has her own theme. She does 999 damage to Tifa, and I defeat her. I thought she’d be harder. I prepared for something harder. She was not hard. I even cast Big Guard and was ready to waste MP summoning Alexander. Duel attack Cloud may be another broken strat I just learned of. Barrage Spellblade was the key to breaking FFV, so it's nice to know it works even in future installments.

After minor matricide, the whole party is teleported in front of Sephiroth, who himself is in front of a bright light: Holy. He says nothing but throws everyone aside and into the rocks. The sight of Holy compels Cloud to remain resolute and rallies the rest of the party from their despair. We then have to make two parties for stage one of the boss battle. I do and Yuffie and Cait ‘mysteriously’ disappear as the two pointed final battle commences.

I don’t think the two parry thing worked. The mechanic here is, whenever one party defeats a section of Bizzaro Sephiroth, the player can switch parties. Usually, there’s no reason to do so as the other party doesn’t have materia equipped, but with the Job Class Challenge going, it might be viable. The thing is, 1.) it takes too long to load from party to party, and 2.) every time I switched, the parts came back. They do that eventually regardless, but It was mildly confusing, and towards the end, I stopped switching altogether. Barrett shot a grenade, and Vincent used Ultima, but I didn’t use them that much. Once again, Cid had nothing to do. Of all my mistakes in this playthrough, not using him is my biggest regret. How much personality did I pass? Why do I have such an aversion to Time Magic?!

After Bizzaro fades, Sephiroth returns with his final form, Safer Sephiroth (a mistranslation of Seraph). One Winged Angel plays, and there’s no doubt that this is the climax. He’s not terribly hard with this setup, but he has one trick up his...wing, Supernova. Supernova summons a blast of light that destroys Pluto, Saturn, and Jupiter. It hits the Sun, causing it to expand and eat Mercury, Venus, and Earth doing MASSIVE damage to the party and causing status effects. Also, it destroys the solar system, a solar system I didn't even know we were in. It destroys the players' solar system. Sorry guys! If I hadn’t just cast Big Guard, I might have died and had to redo ALL of this dungeon. I misused my mobile save point, you see. Despite learning I failed to set Red’s Limit Break correctly and suck with Tifa’s slots, a well-timed Alexander Summon finished off our Big Bad Guy. As Sephiroth fades into the sky, the music ends, and the party returns to the cliff at the planet's core.

Holy still hasn't activated. As the party returns to the Highwind, with their heads held high for they've done all they can do, Cloud says the Sephiroth is still alive. And he’s laughing. Cloud, the last remaining clone, has another breakdown and shoots his psyche into the Lifestream for a one on one battle with his master. This fight starts off with an old school western camera cut between the two combatants, but, if you notice, Cloud’s Limit Gaige is slowly increasing. As you gain control, the gauge fills up, and Cloud has access to his Level Four Limit, Omnislash! It is because of this fight that I kinda don’t like grinding for the limit proper. It just feels so fitting to use it for the first time here, as Cloud forcibly removes his genetic parasite. Omnislash makes quick work for the shirtless Seph and Cloud jumps back to himself as the final FMV cutscene takes us home.

An earthquake happens, and the cliffs begin to collapse. Tifa nearly falls in but is saved by Cloud. The rest of the party is nearby and continues to feel confused about Holy. All of a sudden, The Highwind falls down the crater, which is perfect because, with Sephiroth gone, Holy can now activate right up from the crater they're in. The blast sends the airship back into the atmosphere, but it’s being torn apart by energy, so Cid pulls the escape plane switch (it makes sense if you see it), and they fly off to Midgar.

The scene cuts to Marlene, in Kalm, seeing Meteor falling onto Midgar. Just before it lands, a wave of Holy stops it. Sadly, Holly did little to end the threat. Holy isn’t strong enough. Midgar is still being torn apart by red tornadoes, and Meteor is still complying with gravity. As the party is about to give up hope, the Lifestream sprouts up from all over the planet and winds its way to Midgar, teaming up with Holy. I think Holy is the will of the Cetra while the Lifestream is the will of everyone and everything that has ever lived on the planet. The whole planet is turned green, and as the screen fades once more, the face of Aerith appears, just as it did in the first cutscene on disk 1.  Cue the credits.

After the credits, the words “500 years later” appear, and we see Red XIII and his two children climbing up some cliffs. They howl, and the camera pans up to reveal Midgar, covered in moss. The Final Fantasy prelude plays, and we rush through space, ad nauseam until we turn off the console.

Final Fantasy VII has aged pretty well. I’ve enjoyed this play through more than I have of recent playings dating back some time. The Job Class Challenge really makes the game more entertaining. It shows off character strengths and weaknesses and makes you use characters you don’t normally use. It helps to gain any modicum of respect for people you don’t often see. Or, in my case, fills me with regrets that I couldn’t figure out how to fit Cid in my party. Will I go back to so the missing side quests; I want to. Not sure, though. At least right now. I have time until my next game, so who knows? For now, I’m putting my controller down, satisfied I replayed this now. The Job Class Challenge is how I’m going to replay the game going forward, including the Remake if I ever get to play it.

Final thoughts tomorrow!