The Barrett episode

It just occurred to me that the heroes outnumber the villains on this ship. There are six good guys to two bad guys. And a number of third parties, as well. Sure one of them is the Almighty Sephiroth, but I bet I could have ended the game here.

My hopes and dreams aside, shortly after gaining control, I give a teenager a tranquilizer because Cloud is the hero... We also catch up to the rest of the disguised party, most of whom blend in well, but poor four-legged Nanaki is having a hard time. Once we talk to Barrett, he and I are the same page with ending the game now, and an alarm goes off about intruders detected. Cloud thinks the parry got caught and goes to meet-up with them. They’re fine, but then everyone thinks the intruder is Sephiroth. I take Aerith and Nanaki with us to the engine room in time to see Sephiroth raise from the steel floor, not know who Cloud is, and drop a piece of his mom on us which grows into a grotesque, full-bodied (minus the head) monster that we have to fight. Jenova•Life stops a few characters but is ultimately easily slain. We gain Ifrit as a reward. The ship then casually sails into port, and no one asks about the intruders again.

We’ve arrived in Costa del Sol, a tropical beach town. Rufus wonders how both Cloud and Sephiroth managed to escape and yells at Heidigger, one of the Shinra big-wigs while we explore the town. On the beach, we see Hojo enjoying “getting a tan” and hanging out with a few beach babes. He tells us to go west and mentions something about being pulled somewhere against your will. It’s probably nothing; just evil people speech meaning nothing.

Costa del Sol is interesting as each character, not in the party, is doing something as though they're actual living beings with lives not tied to Cloud.
Barrett is practicing talking to his daughter while dressed in a cute sailor outfit.
Tifa is catching up with Johnny, an old friend from Seventh Heaven.
Yuffie is selling Materia.
Red is trying not to melt in the hot sun, and accidentally playing soccer with a few kids.
Aerith does something at the inn. I don’t know for certain since I always have her in my party and you can’t switch out. Wikia says something about feeling lonely being the last Cetra.

After leaving the not-south-of-Spain, we travel west across the mountains and come upon a Mako Reactor and walk down a crumbling railroad line. We find the Transform Materia so Barrett can now turn people into frogs (or make them small fo rnow). Speaking of Barrett, we walk right into his old home town of Corel. Or, some semblance thereof. The residents of the town punch Barrett and blame him for what happened to the place. There’s no explanation at the moment and the party carries on to The Gold Saucer, a mountain-sized amusement park. Our friend is having an existential crisis; the perfect time to go party.

While there, I take Aerith around to see the sights. Or the dead people. Yeah, we stumble upon a dead Shinra soldier who was standing in front of the battle arena. We head into said arena and discover everyone there has been shot. A dying receptionist tells us a man with a gun-arm did this. We also met a new party named Cait Sith and he gives us a terrible, but 100% not-accurate fortune, and forces it’s way into the party. Everyone hates him and I’ll only be using him to gain Enemy Skills.

Anyway, we’re caught and thrown into prison, which is just the remains of Barrett’s hone town in the middle of the desert. It’s one of those open prisons where you can leave whenever, but you won’t get far. The music here is, low-key, one of the best songs in Final Fantasy VII. It's got this western feeling whistle, which fits with coal-mining towns and the desert, over some soft industrial drums and three-note, slightly out-of-tune, guitar. It has this real forlorn quality to it and is the perfect song for when you're dehydrated in the desert. We catch up to Barrett, and the rest of the party catches up to us, in time to learn Barrett’s backstory.

This town used to be a coal-mining town until Shinra showed up and built a Mako Reactor. At some point, Shinra kills everyone and burns down the town. A Shinra big-wig, Scarlet, tries to kill Barrett, herself. While fleeing, Barrett and his friend, Dyne, get shot in the arms, and both, independently of each other, get guns attached in their place. We go and find Dyne, who some party members think might join us. We wander, shortly, through the desert and get a new blue mage spell until we find Dyne holding up in a junkyard. He wants to kill Barrett because he’s insane. He then learns that his daughter, Marlene, is still alive and then threatens to kill her because his wife, Elenor, wants to see her. Then a boss fight happens where only Barrett fights in it. I'm still not sure why everyone in ruined Coral hates Barrett. The backstory cutscene indicates everyone but Dyne was in on being sold to Shinra, so that might a plothole.

I remember this battle being hard. I usually need to heal a few times and it’s all touch-and-go. Instead, I stomp the poor madman. A Bio, a few attacks and Limit Break- Bigshot and he falls. Dyne comes to his senses and asks Barrett to, “never make Marlene cry” as he jumps off the cliffs to his death. I’m reminded that this is not a joyous game. It’s heavy and not everyone gets a good ending.

To escape the prison, there’s a Chocobo Race that prisoners can participate in to get free. It’s pretty easy, but I got cocky in my first attempt and finished fourth after a last-second overtake. I get the Ramuh Materia, try again, succeed. go Blue Magic hunting in my new buggy, start towards Aerith's ultimate Limit Break, and call it a night.

Why am I limiting myself to only a few hours? I don’t want to watch wrestling. I want to play FFVII. I don’t want to sleep, I want to play FFVII. I don’t want to listen to other music. I want my Uematsu! This challenge run has reignited my love of FFVII, video games, and RPGs. It’s exactly what I needed in this s dark time, and I am having so much fun.